This May, Spectacle is thrilled to present this program of three late-career masterpieces by one of the most prolific filmmakers in the history of Chinese-language cinema, Chang Cheh.

Chang Cheh was a fixture of Shaw Bros. Studios throughout the 1960s and 70s, helming more than 70 films for the studio in the span of just 17 years and becoming synonymous with the Shaw “house style” that effectively informed an entire genre of filmmaking. Yet despite a string of late-period successes featuring a loose troupe of performers known as the “Venom Mob”— mainly comprised of Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Phillip Kwok, Sun Chien, Lo Meng, and Wai Pak; the name derived from Chang’s 1978 classic THE FIVE VENOMS— Chang and his performers felt increasingly stifled by the studio’s lengthy contract terms and grueling production schedules.

By the early-1980s, with the Brothers having ceded most of their box office dominance to the more modern, diverse offerings being put out by rival studio Golden Harvest, Chang opted to break from the studio once and for all, relocating to Taiwan and forming a new production company, Chang He Motion Picture Co., alongside Venom collaborators Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng.

Chang’s independent releases for Chang He felt like the work of a revitalized filmmaker. What they may have lacked in the budget or sophistication of his Shaw productions, they made up for in their narrative ambition and visual flair. Where Shaw’s kung fu and wuxia productions tended to be more uniform in style, tone, and subject matter, Chang’s independent output saw him embracing changing attitudes and cinematic appetites sweeping Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland. The company’s initial string of releases that included ATTACK OF THE JOYFUL GODDESS (1983), THE NINE DEMONS (1984), and SHANGHAI 13 (1984), leaned heavily into the operatic, horror, experimental, and political qualities that colored his later Shaw work, while keeping intact the mind-blowing choreography and themes of brotherhood and staunch masculinity (yanggang) for which his films were best known.

SHANGHAI 13
(上海灘十三太保)
dir. Chang Cheh, 1984
Hong Kong/Taiwan. 87 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

THURSDAY, MAY 2 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MAY 11 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, MAY 14 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, MAY 26 – 5 PM

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In the wake of the occupation of Nanking, a young junior minister, Mr. Gao, uncovers a traitorous plot by the local puppet government to hand over control of China to the Japanese without a fight. After stealing a document naming the defectors, Gao seeks the help of an local honorable crime boss to deliver the document to Hong Kong and expose the conspirators, putting him at odds with gangsters and government officials alike. Gao’s protection is entrusted to the “13 Rascals”, a mysterious cabal of warriors whose personal allegiances may not be entirely what they seem.

The closest thing that exists to a Chang Cheh Reunion Special. An action-packed, deliriously-paced series of setpieces featuring a Murderers’ Row of Chang collaborators from throughout his career: From Jimmy Wang Yu, star of Chang’s earliest Shaw productions, including their mutual breakout ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967)… to Chang’s 70s “Iron Triangle” proteges Ti Lung and David Chiang… to veteran Shaw performers Danny Lee, Wang Chung, and Chan Sing… up through Venom Mob-sters Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, and newcomer Ricky Cheng. Each pops in for just a scene or two as Gao is ushered from location-to-location and rascal-to-rascal, yet each makes an absolute meal out of their allotted screentime, showcasing some of the most hard-hitting and inventive fight sequences in a career full of them.

THE NINE DEMONS
(九子天魔)
dir. Chang Cheh, 1984
Hong Kong/Taiwan. 99 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, MAY 7 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, MAY 11 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MAY 17 – MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY, MAY 26 – 7:30 PM

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A young martial artist journeys to the underworld where he sells his soul to the devil for supernatural powers, in the form of a chain of skulls containing nine ravenous demons willed to do his bidding. He vows to use these powers to avenge the death of his father and see his house restored to order, but soon learns that with this great power comes an insatiable thirst for blood.

A criminally underseen masterpiece and the most ambitious of Chang’s independent features. The film is a loose adaptation of the tale of Faust adopting characteristics of traditional Chinese folk horror and jiangshi fiction, filtered through the aesthetics of Peking opera, and teeming with brutal, bloody action. The horror and opera elements that began took shape in his later Shaw releases like HEAVEN AND HELL (1980), THE SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD (1981), and FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS (1982), arrive here fully formed, giving the distinct impression of a filmmaker taking full advantage of his newfound creative freedom. Combined with the superb practical effects and stellar fight choreography— once again courtesy of the trio of Lu, Chaing, and Cheng— the film a must watch for fans of kung fu, horror, opera, and everything in between.

