Whether it's ghouls and lots of tits and ass (1987's Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama) or love-funk '70s novelties (1976's The Van with Danny DeVito), schlock films have always had a market. Now on Monday nights, they have a home at the Empire Room.
Fire-breathing ants and slack-jawed nurses may cause some viewers to scoff. But when movies are bad enough, they take on lives of their own, attracting fans as voracious as flesh-eating manhole covers. Just as any dedicated viewer of Comedy Central's legendary Mystery Science Theater 3000 can appreciate the joy of layering silly commentary over ridiculous performances, B Movie Madness regulars know how to spice things up. Off-color jokes rule, from the opening credits to the final blood-curdling screams or sickeningly sweet kisses.
"We've watched stuff from David Lynch and Russ Meyer, really anything that's not mainstream," Tulipana explains.
Monday's treat is Sister Street Fighter, a slice of classic Japanese kung fu. The Street Fighter series (Street Fighter, Return of the Street Fighter and Sister Street Fighter, all 1974) are popular home-video picks made famous by Quentin Tarantino's True Romance, in which Christian Slater's character goes to see the entire trilogy on his birthday. In Sister Street Fighter, star Sonny Chiba takes a back seat to Sue Shiomi, who plays the title character in a wild martial-arts epic. It's a magical, hysterical kung fu trip with classic dialogue -- like the scene in which Sister Street Fighter threatens to destroy everything in sight but first yells, "Save the wigs!"
