Before Cinéma l’Amour started showing hardcore porn, 40 years ago, it opened as Le Pussycat and showed exploitation films. It was a time when Montreal’s movie palaces were struggling to stay in business due to the popularity of television and the emergence of conglomerate-owned multiplex chains. To stay afloat, dozens of theatres started showing grindhouse films (zombie, slasher, kung fu, exploitation, sexploitation, and blacksploitation films) and softcore “smut”, as it was called. Theatres like The Gaiety (Cinéma 539), The Strand (Pigalle), Le Papineau (Cinéma X), The Empress/Cinéma V (“Home of the Blue Movies”), The Snowdon, Le Chateau, The Regent (Le Beaver), and Le Francais / Metropolis (Eros) survived for years this way. And Le Pussycat (originally, The Globe) is popularly known as the first to show porn in Montreal. In 1981, it was re-christened Cinéma l’Amour.
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Montreal’s most historic porn theatre than offering cinephiles a chance watch the grindhouse fare that helped it stay afloat back in the day? On December 2nd, Cinema l’Amour opens its doors to the general public for an outrageous evening of live music (with Montreal’s premier rockabilly act, the Hellbound Hepcats), and a screening of Russ Meyer’s exploitation classic and ode to female violence, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
MC’ed by star author, newspaper columnist and former porn star/hustler Daniel Allen Cox, Grindhouse Wednesdays aims to create a dialogue around these boundary-pushing films in the name of positive change. The series will take place on the first Wednesday of every month and feature a different band and grindhouse classic each time – all to raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness through the youth support group Head & Hands. Members of the Head & Hands team will be on hand throughout the evening.
The party starts at 9PM. $10 cover, free condoms and $3 McAuslan/St. Ambroise beers. Six bucks will get you a threesome (2 beers and a popcorn). Cinema L’Amour. 4015 St. Laurent. Corner Duluth. Visit thegrindhouse.ca, cinemalamour.com or call the hotline: 514.849-6227.