RESIDENCY

RESIDENCY

Posted on by smacfarlane

RESIDENCY
dir. Winnie Cheung, 2023
75 min. United States.
In English.

screening with

MY BODY IS A CAR
dir. Lucy Rosa Blanca Gaehring, 2023
3 min. United States.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 5 PM followed by Q+A with filmmakers Winnie Cheung and Lucy Rosa Blanca Gaehring

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

TICKETS

Spectacle is thrilled to host a one-night-only pre-Halloween screening of New York City filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Winnie Cheung’s RESIDENCY, paired with Lucy Rosa Blanca Gaehring’s short film MY BODY IS A CAR (2023).

RESIDENCY was filmed during an interdisciplinary artist residency hosted by The Locker Room, a Brooklyn based underground art space. Director/writer/cinematographer/editor Winnie Cheung taps into the ethos of DIY cinema, leveraging the gallery as the set and her cohort of artists as performers.

RESIDENCY boldly redefines the legacy of Kenneth Anger, the Cinema of Transgression and No Wave Cinema. The film is a love letter that taps into the frenzied emotional psychogeography of New York City where the narrative structure is deliberately fragmented, creating an immersive experience that mirrors the unattainable nature of memory. In Cheung’s own words: “What if Warhol made a horror film about life at The Factory?”

“RESIDENCY and MY BODY IS A CAR both distill New York City’s relentless, claustrophobic energy into personal vessels for inner peace and renewal.” – Winnie Cheung

“(RESIDENCY) resurrects the collective spirit that once defined New York City’s artistic ecosystem, yet the zombified venture spirals into derangement as the film shifts into the mode of funhouse horror.” – Artforum

“RESIDENCY is part of the North American new wave of indie micro-budget genre features.” – Variety

“A concise and concentrated evil diamond of a feature debut.” – Filmmaker Rebecca Falvey

WINNIE CHEUNG is a Hong Kong born, New York based filmmaker at the cross section of non-fiction, horror and arthouse cinema. She mixes fictionalized tales with half-truths for unsettling cinematic experiences. In 2019, Winnie’s morbid animated short Albatross Soup premiered at Sundance Hong Kong, won Vimeo Animation of the Year and Short of the Week’s “Short of the Year”. The following year, she co-produced and edited Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Kier-La Janisse’s epic feature length documentary on the history of folk horror which went on to win SXSW’s Midnighters Audience Award and Best Documentary at Fantasia International Film Festival. Residencyy is Winnie’s first feature film which she co-wrote, directed, shot and co-edited.

LUCY ROSA BLANCA GAEHRING is a trans-femme latin(e) interdisciplinary artist from Miami, based in New York, working primarily in performance with a practice that includes dance, poetry, and sound/video. As a trans Uruguayan-Mexican living in the United States, she questions the binaries of the colonial and patriarchal Western framework that we live under. She often channels feminist stories of melodramatic heartbreak into site-specific performance. It is important to her to continue blurring the line between art-making and community building. She is currently studying at the School of Visual Arts’ BFA ‘Visual & Critical Studies’ program.

AN AUTUMN EVENING WITH VADIM KOSTROV

Posted on by Zach Fleming

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love —but the greatest of these is love.

In July, September, and December of 2023, Spectacle watched the seasons pass across nine features made over the course of the first few creatively explosive years of Russian expat Vadim Kostrov’s forays into his unique approach to personal filmmaking. While unable to travel to the United States during these screenings, Kostrov generously stayed up into the wee hours in his current home of Paris to call in the theater and discuss a stunning bouquet of work that captured the atmospheric shifts and burgeoning lives of idealistic young artists, mostly within his alpine-industrial home city Nizhny Tagil.

Just after one year in which we held screenings of Kostrov’s second piece in his incomplete seasons tetralogy, FALL, it comes with great delight to announce that the filmmaker will make his first —and no doubt far from last— in-person appearance at the goth bodega to present three pivotal and seasonally-aligned short films.

STILL FREE (set in the late summer) along with I SAW and THE LAST LOOK OF AUTUMN (both in the fall) represent various departures, epilogues, and transitions in the life of Kostrov and the friends that make up his pool of subjects and collaborators.

