Just in time for Halloween, Nice Guys Pizza in downtown Cape Coral is set to host a screening of “Twisted Issues,” a late ‘80s psycho-punk splatter comedy film that encapsulates an era of punk music, skateboarding, and horror.
The free screening will take place on Thursday at 8 p.m. at the popular bar, restaurant, and music venue. Attendees will have the opportunity to view a newly restored version of the film for the first time. Copies of the film will be available on Blu-ray, and Director Charles Pinion will also join the event via Zoom for a live question-and-answer session.
The 1988 cult film smoothly bridges the gap between generations with timeless themes. It was filmed in Gainesville on a now-broken, yet preserved, RCA camcorder given to Pinion by his father.
“Twisted Issues” was initially intended to document only Gainesville’s underground scene, but with the help and inspiration of collaborators, horror was added to the mix.
The movie focuses on a murdered teen skateboarder, who, with the help of a mad scientist, is raised from the dead with a skateboard attached to his foot on a path to vengeance. The film features horror themes intertwined with fast-paced punk music, capturing the late 1980s skating culture.
37 years later, it is considered a nostalgic period piece, and Pinion is excited to showcase his movie again.
“It’s a kind of psychedelic thrill ride,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what the result would be, but I just thought we had this great scene, and it was just gonna disappear into memory unless someone bothered to document it. That was what motivated me to start shooting it way back then.”
The film has recently garnered a cult following, as evidenced by its reviews on Letterboxd. And due to fan demand, Pinion wiped off the dust from the original VHS and transferred it to Blu-ray, formally digitizing it. This restoration was released in July and is now being screened in theaters and at various events.
“The interest in the film, I didn’t really realize until not that long ago that there was something called Letterboxd,” he said. “I had no idea it existed. And a friend of mine from Gainesville said, ‘Hey, you have a lot of fans on Letterboxd.’ I’m like, ‘Huh?’ And sure enough, all three of my shot-on-video movies are being amply reviewed,” he said.
The rerelease will include bloopers and footage from some of the bands in the film. It will also include house party gigs from that time and interviews with Pinion.
Pinion (right) playing in a band.
“The quality is better than it’s ever been. No one, including me, has ever seen it look this good because of the digital element. It literally is recording the tapes just as they came through the camera as opposed to editing with VHS or tape in general,” he said.
Before he made the movie, he worked as a high school arts teacher and took a liking to punk because of his students. At 29, and full of inspiration, he quit his job, focused on DIY, and made the film.
“I quit teaching, started printing t-shirts, started a t-shirt job. I started playing in bands and doing art in Gainesville,” he said.
Charles Pinion
Because he was in the scene, collaboration came easily. He was able to get friends and band members to hop on the movie to help out. However, what didn’t come easily was the editing process, which in the late ‘80s had yet to reach the accessibility it has now.
“My least favorite part probably was trying to edit it back then, before computers and before a lot of the things that make it easy to edit video today. So there was a lot of tedium in the post-process,” he said.
At the time, it was all he had access to, but he and his team built the movie from the ground up, including the effects, actors, and even the film’s score, all while adhering to the DIY ethos that inspired the movie in the first place.
“I have to say that as an artist and storyteller, I desired to use the best thing I had access to, and that remains today,” he said.
Now that he has modern technology in his hands, he plans to release more movies, including his next one, which will be shot in 4K.
According to Pinion, making a movie is now more possible than ever, even with a low budget.
“If you want to make a movie, you can make a movie,” Pinion said. “Nowadays, you can shoot on your phone if you really want to tell a story. I think that making art is just doing things you’re passionate about. I think that if we all followed our passions, we’d have a much happier world.”
Pinion hopes to continue releasing movies. If you have any questions for him, you can ask them during the live Q&A at the event.
Nice Guys Pizza is located at 1404 Cape Coral Pkwy E in Cape Coral.