CLUE: 40TH ANNIVERSARY (1985)

• Director: Jonathan Lynn
• Cast: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd
• Film: 96mins (including alternate endings) | USA | Subtitles + Intermission
• Doors: 6pm | Intro + Film: 6:30pm – 9:00pm [18+]

Cult film night BAR TRASH continues at Beer Merchants Tap with a new season of films — CELLULOID JAM! — an unofficial celebration of 50 years of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975).

“IT’S NOT JUST A GAME ANYMORE.”

Six guests are anonymously invited to a strange mansion for dinner, but after their host is killed, they must cooperate with the staff to identify the murderer as the bodies pile up.

As one audience review for our BAR TRASH screening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW put it, “Tim Curry is all our sexual identity!”. Whilst the star feels everyone got somewhat carried away with the celebratory camp of the film version — Curry described his stage Frank as more of a “trucker in fishnets” — there’s no doubting his magnetic appeal for legions of fans. Here we celebrate the 40th anniversary of another of his much-loved performances, murder-mystery CLUE (1985), screening all 3 alternative endings so you really will know ‘Whodunit’!

Based on a board game we mostly know in the UK as ‘Cluedo’ (devised in 1943 by British game designer Anthony E. Pratt and first produced by Waddingtons in 1949), CLUE is a “murderously funny” comedy produced by Deborah Hill (HALLOWEEN) and co-written by director Jonathan Lynn (NUNS ON THE RUN) and John Landis (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON). Landis, who was originally slated to direct, claims to have invited playwright Tom Stoppard, writer and composer Stephen Sondheim, and actor Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO) to write the screenplay. 

CLUE stands and falls on its sublime ensemble cast, reviving the star-packed murder mystery fad of the 1970s which included films like MURDER BY DEATH (1976) and DEATH ON THE NILE (1978). The film was originally released with three alternate possible endings that each played in different theatres. Curry appears as Wadsworth, a butler, who may or may not be what he seems, depending upon which ending you stumbled into… We are showing the homemedia “trilogy ending” that sees Curry dash athletically through all three alternate realities. A cult classic. 

Polite notice: We are showing CLUE with subtitles from the best available digital source.

// Part of BAR TRASH: CELLULOID JAM, a fan-powered celebration of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Hosted by queer film fanatic Token Homo (creator of BAR TRASH and QUEER HORROR NIGHTS), all films screen with an introduction, intermission, and subtitles/captions (where possible!). Tickets £6. Adults 18+ only. Follow @tokenhomo on Instagram for news and updates. //