Turkish Star Wars and Blood Diner Haunt the Spectacle Midnite Screen This Weekend

For those of you who were eagerly awaiting my NYC happenings last week, I'm sorry to disappoint. I spent the weekend in New England with friends and family. Yes, there are actaully things in life that come before Grindhouse cinema. Thankfully, Spectacle has so much shit going on this weekend, and can't be contained in one blog entry.


I should really try to write this sooner, because tonight kicks down the door to the weekend with Dr. Caligari(1989), an 80's adaption to the classic silent horror from almost a century ago.

Spectacle says - "Meet the surrealistic psychiatrist with the camp couch. She's totally twisted and continuing the mind bending experiments of her grandfather, the original Dr. Caligari. She treats her patients like human lab rats as she swaps their psychoses with cross cranial conulations. Witness the sexual fantasies of a lovely, lust-crazed Dr. Caligari -- an eroto-maniac! You'll be shocked by her high voltage therapy for a 'juiced-up' cannibal. Sigmund Freud is turning somersaults in his mausoleum over this doctor's demented diagnosis. Fall victim to the captivating Dr. Caligari! "I can't possibly make it sound as good as it is by describing it. I'm afraid I must demand that you see this for yourself with your analyst! Dr. Caligari is the biggest explosion of eclectic erotica in years, and it can sizzle your brain!"


Tomorrow night, August 12th, the perverted fucks over at Lunchmeat VHS and Horror Boobs are bringing down the house with a screening of the schlocktastic classic, Blood Diner(1987).


IMDB says - "Two cannibals/health food diner owners are on a wacky quest to restore life to the five million year old goddess Shitaar. Aided by their uncle's brain and penis, the two set about getting the required parts - virgins, assorted body parts from whores, and the ingredients for a "blood buffet". Their adversaries are the police: the chief with a Russian accent, the "player" detective, and the new Yorker with an Australian accent."


On Saturday, August 13th, we get the cherry on top of the cheese-flavored cake, because Spectacle is showing THE crowning achievement in Turkish cinema, The Man Who Saves the World, known affectionately worldwide as Turkish Star Wars(1982). A film of my own heart, I reviewed this film years ago when I first started this blog (review here). This is the film that was made for people who read this blog. People erect monuments and devote websites to it's greatness. If you have not seen it this is the weekend to finally feel what it's like to be touched by God aka Turkish action hero, Cüneyt Arkin.

Spectacle says - "
Presenting the no-budget, schlocky, shamelessly poor and shockingly inept sci-fi curio Turkish Star Wars (aka Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam/ dir. Çetin Inanç/ 1982/ 91min) a hilarious and gloriously bad movie for the ages that borrows liberally from LucasFilm (pirated effects shots from “A New Hope” and, oddly, John Williams’ theme from “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” repeated over and over) and barely bothers to make the slightest bit of sense.

"The film follows the adventures of Murat and Ali, whose spaceships crash on a desert planet following a battle, depicted by using footage from SW as well as Soviet and American space program newsreel clips. While hiking across the desert, they speculate that the planet is inhabited only by women. Murat does his "wolf whistle", which he uses on attractive women. However, he blows the wrong whistle and they are attacked by skeletons on horseback, which they defeat in hand-to-hand combat. The villain soon shows up and captures the heroes, bringing them to his gladiatorial arena so they can fight. The villain tells them he is actually from Earth and is in a 1,000 year old wizard. He tried to defeat Earth, but was always repelled by a shield of concentrated human brain molecules, which looks a lot like the Death Star..."

Check link below: Film Threat on the peculiar Turkish tradition of appropriating Hollywood blockbusters and “remaking them on a budget roughly equivalent to the price of lunch at a neighborhood kebab shop.” (contains spoilers.) After the screening we’ll drink and discuss which was more uncalled for: this lunacy or Lucas' ill-advised prequels."

Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

They Call Her One Eye and Torso Make the Midnite Rounds This Weekend in Brooklyn

It's another Grindhouse three-day weekend at Spectacle this week. Rather than write separate entries for each feature screening at Brooklyn's best theater, Spectacle, I decided to throw all three films in one big blog entry. Not only does it make it easier for all of you with interest in the theater itself, it makes it easier for me because I don't have to keep up the "now showing" entries at Spectacle for the rest of the weekend, which is something I've been slipping with lately.

The Midnite Madness kicks off tonight with the Italo Post-Apocalyptic trash bag, Exterminators of the Year 3000(1983)



IMDB says - "The year 3000, after a nuclear war turned the earth into a desert. A group of survivors in a cave runs out of water and desperately needs new supply. The last guy they sent out didn't return. His 10 years old son Timmy wants to join the next team. They know where they'll find a well, but the problem it the way there, which is controlled by a savage gang of motorcyclists under the bloodthirsty Crazy Bull. A lonesome stranger who Timmy meets on the way may help. "

Now this is the only movie of the three I have not seen, but since it's an Italian genre movie AND Post-Apoc I feel that no matter what the ratings are on IMDB (4.5 out of 10)it's still going to be awesome. I'm not at all familiar with the director, Giuliano Carnimeo, but going over his IMDB entry I see he was actually a pretty prolific director and directed movies I've heard of like The Case of The Bloody Iris(1972). Going to see this tonight can only be a great start to the weekend.

I have not only seen tomorrow's slice-of-awesome They Call Her One Eye(1974) but I've actually written a review for it(here). Out of all the rape-victim-goes-revenge films I've watched over the last few months, this is by far my favorite, and it has nothing to do with the XXX shots. You can always count on Swedish filmmakers of the 70's to go above and beyond the call of duty when making a proper revenge flick.



