All things Cult Cinema

Started by wilder, March 27, 2017, 06:00:36 PM

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jenkins

props to putneyswipe who is the only xixax member who's mentioned this movie which i'm filing in cult for the mentioned reason, became aware of this bc there's another kino sale. putneyswipe says it's not wholly good but has a few key scenes, which is another cult quality, so definitely decided



other movies i'm thinking about which are maybe less cult




(it's been mentioned on xixax in the past)





oh here is the entirety of Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills

jenkins



so, this is an example of elevating the idea of what a cult film can be. it's being categorized as cult because nobody cares about it except particular types of movie people, although it could be called art house too, which would mean the same thing in a different way, and anyway it's got a lot going on and deserves to be fully appreciated

Ishmael Reed wrote the treatment for a "meta-soap opera," which he said both parodies soap operas and "shows how Black life looks away from the intervention of mediators." it began as episodic radio and Reed's treatment was sculpted through improvisatory performances by artsy type unknown actors. the characters are middle-class people who are "neither happy nor unhappy." the taped version is a two-parter that feels alive to a high degree, very much Mike Leigh-level

the director, Bill Gunn, slamdunks this movie in the realm of cult because of his art horror masterpiece Ganja & Hess, which Spike Lee remade as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. Bill Gunn said he wanted Personal Problems to behave as a "fluid thing" that was "less a product than a process" and he brings it

the image quality comes from being shot on 3/4" videotape, as in on a tube based video camera, which allows for longer taping but also produces, for example, ghosting. at the time, this was considered an experimental quality that blurred the line between documentary and fiction


jenkins

it's going to be pretty damn hard to top the trailer

jenkins



it's been a minute since i encountered a movie that made me feel blessed like this

there's more than enough to qualify this for cult. the director Robert Sparr was mainly known for television, except his two other movies being A Swingin' Summer (Beach party escapade features a bookworm with glasses who learns to "groove", as she attempts to sing "Ready to Groove". ) and Once You Kiss a Stranger... (A woman seduces a professional golfer, then offers to kill his opponent if the golfer will kill her psychiatrist, who wants her committed.). unfortunately he died in a tragic plane crash while location scouting for Star Trek in Colorado. Rest In Cult

the lead character is named Cain, he's Killer Cain, played by Clint Walker. Clint Walker is unfamiliar to me although perhaps i've seen him around, but anyway in this movie he's this big handsome guy and i just want him to hold me. Vincent Price plays the owner of a western themed sideshow so that's obviously awesome.  Paul Hampton plays Billy Valence, a young boy who's the quickest draw and best shooter at the time, so he's jealous of Killer Cain, who is older and slower, but a killer draws out the crowd. Paul Hampton sort of sucks at acting and he's also the star of Cronenberg's Shivers

the movie begins with four men being hanged before there's a raid on a prison initiated by men hiding in caskets. Killer Cain has a love affair with a painter. the ending semi-sucks but not really, who cares, the pros far outweigh the cons here

wilder

Quote from: jenkins on August 26, 2020, 02:42:45 PMOnce You Kiss a Stranger... (A woman seduces a professional golfer, then offers to kill his opponent if the golfer will kill her psychiatrist, who wants her committed.)

logically illogical

Quote from: jenkins on August 26, 2020, 02:42:45 PM

Putting that on my Kino wishlist for the next time they have a sale. The trailer does look cool






October 27, 2020

Fhiona-Louise's Cold Light of Day (1989) on blu-ray from Arrow



A hugely underseen and underrated British effort that can stand proudly alongside the likes of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer as one of the most unflinching true-crime films of all time.





July 28, 2020

Jonathan Demme's Caged Heat! (1974), from a 2K restoration of the original camera negative, paired with Jackson County Jail (1976) on blu-ray exclusively from Shout Factory



Thrown into the penal hell of Connorville, petty criminal Jacqueline (Erica Gavin, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls) must fight against the ruthless inmates, a cruel warden (Barbara Steele, Dark Shadows) and a depraved staff. Eventually she forms an uneasy friendship with two hardened inmates. When these three unite, they find themselves on a sexy and violent adventure seeking escape, money and revenge. Also starring Roberta Collins (Death Race 2000) and Rainbeaux Smith (Massacre At Central High), and written and directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence Of The Lambs), Caged Heat is "inspired from start to finish" (The Onion A.V. Club)!



October 13, 2020

Giulio Questi's Death Laid an Egg (1968) on limited edition blu-ray from Cult Epics, from a 2K restoration and reconstruction of the complete Director's Cut prepared by Nucleus Films (104 mins), and a new 2K restoration of the 'Giallo' cut prepared by Nucleus Films (91 mins)



A woman (Ewa Aulin) plans to kill both her lover (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and his wife (Gina Lollobrigida) but conspires with each one to get the job done.





October 19, 2020

John Parker's Dementia (1955) on blu-ray from BFI (UK). Cohen Media Group has the rights in the US.



A woman's nightmare of murder, maiming and mistrust proves to be more than a mere dream, in John Parker's influential horror. Stripped of dialogue using only sound effects and an unnerving score Parker combines horror, film noir and expressionist methods to depict a mind descending into madness. Shocking audiences upon its original release, the film was initially banned by the New York State Film Board, who deemed it 'inhuman, indecent, and the quintessence of gruesomeness'.


polkablues

I remember seeing Cold Light of Day on VHS way back when. My main impression of it was that it just felt aimless, and lacked any narrative direction that would have lent impact to the handful of (reasonably well-executed) murder scenes.

