REPOST Thursday Houston Dinner/T(ween)-Fest details…

Updated on March 11, 2010 By Ken Begg 28 Comments

The first (?) annual (?) T(ween) Fest is rapidly approaching.  It will be held on Saturday, March 13th at the Guildhall at SMU, the venue last year’s T-Fest was held, and likely our regular home for the foreseeable future.  Plano is a suburb of Dallas, for those keeping track.

“The Guildhall at SMU”
5232 Tennyson Parkway
Building 2
Plano, TX 75024

The films should start circa 10:00 in the morning, and end maybe between midnight and 1:00 AM.  There will be the traditional two-hour dinner break, where many of us will repair to some eatery or other to share viands, camaraderie and probably massive headaches from some of the movies we’ll have just watched.  There should be eight movies all together, barring complications, split into two four-movie shifts.

The Guildhall is a secure building.  We will let people in at the door, but should you arrive after we begin, we can be reached via Sandy’s cell phone at (214) 675-4807.  We will then send someone to fetch you for a nominal fee.

Feel free to bring any favored food and bevs you may wish to partake of.  We only ask that you police your own area.

For those in the Houston area, the Thursday night before the Fest–the 11th–will see some of us continuing the tradition started last year as some of us will meet for dinner.  The location this year will be Hickory Hollow, at the Heights location, as it’s the most centrally located branch.  We’ll be shooting for a meet time of 7:00 or 7:30. Location and menu details may be found here:

http://www.hickoryhollowrestaurant.com/

If there are any further questions, ask below.  I hope to see you there. If you need details for the dinner, leave a note below.

Pin It



Related Posts

  • Lawyer Ku

    I could ride my bike to that restaurant. My place is open should we care to adjourn afterwards. 2 minute drive, tops.

  • The schedule for Tween Fest this year is:

    The Giant Spider Invasion
    The Demons of Ludlow
    Twist Craze
    Twister’s Revenge
    (dinner break)
    Blood Harvest
    The Capture of Bigfoot
    Rana: the Legend of Shadow Lake
    The Alpha Incident

  • Rest assured, everybody, Sandy is being tongue in cheek here. There will be no all-Lewis nor all-Rebane bills.

    Past that I promise nothing. Nothing!

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Ah, Blood Harvest. One of the only movies to leave me feeling dirty whilst watching it. That was Rebane, was it? Doesn’t seem to match most of his output in terms of tone.

  • Well, 1987. He was clearly trying to jump on the slasher wagon.

  • Mr. Rational

    Pity for that, Ken. I could use another dose of Twister’s revenge. Every time that tank blows up, and THEN the house blows up a few seconds later…it’s such a profound instance of humorous cosmic suck that I can’t help but smile.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Ken–I realize what he was going for with it, but his movies (that I’ve seen, at any rate) lack the sort of nasty, sordid stuff that’s in that one. I mean, even if he was going for the slasher mindset, almost none of them can match it in those terms, or probably even tried to. It just seems off to me, compared to his more famous movies which are, more or less, harmless goofy fun.

  • The Slashers were already on the downslope by then; it’s possible he just thought he had to amp things up to get an audience.

    You should check out the film Blood, Boobs & Beast on the similar director Don Dohler, so got depressed in the ’90s because all he could get funding for were shot-on-video sex pics.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Maybe he did. I don’t think he went about it the right way though, especially considering the kills don’t involve anything more than fake blood and a little prosthetic work (as I recall). Just the psychosexual stuff in it is a bit aquirm-inducing.

    I’ve seen a couple of Dohler’s movies over the years. I should indeed pick up that book; I’m sure it’s a fascinating read.

  • Oops, sorry, I wasn’t clear. BB&B is a documentary DVD, and it is indeed a really good one.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Then I should pick up that DVD; I’m sure it’s a fascinating watch. :)

  • Let’s plan on 7:30 for dinner. If anyone is free on Thursday, we’ll be touring the Battleship Texas.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Gee, Sandy, why not “The Cold”?

  • BeckoningChasm

    Don Dohler got so depressed in the ’90s because all he could get funding for were shot-on-video sex pics.

    Frankly, having seen The Galaxy Invader, I’m surprised he was offered the sex jobs. Imagine a W. Lee Wilder monster film featuring the Beverly Hillbillies, without any jokes. (Alien Factor is only slightly better, mostly because of its damn-the-budget effects.)

  • Mr. Rational

    Ken, or Sandy, or anyone else who’s gonna be there…what’s the parking situation like?

  • Ku

    I’ve been there. The parking situation is easy as can be. Huge, empty-on-a-Saturday parking lots right next to the venue. Not an issue unless something has dramatically changed since last time.

  • Mr. Rational

    Roger that, Ku. I feel a yee-hah comin’ on.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Yippie-ki-yay, mother….well, you know the rest.