ATTACK OF THE JOYFUL GODDESS
(撞鬼)
dir. Chang Cheh, 1983
Hong Kong/Taiwan. 88 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, MAY 3 – 5 PM
TUESDAY, MAY 7 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, MAY 12 – 5 PM
FRIDAY, MAY 24 – MIDNIGHT

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A troupe of traveling opera performers stops over in a small town where their lead actress catches the attention of a local military commander. Betrothed to another member of the troupe, she rebuffs his advances, putting the rest of the group in the precarious position of having to decide whether their collaborator’s life is worth the price of the military’s ire. All the while, the troupe is unaware that supernatural forces at hand have other designs on the group.

The first film released under the newly founded Chang He Film Co., JOYFUL GODDESS remains one of the best translations of traditional Chinese opera forms and themes to film. Ironically, the fact that the film was shot on a fraction of the budget of one of Chang’s Shaw releases works largely to the film’s benefit, with the minimal set design, live lighting cues, and use of simple theatrical effects recalling the experience of viewing an actual stage production. But even if traditional Chinese opera isn’t your thing (which it probably isn’t), you can rest assured knowing the film also boasts some incredible fight choreography courtesy of Lu and Chiang (also credited as the film’s co-directors), plus a finale so insanely out-of-pocket that it can only rightly be described as HAUSU by way of Cirque du Soleil.

Special thanks to Far East Flix.

SKÁL
Dir. Cecilie Debell & Maria Tórgarð, 2021
Faroe Islands/Denmark, 75 mins.
In Faroese with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16 – 7 PM, accompanied by reading & discussion

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This April brings Fog Swept Islands: Faroese Culture Days, a celebration of Faroese literature and culture in New York City. The Faroe Islands, a wind-battered archipelago in the North Atlantic and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, are a harsh and breathtaking environment that have for centuries fostered self-sufficient attitudes, innovative knitwear, and a literary culture with roots in the Old Norse oral tradition, the romantic nationalism of the 19th century, and more recent concerns with the impact of globalization on small cultures and the looming threat of climate change.

In collaboration with FarLit, the Spectacle is pleased to host the Faroese poets Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs, Kim Simonsen, and Rannvá Holm Mortensen, and their translators Matthew Landrum and Randi Ward, for a reading alongside a screening of the documentary SKÁL, a look at the ardency of youth, the desire to make art, and the relationship between people and nature, via a portrait of young Faroese poet grappling with questions of individualism and social pressures.

In SKÁL, which had its World Premiere at CPH:DOX in 2021, a young poet struggles to balance her Christian faith with her curiosity about the world and appetite for self-discovery.

21-year-old Dania, who grew up religious in the Faroe Islands’ Bible belt, has recently moved to Tórshavn and, unbeknownst to her parents, begun to date Trygvi, a young fellow-poet as well as the national sensation hip-hop artist Silvurdrongur (Silver Kid). As Dania movies between her cozy, stifling home, Tórshavn nightlife, and the wide-open spaces of the Faroese countryside, working to reconcile the different sides of her personhood in a scandalous poetry collection titled SKÁL (“Cheers”), this wry and tender film becomes a microcosm for the rural and hardy Nordic nation itself, and its struggle to reconcile treasured traditions, nurtured against the wind through generations, with the twinkling promises of global urban modernity.

The screening will be accompanied by a reading and discussion with:

Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs (b. 1974) is a well-known and active voice on the Faroese literature and drama scene, and has published a wide range of works since her debut in 2000. Her youth novel Skriva í sandin, 2010 won the Nordic Children’s Book Prize and was selected for the White Raven in 2011, and her latest youth novel Sum Rótskot was nominated for the 2021 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. Her literary double work Karmagetin ans Gentukamarið was nominated for the 2023 Nordic Council Literature Prize. Marjun is a trained nurse, holds a master’s degree in language and literature and works as a full-time writer. Her works have been translated into the various Nordic languages as well as into English, French and German.

Kim Simonsen (b. 1970) is a Faroese writer and poet. In 2014, he won the M.A. Jacobsen Literature Award for his poetry collection What good does it do for a person to wake up one morning this side of the new millennium? A translation will be published in the US in 2024 by Deep Vellum. Simonsen completed his PhD in 2012 at the University of Roskilde and has published five poetry collections as well as numerous essays and academic articles. He is also the managing editor of Forlagið Eksil, a Faroese press that has published over 20 titles.