The blurb comparing it to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is apt in terms of style, but it might lead people to go in expecting a certain level of cinematic value that Cold Light of Day won't be able to live up to.
My house, my rules, my coffee

wilder

November 10, 2020

Sogo Ishii's Burst City (1982) on blu-ray from Arrow US & Arrow UK



This extraordinary celebration of Japan's punk music scene of the early 1980s thrust Sōgo Ishii (now known by the name of Gakuryū Ishii), the underground filmmaking wunderkind behind such works as Half Human: Einstürzende Neubauten (1986), Angel Dust (1994) and Electric Dragon 80,000V (2001), to the next level and is regularly cited as an early landmark in Japanese cyberpunk cinema.


wilder

November 24, 2020

David Greene's I Start Counting (1969) on blu-ray from Fun City Editions



A 14-year-old girl coming to terms with her sexuality discovers that her adored older brother may be guilty of a series of bizarre sex crimes.










November 27, 2020

Douglas Buck's Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2003) on blu-ray from Severin



Over the course of seven years, three short films about the brutal dissolution of the American family – CUTTING MOMENTS (1997), HOME (1998), and PROLOGUE (2003) – elicited both horrified gasps and standing ovations at film festivals around the world.





November 24, 2020

Don Coscarelli's The Beastmaster (1982) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome



Dar, the son of a king, is hunted by a priest after his birth and grows up in another family. When he becomes a grown man, his new father is murdered by savages and he discovers that he has the ability to communicate with the animals. After that, Dar begins his quest for revenge.





December 2020 TBD

Smut Without Smut: Things to Come / The Dirty Dolls on blu-ray from AGFA



"Smut Without Smut" is X-rated genre movies with the X-rated bits removed. In other words, your perception of reality will never be the same again.

A future dystopia dream-epic shot in San Antonio, THINGS TO COME finds Julie leaving her marriage to investigate a mysterious sci-fi cult on behalf of frustrated women everywhere. With a soundtrack that feels like it was cribbed from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, ambitious sets that look like leftovers from STAR TREK, and no lack of robots, computers, and bloody violence, THINGS TO COME is a truly unique Texploitation headtrip. Coasting on the fumes of the Manson murders,

THE DIRTY DOLLS follows psychopath Johnny and his cultish gang of women as they embark on a bizarro crime spree filled with stolen diamonds, senior citizen drag, grimy sex, and cold-blooded murder. Directed by Stu Segall (DRIVE-IN MASSACRE) under his adult-movie nom de plume "Godfrey Daniels," this is a sleazy summer-bummer from the wilds of California.




October 13, 2020

Hideo Oguni's Warning from Space (1956) on blu-ray from Arrow



A group of starfish like aliens come to Earth to warn mankind about a runaway planetoid known as Planet R that is on a collision course with Earth.





February 9, 2021

Tonino Cervi's Queens of Evil (1970) on blu-ray from Mondo Macabro, from a 4K restoration of the original camera negative



A young hippie kills a man and seeks refuge at the lakeside house of three beautiful sisters, who seem to be hiding a dark secret.



January 19, 2021

David DeCoteau's Beach Babes from Beyond (1993) on blu-ray from Full Moon Features



Three intergalactic beauties beam down off the California coast and have close encounters with three local beach boys.

jenkins

wilder i tried to look for but couldn't find when we last chatted about Vinegar Syndrome. during their Black Friday sale i threw down on a starter pack of six hardcore movies, including Red Roses of Passion, and 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy obviously, and those are on their way to me now, i'm looking forward to it, i'm wondering if it'll be too much sex for me to handle, and anyway Red Roses of Passion is Joseph Sarno, whom i remember you ordered from Film Movement, and they released seven of his movies but five of them are oos, i ordered All the Sins of Sodom/Vibrations and they have arrived, i'm saving All the Sins for later but i started with Vibrations and it's so good, so okay Sarno's whole thing is erotic melodrama, and i'd call it sexy existentialism, Vibrations has juicy existentialism and it's such early sex movie stuff that there's no real sex and just sometimes naked bodies wiggle against each other, no cock or pussy is shown, and it's b&w nyc stuff, i was into it. the perspective is they were all made to be shown in a theater during the golden age of porn, and beneath all that sex they're just movies

jenkins

oh i found it. thought it couldn't be further back than June, what a dumbass. i don't see hardcore movies listed but you did push me toward Corruption which does qualify. there's also a podcast in which a woman speaks about hardcore movies in a casual way, which is reassuring, though she does mention they aren't first date movies

the nonhardcore movies i ordered are Decoder, Liquid Sky, Snapshot, and Prey. VS is so deliciously weird you know. i don't even like the word delicious but it fits there

WorldForgot

i must watch Liquid Sky >_<

Johnny Mnemonic iz so fun it makes up for the boring direction --
I'm a bit surprised that and New Rose Hotel haven't caught on as new-net cult flicks.

jenkins

I own Johnny Mnemonic on Blu-ray but of course I do, I bought it to replace my dvd copy

wf you're into what's going on with 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy? Ferrara chatted about it with Noé during their Love conversation. so Ferrara is in it and the speculation is he has a dick double and in fact he complains about the dick double in the conversation with Noé, his stance on it today is he wouldn't let VS put his name on their release and he regrets paying someone to suck at having sex with his girlfriend

Liquid Sky is like in, Decoder is this one that's a new example of cool from that era


WorldForgot

Lol !

I knew of that film from reading up on Ferrara but didn't know about the dick double.
Ouch -- I'll have to listen to that conversation, I can imagine those smirks are audible.

WorldForgot



Very dope cast/cameos, and a fun ride. Was hoping for a bit more from "Kurt" as a character but I like where the third act heads after the comedy show. "Grand Theft Influencer"