By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Take a trip back in time to the theaters where frightful fandom was born.
Severin Films has launched the new semi-regular web series MY FLEAPIT, MY PALACE, as a companion to its popular Severin Cellar series. The company behind myriad classic and cult genre Blu-ray releases describes it thusly: “The only experiences as formative as the movies that made us are the cinemas we saw them in. Severin Films welcomes you to MY FLEAPIT, MY PALACE, an international exploration with friends, colleagues and icons through the movie theaters and moviegoing adventures of their youth.
“In this premiere episode [see it below], actor, producer, playwright, screenwriter and journalist David McGillivray [HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, FRIGHTMARE, SATAN’S SLAVE and the book DOING RUDE THINGS: THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH SEX FILM, among many others] takes us on a tour of selected London movie houses as they were then and are now: From Piccadilly Circus and ‘The Dirty Square Mile’ of Soho to Palmers Green and Wood Green, these are the tales behind the palaces, fleapits, cinema clubs and suburban screens that shaped McG’s life, career and singular worldview.
“Take your seat. Our feature presentation is about to begin.”
“Former cinemas, drive-ins and houses of entertainment in their crumbling glory have been a long obsession of mine,” says Severin’s David Gregory, “as they represent days and nights of otherworldly delights never to be recaptured. In talking with filmmakers and Severin colleagues from around the world, I’ve found that many of us had similar life-changing movie house experiences. I want to share the personal reminiscences of these film professionals from a time and place when their world was changing and setting them on their paths, while showing their own pristine palaces and grubby rooms where the magic happened when the lights went down.”
Keep an eye on Severin’s YouTube channel for further episodes!
