Film Forum
209 W. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10014
209 W. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10014
35 people
favorited this theater
Showing 151 - 163 of 163 comments found
Bruce Goldstein is the best. He is second to none. I only wish he had a real movie theater in which to show his programs. If I had my wish there would be a American Cinemateque in the old Mayfair in Times Square along with a smaller theater where he would curate to his and our hearts content.
CoolGuyCarl, I couldn’t agree with you more. I will merely add that, in 1988, the William Castle material was a “Gimmickorama” in the fall, after, and separate from, the summer sci fi / horror festival that year. I attended that festival in 1987, 88 and 89, to be a kid again, and to enjoy, and be in awe of, all that great ‘50’s sci-fi and horror I grew up with, know by heart, and love so much.
Seeing Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Hunke at the February 1988 Beat Festival was great also.
I don’t think there was a sci fi / horror festival in the summer of 1990. When I returned to Film Forum in late August 1991 for the Hammer “Curse of Frankenstein” and “Horror Of Dracula” it was at its new location at 209 W. Houston and wasn’t the same anymore. Perhaps because I had changed, and was now about to be married. Ditto mid-September 1992 when I returned for “The Blob” and “World Without End” and had been married a year. The ambience wasn’t the same as it had been at 57 Watts Street, no more excited and talkative lines of fans waiting outside one show in advance, up against original color lobby cards mounted on the wall.
My last time to Film Forum was November 1 or 2 1998 to see “Lenny Bruce : Swear To Tell The Truth”. Some of the old ambience seemed to have returned then.
My only beef with Film Forum was a cut in 1987 from Forbidden Planet : when the monkey steals fruit from the Morbius table and Robby gently zaps him away.
The Film Forum is the best revival house in the city and has showcased some of the best films of the past century. With their retro showcase of Film Noir, 70’s films and Sci-Fi Horror Festivals, the Film Forum beats out any other Reveival house in New York (and dare I say…The World?). Film Forum got me through my Film classess at Brooklyn College with their Annual (not anymore-but why not bring it back?) Sci-Fi/Horror Summer Festival where they have shown everything from the William Castle Gimmick classics to the recent Anime explosion of the 90’s. Film Forum is where I took my wife on one of our first dates to see “Dr. Strangelove”. It is also where I saw the classic Pacino film “Cruising” for the first time. It is also where my friend Frank and I got to see Brooklyn Classic “The Warriors” over and over again. There should be a Film Forum all over the world.
When they screened the Donavan Affair they had a full cast reading of the script with sound effects. I was there and it was really something. They just had a 3D festival and it was great to see films in that format.
The Film Forum has always been an independent operation, from its beginning at 80 Wooster Street to 15 Vandam Street (which was later the home of the Thalia Soho; co-founder of the former Bleecker Street Cinema Jackie Raynal’s short-lived Le Cinematheque; and is now the Vandam Playhouse) until the late 1980s at 57 Watts Street (the since-demolished structure having once served as, I believe, either a garage of some sort or a fire station) and now at 209 W. Houston, which I’m pretty sure WAS a garage in a previous life.
This theatre has some of the best programming in American, much of it under the tutelage of Bruce Goldstein. I should add some accolades to the ones above by mentioning the enormously popular and virtually complete Fellini festival they put on, the retrospective of the films of Frank Capra…which included an exceedinly rare 1929 film called THE DONOVAN AFFAIR, for which the soundtrack was lost. It was shown here anyway. I believe that the dialogue was read aloud from a script! The Film Forum is not a trend follower but rather a trend setter.
I also have one of the old programs in my desk drawer at work, from the 1989 summer sci fi horror and fantasy festival.
I think an at least ten story office building. I would have to go take a look to be sure. It’s not hard for me, as it’s close to my place of work. Perhaps Film Forum itself can give you more information.
We should do an entry then for that theatre, whats in it’s place now?
Yes, the old Film Forum was a twin. I am not sure if Walter Reade programmed one side. I remember one screen (Film Forum 2)was revivals and the other (Film Forum 1) was avant-garde, foreign, anything else non-revival and unusual, like the Beats Festival in February 1988 where Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke showed up in person !
I was trying to remember information on the old Film Forum, was it a twin and didnt Walter Reade program one side?
The original gimmick of “The Tingler” was “spine-tingling percepto”, (seats wired for mild shocks),that of “House On Haunted Hill” was “bone-chilling ‘emergo’”(skeleton comes out of screen and passes over audience’s heads). Both were done at the old Film Forum on Watts St. west of 6th Avenue, late Sept. 1988 “Gimmick-O-Rama”, which was somehow more fun than the new one on W. Houston just east of Varick. Glad to read they’re still doing “Tingler” and “House” in the summer sci fi fantasy and horror festival in the new location.
I quite agree, it’s one of NYC’s BEST theaters !
The film forum is a triplex with three small screening room type theatres. The lobby is the best thing about it, and the popcorn is always fresh and you can buy coffee and cookies. One screen is always revival and often features brand new prints. The Film Forum has revivied The Tingler a few times during its summer schlock festival and actually wired the seats. They also ran The House on Haunted Hill in Percepto. The only complaint here is the screens are small, but this is one of the last places to see revival films in a town that once had more then a dozen theatres doing it.