This will be the United States premieres of I SAW and STILL FREE, and the world premieres of THE LAST LOOK OF AUTUMN and LIGHT, a new music video by Kostrov that will finish the program.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 7PM w/ Q&A

TICKETS

STILL FREE
Dir. Vadim Kostrov, 2023.
Russia. 31 min.
In Russian with English subtitles.

Not dissimilar from Kostrov’s stellar feature-length couples portrait, ADA AND MAXIM, the diary footage shot in 2020 that makes up STILL FREE is another example of Kostrov’s ability to provide a welcoming gaze on the idealism of young romance, this time between Katya and her boyfriend Kostya, who will soon leave to join the Russian military from their town of Svobodny (which translates to English as “Free”). While the former film spotlights pockets of warmth in a desolate winter, STILL FREE plays as an inverse, a harbinger of war and upturned lives for those in front and behind the camera, amidst the crowded revelry of late summer beach-going.

I SAW
2022. Russia.
29 min.
In Russian with English subtitles.

An epilogue of sorts to the NARODNAYA trilogy, I SAW features an always welcome return for Kostrov mainstays Gosha Gordienko (seen over the course of seasons in ORPHEUS, SUMMER, NARODNAYA, AFTER NARODNAYA, and COMET) and Matvey Bedin as they piece together a new song for their band, Lazy Comet, in a dimly natural lit apartment. As with all of Kostrov’s work, the mundane and the divine are one and the same, as a home studio crossfades into a spread of autumnal hues.

THE LAST LOOK OF AUTUMN
(LE DERNIER REGARD DE L’AUTOMNE)
2023. Russia.
25 min.

Shot in the Urals during fall 2021, THE LAST LOOK OF AUTUMN comprises the last images Kostrov filmed in the region before leaving Russia in March, 2022. Edited after his move to Paris, the film takes on the quality of a solemn departure as locations and landmarks that have appeared in previous work are shadowed in the dark oranges and yellows of sunset. Perhaps classifiable as one of Kostrov’s landscape films, it stands out because of its unsettled framing. No longer on a tripod, the camera trembles in the filmmaker’s hands, his breath interwoven with the sounds of the environment.

LIGHT
2024. Russia.
5 min.

A brand new video featuring an ethereal rock composition played by Lazy Comet, originally set to vocals and lyrics written by Kostrov in summer 2020. Guitarist Gosha Gordienko and bassist Shamil Sayfotdinov stoically gaze upon, and approach, the blazing horizontal light of an Ural sunset in the fall of 2021.

Total running time: 90 min.

THE OUTCASTS

Posted on by Zach Fleming

THE OUTCASTS
dir. Robert Wynne-Simmons, 1982
95 mins. Ireland.
In English.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 – 5 PM followed by remote Q+A with Robert Wynne-Simmons moderated by filmmaker Dónal Foreman
(This event is $10.)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29 – 10 PM

TICKETS

Q&A TICKETS

“The dead are our friends.”

This fall, Spectacle is thrilled to host the United States premiere of a new restoration of Irish filmmaker Robert Wynne-Simmons’ long-unavailable gothic masterpiece THE OUTCASTS.

Rich in earthy pastoral detail, THE OUTCASTS is a slow-burning feminist film disguised as a piece of folk horror. Set in 1810, the film depicts a remote farming community which is thrown into crisis by the arrival of a charismatic, wandering fiddler named Scarf Michael (Mick Lally). Most enamored by him is Maura (Mary Ryan), the daughter of an impoverished farmer, noted and often ridiculed among the townsfolk for her slowness and shyness. Maura gravitates to Scarf against the wishes of her family and neighbors, and is soon suspected of practicing witchcraft in her own right. As she suffers scapegoating from her community for being “mad”, Maura pushed further to the margins.

Before making his directorial debut with THE OUTCASTS, Wynne-Simmons was one of the screenwriters on Piers Haggard’s infamous THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (1971), a similarly windswept cult film steeped in mythology (albeit on the British, not Irish, countryside.) Seamus Corcoran’s telephoto cinematography and the unfakeable locations of Ireland lend THE OUTCASTS the quality of a 95-minute dream (or nightmare) sequence in the vein of McCABE & MRS. MILLER or PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, like a fairy tale hazily remembered. Ultimately, THE OUTCASTS is an unsparing and mesmerizing parable of stigma, prejudice, faith and tradition, interrogating how and why people become monsters in the eyes of others.

