{"id":491573,"date":"2026-10-10T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491573\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:16:10","slug":"a-cow-striptease-and-a-bootleg-chinese-film-inside-las-wildest-movie-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491573\/","title":{"rendered":"A cow striptease and a bootleg Chinese film? Inside LA’s wildest movie night"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a new film club in town. Think burlesque, with a dose of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the vibe of a Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening \u2014 and you\u2019ve got Sh\u2014ty Movie Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kinda.<\/p>\n

Founder Shadie Elnashai calls his epic hangs \u201cmovie parties.\u201d They began as get-togethers among friends in 2019, where drinking games or movie bingo are part of the experience. Since then, screenings have been held in Cairo, Tokyo and Sydney. In Los Angeles, ticketed events started in late August at venues like Clifton\u2019s \u2014 all in celebration of films with a certain flavor.<\/p>\n

“Sh\u2014ty movie to me is awesome. It’s entertaining, it’s earnest, it’s genuine.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shadie Elnashai, club founder<\/p>\n

Gems like The Apple, the over-the-top sci-fi biblical musical from 1980 where an evil music label controls the world \u2014 in the futuristic year 1994.<\/p>\n

Or Ninja Terminator, a Hong Kong martial arts flick that its director stitched together using original footage and those from another existing film. No one at his screening, Elnashai said, was any the wiser, until he stopped the movie midway and told them.<\/p>\n

“We actually don’t use the word ‘bad’. Sh\u2014ty movie to me is awesome. It’s entertaining, it’s earnest, it’s genuine,” said Elnashai, who studied film in college. “Some people still hate it, don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 “<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Audience members showing off their “Niu Lai”-inspired outfits.<\/p>\n

What a Sh\u2014ty Movie Club screening is like<\/p>\n

I got a taste of that joy and reverence, along with some 200 people at Clifton\u2019s in downtown L.A., at a recent screening of the viral Chinese animated film Liu Nai.<\/p>\n

The coming-of-age tale of a baby cow was made by a mother and son with zero film or animation experience \u2014 and it looked it. Those very bush-league qualities helped it go viral. The film went on to gross $9 million at the Chinese box office against a budget of under $200.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A hand-drawn poster advertising the film “Niu Lai”, which translates to “Here Comes the Cow”, is seen at a cinema in Beijing on August 21, 2026. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

PEDRO PARDO<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Before the movie: Posters, jokes and a cow striptease\u00a0<\/p>\n

I had read about the movie, but was never curious enough to try and see it, until I saw a social post for the screening.<\/p>\n

At Sh\u2014ty Movie Club, the film is the main course, with a full menu built around it. First comes a preshow that features a show-and-tell of homemade film posters by audience members (a nod to what happened<\/a> in China), a call-out for bovine jokes, and, between gags, cow-related video clips (including a McDonald\u2019s infomercial from Hong Kong) Elnashai compiled runs in the background. The indisputable climax belongs to the long, slow striptease by a woman dressed in a full cow costume.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach screening’s a little different,\u201d said Elnashai, whose day job<\/a> is curating entertainment for private and corporate events, adding that he typically readies a few dozens assets \u2014 clips, jokes, gags \u2014 for each club screening. \u201cThere\u2019s so much prep that goes into it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Founder Shadie Elnashai designed a drinking game specifically for the screening of the viral Chinese cow movie “Niu Lai.”<\/p>\n

Talking back to the screen is encouraged\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Chinese viral cow movie itself is screened from a bootleg probably taped inside a movie theater (the film isn’t in U.S. theaters or on streamers) \u2014 with jagged angles and a Chinese QR code that ricochets across to boot. Somehow, it all feels very on point.<\/p>\n

Audiences are encouraged to talk at the movie, to chant \u201crewind\u201d for an instant replay, and to abandon themselves to the film \u2014 odd but uniquely singular in its aesthetics \u2014 in the good-natured company of so many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no rule book,\u201d Elnashai said of many of the films screened at the club. \u201cEach one is completely, beautifully different. Experiencing that all together is so fun for me to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s a new film club in town. Think burlesque, with a dose of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-491573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}