Category: Felony Comics Crime Spree

FELONY COMICS 4: FELONY COMICS MOST WANTED

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For the past year, Negative Pleasure has proudly brought the best in overlooked, underappreciated crime, action and horror films to the screen at Spectacle Theater in celebration of the release of our comics, such as Felony Comics 1, 2 and 3, Jeans 3 and Night Burgers. Now, with the release of Felony Comics 4, and in celebration of this weekend’s Comic Arts Brooklyn Festival, we’re more pleased than ever to bring you FELONY COMICS MOST WANTED, a selection of three of our favorite films from our past screenings, as selected by both Negative Pleasure publisher Harris Smith and the Illuminati of Spectacle Theater.

For this monumental occasion, we’ve selected three films from south of the border – US/Mexican co-productions NEW DRUG CITY and DRUG RUNNERS, and Mexican horror epic THE THRONE OF HELL (EL TRONO DEL INFIERNO). Hosted by Harris Smith and featuring surprise appearances by Felony Comics’ rogues gallery of creative contributors, this night promises to be our most frenzied yet, with comics giveaways, Q&As, and other special surprises in store.

new drug city title

NEW DRUG CITY
(aka: Narcotrafico)
Dir. Raúl de Anda Jr, 1985
Mexico, 90 min.
Dubbed in English

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – 7:30 PM

It’s the Feds vs. the Cartel as both sides of the law race through the desert to snag a hidden dope stash in New Drug City. Originally released in 1985 as Narcotrafico, New Drug City was retitled to cash in on the popularity of the popular Wesley Snipes/Judd Nelson crime flick New Jack City for its American dubbed VHS release by Magnum Video. Pure exploitation through and through, New Drug City features a bargain basement Crockett and Tubbs trading awkward, vaguely homoerotic banter as they blast their way through Mexico’s badlands, leaving behind a trail of the prerequisite blood, bullets, bodies and babes. Directed by Raul de Anda Jr. and starring his brother, Rodolfo de Anda, both legends of Mexican action cinema.

drug runner title

DRUG RUNNERS
Dir. Alan Kuskowski, 1988
USA/Mexico, 86 min.
in English.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – 10:00 PM

It’s the Feds vs. the Cartel as both sides of the law race through the desert to snag a hidden dope stash in New Drug City. Originally released in 1985 as Narcotrafico, New Drug City was retitled to cash in on the popularity of the popular Wesley Snipes/Judd Nelson crime flick New Jack City for its American dubbed VHS release by Magnum Video. Pure exploitation through and through, New Drug City features a bargain basement Crockett and Tubbs trading awkward, vaguely homoerotic banter as they blast their way through Mexico’s badlands, leaving behind a trail of the prerequisite blood, bullets, bodies and babes. Directed by Raul de Anda Jr. and starring his brother, Rodolfo de Anda, both legends of Mexican action cinema.

el trono title

EL TRONO DEL INFIERNO
(aka: The Throne of Hell)
Dir. Sergio Goyri, 1994
Mexico, 94 min.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – MIDNIGHT

In THE THRONE OF HELL (EL TRONO DEL INFIERNO), from Mexico, an archeological dig unleashes Beezelbub, forcing the Vatican to call in master exorcist El Hombre. In a battle of stop Armageddon, the forces of good call upon the power of the Seven Seals and the sword Excalibur to take on the devil himself. Bloodshed ensues. A lot of it. Guts, too. And some brains. Starring and directed by Sergio Goyri, star of the Mexican stage version of MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS and creator of the Black Stallion and Still Loving U fragrances.

