One of the unfortunate bits of collateral damage associated with the closing of Dr. Dremo’s was that the Washington Psychotronic Film Society was rendered homeless as well. WPFS has been in operation in the D.C. area for 20 years now, and housed their weekly screenings of eclectic films at Dremo’s since 2000. For my own part, I can remember discovering them around that time, as I was a frequent visitor to the downstairs pool room at Dremo’s, and one night we showed up to discover a low-budget Asian sci-fi film playing in the background. Getting loaded while playing pool and keeping half an eye on whatever cracked piece of cinema WPFS had going on during the week became a favorite pastime. It was disappointing to see them go on indefinite hiatus along with Dremo’s after the taphouse’s doors closed in January.

Luckily, WPFS has secured new digs, this time in the form of the Old Arlington Grill, the new restaurant attached to the Arlington Cinema ‘n’ Drafthouse. So no more pool, but you can still get loaded and grab some bar food while watching the movies. We haven’t sampled the fare at the Grill yet, though we hope it’s an improvement over the lackluster cuisine the Drafthouse has been offering for years (and which has always been one of the few negatives about movies there, along with the servers inevitably hounding you for payment right at a movie’s climax). But regardless, it’s good news that the society will be able to resume their screenings of, as they describe their programming, “…independent, cutting-edge, student, experimental, anime, off-beat, underground, obscure, super-8, low-budget, classic, forgotten, must-see, and just about anything on film.”