Regal Announces ‘Deep Cuts’ Screening Program

Recent trends in the theater business haven’t been all bad. I mean, they’ve been MOSTLY bad, but one positive is that it’s never been easier to see an older movie on the big screen again. Third party companies like Fathom have made it possible for just about anything to get a second chance on the big screen. It seems to have become enough of a thing for Regal Cinemas itself to consider their own version of sorts. Introducing Deep Cuts, a new theatrical program that brings lesser-known yet well-loved cult movies back to theaters for a night or two of glory.

So what’s playing? Deep Cuts starts as soon as next week and here’s the first seven days of films:

• 11/1: Oldboy
• 11/2: Bait
• 11/3: The Handmaiden
• 11/4: Incendies
• 11/5: This Is England
• 11/6: Under the Skin
  • Kids programming: Zathura
• 11/7: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

The wildest pick here is the original Oldboy, a Korean tale of revenge that has to be seen to be believed. One of the films (Under the Skin, a Scarlett Johannson pic) is so raw there has to be family-oriented counter-programming at the same time, so Regal presents Zathura, the little-known “other sequel” to Jumanji that has little to do with the game at all.

• 11/8: Thief
• 11/9: Seconds
• 11/10: Blow Out
• 11/11: Bound
• 11/12: Smokin’ Aces
• 11/13: The Devils
  • Kids programming: Rise of the Guardians
• 11/14: Drive

Week 2 has John Travolta in 1981’s Blow Out and the 1996 debut of the Wachowskis in the lesbian heist movie Bound. I had to do a double take when I saw the NC-17 The Devils there; I knew it was getting re-released (through WB’s new “Clockwork” label), but mostly through art houses. A Big Boy company like Regal usually shies away from this kind of film and especially that kind of rating.

• 11/15: After Hours
• 11/16: American Movie
• 11/17: Repo Man
• 11/18: House of the Devil
• 11/19: The General
• 11/20: The Hunger
  • Kids programming: The Dark Crystal
• 11/21: Vanilla Sky

Week 3 brings Repo Man, Vanilla Sky and The Dark Crystal with it. The General is not a film about the CGI insurance mascot, but a 100-year-old Buster Keaton comedy.

• 11/22: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
• 11/23: The World’s End
• 11/24: Blade II
• 11/25: Cowboys and Aliens
• 11/26: Howard the Duck
• 11/27: Gremlins 2: The New Batch
  • Kids programming: Addams Family Values
• 11/28: Waterworld

Okay, someone really messed up for Week 4. WHY are Gremlins 2 and Addams Family Values running at the same time? I would have paid for both, you idiots! Also they’re both family friendly; that PG-13 on Gremlins 2 was more like an overdue rating on the original Gremlins. The theme of the week seems to be eccentricity with Howard The Duck, Waterworld and the “black sheep” of the Fast and Furious franchise taking up slots.

• 11/29: Hoosiers
• 11/30: Three O’Clock High

Yeah, that’s it. The program only runs through November, remember. Which Deep Cuts intrigue you the most? Maybe Regal will do this again next year, or maybe they’ll leave the territory to Fathom.