Rannvá Holm Mortensen (b. 1950) is a Faroese poet and versatile visual artist. Her art ranges from paintings, prints, installations and text to sculptures. She studied Fine Arts in Metafora International Workshop, Barcelona in 2014. In recent years, she has also worked with textile, writing, book illustration and interior decoration. Rannvá Mortensen regularly exibits in the Faroe Islands and internationally. In 2018 Rannvá made her debut with the poetry collection Suntaste which won her the M.A. Jakobsen Literature Award 2018. Her second collection Spring Milk was published in 2022. Suntaste has been translated into English and published in the US.

Thanks to Jóhanna H. Wolles (FarLit) and Christina Alsing (Made in Copenhagen).

TICKETS
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 7 PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 7 PM

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FRIDAY, APRIL 26 – 5:00 PM with Q&A

This April, Spectacle is pleased to host Batikh Batikh Collective’s shorts program, Gathered in Love and Rage: A Palestinian Film Showcase.

Based out of Philadelphia, Batikh Batikh is a pop-up cinema and gallery that centers the work of South-West Asian North African (SWANA) women and queer artists. Curated by Batikh Batikh’s founder, Sarah Trad, this showcase includes short works by contemporary women and LGBTQ+ Palestinian independent filmmakers. These films comment on the current moment, exploring orientalism in the media and reminding us of our justified collective rage, while featuring love stories and experimental, queer, and personal narratives that provide a cathartic grieving space for the SWANA and Palestinian community.

All proceeds will benefit GAZA MUTUAL AID COLLECTIVE

The program includes the following films:

SMALL TOWN ECSTASY
dir. Jay Blumenfield, 2002
United States. 84 min.
In English.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 – 7:30 PM (This event is $10. Admission includes access to the discussion with Blumenfield following a complimentary screening of SMALL TOWN ECSTASY.)

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“Aren’t people great?”

Hollywood Entertainment is proud to present Jay Blumenfield’s SMALL TOWN ECSTASY, a film of unrivaled familial tension and religious grace. One of the only films to capture glimpses of the Northern California rave scene, it shows us a family on the brink of collapse punctuated with strobe lights and pummeling trance synth. Like taking ecstasy, this is a story of the highest highs and the lowest lows once the music stops.

A 40 year old preacher’s son and father of four, Scott’s post-divorce crisis takes an atypical form. Rather than getting a Porsche or starting a cover band, he indulges in underground trance and jungle raves under the influence of ecstasy with his 20 year old son. The two go to raves in matching Adidas visors and baggy pants looking for light shows, bass, and pills while his new lifestyle creates tension between his ex-wife and younger children. Scott loves the rave and wants to share the feeling with his children without any comprehension of the dangers that lie ahead.

Abbott & Costello… Martin & Lewis… Lemmon & Matthau… These are just a few of Hollywood’s most famous on-screen duos that Pam Grier & Margaret Markov could easily beat the shit out of. Though they only appeared together in two films, Grier’s & Markov’s presences loomed large over exploitation cinema in the 1970s, appearing in over half a dozen “women-in-prison” films between them in the early part of the decade.

With the loosening of censorship practices in the 1960s, women-in-prison movies saw a resurgence in popularity, the setting lending itself easily to the more extreme depictions of sadism, sapphism, voyeurism, and fetish acts that B-movie studios and filmmakers were after. Enter Pam Grier & Margaret Markov, soon-to-be staples of the revitalized genre. Grier, a switchboard operator working at American International Pictures, caught the attention of Roger Corman affiliate, Jack Hill, leading to Corman casting her in his early 70s “prison cycle” of films that included THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971), WOMEN IN CAGES (1971), and THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972). Markov, meanwhile, had only a couple of minor credits to her name before landing her big break as one of the lead roles in another Corman WIP production, THE HOT BOX (1972).

The pair would go on to co-star in two productions, Eddie Romero’s BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA (1973) and Steve Carver’s THE ARENA (1974), but despite their brief career overlap, the chemistry between them was undeniable. Two equally headstrong, tough-as-nails vixens making for perfect character foils, but with a combined strength able take down prison guards, gangs, and gladiators alike.

Markov would retire from acting in 1974 shortly after the release of THE ARENA, her penultimate feature. Grier, meanwhile, would go on to become a superstar in the blaxploitation genre, her name synonymous with nearly every iconic blaxploitation heroine from Foxy Brown to Coffy, Sheba Shayne to Friday Foster.

BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA
dir. Eddie Romero, 1973
United States/Philippines. 87 min.
In English.

