all movies by date | Offscreen
7 March 2018
REVENGE
A stylistic tour-de-force wrapped in a bloody grindhouse packaging. Debuting french filmmaker Coralie Fargeat injects the hyperviolent rape & revenge subgenre with a healthy dose of feminism. Matilda Lutz plays the sexy Barbie stereotype reborn as a lady of vengeance; Kevin Janssens is the bad guy.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
A lonely, 12-year-old boy, bullied by classmates, yearns to make friends with the girl who just moved in next door. But it seems she might be connected to a series of local murders. What does she want from him, and will their friendship survive? An award-winning, exquisitely intimate vampire drama.
REVENGE - SECOND SCREENING
A stylistic tour-de-force wrapped in a bloody grindhouse packaging. Debuting french filmmaker Coralie Fargeat injects the hyperviolent rape & revenge subgenre with a healthy dose of feminism. Matilda Lutz plays the sexy Barbie stereotype reborn as a lady of vengeance; Kevin Janssens is the bad guy.
8 March 2018
KUSO
This psychedelic fever dream evokes Jodorowsky and “Eraserhead” in a stunning assault on the senses and a scatological fiesta for all the body cavities. Electro-rapper Flying Lotus (Steve Ellison) makes his feature debut in shocking, nauseating, hilarious and nonsensical style. An instant cult item.
VASE DE NOCES
This graphic exploration of the world of a rural loner who falls in love with a pig stirred up a lot of controversy when it was released. Those willing to look beyond the story of zoophilia and coprophagia will discover an astonishing mystical experience.
HIGH CRIME
The first collaboration between Castellari and actor Franco Nero is one of the pivotal entries in the “poliziotteschi” genre. Expect brutal murders, lengthy shout-outs with machine guns, stylishly choreographed action scenes, socio-political turmoil, drug dealers, and a hot-tempered police officer.
9 March 2018
NEAR DARK
The doyenne of female action directors (“Point Break”, “The Hurt Locker”) made her solo debut with this story of a modern "family" of vampires who roam the American Southwest. The result is a stunningly directed horror western and cult classic pur sang, with a superb soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.
A GHOST STORY
A unique spectral tale in which Casey Affleck haunts his former house as a specter draped in a white sheet, watching passively while his bereaved partner (Rooney Mara) struggles with her loss. A moving meditation on love and sorrow, hailed by critics as one of the best films of 2017.
CHRONIQUES D'UN VILLAGE TZOTZIL
A documentary about the daily life of a native Tzotzil community in southern Mexico, shot over a period of eight years. With patience, the filmmaker manages to describe their attachment to traditions and difficulties in adapting to a constantly evolving world.
STREET LAW
Crime and police corruption were rife in 1970s Italy. An engineer (Franco Nero) is taken hostage during a violent robbery. But the police don't care about justice and drop the case, so he takes the law into his own hands. A mix between poliziotteschi and spaghetti western by the “European Sam Peckinpah”.
THE LAST SHARK
This Italian rip-off of “Jaws” proves diabolically effective. Astute camera work and a catchy soundtrack mix with unintentionally funny scenes in which the supposedly deadly beast looks more like an inflatable shark or a sick dolphin. An irresistible guilty pleasure!
10 March 2018
NOVEMBER
A farmer's daughter falls in love with a young man from her village, a pagan place inhabited by werewolves, ancestral spirits, and the Black Death. Estonia's entry for the Oscars, beautifully filmed in black & white, is infused with the magic realism of such East European films as “Marketa Lazarova”.
KEOMA
Half-blood Keoma (Franco Nero) returns from the Civil War to a ghost town struck by the plague and overran by a gang of sadistic outlaws. Castellari's psychedelic and virulent 1976 masterpiece is one of the best spaghetti westerns ever.
THIRST
An experimental medical treatment infects a Catholic missionary with vampirism. The genius director of the Vengeance Trilogy - “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”, “Old Boy” and “Lady Vengeance” - outdoes himself with a modern vampire film which is violent and poignant in equal measure.
1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS
A violent cop goes in search for a rich teenager (played by Stefania Girolami, Castellari's daughter) who went missing in the Bronx, now a “no man's land” run by fearsome motorcycle gangs. This hilarious hotch-potch of “Mad Max ”, “Escape From New York” and “The Warriors” is purest camp!
11 March 2018
ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX
When a large corporation wants to “clean up” the Bronx, the local gangs react by starting a war. The non-stop violence reaches insane heights in this science-fiction movie disguised as a spaghetti western, the sequel to “1990: The Bronx Warriors”.
REY
In 1860, a French lawyer and explorer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia... and realized his dream. How Chileans remember his story, though, is not how it happened. An award-winning reflection on colonialism in the tradition of “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and “Embrace of the Serpent”.
THE BIG RACKET
In a quiet Italian town, criminals extort money from local store owners by menacing them with rape and violence. But the victims team up to fight back, resulting in epic brutality, explosive twists, and a vigilante-style shoot-out. Castellari considers the ending to be the best one he ever shot.
GANJA AND HESS
A ceremonial dagger grants anthropologist Dr. Hess immortality at the cost of a craving for blood. This highly-stylized curio about sex, religion and Afro-American identity flirts brilliantly with Blaxploitation and horror conventions. Finally shown in its original, restored version.
MARTIN
The director of “Night of the Living Dead” has another, lesser-known classic to his name in this exceptional film about a troubled 17-year-old who believes he's a vampire. Romero considered this bold, downbeat deconstruction of the vampire myth to be one of his best films.
