The classic “midnight movie” is more than just a movie projected onto a screen at midnight.

Since the 1970s, midnight movies have been a blend of contemporary classics, cult films as well as up-and-coming favorites, a mix that Ohio University Program Council’s Midnight Movie series at The Athena did very well.

Until it moved to Baker University Center in Winter Quarter.

When UPC made the decision to move its weekly series to Baker Theatre, it also decided to project the films digitally and show recent movies. Very recent movies.

The organization went from spending about $350 per movie at The Athena — the $3 admission price helped UPC usually break even — to signing a contract for about $15,000 with Swank Motion Pictures Inc., a non-theatrical movie distributor. UPC is using the 30 movies allotted in the contract over the course of January 2007 to January 2008.

Claire Corbett, UPC Film & Culture co-chair, tells me UPC pays $4,500 for the contract while Baker University Center programming picks up the other $11,000. With the addition of a Thursday showing every week, the cost of each showing is about the same as UPC’s Athena engagement.

UPC might have gained the convenience of digital projection and a more recent slate of movies when it moved to Baker, not to mention dropping the $3 admission price. But while watching Children of Men last Thursday I realized it might have lost much of the fun. Sure, the screen — like everything in Baker — is big, but the digital projection often was pixilated, robbing the movie’s cinematography of its harsh glow. And there’s something underwhelming about sitting down to a DVD menu screen before the film starts.

These aren’t “midnight movies”; they are movies shown at midnight. And until the weekly series regains some of its original charm, it’s likely to feature the lackluster lineup it has had since last quarter. Corbett said UPC is looking to phase in the type of movies it used to show, a move that should be made with haste.

This initial shift in programming isn’t completely the fault of UPC members, and they have good reasons. Movies come out on DVD so quickly that it’s hard to find a recent release which someone just can’t get at Hollywood Video. And, more importantly, some previously obscure classic midnight movies are staples on consumers’ shelves.

Corbett also said the decision to show more recent movies was partially motivated by an attempt to touch a different demographic of student moviegoers and to not overplay classics people won’t line up for. Attendance is up, and it appears to be working.

The challenge for the organization now, Corbett said, is to find a way to better market the Midnight Movie series to students. By showing Harold and Maude instead of Bobby, their work would be done for them.