Joe Dante paid his Hollywood dues and had scored enough hits by 1993 to get his “personal” film made and out in wide release. The plot of Matinee is barely there and its characters are little more than pencil sketches. No matter, though. All that Dante wants to do is hang out again at the Saturday monster movie matinees of his youth. Any excuse to get there works for him. Dante’s main concerns are getting all of the fine details of the period setting just right and allowing John Goodman to let rip with every ounce of his screen charisma as a big-hearted, big-talking William Castle-esque independent producer/director. Goodman’s Lawrence Woolsey screens his monster movies roadshow-style, delivers the prints himself to small town theaters, orchestrates the publicity stunts and supervises the installation of all of his signature frills, from buzzers in the seats to smoke machines. It’s a look at a world now long gone, when going to a movie was an honest-to-gosh EVENT and there was scarcely a jaded eye in the house.
You’ll get the most out of this film if you’re familiar with old creature feature lore, constantly referenced and parodied here, and know your Jack Arnold from your Bert I. Gordon. The most inspired touch though is that the story is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (when Dante, born in November 1946 would have been almost 16 years old). Everybody here has World War III fever. The bombs could drop at any moment. The kids aren’t sure that they have a future. Their parents are stocking up their fallout shelters and the schools are trotting everyone through useless duck-and-cover exercises. By comparison, half-man half-ant celluloid monsters aren’t so scary anymore, but they are a great escape. Also, once you’ve realized that one of your fears is fake maybe some of your other ones are, too.