San Francisco's underground drag phenomenon, filmmaker and cult leader Peaches Christ is back again this summer with a new season of Midnight Mass, and the film series premieres this 4th of July weekend with the "most American movie ever screened," Paul Verhoeven's 1995 masterwork, Showgirls. Some call it a camp classic, others call it trash, but we would argue that Showgirls is a truly rare breed among cult films: a high-budget Hollywood tits-and-ass flick written and directed with intentional, intelligent, subversive wit by screenwriter Joe Esterhaz (Flashdance, Basic Instinct) and director Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers).
Elizabeth Berkeley gives a gloriously intense and terrible performance as Nomi Malone, a whore/dancer with a heart of steel and a punishing desire to dance topless on the Vegas stage.
There are multiple not-so-subtle references to Hollywood classics in the film (All About Eve in particular), and if you've never seen it, or if you've only half-seen it while stoned and you passed out part way through, we insist you give it another watch. (Or any of the other films on this list we made a few weeks back.)
If you're lucky enough to be in San Francisco this weekend, be sure get tickets early for one of the two screenings at the Bridge Theater, Friday and Saturday, complete with a Vegas-y pre-show (Peaches is promising a volcano), and special guests Patrick Bristow (Marty, the red-head dance instructor) and Rena Riffle (who played Penny/Hope).
And now, as an added bonus, please enjoy this, one of our favorite scenes from the film, and featuring Nomi having her first big-time rehearsal with Marty and a choreographer named Gay. "Thrust it! Thrust it!"
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