Slumber Party 2 at Circle Cinema

Michael Champlin from The Tulsa Project joins us today with some news from Tulsa's own indie movie theater, Circle Cinema. Take it away, Michael!

In a city which came of age in the golden era of Hollywood, it's not all that surprising to find that at one point in its history the city of Tulsa had a collection of world-class movie theaters.

There were a multitude of Art Deco movie houses downtown, not to mention the Delman at 15th and Lewis, the Brook (now a restaurant) on Brookside, and last (though certainly not least) the little-theater-that-could, the Circle at Whittier Square. Constructed in 1928, the theater remains the oldest existing theater in Tulsa.

But, enough with the history lesson. Lets talk movies. 




The Circle is Tulsa's one-and-only independent movie theater. This is important for a lot of reasons, especially if you like
 foreign films, indie films, short films, classic films, film festivals and, well, sticking it to the multi-plex cinema-loving man.

The Circle also has a one-of-a-kind, once-per-month tradition: The showing of a vintage cult, pop culture, sci-fi or horror movie at midnight the last weekend of the month call Midnight Movies. The late-night showtime ensures a crowd that's just as excited to be there as you are, with the absolute minimum of chatty teenagers in the row behind you (it's past curfew, after all) and the absolute maximum of popcorn-munching movie junkies.

Recent screenings have included Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ghostbusters and Eraserhead. The folks at Circle Cinema take pains to get many of the movies the old-fashioned way, as film prints rather than digital versions. There's something about that classic pop of the film projector, scratched film and reel changes that lends the whole affair a bit of charm.

"It adds to the experience of it," said Joshua Peck, Midnight Movie programmer at the Circle. "Some of these films, you see it too clean up on the screen and I think it kind of devalues the whole thing."

Midnight movies, those are fun times. But they're made even better by the Circle's upcoming event: The second annual all-night horror movie lock-in lovingly titled "Slumber Party 2: Join Us," on Saturday, July 24, starting at 10pm.

That's right - an all-night horror movie slumber party.

The show will start with a brand-new film print of Sam Raimi's classic 1981 horror masterpiece The Evil Dead. The night will continue with four lesser-known horror movies throughout the night, the titles of which won't be announced until the night of the event.

In case that's not enough to convince you, the $20 admission price also gets slumber party movie goers free Joe Momma's pizza, bagels from Old School Bagel Cafe for breakfast and half-price concessions all night.

There will also be limited edition posters and t-shirts for sale that will only be available to event attendees, all designed by local artist Dan Fritchie. Plus, look for other "unexpected surprises," according to Peck.

And, if you stay all night, you get a refund of $5 on the price of your ticket.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 9th, at noon, but don't wait, because this show, like last year's, is expected to sell out. They're $20 per, which is a bargain for all-night, one-of-a-kind, uber-indie entertainment.

Circle Cinema Slumber Party 2: Join Us
Where: 12 S. Lewis Ave.
Cost: $20 (with $5 back if you can manage to stay all night), available on circlecinema.com
Call: (918) 585-3456
Web: 
http://www.circlecinema.com/