“I began filmmaking at age 11 and from the beginning I was fascinated by the way in which films appeared real, but in fact were more akin to dreams.  Within a film it is possible to step seamlessly from reality into fantasy.  The Irish Famine caused such a huge change in the country that in the minds of later storytellers memories of a time before the famine mingled with the world of folk tales. THE OUTCASTS takes place in this liminal landscape between myth and reality.” – Robert Wynne-Simmons

“Robert Wynne-Simmons’ successful attempt to take Irish myth and embroider it with a modern psychological understanding of people’s fears, needs and desires should have been a beacon for the nascent Irish film industry. We certainly have enough lore to draw on, and centuries of struggle and misery to dramatize.” – Irish filmmaker and critic Paul Duane, RTE

At the time of its release, THE OUTCASTS was the first fully Irish-funded film in over half a century. Spectacle is honored to host the United States premiere of the new 2K digital restoration by the Irish Film Archive for IFI’s Digital Restoration Project, painstakingly scanned from original 35mm negatives (which were, themselves, printed from blown-up 16mm film.) The restoration was funded by Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann with further support from Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) and EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.

ROBERT WYNNE-SIMMONS is a novelist, poet, composer, librettist and film director, best known for his screenplay of BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW, now regarded as one of the originators of the Folk Horror genre.

DONAL FOREMAN is an Irish filmmaker based in New York City. For more information please visit his website.

Special thanks to Robert Wynne-Simmons, Eleanor Melinn and Sunniva O’Flynn (Irish Film Institute), and Dennis Bartok and Craig Rogers (Deaf Crocodile).


(poster by Stephanie Monohan)

HATE UNCHAINED: Lucía Seles’ Tennis Tetralogy

Posted on by Zach Fleming


“Lucía Seles is the + selfless, absorbed and romantic with herself in the world and she doesn’t want to be treated = no director living or dead besides she’s a classical guitarist a graphomaniac better than ella fitzgerald when ef was alive and too many more things than anyone.”
– Lucía Seles’ director bio

Suis generis works of avant-garde comedy, Lucía Seles’ tennis tetralogy, HATE UNCHAINED, are a sight to behold. Filmed over a few days on prosumer cameras working from improvised scripts, the films operate in a language uniquely their own. Seles incorporates on-screen text-based poetry, verbal slapstick, a documentarian’s eye, compelling characters, stray camera mistakes, love triangles, and more into an DIY screwball stew that lands somewhere between The Office, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, the work of El Pampero Cine, and Samuel Beckett. These are films that obey their own logic of dramatic storytelling, film aesthetics, and poetry to an often disorienting degree. During their premiere in Germany, no less than Ulrike Ottinger seemed to be baffled by Seles’ odd rhythms and unique potpourri of experimental techniques. We’re proud to host their New York premieres including a special conversation with Seles after the October 20th screening of SMOG IN YOUR HEART.

Focusing on the petty squabbles and romantic employees of a tennis complex on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the series is best enjoyed by starting with SMOG IN YOUR HEART. Setting the stage for the interpersonal dynamics and romantic crushes of the five main characters, SMOG IN YOUR HEART establishes a screwball workplace dynamic that the next three films continually tease at and subvert through all sorts of absurdist detours. SATURDAYS DISORDERS, for example, sets half of its running time following a Kafkaesque pilgrimage around the suburbs of a small town, while TERMINAL YOUNG completely abandons the tennis complex for a roller rink where one of the characters is having a birthday party mainly filled with strangers.


SMOG IN YOUR HEART (Smog en tu corazón)
dir. Lucía Seles, 2022
Argentina. 112 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2 – 7:30PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 5PM FT Q&A
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 7:30PM

TICKETS

Q&A TICKETS

“How difficult it is when a person owns a tennis complex and mixes that with his other feelings.”
– Lucía Seles’ synopsis

Five characters working at a tennis complex: the owner Manuel, a tennis teacher who only goes by the name La Tenista, new recruit Sergio from San Juan, shy manager Lujan, and a dopey accountant Aristegui. The series begins in a romantic-comedy vein, introducing the protagonists and quickly drawing up a love pentagon between them as they talk about Singing in the Rain and whether people with dark eyes can love people with light eyes. Tensions flare as they consider making a pilgrimage to the cathedral of the town of Lujan, but don’t actually invite Lujan. Less a romantic melodrama than an anarchic cinematic poem of disorder, desire, absurdity, futility, labor, and miscommunication; Seles sets the tone strong in the first film through a chaotic montage of dramatic tensions, visual gags, and textual poetry.