Spectacle says - "Swedish sexploitation star, Christina Lindberg, stars in this brutal rape-revenge classic directed by Bo Arne Vibenius (who had previously worked with Ingmar Bergman as an assistant director on Persona and unit director on Hour of the Wolf). After being abducted on her way to school one morning, Frigga/Madeleine is held hostage by a scumbag who gets her hooked on heroin and prostitutes her ass to various clients. She eventually ventures out to do some firearm and martial arts training so she can avenge all the sleazy Swedes who raped her and took out one of her eyes. The ultra-ultra slo-mo sequences of Frigga/Madeleine blasting away her prey is both chilling and hilarious.

The film has been referenced by both Abel Ferrara in Ms. 45 and by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Lindberg has gone on to make numerous eurosleaze flicks as well as become a prominent journalist in Sweden."

And last but not least we have the giallo Torso(1973), a film I first became familiar with after seeing the poster numerous times when I practically used to pay rent at Brooklyn's infamous metal bar, Duff's. I tried to make it a goal to watch every single movie Jimmy had posters for. As far as I know, I got pretty far. Again, this is one of those movies I am very familiar with and have reviewed(here).



Spectacle says - "One Day She Met A Man Who Loved Beautiful Women...

BUT NOT ALL IN ONE PIECE!

A series of sex murders shock a college campus, and four beautiful young girlfriends head for the safety of an isolated country villa. But as they succumb to their own erotic desires, their weekend of pleasure becomes a vacation to dismember at the hands - and blade - of the lecherous maniac.

Starring Suzy Kendall (THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) and Tina Aumont (SALON KITTY), this Euro Horror chiller was originally released in America with much of its controversial violence removed by censors.

Presented in its Uncensored English Version."

Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Poliziotteschi Classics Tomorrow Evening at Spectacle

Looks like Spectacle Theater is going balls out this weekend with the Italian genre cinema. Poliziotteschi Saturday and Spaghetti Western Sunday along with their Midnite grindhouse spectaculars. I'll tell you this...if I were single, I would probably be there all weekend, especially for the Poliziotteschi films. I understand some of you readers might not be as familiar with this high action Italian genre I am. Just in case, here's a brief definition lifted from the pages of CG, "Poliziotteschi is a sub-genre of crime and action film that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and became popular in the 1970s. Poliziotteschi films are also known as poliziottesco, Italo-crime, Euro-crime or simply Italian crime films."

Got it? I that wasn't enough think about this: a whole genre of film influenced by crime classics like Dirty Harry, but being that they are produced in Italy, are extremely over the top like a great deal of Italian genre cinema from the 70's. Lot's of revenge, mob hits, shoot outs, car chases and explosions. Everything a guy could ever want in a movie.



No Way Out(1973) aka Tony Arzenta at 7:30 PM.

IMDB says - "Duccio Tessari's superb Italian crime film stars Alain Delon as hit man Tony Arzenta who decides that it's time to retire from the game. After a brutal attack on his family he sets out for revenge. Also stars genre regulars Richard Conte, Anton Diffring, Marc Porel & Erika Blanc with a great soundtrack by Gianni Ferrio."

Spectacle says - "In this stylish and moody revenge-driven bloodbath, an icy and lethal hit man who wants to quit the game but the Mob doesn’t want to let him go."



and at 9:30 PM High Crime(1973)aka La polizia incrimina la legge assolve starring the superbly wonderful Franco Nero.

IMDB says - "f you have never seen an Italian crime movie, this is a great place to start. unlike many other films of this type, it actually works on an emotional level as well as being very entertaining, simular to the films of Scorsese. it's a very violent film, but none of the violence is gratuitous. lots of stylish slow motion shootings, car explosions, and people run over by various moter vehicles, and the excellent musical score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis captures the emotion of these scenes perfectly. the cast is also very good, especialy Italian Star Franco Nero. highly recommended."

Spectacle says - "A fast paced, violent, gritty, and innovative crime thriller about a tough cop going hard after an international drug ring. One of the best crime thrillers ever made, this film is relentless and brutal, and filled with a constantly shifting storyline, and a mesmerizing score by Guido De Angelis & Maurizio De Angelis."

Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Samurai Cop(1989) at Midnite tonight in Brooklyn

I knew nothing about the movie Samurai Cop(1989), which is going to be screening at Spectacle this evening, but from watching the trailer all I have to say is HOLY SHIT. I don't really know how I passed this straight-to-VHS spectacular up, but it looks like an amazing piece of work. Bad dialogue, martial arts, and triumphant hair. You really can't go wrong with triumphant hair. I can't believe a mane that glorious is actually going to be shown on the big screen. Williamsburg is going to be jealous.

Spectacle says - "You have the right to remain silent … dead silent!
Joe Marshal, nickname “The Samurai,” is an expert in Japanese culture and martial arts and if it takes a blood drenched street brawl to bring the mobster’s to their knees, then Samurai Joe is ready to RUMBLE!”"

