Author: kriszta

A “MONSTERS” MASH (1988-1990)

Posted on by kriszta

MONSTERS
Dir. Sara Driver, Bette Gordon, Lizzie Borden, 1988-1990
United States. Approx. 100 mins.
In English

ONE NIGHT ONLY—SPECIAL GUESTS TBA
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19th—7:30 PM

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In an all-American suburb, in an anonymous house, a family of one-eyed monsters sit down in front of their television to enjoy their favorite program…

So begins each episode of MONSTERS, an anthology of televised spooks created by TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE’s Richard P. Rubenstein and Mitchell Galin. While not every entry was necessarily horrific, each twenty minute tale was chock-full of animatronics and goopy makeup effects, with stories that ranged from sly, to unnerving, to downright goofy.

But it’s the slate of directorial talent that makes MONSTERS such a wild gem of a show, ripe for rediscovery. MONSTERS served as stable employment for post-no wave New York, recruiting several of Spectacle’s favorite filmmakers, including Sara Driver (SLEEPWALK), Bette Gordon (VARIETY), and Lizzie Borden (BORN IN FLAMES, WORKING GIRLS). On-screen talent included Mary Woronov, Steve Buscemi, Lili Taylor, and numerous cameos from horror royalty.

For one night only this Spectober, we’ve curated a collection of memorable MONSTERS moments, and are thrilled to invite the auteurs that brought them to life.

THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS

Posted on by kriszta

THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS
Dir. Graham Swon, 2018
USA. 98 min.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 TH – 10PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH – 7:30PM Q&A WITH DIR. GRAHAM SWON
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH – 7:30PM

REGULAR TICKETS

Q&A TICKETS

Almost a zelig-like figure of the New York film scene, Graham Swon is best known as a producer on some of the best and most truly independent American films of the past decade. As if helping create the films of Ted Fendt, Ricky D’Amrbose, Matías Piñeiro, and Dan Sallitt weren’t enough, Swon is also a startlingly innovative filmmaker in his own right whose first two films, THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS (2018) and AN EVENING SONG (for three voices) (2024), display an impressive penchant for visual experimentation, narrative game-playing, and a transcendental attention to the passage of time and memory. In honor of the release of AN EVENING SONG in New York and Los Angeles, we’ll be hosting Swon to present a special screening of his first film THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS.

Set over one night at a girls’ high school slumber party where five friends hold a scary story contest, SECRETS is an heir to storytelling anthologies like Boccaccio’s Decameron, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt. Filled with sumptuous dissolves, a mysterious narrator, and durationally long shots that stretch beyond 20 minutes, it’s also a rich aesthetic experience aided by cinematographer Barton Cortright. Both nostalgic of teenage innocence and filled with the macabre, SECRETS is a unique and unsettling evocation of the precariousness of suburban childhood explored through American oral traditions.

“This non-gory horrific tale without monsters or bloodshed is probably the most poisonous and scary US film produced in recent years. Inspired by Southern Gothic’s dark romanticism, shot with acute minimalism, this film conjures up the best contemporary horror writers (such as Brian Evanson, Thomas Ligotti or Lisa Tuttle) with its hypnotic narration, its stylised grammar, both elegant and brutal, and its existential and metaphysical terror. In a gesture that reminds one of Warhol, Graham Swon prints on the young girls’ faces an ancestral violence inherent to the American culture, and puts the spectators in a torpor from which they will unheartedly depart.”

– Victor Bournérias