Showgirls @ Northwest Film Forum

📆 Sunday, January 14th
🎟 $13+
📍 Northwest Film Forum: 1515 12th Ave, Seattle

From fanny packs and blazers to reboots of shows like Saved by the Bell and Will & Grace—whether in fashion or what we watch, ’90s nostalgia continues to stay in full effect. So, it’s a good thing that Northwest Film Forum will start the year off by screening the queer cult classic Showgirls (1995). 

As part of Mourning Sickness, a quarterly showcase of cult and camp classics hosted by drag queen Monday Mourning, this erotic thriller starring Elizabeth Berkley is a story about sexuality and success in a showgirl-packed Vegas strip. It’s a parable about the risks of chasing stardom—and despite copious amounts of nudity, the movie was a box office flop, earning less than half its estimated 45 million dollar budget. It also hurt Berkley’s career, relegating her to B and TV movies. How meta of a movie about the pitfalls of fame to destroy its leading lady. 

But even though many audiences and critics hated Showgirls, redemption came in the form of home movie sales, which topped over $100 million. The film built an underground following for those who appreciated it for exactly what critics bashed: its over-the-top, melodramatic outlandishness. Showgirls is now regularly reclaimed through sing-alongs, private screenings, and musical parodies by the queer community. 

At this event, dress to impress by putting on your best Ver-sayce. Come for the 8 pm pre-show drag performance by host Monday Mourning, and bring your tips. (And here’s a tip: Check out the documentary You Don’t Nomi before going. It’ll help you understand Showgirl‘s legacy and how this cinematic catastrophe became a cult classic.)

💌 Be Our Pen Pal! Find out what’s happening in Seattle by subscribing to our newsletter.