100 Bloody Acres (Colin and Cameron Cairnes, 2012):
Empire Leicester Square, 11.30pm
This screening takes place on the second night of Fright Fest 2013, the
UK's premiere international fantasy and horror film festival. You can
find the details of the festival here. I am indebted to horror film expert Nigel Floyd and Cigarette Burns' Josh Saco for the suggestions and selections.
Fright Fest introduction: In the proud tradition of THE LOVED ONES and WOLF CREEK comes this
hilarious horror from Down Under. Reg Morgan runs a small organic bone
fertiliser business in the outback with his bullying older brother
Lindsay. They've recently taken the lead over their competitors thanks
to a secret ingredient – liquidised human corpses! When Reg picks up
three city-slickers who've broken down on their way to a music festival,
he's torn between his business instincts to mulch the bickering trio,
and pangs of conscience as he falls for one of his captives, the
charming Sophie. But Sophie has her own problems, she’s screwing her
boyfriend James’ best mate Wes and being lined up for an appointment
with the Morgan’s mincing machine is the least of them! Gory, shocking
and funny, with one of the most hysterically disturbing sex scenes in
cinema history, mark this rural survival saga an Oz classic.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 234: Thu Aug 22
You're Next (Wingard, 2013): Empire Leicester Square, 11.30pm
This screening takes place on the opening night of Fright Fest 2013, the UK's premiere international fantasy and horror film festival. You can find the details of the festival here. I am indebted to horror film expert Nigel Floyd and Cigarette Burns' Josh Saco for the suggestions and selections. Here is Floyd's excellent analysis of the current trends in the horror film genre for Time Out.
The film had its world premiere as part of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness program.
Fright Fest introduction: It’s the genre phenomenon everybody has been talking about for ages and now you can finally see director Adam (A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE) Wingard’s home invasion horror slaked with survival suspense, pitch black comedy and body count splatter. A roller-coaster frightener that practically raises the roof, join a family reunion from hell. The dysfunctional Davison family are getting together to celebrate a wedding anniversary. And while Crispian warns his new girlfriend Erin that things could get tense around the dinner table, nothing prepares her or any of the oblivious family for what lies in store. For when a crossbow bolt smashes through the window into a party guest’s eye, the dazed family come under attack by unknown assailants who want them dead. But the assassins didn't count on kick-ass Erin! Full of fun kills, fabulous twists and never a dull moment, You're Next is a rafter rocker of a shocker.
Here is the trailer.
This screening takes place on the opening night of Fright Fest 2013, the UK's premiere international fantasy and horror film festival. You can find the details of the festival here. I am indebted to horror film expert Nigel Floyd and Cigarette Burns' Josh Saco for the suggestions and selections. Here is Floyd's excellent analysis of the current trends in the horror film genre for Time Out.
The film had its world premiere as part of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness program.
Fright Fest introduction: It’s the genre phenomenon everybody has been talking about for ages and now you can finally see director Adam (A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE) Wingard’s home invasion horror slaked with survival suspense, pitch black comedy and body count splatter. A roller-coaster frightener that practically raises the roof, join a family reunion from hell. The dysfunctional Davison family are getting together to celebrate a wedding anniversary. And while Crispian warns his new girlfriend Erin that things could get tense around the dinner table, nothing prepares her or any of the oblivious family for what lies in store. For when a crossbow bolt smashes through the window into a party guest’s eye, the dazed family come under attack by unknown assailants who want them dead. But the assassins didn't count on kick-ass Erin! Full of fun kills, fabulous twists and never a dull moment, You're Next is a rafter rocker of a shocker.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 233: Wed Aug 21
The Kid (Chaplin, 1921): Coram Secret Garden, 49 Mecklenburgh Sq, WC1N 2QA
The Nomad Cinema are screening this in a secret garden.
Here is their introduction:
“A picture with a smile – and perhaps, a tear” is promised in the first line of Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 masterpiece and we agree… we think that even the most grown up and sensible of cynics out there will be charmed by The Kid.
