B-to-Z double bill at Cinematek | Offscreen
Every last Friday of the month, we collaborate with the Cinematek's B-to-Z rendez-vous in Brussels, a moment in the history of alternative cinema that shouldn't be missed. Unearthed from the dark recesses of the archive: hilarious B-movies, blood-chilling thrillers, Gialli, slashers and other exploitation cinema gems… Take advantage of the 2-for-1: two films with a common theme for the price of a single ticket.
4 December 2015
A special B-to-Z double bill, as part of the Christopher Lee retrospective, with two films featuring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula.The British Hammer studio became famous for its updates on the Universal horror classics from the 1930's. Several of these were...
27 November 2015
Genre movies, exploitation films and B-series typically portray women as helpless victims or brainless bimbos. But this B to Z program will feature women in all their superb, intrepid and rebellious glory.The Roger Corman production "The Great Texas Dynamite Chase" is...
30 October 2015
This month, the zombies are ready to attack!"La Rebelion de las muertas" ("Vengeance of the zombies"), with its female zombi-ettes, is a Spanish B-movie classic straight from the 70s. Featuring the highly-experienced, man-of-all-genres Leon Klimovsky in the director's...
25 September 2015
Vampires descend upon a troupe of ballerinas, a Japanese pop star is stalked by a sadistic fan: artists everywhere are in danger!Renato Polselli's "L'Amante del vampiro" ("The Vampire and the Ballerina") is one of the first Italian Gothic horror films, released the...
28 August 2015
After the international success of the kung fu productions coming out of Hong Kong in the early seventies, Western film studios were eager to jump on the bandwagon. The first of these crossover films was "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee, but others followed suit....
31 July 2015
One of the most popular recipes of Italian B-cinema were copycat versions of American blockbusters, spiced up with blood and sex while definitely made for a whole less money. “Mad Max”, “The Exorcist” and “Star Wars” all got the Italian make-over. Enzo G. Castellari...
26 June 2015
For the first B-to-Z of this summer, we head for Taiwan. The country produced great classic films, but also plenty of weird cult curiosa, of which we'll present two perfect examples.While not quite as well known as King Hu, Joseph Kuo nevertheless made several low...
29 May 2015
In the eighties Wes Craven created the character Freddy Kreuger, who became a staple of the horror genre and led to a successful series of "Nightmare on Elm Street" films.By "Shocker", Craven wants to create a Freddy for the nineties. The adventures...
24 April 2015
The title "L'assassino è al telefono" seems to point at one of the typical codes of the giallo (the anonymous call from the assassin), but the film has more in common with a conspiracy thriller, and finds its inspiration in films like "Les ...
27 February 2015
The Woman in Prison film (WIP) is an exploitation movie that takes place in a women's prison, populated by the most dangerous, sexually active and socially maladjusted female inmates. The formula was a real hit in the 70s amongst drive-in movie patrons eager for sex...
30 January 2015
"The Fifth Cord" is one of the great classics from the golden age of Giallo cinema "à la Dario Argento". An esthetic and refined whodunit full of unexpected twists, in search of a mystery killer's identity. With sublime music by Ennio Morricone, superb lighting by...
26 December 2014
In Roman times, the people were kept distracted - and thus calm - by great public events featuring spectacular gladiator battles. A principle that continues to feed the imagination, particularly in cinema, like with the recent "Hunger Games"."Rollerball" takes place in...
28 November 2014
Sergio Corbucci, the maestro of Italian westerns ("Django"), concluded his career with comedies, far from his sadistic origins. His final collaboration with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill resulted in "Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure". Violence and adventure still...
31 October 2014
With "Black Christmas", "My Bloody Valentine" and consorts, there are countless horror films that take place during the holidays. But one holiday has served for more inspiration then all the rest, that highest of holy days of horror: Halloween. When night falls on All...
26 September 2014
The punk movement found its principal outlet through music at the end of the 70s and in the early 80s. In terms of movies, it was re-appropriated by exploitation cinema, where it was promptly emptied of its substance. Such was the case in "Class of 1984" by Mark L....