PLASTIC SURGERY NIGHTMARES
When going under the knife results in the unnatural and terrifying.
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Terri Hanauer, Frank Moore.
Runtime: 91 min.
RABID 1977
Picking up where the taboo-busting SHIVERS left off, RABID is the next-level iteration of Cronenberg’s obsession with sexual body violence in the form of a late nite creature feature. After a motorcycle accident, former adult film star Marilyn Chambers wakes up in a hospital with new skin and a new appetite. As the city of Montréal is transformed into an incubator for gunk-spewing vampires, the ghostly Chambers finds herself at war with her body and the world. This is a young Cronenberg firing on all cylinders. Featuring a focused and intense performance from Chambers, clever statements on vanity and greed, and a grotesque lil’ beastie who looks like a penis with teeth, RABID is a high-water mark in lysergic horror. This includes the show-stopping scene that involves a machine gun and Santa Claus.
Saturday, September 2
EYES WITHOUT A FACE 1960
At his secluded chateau in the French countryside, a brilliant, obsessive doctor (Pierre Brasseur) attempts a radical plastic surgery to restore the beauty of his daughter’s disfigured countenance—at a horrifying price. Eyes Without a Face, directed by the supremely talented Georges Franju, is rare in horror cinema for its odd mixture of the ghastly and the lyrical, and it has been a major influence on the genre in the decades since its release. There are images here—of terror, of gore, of inexplicable beauty—that once seen are never forgotten.
Sunday, September 3
Director: Georges Franju
Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Edith Scob.
Runtime: 84 min.
THE FACE OF ANOTHER 1966
A staggering work of existential science fiction, The Face of Another dissects identity with the sure hand of a surgeon. Okuyama (Yojimbo's Tatsuya Nakadai), after being burned and disfigured in an industrial accident and estranged from his family and friends, agrees to his psychiatrist's radical experiment: a face transplant, created from the mold of a stranger. As Okuyama is thus further alienated from the world around him, he finds himself giving in to his darker temptations. With unforgettable imagery, Teshigahara's film explores both the limits and freedom in acquiring a new persona, and questions the notion of individuality itself.
Thursday, September 7
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Mikijiro Hira, Machiko Kyō
Runtime: 124 min.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN 2011
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Thursday, September 14
Friday, September 15
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes.
Runtime: 120 min.