SATURDAYS DISORDERS (Sábados desordenados)
dir. Lucía Seles, 2022
Argentina. 97 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2 – 10PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 10PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 7:30PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29 – 7:30PM

TICKETS

“Saturdays Disorders is a non-professional tennis final linked to a not-so-famous way of the cross, apart from the fact that loneliness is undoubtedly the virgin, the mother and the most beautiful sister of all plans every day of the week.”
– Lucía Seles’ synopsis

Taking a bizarre left-turn from Smog in Your Heart’s labyrinthine romantic entanglements, Saturdays Disorders plays like an extended riff on a late scene conversation in that prior film with Lujan traveling to the town of Lujan to undertake a pilgrimage of the lesser stations of the cross. A seemingly endless Kafkaesque journey through the suburbs of Lujan ensues while the tennis complex holds a tennis competition with only two entreats, Selena Prat (Seles herself, but credited as Selena Prat) and a friend of La Tenista’s father. Injuries, misunderstandings, fairground rides, puffy jackets, on-screen poetry, barking dogs, and some oddly achieved notes of comic futility ensue.


WEAK RANGERS
dir. Lucía Seles, 2022
Argentina. 126 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 – 7:30PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7 – 7:30PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 – 7:30PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 – 7:30PM

TICKETS

“Neither the cold nor the storms can calm you down when you are faced with a new boss that you would not like.”
– Lucía Seles’ synopsis

The third film in the series showcases Seles’ most chaotic experimentation with time, see-sawing all over the place, simultaneously catching the same characters in various scenes through a relentless montage of poetic asides. La Tenista has taken over the complex, Lujan gets a haircut by Sergio, Manuel’s brother comes to visit (and wrestles him to the ground), and much more. The third film in the series shows Seles at her most rambling and discursive, working completely non-linearly in a disorienting montage of scenes truncated and intercut with each other so that the same characters often appear simultaneously in multiple instances of time. The result is something uniquely Seles’ own: a cubist-esque piece of freeform cinematic comedic poetry.


TERMINAL YOUNG
dir. Lucía Seles, 2023
Argentina. 128 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7 – 10PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 – 10PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 – 10PM

TICKETS

“A light-eyed man who, thanks to his best friend, is an accountant at a tennis complex, rebels against the universe and himself and becomes an accountant at a flower shop.”
– Lucía Seles’ synopsis

Picking up a year after the first three films in the tetralogy, Terminal Young is set largely during Sergio’s birthday party at a roller rink. Organized by Sergio’s mom, the party is filled with random guests invited by Manuel including a real estate agent and a young blonde choir boy Manuel met at a terminal, nicknamed The Terminal Young. A mix of screwball tensions and awkward miscommunications, Seles finishes off her series in true style i.e. randomly, chaotically, irreverently, and hysterically. Do the romantic tensions established in Smog in Your Heart ever get resolved? Do the characters ever morph out of their bizarre and highly specific archetypes? Does Lujan ever make it to Lujan? See the movie and find out, but for anyone already keen to Seles’ relentless inventiveness, you may already know what sort of odd dramatic teases could be in store.

BOOGER

Posted on by Zach Fleming


BOOGER
dir. Mary Dauterman, 2024
USA. 78 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18 – 7:30PM ft Q&A with director Mary Dauterman

TICKETS

After the death of her best friend Izzy, Anna focuses all her attention on Booger, the stray cat which she and Izzy took in. When Booger bites her, she begins to undergo a strange transformation.

A refreshingly gross and darkly humorous addition to the rapidly expanding ‘grief as horror’ sub genre, BOOGER features a stellar performance from Grace Glowicki (not to mention a fantastic supporting turn from Heather Matarazzo), as well as some ingenious (and disgusting) practical effects.

Join us for a one night only special screening, featuring a Q&A with Mary afterwards!

