Every Monday at 8 p.m., The Loft Cinema presents a hilariously bad B-list horror film for the adventurous moviegoers of Tucson.
From their showing of “Leprechaun 4: In Space,” where an evil leprechaun battles space marines, to “Cannibal Girls,” where a vacationing couple becomes the prey of three flesh-eating girls, Mondo Mondays are dedicated to those films that make you wonder, “who on earth thought this should be made?”
These low-budget films have strikingly poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and are condemned by any serious critic. The Loft, however, embraces the cheesy dialogue, terrible CGI and over-the-top crudity that make these movies so special.
Mondo Mondays have been a tradition at The Loft since 2008 when Jeff Yanc, program director and self-proclaimed lover of trashy movies, wanted to create a more theatrical and unserious weekly showing.
He says there’s a certain magical ingredient that makes mondo movies different from a comedy or camp — meaning intentionally absurd or ironic — movie.
“[They have] a certain kind of earnestness […] the movie is trying to be something other than what it actually turns out to be […] and those are the ones that work the best in terms of being a mondo movie, the accidental bad movies,” Yanc said.
Since The Loft is an independent, nonprofit organization, they can break the rules of typical movie-theater etiquette. So, if the movie being shown is wild and wacky, why not let the audience get in on the fun?
“Right off the bat, the decision was made to make it an interactive screening environment, so it’s not just a ‘shhh’ quiet screening, which I think is the key to mondo — letting people interact,” Yanc said.
The obscure mondo films also attract an audience that wants to break the rules. According to Yanc, it didn’t take much prodding to get the audience to riff, make jokes and shout at the screen from their seats.
“We’re not stopping you from it,” Yanc said, in reference to the audience’s inevitably clamorous reactions.
The freeing environment of Mondo Mondays encourages natural reactions to yell, chant and feed off the energy of others, uniting the audience in a lively, collective experience.
It takes an “adventurous spirit,” Yanc said, to show up to a movie you’ve never heard of, just because it’s a mondo movie — especially when the audience around you is also part of the show.
Mondo’s upcoming theme is “Buggin’ Out,” a series about killer bugs and insects.
At 8 p.m. on April 7, the movie that inspired this theme, “Invasion of the Bee Girls,” will kick off the month of giant spiders and creepy crawlies.
It’s only $3 for Loft members and $4 for non-members to get in, so get your tickets online or at the door for an unforgettable night of Mondo Monday madness at The Loft.
