
Horror director Eli Roth is following in Edgar Wright’s footsteps and programing a two week film festival (called “The Greats of Roth”) at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles from February 17th to March 1st. Check out the festival’s line-up after the jump, with commentary provided by Eli Roth himself.
february 17, 18, 19
The Hacksaw/Chainsaw double bill! These films are next to impossible to find uncut on DVD in the U.S. and are rarely ever shown on the big screen. And they’re both fucking awesome films that never cut away from the good stuff.
First up, Sergio Martino’s giallo masterpiece
TORSO (1973) (a.k.a. Carnal Violence)
Sun: 3:50 & 7:30; Mon/Tue: 7:30
Followed by J.P. Simon’s Chainsaw Trashterpiece
PIECES (1982)
Sun: 5:40 & 9:20; Mon/Tue: 9:20
february 20, 21
A Holiday Slasher/ Horror Anthology double bill…
The film I showed at my Bar Mitzvah instead of having a dance because I wasn’t friends with any girls. One of my all time favorite slasher films. Charles Kaufman’s brilliant
MOTHER’S DAY (1980)
7:30
George Romero & Stephen King’s criminally underrated ode to E.C. comics
CREEPSHOW (1982)
9:20
PLUS: A special surprise short after Creepshow…
february 22, 23
DePalma’s King adaptation of
CARRIE (1976)
Fri: 7:30; Sat: 3:30 & 7:30
followed by the brilliant Scott Baio-Willie Aames-Heather Thomas-Scatman Crothers telekensis SCENE-FOR-FUCKING-SCENE-REMAKE of Carrie…
ZAPPED! (1982)
Fri: 9:30; Sat: 5:30 & 9:30
I shit you not. I have always wanted to see these films back to back. Sissy Spacek uses her telekinetic powers to get revenge on the kids at school, and Scott Baio uses it to take off Heather Thomas’ clothes. See where the “Charles and Charge” magic of Baio and Aames all began. It’s also the next film that Scatman Crothers made right after the Shining. You can feel the Kubrickian influence in every moment of his performance. If you’ve never seen this film, you’ve never seen an animated sequence of Scatman Crothers’ wife chasing him in a Ben-Hur chariot, firing animated salamis. Fucking sublime.
february 24, 25, 26
All Hail one of the greatest low budget futuristic musicals of all time:
THE APPLE (1980)
Sun: TBA; Mon/Tue: 7:30
Followed by a screening of the ultimate in Stunts and Rock…
STUNT ROCK (1978)
Sun: TBA; Mon/Tue: 9:20
There will be some sort of sing along, but not on Oscar night, because Diablo Cody would kill me if I did it without her. Probably on the 25th.
february 27
Original? Remake? Ripoff? Or brilliant use of a similar technique? You be the judge! I have not seen “Blair Witch” since it came out in the theater, and have always wanted to see it back to back with the film that created the “found footage” movie. How do either of them compare to “Cloverfield?” Fuck I can’t wait to see…
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
7:30
Ruggero Deodato’s cannibal classic - the mother of all cannibal films -
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980)
9:20
And…because we only have the Cannibal Holocaust print for one night, we are switching it up for the next night and showing…
february 28
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
7:30
Umberto Lenzi’s grindhouse cannibal masterpiece
CANNIBAL FEROX (1981) (a.k.a. MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY)
9:20
Umberto Lenzi and Ruggero Deodato got into a cannibal movie pissing contest back in the day. Lenzi did the first cannibal scene in his film “Man from Deep River” in 1972, but then Deodato made “Last Cannibal World” in 1976 and stole Lenzi’s thunder. Then Deodato outdid himself with “Cannibal Holocaust,” which became a sensation all over the world. Lenzi was so irritated that he made “Eaten Alive” to try to out-do Deodato, but people said it wasn’t as grueling and nasty as “Cannibal Holocaust.” So then he made “Cannibal Ferox” to show he could make the nastiest cannibal film of all time. Did it work? Decide for yourself! Lenzi also cast a lot of the same actors that Deodato used, just to make it even more confusing. It worked! I can barely keep track of which film is which, but they’re both awesome and have lots of graphic violence that got them banned in many countries.
february 29, 1
Oscar winning (or should have won) duo… Tom Hanks in his greatest performance ever…
BACHELOR PARTY (1984)
Fri: 7:30; Sat: 3:25 & 7:30
And yet ANOTHER movie Bill Murray should have gotten the Oscar for…
CADDYSHACK (1980)
Fri: 9:35; Sat: 5:30 & 9:35
Special thanks to the New Beverly for putting this together, and to Bob Murowski, the Silent Movie theater, and Quentin Tarantino for coming through with some of the hardest prints to find. Come geek out with us starting the 17th. I’ll see which people from the films are still alive or not in prison but we’ll definitely have some special guests and surprises all through the festival. See you there!







February 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
WOW. Of course these things that I need to attend are always in a city I am very far away from. Of course.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Why must I live so far away??? :-(
My bf and I would live at the movie theatre the entire time…Cannibal Holocaust would be godly to watch in a theatre rather than some pirated movie site…if only
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I live down the street.
Walking distance even.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Aenima-TOOL
Some say the end is near.
Some say we’ll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will.
I sure could use a vacation from this
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I’ll see you down in Arizona bay.
Fret for your figure and
Fret for your latte and
Fret for your hairpiece and
Fret for your lawsuit and
Fret for your prozac and
Fret for your pilot and
Fret for your contract and
Fret for your car.
It’s a
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I’ll see you down in Arizona bay.
Some say a comet will fall from the sky.
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves.
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still.
Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits.
Some say the end is near.
Some say we’ll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will cuz
I sure could use a vacation from this
Silly shit, stupid shit…
One great big festering neon distraction,
I’ve a suggestion to keep you all occupied.
Learn to swim.
Mom’s gonna fix it all soon.
Mom’s comin’ round to put it back the way it ought to be.
Learn to swim.
Fuck L Ron Hubbard and
Fuck all his clones.
Fuck all those gun-toting
Hip gangster wannabes.
Learn to swim.
Fuck retro anything.
Fuck your tattoos.
Fuck all you junkies and
Fuck your short memory.
Learn to swim.
Fuck smiley glad-hands
With hidden agendas.
Fuck these dysfunctional,
Insecure actresses.
Learn to swim.
Cuz I’m praying for rain
And I’m praying for tidal waves
I wanna see the ground give way.
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
I wanna watch it go right in and down.
I wanna watch it go right in.
Watch you flush it all away.
Time to bring it down again.
Don’t just call me pessimist.
Try and read between the lines.
I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t
Welcome any change, my friend.
I wanna see it all come down.
suck it down.
flush it down.
What can I say? I just really really hate Eli Roth.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Whoops! Sorry, I keep forgetting. No hate speech. But seriously, what has he done that was so great? I can’t think of anything.