Up From The Depths: Rare Horror From Beyond The Limits Of Human Sanity!
Shock 'Em Dead (Michael Angelo performing in person & cast/crew reunion!)
Raise your fists to the awesome power of one of the Nineties’ most hellacious underground horror films! Let’s pretend you’re a huge dweeb who lost your pizzeria gig, got evicted from the trailer park, got humiliated by the dream band you just auditioned for — all before Satan plays double-necked guitar and shocks the power of rock into you! You wake up to find yourself with huge hair, a sweet-ass house, hot babes, and the power to strum your axe like a God. The catch? You and your gang of bimbos must kill and consume the living in order to survive! Are we describing a wet dream you had in middle school? No, it can only be Shock ‘Em Dead, starring Traci Lords! Incredible visuals, fake boobs, petty revenge, satirical comments on the vapid, soulless L.A. music industry, and guitar wizardry by Michael Angelo Batio (Guitar One Magazine’s “Number One Shredder of All Time”) — need we say more?! Highly recommended, and a proud earner of the Robert Johnson Cinematic Seal of Excellence! Join us after the show for a cast/crew reunion Q&A — and a full live set from Shock ‘Em Dead guitar god Michael Angelo Batio, featuring the legendary Double-Guitar from the film!
Dir. Mark Freed, 1991, digital presentation, 93 min.
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for “Shock ‘Em Dead” and Michael Angelo Batio LIVE!
The 100 Most Outrageous Kills + The House By The Cemetary (brand-new HD restoration!)
To win one of 5 pairs of tix for this show, send us your absolute favorite movie kill (either in a Youtube/Vimeo link, or in text description) to bret@cinefamily.org … the most insane clips determine the winners!
Cinefamily’s 100 Most Outrageous Kills – 8:00pm
From the golden age of goremastery to the innovative new technologies of modern effects wizards, cinema is littered with the bodies of the awesomely dispatched — and cold-blooded murder, in the hands of innovative filmmakers who present it in ways we’ve never seen before, can be a heavenly fine art. Tonight, in a show originated at Austin, Texas’s Alamo Drafthouse, we’ll be celebrating the absolute finest in on-screen annihilation with a non-stop nightmare of intestine-ripping, head-bursting, unrepentant baby-eating and other crimson-soaked savagery! This night is intended for the most severe and iron-stomached bloodhounds around, and we accept absolutely no responsibility for lost lunches. Wimps and weekend horrormeisters, leave the hall; if you can’t stand the meat, stay out of the kitchen. See all you deathbeasts in the murderpit!!!!
The House By The Cemetary (brand-new HD restoration!) – 9:30pm-ish
A rare kick-ass horror film that even dislikers of gore tend to enjoy, The House by the Cemetary contains Lucio Fulci’s typically strong emphasis on atmosphere and shocking visuals, but also devotes more time than usual to character development and surprising plotting, allowing the graphic gore to serve as a function of the story rather than an end unto itself. The last of Fulci’s Gothic zombie excursions (and the conclusion of his unofficial early ’80s “Gates Of Hell” trilogy), House is also a strangely beautiful film, with Sergio Salvati’s expert ‘scope cinematography crafting a strange world of childhood fairy tales gone very bad, and Walter Rizzati’s poignant score providing much needed emotional support. Here, Fulci really shines and produces some of his finest work; the claustrophobic mixture of chills and supernatural poetry would do Mario Bava proud.
Dir. Lucio Fulci, 1981, HD presentation, 87 min.
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for “The 100 Most Outrageous Kills”!
Watch the trailer for “The House By The Cemetary”!
Nilbog: The World's Only Horror Movie Music Tribute Band LIVE! + Goodbye Uncle Tom (ultra-rare 35mm screening!)
Nilbog: LIVE! – 8:00pm
Nilbog is a horror film score tribute band like no other — because it might be the only one! Featuring some of L.A.’s most dedicated film music lovers (as well as former/current members of Captain Ahab, Anavan, Monsturo and Rose For Bohdan), Nilbog exists to pay homage to classic soundtrack moments by Goblin, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, Ennio Morricone and other masters of the form. Utilizing vintage synths and a keen ear for detail, this five-piece band recreates down to the last timbre some of the most beloved and fetishized horror movie themes of the past few decades — and has piles of fun doing it. Tonight, hear them perform tunes from Deep Red, Escape From New York, Suspiria, Tenebrae, Friday the 13th Part III, Phantasm and others!
LISTEN TO LIVE TRACKS FROM NILBOG’S MARCH 2011 APPEARANCE AT THE CINEFAMILY!