This classic tale follows good old Charlie’s most loved character – the bumbling but good hearted tramp, decked out in his iconic baggy trousers, humongous shoes and bushy moustache – who finds an abandoned baby and tells of their misadventures, living in the slums of the 1920s.
As well as this being a lovely little bit of slapstick comedy that Chaplin was revered for, the film is also a beautiful tale of paternal love against a backdrop of depression and poverty. It makes for a poignant commentary and in 2011, the film was chosen to be preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for its “artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy”.
Coram Secret Garden is a truly magical environment in which to catch The Kid, as well as the other films featured in our Childhood, Lost and Found series, this summer.
Here is an extract.
The Nomad Cinema are screening this in a secret garden.
Here is their introduction:
“A picture with a smile – and perhaps, a tear” is promised in the first line of Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 masterpiece and we agree… we think that even the most grown up and sensible of cynics out there will be charmed by The Kid.
This classic tale follows good old Charlie’s most loved character – the bumbling but good hearted tramp, decked out in his iconic baggy trousers, humongous shoes and bushy moustache – who finds an abandoned baby and tells of their misadventures, living in the slums of the 1920s.
As well as this being a lovely little bit of slapstick comedy that Chaplin was revered for, the film is also a beautiful tale of paternal love against a backdrop of depression and poverty. It makes for a poignant commentary and in 2011, the film was chosen to be preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for its “artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy”.
Coram Secret Garden is a truly magical environment in which to catch The Kid, as well as the other films featured in our Childhood, Lost and Found series, this summer.
Here is an extract.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 232: Tue Aug 20
After Hours (Scorsese, 1985): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.45pm
Chicago Reader review:
Martin Scorsese transforms a debilitating convention of 80s comedy—absurd underreaction to increasingly bizarre and threatening situations—into a rich, wincingly funny metaphysical farce. A lonely computer programmer (Griffin Dunne) is lured from the workday security of midtown Manhattan to an expressionistic late-night SoHo by the vague promise of casual sex with a mysterious blonde (Rosanna Arquette). But she turns out to be a sinister kook whose erratic behavior plunges Dunne into a series of increasingly strange, devastating incidents, including encounters with three more treacherous blondes (Verna Bloom, Teri Garr, and Catherine O'Hara) and culminating in a run-in with a bloodthirsty mob of vigilantes led by a Mr. Softee truck. Scorsese's orchestration of thematic development, narrative structure, and visual style is stunning in its detail and fullness; this 1985 feature reestablished him as one of the very few contemporary masters of filmmaking.
Chicago Reader review:
Martin Scorsese transforms a debilitating convention of 80s comedy—absurd underreaction to increasingly bizarre and threatening situations—into a rich, wincingly funny metaphysical farce. A lonely computer programmer (Griffin Dunne) is lured from the workday security of midtown Manhattan to an expressionistic late-night SoHo by the vague promise of casual sex with a mysterious blonde (Rosanna Arquette). But she turns out to be a sinister kook whose erratic behavior plunges Dunne into a series of increasingly strange, devastating incidents, including encounters with three more treacherous blondes (Verna Bloom, Teri Garr, and Catherine O'Hara) and culminating in a run-in with a bloodthirsty mob of vigilantes led by a Mr. Softee truck. Scorsese's orchestration of thematic development, narrative structure, and visual style is stunning in its detail and fullness; this 1985 feature reestablished him as one of the very few contemporary masters of filmmaking.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 231: Mon Aug 19
Blow Out (De Palma, 1981): Prince Charles Cinema, 9pm
This screens as part of the Classics season at the Prince Charles (in 35mm). One of the great films of the 1980s and well worth catching in a rare screening (Also on at the cinema on Tues 6 August). Details here.
Prince Charles introduction: This stylish Brian DePalma thriller plays off the theme of the unsuspecting witness who discovers a crime and is thereby put in grave danger, but with a novel twist. Jack is a sound recordist who works on grade-B horror movies. Late one evening, he is recording sounds for use in his movies when he hears something unexpected through his sound equipment and records it. Curiosity gets the better of him when the media become involved, and he begins to unravel the pieces of a nefarious conspiracy. As he struggles to survive against his shadowy enemies and expose the truth, he doesn't know whom he can trust.
