Umberto Lenzi is one of Italy’s most prolific and under-appreciated filmmakers, having directed over sixty movies in four decades. Most genre fans may know of Umberto Lenzi from CANNIBAL FEROX (1981) and NIGHTMARE CITY (1980). Both films are solid gorefests, but their notoriety reflects only a fraction of Lenzi’s work. This series will focus on Lenzi’s pre-80s contributions to cinema and bring light to Lenzi’s more forgotten repertoire.

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A QUIET PLACE TO KILL
(AKA PARANOIA)
Dir. Umberto Lenzi, 1970
Italy. 94 mins
In English

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 7 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 24 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 30 – 7:30 PM

PURCHASE TICKETS

After a fiery crash, professional race car driver, Helen, is invited to recuperate at her ex-husband’s villa. Once there, she forms an unexpected bond with her ex’s new wife, and the two women plot his murder. When their plan goes awry, Helen relies on her wits to hide the truth of what happened at sea.

By the end of the 60s, Lenzi directed the first of eight Gialli films, ORGASMO (1969), SO SWEET… SO PERVERSE (1969), A QUIET PLACE TO KILL (1970) and OASIS OF FEAR (1971). These four films represent Lenzi’s first cycle of Giallo, and three showcase his longtime collaboration with Oscar nominee Carroll Baker.

This film isn’t what audiences have come to expect from the Giallo genre, lacking excessive gore or a black-gloved killer. Instead, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL plays like a murder mystery featuring beautiful locations, double-crossing socialites, love triangles, and exciting plot twists.

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EYEBALL
Dir. Umberto Lenzi, 1975
Italy. 92 mins
In English

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 – Midnight
THURSDAY, MARCH 9 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 18 – Midnight
FRIDAY, MARCH 24 – Midnight

PURCHASE TICKETS

A red-gloved murderer is gouging out the eyes of American tourists. It’s up to Inspector Tudela to discover the killer’s identity and stop them before their sick game is complete.

The international success of Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970) ushered in the golden age of Giallo and enshrined the trope of the black-gloved killer. Lenzi directed four Gialli during this period: SEVEN BLOOD STAIND ORCHIDS (1971), KNIFE OF ICE (1972), SPASMO (1974) and EYEBALL (1975).

By 1975, the film market was oversaturated with subpar Gialli and the genre’s popularity waned. Lenzi reflected on this decline with his final Giallo, the satirical EYEBALL (1975), an intentionally low-brow film that never takes itself too seriously.

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THE TOUGH ONES
(AKA ROME, ARMED TO THE TEETH)
Dir. Umberto Lenzi, 1976
Italy. 94 mins
In English

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 – Midnight
TUESDAY, MARCH 14 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 24 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 28 – 10 PM

PURCHASE TICKETS

CONTENT WARNING: This film features depictions of sexual assault.

The anti-gang squad, led by the hot-headed Inspector Leo Tanzin, won’t let the rule of law stop their plans to bring down a criminal kingpin. After planting drugs on a suspect known as The Hunchback, Tanzin may have finally met his match.

The late 60s marked the beginning of a period of political violence and social unrest in Italy known as the Years of Lead. Italian filmmakers processed the movement by creating a wave of ultra-violent crime films known as Poliziottesch. These films not only showcase the criminals’ ferocity but also expose parallel brutality and corruption from within the police force.

For four years after EYEBALL, Lenzi turned his attention exclusively to Poliziotteschi films and directed ten movies in the genre between 1974 and 1979. Starring Poliziotteschi staples Maurizio Merli and Tomas Milian, THE TOUGH ONES (1976) is a white-knuckle roller coaster that takes no prisoners.

With a special thanks to Grindhouse Releasing.

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This February, Spectacle Theater is thrilled to bring you ROCKUARY once again:

• THE COMPOSERS CYCLE
  • ARVO PÄRT — AND THEN CAME THE MORNING AND THE EVENING
  • BRIAN ENO: IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES + ENO
  • OLEG AND THE RARE ARTS
  • TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
• FANTASIA DA ALEGRIA: TWO FILMS BY SERGIO RICARDO
  • ESSE MUNDO E MEU
  • JULIANA DO AMOR PERDIDO (+ ANTI-VALENTINE’S)
• THE LEGEND OF THE STARDUST BROTHERS
• PUNK THE CAPITAL: BUILDING A SOUND MOVEMENT
• I DON’T BELIEVE IN ANARCHY
• GOTH
• THE NEW COSMOS: TAKASHI MAKINO SHORT FILM WORKS
• FINAL RINSE

To honor Valentine’s Day, we’ve come up with a marathon sampling the worst examples of love to grace on the silver screen. This HORRIBLE HEARTS EXTRAVAGANZA, an outgrowth from our deviously delightful ANTI-VALENTINE’s series, collects the seediest and sexiest sights of romance — demon love, samisen BDSM, and glob sex among other exciting expressions of intimacy.

Mystery madness will reign throughout the day, starting at NOON and stretching into the wee hours of the night with a demented MIDNIGHT flick. Hints for the films can be found below, swing by and get heartbroken.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 – 12:00 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

12 PM

XXXX XXXXX: XXX XXXXXX
dir. XXXXX XXXXXXX, 1994
Romania, USA, 81 mins
In English

We start the day with a deeply sincere fantasy horror-flick – and probably the only positive relationship of the day. A demon vs the LAPD, a kick ass German shepard, too-long sex scenes – this movie’s got it all.

