Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Horrible Movie Organization ‘takes bad to whole new level’

A prehistoric shark, thought to be extinct, terrorizes a beach resort in Mexico with unrealistic footage, deliberate dialogue and absurdly bad humor.Shouts of terror, commentary and even applause littered the screening room in mockery during “Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.”Welcome to the Horrible Movie Organization of Point Park University.Last Wednesday, Oct. 5, 35 students gathered in room 212 of the University Center for the third week of the revitalized Horrible Movie Organization (HMO) which is sponsored through the John P. Harris society on campus and led by junior sport, arts and entertainment management major Eric Lutz.”A movie may be bad but not laughably bad,” Lutz said. “The HMO takes bad to a whole new level.”Lutz has always had an affinity for lowly rated movies, he said in an interview after this week’s screening. Throughout middle school and high school, Lutz and his cousins would watch deliberately bad films. When he got to Point Park as a freshman cinema student, Lutz shared his favorite bad movies with friends, “and it just grew and grew.”Lutz dubbed it the “Horrible Movie Association” after careful deliberation of various names and acronyms like the “Horrible and Obscure Movie Organization.” Lutz decided on HMO as the best acronym, and the name stuck.The first film Lutz screened as a freshman was “Vampiyaz,” a 2004 film about “a hip-hop ex-con” who has to team up with vampire hunters to save his neighborhood, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) plot description. He followed this with “Zombiez,” the sister film to “Vampiyaz” and a film which the IMDB gives a staggering 1.4 rating out of a possible 10. Lutz chooses films from his vast experience with watching bad films. Often times he chooses movies that are purposefully wretched.”A lot of people come up and recommend movies to me, but I like to make sure I watch them myself to really know if they’re really bad enough to show,” he said.Lutz and the HMO lost touch during his sophomore year, but the now sport, arts and entertainment management student has started up the HMO again and has had a great start.Lutz opened up the semester with “The Room,” a romantic drama, which had over 50 people in attendance. Last week he screened “Troll 2,” a 1990 film about man-eating goblins and the fight for survival.Overall, Lutz is pleased with the turnout of viewers. He advertises mainly through a Facebook event every week and word of mouth, but he also makes fliers for each film. As the HMO grew, so did his views of it.”At first I did it to hang out with friends. Now I do it to meet new people and let anyone who wants to come have a great time,” he said.Lutz’s film watching group encompasses majors from all over Point Park, and many are faithful in coming to each showing. “[The HMO] is an interesting way to be a part of the cinema community, even though I’m not necessarily a part of it,” said senior psychology major Dave Burgman, who has attended each screening.”We watch really bad movies with really good people. It’s great,” said Zach Kaigler, a junior cinema student who is “three for three” in his attendance this semester.Lutz plans to keep the HMO going each week as long as people keep showing interest and attending the screenings.This week, the HMO will present “Dark Fields,” a 2006 horror flick about five teenagers who are hunted by a killer with an ax.The HMO’s screenings are held every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. in room 212 of the University Center.

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