Not enough for ya? An IMDB user has this to say - "Samurai Cop is sure to please all fans of B-cinema. There are many scenes in this gem that will have you doubled over with laughter. From the initial car chase, to the slow motion katana duel between Matt Hannon and Robert Z'Dar, this movie screams cheese. Its aborted plot revolves around the titular character, Joe Marshall, the "samurai" cop (played by Matt Hannon), who has been transferred from San Diego to Los Angeles in order to assist the LAPD in taking down the troublesome Katana gang. Marshall, so we are told, has trained with the masters in Japan, and so ostensibly has some greater insight into the inner-culture of the Katana. What his expertise is exactly is hard to say, however, because he sneeringly mumbles Japanese names as if they were utterly foreign to him. Indeed, the only thing Marshall does do effectively is hitting on every woman he meets in the most sleazy and tactless manner conceivable. With far more brawn than brain, it is pretty clear from the get-go that Marshall won't be thinking his way through this flick."

Friday, July 15th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Personally the Spectacle blurb was enough for me, but if you need more to go on, the trailer will have you sold.

More NYAFF Action This Saturday at the Japan Society

The only unfortunate thing about the NYAFF, besides the fact that it doesn't happen year round, is the fact that it is split between two different venues over it's 12 day run. Okay...maybe that's not so bad considering several of the films have multiple runs. Regardless, there aren't many times of year, with the exception of Halloween, when NYC residents get exposed to so many fantastic genre films over such a short period of time. Unfortunately, due to a mild case of the Summer lazies and several professional and social engagements, I completely forgot that the NYAFF was upon us. Thankfully, I still have time to "report" on the rest of this years screenings without losing too much respect from the asian film community(like I ever had it to begin with).

12:30 PM - Gantz(2011) 3 PM - Gantz: Perfect Answer(2011) North Amercian Premiere



NYAFF says - "Gantz is a phenomena. A wildly popular manga and anime by Hiroya Oku, the manga has sold over 15 million copies in Japan alone, and in the USA it’s wound up on the New York Times bestseller list. Critically acclaimed, the anime has sparked a global cult. We’re proud to present, back-to-back, the two live action GANTZ movies, subtitled and with their original soundtracks, for the very first time.

In GANTZ, it doesn’t pay to be a good samaritan. Salaryman-in-training Kei (Arashi boy-band superstar Kazunari Ninomiya) learned that a long time ago, but old classmate Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama, best known as “L” from the blockbuster Death Note series) didn’t get the message, and when he tries to save a drunk, passed out on the subway track during rush hour, they both end up meeting the business end of a bullet train. Instead of getting turned into human Sloppy Joes, Kei and Kato open their eyes and find themselves in a posh apartment near Tokyo Tower with a gaggle of total strangers who are all equally freaked out. An ominous black sphere toots a chipper worksong, sprouts high-tech weaponry, and announces that their old lives are over – that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Now, pop into these high tech gimp suits and go kill some aliens. Play til you win, win til you die. The first one to reach 100 points, wins. Whatever that means. This is the law of GANTZ and its sequel, GANTZ: PERFECT ANSWER, the double-headed death tool that has been devouring audiences in an orgy of squibs, body horror and beautiful Japanese pop idols getting vivisected.

The battle-slaves of Gantz live their normal lives by day, but every night they’re summoned back to the apartment. Every night the weird, alien orb puts twenty minutes on the clock and sends them out to kill another fearsome alien or die trying. Every contestant gets points based on their performance, and even grandma and the kids are possible targets in this inexplicable deathsport. As the few survivors grow battle-hardened and amoral, their alliance breaks down and they begin to chase each other for glory, but what Gantz really is remains a mystery. And what happens when you get 100 points?

Like “The Twilight Zone” on PCP, GANTZ is a funhouse reflection of modern 9-to-5 ennui, where all your dime-store motivational platitudes get warped into twisted mantras of survivalism. GANTZ is a celebration of the savage suicide wish inside all of us – so pump up your PVC, wipe the viscera off your face, and get in the game."


6 PM - Takashi Miike's World Premiere of Ninja Kids!!!(2011)

Fucking A' has Miike been on a roll lately, and hopefully he can keep this momentum going. It seems like the age of the Miike snoozefest might actually be over.



NYAFF says - "Last year, Japan’s wild man, Takashi Miike, made the majestically posh samurai movie, 13 Assassins, which went on to win several prestigious awards. This year, his stately, well-appointed samurai movie, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. That’s all very nice, but we’ve got the best new movie from him since YATTERMAN and it’s got all the crazy Miike left out of his other two films, and then some. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another totally messed up kids’s film from Takashi Miike, a demolition derby of good taste….NINJA KIDS!!!

Exchanging noble samurai for kid ninjas has let Miike get back in touch with his wild side. This big budget, big screen version of popular Japanese kid’s show Rantaro the Ninja Boy (running for 1,437 episodes and counting!) this is like Harry Potter if Harry Potter was a ninja who hid underground and killed people with bamboo darts and ninja bombs. Young Rantaro is from a family of low class ninjas and he’s sent off to first grade at Ninja School by his parents who hope that one day he’ll grow up to be a respectable middle class ninja. But he’s hardly at school for five minutes when a classmate – literally – has the snot beaten out of him, the headmaster starts exploding and more wild and wooly ninja tricks than you can hit with a throwing star are zipping off the screen.

With the strangest, most deadpan sense of humor of any movie all year, this is a big budget kids film in the vein of Miike’s THE GREAT YOKAI WAR, possessing the same sense of fantastical freakery and goopy monster-based humanity except this time the monsters are wild, mutated, freaked-out ninjas with enormous, super-deformo skulls. With a subplot involving gangster hairdressers, constant interruptions form Mr. Konnamon, your friendly ninja trivia commentator, characters who can’t stop talking to the camera, and an ode on the favorite foods of the ninja, this is a high pressure blast of everything weird about Takashi Miike that we’ve all been missing from his new, mainstream, “respectable” motion pictures. Long live the ninja!!!"

