Movies
Cinepocalypse Shares Bloody Promo Trailer for Rare ‘Tammy and the T-Rex’ Gore-Cut Screening This June [Video]
The annual Cinepocalypse event returns to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago from June 13-20 (check out this year’s lineup), and there’s one screening this year we cannot wait for.
Back in 1994, one year after the release of Jurassic Park, a movie called Tammy and the T-Rex came along, the sort of so-bad-it’s-good gem that has become something of a cult classic over the years. The version of the film we’ve all seen is rated PG-13, but as it turns out, an R rated “gore cut” has just been found after all these years… and it’s screening at Cinepocalypse!
Yes, the newly-unearthed 35mm print will be screening for the *very first time* at the event.
In the Stewart Raffill-directed Tammy and the T-Rex, starring Denise Richards as Tammy and an animatronic dinosaur as, well, the T-Rex, “An evil scientist implants the brain of Michael, a murdered high school student, into a Tyrannosaurus. He escapes, wreaks vengeance on his high school tormentors and is reunited with his sweetheart Tammy.”
The late Paul Walker also starred in the sci-fi/comedy! Check out this brand new promo created for the event with more event news below.
AIRHEADS!
It’s all been building up to this! Twenty-five years after Chazz, Rex, & Pip shred our minds and held us hostage with squirt guns, The Lone Rangers are back on the big screen in AIRHEADS—screening from a rare 35mm print, possibly for the first time since its initial 1994 release! Brendan Fraser—effortlessly sporting luscious metalhead locks to end them all—Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler are three lovable buffoons on a mission to get their band’s demo played on the radio at any cost.
This spoof of heavy-metal culture (fitting seamlessly into our most metal year yet!) that also respects the vitality and pent-up passion behind it features a powerhouse supporting cast from the likes of Chris Farley, Chicago’s own Joe Mantegna, Michael McKean, Ernie Hudson, David Arquette, Judd Nelson, and so many more.
“AIRHEADS has always been a favorite of mine and was the most fun movie to make… ever!” says director Michael Lehmann (Heathers), who will proudly be there for our Closing Night screening. “Can’t wait to see all three Lone Rangers and Lemmy rock the big screen again. Turn it up!”
Print courtesy of the Phil Blankenship collection at the Academy Film Archive
JOE BOB BRIGGS!
John Bloom, best known as his alter ego, “Joe Bob Briggs”, is a nationally syndicated “drive-in movie critic” whose wisecracking take on B-movies was featured on two long-running late-night television shows, first on The Movie Channel and then on TNT. That tradition continues with his latest series, The Last Drive-In, currently featured on AMC’s Shudder streaming platform.
We’re beyond thrilled to bring Briggs to CFF for a rare Chicago appearance on June 18th to host a very special event, HOW REDNECKS SAVED HOLLYWOOD – a fast-and-furious two hours with America’s drive-in movie critic where he dives into the history of rednecks in America, as told through the classics of both grindhouse and mainstream movies.
Festival badges and individual tickets are available now at cinepocalypsegenrefest.com
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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