Valhalla Cinema, Melbourne

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The Valhalla Cinema was a repertory and arthouse movie theatre in Melbourne, Australia. Taking its name from Valhalla, the "Hall of the slain" in Norse mythology, it opened its doors on June 10, 1976 at a location on Victoria Street, Richmond. The first film to be screened there was Michael Ritchie's "Smile".

Although it initially had no seats, and patrons had to bring their own, it soon found a following. Among its more distinctive traits were its calendars, which contained up to six months worth of upcoming attractions, and its request board, where anyone could add a request for any film with a reasonable expectation of its being screened.

Later, it became the home of two long-running audience participation films, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (from 1978) and "The Blues Brothers" (from 1983), as well as regular 24 hour film marathons. Shows like these - and the general selections played there - quickly led to the Valhalla becoming firmly associated in the public mind with cult films.

In 1987, the Valhalla relocated from Richmond to High Street, Westgarth after the sale of their original venue (it was later demolished). With the characteristic offbeat nature of the cinema, the last film screened at the old premises was the first half of "The Blues Brothers", with the second half being screened at the new venue after intermission. This caused a traffic jam in Richmond at 1am.

The Valhalla closed its doors for the last time 20 years to the day after it opened, after the rental costs of their Northcote site became too high to meet.

[edit] After the Valhalla

The owners of the Westgarth cinema building continued to run it, as "The Westgarth", until early 2006. At that point the cinema business was sold to the Palace Cinemas chain, whilst they retain the ownership of the building. The building recently reopened after extensive renovations and the addition of two more screens. It now screens more traditionally arthouse fare. Ironically, both the expanded number of screens and the films screened have brought it closer to what the Valhalla had always wanted to do with the venue.

[edit] Other Valhallas

Glebe in Sydney was also home to a cinema called the Valhalla, which was very similar to the Melbourne version - they produced a calendar of screenings, for example. Unfortunately in August 2005 it also fell victim to the multi-screen complexes.

[edit] Valhalla People

The original team of people who ran the Val went on to help run a number of the other independent movie theatres in Melbourne.