2 PM

XXXXX XXXX
dir. XXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, 1977
Italy, 104 mins
In Italian and English

A couple on the rocks sets out on a road trip, death awaits at their destiny.

4 PM

XXXX XXXXXXXX
dir. XXXXXXX XXX, 1981
Hong Kong, 91 mins
In Cantonese with English subtitles

A rare treat – an art house semi-slasher, deeply moody and vivid. Previously only available via a terrible VHS rip, we’ll be showing an updated LaserDisc rip with fresh (legible!) subtitles.

6 PM

XXXX XXXX
dir. XXXXXX XXXXXXX, 1995
United Kingdom, USA, 111 mins
In English

Shake off the downer of our 4pm with this absolutely wild mid-90s slice of neo-noir, originally released in a bastardized cut that was frequently on cable in the late 90’s. We’re excited to be screening the director’s cut, assembled by the editor posthumously. Probably the biggest name cast in a bizarre movie you’ve ever seen in a movie that is simultaneously hilarious, uncomfortable, sexy, problematic – and genuinely great.

8 PM

XXXXX
dir. XXXXXX XXXXXX, 1972
Japan, 112 mins
In Japanese with English subtitles

A melody of misery inspired by the foregone memories of a mute affair. Blind love at its most torturous and sincere.

10 PM

XXXXXXXX XXX
dir. XXXXXXXX XXXXXX, 1997
Japan, 120 mins
In Japanese with English subtitles

A ravaged scientist decides to bring his beloved back to life. Little does he know doing so will unleash an egomaniacal evil on Earth.

MIDNIGHT

XXX XXX XXX
dir. XXXX XXXXXXXXX, 1983
Netherlands, 102 mins
In Dutch with English subtitles

Our last film of the night is an underseen classic from a famously horny director we all know and love. Hint: The title nods to a classic film that this is definitely not a sequel to.

CONTENT WARNING: This film contains flashing lights which may not be suitable for photosensitive epilepsy.

TOUCH ME NOT
dir. Adina Pintilie, 2018
125 min, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany and Romania
In Romanian and English with English subtitles

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9 – 10:00 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 – 10:00 PM

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“The film is proposing a dialogue: a mind-opening experience about being different, different kinds of beauties, different kinds of bodies, and experiences of intimacy” – Adina Pintilie

TOUCH ME NOT marks the first entry in artist Adina Pintilie’s years-long investigation of bodies and intimacy. True to the director’s evolving understanding of these, the film embraces fluidity. Not quite fiction and not quite documentary, TOUCH ME NOT positions itself as a reality-bending project that incorporates self-reflexive strategies, actors, and a diverse cast of non-actors whose non-normative bodies and experience with sex work, informs Pintilie’s interrogation of the meanings we attach to gender, sex, sexuality, bodies and intimacy. Winner of both the Golden Bear and the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2018, TOUCH ME NOT is a landmark film apropos of body politics.

“Propelled by intuition, emotion and philosophical inquiry rather than by plot, Pintilie’s debut feature is a semidocumentary essay exploring what it means — how it feels, why it matters — to dwell inside a body. You could say that what the film is about lies just beyond the reach of images or words. It’s a necessarily cerebral meditation on the nature of physicality.

The director’s initial verbal reticence contrasts with both the eloquence of some of her characters and subjects and the explicitness of the images she captures. Nakedness and intimacy — the first almost too easy to achieve, the second almost impossibly difficult — are the basic themes of “Touch Me Not.” A handful of people from different countries, some professional actors, some sex workers, talk about their desires, anxieties and inhibitions in ways that are sometimes painfully open and often highly abstract.” — A.O. Scott, New York Times

FINAL RINSE
dir. Robert Tucker, 1999
United States. 91 mins.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 – 10:00 PM

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In the struggle for Comedic Film Glory, not everything succeeds, FINAL RINSE is an independent production from 1999 that didn’t quite get there. A strange brew of quality production, glorious stunt-casting, goofy script, and a knowing wink.

FINAL RINSE is a rock and roll cult film still searching for devoted followers.

(Don’t miss the spot on cameo by tri-state TV and rock and roll hero Uncle Floyd)

Eddie Cockrell in Variety said
The deliberately overworked gimmick of this in-joke-saturated, tonsorial-themed silliness is the constant spray of rock song lyrics and titles in the dialogue. Vet Terence Goodman stacks his Block snugly between Leslie Nielsen and William Shatner, and the long list of uneven cameos is highlighted by bouncy work from lyricist-monologist David Cale as Trojan, comic Frank Gorshin as the chief, legendary cable host “Uncle Floyd” Vivino as kind of a sex-obsessed “Quincy” and now-portly punk frontman Joey Ramone, who seems to wander off camera during one scene. Tech credits are glossy on an obviously thin budget.

showing with

Tarantula :
A very rare short film of the late downtown dancer Robert Kovich known as a dancer with “an ironic wit, great physical deftness and precision and a sense of vivid coloration.” so sayeth the NYT.

&

The Meat Puppets in “Get on Down” :
A 80s era “wacky” music video for the ages.