PULGASARI aka BULGASARI

PULGASARI aka BULGASARI

Posted on by spectacletheater

PULGASARI aka BULGASARI
dir. Sang-ok Shin, 1985
North Korea. 95 min. In Korean with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 – 5:00PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 11 – 12:00AM
SUNDAY, MARCH 19 – 7:30PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Over the span of 20 years, Sang-ok Shin – sometimes called “the Orson Wells of South Korea” – made upwards of 60 films but all that changed in 1978 when the studio closed. Things would go from bad to worse when in what should be an unbelievable turn of events, Shin and his wife (actress Choi Eun-Hee) were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il. Kim’s intent was to have Shin create films showcasing the power and might of the Korea Workers Party for all the world to see, with Choi Eun-Hee as their star. Before their escape to Vienna in 1986, and after years in prison camps, they would make 7 films – PULGASARI being a crown jewel among them.

While seemingly an obvious Godzilla rip-off, the film is about an evil king in feudal Korea who learns of a coming peasant rebellion. The king gathers all the metal he can find – farming tools, cooking pots, etc – to make into weapons to squash the small army. A dying blacksmith uses the last of his strength to create a monster made of rice – Pulgasari. When his daughter’s blood hits it, the monster comes to life and traverses the countryside, eating iron – as monsters are wont to do.

Not seen outside of Korea for over a decade after its release, the film has gained a cult following for its special effects – with Kenpachiro Satsuma who was Godzilla for over a decade in the Pulgasari costume!

 

SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI

Posted on by spectacletheater


SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI
Dir. Kwon Hyeok-Jin, 1967.
South Korea. 80 min.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 – 12:00 AM
SATURDAY, MARCH 11 – 10:00 PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 19 – 5:00 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 30 – 10:00 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Teetering on the brink of Lost Media for over half a century and known as “Holy Grail of Lost Kaiju Films”. Spectacle Theater is proud to present the first-ever U.S. screenings of SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI, a must-see for all kaiju completionists.

Produced by the Century Company in 1967 to capitalize on the sweeping Godzilla craze, SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI tells the story of a giant space alien sent to conquer mankind, but can’t help stealing an ace fighter pilot’s bride-to-be amidst the chaos. It’s half 50% Godzilla, 50% King Kong, 100% Korean. It’s SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI.

Special Thanks to Ron Bonk. SRS Cinemas, and AGFA.

UR 2 HAPPY :( The Films of Rachel Maclean ):

Posted on by spectacletheater

Scottish painter-at-heart and post-surreal feminist Rachel Maclean superpositions herself again and again and again and again into droning, sickly-sweet consumer hellholes. Juxtaposing horror tropes against a Saturday Morning backdrop, focusing on surveillance states, social media irrealities, the devouring of the soul and body, and childhood fantasies gone awry. It would all be so terrifying if it weren’t 110% cute. Spectacle is proud to present the films of Rachel Maclean, shown for the first time in New York City.

FEED ME + IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT COUNTS
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2015 & 2016
Scotland. 61 min. & 30 min.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 6 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 – 10:00 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 27 – 7:30 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

FEED ME
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2015.
Scotland. 61 min.

“Candy coated and colorfully confected, Rachel Maclean’s films skewer the habits and preoccupations of contemporary society. Produced by Film and Video Umbrella, ‘Feed Me’ is her most ambitious and audacious project to date – a checklist of human cravings and failings that doubles as a hypermodern status update on the Seven Deadly Sins, with its swipes at the commercialisation (and sexualisation) of childhood and an equivalent infantilization of adult behavior. Featuring a rogue’s gallery of memorable characters (all performed with extraordinary élan by Maclean herself), ‘Feed Me’ is a starburst shock to the taste buds that leaves you wanting more.” – Steven Bode


IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT COUNTS
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2016.
Scotland. 30 min.

In a dystopian metropolis fuelled by fevered connectivity, a race of rodents beneath the decaying streets hack the sales messages of a Kardashian-type Demigod, more cyborg than human, a successor to Fritz Lang’s Maria, a Maschinenmensch to rule over the digimash-fed masses. Part Baroque heaven, part post-apocalyptic nightmare, the grotesque, cartoonish figures are seen to share in and compete for attention within a forever connected, corrupt, caffeine marinaded environment where power dynamics are repeatedly inverted and reconfigured.

