Messed Up Movies Club President, Alex DeCroix, discusses movies and community.

Transcript:

0:07: Welcome back to Chronversations. 

 0:09: I’m your host, Levi Libson. 

 0:14: At a school like Columbia College Chicago, clubs are one of the many ways that people can find a tightly knit community for the things that they love. 

 0:21: Our campus hosts a wide range of different organizations, each offering different spaces to explore interests that might not always fit into a classroom. 

 0:28: With students feeling whipsawed between the pressure of work and classes, these groups can often present new opportunities for community and escape from the stress that comes with their everyday academic lives. 

 0:38: This week, I spoke with Alex DeCroix, president of the Messed Up Movies Club, a perfect example of a niche yet wildly fun community. 

 0:45: I’m Alex DeCroix, he/him. 

 0:48: I’m a junior film and television major here, and yeah, I’m president of Messed Up Movies Club. 

 0:53: So what first got you interested in disturbing horror movies? 

 0:57: Well, it sort of happens by accident. 

 1:00: I mean, I’m a crazy, insane movie person. 

 1:03: I’m also president of Cult Cinema Club. 

 1:06: And you get deep enough into insane national cinemas that you start to uncover those sort of darker places and find yourself finding films that have different things to say. 

 1:20: And so you sort of tumble down that rabbit hole. 

 1:21: I was, you know, chosen by, the last board of Messed Up Movies Club to, to be president. 

 1:28: which, you know, I’m very, very thankful for. 

 1:31: Do you know how long this club has been going on for? 

 1:33: You said it was kind of handed off to you by the board members of it. 

 1:36: Yeah, yeah, it’s a relatively new club, it just started last calendar year. 

 1:40: Similar to riding a rollercoaster, there’s a certain level of thrill in the uncomfortable, witnessing movies that might disturb the average viewer, then unpacking it with other students. 

 1:48: Often lends itself to unique perspectives on tourism and subsequent filmography. 

 1:53: It’s as if you’re allowing yourself to take in the full picture. 

 1:56: would you say there’s a difference between like shock for the sake of shock and a film that uses disturbing imagery, meaningfully? 

 2:03: Yeah, I mean, that’s something that’s overwhelmingly interesting to us at Messed Up Movies Club. 

 2:08: We talk about that a lot, whether or not, you know, sort of the disturbingness or the messed upness of a certain film is, either earned or warranted. 

 2:20: Of course, I don’t think you can necessarily think about art as something that is earned and or warranted. 

 2:25: It simply is, and is something that you have to take at its value, at its, sort of standing point. 

 2:32: You have to sit next to the piece, look at the piece, and give it a little kiss and try to understand it. 

 2:39: Why do you think people enjoy watching movies that make them uncomfortable? 

 2:42: Well, that’s what life is. 

 2:43: Life is uncomfortable. 

 2:45: there are things that, you know, are supposed to upset you, and you want to be able to deal with those emotions. 

 2:50: I mean, if we just watched movies that were like Pixar every day and every night and didn’t wanna, you know, challenge ourselves in any way and, fight against those established norms of what a movie can be and what a movie can say to you, then, I mean, what in the name of God are you doing watching a film? 

 3:07: I mean. 

 3:07: I get you. 

 3:08: It keeps it interesting. 

 3:09: Kind of keeps you on your toes. 

 3:10: It’s a whole another almost sensation for sure to explore. 

 3:15: How often does this club meet? 

 3:16: Yeah, we meet every Monday night. 

 3:19: doors open at 6. 

 3:20: We start our sort of like pre-show at 6:30, and then we roll that film at about 7. 

 3:26: We usually go until 9:30 or 10 o’clock. 

 3:28: We do sort of a post-film discussion afterwards. 

 3:32: We have a little ballot that says, you know, rate the film 1 to 10, enjoyable, 1 to 10 disturbing. 

 3:36: and then we sort of have a huge discussion about You know, whether we liked the movie, or what we thought the movie was trying to say, whether we thought it said it well, and, the various, you know, moral and, sociological and psychological themes that run throughout the motion picture. 

 3:54: But no, yeah, it happens every Monday. 

 3:56: We have sort of a very, you know, relatively tight-knit crew of regulars that come in and out, in and out. 

 4:04: generally, we sit around 15 or 10 folks in that room. 

 4:08: so we do love to do sort of collabs that way we get sort of a little higher numbers. We hit that sort of 2025, which is always really exciting for us. 

 4:17: Why do you think communities like this one are important for film culture? 

 4:20: No, yeah, I mean, without people to talk about movies, I don’t think there would be movies. 

 4:27: The most exciting thing about being able to do a club like this is that you get to, well, number one, have that community. 

 4:36: And number 2, talk about things in movies that might upset you or that need to be talked about. 

 4:44: We want to see movies made by unique voices. 

 4:48: And that I think is what’s great about Messed Up Movies Club. 

 4:51: It’s a place where we can amplify the voices that aren’t heard in mainstream cinema, which is really, really beautiful and something that I feel very lucky that we’re able to do. 

 4:59: So awesome. 

 4:59: Is there anything else you’d want to say to anybody? 

 5:01: You guys should come. 

 5:02: It’s really good. 

 5:03: I mean, like I said, yeah, I mean, it’s still Messed Up Movies club, so we do show things that will upset you, but we unpack it and ask ourselves, oh man, why did that upset me? 

 5:15: And we take that and we build a little community around, you know, all of, all of the people that are there, you know, sort of build a little family and Get to have those serious conversations in a safe space where people who love movies and love media are able to, you know, work through those, those, those big topic issues, things that are really important and are important for everybody to, you know, learn about and talk about today. 

 5:43: Make sure to stay up to date with campus and Metro news at Columbia Chronicle.com. 

 5:48: I’m Levi Libson. 

 5:49: Thanks for listening. 

Copy edited by Brandon Anaya