SUNDAY, MARCH 3 – 5 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 11 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 15 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 – 10 PM

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Rich girl-turned-revolutionary, Karen (Markov), and brassy former prostitute, Lee (Grier), are the newest inmates at a Philippines jungle prison. The two immediately butt heads, causing enough trouble to warrant a transfer to a maximum-security facility. While en route to the new jail, their convoy is ambushed by Karen’s comrades, allowing her and Lee to escape, albeit still shackled together. With different plans, different enemies, and a mutual hatred for one another, the two fugitives must learn to work together to survive the peril-laden jungles.

Directed by Filipino film legend, Eddie Romero, BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA stands as the pinnacle of Grier’s & Markov’s work in the WIP genre. It was almost inevitable that their careers would cross paths, given that their prior WIP work had all been produced in the same budget-friendly Philippines (in some cases, at the same time). The concept for the film was originally pitched by Joe Viola and Jonathan Demme as a modern riff on Stanley Kramer’s THE DEFIANT ONES, updating its setting and themes and engorging it with titillating content, but keeping the fiery political spirit of the original intact.

The film became a box office hit for American International Pictures, with critics singling out the pairing of Grier & Markov as a “hit with audiences”.

THE ARENA
dir. Steve Carver, 1974
United States/Italy. 82 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 14 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 19 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 – MIDNIGHT

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When the Roman elite force a group of female sex slaves to become gladiatrices tasked with fighting each other to the death, a Nubian dancer and a Gaulish priestess join forces to mount a vicious rebellion against their male oppressors.

Grier & Markov’s second collaboration landed them in Italy for a T&A-centric take on the story of Spartacus, the pair once again playing adversaries-turned-allies, united in oppression and driven to revolution. Unlike Corman’s previous Philippines-set WIP films, THE ARENA was one of New World Pictures’ few European co-productions, with several of the arena scenes filmed by Carver’s Italian counterpart, Joe D’Amato.

Corman later credited the success of the film to Grier & Markov’s talent on screen, acknowledging that the pair “were beginning to be well known and were emerging somewhat as stars of this kind of film.” Ironically, while the film cemented the duo’s stardom and box office dominance on the grindhouse circuit, its production was also where Markov met her future husband, producer Mark Damon, leading her to retire from acting soon after its release.

THE HOT BOX
dir. Joe Viola, 1972
United States/Philippines. 85 min.
In English.

MONDAY, MARCH 4 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 16 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, MARCH 22 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 26 – 7:30 PM

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Four American nurses working in the republic of San Rosario enter a hellish nightmare when they’re kidnapped by guerilla army to provide medical assistance in their fight against an oppressive government regime. Tormented by every man that crosses their path, the four women must band together in the dense jungle in pursuit of one shared goal: survival.

Prior to her collaborations with Pam Grier, Margaret Markov had teamed up with Roger Corman and writer/producer/director team, Joe Viola and Jonathan Demme, for this unorthodox blend of the WIP and similarly trending “nurseploitation” genres (see: last year’s Stephanie Rothman program). Markov stars as Lynn, one of the captured nurses who begins to sympathize with the revolutionaries once she witnesses firsthand the government’s poor treatment of civilians. As with BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA, Viola and Demme foreground the politics inherent to the film’s WIP themes and banana republic setting, placing the women’s fight for liberation squarely within the context of an anti-capitalist struggle (a theme that some viewers may recognize as a recurring component of Jonathan “A luta continua” Demme’s later life and career).

WOMEN IN CAGES
dir. Gerardo de León, 1971
United States/Philippines. 81 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, MARCH 1 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, MARCH 12 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 21 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – 10 PM

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After being framed by her drug dealer boyfriend while vacationing in the Philippines, Carol “Jeff” Jeffries is locked behind bars in a harsh prison somewhere in the jungles of Manila. Jeff endures daily torture and degradation at the hands of the prison’s sadistic head matron, Alabama. After learning that a local drug kingpin is out to silence her once and for all, Jeff realizes that the only means of securing her freedom is escape.

Pam Grier, in just her third-ever film role, steals the show as the villainous Alabama, flipping the script on her earlier role as one of the tortured inmates in Jack Hill’s THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, released the same year. Apart from Grier’s standout performance, what sets this entry apart from most other 1970s WIP releases is the grittiness and brutality with which the prison conditions are portrayed. In contrast to Corman’s other productions, de Leon mostly eschews tantalizing scenes, moments of levity, and feminist or other political subtext in favor pure grindhouse exploitation. What’s left is a portrait of prison life so harrowing that one notable future Grier collaborator once referred to it as “soul-shattering, life-extinguishing”, describing its final shot as one of “devastating despair”.