Here is the trailer.
This screens as part of the Classics season at the Prince Charles (in 35mm). One of the great films of the 1980s and well worth catching in a rare screening (Also on at the cinema on Tues 6 August). Details here.
Prince Charles introduction: This stylish Brian DePalma thriller plays off the theme of the unsuspecting witness who discovers a crime and is thereby put in grave danger, but with a novel twist. Jack is a sound recordist who works on grade-B horror movies. Late one evening, he is recording sounds for use in his movies when he hears something unexpected through his sound equipment and records it. Curiosity gets the better of him when the media become involved, and he begins to unravel the pieces of a nefarious conspiracy. As he struggles to survive against his shadowy enemies and expose the truth, he doesn't know whom he can trust.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 230: Sun Aug 18
Solaris (Tarkovsky, 1972): Prince Charles Cinema, 1pm
Chicago Reader review:
Although Andrei Tarkovsky regarded this 1972 SF spectacle in 'Scope as the weakest of his films, it holds up remarkably well as a soulful Soviet “response” to 2001: A Space Odyssey, concentrating on the limits of man's imagination in relation to memory and conscience. Sent to a remote space station poised over the mysterious planet Solaris in order to investigate the puzzling data sent back by an earlier mission, a psychologist (Donatas Banionis) discovers that the planet materializes human forms based on the troubled memories of the space explorers—including the psychologist's own wife (Natalya Bondarchuk), who'd killed herself many years before but is repeatedly resurrected before his eyes. More an exploration of inner than of outer space, Tarkovsky's eerie mystic parable is given substance by the filmmaker's boldly original grasp of film language and the remarkable performances by all the principals. In Russian with subtitles. 165 min.
Jonathan Rosenabum
Here is an extract.
Chicago Reader review:
Although Andrei Tarkovsky regarded this 1972 SF spectacle in 'Scope as the weakest of his films, it holds up remarkably well as a soulful Soviet “response” to 2001: A Space Odyssey, concentrating on the limits of man's imagination in relation to memory and conscience. Sent to a remote space station poised over the mysterious planet Solaris in order to investigate the puzzling data sent back by an earlier mission, a psychologist (Donatas Banionis) discovers that the planet materializes human forms based on the troubled memories of the space explorers—including the psychologist's own wife (Natalya Bondarchuk), who'd killed herself many years before but is repeatedly resurrected before his eyes. More an exploration of inner than of outer space, Tarkovsky's eerie mystic parable is given substance by the filmmaker's boldly original grasp of film language and the remarkable performances by all the principals. In Russian with subtitles. 165 min.
Jonathan Rosenabum
Here is an extract.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 229: Sat Aug 17
A Diary for Timothy (Jennings, 1945): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.40pm
This film, part of The Art of the Essay Film season, is screening in a double-bill with Handsworth Songs. Details here.
Here is the BFI Southbank introduction: Text by EM Forster, images by Humphrey Jennings: this classic of British cinema reflects on life in the immediate aftermath of WWII, adopting as its focus the eponymous young boy, born on the fifth anniversary of the start of the war, who represents hope for the future for a nation still coming to terms with death and destruction on a massive scale. As ever with Jennings, the fluid interplay of images, sounds and narration bespeaks a consummate cinematic intelligence.
Here is A Diary for Timothy on Youtube
This film, part of The Art of the Essay Film season, is screening in a double-bill with Handsworth Songs. Details here.
Here is the BFI Southbank introduction: Text by EM Forster, images by Humphrey Jennings: this classic of British cinema reflects on life in the immediate aftermath of WWII, adopting as its focus the eponymous young boy, born on the fifth anniversary of the start of the war, who represents hope for the future for a nation still coming to terms with death and destruction on a massive scale. As ever with Jennings, the fluid interplay of images, sounds and narration bespeaks a consummate cinematic intelligence.
Here is A Diary for Timothy on Youtube
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