In the Iranian ghost town Bad City… A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT.

The first Iranian Vampire Western ever made, Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut basks in the sheer pleasure of pulp. A joyful mash-up of genre, archetype, and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave.

Starring: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny

Saturday’s show will be hosted by members of the Mahoning Drive-In staff with prize giveaways, classic intermission snipes and more fun, recreating a night at The Historic Mahoning Drive-In for indoor audiences.

Usually taking in a late night horror movie at the local theater is a bit of harmless (if gross) fun. You see some folks get mauled, squirm in your seat a bit and then head home for a night of uneasy sleep. Things aren’t so easy for the moviegoers in Lamberto Bava’s Demons. Given a free ticket from a masked stranger, a group of night owls head off to a West Berlin movie house to take in a bit of ultra-violent Italian horror. Lulled into a sense of safety by the flickering light of the projector, the real horror begins when an honest-to-God demon rips its way out of the screen and starts slashing its way through the crowd. With their only exits bricked off, as if by magic, the surviving members of the audience must take up arms and fight off the growing demon horde.

Demons is a a grotesque bit of meta-horror from Bava and producer Dario Argento, filled with ruthless baddies, cheeseball heavy metal, and every color of blood, bile and pus you can imagine. Don’t be frightened, though: it’s only a movie.

Starring: Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina

A New York professor moves out to the sticks to pick up the work of a colleague who got into a bit of a Shining situation when he murdered his mistress and then killed himself. Undeterred by his friend’s grotesque end, the good doctor packs up the wife and kid and moves into a dilapidated mansion that comes complete with a basement door that’s been nailed shut and a ghostly young girl that constantly tells everyone to get the hell out of there.

Brutal and borderline incomprehensible, even by the loose standards of Italian horror, The House by the Cemetery closes out director Lucio Fulci’s The Gates of Hell trilogy, the director’s loose collection of atmospheric apocalyptica (with The Beyond and The City of The Living Dead). Set atop a wintry hill, constantly swept in fog, The House by the Cemetery passes along like a dream. Slick with rot, the particulars of its motives and story fade away in favor of atmosphere and imagery. 

Nitehawk presents two special midnite screenings of David Gregory documentary LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Introduction both nights by editor, Douglas Buck!

You’ve probably heard the rumors about how difficult the production of the 1996 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau was but here, in David Gregory’s new documentary, you can bare witness to nearly unbelievable accounts of its doomed making. It’s a behind-the-scenes chronicle of bad creative decisions, visions clashing, lack of interest and awful weather plagued the film. Lost Soul specifically focuses on the period of time director Richard Stanley spent on the project, before he was replaced by John Frankenheimer only a few days into principle photography. The film features interviews with people involved in the production and, well, you just have to see it to believe it!

ART SEEN presents a special screening of DUST with filmmakers Adam Dugas and Casey Spooner in attendance!

A New American Film by Adam Dugas and Casey Spooner, DUST is the story of an eccentric family in crisis. Unable to move forward or functionally communicate, three change-averse siblings collide with their older brother and their own myopic worldview with comic and tragic results. Casey Spooner is an artist and performer who co-founded the art-pop project Fischerspooner with whom he has released three full-length albums, exhibited artwork in museums and galleries, and toured the world extensively. Adam Dugas is an actor, writer, producer, and director based in New York. Among his theatrical productions are Chaos & Candy and Dueling Harps. “In the tradition of early John Waters films, and Warhol’s Paul Morrissey Factory films, DUST defines its own era by reveling in and rolling around in the 21st century, its sadness, its audacity, it’s flashpoint laugh-out-loud directness.” – Michael Stipe, Producer.

Art Seen hosts a special evening with frieze as they present a selection of new frieze videos and Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard’s 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH. Introduction by frieze editor, Dan Fox.