Goodbye Uncle Tom – 9:30pm
A jaw-dropping exercise in excess and extreme political incorrectness — and the Mt. Everest of mockumentaries — Goodbye Uncle Tom contains a bevy of images you’ll never be able to unsee, all accompanied by a rapturous and insane soundtrack of melodic ballads and skull-searing fuzz guitars by maestro Riz Ortalini. Unseen in the U.S. on 35mm for years, if not decades, this is the “jump the shark” moment of sleazy Italian mondo masterpieces. Directed in faux-documentary style by Mondo Cane filmmaking duo Jacopetti and Prosperi, you get to witness the historically accurate degradation of Old South slavery as if you were there, courtesy of the film-crew-within-the-film, who land via helicopter at a pre-Civil War plantation and chronicle the region’s daily atrocities in graphic detail. If you’ve only heard about this film, or even if you’ve seen it on home video, seeing it with a packed house on the big screen in 35mm(!) will be the highlight of your grindhouse season.
Dirs. Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi, 1971, 35mm, 123 min.
Watch the original Italian trailer for “Goodbye Uncle Tom”! WARNING: NSFW.
Watch Nilbog performing the theme to “Deep Red” live!
A Celebration of Homemade Horror, Night 2 (feat. Disconnected & Scary Movie!)
Disconnected – 7:30pm
Sparse, experimental, mysterious, grotty and totally unpredictable in every way, Gorman Bechard’s early ‘80s Connecticut production of Disconnected is a true high point in the pantheon of DIY horror obscurities. Through a sparkling cough-syrup haze of avant-garde technique, elliptical storytelling, eyebrow-raising red herrings and rare East Coast post-punk, we’re told the story of a video store clerk(!) who has a slutty twin sister that turns up dead, is seduced by a creepily feminine serial killer dude, and is endlessly tormented by harassing phone calls containing nothing but violently squelching bursts of noise resembling Satan puking up the Ultimate Hairball. Much like Mulholland Dr. or Don’t Look Now, Disconnected raises more questions than it answers, but the fun is luxuriating in the uncomfortable, claustrophobic universe Berchard devises: a careening realm of blood-spattered dream sequences (or are they?), hoagie-chomping lousy cops, instantly evaporating lines of dialogue and a finale that spirals into genuine madness.
Dir. Gorman Bechard, 1983, 16mm, 82 min.
Scary Movie (1989) – 9:15pm
Our double bill of strange ‘n funky hermetically-sealed worlds of horror continues with the late-’80s Austin, TX gem Scary Movie! A young John Hawkes (“Deadwood”, “Eastbound & Down”, Winter’s Bone) stars as an über-twitchy nerd who partakes in the local charity-run haunted house, only to plagued by visions of a notorious killer stalking him inside the event’s confines. Director Daniel Erickson’s deft blend of near-vérité local color and psychological thrills are a big plus, but Hawkes’ carefully controlled arc of one geek’s total mental breakdown results in one of the great unsung lead performances of ‘80s horror.
Dir. Daniel Erickson, 1989, 16mm, 90 min.
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for our “Homemade Horror” weekend!
Watch an excerpt from “Disconnected”!
Watch an excerpt from “Scary Movie”!
A Celebration of Homemade Horror, Night 1 (feat. Rob Schrab's Found Crap Halloween Special & Boardinghouse)
Co-presented by Everything Is Terrible!
A double feature so crammed with VHS violence you’ll be giving yourself an eyewash with tape head cleaner! Evil genius Rob Schrab is up first, presenting a mondo mix of his favorite SOV (Shot On Video) horror, which includes the beloved Midwestern master of the macabre, Paul Knop: a man (hero?) who tirelessly worked as a bondage filmmaker in order to support his signature ‘Vampire Vignettes’ that only he or M. Night Shyamalan could have created. Seriously, this stuff will remind you how truly hilarious/terrifying/effective gritty VHS can be. On top of that, we also give you a treat among treats for connossieurs of crazed creepy crap; the 1982 production Boardinghouse is so bat-shit bonkers that it was originally shot on videotape, then transfered to film, then back to video — and WE’RE SCREENING IT ON 35MM! Whaaaaa?!? Anyway, the story itself is timeless: thonged telekinetic man rents rooms in haunted house to “beautiful women with no ties.” Boobs ensue. Woman turns into old man with rat in mouth. Other indescribable shit whisks by. You think you may have seen it all, but trust us, you haven’t. Ever. EVER! There is simply nothing to compare it to. “It’s a movie with human beings in it, but this could not have possibly been made by human beings.” — Bleeding Skull
Boardinghouse Dir. John Wintergate, 1982, 35mm, 98 min.
