2016’s THE VOID is pure Lovecraftian: grotesque monsters, hospitals, the gateway to hell and the unknown space of the void.

When police officer Carter discovers a blood-soaked man limping down a deserted road, he rushes him to a local hospital with a barebones, night shift staff. As cloaked, cult-like figures surround the building, the patients and staff inside start to turn ravenously insane. Trying to protect the survivors, Carter leads them into the depths of the hospital where they discover a gateway to immense evil.

Starring: Koji Imada, Sayaka Maeda, Takashi Fujii

Director Masaaki Yuasa’s masterful mash of visual styles, Mind Game is a psychedelic trip into the grave and beyond, following a down-on-his-luck loser named Nishi nursing a lifelong crush on his childhood girlfriend. On a particularly bad day, Nishi finds out that his dream girl’s engaged… and then he’s murdered by the Yakuza. Nishi’s death sets him off on a twist-turny, loop-dee-loop journey where he meets God, winds up in the belly of a whale and beyond. Told using an innovative blend of animation techniques, Mind Game hops from experimental photography to slapdash storyboards to beautifully rendered CG and back again.

This screening of Robot Carnival will feature a 35mm print of the U.S. theatrical dub of the film produced by Streamline Pictures.

Released on video in Japan, but theatrically in the U.S., animated anthology film Robot Carnival collects nine shorts on robotics and artificial intelligence from nine up-and-coming anime directors of the day. Featuring a wide-range of styles and influences, the film kickstarted the careers of directors like Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), Yasuomi Umetsu (Kite, Mezzo Forte), and Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Roujin Z, Golden Boy) and several others who graduated to some of the most popular titles of the 1980s (Bubblegum Crisis, City Hunter, Char’s Counterattack, Urotsukidoji).

35mm original theatrical print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

This screening of Fist of the North Star will feature a 35mm print of the U.S. theatrical dub of the film produced by Streamline Pictures.

A full-scale nuclear war has left the planet a burned-out wasteland with the remnants of humanity are picked apart by murderous marauders. Wandering alone in the wastes is Kenshiro, the Fist of the North Star, a master of the Hokuto Shinken – a powerful martial arts style that basically amounts to punching bad guys so hard they explode. A hyper-violent classic from director Toyoo Ashida (Vampire Hunter D).

35mm original theatrical print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

The psych-out nightmare feature directorial debut from Steve, the filmmaking alter-ego of Steve Ellison, better known as acclaimed musician Flying Lotus, KUSO takes those brave enough to tag along on a wild ride. Broadcasting through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, KUSO depicts the aftermath of Los Angeles’s worst earthquake nightmare. Viewers travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived, experiencing a hallucination that feels like David Cronenberg meeting Ren & Stimpy.

Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher are back to serve up some of their all-time greatest VHS finds, with newly discovered footage and updates on the people in these videotaped obscurities. Highlights include:

 -An arts & crafts instructional video by a woman who is psychotically enthusiastic about sponge painting

-A montage of exercise video weirdos, including Angela Lansbury, Traci Lords, and a Rastafarian rooster

-On-air mishaps from a local pet advice call-in show called Petpourri

-Never-before-seen footage from Pickett and Prueher’s news pranks, include Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser, Chef Keith, and Chop & Steele

Filmed in black-and-white and set to the music of Chet Baker, Julie London and other jazz greats, Bruce Weber’s documentary captures the world of the Mount Scott Boxing Club near Portland, Oregon. At the small, successful club, former Golden Gloves boxing champion Andy Minsker devotes himself to training hopeful young athletes as they rise through the boxing ranks. As the film’s main focus, Minsker is unwavering in his enthusiasm and support of his protégés.

Beneath Modern London Lives a Tribe of Once Humans. Neither Men nor Women… They are the Raw Meat of the Human Race! When a prominent politician and a beautiful young woman vanish inside a London subway station, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence of HALLOWEEN) investigates and makes a horrifying discovery. Not only did a group of 19th century tunnel workers survive a cave-in, but they lived for years in a secret underground enclave by consuming the flesh of their own dead. Now the lone descendant of this grisly tribe has surfaced, prowling the streets for fresh victims…and a new mate.

Norman Rossington (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT), David Ladd (THE WILD GEESE), Sharon Gurney (CRUCIBLE OF HORROR), and the legendary Christopher Lee (HORROR OF DRACULA) also star in this heart-stopping horror classic co-written and directed by Gary Sherman (DEAD & BURIED). Originally recut and released as RAW MEAT in the United States, now DEATH LINE has been freshly transferred and fully restored in 2K from the original uncensored camera negative

Nitehawk Cinema presents Make Love Not War! Erotic Animation from the Heart. Join curator Willy Hartland and his sexually liberated friends, for this raunchy and historic program of animation.

PROGRAM

1. George Griffin’s “The Club,” 1975 (4 min)

2. Michaela Pavlátová’s “Carnival of Animals,” 2006 (9 min)

3. Lisa Craft’s “Desire Pie,” 1976 (5 min)

4. Signe Baumane’s “ Five Fucking Fables,” 2002 (7 min)

5. Willy Hartland’s “Mister Smoothy,” 1998 (2 min)

6. Bill Plympton “How to Make Love to a Woman,” 1996 (5 min)

7. Leah Shore’s “Boobatry,” 2010 (3 min)

8.) Mike Sullivan’s “Sex Life of Robots” trailer, 2006 (2 min)

9.) Pez’s “Roofsex,” 2002 (1:30 min)

10.) Jun Cen’s “Mutual Tunnels,” 2013 (5 min)

11.) Brett thompson’s “One Minute Fluidtoons on Paper Four,” 2013 (1:30 min)

12.) Laurence Arcadias & Juliette Marchand’s “Tempest in the Bedroom,” 2011 (11:30 min)