The gradual decline of state mental hospitals in the late twentieth century made them ripe territory for genre experiments. While many fell back on lazy cliches of flickering lights and vertiginous hospital corridors, others drew attention to the various indignities awaiting the former inhabitants of institutions upon their release – this March, Spectacle presents two curious takes on post-institutional living and its attendant horrors.
PICTURE MOMMY DEAD
dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1966.
USA. 83 min.
In English.
FRIDAY, MARCH 4 – 10PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 10 – 10PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 13 – 5PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 25 – 10PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 31 – 7:30PM
A unique mid-career effort by Bert I. Gordon (EMPIRE OF THE ANTS, FOOD OF THE GODS) that sees the director wading uncharacteristically into gothic-horror territory to tell the story of Susan Shelley, a young heiress who must evade the machinations of her incompetent, conniving guardians to solve the mystery behind her mother’s (Zsa Zsa Gabor) death. Fresh out of the asylum, Susan struggles to distinguish between hallucination, supernatural phenomena and the trickery of her spendthrift father and his covetous partner, who wish for nothing more than to see her recommitted and to lay claim to her inheritance. Gordon cleverly keeps things ambiguous until the fiery finale.
CRIMINALLY INSANE
dir. Nick Millard, 1975
USA. 62 min.
In English.
SUNDAY, MARCH 6 – 5PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 12 – MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY, MARCH 19 – 5PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 26 – 5PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 31 – 10PM
Released from the state institution into the care of her overweening grandmother, Ethel Janowski embarks upon a murderous crusade against electroshock sessions and forced dietary restrictions in this charming discount thriller from 1975. An unsung anti-hero of late twentieth-century cinema, Ethel embarks upon a murderous spree to preserve her life of leisure against the irksome attentions of annoying family members with unwanted advice and numerous agents of the state medico-legal complex.