8:15 PM - Yakuza Weapon(2011) New York Premiere



NYAFF says - "In MACHINE GIRL (2008), madman Noboru Iguchi famously slapped a machine gun onto a schoolgirl’s arm. How do you top that? Easy! Just slap a machine gun onto the arm of a vicious Yakuza thug, and then give him a rocket launcher for a leg. World, allow us to introduce you to Sushi Typhoon’s latest assault on sanity…YAKUZA WEAPON!!!

After four years of Rambo-esque jungle antics, Shozo Iwaki (co-director and star, Tak Sakaguchi, the hard-hitting action maverick) returns to Tokyo, only to discover his Yakuza father murdered, his family headquarters turned into a shady loan shop, and a powerful gang leader attempting to overthrow the entire criminal underworld! With rival gangs jacked up on “hyperdrug,” Shozo must becomes a one-man, butt-kicking army – and things only get wilder when he loses an arm and a leg, only to have them replaced with more firepower than the entire Japanese military.

Equal parts action, splatter, and slapstick – YAKUZA WEAPON is based on an adult comic co-created by Ken Ishikawa (of Cutie Honey fame). Just wait for Shozo’s scorned girlfriend to welcome him back to Tokyo by throwing a BOAT at him. Find yourself laughing too hard? Watch out for the film’s breathtaking, expertly choreographed four-minute fight scene – shot in a single take. Need both at the same time? How about a naked fembot (NYAFF 2010 guest Cay Izumi) who fires rockets from her crotch and whose head pops off to reveal a gatling gun?

Rest assured, cinephiles, this ain’t your granddad’s action-comedy. This is high-octane insanity, with the madmen at Sushi Typhoon at the controls. Co-director Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball, Cromartie High School) pays tribute to the choicest cuts from his previous efforts, delivering a smoldering hand-cannon of a film that was born in Japan – but kicks ass worldwide."

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

Battle Royale 10th Anniversary Screening on Friday

Fuck!!! The Summer holiday lazies took a pretty strong hold on me this past week and caused me to forget that the NYAFF(New York Asian Film Festival) kicked off this past weekend. Typically, I like to be on top of this shit, but warm weather and summer in the City leads me astray. I've missed a couple of days but I can still provide this audience with the information they may need to enjoy the rest of the series.

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since the release of one of my favorite movies of all time. Granted, It took me about a year for me to get my grubby little paws on it. Battle Royale(2000) was the film most responsible for me getting into Japanese horror weirdness over a better part of the last decade. I love this film so much, I even bought the tee shirt, which gets both cheers and jeers from those few who know the masterpiece. Despite it's availability of the DVD, Battle Royale never really received a proper US screening when it was released a decade ago. Thankfully those of us who have longed for the day we get to see it theatrically will have to wait no longer. if you have never seen BR, I strongly urge you to take time out of your Friday drinking schedule to head into Manhattan for the opportunity of a lifetime. And don't pass it off as a run-of-the-mill Japanese gorefest. As awesome as the action and sheer brutality in the film is, the social commentary alone is enough to grab the attention of any art-school stick-in-the-mud.

Subway Cinema says - "The biggest, most important unseen Japanese movie of the past decade, BATTLE ROYALE is finally free to be shown on US screens! The last film from Japan’s master director Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, among others), BATTLE ROYALE was a huge hit in Japan and became an underground sensation in America after its distributor took it off the North American market due to fears of copycat crimes in the wake of the Columbine Shootings. But this is not the atrocity exhibition you’ve been led to believe. This is the climax to the career of Japan’s most socially conscious director, a ferocious plea for kids to run from anyone over 30 who wants to put a rifle in their hands and a movie that was born in the hellfire of Fukasaku’s World War II experiences. If you’ve never seen it before, come prepared to be hit hard.

It’s the near future. Every year, a tenth-grade class is selected by lottery and let loose on an island in front of reality TV cameras to participate in the greatest game show of them all: the Battle Royale. The kids are forced to kill each other for the viewing enjoyment of the folks at home, and the last one standing wins the prize: life. When this class wakes up and have weapons put in their hands they’re faced with the stark choice of kill or be killed. Some choose suicide, some form alliances and some decide to kill every single person who crosses their paths.

When Fukasaku was the same age as the kids in this movie, WW II was raging and he worked in a bomb factory, cleaning up the mangled bodies of those killed in air raids. At 71 years old he made BATTLE ROYALE and it’s his passionate warning to those same kids to run from the powers that be. When BATTLE ROYALE was rated so that kids 15 and under couldn’t see it, Fukasaku advised them to sneak into theaters anyways, and we’re saying the same thing to everyone under 18. Sneak out of the house, show your student ID for a cheap ticket and sit down for a movie that’s going to change your life."

Friday, July 8th 9:15 PM @ Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

The Blood Spattered Bride(1972) is Friday's Midnite Specracular...

...at Spectacle and it is yet another movie I know absolutely nothing about. Based on the trailer, I would say it has something to do with vampires, and seeing that it's a Spanish horror from the 70's, I'm going to guess that your going to see a fair amount of skin in this one. It's not like the kids over at Spectacle are ever going to let the Midnite crowd down. If that doesn't give you enough reasons to check it out, head on over to the IMDB entry to see what others have to say.

IMDB says - "A young husband's sexual fantasies frighten his new wife and cause her to seek advice from Carmilla, a descendent of Mircalla de Karnstein. Carmilla seduces the young bride and forces her to commit gory acts of mutilation."

