GUYANA, CRIME OF THE CENTURY
Dir. Rene Cardone Jr.
Mexico/Panama/Spain 1980
Digi-beta 108 min.
"The ultimate laughable exploitation film by the director of Survive!, a cannibal/disaster hit. The incredible cast flown down to profit from the mass suicide includes Stuart Whitman as Jim Johnson (the names were changed to protect the innocent?), Bradford Dillman as Dr. Gary Straw the Kool-aid mixer, Joseph Cotten, John Ireland, Gene Barry, Yvonne DeCarlo and Jennifer Ashley. Extremely sleazy, even after cutting to get an R rating, and much more enjoyable than the TV feature that followed." (Michael Weldon)
Fans of exploitation doco-drama DO NOT want to miss this one!

Preceded by THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR (6 min. 8mm), Terry Miakowski's twisted X-Mas tale of suicide and redemption.

NO BLADE OF GRASS
Dir Cornel Wilde
UK, 1970
16mm 96 min.
Actor/director Cornel (The Naked Prey) Wilde's adaptation of John Christopher's 1956 novel The Death of Grass is an outstanding component of the ecological catastrophe cycle that colored the first half of the '70s. Wilde's influences here vary from the post-holocaust survivalist films typified by the likes of Ray Milland's Panic in the Year Zero (1962) to the British SF trend known as catatstrophism, which includes Christopher's original text, John Wyndham's Day of theTriffids and stretches as far as J.G. Ballard (Crash). As in Panic in the Year Zero, a principled man finds himself at the mercy of a new ethic determined by dire circumstances. Despite his initial misgivings, he soon finds himself condoning the violence of others, and then resorting to it himself. A narrator informs the audience that despite much rhetoric from world governments on the subject, by the late 1970s pollution levels around the planet were out of control, with the result that the population's supply of food, air and water was irretrievably contaminated, leading to the total collapse of social order around the globe. London is on the verge of being quarantined, and there are rumors that the population will be gassed so as to conserve vital supplies for those 'less expendable'. A biologist, and architect and his family (including John Davenport and Lynne Frederick of Schizo and Four of the Apocalypse) are warned beforehand and make plans to escape the city, rescue the architect's son from boarding school and head North to the safety of the family farm. Outside, the landscape is atrophied and inhospitable. As with backwoods-horror, the vengeful nature of the lower class forms a pivotal point in the narrative, and the family encounters rapists and looters in their travel who all come complete with indecipherable regional dialects - although Wilde does toy with the cliche for further effect. Another of Wilde's innovations is his use of documentary footage, and simulations thereof -- including jump-cuts, hand-held camera and improvised dialogue -- a development of the British docu-drama movement of the '60s in which directors like Peter Watkins (Privilege, Punishment Park) rose to great prominence. A very personal project for Wilde, No Blade of Grass is one of the unsung achievements of the post-apocalypse subgenre.
--Kier-La Janisse

PUNISHMENT PARK
Dir. Peter Watkins
UK/USA, 1970
Beta SP 88 min.
Peter Watkins is one of the pioneers of what is now referred to as the 'mockumentary', and with masterpieces such as Privilege, The War Game and the five-hour epic La Commune distinguishing his resume it's surprising that his work has found such a limited audience in North America. The most obvious reason for this is fear of Watkins' undiluted commentary on social injustice and the (often negative) power of the media to influence and shape the fertile minds of the masses. Punishment Park remains one of his most accomplished works. Set in a fictional American prison camp for hippie radicals and subversives circa 1970, we are led through a vicious, maddening tribunal in the middle of the desert, which upon conclusion sees its unwilling participants condemned to 3 days in 'Punishment Park'. The punitive curriculum requires them to wander from one end of the compound to the other in scorching heat with no food or water for several days until they reach the iconic American flag at the other end (a perverse means of brainwashing so that the prisoners will come to view the flag with reverence). What they don't know is that as they struggle through the bleak terrain bickering amongst themselves, the guards (one of whom would later play one of Swan's henchmen from Phantom of the Paradise) have been set upon them with orders to kill. While not a 'horror' film in the strictest sense, this is one of the most truly harrowing of CineMuerte's offerings this year.
--Kier-La Janisse