20,000 Days On Earth is an inventive, lyrical ode to creativity and an intimate examination of the artistic process of musician and cultural icon Nick Cave. In their debut feature directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard fuse drama and documentary, weaving a staged day in Cave’s life with never-before-seen verité observation of his creative cycle. Neither a music documentary nor a concert film, 20,000 Days On Earth still contains electrifying performances. Audiences see a song grow from the tiniest of ideas to an epic performance at Sydney Opera House. Cave also opens up to a psychoanalyst as he discusses how his early years continue to inform his work, and journeys through his memories via mementos from his personal archive. This category-defying film pushes the form into new territory, exploring universal themes about artistry, and celebrating the transformative power of the creative spirit.

frieze magazine was set up in 1991 and is the leading magazine of contemporary art and culture. frieze includes essays, reviews and columns by today’s most forward-thinking writers, artists and curators. frieze video features short-form interviews, documentaries, studio visits and more of those in the contemporary art world. 

Music Driven presents a special screening of THE COLOR OF NOISE featuring a Q&A with director Eric Robel and Amphetamine Reptile Records founder Tom Hazelmyer (aka Haze XXL), moderated by Noisey’s Fred Pessaro.

The Color of Noise is a full-length documentary about the artist Haze XXL (Tom Hazelmyer) and his label Amphetamine Reptile Records. The film highlights many of the label’s bands (The Melvins, Helmet, Unsane, Boss Hog and Today Is The Day) and visual artists (Shepard Fairey, Frank Kozik, Coop and Ed Fotheringham) through mini bio-pics weaved throughout Tom’s story. The Color of Noise is an exceptional look at the integrity of the American underground starting in the late 80’s through the mid 90’s, specifically targeting forerunners of the grunge movement, the collision of punk rock and printmaking, and beyond.

RELATIONS: THE LOVE STORY FROM DENMARK is a bleak look at the doomed relationship between a sixteen year old girl and her well-to-do married lover.

Although targeted to the American market to satiate the desire for “naughty Denmark,” Relations: the Love Story from Denmark (“Sonja – 16 år”) actually attempts social commentary through its bleak representation of the doomed relationship between a 16 year old girl from the streets named Sonja and her married factory owner lover, Pegel. Pegel becomes obsessed in his lust for Sonja but the more he discovers about her, the more mired he is in her mystery. She, in turn, exploits him. Co-directed by Hans Abramson and Brandon Chase, Relations: the Love Story From Denmark is a sex film that’s not really a sex film. As Jack Stevenson writes, “Hiding in all these sexy porn movies was some fascinating social commentary, if anybody noticed.” This film aims for something more.

Part of the Nitehawk Naughties SCANDINAVIAN EROTIC CINEMA program.

A doctor assists a young woman with her sexual exploration in WITHOUT A STITCH.

Based on the banned book by Norwegian author Jens Bjørneboe, Danish film Without a Stitch (Uden en trævl) adopts the carefree attitude towards sex but does it in a fictional, not documentary, style. This erotic fantasy features Lillian, a young high school student, who seeks medical advice after her first sexual attempt with her boyfriend goes awry. The film stakes a very firm stance in its representation of freedoms coming from the sexual revolution as Dr. Peterson opens Lillian up to the various pleasures of sex so as to  avoid the ever-dreaded frigidity. Directed by Annelise Meineche, Without a Stitch is actually a softcore film but its implications of “anything goes” caused it to open at the Loews Flagship theater in Broadway in 1970 after U.S. obscenity charges stalled its U.S. release. Once out in the world it continued the wave of sex films being widely played for mainstream audiences.  

Part of the Nitehawk Naughties SCANDINAVIAN EROTIC CINEMA program.

A sixteen year old nymphomaniac attempts rehabilitation in ANITA, THE SWEDISH NYMPHET.

By the time Language of Love director Torgny Wickman’s film Anita (later titled Anita the Swedish Nymphet or Anita – ur en tonårsflickas dagbok) came out in 1974, Scandinavia’s reputation for making naughty films was already well known. Christina Lindberg (star of Maid in Sweden, They Call Her One Eye and notable for appearances in Playboy) stars as Anita, the sixteen year old nymphomaniac whose rebellious sexual acts with numerous strange men gets her into dangerous situations. Enter young psychology student Eric played by Stellan Skarsgard (in an interesting precursory role to Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac) who valiantly attempts to “cure” her. But her sexual acts are a protest to family and tradition so it won’t be an easy transformation. Sound familiar?  

Part of the Nitehawk Naughties SCANDINAVIAN EROTIC CINEMA program.