FRIDAY, MAY 2: DORIANA GREY
FRIDAY, MAY 9: HANNAH, QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES
SATURDAY, MAY 10: THE MANIPULATOR
SATURDAY, MAY 17: SCREAMPLAY
FRIDAY, MAY 23: THE REVENGE OF GHOUL FRIDAY
SATURDAY, MAY 24: DEMON QUEEN
The Franco Files Presents:
DORIANA GREY (Die Marquise von Sade)
Dir. Jesus Franco, 1976
Germany, 75 min.
In German with English subtitles
Franco’s ongoing collaboration with Lina Romay (which continued until her death in 2012) was in full spring by the time we reach 1976’s DORIANA GREY, but her uninhibited (read: nude) performance reaches new heights in this dual role as both wealthy recluse Doriana Grey and her nymphomaniacal twin sister, currently in a mental asylum. A journalist (Monica Swain) visits Doriana in order to interview her, discovering that while Doriana is an elderly woman she never seems to age, that her twin sister feels pleasure for her, and her sexual partners end up dead.
Those of you expecting strong ties to either Wilde or Sade are probably going to be disappointed, but Franco’s sense of melancholy even during his most explicit scenes will find a lot to love: it’s a good companion piece to FEMALE VAMPIRE. The contrast between the subtly suggestive Doriana and her completely lust-mad sister makes this one of Lina’s best performances, and the beautiful mansion locations give both Franco and cinematographer Peter Baumgartner plenty to work with. Add to this an excellent score by Walter Baumgartner and it’s a Franco film well worth seeing both by newcomers and hardcore fans alike, and a perfect start to our Franco Files series, highlighting some of the master’s lesser-seen works.
HANNAH, QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES (La tumba de la isla maldita)
Dir. Ray Danton and Julio Salvador, 1973
Spain/USA, 85 min.
In English
FRIDAY, MAY 9 – MIDNIGHT
Professor Bolton, while investigating a sealed tomb alleged to contain the body of a vampire, is crushed to death, and his son Chris (played by Andrew Prine of SIMON KING OF THE WITCHES/THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS) comes to the island to investigate his father’s death. He meets fellow historian Peter (played by the everpresent Mark Damon) and a schoolteacher who warns him against opening the tomb (played by Patty Shepherd, of The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman). Chris ignores this advice, and attempting to lift the tomb off his father’s body he opens the lid, freeing Hannah the vampire queen (Teresa Gimpera, best known from SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE) from her tomb, beginning a spree of seduction and destruction across the land. As offers of help recede, Chris finds fewer and fewer people willing to him him kill Hannah — will he be able to stop her? Presented here in the most complete edition available (the video from a Spanish tv production with all gore intact and the audio is from the original English edition, not a dub), and unlike many Mill Creek editions, this one is completely in color. Fans of brooding rural horror, Prine’s moustache and she-wolves should definitely make it out for this one.
THE MANIPULATOR
Dir. Yabo Yablonsky
USA, 85 min.
SATURDAY, MAY 10 – MIDNIGHT
“We all change. But that’s just the way it goes.”
Certain performances are for the ages. They transcend the actor and place the role into an realm of their own. They cut against the actor as we know them, they are a slap in the face to our assumptions, they are the films that make us uncomfortable with who we think we are and who we want to be. Consider Andy Griffith in A Voice In The Crowd. Consider Ernest Borgnine in Marty. That’s exactly what you’ll get from Mickey Rooney in THE MANIPULATOR, as intense a delivery as David Hess or Roger Watkins in a film that is about as weird as they come.
Perhaps best considered a role-reversed SUNSET BOULEVARD or a twist on the screen-queens-gone-bad roles of 70s Elizabeth Taylor or Joan Crawford circa STRAIGHT-JACKET Mickey Rooney tears into the role of B.J. Lang like a freight train, screaming his demented paranoid soliloquies over synth bloops and echoplex for days. In honor of his recent passing, Spectacle is proud to present what I (Darren) consider Mickey Rooney’s true magnum opus: THE MANIPULATOR.
