April Cult Movie Night: Dragonslayer & The Dungeonmaster | Rivoli Theatre & Pizzeria

The beacons are lit! Brave cinema fanatics, the kingdom of the Rivoli once again calls on you to muster a group of your bravest friends and set out for a Cult Movie Night full of D&D… Dragonslayer and The Dungeonmaster, that is!

Join us on Saturday, April 26th for two fan favorite fantasy films, starting with the breathtaking Dragonslayer followed by the wildly inventive video-game adventure The Dungeonmaster!

As always, we’ll have specialty cocktails, cult movie night buttons, plus pre-show video entertainment loaded with cult film facts and vintage video clips of the rarest, most legendary status.

Get your ticket today and we’ll see you in the dragon’s den on Saturday, April 26th!

5pm: Doors open
5:30pm: Cult Movie Night pre show entertainment

6pm: Dragonslayer (1981)
Directed by Matthew Robbins
A surprisingly dark, medieval fantasy, Dragonslayer tells the tale of young Galen, a wizard’s apprentice who is sent to rescue a nearby kingdom from the monstrous demands of a 400-year old dragon. Along the way, Galen must learn to use his meager magic for more than just parlor tricks, as he faces off against a ruthless captain of the guard and a capricious king, one who is willing to sacrifice anything (or anyone) in order to save himself from the dragon’s fire.

A co-production between Disney & Paramount studios, the audience of 1981 was shocked by Dragonslayer when it was first released. Mature in subject matter and tone, and featuring adult themes (not to mention brief nudity), Dragonslayer was a far cry from other Disney-branded content of the time. However the film also earned rave reviews from the likes of Siskel and Ebert, who praised it for its “courage to be grungy” and “first-rate special effects.” Indeed, the real star of Dragonslayer is the dragon itself, a truly monstrous creation brought to life by the team at George Lucas’ recently minded Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Hot off the successes of Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, innovative ILM artists such as animator Phil Tippet and production designer Elliot Scott used both state of the art animatronics and innovative camera techniques to create the dragon Vermithrax Pejorative, a larger than life creature whose influence on all things fantasy can still be felt to this day. Modern day luminaries continue to sing the film’s praise – among others, author George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) have called Vermithrax the greatest dragon in cinematic history.

8pm: The Dungeonmaster (1984)
Directed by Rosemarie Turko, David W. Allen, John Carl Buechler, Peter Manoogian, Ted Nicolaou, Charles Band, Steve Stafford

Stop us if you’ve heard this one: when a mild-mannered man of Earth gets sucked into an underworld realm ruled by a demonic overlord he must rely on his creativity and cunning to defeat his enemies before his spirit is doomed for eternity! No, we’re not talking about A Minecraft Movie…obviously we mean the classic 1984 anthology film The Dungeonmaster!
Seeking to capitalize on the arcade craze of the 1980s and the popularity of such films as Tron (1982) and War Games (1983), director, producer, and founder of Empire Pictures Charles Brand originally conceived of The Dungeonmaster as a far darker take on the video game/fantasy film, one where “a gamer goes through the seven levels of hell.” Originally called Journeys Through the Darkzone, the film would undergo several different titles and script iterations before landing on The Dungeonmaster, the name itself a ploy to entice players of the ever-popular TSR game Dungeons and Dragons. In fact the name change was so successful that TSR productions forced Brand to include a disclaimer on all advertisements for the film clarifying that despite the cool name, it was not a licensed Dungeons and Dragons product. By the time filming began, The Dungeonmaster was much lighter and more comedic in tone, a true genre mash-up anthology co-directed by a team of talented editors and stop motion effects animators. The result is one of the best hidden gems of the 1980s, a film that defies “so bad it’s good” expectations and continues to win audience’s hearts thanks to its over-the-top premise and performances, specifically that of Richard Moll (TV’s Nightcourt) as the deliciously demonic dungeon master himself, Mestema.

Featuring a notorious music sequence starring the heavy metal band W.A.S.P., The Dungeonmaster is one of our all-time favorite cult movies, and we couldn’t be more excited to give it the Cult Movie Night treatment it so richly deserves. So get your ticket today and as the saying goes, “reject this reality and substitute it with one of our own!”