Unfortunately, the double feature has become a dead art form. As movie-goer attention spans decrease, and movie running times continue to increase, double-features are no longer marketable and appealing to the majority of audiences around the country. Most recently, Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's
Grindhouse was released as a double-feature, and Pixar's
Toy Story and
Toy Story 2 were shown as a special 3D double-feature in anticipation for the release of
Toy Story 3. However, just because you can no longer see two films back-to-back in a movie theater doesn't mean you can't set up your own movie nights. The following pairs are films with similar themes, characters, plots or any other connection that make them work together perfectly as a double-feature.
6. Alien/Prometheus
This one should be the most obvious pairing on the list. Ridley Scott's
Alien and
Prometheus share an obvious bond, other than just being directed by the same person. Before the release of
Prometheus, rumors were running wild on the connection to
Alien and what it mean for the universe created in the earlier film. As we now know, the films share a very important connection, and are the perfect couple for a sci-fi double-feature.
5. Dredd/Robocop
Dredd is a sci-fi film based on a British comic about a super-cop policing the dystopian world of a post-apocalyptic future.
Robocop is about a police officer in future Detroit who has been rebuilt after a fatal shooting to bring justice to the mean streets.
Robocop draws heavily from the original Judge Dredd comics, using similar catchphrases and the same unrelenting belief in the law. These two movies work together perfectly, even if there is a 25 year difference between them. Unlike many 80's films,
Robocop has aged very, very well, and can easily be enjoyed alongside the modern
Dredd.
4. Skyfall/The Dark Knight
I have
spoken before about how similar these two films are. Both of these mega-blockbusters have some fantastic action scenes, an easy-to-follow yet interesting plot, and an evil, devious villain to bring it all together. Batman and Bond are a dynamic duo that create the perfect, big budget, dark & gritty double feature for people looking for both action and great storytelling.
3. Drive/Taxi Driver
While it may not be the most cheery and fun double-feature,
Drive and
Taxi Driver are two fantastic films in their own right, and seem like the perfect couple as well. Both films focus on a socially and emotionally ambiguous driver with no real connection to the world. That is, of course, until something comes in to play to change of all that, and in both cases it happens to be a woman who is seemingly out of reach for both main characters (in
Drive it is a married woman, and in
Taxi Driver it is an underage prostitute). Eventually, both drivers are forced to drastic, ultra-violent measures to ensure the safety of their forbidden fruit, and both also meet ends that remain open to interpretation. These two films are some of the best ever made, and the obvious influence
Taxi Driver has over
Drive is both evident and interesting, despite the very different settings and time periods of each film.
2. Evil Dead II/Dead Alive aka Braindead
Before
The Lord of the Rings and
Spider-Man trilogies, Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi were two horror directors with a penchant for slapstick humor and lots of blood. The reason I chose the second installment of the
Evil Dead trilogy is because the first film is devoid of all comedic elements, and exists as purely supernatural horror. In fact,
Evil Dead II is basically a comedic remake of the original
Evil Dead, so there's no need to watch the first film to enjoy this double feature. Despite being horror-comedies, both
Evil Dead II and
Dead Alive are extremely graphic and violent, and are certainly not for the squeamish.
1. Fight Club/Old School
If you haven't already noticed,
Old School and
Fight club essentially have
the exact same plot. On the DVD commentary for
Old School, director/writer Todd Phillips openly states that the film is a comedic retelling of
Fight Club, using a college frat in place of a basement fight club. The similarities are endless, and include everything from both Mitch (Luke Wilson) and the Narrator (Ed Norton) being caught at the copy machine at work to a fellow office worker trying to get in on the action to Vince Vaughn wearing the same jacket as Tyler (Brad Pitt) in
Fight Club, both of which are basically the same character. Watching
Fight Club and
Old School back-to-back will show just how similar both of these fantastic films are.
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