The Circuit

by Jette Kernion
For nine years, Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles has spent his birthday weekend presenting a 24-hour marathon of films he's selected to a packed house of hardcore film geeks. This year's Butt-Numb-a-Thon (BNAT), which occurred Dec. 8-9 at Austin's newly opened Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz theater, was no exception.  Thousands of movie fans apply every year for about 175 available seats.

The 24-hour film festival has been occurring every December since 1999, when Knowles decided to organize an enjoyable test of film endurance. Audiences showed a surprising ability to survive movies like "Giant Gila Monster" and "Daughters of Dracula." As Knowles has gained clout in Hollywood, the lineup often has included advance screenings and special guest appearances -- Craig Brewer, Bill Condon and Zach Snyder all introduced their films at the 2006 fest. 

Moviegoers travel from around the world to attend the film marathon, with large groups from Minneapolis and Athens, Georgia making an annual pilgrimage. Some hardcore film fans fly to Austin just to wait in the standby line for a possible last-minute seat.

Profits from BNAT ticket sales fund a free monthly Saturday morning kids' movie series at Alamo.

BNAT has gained a reputation in recent years as a venue to informally test films that might appeal to a fanboy/geek crowd. In 2003, Mel Gibson showed up with an unfinished version of "The Passion of the Christ," and Peter Jackson appeared to screen "The Return of the King." The lineup for BNAT is not announced beforehand, or even at the festival until just before a film is shown.

Attendees arrived at Alamo Drafthouse last weekend prepared to spend 24 hours in a theater, carrying pillows, blankets, toothbrushes and even bedroom slippers. Veteran festgoers also carried printouts of the hints listed on Knowles' website that morning, which they used to speculate about which films might be shown. Guesses ranged from "Cloverfield" to "Iron Man" to the movie that inspired the poster for this year's festival, "Big Trouble in Little China."

The audience was enthused about Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in "Charlie Wilson's War," but raved equally about Thelma Ritter in Sam Fuller's classic "Pickup on South Street." Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" debuted to wild applause, but attendees also enjoyed Preston Sturges' directorial debut, "The Great McGinty," which opened the fest. Other soon-to-be-released films included "Mongol," the Russian historical drama acquired by Picturehouse for a 2008 U.S. release; horror mockumentary "The Poughkeepsie Tapes," which premiered at Tribeca and will be released by MGM in February; and closing film "Trick 'r Treat," helmed by "Superman Returns" co-scripter Michael Dougherty, who attended the entire BNAT beforehand.

The marathon also included clips previewing films still in progress, including two scenes from "Rambo," a five-minute clip reel from "Prince Caspian," several scenes from Pixar's "Wall-E" and recently reshot scenes from "Fanboys" (which was pulled from the BNAT lineup because of the reshoots). Most features were preceded by relevant trailers from older movies -- for example, promos for early Tom Hanks movies "The Burbs" and "Bachelor Party" screened before "Charlie Wilson's War."

Other vintage films in the BNAT lineup included 1979 drive-in film "Teen Lust," the 1962 Kirk Douglas drama "Lonely are the Brave," the ultra-mod "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," and the X-rated "Farewell Uncle Tom," from the writer-directors of "Mondo Cane." One TV show also made the cut, the new HD remaster of the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The City on the Edge of Forever." The short film "Feels So Good," from Gary Huggins ("First Date"), featured a medical procedure so disturbing that many audience members were shielding their faces ... while clapping along to the perky soundtrack.

Jette Kernion writes about the Austin film scene at Slackerwood (www.slackerwood.com). She is also a contributing editor for Cinematical (www.cinematical.com).