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for our “Homemade Horror” weekend!
Watch the trailer for “Boardinghouse”!
"When Animals Attack" Triple Feature (feat. rare 35mm screening of "Willard", plus "Wild Beasts" & "Shakma"!)
Willard (rare 35mm print!) – 8:00pm
A pioneering animal disaster tale, Willard stands head-and-paws amongst the vast litter of early ‘70s critter flicks. Bruce Davison stars as an emotionally stunted, introverted almost-thirtysomething worn down from a humiliating relationship with his boss (Ernest Borgnine, in fine blustery sleazeball mode). Befriending a pair of intelligent rats, Willard soon bonds with the critters and their thousands of compatriots, without realizing he’s unleashing an army of terror he can’t rule. Anchored by Davison’s affecting portrayal of a nerd on the edge, as well as deftly choosing atmosphere and escalating tension over full-on genre assault, Willard at times plays more like a gonzo story of empowerment, a darkly tinged entry into the enduring triumphant catalogue of cinematic underdog stories. But, thanks to some genuinely shocking moments and a freaky denoument, Willard has no problem letting its horrific freak flag fly.
Dir. Daniel Mann, 1971, 35mm, 95 min.
Wild Beasts – 10:00pm
The premise couldn’t be simpler: the water supply for a large city zoo becomes contaminated with PCP, and the animals get loose — all becoming unstoppable killing machines. What a grand ol’ time! This gory Italian animal rampage movie, shot on gritty urban locations in Germany, gleefully continues to up the insanity factor act by act, until action items like “commercial airliner crashing into murderous elephant” become the everyday reality. Plus, the whole shebang is directed by Franco Prosperi (also known as one half of the classic filmmaking duo that birthed Mondo Cane and Goodbye Uncle Tom), so you know that you’re in for one hell of an unpredictable ride!
Dir. Franco Prosperi, 1984, digital presentation, 92 min.
Shakma – 11:45pm
Remember hearing a few years ago about the California man whose pet chimp went ape, ripping off the guy’s face and testicles? Did it make you flinch, covering your own parts in sympathy? Get ready to flinch once again, for Shakma will swipe at your jewels in a bloodthirsty mania. Christopher Atkins (the deeply tanned star of The Blue Lagoon) and his friends hang out after-hours in their med school building, playing (what else?) a D&D-like role playing game run by game master Roddy McDowell (or as he pronounces it, “Gay Master”,) and proceed to have their throats ripped out by an angered, psychotic lab test baboon who hunts them down one by one, Alien-style. The real stars of this film are the production’s animal handlers, who managed to not get themselves or the filmmakers killed as their baboon actor forcefully hurled itself at doors, windows its co-stars or anything else in its path, screaming bloody murder all the while in a truly terrifying electric rage.
Dirs. Tom Logan & Hugh Parks, 1990, 35mm, 101 min.
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for our “When Animals Attack” triple feature!
TV Tuesday: A Horror TV Movie Blowout! (feat. The Horror At 37,000 Feet!)
Cheryl Ladd as a boarding school disciple of Satan? Bernie Casey as the king of the Gargoyles? William Shatner vs. an evil Druid doorstop?!?! In an era where network television was still the only game in town (no cable, no home video, no VOD, no nuthin’), prime-time programming was home to some truly adventurous, out-there ideas — including made-for-TV horror films of a warped ‘n freaky variety that wouldn’t be revisited for decades to come. Join us for a double feature of spooky, campy and altogether amazing titles from this golden age of TV-movie weirdness, featuring a 16mm presentation of The Horror At 37,000 Feet! Starring a smorgasbord of recognizable faces only a “Love Boat” casting director could love, this silly ’70s movie-of-the-week scarefest involves a demonically-possessed Druid artifact from an English monastery coming to supernatural life aboard a transatlantic airline flight, taking control of one of the passengers, and causing lots of made-for-TV mayhem. Panicked personnel include William Shatner as a besotted former priest, Buddy Ebsen (“The Beverly Hillbillies”) as a boisterous tycoon and Chuck Connors (“The Rifleman”) as the gung-ho pilot! The title of the evening’s secret second film will be announced at the show!
The Horror At 37,000 Feet Dir. David Lowell Rich, 1973, 16mm, 73 min.
Watch an excerpt from “The Horror At 37,000 Feet”!
Larry-Thon!: A Larry Cohen Triple Feature (Larry Cohen in person!)