MAKE ME UP + OVER THE RAINBOW
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2018 & 2013
Scotland. 45 min. & 42 min.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 16 – 10:00 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 20 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 25 – 10:00 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

MAKE ME UP
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2018.
Scotland. 69 min.

Siri wakes to find herself trapped inside a brutalist candy-coloured dreamhouse. Despite the cutesy decor, the place is far from benign, and she and her inmates are encouraged to compete for survival while being watched over by surveillance cameras, 24/7.

Presiding over the group is an authoritarian diva who speaks entirely with the voice of Kenneth Clark from the 1960s BBC series Civilisation. As she forces the women to go head-to-head in a series of demeaning tasks, Siri, with the help of fellow inmate Alexa, starts subverting the rules and soon reveals the sinister truth that underpins their world.

OVER THE RAINBOW
Dir. Rachel Maclean, 2013.
Scotland. 42 min.

Inspired by the Technicolor utopias of children’s television, ‘Over The Rainbow’ invites the viewer into a shape-shifting world inhabited by cuddly monsters, faceless clones and gruesome pop divas. Shot entirely using green-screen the film presents a synthetic environment, part toy model, part computer generated landscape, which explores a dark, comedic parody of the Faustian tale, video game and horror movie genres.

 

IDFB x ABPA PRESENT: SELECTIONS FROM DIGITALIZAÇÃO VIAJANTE

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

IDFB x ABPA PRESENT: SELECTIONS FROM DIGITALIZAÇÃO VIAJANTE
dir. Various
Brazil. 70 min.
In Portuguese with English subtitles.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!
SATURDAY, MARCH 11 – 7:30 PM (This event is $10)

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Between September 2022 and February 2023, archivists Glênis Cardoso and William Plotnick of Cinelimite/IDFB traveled to six different Brazilian states in the north and south east with a portable 2K 8mm and Super 8 film scanner in an effort to digitize works of Brazilian film heritage in these formats from regions of Brazil with little access to film scanning services. This ambitious digitization project is called Traveling Digitization (Digitalização Viajante), and was a collaboration between Cinelimite’s Iniciativa de Digitalização de Filmes Brasileiros (IDFB) and the Associação Brasileira de Preservação Audiovisual (ABPA). 

The project resulted in the digitization of over 350 unique Brazilian 8mm and S8 films, in only three months. IDFB and ABPA are excited to present the first ever screening of an especially selected group of titles from this project to the Spectacle audience on a night of conversations about the importance of small gauge film formats, Brazilian cinema history, and independent film preservation initiatives in Brazil. 

This event will feature an introduction and post-screening discussion with Cinelimite’s William Plotnick

VIVA O OUTRO MUNDO
dir. Katia Mesel, 1972
10 mins, Brazil
Silent.

CLOSES
dir. Pedro Nunes, 1982
30 mins, Brazil
In Portuguese with English subtitles

O LENTO, GRADUAL E SEGURO STRIPTEASE DE ZÉ FUSQUINHO
Dir. Amin Stepple, 1978
3 mins, Brazil
In Portuguese with English subtitles

CREUZINHA NÃO É MAIS TUA
Dir. Amin Stepple, 1979
20 mins, Brazil
In Portuguese with English subtitles

VÃ-PIRAÇÕES
Dir. Arnaldo Albuquerque, 1970-1982
3 mins, Brazil
Silent.

CARCARÁ
Dir. Arnaldo Albuquerque, 1970-1982
3 mins, Brazil
In Portuguese with English subtitles

SONHO AMERICANO
Dir. Arnaldo Albuquerque, 1970-1982
3 min, Brazil
Silent.

Note: Proceeds from this event will go towards helping IDFB and ABPA purchase hard drives to digitally preserve the films digitized during the project Digitalização Viajante.

WILD REEDS

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

WILD REEDS
dir. André Téchiné, 1994
France. 114 min.
In French with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 7 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 – 10 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

New York theatrical premiere of new restoration by Altered Innocence and Anus Films.

