There's a new movie-watching experience in town. On the third Wednesday of every month, a small group of cinema buffs are watching unconventional films in unconventional spaces.
Last month, Second Screen Cult Cinema--a Tampa-based film series that allows people to experience cult cinema in a sophisticated, lounge-type setting--screened Peeping Tom, a 1960 British voyeuristic thriller, as its inaugural screening at The Vault.
Ann-Eliza Taylor, a co-founder of the series, said the goal is to fill a cinematic void. She said the Tampa Theatre does a good job of showing indie and art films and local cineplexes do a good job of showing current blockbusters, but there are few opportunities to view cult cinema: movies that have garnered a following because of their offbeat, quirky nature.
"These aren't necessarily films we think everyone's going to love and embrace," Taylor said. "But they're films that make you think, they're engaging and they create a dialogue."
Taylor also said cult films aren't appreciated until decades after their release, or they're so bad that they eventually become good.
Michael Martz, another co-founder of the series, said that there's no telling how long Second Screen Cult Cinema will last. However, he has curated enough films to last a few years.
"We have at least fifty films picked," he said. "Years and years of films."
"We could go for decades," Taylor said.
The next film will be David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, which will show on Wednesday. Each showing has a suggested donation of $5. For more information, visit http://secondscreencultcinema.org/