Hmmmm....for some reason I feel like I've heard this story before. Could it be because their are several European productions, mostly from Spain, about the story of a vampiress named Camilla? I could be wrong(I'm not)but it looks like a popular subject matter in Spanish exploitation horror.

Fun Facts(or shall I say fact, because their is ony one on IMDB.....The Anchor Bay release of the film is in English, also dubbed in English to clean up the Spanish accents of the actors attempting English throughout. It is not likely that a Spanish language version of this film exists.

Friday, July 1st at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Troma Night at reRun Tomorrow Night with Toxie and Mother's Day(1980)

I haven't been to a Troma party since the NYC premiere of Poultrygeist a couple years back, but I can tell you one thing, Lloyd Kaufman knows how to throw a fucking party. I'm pretty sure that I have missed several Troma events since then. This is NYC, the home of Troma Studios and the basis for the fictional community of Tromaville. So I'm going to try my damndest not to miss this one, especially if the Toxic Avenger is going to be around for that perfect portrait to plaster on my Placebook Page...um..I mean Facebook page (sorry, got caught in the moment). I guess I should probably tell you why Troma is coming to Brooklyn. Tomorrow night, for ONE NIGHT ONLY, Troma Studios is going to be giving NYer's the first sneak peak of it's family fun classic Mother's Day(1980), brought to you in HD in a director's cut. Oooooooooooooo!!!! And it's FREE to boot.

reRUN says - "Lovin' sons always do what their mothers tell them to… even if it’s to KILL!!! The Troma Team is proud to bring you Charles Kaufman's MOTHER'S DAY, the 1980 indie horror classic which redefines the term "family values." This stylish, horrific and darkly humorous film is a worldwide favorite, a celebration of gore and depravity in the spirit of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and IGOR & THE LUNATICS and certain to offend the weak of heart.
When three beautiful young women set out for a relaxing weekend retreat in the woods, they unwittingly stumble upon a sadistic band of backwoods yokels. Taken prisoner by the insane matriarch and her demented sons, the women are forced to fight back using anything they can get their hands on. Heads roll, blood spurts, and genitals are mutilated as the women use myriad objects to do battle with Mother's loving sons. Their MOTHER'S DAY will leave you feeling frightened, amazed, and downright disgusted!"

Did you know that...Shot across the lake at the same time the original Friday the 13th (1980/I) was being filmed.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22nd a 7pm ReRun Gastropub Theater(Next to ReBar) 147 Front St. at Jay St. Dumbo, Brooklyn

The Man From Hong Kong(1975) In Brooklyn Tomorrow Night

The Man From Hong Kong(1975)was one of the Aussie first movies I sought out when I first became interested in the Ozploitation genre. If I remember correctly, It was the trailer for Not Quite Hollywood that sparked my interest even though it would take me a couple years to see the documentary. I figured it was a good starter movie to immerse myself into the genre, since I was already a seasoned professional with Kung-Fu love. I looked at it as a winning situation in screening. How bad can a movie be starring Jimmy Wang Yu, former Shawscope star and international dickhead extraordinaire? The answer was NO WAY IN HELL could it ever be considered anything but a classic to those of us who are fans of genre cinema. Not only are the martial arts scenes primo, which was my initial draw, but the action was non-fucking-stop and I couldn't keep my eyes off the damn screen. Fights, car chases, and explosions up the wazoo.....The Man From Hong Kong met every expectation I had and then some. I find it to be one of those action movies that I have based all others on since I first watched it a couple years back.

And now you New Yorkers who have never seen it can experience the same enjoyment I have, because it's screening at Spectacle Theater tomorrow at Midnite.

IMDB says - "It's 1975. A time of funky pants. Muscle cars. Ridiculous sideburns. Porn-star moustaches. Bruce Lee still rules the world of action movies (despite being dead), and I haven't even been BORN yet.

Sydney. Jack Wilton (The Laze) is a bad-ass crime lord with a penchant for cravats, orange velvet sofas and all things Oriental. Under the cover of his legitimate import/export business, he runs an international drug-smuggling outfit with connections in Hong Kong. Two federal narcotics cops, Grosse (Hugh Keays-Byrne, Toecutter from Mad Max) and Taylor (Roger Ward, Fifi from - er - Mad Max) manage to catch Win Chan (Sammo Hung), a member of this Hong Kong connection, following a well-staged--yet amusingly pointless--fight sequence atop Uluru (sorry, Ayers Rock). Chan is to be extradited, as soon as he testifies against Wilton. But the Aussie cops hadn't counted on the extradition officer being a certain Inspector Fang Sing-Ling (Jimmy Wang Yu), of Hong Kong Special Branch ("What's so special about Special Branch?" you ask? Watch the movie and find out!). Fang is a loose cannon, to say the least, and is intent on bringing down Wilton's entire operation himself, no matter how much of Sydney he has to destroy in the process."

Did you know (thanks to IMDB)....According to the DVD Audio Commentary and the documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008), the fight scene atop of the elevator between Wang Yu and Brian Trenchard-Smith allegedly involved real fisticuffs, the punches thrown at the latter allegedly being real punches. Reportedly, the two had a strained relationship during the shoot. As Wang Yu is credited as a co-director in some prints, as such, this movie represents an instance where a film's rival two directors have literary fought it out on the set.

