Both Dave and Kier-La have strong genre backgrounds, and Friday nights will be when the freak flags fly, so to speak - the 16mm projector will come into play most frequently on these nights, as we bring together the best in horror, sci-fi, culty weirdness and exploitation classics from our stable of print collector pals. We'll screen new classics in-the-making alongside the tried and true favourites, and obscurities that have only recently gotten the props they deserve thanks to Stephen Thrower's book Nightmare USA, Lars Nilsen's Weird Wednesday programming at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, as well as through other pivotal programmers like Jack Stevenson, the folks at Cosmic Hex (formerly The Werepad) and Trash Palace. Seeing what condition the prints will be in will be half the fun, because with every jump and scratch you're literally seeing that film's history unfold before your eyes.
Also as an ongoing "mini-series" on the Trash + Cult nights, we'll be featuring the occasional show under the banner "A Very Special Episode" - a series of television ephemera featuring movies-of the week, defunct public access shows, afterschool specials, and of course the series' namesakes - those highly melodramatic sitcom episodes where characters face an actual problem, like meth addiction, child molestation or suicide - albeit with laugh track intact!
UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
2012-02-10
BLACULA director William Crain delivers another humorously titled 70's Black cast fright flick that's a lot better than you expect, starring Bernie Casey as the titular character (actually, “Dr. Pryde”!), a well-to-do doc catering to Los Angeles' troubled Watts neighborhood. Pryde unwisely tests an experimental cell regeneration serum on himself and turns into a white-skinned, light-eyed, hooker-murdering lunatic! 16mm Print!
Read more … DR. BLACK, MR. HYDE - 16mm Print!
2012-02-17
Tougher than Shaft and smoother than Superfly! Larry Cohen’s sequel to his own high-voltage BLACK CAESAR is a tribute to classic 30’s gangster films, with Fred Williamson returning as Tommy Gibbs, a fearless, bulletproof tough guy who blasts his way from the gutter to become the ultimate street boss. Driven by always-on-the-move handheld camera work, machine-gun editing and Edwin Starr's funky score, Hell Up in Harlem is two big fists of reckless attitude. 16mm Print!
Read more … HELL UP IN HARLEM - 16mm Print!
2012-02-24
After pairing together for the TV series I SPY, Robert Culp and Bill Cosby tried the big screen for Hickey & Boggs. With Cosby top-billed and Culp behind the camera as well in front of it, Hickey & Boggs (with a script by Walter Hill) mixes a nihilistic view of the world with its indifferent citizens, sadistic villains, and innocent human lives that aren’t worth a plug nickel, with two laconic do-gooders wondering if risking their lives is really worth all the bullets, blood, and bruises for a few measly dollars.
Read more … HICKEY & BOGGS - 16mm Print!
2012-03-02
Could there be a more "Canadian" way to smuggle a fortune in stolen diamonds than inside a hollowed out hockey puck? Not only does this excellent family-friendly chase flick features Canadian locations and Canadian actors, but the plot - two orphans from Chicoutimi fleeing one-step ahead of bungling crooks in a desperate attempt to alert the authorities - weaves through the Quebec Winter Carnival, and climaxes at the Montreal Forum during a Canadiens vs. Bruins game!
Read more … THE MYSTERY OF THE MILLION DOLLAR HOCKEY PUCK - 16mm Print!
2012-03-09
Eli Wallach and Julie Harris play the Masons, high-strung suburbanite parents of acid-dealing musician Artie (Canadian cult actor Stephen McHattie) and his naive sister, Maxie (Deborah Winters). After a big family fight, Artie gives sis her first LSD trip and her parents later find Maxie's blown her mind in a closet, opening the door on adulterous affairs and debauched drinking among the adults! The film refuses to take the easy demonizing route of other cautionary acid tales and also features in the cast Rue McClanahan, Hal Holbrook, and Don Scardino of Squirm - 16mm Print!
Read more … THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR - 16mm Print!
2012-03-16
One year after William Friedkin's The French Connection made a splash with its take-no-shit cops and intense street action came The Seven-Ups, directed by French Connection producer Philip D'Antoni, and featuring its star Roy Scheider as Buddy Manucci, leader of a group of hard-line, renegade New York cops who strictly target criminals with crimes that warrant at least seven-year stretches in prison (hence the nickname, "The Seven-Ups”). The sleazy locales, weary detectives and hair-raising chase sequences make it a worthy pseudo-sequel to Friedkin's masterpiece – especially an incredible car chase from New York to New Jersey.
Read more … Roy Scheider Weekend: THE SEVEN-UPS - 16mm Print!
2012-03-23
Bollywood returns to Blue Sunshine! COOLIE delivers all the deadly gunfights, cliffhanging action, funky tunes, and spontaneous song & dance you crave, and features mega-star Amitabh Bachchan as a Muslim coolie (train porter), raised by a Hindi old man and in love with Julie, a Christian girl. Bachchan suffered a life-threatening injury while filming a fight scene, causing India to literally come to a halt. The footage remains in the film and abruptly freeze-frames with the insane inter-title: "This is the shot in which Amitab Bachchan was seriously injured." Spinning Bollywood funk hits before and after the film!
Read more … Blue Sunshine goes Bollywood: Amitabh Bachchan in COOLIE!
2012-03-30
A crime heist classic starring three of French cinema’s biggest names – cold-blooded killer Alain Delon, police inspector Lino Ventura, and Jean Gabin as the patriarch of a Sicilian crime family plotting to hijack an airliner with $50 million in jewels. Henri Verneuil’s The Sicilian Clan, based on a novel by Auguste Le Breton (Rififi and Bob le flambeur) ups the pace on Melville’s films by adding excellent action set-pieces to feel more like an Italian crime film... helped in no small part by Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack - undoubtedly one of the maestro’s finest ever.
Read more … THE SICILIAN CLAN - 16mm Print!