THE REVENGE OF GHOUL FRIDAY
Another Series of Short Films Celebrating the Supernatural!
Approx. 80 min.
FRIDAY, MAY 23 – MIDNIGHT
Like a severed hand with a gypsy curse, THE REVENGE OF GHOUL FRIDAY: Another Series of Short Films Celebrating the Supernatural! will crawl through nightmare swamps to get you!
It’s the follow-up to April’s sacrilegious smash-hit, GHOUL FRIDAY, and like all good horror sequels, THE REVENGE OF GHOUL FRIDAY doubles the mayhem and the stupidity!
With more than 20 shorts in an approximately 80 minute program, be the first kid on your block to experience unfathomable and indescribable evil; all for the low, low prices of $5—and your immortal soul!!!
Attend tonight’s show and you will witness the End of the World many, many times over: Flying saucers, the cannibalistic undead, hellish relics, killer robots, homicidal maniacs from beyond space and time, rabbits, hungry monsters, ancient demon-gods, vicious aliens, mad and horny doctors, murderous mutants and various Lovecraftian beasties all do their part to destroy civilization and devour humanity! Even God, the greatest serial killer EVER, makes an appearance! And y’know what? He’s bringing His two sons along…
Unspeakable satanic ceremonies? All the kids are doing it! Undead, unholy, supernatural, hilarious, nightmarish, sacrilegious, absurdist, magical—it’s all here!
Like Dan O’Bannon’s zombies, THE REVENGE OF GHOUL FRIDAY can’t be stopped with a bullet to the head—after all, you can’t kill something that was never alive!
Stay tuned for BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE SON OF GHOUL FRIDAY!!!!
Troma Entertainment Presents:
SCREAMPLAY
Dir. Rufus Butler Seder, 1985
USA, 90 min.
SATURDAY, MAY 17 – MIDNIGHT
The Troma Team is proud to present SCREAMPLAY, the story of aspiring screenwriter Edgar Allen (Rufus B. Seder) as he arrives in Hollywood carrying his most valuable possessions: a battered suitcase and a typewriter. Edgar Allen’s best attribute is his wild imagination. He imagines scenes so vividly for the murder mystery he is writing that they seem to come to life…and they do! As mysterious murders pile up, and Edgar Allen must confront aging actresses, rock stars, and the police in the bleak setting of broken dreams in Hollywood.
As the line between reality and imagination becomes more blurred, Edgar Allen convinced the only way to be a real writer is to suffer, is driven slowly mad. With an appearance by legendary writer, director and actor George Kuchar as Martin, SCREAMPLAY is the gritty suspensefest that takes Hollywood by the throat and strangles it… but always with style and art!
Massacre Video presents:
DEMON QUEEN
Dir. Donald Farmer, 1986
USA, 55 min.
SATURDAY, MAY 24 – MIDNIGHT
Jesse (Dennis Stewart), a seedy, low level dope pusher and his bitchy, strung-out girlfriend Wendy (Patti Valliere) are in deep. They owe six grand to a coke dealer naned Izzie (Ric Foster). But when his henchman Bone (Cliff Dance) comes to collect, a mysterious lady comes out of nowhere and lays waste to the goon. When Jesse awakens he finds the crony dead, his throat ripped to shreds and his guardian angel, Lucinda (Mary Fanaro) in need of shelter. Jesse feels the need to repay the woman who saved his life, but soon finds out that a place to stay is the least of what Lucinda is after. (Spoiler alert: She also needs human flesh, and lots of it.) Spectacle and Masscare (who first presented this at our second annual Shriek Show) are thrilled to team up and screen this rare SOV nugget!
Massacre Video was started in 2008 by Louis C. Justin as a small internet retail store specializing in low-budget and hard to find horror/cult/exploitation DVDs and magazines. In 2009, MV purchased the rights to the independent shot-on-video film 555 and planed on releasing it on to DVD for the very first time. Since then Massacre has churned out releases of JUNK FILMS, OROZCO: THE EMBALMER, and most recently the deeply twisted VOYAGE TO AGATIS. Look for more releases in the near future and check out massacrevideo.com for more details, to order these films, and more!