Flashback Film Fest Brings Vintage Cyborgs, Bowlers, Aliens Back to Big Screen

By Kim Hughes

The Flashback Film Fest really couldn’t come at a better time than deepest, darkest winter — February 2 through 8, to be precise. It is the desert season of cinema. Marquee awards contenders have been screened over the holidays and into January, when studios tend to release their lamest ducks, and summer blockbusters are still three-plus months away. 

Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi and John Goodman haunting the lanes in The Big Lebowski.

Now in its ninth year, and billed as Canada’s only coast-to-coast film festival, the Flashback Film Fest raids the vaults for gems from bygone eras (notably the 80s and 90s) as curator, Toronto film critic and TV presenter Richard Crouse assembles a smorgasbord of action, sci-fi and comedy titles for relatively cheap freight: $8.99 per admission, $7.99 for three or more films, or complete access to all 15 films for a price of $5 per admission, or $75 total. 

For the full festival schedule and to purchase tickets (on sale today, January 12), click here.

And the titles on offer? Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Drunken Master (1978), War Games (1983), Dune (1984 and still pretty dreadful but worth it to see rocker Sting in a tricked-out metallic banana hammock), cult classic Gremlins (1984), James Cameron sci-fi masterpiece The Terminator (1984), A View to a Kill (1985), Robert Zemeckis sci-fi comedy masterpiece Back to the Future (1985), Coen brothers black comedy Raising Arizona (1987), Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D  (1991/2017), The Big Lebowski (1998 and still arguably the quintessential Jeff Bridges film), The Iron Giant (1999), plus Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s hilariously zombified Cornetto Trilogy: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013).

“We are living at a time when there is an amazing appetite for 80s and 90s pop culture and we had that in mind when selecting the films for this year’s 'Flashback Film Fest',” Crouse is quoted in a press release. 

“Many of today’s successful films and TV shows are either influenced by or pay homage to films included in the festival’s line-up. I’m really looking forward to celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Big Lebowski because if there’s ever an opportunity to see ‘The Dude’ back on the big screen, fans should abide.”

We concur, Sir. Scroll down for a complete list of participating theatres.

British Columbia

Cineplex Cinemas Langley
SilverCity Victoria Cinemas
The Park Theatre

Alberta

Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market Cinemas
Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton

Manitoba

Cineplex Odeon McGillivray Cinemas and VIP
Saskatchewan
Cineplex Cinemas Normanview
Scotiabank Theatre Saskatoon and VIP

Ontario

Cineplex Odeon Gardiners Road Cinemas
Cineplex Cinemas Winston Churchill
Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo
Galaxy Cinemas Guelph
Galaxy Cinemas Peterborough
Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP
Cineplex Cinemas Scarborough
SilverCity Newmarket Cinemas and XSCAPE Entertainment Centre
Cineplex Cinemas Ancaster
SilverCity London Cinemas
SilverCity Windsor Cinemas
Cineplex Odeon South Keys Cinemas
SilverCity Sudbury Cinemas
SilverCity Thunder Bay Cinemas

Quebec

Cinéma Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin
Cinéma Cineplex Odeon Cavendish Mall

Atlantic Canada

Cineplex Cinemas Trinity Drive
Scotiabank Theatre St. John’s