An overview of HU’s B-Movie Club.
By Thad Arnold, Editor-in-Chief
Every Friday evening, students gather in the Becker Hall screening room to watch a movie. While it is not uncommon to watch a movie on campus, these students don’t expect the movie they are watching to be good. In fact, they hope for the exact opposite. These students discovered the B-Movie Club.
A B film is a low budget or poorly produced film. The term comes from the days when movie theaters played double feature films in the first half of the 20th century. The higher budget movie, often better quality, was Movie A and the low budget movie that followed was Movie B.
The B-Movie Club is the brainchild of David Rozema, Senior Animation Major, who wanted to find a way to share his passion for B-movies with the rest of the campus.
“I’ve really always loved watching these movies so bad they’re good and wanted to share that with people,” Rozema explained.
Rozema started the B-Movie Club in his second year. After less than a year, however, the students were forced to return home at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Upon their return to campus the following semester, he soon realized that the B-Movie Club should be set up. socket.
“We couldn’t have any gatherings in the screening room, and I think the screening room is very important to B-Movie Club,” Rozema said.
With students now allowed to use the screening room again due to the easing of COVID restrictions, Rozema decided to bring the club back to HU. Although the participation rate does not exceed a few students each week, he is not surprised as he realizes that “B-Movie Club is not for everyone”.
“I remember hearing people making flippant remarks, ‘Who would go for such a thing? What a weird idea: to intentionally go or watch a bad movie? and it was a little overwhelming, but we have regulars and stuff, ”Rozema shared.
So far, these regulars, as well as those who try the B-Movie Club for the first time, have been able to enjoy titles such as “Horror High”, “Crater Lake Monster”, “The Dancing Ninja”, “The Killer Shrews ”,“ Karate Dog ”and“ Robot Monster ”.
Rozema recommends the B-Movie Club to anyone with “weird, niche humor.” He also believes that a bad movie can teach someone as much about cinema as a well-done movie.
“When you watch a good movie, what’s good is almost invisible, but with a bad movie it almost increases the achievement,” he said. “If one aspect is really bad, it’s really obvious. I think it’s a lot easier to dissect the craftsmanship of a movie.
Senior Madison Morehouse has participated regularly in the B-Movie Club this semester. She loves being able to go out and make fun of bad movies every week.
“I would recommend it to people who don’t take movies too seriously and just want to have a good time,” Morehouse said.
For those interested, the B-Movie Club meets in Room 305 at Becker Hall on Fridays at 7 p.m. While riffing on bad movies might not be for everyone, Rozema believes everyone should try at least once.
Rozema goes on to say, “I didn’t think B-movies were something I wanted to watch regularly until I started doing it regularly.”