ON & ON & ON, IT GOES: FILMS BY CAMERON A. GRANGER, SHALA MILLER, AND JARD LEREBOURS

Posted on by Zach Fleming

This collection of experimental shorts traces the systemic, oft-unseen echoes of history left through generational trauma, grief, colonialism, urban redevelopment, redlining, and displacement, and pays tribute to the individuals and communities that maintain and resist. Following the screening, artists Cameron A. Granger, Shala Miller, and Jard Lerebours will be present for an in-person discussion.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 – 7:30PM FT Q&A

TICKETS

COCONUT
Dir. Jard Lerebours, 2022.
Jamaica, United States. 3 minutes.
In English.

To his mother’s homeland of Jamaica, a young man returns to pay last respects to the grandmother he called Two Mommy. COCONUT is a self-proclaimed “public declaration of love,” an experimental documentary and poetic remembrance of a matriarch and caretaker.

BEFORE I LET GO
Dir. Cameron A. Granger, 2023.
United States. 23 minutes.
In English.

Set in the fictional town of Bad City, 5 years after a giant monster attack leveled the city’s east side neighborhood, BEFORE I LET GO follows a documentary filmmaker’s experience covering the community’s recovery efforts. Awarded Best Experimental Film and Audience Award at the 2023 Blackstar Film Festival.

THE ECHO
Dir. Shala Miller, 2017.
United States. 8 minutes.
In English.

An ethnographic study of the relationship between Shala Miller and their mother (Ruby Clyde), specifically focused on the idea of trauma being passed in the blood.

HERE AND THERE ALONG THE ECHO
Dir. Cameron A. Granger, 2024.
United States. 27 minutes.
In English.

HERE AND THERE ALONG THE ECHO finds Granger and his community coming together once again to document and study the mysterious black holes plaguing Bad City, in hopes of finding a missing friend. Currently installed as part of Granger’s multidisciplinary exhibition, 9999, at Queens Museum, this screening will mark the film’s theatrical world premiere.

Cameron A. Granger is Sandra’s son & came up in Cleveland, Ohio. Inspired by the rigorous archival & homemaking practices of his grandmother, Pearl, Granger uses his work as a means to quilt his communal and familial histories, into new, not just potential, but inevitable futures. He’s an alumni of Euclid public schools, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and the Studio Museum in Harlem AIR program. He is currently an In Situ Artist Fellow at the Queens Museum.

Jard Lerebours (He/They) is a queer community oriented Jamaican-Haitian filmmaker, writer and curator who creates exploratory pieces in service of venerating his ancestors and putting image to theory. He is an active member of the Meerkat Media Artist Collective. Jard’s practice straddles the worlds of cinema and video art. He approaches filmmaking as a conversation between friends and family guided by their loving West Indian upbringing in Long Island.

Shala Miller, also known as Freddie June when they sing, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio by two southerners named Al and Ruby. At around the age of 10 or 11, Miller discovered quietude, the kind you’re sort of pushed into, and then was fooled into thinking that this is where they should stay put. Since then, Miller has been trying to find their way out, and find their way into an understanding of themself and their history, using photography, video, film, writing and singing as an aid in this process.

BROOKLYN SCI FI FILM FEST: KAIJU EXPLOSION SHORT FILM SHOWCASE

Posted on by Zach Fleming

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 7:30PM W Q&A

TICKETS

The 5th annual Brooklyn Sci Fi Film Festival presents: A curated evening of Creatures, Monsters and Alternative Sci-Fi Short Films from around the world.

Honoring the 70th anniversary of the first Godzilla film, BSFFF presents a selection of strange, monstrous and speculative films including such works as:


THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
dir. Dimitri Simakis, 2023
USA. 12 min.
In English


IVARA – CASE OF EXTRA
dir. Yuki Kurosu, 2022
Japan. 7 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles.


LOW DOWN LARRY VS THE GIANT REPTILE
dir. Sammy Verni, 2024
USA. 7 min
In English.

And many more!

Full lineup will be revealed at the door.

The world of independent science fiction thrives in the short film format. Come see the wonders that modern technology (and some costumes with fur) can do to make Kaiju come to life. Plus get to see a handful of bizarro futuristic stories to boggle your mind.

