It's the end of an era, Milwaukee. After nine years of midnight showings of cult film classics, The Friday Night Freak Show at The Times Cinema is coming to a close.
"We needed to give it a break at this point," says Eric Levin, the cinema's co-proprietor. "We've been noticing the attendance getting lower and lower over the last few months, although I'm not entirely sure why that is. It's possible that the films people grew up with in the '80s are not relevant for the group who comes now, who is between ages 15 and 22."
Years ago, it was a much different story, says WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford, who, along with Levin and WMSE's former development director Blaine Kennedy, helped birth the Friday Night Freak Show in 1997.
"There's always been something about midnight cult films," says Crawford. "Growing up, the Avalon Theater played them, and when Saturday night came, that's what we did. When Eric started coming down the station to talk about what was happening at The Times we started talking about midnight films and we decided that we wanted to bring back what was."
"It was really successful for quite some time," says Levin, remembering sold-out showings of "A Clockwork Orange" when anywhere from 200 to 400 people would show up. "We have tried many different kinds of films over the course of nine years, and we thought we know the audience pretty well. But now it doesn't seem like anything is drawing."
Crawford says the real "knife in the heart" came on June 30 when a showing of "Reservoir Dogs" -- a movie that should have reeled in the masses -- managed to attract fewer than 50 people.
"We've been doing this a long time, and people's viewing habits change," says Crawford. "Single screen theaters are being replaced by personal plasma screens in the home."
Levin, who has operated The Times Cinema since 1993 and who has recently been forced to switch his classic and foreign film agenda to a calendar of mostly first-run films to stay profitable, agrees.
"What it comes down to is that people don't appreciate the experiences of seeing films with an audience on a big screen anymore," says Levin. "People seem to be getting more insular. The people who were really into the Freak Show nine years ago are now looking for other things to do. I'd like to know what it is that people find so captivating other than seeing great films at midnight."
The good news, Levin says, is that he has plans to screen the occasional midnight film at his theater.
"I'd have to structure it as more of an event, and it would certainly be with WMSE's involvement, but if we find films that we can premiere for midnight -- something that's new and intriguing -- we'd be open to doing it."
Other than that, Levin says that The Times Cinema has had a positive response to the overall format change and is slowing building a new niche audience.
"Lately our format is playing the films that never make it to Milwaukee," he says. "These are the films that, if we weren't playing them, they wouldn't be showing in Milwaukee at all. It's going pretty well; we've had strong titles lately."
The Friday Night Freak Show is continuing throughout July, with "Clerks" playing on July 7, "Snatch" on July 14, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" on July 21 and "The Boondock Saints" closing the Friday night cinematic tradition on July 28.
"We needed to give it a break at this point," says Eric Levin, the cinema's co-proprietor. "We've been noticing the attendance getting lower and lower over the last few months, although I'm not entirely sure why that is. It's possible that the films people grew up with in the '80s are not relevant for the group who comes now, who is between ages 15 and 22."
Years ago, it was a much different story, says WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford, who, along with Levin and WMSE's former development director Blaine Kennedy, helped birth the Friday Night Freak Show in 1997.
"There's always been something about midnight cult films," says Crawford. "Growing up, the Avalon Theater played them, and when Saturday night came, that's what we did. When Eric started coming down the station to talk about what was happening at The Times we started talking about midnight films and we decided that we wanted to bring back what was."
"It was really successful for quite some time," says Levin, remembering sold-out showings of "A Clockwork Orange" when anywhere from 200 to 400 people would show up. "We have tried many different kinds of films over the course of nine years, and we thought we know the audience pretty well. But now it doesn't seem like anything is drawing."
Crawford says the real "knife in the heart" came on June 30 when a showing of "Reservoir Dogs" -- a movie that should have reeled in the masses -- managed to attract fewer than 50 people.
"We've been doing this a long time, and people's viewing habits change," says Crawford. "Single screen theaters are being replaced by personal plasma screens in the home."
Levin, who has operated The Times Cinema since 1993 and who has recently been forced to switch his classic and foreign film agenda to a calendar of mostly first-run films to stay profitable, agrees.
"What it comes down to is that people don't appreciate the experiences of seeing films with an audience on a big screen anymore," says Levin. "People seem to be getting more insular. The people who were really into the Freak Show nine years ago are now looking for other things to do. I'd like to know what it is that people find so captivating other than seeing great films at midnight."
The good news, Levin says, is that he has plans to screen the occasional midnight film at his theater.
"I'd have to structure it as more of an event, and it would certainly be with WMSE's involvement, but if we find films that we can premiere for midnight -- something that's new and intriguing -- we'd be open to doing it."
Other than that, Levin says that The Times Cinema has had a positive response to the overall format change and is slowing building a new niche audience.
"Lately our format is playing the films that never make it to Milwaukee," he says. "These are the films that, if we weren't playing them, they wouldn't be showing in Milwaukee at all. It's going pretty well; we've had strong titles lately."
The Friday Night Freak Show is continuing throughout July, with "Clerks" playing on July 7, "Snatch" on July 14, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" on July 21 and "The Boondock Saints" closing the Friday night cinematic tradition on July 28.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
