Christy Dishes out the trash

What the hell is Trash Film Orgy? Who the hell is Christy Savage? What does any of this have to do with Halloween?

Trash Film Orgy is a midnight movie film festival that shows 35 mm trashy films at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento (which is supposedly haunted). Unlike the Nuart in Westwood or the Grindhouse Festival in Hollywood, Los Angeles, TFO at The Crest has live stage shows, games, and even a retro lounge. So what is so important about this? Female Christy Savage, a pretty scary woman herself, heads it!

Christy isn't just your run of the mill geek who had nothing better to do on a Saturday night. Well, actually, she probably is, but she also had some luck and some good friends on her side when she decided to involve herself in this strange 'business'.

Well...a friend of ours (Keith Lowell Jensen) had been doing a movie show called the Tuesday Night Grindhouse with transplanted So Cal friends (RJ and Leesa Gallantine)...meanwhile my husband Darin Wood and I had been doing a cable access TV show about horror and exploitation cinema called DETH'S OOGLY HED... Next thing you know, Keith calls up the fabulous Crest Theatre and somehow convinces them to take a chance on doing midnight movies our way and Keith, Darin and I embark on a new venture.......we bring in a few other talented folks and here we are 5 years later with a very successful film festival and some producer changes (Keith no longer works on the show, but we've got an awesome working relation with our other partner Amy and Sid the manager of the Crest).

What is so important, and interesting, about 'trashy' films? Why are there so many people addicted to preserving them and bringing them back?

Let me start with my definition of the "trash" film...(as with any genre or "art", the definition of such is subjective.) My definition of the "trash" film as it relates to Trash Film Orgy is not that of a "bad" film, but a film that is generally not a mainstream movie and doesn't necessarily appeal to the mass market...something out-of-the-ordinary, unusual, over-the-top...not your average blockbuster. Our films are often underground, independent, possibly even forgotten films. They fall under terms like cult films, sleepers, and exploitation films...even the occasional mainstream film that has transcended to cult status over the years (American Werewolf in London or Carrie are perfect examples of this!). The trash film by definition offers the audience something they can't find elsewhere such as excessive violence and gore, lots of T & A, gimmicks (i.e. Odorama) and just a general feeling of being a bit naughty. Films such as Blood Feast or Night of the Living Dead not only create new genres of cinema, but leave their mark on film history for generations to come...let us not take this for granted.

Unfortunately, a lot of our audience (and still some of our staff, even!) have the notion that we define the trash film as a truly bad film and that we look for the worst of the worst. This is not in any way true...we look high and low for the best in trash films and try to provide the finest in unusual and underground cult cinema. We strive to provide our audience with a truly unique and exciting theatre experience...something almost lost in these days where the home theatre is thought to be the best place to see cult films.

In Los Angeles and New York we have pretty heavy underground film screenings monthly. Even weekly!) Christy has got the Northern California scene covered (and believe me, Northern California is a completely different state from southern California).

The underground film scene in Sacramento is definitely much smaller than those in LA or the Bay Area, but there's still a healthy respect for the trash film and an awesome pool of talent here. Our city is growing really fast so there's always a new influx of talent and fun folks...we've got a really super-group of actors and crew we work with on the TFO lobby and stage shows- we made a movie earlier this year and it's just incredible how we were able to pull everyone together so fast. We're working right now on a crazy live musical version of MACBETH for our Halloween shows and it's super-exciting! It'll be the first time we've had live singing (our other musical productions, like the infamous Zombie vs. Shark Burlesque number, have always been pre-recorded), but it's awesome knowing our cast can handle it! And our audiences over the years have been really responsive to all the strange things we've done as well...we've built up a really solid core of devoted trash fans and they keep on coming back for more! We've beat all midnight movie attendance records for our town EVER...we had 600 people when we showed Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Of course, we DID have roller derby AND live meat wrestling also). I think we've certainly found a niche though...people want to be entertained-they want to see weird stuff happen in front of them and they want to feel like they're a part of it...and darn it, that's what we're providing for the trash fans of Northern California...a cult movie experience like no other!

In the last decade, especially, since the advent of the Internet and cheaper editing software and cameras, independent filmmaking has skyrocketed. Nearly half of all independent film these days can be declared 'Trash' in the nicest sense of that word if we try. Now it's extremely difficult to distinguish between the intentional trash and the tragically, yet beautifully classic, trash of the days of yore and beyond. Independent film is however, a phenomenon that demands to be taken into the 'trashy' consideration.

We at the TFO love independent cinema!! We want to promote independent films through our fest and our website and we want to keep making our own movies as well. We are all about making stuff happen at the TFO...about taking Styrofoam and cardboard out of dumpsters and making a lost temple set for our movie...about taking some foam and paint and making a shark suit for the musical...about re-painting the Wheel of 1000 dances from our dance party to make it into the Wheel of Discipline for our S&M game...we are all about not being hung-up on rules and regulations and restrictions but just coming up with crazy ideas, pooling our resources and making them happen! We represent the attitude of independent cinema in every project we do, whether it's a TV show, a music video, a movie, a stage show or just a silly game folks can play in the bar for prizes! We made a feature length movie this year for a measly $3500 with an all volunteer cast and crew and it was awesome! We were able to show it to hundreds of people on a screen 20 feet tall at our fest and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival this summer and it's just amazing that you can do that in this day and age...15 years ago that would have been impossible!

It seems like Exploitation and bad B-movies would have a predominantly male fan base, but lo and behold, there is many a woman who spends her time studying the extremely twisted world of b-film by devoting her time to just such a film fest.

The TFOEL TIGRE DIABLO in CURSE OF THE GOLDEN SKULL was produced by Amy and I as well. And we've got a ton of fabulous ladies that work with us on TFO projects...hardworking, sexy ladies that are super-talented...not afraid to exploit their talents in sexy lingerie or pick up a drill and paintbrush and build a set!

Trash Film Orgy will continue to grow and grow until! until what? What can we expect from it?

Well, besides world domination of course...we want to continue the show at the Crest but possibly expand it to include an indie-trash fest and to maybe go on the road with it one day (that'd be fun...like spreading the gospel).
We also want to make more movies of our own and possibly another TV show. And it'd be awesome to continue to expand our website as a sort of Trash Encyclopedia. We've got tons of aspirations...maybe a cloning machine might be best to do first thing, so we can figure out how to get them all accomplished! In the meantime, we'll finish Macbeth, get through Halloween, release CURSE OF THE GOLDEN SKULL on DVD and make some more trash history here in Sacramento.

TFO will be throwing a Zombie Prom this Halloween, so if you're in the area, or just liked hearing about Christy, click here to find out more.