Curated by Mike Brown and the BSFFF Jury crew, featuring a special introduction by Mike Brown, the festival manager and a Q&A with Mike and filmmakers.

For more information on the Brooklyn Sci Fi Film Fest and to see the other events in this year’s festival: https://brooklynscififilmfest.com/

SHRIEK SHOW XIII

Posted on by Zach Fleming


That’s right Halloweeners, it’s already time for another edition of Spectacle’s storied SHRIEK SHOW MARATHON ! For the 13th almost-consecutive year in a row, we bring you ~12 hours of gut-bursting brain-splattering genre madness from around the world.

This year we’re bringing you seven (7) mystery-titles from noon-through-midnight – expect roughly 15-30 minute breaks between titles, give or take.

BYO seat cushions + barf bags, sickos !

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 – NOON THROUGH ~1:30AM

TICKETS


12PM – XXXXXX XXXXXXXX
dir. XXXXXXXX XXXXX, 1972
In Italian with English subtitles
95 min.

We kick off the Shriek Show proceedings with this gothic Italian gem that follows a group of hippies who stumble across a black mass ritual at a seemingly abandoned castle in the countryside, featuring killer synths and paint-red blood.


2PM – XX. XXXXX, XX. XXXX
dir. XXXXXXX XXXXX, 1976
In English
85 min.

Our second film of the ‘thon is an overlooked blaxploitation classic that should be mentioned in the same breath as Blacula (even if the title is a misnomer of its protagonist). To say more would give it away, but it’s worth noting that, despite some of the campy trappings, this film offers a dour look at how awful America was and continues to be.


4PM – XXX XXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
dir. XXXXXX XXXXXX, 1980
In English
95 min.

One of the most legendary and underseen horror films of the 80s – shot on super 8mm for a reported budget of $500 by a then-teenager, this thing packs a wild amount of ambition and guts into its not so modest runtime packed with tropes and references and wild accents from a place that shall not be named lest we reveal the title.


6:00PM -XXXXXXXXXXX
dir. XXXXX XXX XXXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXXX
In Dutch with English subtitles.
60 min.

A nasty short one from the Netherlands is up next – follows a recently bereaved man as he starts seeing a woman who may or may not be a necrophiliac.


8:00PM – XXXX XXXXXXXXX
dir. XXXXXX XXXXXXXX, 1979
In Spanish with English subtitles.
86 min.

The most legitimately scary film of the day is up next – steeped in steadily building dread, this Mexican horror film from the late 70s is full of surprises, not to mention a knockout of an ending. Not to be missed.


10:00PM – XXXX XX XXX XXXXX
dir. XXXXXXX X. XXXX, 1991
78 min.
In English.

Filmed in the dusty outskirts and suburbs of Las Vegas, our 10pm feature feels like a sneakily ultra-gory after school special. The setup is simple – two kids dig up a gargoyle statue (while cutting school, no less) – a strange man appears and tells them to leave it because it contains ‘the essence of evil’, so they bring it home.

A perfect garbage gem in a sea of bland SOV offerings from the dustbin of the 90s. Do not miss this!

WARNING : BRIEF MOMENTS OF STROBE EFFECTS


MIDNIGHT – XXX XXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX
dir. XXXX XXXXXXX, XXXX XXXXXXX, 2000
In English
70 min.

Closing out the marathon, we have an early aughts entry from one of the most prolific no-budget filmmaking duos in SOV history.

A famous horror novelist with writer’s block rents a haunted house while seeking inspiration for his newest novel – a psychotic blast of dream-fueled chaos ensues, as the filmmakers use this conceit to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the digital wall.

If this doesn’t clear out what’s left of your cranium, nothing will.

THE VIDEO WOES OF MICHAEL J MURPHY

Posted on by spectacletheater

Continuing our cherry picked selections from the extensive catalogue of Michael J Murphy films, Spectacle is proud to present this trio of horror films from the early to mid 80s.

The two short films were shot on 16mm, while the feature (which was heavily inspired by Murphy’s experience trying to get the shorts distributed) was shot on 8mm, they’re all unique and strange films from a director working on very much his own wavelength.

BLOODSTREAM
dir. Michael J. Murphy, 1985
UK. 80 min.
In English.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 7:30PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22 – 7:30PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 7:30PM

TICKETS

After a low-budget horror filmmaker is swindled by a home video distributor, he decides to make a snuff film where he murders all those who have wronged him.