TURKEY SHOOT
(AKA Escape 2000)
Dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith
Australia, 1981
Digi-beta 98 min.
"Futuristic women-in-prison flick starring Olivia Hussey, who arrives at a concentration camp for "deviates," and the first thing she hears from the guards is "Hey, fresh meat!" This particular camp is run by a sergeant whose idea of a good time is to knock her down, rope her neck, and make her do something truly nasty. He also commands a midget to get out of line and perform her re-education speech, which begins: "I am a deviate, the lowest form of life on earth." She
has to keep repeating it until she messes up, at which point this Nazi Cochise starts kicking her into a little pile of mincemeat. Over on the male side, Steve Railsback gets caged up and tortured. Then these party animals burn a guy alive and try to gang-rape Olivia, but she zips up a guy's pants before he's ready to be zipped, if you know what I mean. Finally all the guards decide to let five prisoners go so they can hunt 'em down. Joining Olivia and Steve are a boxy blonde bimbo, a weirdo jerkola red-head freak, and a guy who acts like Bruce Dern. One of 'em gets his little toe ripped off by a green-eyed werewolf in a dune buggy. There's a Joan Collins lookalike riding around on a horse and shooting exploding arrows at people. A lot of guys get kicked in the groceries. The werewolf gets his eye gouged out and his body sliced in half in a beautiful scene with an exotic motor vehicle. The Nazi Cochise gets his hands chopped off with a machete. Then Railsback goes nuts with a recreational vehicle and fights the whole Communist air force. Exploding heads. Twenty-one breasts, including two stunt breasts. (Shame on you, Olivia.) Thirty-four dead bodies. RV crash-and-burn. Bimbo meat factory. Six pints blood. Four motor vehicle chases, with two crash-and-burns. Heads roll. Hands roll. Stomachs roll. Little toe rolls." (Joe Bob Briggs)
Preceded by SCARECROW (6 min. DV), Kristian Olsen's cautionary farm story.

ZERO DAY
Dir. Ben Coccio
USA, 2003
35mm 80 min.
A chilling video diary of two teenagers who prepare for the countdown to their own personal armageddon.
--Kier-La Janisse

HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD
Dir. Mario Bava
Italy, 1961
35mm 91 min.
Before TV's Kevin Sorbo donned leather, there were countless movies about the legendary musclehead, and instead of faking camp appeal like the small-screen Hercules, these flicks were shot straight faced and their heartfelt sincerity translates into genuine laughs. Out of all his many adventures this one stands head and shoulders above the others. For starters it's directed by the stylish and brilliant Mario Bava and his uncanny eye turns a cheezy testosterone affair into something wondrous. Throw in the villainous Christopher Lee as an evil vampire (what else) who's battling Reg Park (a former Mr. Universe) and you've got the best sword and sandal epic ever to come out of Italy. The Queen of the region is placed under a spell and the Oracle convinces our beef-boy that he must venture to the Kingdom of the Damned and recover a magic apple in a giant tree guarded by condemned women. Hercules, along with his steroid comic-sidekick pal, enters this Netherworld and encounters all manner of obstacles -- so look out for the foam rubber boulders, sinister yet amusing Rock Men, near-naked damsels, bleeding plants, homo-rotic subtext and an army of cobwebbed flying zombies! The whole atmospheric affair is shot in Cinemascope (big picture) and IB Technicolor -- which is nerd talk for "looks bloody marvelous".
-Anthony Timpson

