The Valhalla Cinema was a repertory and arthouse cinema in Melbourne, Australia. Noted for audience participation films, it was named for Valhalla, the "Hall of the slain" in Norse mythology. History The cinema opened its doors on 10 June 1976 at 216 Victoria Street, Richmond. The first film to be screened there was Michael Ritchie's "Smile". The cinema was started by two friends from Sydney University: Barry Peak and Christopher Kiely. They had been running short seasons of films by the likes of the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields & Mae West and Humphrey Bogart in Melbourne for some time. Realising that they needed a permanent home in Melbourne, rather than keep renting venues such as the Palais in St Kilda and the Horticultural Hall in Victoria Street, Melbourne, they leased the cinema at 216 Victoria Street, Richmond. 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 1980), as well as regular 24-hour film marathons. The marathons were often science-fiction-themed, showing anything from Hollywood blockbusters like "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", B-grade films such as "Them!", or the complete series of Star Trek motion pictures. Animation celebrations were popular with audiences. The cinema also ran regular weekend, or week-long, festivals on a theme: Jacques Tati, New Russian Cinema, Rainer Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Pink Panther, Bond films, Astaire/Rogers, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and Akira Kurosawa. Shows like these – and the general selections played there – quickly led to the Valhalla becoming firmly associated in the public mind with cult films. At its peak, audiences included 400 patrons and 30 dedicated performers. From the late 1970s, Valhalla expanded both within Melbourne and around Australia. It opened the Academy Valhalla Twin Cinema in Melbourne on the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, Valhalla at the Agora at La Trobe University, and late shows at The Astor in St Kilda and then at The National in St Kilda as well as cinemas in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. In 1987, the Valhalla relocated from Richmond