Saturday June 18th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Slumber Party Massacre(1982) Friday at Midnite

Besides the classic standards (Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street), I'm not as well versed in the 80's slasher films as most of my compatriots in the horror community are. I don't think this makes me any worse of a person, but there are a shitload of trashy slasher flicks out there that I could have been renting in the 80's instead of the same kung-fu flicks over and over. Over the last several years I have been a bit obsessed with Giallo, and because of this interest I have found myself going back and watching the slashers I didn't get a chance to see 20 years ago. One I have been meaning to see for a long time is Slumber Party Massacre(1982). Not as much for it being a missed part of my movie-watching childhood. but more for the fact that it's a Roger Corman production, and I love the shit out of that guy. Thankfully Spectacle Theater is giving it a Midnite Screening this Friday, so not only do I finally have an option in front of me, I have an option with beer, popcorn, and a big screen.

Spectacle Theater says - "One of the great vintage cocktails of 80s horror is mixing in Roger Corman's school of budget filmmaking with some feminist horror and you come up The Slumber Party Massacre. 1982 brought many classic genres films, and the first of The Slumber Party Massacre trilogy is definitely one of them. This film starts out looking like your standard exploitation flick with gratuitous shots of T&A captured in a high school girls' locker room. Some middle-aged maniac with a jean jacket and an overly phallic drill is killing off these nubile LA suburban specimens as they frolic around during a slumber party one evening, doing the usual hijinks that middle-class girls do like smoke pot and eat pizza. The psycho killer's identity is never a mystery and his motivation is never really clear, except that he loves his female victims.

What makes this film unique in slasher film lore is that not only was it written by a feminist, but helmed by a young lady who turned Steven Spielberg's offer to edit E.T. She certainly chose wisely by accepting Mr. Corman's offer to make her directorial debut with The Slumber Party Massacre, a vintage 80s slasher horror film with gory kills, cheesy dialogue and future Scream Queen, Brinke Stevens, but that makes it much more satisfying than today's post-modern, ironic attitude towards Reagan-era horror fodder. Damn Hollywood if they ever decide to do a remake!
-- EME"

Did you know: Rita Mae Brown wrote a screenplay for a parody of teen/slasher flicks and titled it "Sleepless Nights". However, when she submitted it to the producers, they filmed it as if it weren't a parody and retitled it "Slumber Party Massacre". As a result, the movie displays a lot more humor, both intended and unintended, than others of this genre.(courtesy of IMDB)

Friday, June 17th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Kung-Fu at Midnite Tomorrow Night in Brooklyn

I knew it wasn't going to be long before Spectacle started kicking out the kung-fu flicks, seeing that they have been nailing down the Midnite market for a while now. Hopefully it won't be long now before we start seeing some spaghetti western action. Tomorrow night, avenge your master or father, with psychedelics, in Williamsburg with a Midnite screening of The Boxer's Omen(1983).

Spectacle says - "This is one of the strangest, most hallucinatory visions ever put on film, from the legendary Shaw Bros. Epic horror by way of martial arts action, kung-fu mystery, tinged with Buddhist mysticism and nightmarish psychedelia. Hoping to avenge his brother - paralyzed in the ring by a Thai gangster - and lift a centuries-old family curse, a Chinese boxer travels to Thailand and joins with a band of fighting monks in a supernatural odyssey fraught with crazed wizards, ghosts, monsters, rabid bats, and the reanimated corpses of fully naked women."

Saturday June 11th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I Spit On Your Grave(1978) Tomorrow at Midnite

Just as I was in the process of taking a hiatus from disturbing rape/revenge grindhouse classics, Spectacle has to go and show one of the classics this Friday for their Midnite Movie. Seeing as it has only been a couple months since I watched the original for the first time, and frankly have seen enough of these types of movies to last me for the next few months, I will not be attending. It doesn't mean you don't have to, though. For most of you exploitation aficionados, I Spit On Your Grave(1978) is old news and is probably something you first watch in second grade as a primer to Cannibal Holocaust. For the rest of you trash newbies, Grave will either disgust you, bore you, or both depending on the level of depth you look into a film. Regardless, if you haven't seen it, tomorrow night is a good time to do so. Besides, no genre-film nerds repertoire is complete without seeing the original at least once.

Spectacle says - "How often does a supposedly trashy, exploitation film, a perfect example of the rape/revenge subgenre, get its biggest defense from a feminist horror film scholar? How often do you get the chance to see Buster Keaton's grand-niece, defiled and humiliated, wreck serious Medieval revenge (‘70s style) on country bumpkin, scum bag tormentors?

Camille Keaton gives an unforgettable performance as Jennifer Hills, a New York City-based writer who journeys up to the woods of Connecticut to focus on her work, only to be attacked by a gang of white trash pigs and left for dead... until she licks her wounds and gets down to business.

Banned in a dozen or more countries and described by critic Roger Ebert as a "a vile bag of garbage without a shred of artistic distinction," Meir Zarchi's notorious and reviled film also received lengthy coverage (and praise) in Carol J. Clover's seminal feminist study, “Men, Women, and Chainsaws”.

It may be one of the most appalling motion pictures ever made, but it is also a grossly misunderstood one."

Friday, June 3rd at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

XXX Zombie Action Tonight at Midnite

Many people will think that zombies and porn go hand-in-hand, but I'm not one of those people. I've expressed my anger at the over-saturation of zombies in modern pop culture time and time again, so taking the time to watch a zombie-related movies these days just does not happen. When you mix it with porn the idea becomes 10 times more appealing, just not appealing enough for me to sit through. For those of you that get a boner at the mere mention of such a genre mix, heading over to Spectacle tonight to see L.A Zombie will probably be your bag.

