Courtesy of Talesfromthedead.com
“The Room man! There’s gonna be spoons a-flyin’!” a scruffy red-hoodied Room fan proclaims to settle the matter of whether or not he and his friends should stuff their pockets full of plastic spoons before making their way over to The International House, 3701 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, Pa. for the Oct. 22 midnight showing of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult classic The Room. This fan was Jake Swiatek, who was gathered in his brother Max Swiatek’s South Street apartment along with a handful of other friends, who all ponied up $12 to see again the worst film ever made, masquerading as a black comedy after Wiseau got lambasted for its serious production.
The basic premise of The Room features Wiseau as Johnny, a successful banker, who is extremely devoted to his fiancée Lisa. Lisa is a beautiful blonde who gets bored with Johnny and decides to start an affair with his best friend Mark. She wants to break off the engagement with Johnny, but her overbearing mother Claudette won’t let her, saying over and over that Lisa will not be able to financially support herself unless she gets married. The Room was really Wiseau’s baby. He financed the $6 million budget for the film out of his own pocket, which, when you see the production quality, really begs the question of what he could’ve possibly spent that much money on. Not to mention, he wrote, directed, produced and starred in it.
So how was The Room re-released from its depths of filmic failure?
This is how it works at the International House: The Ibrahim Theater at the I-House is affiliated with Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. If you’re in the mood to see a film on the big screen, head over to the Prince and put in your request at the box office. If the theater already has the film in their collection, there is not much of a lag from request to screen time, but if they need to obtain the rights to show a film, they will wait for multiple requests for the film to tell them that the viewership will be there.
Sometimes, if the requested films are current enough for a general draw they will actually be shown at the Prince Music Theater in center city. Otherwise, the showings will be pushed to the more bohemian I-House. In the case of The Room, the Ibrahim at the I-House was the perfect venue for a select group of initiates to enjoy Tommy Wiseau’s show in Rocky-Horror Picture Show style.
On the other side of the subway ride from South Street to 37th Jake, Max and friends were already littering the sidewalks with spoons hurled at each other and dub-stepping in between shouts of “Oh hi Mark!” In the theatre it was even better.
Once the lights dimmed, a group of around 10 guys was ready to supply the real soundtrack. Tommy Wiseau’s credits flashed dramatically on a black backdrop to cheers of “Yeah Tommy!” and “Tommy again!” Establishing shots of San Francisco ran rampant, including an excruciatingly long pan of the Golden Gate Bridge. Over every pan of the bridge, which occurred at least five times throughout the movie, these guys were ready with a chant of “Go! Go! Go! Go! Alcatraz!” when the pan finally ended in a lingering shot of the island prison, spied through bridge cables.
There was a fuzzy quality throughout other establishing shots of slanted San Francisco streets that met with the guys’ admonishing “Focus…focus…” And when the image finally would come into focus, raucous cheers erupted from all corners of the audience. The plot called for some commenting as well. Every time Claudette told Lisa, “You can’t support yourself without Johnny” shouts of “Because you’re a woman!” went up.
The only scene of the movie allowed to play out as originally shot was the Flower Shop Scene (definitely worthy enough for the caps!) YouTube it if you haven’t seen it before. It was openly declared to be the best scene in the movie as all the commentators shushed each other to hear it. There is no pausing in the dialogue between Johnny and the flower shop attendant. The run together lines end up meaning something hilariously different than they would have with the appropriate spacing.
And the audience loved every minute of it. So…good pick Room requesters of Philly. Keep ‘em coming.