LARRY COHEN WILL BE HERE AT THE CINEFAMILY TO INTRODUCE EACH FILM!
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover – 5:30pm
“The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover is a post-Watergate movie, right enough, and it revels in the fact.” — Pierre Greenfield, Parallax View
The master of high-concept horror applies his snap-crackle-pop talents to the sweeping historical epic with equal aplomb! Once Tricky Dick & Co. were felled in the mid-’70s, the recently-deceased notorious FBI head honcho became the next prime target for public reinterpretation; executed with muckraking flair, TPFOJEH is one of the sweetest gems in Larry Cohen’s filmography, as it delivers the juicy goods on the man who had the secret juicy goods on practically every notable American of the post-War era. In the tradition of such journalistic potboiler classics as Ace In The Hole or Park Row, Cohen takes us on a whirlwind tour of Hoover’s five decades of super-sleazy achivements, bolstered by a killer cast including Rip Torn, Ronee Blakely and Broderick Crawford.
Dir. Larry Cohen, 1977, 35mm, 112 min.
Q: The Winged Serpent – 7:45pm
2012 is almost upon us, and feathered serpent gods are totally in — everybody and their mom has a morbid fascination with the Mayan Calendar. But, Larry Cohen, visionary filmmaker that he has always been, was way ahead of that new age-y stuff, and in 1982 he put Quetzalcoatl on the silver screen as a murderous, construction worker-decapitating snake-bird. Q: The Winged Serpent is one of the greatest monster movies you’ve never seen, complete with creepy sacrificial cults, panoramic NYC vistas (providing an amazing cockeyed view of the Big Apple from above) and the beast itself – a merciless claymation killing machine. Our brilliant, droopy unintentional hero, Michael Moriarty (the Mifune to Larry Cohen’s Kurosawa), plays a petty criminal/toe-tappin’ jazz cat who gets mixed up with the cops, a feather-festooned cult of crazies and one mean monster god – all in the same incredible movie! Comedy, horror and a stew of reconfigured film conventions will keep this legendary flick nested in your heart until the old gods return and gobble us up.
Dir. Larry Cohen, 1982, 35mm, 93 min.
It’s Alive – 9:45pm
Its teeth tear limbs and crunch bone, it travels at inhuman speed — and it was born at Cedars Sinai…? Larry Cohen’s first foray into horror filmmaking, this mutant killer infant movie (with creature FX by Rick Baker) is the most notorious entry in the Cohen canon, but it contains an unexpected level of genuine emotion, crafty writing and thoroughly involved performances (particularly from John P. Ryan, who, as the father of the malevolent tyke, gives one of the great “empassioned freaky male lead” turns, alongside such competition in other Cohen films as heavy-hitters Michael Moriarty, Yaphet Kotto, Frederic Forrest and Eric Bogosian!) Did you know it’s also Cohen’s take on the Generation Gap? Larry says: “The early ‘70s was a period of big change for family life in America. Teenagers wore their hair long, used drugs, and listened to music that was alien to their parents. I had read in the paper that one father actually shot his son with a shotgun because he felt his kid had turned into a monster. I said, ‘How about a movie where people in a normal family give birth to a monster as an allegory for what was going on here?’” Run — don’t crawl — to see this exploitation classic with Larry in person!
Dir. Larry Cohen, 1974, 35mm, 91 min.
Watch the trailer for “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover”!
Watch the trailer for “Q: The Winged Serpent”!
Watch the trailer for “It’s Alive”!
An Evening With Larry Cohen (feat. The Stuff & sneak preview of new Larry Cohen film!)
special secret sneak preview! – 5:00pm
Kicking off our tribute to Larry Cohen is a sneak preview of Larry’s latest work!
An Evening With Larry Cohen – 7:00pm
Meeting Larry Cohen is to bear witness to how his vast, active mind truly pours out an endless stream of ideas. His creativity seems to be on tap: a veritable faucet he can turn on at will. He likes making movies by trusting his creative instincts (which sometimes involve no permits, no schedules, or no production manager), working by the seat of his pants — and one time, even making two movies at once that way! But the slapdash quality of his films only feel like a reflection of the director’s impatience to get his next BIG idea out, and who cares when it’s all so much fun? Cohen’s movies are a wild hodgepodge of hilarious ideas, high concepts and genre mutations from an encyclopedia-like film mind. His horror movies feature Mexican serpent gods, hermaphroditic messiahs, killer babies and menacing sentient dessert snacks. His dialogue is exuberant, his sight gags prolific, and the only thing you can expect for sure in his harebrained masterpieces is to be consistently surprised by their awesomeness. But the only thing better than watching a Larry-thon is enjoying his personal company, as he pours forth anecdotes and insights on everything ranging from ‘50s television, the meaning of life, and J. Edgar Hoover. Join Larry for a live 90-minute onstage Q&A about his entire career!
