Clue, Alamo Style

Last week was my first experience at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and I was eagerly looking for an opportunity to go again. Last night was my chance. It still wasn't for a first-run movie, but this time it was for a "retro" film that, unlike Robocop, is a true favorite of mine: Clue.

It wasn't all that long ago that I saw Clue in a theater here in Denver. But it's one of my top 10 favorite movies, so I pretty much had to go again, given the chance. And there was an extra fun twist to the way Alamo Drafthouse was presenting the film: it was a "Quote-Along" screening. Ordinarily, the theater enforces a strict no talking policy, but this time out, the audience was encouraged to act out all their favorite lines in unison with the movie.

Don't know Clue as thoroughly as... well... I do? No problem. The presentation was actually captioned. Not every line was presented on screen, but nearly all of the choice moments were, and gradually highlighted, karaoke style, to allow anyone and everyone to get in on the action. And it turns out that the only thing funnier than Madeleine Kahn's outrageous "flames" monologue is 200 people reciting it with her, verbatim.

Adding to the fun? Props! On the way into the theater, everyone received three items: a little bell, a popper, and a business card with one of the six Clue characters identified on it. An on-screen countdown led up to every one of the many occasions where the doorbell rang, and everyone in the audience was encouraged to ring their bells along with it. And the poppers? Well, there are six gun shots in the movie Clue (one plus two plus two plus one?), and they color coded each one of those with an onscreen countdown too. When the countdown corresponding to your character card came, you set off your popper in unison with the gun shot.

Basically, a little taste of Rocky Horror Picture Show insanity, but with a much, much better Tim Curry film!

I had a blast, and will surely be looking out for more of these special Alamo screenings in the future. (I'll probably skip the upcoming one, Beymageddon, which is apparently going to be four Michael Bay movies presented on-screen simultaneously in an avalanche of explosions.)