When we were in high school our two big social scenes were football games (really!) and midnight movies. We went to the Midnighters on dates, and they were an after-prom staple. (This was long before the OC, Creek, and even 90210 -- it never occurred to us to rent a mansion, hire a band, and hold an orgy after the prom, or to make the prom itself into an orgy. Everyone remained fully dressed at least until they left the ballroom.) The center of the Midnighter universe, of course, was Rocky Horror, but we also saw films like 200 Motels, Pink Flamingoes, Heavy Metal, Rock and Roll High School, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and The Wall. The last time I went to a Midnight Movie, and the last time I saw Rocky Horror in a theater was (gasp!) in 1990. I believe that it couldn't have been too much later than the early 90's that the midnight movie scene came to an end. I've often wondered if it had to do with legal or liability concerns -- having such a largely high school-aged crowd out til two in the morning -- or if the rise of home video made people less likely to go to the theater, period. (Although, several key MM films, like Rocky and Heavy Metal, were not available on home video for some time.) With my circle, I suppose that coming of legal age and being able to go to bars supplanted the status of the midnight movies. But there'd have been a fresh crop behind us with nothing to do after dark. Except...you know....

Also, I know that very large cities did -- and still do -- have midnight movies. Rocky still shows somewhere in Atlanta. But sometimes I wonder how widespread the midnight scene was in the first place. Back in the greater Harrisburg area there were never more that two theaters that ran midnighters. Usually just one -- the Capitol City Cinema. (This doesn't count several drive ins that showed late night movies in the summer and which, sadly, no longer exist.) My core group were major midnight afficianados, and many more of our classmates were semi-regulars. But I've never heard other folks of a similar age talk about their own midnight movie experiences -- not college friends or folks I've met in Georgia, not folks I've worked with, etc. So, while central PA was never the capital of hip, was it perhaps unusual for such a suburban spot to have a bustling midnight movie scene?

Or was it all the product of Frank's crazed imagination?