Shot on Super 8 for a reported budget of £400, BLOODSTREAM is simultaneously a howl of rage at the cutthroat nature of the film industry and a biting satire of the then-developing national “crisis” over Video Nasties. It’s also reportedly semi-autobiographical, inspired by his own experience with a scummy video producer while trying to get distribution for THE LAST NIGHT and INVITATION TO HELL.

Murphy reportedly never sought active distribution for BLOODSTREAM because he wasn’t comfortable with how angry the movie feels, but it’s pretty clear that it’s meant in good fun, and it never gives the impression that the filmmakers think horror movies have anything to do with driving people to literal violence – a conversation that was heavily present in British media in particular at the time.

THE LAST NIGHT
dir. Michael J. Murphy, 1982
UK. 52 min.
In English.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 – 5PM

TICKETS

Impaling, strangulation, hanging, stabbing, implied necrophilia – all in the name of entertainment!

As a small local theater and its players prepare for the final performance of a mystery thriller play, they find themselves held hostage by two escaped convicts who have chosen the theater as a hideout.

Clearly conceived around an available location with a limited budget in mind, Murphy does a surprising amount with very little in this short and nasty little slasher-thriller, set in a local theater dynamic he was clearly familiar with.

PLAYING WITH

INVITATION TO HELL
dir. Michael J. Murphy, 1982
UK. 44 min.
In English.

Your nightmares will never be the same again.

When a young girl visiting a friend’s mansion in the English countryside is suddenly taken prisoner after a costume party, she realizes that darker forces may be preventing her from leaving.

Similar in execution to THE LAST NIGHT (mostly one location, cast of friends + locals), INVITATION TO HELL has a decidedly different feel – much dreamier and stranger, and features a fantastic drone-y synth score.

All screening from Powerhouse’s remastered releases.

SPECTOBER 2024

Posted on by spectacletheater

SPECTOBER 2024

Another year, another collection of the best of under-seen horror in the tri-state area.

Join us for SPECTOBER 2024!

BLACK MAGIC RITES
dir. Renato Polselli, 1973
Italy. 98 min.
In Italian with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 – 10PM

TICKETS

A group of vampires keep the body of a witch in a castle cellar. They require virgin blood to resurrect her. A party of people arrive and things kick off.

A psychedelic-erotic-horror masterpiece, BLACK MAGIC RITES is hypnotic and transportive in its vibes-first visuals and storytelling.

Starring Mickey Hargitay and Rita Calderoni (A Quiet Place in the Country) and featuring a kaleidoscopic grab bag of 70’s-and-the-occult-isms (witches, vampires, Satanists, flashing lights, crash zooms, psychedelic soundtrack) – this is a midnight flick for the arthouse sickos, presented in an all-new 4k restoration from the original negative.

Viewers should be warned it also features the (unfortunately common and very Italian) depiction of sexual-asssault-turned-”consensual”-sex-scenes, giving a glimpse into the truly vile thoughts behind the eyes of the film’s overtly male gaze.

WARNING: BRIEF COLORED STROBE EFFECTS

FATAL IMAGES
dir. Dennis Devine, 1989
USA. 99 min.
In English

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 – MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13 – 5PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 10PM

TICKETS

A crazy serial killer kills himself by sealing his soul into his camera. Years later, a woman buys the camera, and everyone she photographs begins being tracked down and killed by the killers spirit.

A regional SOV gem that does exactly what the synopsis says and then some.

From the first awkwardly ADR’d moments of tape fuzz, there’s something cozy about this bizarre supernatural slasher from the director of Dead Girls (and an impressively long list of mid-to-late-oughts straight to streaming garbage horror films with fantastic titles like Ouija Nazi and Curse of the Pirate Dead )

Come for the beige interiors and home locations dressed as ‘offices’ and ‘police stations’, stay for the alien performances and surprisingly gnarly kills.

Screening courtesy of Visual Vengeance.

THE LAST GATEWAY
dir. Demian Rugna, 2006
Argentina. 105 min.
In English.


SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13 – 7:30PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 – 10PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 10PM

TICKETS

Michael and Marianne recently married and moved into their new home, however they have come to discover that their peaceful lives are about to be turned upside down when Michael starts suffering from severe stomach pains. They will soon discover that the pain comes from a miscalculation made by Victor, a demonologist who has just opened a portal to hell in MIchael’s stomach.

Now both Michael and Marianne have to run from dangerous people who are after this gate while facing horrific creatures that are escaping from the portal that Michael carries in his body. They will soon arrive to a deserted town, which will be plagued with monsters and death. Will Michael find a way out before it is too late?

Demian Rugna’s (WHEN EVIL LURKS) second feature throws everything at the wall, and it is genuinely shocking how much sticks once you get on its wavelength (it opens with some deeply hilarious English dubbing, and there’s a mix of accented English and awful dub applied to the whole thing in a way that feels deeply Italian).

There is a lot of plot to track, as evidenced by the convoluted synopsis above, but it pays off that plotting with ingeniously designed and rendered creature effects, all practical and covered in goop – not to mention that thick sense of impending doom his later work is steeped in.

Fans of Fulci classics like CITY OF THE DEAD, take note – this is for you!

MR. ICE CREAM MAN
dir. Mack Hail, 1996
USA. 65 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 – 3PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 – 5PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 – MIDNIGHT

TICKETS

Children are going missing in a suburban town. There’s a creepy guy driving an ice cream truck. Related?

Deeply uncanny and unsettling, MR ICE CREAM MAN feels like a direct transmission from an alien dimension, or like a deeply cursed episode of a lost Nickelodeon show (or even a lost segment from I SAW THE TV GLOW’s fictional cult-kids-show).

Not to be confused with THE ICE CREAM MAN, this rarity is sure to make you squirm.

“Like a lost episode of Twin Peaks: The Return” – Matt Lynch via Letterboxd

LAS NUEVE CARAS DEL MIEDO
dir. Christian Gonzalez, 1995
Mexico. 90 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6 – 5PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 – MIDNIGHT
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 10PM

TICKETS

A TV crew alongside a medium, a friar and a killer with regrets spend the night inside a haunted hotel where a guy murdered prostitutes in the 1950’s. Soon they discover the place is really haunted, the friar is possessed by an evil force beginning a new massacre.

Probably the nastiest offering of this year’s Spectober lineup, LAS NUEVE CARAS DEL MIEDO is sorely underseen and ahead of its time stylistically – blending “true-crime” storytelling with a supernatural slasher (some online have compared it to a cross between GHOSTWATCH (1992) and an episode of the X-files).

Featuring a cast of mostly reprehensible people dying in increasingly gnarly ways, this movie has a surprising amount of bile. Viewers be warned!

TILL DEATH DO WE SCARE
(小生怕怕)
Dir. Lau Kar-wing, 1982
Hong Kong. 91 min.
In Cantonese with English subtitles.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8 – 7:30PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 – 7:30PM

TICKETS

Irene (Olivia Cheng) is chronically unlucky in love, having already lost three husbands to various Rube Goldberg-esque wedding day mishaps while still in her youth. Worried that she may be slipping into a suicidal depression– which in turn would mean there would be no one left to pray for or provide offerings to them– the ghosts of her three husbands assume the role of supernatural matchmaker, conspiring to set her up with the bumbling host of a local radio horror show (Alan Tam) while trying to temper their own jealousies.

TILL DEATH DO WE SCARE was an early release by Raymond Wong, Karl Maka, and Dean Shek’s newly-formed Cinema City production company, boasting a script from future hesuipian heavyweight Clifton Ko (IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD), and directed by martial arts icon Lau Kar-wing (ODD COUPLE). Yet despite all the local talent involved in its production, the most curious credit found on this slapstick/rom-com/action/horror hybrid comes courtesy of special effects maestro, Tom Savini. As the story goes, Savini traveled to Hong Kong with the film’s original VFX artist to assist with the production, inadvertently resulting in the firing of the original artist and the hiring of Savini, for what turned out to be one of the more chaotic productions with which he’d been involved.

“It was a very frantic shoot, because, in order to start a fog in a scene, they’d start a fire in a wastebasket, put a lid on it, and take the lid off when they wanted to fill the room with smoke. […] It was great fun improvising those effects.”
– Tom Savini

Special thanks to Far East Flix.