    My departure’s imminent. See you guys soon!

  • BeckoningChasm

    Okay. And…?

  • Not-So-Great Cthulhu

    Perhaps the line-up was so horrible it drove them all irrevocably insane.

  • Mr. Rational

    I dunno. I was actually insane BEFORE the festival. In any case, I had a tremendous time, and I want to thank Ken and Sandy for putting it on, and Kirk and Patty for talking to me at dinner, and everyone for being so cool. Lots of pain, lots of pain…

  • BeckoningChasm

    According to Red Letter Media, the guy who did the 7 part review of Phantom Menace is nearly done with his review of Attack of the Clones. The review is supposed to be even longer!

  • Reed

    Sadly, my health prevented me from attending. :( I hope to make the summer gathering.

  • Okay well just to clarify here is ACTUALLY what the final line-up was.

    We got in late, after feasting on either whole wheat waffles made by Wendy or possibly the flesh of the living. I get those two mixed up all the time.

    We began with Lucio Fulci’s THE NEW GLADIATORS. It warmed my heart to hear everyone cheer when Fred Williamson’s name came up in the opening credits. Then when he did absolutely nothing the entire film, my heart was even warmer listening to the non-stop griping. I count myself as a Fulci fan, but NEW GLADIATORS sucks like a Hoover.

    Second, Ken bellied up to the trough with FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC

  • I hate this stupid comment system. Anyway Ken did FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC which fooled many of us into thinking it was good for a while. Only the nauseating little kids gave away the game. Patty Draut’s daughter ordered her to “Eat the Cookie, Mother!” with a real cookie that Angela brought so that was excellent.

    Third I showed LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND TOM THUMB VERSUS THE MONSTERS, a Mexican kid’s film which dripped with saccharine awesomeness, bad costuming, and perky songs. One of my favorite parts is that one of the monsters is the “Kidnapper”. Nice.

    We then broke for tea, and brooded on the fact that our late start had cost us a movie. We ate at Purple Cow (a place trying hard for a 50s diner vibe) and then back to the trenches.

    I showed ACCIO MUTANTE from Spain based on Ken’s theory that we needed a movie to wake us up from our feast. It worked. Everyone loved it I think, not only because of the absolute bargain-basement special effects, but also because you never could tell where the plot was going – it kept tricking us.

    Ken then put on TEST TUBE BABIES for reasons best known to him (the catfight?). My daughter-in-law texted my son (who was at army camp) that BABIES was the only movie all day in which she got not one iota of enjoyment. She’s still bitter, but at least she doesn’t blame me.

    I made everyone watch THE WIZARD OF GORE based on the theory that we’d never seen Herschell Gordon Lewis before at Tfest ans it was time to pop that particular cherry for much of the audience. Everyone has been channeling “Montag!” for the rest of the week. I made my case that Guy Sajer, the person who played Montag, was the single worst actor ever to have a lead role in a movie.

    We wanted to finish with THE SEA SERPENT but my stupid DVD player wouldn’t run Ken’s crapola copy, so we showed BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS instead which of course broke everyone’s spirit.

    We never did get our act together about having some kind of theme for Tween fest. Ken was talking about how maybe it could be “texas movies”. I guess that means Larry Buchanan.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I’m surprised someone thought Test Tube Babies was the worst movie. Maybe it is if you’re not a guy, what with the surprising amounts of skin on display. It certainly wasn’t that good, but I didn’t even think it was a top contender for the Fest’s worst movie.

    Even if she hadn’t been a delightful young lady, Kirk and Patty bringing their daughter along would’ve been worth it just for the cookie thing.

    And thanks to Angela for bringing them again!

  • GalaxyJane

    I missed Angela’s cookies? Dammit! Those were a highlight last year. Having experienced the dreadful, incestuous, overly-powdered mess that is “Flowers in the Attic”, that is about the only thing that might have taken away some of the pain.

    I don’t know, “Test Tube Babies” struck me as not only one of the dullest, but one of the least exploitative exploitation flicks I’ve ever seen (or owned). Especially since it doesn’t deal with test tube (in vitro) babies at all, but with the far more prosaic subject of artificial insemination.

    “Beast of Yucca Flats” is duller though.

    I think I am saddest about missing the Spanish and Mexican pics, although it’s a toss up between those and the cookies. You guys were definitely not adequately replaced by my ER full of crazies. Although the lady who thought she was on an airplane and that the corpsman was the pilot was mildly entertaining.

  • Rich

    I’m just glad that the theme wasn’t actually tweens. After THE NEW GLADIATORS gave permanent retinal burns to anyone who had the gall to actually look directly at the screen, the theme of “punishingly abusive lens flares” seemed to emerge for awhile.