B-Fest

This was such a great time! If you love B-​movies you probably don’t have a lot of folks in your life that share that same passion. However, when you go to B-​Fest, you will find many like-​minded crazies just like you. This was the first year I went and I had an awesome time. There were many different types of movies played throughout the 24-​hour period including 40’s comedy, 50’s creature-​feature, 60’s giant-​monster, 70’s blaxploitation, and 80’s sci-​fi. I was surprised at the variety of moves played and it made for a very interesting and diverse experience. One of the big highlights were the paper (only paper) plates that would fly during the annual Plan 9 From Outer Space midnight movie which all had wonderful sketches and creative sayings on them from those who brought them.
The crowd was what you would expect — rowdy, funny, and totally into it. Great quips would be fired in rapid succession throughout the movie’s run a la Mystery Science Theater. Also, between films, there would be a ten minute break to hit the restrooms or stretch out. I really liked getting to know some of the people sitting around me and finding out what their favorite movies were. One of the most unique crowds I’ve ever been in.
I would tell you to go for an experience like none other and expect to be overwhelmed by the sheer love everyone had for these hidden gems of cinema. I would also add a couple of tips for first timers: Do bring some food to snack on since you are locked in from 10pm-​7am. Do expect a noisy crowd (especially in the first few hours). Do bring any b-​movie or pop culture donations you want to make towards the raffle. Do bring some sleeping equipment if you choose to doze during the time there. Do bring some cash for the downstairs food court when it opens Saturday morning. Finally, do get your seats early. I went 15 minutes after the doors opened (this year they opened at 4pm) and about 40% of the seats were saved with random sleeping bags and backpacks. Some folks who came after the movies began had to navigate the darkness and had a hard time finding a place to sit.
As Criswell says in Plan 9, «You are interested in the unknown… the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here.»; and you will feel that same sentiment if you attend the next B-​Fest. Stay strange!

Just got back from this Movie festival. It was quite the experience. It was held at the Norris University Center at Northwestern University campus which is the student center. The doors close and it becomes a lock in from 2am till 8am so if you attend and want to stay the whole time be prepared to sleep either in the Theater, on a couch, the floor in the student center or just stay up for the whole 24 hours. The Theater itself only hold around 350 people so tickets are limited. People seems to bring all sorts of snacks and comfort items like pillows and blankets. The movies they showed, for me, brought back some nostalgia for the ones I had seen and inspired downright «holly crap this is horrible» feelings for myself for some of the ones I hadn’t seen. Truly B class movies each and every one. Also, the crowd is encouraged to be loud and make witty remakes at the movies. It was almost like being a part of a actual MST3K episode. All of the people were at the least funny and at their best hilarious with the remarks made at the movies. If you do go you’ll laugh out loud at least a few times. For sure a very unique film festival experience.

WHY did I not come to this before???
I had a great time at B-​Fest. It was my first time and I had several friends to show me the ropes and tell me what to expect. Basically B-​fest has been an ongoing event at Northwestern for over 30 years. This unique event features some of the worst B movies you will ever see but why would you pay to see such films? To riff on them of course! Riffing basically means you make fun of the movie out loud mystery science theater 3000 style. Its fun to yell out loud at the movie screen without anybody thinking you are weird and if you yell out a good riff you get big laughs from your surrounding audience members. Since this event has been going for so long they already have some long time traditions, like showing Plan 9 from outer space at midnight and the throwing of paper plates when a UFO saucer is showing on the screen during Plan 9. The festival is 24 hours so if you decide to stay the whole time they do lock you into the building after 10 pm, luckily there is plenty of spaces to crash and sleep between a couple movies you are not interested in or already seen. For me it was Galaxina and Rhinestone. If your a B-​movie fan or just a fan in general of movies I highly recommend you go to the next B-​fest and experience this craziness for yourself. This will now become a yearly outing for me.

A 24-​hour B-​movie film festival that happens every January on the Northwestern campus, B-​Fest is great fun mostly due to the wide range of films you’ll get. You can expect to see b&w sci-​fi from the 50s, blaxploitation from the 70s, bad horror & action from the 80s and 90s, and even recent cult faves like The Room. The B-​Fest crowd is lively and knowledgeable about the films; many comments will be hurled at the screen, some of them drop-​dead hilarious. Any halfway-​decent audience participation or skits done are met with rounds of applause. There’s no finer crowd in the Midwest to watch a B-​movie with.

Some of the most hilarious B-​Movies get shown every year at B-​Fest, and the comments people make are even funnier! My girlfriend and I wouldn’t miss it for anything, and every year we get a few more people who want to go.
Once you experience it, you’ll go every year.

B-​Fest is 24 hours of cinematic mayhem — if you’re coming to «enjoy the movies,» you might as well stay home. This is all about yelling back at the screen and making your fellow festgoers laugh.
B-​Fest rewards thorough preparation and caffeine consumption, so do your homework and bring a toothbrush. If you love b-​movies, you don’t want to miss B-​Fest.

There is one day of the year that’s been requested as a day off every year for the past seven years and it ain’t my birthday and it ain’t Arbor Day. It’s B-​Fest. Held the last weekend in January at Northwestern University B-​Fest is a 24 hour bad movie marathon spanning 6pm Friday until 6pm Saturday and has shown some of the worst films of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Such heyday gems as Kingdom of the Spiders and The Magnetic Monster all the way through psychedelic 60’s bombs, 70’s blacksploitation, 80’s classics and even contemporary used diapers like Baby Geniuses II and Battlefield Earth have seen screentime. But that’s only half the story, the real attraction is the MST3K-​like audience participation that takes place as well as the crowned king of B-​Movies, Plan 9 From Outer Space as the perennial midnight movie at the fest.
Get your tickets early as it’s sold out quicker and quicker every year. Show up with comfortable clothes, a pillow, a blanket, a stack of paper plates and enough lozenges to quell your inevitable laryngitis from yelling out every quip that occurs to you. It’s simply put the most fun you can have without waking up the next morning to something awkward.