Set against the backdrop of the last days of the French-Algerian war and amidst the lush landscapes of Southern France, WILD REEDS is a coming-of-age saga looking at the sexual awakening of four teenagers. The quartet discover sensual delights while grappling with inner-conflict and political differences. Sensitive François (Gaël Morel) and feminist-communist Maïté (Élodie Bouchez) are in a somewhat stunted relationship, bonding over a mutual love for movies and rock’n’roll. However when François meets Serge (Stéphane Rideau), a handsome muscular youth from the local farming community, he comes to acknowledge his latent homosexuality, while Maïté is seduced by Henri (Frédéric Gorny), a teenage exile whose political stance is in complete opposition to hers. A powerful take on adolescent sexuality and social turmoil, André Téchiné’s WILD REEDS is a poignant, moving, and life affirming expression of teenage angst and triumph.

COUNTRY GOLD

Posted on by Dan Scanlon

COUNTRY GOLD
dir. Mickey Reece, 2023
USA. 83 min.
In English.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

FRIDAY, MARCH 17 – 7:30 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10)

GET YOUR TICKETS!

A spiritual follow-up to his award-winning Elvis biopic ALIEN, COUNTRY GOLD surreally satirizes American celebrity as it captures two music legends at a fictionalized career crossroads. Set In 1994, it tells the story of Troyal Brux (Mickey Reece), an up-and-coming country music star, as he joins Country legend George Jones (MINARI’s Ben Hall) for a wild night on the town in Nashville – the eve before George plans to get cryogenically frozen.

Mickey Reece is “one of the DIY indie world’s best-kept secrets”. Since 2008, he has amassed a remarkable catalog of unique feature films out of Oklahoma, including T-REX (2014), ALIEN (2017), STRIKE DEAR MISTRESS AND CURE HIS HEART (2018), CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER (2019), AGNES (2021). COUNTRY GOLD is his 29th film.

VIDEOPHOBIA

Posted on by allison

VIDEOPHOBIA
dir. Daisuke Miyazaki, 2019
Japan. 88 min.
In Japanese w/English subs.

MONDAY, MARCH 6 – 7:30 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10)
FRIDAY, MARCH 17 – 10:00 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 27 – 10:00 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 31 – 7:30 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Ai (Tomona Hirota) is a young twentysomething adrift in Osaka, an aspiring actress barely making ends meet between shifts dressing as a mascot at her local shopping district and gigs as an erotic webcam performer. Following a one-night stand with an unremarkable cosmetics salesman, her life is thrown into chaos when she discovers that a video of their encounter, recorded without her knowledge or consent, has been posted online. The deeper she investigates, the more she unravels, growing increasingly paranoid in the presence of technology and other people.

Like VIDEODROME for the iPhone era, Daisuke Miyazaki’s stark techno-thriller takes our obsession with and dependency on modern technology and spins it into all our worst fears come to life. How do we maintain a sense of self when so much of our memory has already been ceded to our devices? What metrics are there to determine what on the internet is truly real and what is not, especially in this era of deep-fakes and A.I.-generated imagery? What lengths will Ai go to to correct the injustice of this video living on into digital perpetuity? Or is her only option to see the woman as somebody else.

CARNIVAL IN THE NIGHT

Posted on by allison

CARNIVAL IN THE NIGHT
dir. Masashi Yamamoto, 1981
Japan. 108 min.
In Japanese w/English subs.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 – 10:00 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 13 – 10:00 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 31 – 10:00 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

This Rockuary, Spectacle Theater and Rain Trail Pictures invite you to take a walk on the wild side with Masashi Yamamoto’s micro-budget no wave masterpiece, CARNIVAL IN THE NIGHT.

Made at the tail end of the 1970s as Japan’s major studio system was in disarray, the film is one of the crown jewels of the country’s jishu movement: A creative storm of independent, anti-institutional, borderline anarchist filmmakers operating outside of commercial cinema structures, and who would help shape Japanese cinema for decades to come.

