TIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

THE PHANTOM (1996) The Phantom, a.k.a. Kit Walker, aka Billy Zane is the 21st descendant of a long line of African crime-fighting heroes, out to “Slam Evil!” He dons a skin-tight purple onesie, a ton of muscles, a ring that shoots lasers and he has both a horse and a wolf to help fight his battles! The Phantom is seeking to stop the efforts of the evil industrialist Xander Drax (Treat Williams). Drax is in the midst of collecting three ancient skulls. These skulls, once combined, will give him the power to rule mankind. But watch out Drax, your partner-in-crime, Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is becoming rather fond of the handsome Phantom.

Mega Meta Action

LAST ACTION HERO is a film that lives outside of any tangible genre. It’s a movie-in-a-movie that references other movies. More specifically, it’s an action-movie-in-an-action-movie that references other action movies. The film centers around Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien), a teenager plagued with mounting hardships. Danny copes with life by skipping school and frequenting a rundown movie theater. He becomes particularly fond of the Jack Slater franchise of action films. Jack Slater(Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a fictional, unyielding detective that packs punches and corny one-liners. Slate is the quintessential action movie hero. Prior to watching a sneak peak of the latest Jack Slater film, Danny receives a magic ticket from the theater owner, Nick (Robert Prosky). The Slater film begins, the ticket starts to glow and WHOA! Suddenly Danny is catapulted into the big screen alongside detective Slater. The two pair up and soon find themselves involved in improbable car chases, epic explosions, and sporadic gunfire. While navigating through the endless action, Danny desperately tries to explain to Jack that they are in a movie and they need to literally find reality in order to survive.

HELEN HUNT. FLYING COWS. TORNADOES THAT GROWL.

These are just a few of the powerful elements bringing the thunder to this month’s Hecklevision presentation: TWISTER! This 1996 action-romance adventure film demolished box o ces and went on to be nominated for two Academy Awards. It stars Helen Hunt as Dr. Jo, a no-nonsense meteorologist who seeks to get even with every twister that dare touch ground. Her and her sassy weather squad (the sassiest being none other than Philip Seymour Ho man) are attempting to launch their latest data-retrieving robot into the eye of a tornado when the unexpected happens: Jo’s estranged husband, Bill (Bill Paxton) shows up with his new girlfriend.

Can a natural disaster repair a broken marriage? How many cows will actually fly? Hey, is that the guy from The Princess Bride? You can answer all these questions and more as TWISTER is presented in Hecklevision!

SOCIALLY, THE DUMBEST MOVIE WE'VE EVER MADE.

Mark, being a rich white dude, steals a scholarship meant for black students. 1986’s SOUL MAN is the story of one white man’s appropriation and mockery of black culture as he attends Harvard Law School – presented as a comedy. The film provides an eclectic cast of celebs including: C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, Leslie Nielsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Earl Jones.The movie’s shocking premise is only furthered by its atrocious use of stereotypes. That leads us to wonder: Why did this film get made? What purpose does it serve? These questions and more are sure to be investigated when Hecklevision and Movies in Black & White team up to present this special screening.

Nationally acclaimed bar-arcade, Ground Kontrol, is constantly adding new video games to their inventory. With every new game comes the need for a thoroughly researched write-up that contains a description of its gameplay, reception, and some obscure pieces of knowledge. These write-ups go into Ground Kontrol's ever expanding video game encyclopedia. That's where I come in.

Finding the necessary information to craft blurbs for all these games proves harder than just combing over a few Google results. Getting the goods on these games requires creative research. For example, what do you do when you get an assignment like this, “Hey, Can you write a detailed blurb regarding this widely unknown Japanese game from over 20 years ago? Thanks!”

That was the task at hand when I was introduced to The Outfoxies, the pinnacle of oddball 90s Japanese gaming. The game was never actually released in the US, so little information about it was readily available. I had to do some serious research gymnastics to get the full scoop. My quest for more info included watching YouTube gameplay videos (and skimming the dreaded comment section), scouring gaming message boards, and reading old interviews with game developers. Additionally, the arcade flyers for The Outfoxies were all in Japanese, so I sought out an interpreter to accurately retrieve the game's tagline and character bios.

Social posts, Instagram ads, seasonal campaigns and more.

How do you drum up excitement for Halloween SweeTARTS Ropes? With a good ol’ fashion whodunit. The mystery to be solved was who was responsible for taking the SweeTARTS Ropes. This two-part Instagram ad had it all: cool lights, an 80’s vampire, a robot alien and of course, a surprise twist.

SweeTARTS launched their own line of gummy candies featuring over 50 shapes.

We gave each shape its own Instagram post, complete with a sunshiny “gummy-ism” caption.