Spectacle says - "“He came to fuck the dead back to life”
Porn-art director LaBruce describes his wordless portrait of a Fulci-esque zombie/alien hunk (porn star and model François Sagat), fucking the body cavities of dead men in order to resurrect them with his regenerative black semen-goo, as “a movie that reaffirms life.” And though a hybrid, with more then enough blood, guts and dismemberment to satisfy gore aficionados, this disarmingly gentle twist on the undead, ultimately involves a hunger for flesh motivated more by need for human contact then cannibalistic craving.

Slated for the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival, the film was pulled from competition after being banned by the Australian Government. The subsequent screening, in defiance of the censors, at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, resulted in a police raid of the festival’s director home in search of the illegal print.

Released initially as a truncated, soft-core art film, we are screening the director’s controversial original cut - the extended, hardcore version of this queer-zombie-porn cinematic milestone."

Friday, May 20th Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The Visitor(1979) and Then Some on Thursday Evening

It's nice to see Spectacle Theater add an extra night of cult cinema to there already heavy roster. I don't know if WTF!?!? Thursday is going to be a regularly scheduled occurrence, and if it is I'll be the last one complaining. This week's WTF, The Visitor(1984), which I understand is an Italian rip-off of The Omen with sci-fi replacing the satanic. I had never heard of it until this morning, but it sounds like a reason to head into Williamsburg on Thursday night.

Spectacle says - "The holiest of all Holyfuckingshits, The Visitor has the highest JDPM (Jaw Drops Per Minute) ratio of any film of its era, Italian ripoff or not. It's a wonderful mishmash of The Omen and Close Encounters, but that barely hints at the whacked fervor with which director Michael J. Paradise hurls his hastily assembled "all-star" cast (John Huston, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, and, yes, Lance Henriksen) into the cinematic void, sh...owering them with what Austin, TX's revival cinema gem The Alamo Drafthouse has called "a blackhearted blowout of interplanetary possession, telekinetic avian assault, exploding basketballs and ecclesiastical laserstorms". Just when you think you've nailed down which direction the film is heading in, it completely shatters your notion of the time-space continuum with enough force to rival a thousand screenings of Zabriskie Point. If you miss out on this one, then you have as much regard for cinema as you do for a discarded toenail clipping. (Bret Berg - Cinefamily)"



After the main feature, feel free to stick around for Brain Bludgeon, which has no IMDB entry, so there isn't much I can tell you about it besides the one paragraph description I have found on a few different websites: "Sewn together from hundreds of forgotten horror films, BRAIN BLUDGEON is a transcendental fusion of trash exposing the willing to everything curious, bizarre, hilarious and awful about no-budget genre films. Hot penny torture, exploding 3d skulls, brutal "de-fetusing", raping zombies, and much more collide in this blissfully IQ-withering amalgamation of exploitation hell."

Thursday, May 19th at 9:30 PM Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Savage Streets(1984) Friday at Midnite

With the exception of seeing The Exorcist at a very early age, my most prominent memory of Linda Blair was playing a young vigilante bent on her sister's revenge in the movie Savage Streets(1984). Now understand that this was close to 30 years ago since it was released on cable/VHS. I can't really recall the medium it was released on, because I wasn't even old enough to get funny feelings in my points. I do remember that it probably wasn't a movie I should have been watching at the age of ten, and it was the first example of rape/revenge film I had ever seen, and it kind of shook me up for years to come. Over the last several years, I had wanted to see if the film still gave me the same feelings of "disgust" I had experienced decades back, the only problem is I couldn't remember the title. It was only recently that I discovered the name of this lost memory, unfortunately there is only so many movies I can watch with the current levels of cinema obsession my life currently works with. Judging by the trailer, I don't even understand why this possible piece of garbage shook me up, but it sure looks like a bunch of fun to watch.

This week there is no reason for me to put off seeing Savage Streets because Spectacle Theater is going to be screening it Midnite on Friday. I've put off lots of movies I write about before, but I don't really know if I can in this case. The best part of it is the cost is only a 5 spot.

Spectacle says - "Los Angeles circa 1984, B-movie scream queen, Linnea Quigley, plays the sacrificial virgin that spawns big sis, played by pea-soup spewing veteran, Linda Blair, to seek revenge on a posse of scumlords called The Scars.
Get ready for a very anti-PC, camp-romp of Reagan-era trash fodder. An outrageous depiction of high school life via BIG HAIR, BIG BREASTS and BIG FIST-PUMPING ROCK SCORE! You’ll be certain to chant out “Justice For One” while exiting the theater. Not to be missed!"

Friday, May 13th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Get Some Bolly-Horror For Your Midnite Fix Tomorrow

Spectacle Theater, Williamsburg's finest purveyors of weekend Midnite Movie entertainment, are going balls out with the Bollywood movies this weekend. So, as you would expect it, tomorrow night's Midnite Movie is going to fall in line with the standard presentations, but with an Indian Twist. So if the Southern Asian cinema is your cream of the crop, take the time out of your busy Friday night drinking schedule to check out Purana Mandir(1984), which is "widely regarded as the greatest Bollywood horror movie of all time".

IMDB says - "Suman lives a wealthy lifestyle along with her widower dad, Thakur Ranvir Singh, and an unmarried aunt, Damyanti, in a palatial house in Bombay. They are direct descendants of Raja Hariman Singh of Bijapur. When Ranvir finds out that Suman is in love with a middle-classed male, Sanjay, he expresses displeasure and forbids her to ever see him again. When she persists, he tells her that there is a curse on the entire family - a curse that was inflicted 200 years ago by a blood-thirsty, flesh-eating demon named Samri. This curse impacts only women in their family, who are hideously transformed after giving birth to their firstborn, and die a painful death. Treating this as mere superstitious, Suman and Sanjay, along with Sanjay's friend, Anand and his wife, Sapna, set out to Bijapur to unearth and put an end to this rumor - not knowing that soon they will resurrect a virtually indestructible Samri."