The film follows Kumi (Kumiko Ota playing a lightly fictionalized version of herself, similar to her later character in Yamamoto’s ROBINSON’S GARDEN), a newly divorced single mother and aspiring punk rocker, as she embarks on an unusual odyssey along the fringes of Tokyo’s night life. Her journey takes her through the seedier side of the city’s DIY punk scene; each stranger, each sexual encounter, each random act of violence more unsettling than the last.

Much like the “no wave” film movement that was simultaneously taking shape in New York, Yamamoto’s film blurs the line between documentary and fiction in a way that underscores the prickly creative energy of its corresponding musical scene. The gritty 16mm photography and verité shooting style help capture the transgressive ethos of Tokyo’s underground in its most unbridled form, contrasting images of a country in the midst of an economic boom against the lives of its squatters, hustlers, criminals, and low-lifes.

“These are Yamamoto’s politics: to squat, to squander, and to soil reality. Whether anyone takes notice is beyond him; his unceasing state of resistance exists beyond society and blooms by virtue of its separation from its norms. ‘I only plan to make the kinds of films I want to make,’ he has said, ‘and aim at nothing more than a small circle of spectators.'”
– Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer, SCREEN SLATE

DANDY DUST

Posted on by Zach Fleming

DANDY DUST
Dir. A. Hans Scheirl, 1998
Austria. 94 min.
In English

THURSDAY MARCH 2ND, 10PM
SATURDAY MARCH 18TH, 10PM
SATURDAY MARCH 25TH, MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY MARCH 31ST, MIDNIGHT

PURCHASE TICKETS

Dust, a split-personality cyborg of fluid gender, zooms through time and space in search of his/her own memories and a sense of understanding. S/he travels from the Planet of White Dust where war is constant, to the Planet of Blood and Swelling, a hybrid of his/her father’s body.

A cyborg with a split personality and fluid gender zooms through time to collect his/her selves in a struggle against a family obsessed by lineage: This cartoon-like futuristic low-budget horror satire by the Austro-British filmmaker Hans Scheirl turns the real into the absurd, for the duration of a small cybernetic, chemo-sexual film adventure at least. Identity is just a matter of creativity, and far beyond cinema’s limitations. – (Stefan Grissemann)

A GOTHIC WESTERN DUO

Posted on by Zach Fleming

This March, Spectacle is thrilled to present a duo of underseen Gothic-Western gems – a 1970 ghostly revenge thriller from Italy, and an American western anthology from 1990.

AND GOD SAID TO CAIN aka E DIO DISSE A CAINO
dir. Antonio Margheriti, 1970
Italy, 101 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 1ST, 7:30PM
FRIDAY MARCH 10TH, 10PM
MONDAY MARCH 20TH, 10PM
WEDNESDAY MARCH 29TH, 10PM

PURCHASE TICKETS

THE DARKEST WESTERN EVER MADE

An innocent man sentenced to ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit is released from jail, promising to seek revenge on the guilty.

AND GOD SAID TO CAIN starts off feeling like a standard western, but quickly morphs into something more sinister and ominous. Starring Klaus Kinski as Gary Hamilton, the wrongly imprisoned gunslinger seeking revenge, and directed by Italian genre mainstay Antonio Margheriti – who directed a whopping 53 films in total, including THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH and CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE – anyone looking for a moodier than average revenge western, look no further!

GRIM PRAIRIE TALES
dir. Wayne Coe, 1990
USA, 86 min.
In English.

SATURDAY MARCH 4TH, 10PM
FRIDAY MARCH 17TH, MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY MARCH 21ST, 10PM
SUNDAY MARCH 26TH, 5PM

PURCHASE TICKETS

HIT THE TRAIL …. TO TERROR

A cynical bounty hunter and a clerk traveling through the prairie rest by a campfire telling four stories of terror to each other.

A western-horror anthology film, featuring a wraparound story starring Brad Dourif and James Earl Jones, shot by Janucz Kaminski. Need we say more?

GRIM PRAIRIE TALES leans further into psychological horror, even drama, than one might expect from the synopsis – like a Twilight Zone-adjacent anthology from another dimension. Screening from the best looking available known copy (ripped directly from laserdisc!), Spectacle is proud to present this collection of spooky frontier tales.