The month of August is here and that means….the return of the Free-B Film Festival, the Victoria Film Festival’s most popular free event. The Free-B Film Festival has changed location and visitors will now sit in “bleachered” comfort at the Royal Athletic Park (1014 Caledonia Avenue).
That’s right, no need to bring your own chair or blanket (well, maybe bring a blanket; this is still Victoria, after all). There are 500 seats available—socially distanced, of course—so Free-B fans will need to come early to claim a seat. Doors open at 8 pm.
Create memories every Friday and Saturday from August 13 to 28, and enjoy classic movies to share with your family and friends. Every evening at 9 pm, when the big inflatable screen pops up, you’ll be transported to a different world: a high school with a dinosaur or the stomping grounds of the kings of rock and roll. Or, twist in the wind and see the dark side of nature, visit two guys who are bent on recreating all the classics, and, on the final weekend, learn that Alfred Hitchcock can be deadly and join Roger Moore in space. Why not? It’s the summer after all.
The fabulous Free-B has hauled out some of the most fun and entertaining B movies ever! Enjoy the following flicks:
Tammy and the T-Rex, August 13: Can a film that went from concept to camera in under a month, inspired entirely by access to an animatronic T-Rex be anything but a timeless masterwork of 90s sci-fi B-movie filmaking? Denise Richards is Tammy and Paul Walker is the boyfriend whose brain has been transplanted into a T-Rex…Yes, for real. Lovers of the cinematic side streets running through B-town will love every minute.
Rock, Rock, Rock!, August 14: Tuesday Weld is Dori, a singing ‘50s teenager who has got to get enough bread together to make the prom, as well as convince her square dad to buy her a strapless prom gown. Along the way we get to see performances by Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker, the Flamingos, and many more early rock ‘n rollers.
Be Kind Rewind, August 20: When two VHS-era video rental store employees (Jack Black and Mos Def) discover that their entire catalogue has been magnetically erased, they try to fix the problem in the most logical way possible: by filming their own no-budget versions of blockbusters directly on the tapes. When their shortened B versions become even more popular than the Hollywood originals, the legal troubles begin.
Twister, August 21: Helen Hunt leads a great cast (including Phillip Seymour Hoffman) chasing and surviving hurricanes, while navigating a divorce from her rival storm chaser ex-husband (Bill Paxton). Thanks to director Jan de Bont’s insistence on some very dangerous effects, Twister became, in the words of Paxton, “traumatic fun for the whole family.”
The Man Who Knew Too Much, August 27: Golden Age legends Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart, whose earlier collaborations Rear Window, Vertigo and Rope are regarded as masterpieces, are joined by singer/actor Doris Day in another classic thriller. It is a Hitchcock remake of one of his own early films, and it made a lasting contribution to popular culture with Day lighting up the screen with her performance of “Que Sera, Sera.”
Moonraker, August 28: James Bond in SPACE! The late great Roger Moore is 007, teaming up with the spicily named Holly Goodhead in an adventure that takes Bond from Rio de Janeiro into space to battle the villainous billionaire Hugo Drax and his mercenary henchman Jaws. This is a Bond without complicated inner turmoil; the Bond of romance and adventure, firing Star Wars-style laser guns. If you like campy fun, do yourself a favour and blast off with Bond!