Eli Roth's Film Festival
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 f***ing 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-F***ING-SCENE-REMAKE of Carrie...
ZAPPED! (1982)
Fri: 9:30; Sat: 5:30 & 9:30
I s*** 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. F***ing 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?" F*** 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!