Felony Comics #1 was featured in Best American Comics 2015 (edited by Jonathan Lethem) with Alex Degen’s “Crime Chime Noir,” and received a notable mention for Ben Urkowtiz’s “The Facts” and Pete Toms’ “In Post,” (originally appearing in Jeans 3), and Alabaster Pizzo’s “Mimi & the Wolves” (excerpted in the now out-of-print Jeans 2). Other contributors to Negative Pleasure Publications include such comics luminaries and up-and-comers as Benjamin Marra, Rich Tommaso, Josh Burggraf, Victor Kerlow, Leah Wishnia, Lale Westvind, Zach Mason, Laura Callaghan, Jason Murphy, Michel Fiffe, Amy Searles, Claire Donner, Ken Johnson (Ball and Cone), Anthony Meloro, Brigid Deacon, Ben Passmore, Laurie Pina, Laura Perez-Harris, Thomas Slattery and numerous others.

Felony Comics #4 features stories and artwork by Alex Degen, Odin Cabal, Pete Toms, Derek Marks, Anthony Meloro, Thomas Slattery and Poland’s Lukasz Kowalczuk. It debuts at this year’s CAB festival in Brooklyn.

FELONY COMICS CRIME SPREE #3

Posted on by spectacletheater

CRIMESPREE3

Negative Pleasure is pleased to announce the latest installment of our ongoing series, the Felony Comics Crime Spree, in celebration of the debut of Felony Comics #3, an anthology of underground crime comics featuring new work by Brigid Deacon, Ben Passmore, Pete Toms, Thomas Slattery, Amy Searles and Harris Smith, with a cover by Kid Space Heater creator Josh Burggraf and a never before seen pin-up of Michel Fiffe’s Copra!

For such a monumentously criminal undertaking, we have dug deep into the annals of cinematic crime and unearthed two little seen tales of delinquent malefaction. All shows $5, make an evening of it.

DAY OF THE WOLVES
Dir. Ferde Grofé Jr, 1971
USA, 95 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 – 7:30 PM

In this post-Western, neo-noir heist film, a cadre of bearded thieves, each identified only by number, with no name, conspire to rob an entire town. Clad in black jumpsuits and wielding submachine guns, they have little trouble taking the whole village’s populace hostage, but Sheriff Pete Anderson isn’t going to take that kind of antisocial behavior lying down. Outmanned, outgunned, and with the lives of his family, friends and constituency at risk, Anderson fights back! Starring noir veteran Richard Egan (SLAUGHTER ON 10TH AVENUE) and venerable Borchst Belt comedian Jan Murray (aka Uncle Raymond on “My Two Dads”).

DRUG RUNNERS
Dir. Alan Kuskowski, 1988
USA/Mexico, 86 min.
in English.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 – 10:00 PM

Featuring one of the last performances by once-great character actor Aldo Ray, DRUG RUNNERS hits all the marks a low-budget 80’s action thriller oughta. The bad guys are bad, the good guys play by their own rules. There are sports cars, blazing Uzis, big hair, desperate chases across the Mexican border and a flustered chief who’s getting way too old for this shit. The specifics, if they matter, involve a hotshot Mexican cop and his beautiful partner infiltrating a ruthless smuggling carter in a mission that’s more out for vengeance than justice. Gunfights ensue. Directed by Alan Kuskowski (FIRST STRIKE).

REVOLT
Dir. J. Shaybany, 1986
USA/Persia, 72 min.
In heavily dubbed English.

FRIDAY,  SEPTEMBER 11 – MIDNIGHT

Written by the enigmatically named Shield, this US-Persian co-production features yet another cop-on-the-edge squaring off against yet another band of ruthless drug dealers, this time set against the racial tensions set off by the Iran hostage crisis. Shot without sound and weirdly overdubbed, Revolt is a schizophrenic mess of a movie (i.e. perfect for a Spectacle midnight) that can’t decide whether it’s a hard-hitting, socially conscious crime drama or a goofy, lighthearted action comedy. Fortunately, the filmmakers lacked the ability to appropriately orchestrate either, and the result is a near-hallucinatory mess of inscrutable plot developments and character flourishes. Whatever the intent, Revolt is one of the most consistently entertaining hidden gems of 1980s action cinema!