The Stuff – 8:30pm-ish
It’s sub-Gaian goo so good it’ll tingle your taste buds and enthrall your mortal husk to serve its greater purposes! It’s pink and pint-sized, deadly and delectable, and you won’t mind gobbling it up, because it’s The Stuff, and enough…is never enough. Larry Cohen serves up another scoop of social commentary-laden comedic horror so ambitious and so delicious that your critique-o-meter will be teetering between “genius” and “madness”, as the world is dominated by an evil dessert product bent on controlling the minds of everyone on Earth! With incredible melting marshmallow FX, spot-on parodies of pop culture commercials — and a nutty cast of characters including SNL alum Garrett Morris as the kung fu-wielding “cookie king of New Jersey”, Paul Sorvino as the bonkers extremist militia man, and our eternal fave Michael Moriarty as an industrial saboteur hired by the failing ice cream companies of the world to investigate the evil alternative to America’s favorite confection. So dawn your bib and get ready to dig in to one of the greatest gems of gonzo horror!
Dir. Larry Cohen, 1985, digital presentation, 93 min.
Watch the trailer for “The Stuff”!
Bollywood Bloodbath (feat. A Tribute To The Ramsay Brothers & U.S. premiere of "Son Of Dracula"!)
Co-presented by Finders Keepers Records/B-Music, Dublab & The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
The world of Hindi horror is a phantasmagorical boiling cauldron of ectoplasmic ghost stories, remakes of Hollywood fright fare jam-packed with musical numbers, crispy-fried effects designed to gouge your third eye — and of course, truly incredible soundtracks. In celebration of “Bollywood Bloodbath”, the new compilation album from our friends at B-Music/Finders Keepers Records, we take you on a guided tour through the most exquisite exhumed moments in the Indian terror tale canon. First up: a finely curated selection of the strangest, most striking moments from Bollywood’s red-headed stepchild: the Ramsay Brothers’ monster movie factory. This family-run cottage industry has churned out decades of crazed possession tales and duels between good and evil — and our homemade mix of this Mondo Macabro madness is a feast for the eyes for any fan of deranged cinema! Afterwards, it’s the ultimate mind-melting masala of horror delirium, Son of Dracula. This guaranteed entry in the Top 10 Most Insane Filmgoing Experiences EVER (we’re talking The Boxer’s Omen-level obliteration here) is a non-stop barrage of demons, vampires, gurus and dancing girls, accompanied by constant sound clusters of laser zaps, thunder and evil-baby growls. At first, you’ll think “Wow, this ‘80s movie is nuts!” but, incredibly, it was conjured in 2004! After this cranium-crusher, we’ll push aside the couches for a dance party with DJs Mahssa, Arshia (Sublime Frequencies/Discostan) and Soul Markossa, all spinning Bollywood soundtrack deep cuts from the Desi-Dracula Music Cabinet!
Watch Cinefamily’s teaser trailer for “Bollywood Bloodbath”!
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for “Son Of Dracula”!
Watch the supremely whacked opening credit sequence from “Pyasa Shaitan”!
The Hitcher (archival 35mm print, writer Eric Red in person!)
The Hitcher is a picture-perfect nightmare played out on celluloid, praying upon our TV-fed paranoia and the strange familiarity of the open road — that last no man’s land. Pursued by an inescapable, mythic-yet-mundane villain played by method-acting madman Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell is plunged into an Americana-infused anxiety dream from which there is no respite – if only he’d heeded his mother’s advice: “never pick up hitch-hikers”. With a starkly compelling script by mastermind Eric Red (Body Parts) and beautiful sequences of sun-drenched, desert driving insanity from director Robert Harmon, this masterpiece of ’80s horror is an existential thrill ride, highlighting the terror and vulnerability of being in transit, of being between two points and of being nowhere at all. The only barrier between you and the savage world is the weak, metal frame of your car — which ain’t enough to stop a shotgun wielding fiend from taking you on one explosive journey right into the grinning mouth of madness. Buckle up! The Hitcher screenwriter Eric Red will be here for a Q&A after the film — plus, enjoy the film in a rare archival 35mm presentation, courtesy of the British Film Institute!
Dir. Robert Harmon, 1986, 35mm, 97 min. (Archival 35mm print courtesy of the British Film Institute)
Watch Cinefamily’s trailer for “The Hitcher”!
