Matinee

Again, on paper, Richard Martin’s film sounds like a typical slasher flick, but is, in reality, almost an anti-thriller with some pretensions to the arthouse. The director is more interested in the eccentric characters who work or frequent the Paramount theatre. Not a bad thing, of course, but it is at the detriment of the slasher thriller aspects, which take a back seat. The film also doesn’t really hang together in any accepted sense. Murders often occur in isolation, and then shifts back to a kitchen sink drama, a car chase, or another seemingly unrelated scene, most of which are unconnected to the central mystery. Other cinema set horror/slasher films thrive on a sense of isolation; of being locked in with a mystery killer, but MATINEE never really builds up any head of steam, suspense-wise, up to its muddled conclusion. Admittedly, there are some arresting images, juxtaposing the murders on the screen with those happening for real behind it—but it has been done better elsewhere. The coherence of the narrative isn’t helped by the fact that there simply isn’t much coherence. It’s also not helped by a soundtrack that seemingly throws in screaming guitar stings and abstract, discordant noises with abandon. At times, MATINEE feels like an Italian horror film dubbed into English (and not in a good way).
 
Despite its reputation as a made-for-TV movie, MATINEE was actually intended for cinemas and had a brief theatrical release in Canada. It was shot with the participation of Téléfilm Canada on 16mm film, but features a smattering of topless nudity that would have presumably kept it off many small screens. It was filmed on locations around British Columbia over 25 days in October 1988 on a budget of $1.2 million. The film’s cinema location was actually comprised of four sites in Chilliwack and Vancouver, with the theatre audience in the film made up of 200 local drama students at the frigidly cold, unused, and unheated Vogue Theatre (which had shut its doors a year previously). The director, who was the son of comedian Dick Martin (of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In), had previously made documentaries and experimental films, said he made the film purely for commercial reasons and actually wanted to make movies for children. The first five minutes were shot as a promo to raise the budget to make the rest of the movie. Hinting at the film’s rather confused approach, actress Gillian Barber said, “It’s not a slasher film at all. It’s more Hitchcock than Friday the Thirteenth.” Martin told The Vancouver Sun, in December 1988, that the film originally started out as a more conventional slasher movie; he said, “I started getting interested in the characters. A lot of blood went out, and character development came in.” He elaborated, “It became a story about a bunch of people who have lost their ability to know what’s real and what’s not.” Marke Andrews, in The Vancouver Sun, gave it a somewhat decent review in February 1990, saying, “Matinee isn’t going to set anyone on its ear, but it is a respectable debut for film-maker Richard Martin.” It was released outside Canada with the nonsensical title MIDNIGHT MATINEE.
 
Ultimately, while the film is certainly unique, the shifting of intentions during development means it doesn’t really work as a horror thriller, but might be worth a look for those with a taste for something that strays from the norm. 

MATINEE (1989) (Trailer)