Friday, May 6th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

If the description can't convince you check out the trailer below. Singing, martial arts, hindi-wolfmen, and blood showers....what's not to love?

The Shining at Midnite Tomorrow...with a Twist

For the first couple of decades of my life, I could honestly say the scariest movie I had ever seen was The Shining(1980). Many people I've met over my life would agree, and if not it is most definitely considered one of the best horror movies of all time. From beginning to end, with creepy twins, blood waves down hallways, and ghosts dressed up in dog suits, I had nightmares based on the movie for most of my childhood.

Speaking of beginning to end, Spectacle Theater in Williamsburg is going to screening it as such, and vice versa. By this, I mean that a special version of the film will be shown forwards and backwards simultaneously. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Did I mention this was going to screened in a Williamsburg theater? This is why I'm not really surprised. Some of you might find the idea interest, I on the other hand, am a purist when it comes to the scariest movie of my childhood. For those of you unsure, check out the sample at the bottom of this entry. It looks like it could be fun, to say the least, especially under the influence of hallucinogenics.

Thursday, May 5th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Helldriver(2010) Tonight at the Japan Society

I can't believe I almost forgot about this event. Vacations will do that to a man, no matter how dedicated he is to a silly cinema blog. Oh Well. Anyway, If you're a fan of the comical, ultra-gore that has been working it's way out of Japan recently (like Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police), I would suggest heading up to midtown this evening for a screening of Helldriver(2010).

The Japan Society says - "With director Yoshihiro Nishimura and actress Eihi Shiina in person.

Japan Cuts/NYAFF "Be a Zombie" after-party!

Your one chance to see the original director's cut of the film, with more action... and more gore!

The screening is also a very special launch event for our 5th Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film (July 7–July 18): Japan Cuts and for the New York Asian Film Festival 2011. It will be followed by a party for ye undead and proud, special announcements will be made revealing titles in this year's festivals, and prizes will be given away.


In a land where half of the population has become not-so-sexy flesh eaters and the economy gently withers away, all hope seems lost for Japan... until Kika (Yumiko Hara) arrives. A stunning high school girl armed with an artificial heart-powered chainsaw sword, she leads a motley crew of desperados on a secret mission into the zombie-infected wilds to exterminate zombie queen Rikka (Eihi Shiina from Audition and Tokyo Gore Police) and put an end to the plague of the living dead.

But the road is fraught with a thriving zombie culture that, with its own designs on the living half of Japan, refuses to just lay down and die.

Visionary filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura's first solo directorial effort since Tokyo Gore Police is an epic, apocalyptic road movie featuring non-stop, over-the-top splatter action. The long-awaited realization of his dreams, Helldriver is Nishimura's bid to create the ultimate zombie film.

The showdown for the future of Japan is at hand and no one, living or dead, may survive to see it!"

Ticket prices are $12/9 for members and 50% of all ticket sales will go to Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund.

Thursday, April 28th 7:30 PM @ Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

Martyrs(2008) at Midnite, Second Night of Awesome At Spectacle

Not only is Spectacle Theater giving the genre-cinema community one great night of Midnite, but the Saturday screening is quite awesome as well. As I stated yesterday, this is the first weekend of Spectacle's Midnite Screenings in which I am incredibly familiar with both films. In fact, I find both films to be influential in feeding my obsession with international horror, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Tomorrow night, Spectacle brings to Brooklyn the cutting edge French horror Martyrs(2008), a movie I would refer to as the pinnacle piece of the New Wave of French Horror. If you are one of the few who have never heard of it I only ask "were you in a coma during 2009?". Before this movie was given a DVD release in the US, horror bloggers and podcasters alike were scrambling to find a copy of this film by any means necessary, and with good reason. With French films like Inside and Frontier(s) making all the US horror releases, at that time, look like Disney films, most of us were craving the next big thing. And it was well worth it on so many levels.

IMDB says - "Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a bloody quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. Anna, left on her own begins to re-experience what Lucie did when she was only twelve years old."

That blurb doesn't even do the movie justice. Then again, I don't think anything less than 2000 words really can, it is that good.

Saturday, April 16th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Suicide Club(2001) is Friday's Midnite Must-See

Most of the time I post these Big Screen in the Big Apple entries it is typically for cult movies I have never seen. Not only do I do this to try to advertise the cinematic awesomeness that is going on in the NYC nightlife, but I also have a genuine interest in seeing the film. Whether I do or not is another story, depending on what my financial and social situation look like at the moment, even if I have every intention. After months of reporting the happenings going on over at Spectacle Theater on the weekend, I can honestly say I am familiar with both films films screening this weekend.

Suicide Club(2001) was the movie that introduced me to modern Asian cinema. Before that, everything I knew of the Far East came to me in the form of Kaiju and Kung-Fu. If it wasn't for this decade-old gore-tastic classic, I probably never would have developed an obsession with everything from classic Chambara to silly Japanese body horror. I owe a large part of my movie collection, and even the existence of this blog to this film. If you haven't seen Suicide Club, I urge you to lay off the PBR for a couple of hours and head into Williamsburg on Friday Night.

IMDB says - "54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train. This appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as one could hope."

Friday, April 15th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn