Andy on the Road

Tonight, very much on a whim, I went to the Coolidge for their 3D Film Festival. Tonight’s feature was the fantastic original House of Wax, featuring the ever-creepy Vincent Price and a young, pre-mustachioed Charles Bronson.

The movie tells the tale of an accomplished wax sculptor (played by Price) who is double-crossed by his business parter in a scheme to destroy the sculptor’s works for insurance money in a fire. The sculptor escapes the fire, but loses the use of his hands. His triumphant return after the murder of his former partner surrounds taking actual human bodies, encasing them in wax, and putting them on display. The beginning of Act 2 (3D reels were complicated to wrangle and project, so even this 90-or-so minute film needed an intermission) the House of Wax opens to a gala reception. Here’s a clip of that opening, done in red/blue 3D instead of the polarized 3D we saw tonight:

Perhaps the best part of watching a 3D movie is walking home from the theatre, and the funny looks one gets along the way.

I fear people in the greater Boston area may not always remember and appreciate how grand it is to have three good indie houses (and one good corporate house showing indie flicks) in such close proximity. Here’s to the Coolidge, Brattle, Somerville Theatre, and Kendall Square Cinema. As they say in Cecil B. Demented, “Power to the people who punish bad cinema.”