For more than 10 years, Wash. U.’s underground film club (they literally meet underground) has been screening “under-championed films.”

The club is called SPLICE. And if you don’t get the name, don’t worry, neither do the group’s members.

“I have no idea. You’d have to ask the former presidents. We were extremely underground in the beginning, just a group of friends watching films,” President LeeAnn Perry, a junior, said when asked about the group’s name.

Urban Dictionary defines an indie film as “A movie produced by an independent studio, or an unheard-of writer/director [and] tends to star actors you’ve never seen before.”
“[They’re] films that don’t get a lot of recognition, especially a lot of foreign, horror and documentaries,” Perry said.

Some movies SPLICE has already screened this year include “Holy Mountain,” a film funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “Zardoz,” a cheesy and unintentionally hilarious sci-fi movie Sean Connery did right after James Bond, and “Machine Girl,” a Tokyo gore-fest.

“We [also] watched a movie in conjunction with Overflow called ‘Jesus Camp.’ It was a documentary about youth at a controversial Bible camp. It was a great opportunity to set up a dialogue between [on-campus] organizations,” Perry said.

When asked how the movies were selected, Perry said, “It’s a democratic process. After a screening, we say what they want to watch next week. A majority of the movies we watch are made in other countries; they range from films released mere months ago to silent films. We also show a lot of cult favorites, from mind-bendingly bizarre flicks to campy, so-bad-it’s-good, can’t-take-it-seriously-on-any-level horror and sci-fi B movies.”

Once chosen, the movies are ordered from Netflix. “Once we even used YouTube; it’s really a DIY thing.”

“These are really special movies.  [It’s] not someone with a big budget, or a studio telling you what they want. It’s some guy with a good idea and limited means who still makes a wonderful work of art. These films go places others can’t,” Perry said when asked what makes indie movies special.

If you are unfamiliar with artistic films, have no fear.

“One of the things that really attracts people to SPLICE is that we’re not a bunch of snobbish film elitists,” Perry said. “We’re just a bunch of students who enjoy watching unique, interesting movies, and we are enthusiastic about sharing that with other students. We don’t care if your favorite movie is “Titanic” or if you can’t tell David Lynch from David Cronenberg. We just want you to come in with an open mind, have a good time and discover something new.”

If you want the opportunity to watch good movies you might never get a chance to see otherwise, SPLICE meets on Saturday afternoons at 3 in Olin Library Arch Presentation Room. To get more information, e-mail the group at [email protected]