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
(AKA THE EVIL EYE)
Dir. Mario Bava
Italy, 1962
35mm 85 min.
Prolific actor John Saxon will appear in person to present Mario Bava's first foray into the giallo genre and Saxon's horror debut. Leticia Roman stars as Nora Davis, a sexually repressed American who arrives in Rome to visit her ailing aunt. She is instantly smitten with her aunt's physician, Dr. Marcello Bassi (Saxon), and when the aunt dies of a violent heart attack, Nora runs to fetch him only to be knocked unconscious by a passing purse-snatcher. She half-wakes to see a woman murdered in front of her, and through a bizarre series of circumstances is mistaken for a drunk and hospitalized where she is left trying to convince the police and Dr. Bassi that she has witnessed the latest murder in a string of "Alphabet Killings". Since no body has been found, Nora starts to suspect that she may have psychically envisioned the murder and that her own life is in danger. While the film is obviously a nod to Hitchcock, Bava's uniqueness as a director easy leads the film away from the realm of cheap imitation. He uses his characteristic lighting and stunning setpieces to enchant the audience, as well as the recurring theme of a confused female protagonist (which he would return to many times, most notably with The Whip and the Body). Although shorter than the AIP version that was released in the US in 1964, this is the Director's Cut (minus the cutesy comic relief inserts) and presented here in a spankin' new 35mm print.
--Kier-La Janisse

Preceded by THE YELLOW ROOM (7min. 35mm), Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet's latest homage to the perverse pleasures of the giallo.

THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY
Dir. Alex Cox
UK, 2002
35mm 109 min.
A Revengers Tragedy provides the perfect platform for the very individual talents of director Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy, Repo Man). Working from an impressive adaptation by Frank Cottrell Boyce of Thomas Middleton's 1607 play, he concocts a gloriously over-the-top revenge comedy-drama that could attract a cult following. The updated play is transposed to gangland Liverpool of 2011, a ravaged city replete with partly demolished buildings and wrecked cars that is run by a corrupt duke and his vicious sons. Christopher Eccleston plays Vindici, a nobleman who returns to the city to avenge the murder of his bride, killed by the lusty duke (Derek Jacobi, sporting pale makeup and bright-red lipstick). Vindici plots and counterplots against the duke's sons and other enemies until bloodshed and mayhem bring about the end of the rule of the duke and his clan. Eccleston is powerful as the conniving Vindici, while Jacobi is suitably outrageous as the nasty duke. Perhaps best of all, though, is Eddie Izzard as the duke's scheming son Lussurioso. With delectable line delivery, he maintains a devious playfulness throughout the story. The film is also littered with various Liverpool-based performers, including Margi Clarke as Hannah and Antony Booth (father-in-law to British Prime Minister Tony Blair) as Lord Antonio. There is a great deal of individualistic energy to Cox's film, which best of all achieves that great feat of not fitting into any easy cinematic bracket. Mixing comedy-drama with horror-revenge, he has constructed a refreshingly odd and highly watchable film.
-- Mark Adams

ZOMBIE
Dir. Lucio Fulci
Italy, 1979
35mm 98 min.
Zombie ushered in Fulci's peak period (in terms of popularity -- although I much prefer his earlier gialli) that would see him become an enfant-terrible of the British video nasties list and the most beloved of Italian gore directors. With a bare-bones story that would be built upon in the later The Beyond (1981), a group of travellers take a pit stop on a remote tropical island only to discover that it is overrun with hungry, butt-ugly zombies. "We Are Going To Eat You", the posters promised, and Gianetto de Rossi's gore FX make sure that the buffet is a spectacle unlike any other.
Among the film's many highlights are the now-legendary 14-inch-splinter-through-the-eye sequence, the underwater zombie/shark combat, and the obligatory Italian exploitation dubbing by the guy who would be forever known as "the guy who did Al Cliver's voice in Zombie". For midnight movie trash, it don't get better than this.
--Kier-La Janisse

Preceded by ALONE BUT NOT LONELY (6 min. Video-8) Chris Barry's disturbing verite meditation on random violence.