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Category Archives: Video
Saturday Matinee: Carnival of Souls
Synopsis from Wikipedia:
Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American independent horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. The film was produced and directed by Herk Harvey for an estimated $33,000. Carnival of Souls did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a double feature with The Devil’s Messenger. Today, however, it is regarded as a cult classic. Its plot follows a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident, finding herself drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival.
Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, Carnival of Souls relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create a mood of unease and foreboding. The film has a large cult following and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals. It has been cited as an important influence on the films of both David Lynch and George A. Romero.
Two for Tuesday
Saturday Matinee: The Cable Guy
“The Cable Guy” (1996) is a dark satire written by Judd Apatow and directed by Ben Stiller which straddles the line between comedy and psychological thriller. Jim Carrey (still in the midst of his rapid rise to fame) stars as Chip Douglas who, after setting up free cable for Steven (Matthew Broderick) begins to behave in increasingly comical yet unsettling and stalker-like behavior to attach himself to his new “friend”. The film features metacommentary on Hollywood narrative tropes while effectively using them in the service of a cautionary tale about mass-media obsession and social alienation.
Watch the full film here.
Two for Tuesday
Saturday Matinee: Starship Troopers
Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier, the writer/director team behind the original Robocop returned a decade later with an equally satirical vision mocking while paying homage to propagandistic and militaristic Hollywood tropes: “Starship Troopers” (2007). The story follows a new recruit and his circle of friends as they go through training and onto the battlefield in a war against hostile aliens. It’s a story told countless times before and since but rarely with as much self-awareness and overtly fetishized fascism.
Watch the full film here.
Two for Tuesday
Saturday Matinee: Terminal City Ricochet
From Alternative Tentacles:
Welcome to Terminal City-one of only five livable places left on Earth.
Telegenic Mayor Ross Glimore (Peter Breck, The Big Valley, Shock Corridor), is king of all media, and rules as a virtual dictator. To maintain his grip on power he must stage an election, and for that he needs fresh fear. Enter Alex Stevens (Mark Bennett), a fed-up, cynical newspaper delivery boy who happens to witness Glimore run over one of his own supporters in his car, and leave the scene of the accident.
Glimore and his Rove-wellian henchman Bruce Coddle (Jello Biafra) hatch a plot to brand Alex “the #1 terrorist threat” (based on his connection to rock’n’roll music which, along with meat, is banned) to cow Terminal City into submission and steal another tabloid election.
Alex flees underground, where he stumbles into a resistance movement led in part by his newfound friend Beatrice (Lisa Brown), and a fugitive brain-damaged goalie from the Glimore-owned hockey team, unforgettably portrayed by two-time Genie Award® winner Germaine Houde (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Les bons Débarras 1980, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Un Zoo la Nuit 1987).
Alex finds himself caught up in a plot to bring Glimore down, with the not-so-secret police (D.O.A.’s Joe Keithley and pro-wrestling legend Gene Kiniski) hot on the trail.
After the Crash 