Fantastic Fest 2009

After the success of EASY RIDER, a swarm of biker movies flooded drive-ins and grindhouse theaters across the country. William Dear’s NORTHVILLE CEMETERY MASSACRE – while rarely seen and virtually forgotten - comes in at the top of the list of the essential films of the 70s biker film explosion. A rowdy but well-meaning biker gang pass through a small town and find themselves easy targets when a sleazy deputy rapes a local girl and blames it on them. With the girl in a coma and unable to explain what really happened, the deputy leads the girl’s father and the rest of the town in a manhunt that culminates in a beautifullyorchestrated Peckinpah-esque bloody shootout to the death in the town cemetery! This film began Dear’s long-running collaboration with ex-Monkee Mike Nesmith, who provides the film’s lingering country-rock score. Dear and Nesmith would go on to make short comedy films for FRIDAYS and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and the music video programs they made together were the direct genesis of MTV. As an added bonus to the film, Dear has promised to bring some of these early short films and videos to play before the screening! (Kier-La Janisse)