12 March 2018
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS
Belgian director Harry Kümel focuses on the sexual nature of vampirism and the sadomasochistic relationship between victim and aggressor in this elegant, dreamlike film, partly shot inside the Astoria Hotel in Brussels. Delphine Seyrig is divine as ultra-chic Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
13 March 2018
INNOCENT BLOOD
The sexy vampire Marie (Anne Parillaud from “La femme Nikita”) would like to eat Italian and puts the local mafia bosses (including Robert Loggia in the role of his life) on her menu. John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”) serves a juicy horror comedy.
14 March 2018
TRIBUTE WIM CASTERMANS
An evening dedicated to Wim Castermans, our friend and Offscreen colleague, who died last year.
THE ROOM
This is it: the first concoction from a director with the ambition of Orson Welles and the talent of Ed Wood. The result is a “so bad it’s good” movie turned worldwide cult phenomenon à la Rocky Horror Picture Show. Bring your plastic spoons and pillows for this ultimate in guilty pleasures!
CONTES POUR ENFANTS DE MOINS DE TROIS ANS + EUGENE IONESCO, VOIX ET SILENCES
In “Contes pour enfants de moins de trois ans”, five of Eugène Ionesco's fairytales are set against a backdrop of children's drawings. In the documentary “Eugène Ionesco, voix et silences”, Zéno delineates both the writer's life and his work in a series of interviews.
MR. VAMPIRE
Did you know that, in the Far East, vampires hop? And that the Chinese protect themselves from these creatures by holding their breath, or pelting them with sticky rice? These and other curious facts are some of the things you will learn in the ultimate Hong Kong martial arts horror-comedy!
15 March 2018
ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK
After she loses her baby in a car crash, Jane (Edwige Fenech) has nightmares about a knife-wielding maniac. Her neighbor decides a Black Mass is a solution to Jane's problems. A Polanski-esque tale about paranoia, devil worshipers, ritualistic murder orgies, and madness.
RABID
After a motorcycle accident, Rose (porn star Marilyn Chambers in a "straight" role) undergoes experimental surgery which leaves her with a blood-sucking orifice in her armpit. Her victims turn into zombies, triggering a city-wide epidemic. Bleak, innovative and full of Cronenberg's recurring themes.
BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99
Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier, and Don Johnson excel in this brutal, brilliantly-written action film by “Bone Tomahawk” writer-director S. Craig Zahler, in which an ex-boxer turned drug dealer lands in prison after a deal goes horribly wrong. Skull cracking B-movie entertainment.
16 March 2018
THE ENDLESS
Linklater meets Lovecraft when two brothers who escaped the cult that raised them find themselves drawn back to it. The directing duo of “Resolution” and “Spring” prove once again how much can be accomplished on a small budget. Eerie sci-fi which overflows with originality and creativity.
LES MUSES SATANIQUES + CE TANT BIZARRE MONSIEUR ROPS
“Les muses sataniques” combines a reading of letters by Félicien Rops with contemplation of his satirical, erotic and visionary imagery. In “Ce tant bizarre monsieur Rops”, a strange guide leads us through the artist's ruined farmhouse as we listen to extracts from Camille Lemonnier's monograph.
TORSO
Sergio Martino pulls out all the stops in this highly stylized, ultra-violent giallo classic about a serial killer who hides behind a ski mask to strangle beautiful young students before slicing them up with a bow saw. The many suspenseful scenes in this scary whodunit will have you gasping for air.
2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK
After a nuclear holocaust, the world has been reduced to a wasteland populated by mutants. A mercenary is dispatched to the ruins of New York to try and save the last fertile woman on earth. A thoroughly engaging post-apocalyptic delight.
17 March 2018
CONFERENCE: ITALIAN GENRE CINEMA
Dr. Russ Hunter (co-editor of “Italian Horror Cinema”) will provide an overview of the Italian genre film, looking at the dynamics behind an industry that variously produced spy thrillers, funky hardboiled cop films, hyper-violent thrillers, gore-drenched horrors, spaghetti westerns, zany sci-fi cinema as well as bawdy comedies. Dr. Alexia Kannas (author of “Deep Red”) examines the key features of the giallo, a uniquely Italian blend of lurid violence, inventive set-piece murders, pulsating soundtracks and sitting alongside often beautifully realised visuals. Dr. Jamie Sexton (author of “Cult Cinema”) will look at the contribution that two iconic composers, Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, made to the success of Italian genre films. Their soundtracks have, somewhat unusually, taken on cult status and contributed hugely to making Italian genre cinema both successful and memorable to the ear. Finally, Dr. Louis Bayman (co-editor of “Italian Popular Cinema”) explores the poliziotteschi, a series of gritty police dramas that mixed up high-speed car chases, kidnappings, bank robberies, high-powered shootouts and angry lone wolf protagonists with a sense of style that was distinctly Italian. Followed by a roundtable with director Sergio Martino and Manlio Gomarasca (author, editor, and journalist at “Nocturno”).
ALL YOU CAN EAT BUDDHA
On holiday at an all-inclusive Caribbean resort, Mike meets a talking octopus and starts performing miracles. What begins as an Ulrich Seidl-like semi-realistic portrait of mass tourism erupts into an insane study of a collapsing civilization and the preaching of political and intestinal revolution.
THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS
Police inspector Giulio Caneparo (Luc Merenda) takes justice into his own hands to avenge the death of his boss, who was on the trail of a gang of bank robbers. All bets are off and anything goes in this indictment of Italian fascism and political chaos.
TOKYO VAMPIRE HOTEL
The theatrical cut of Sion Sono's nine-part mini-series for Amazon Prime Japan oozes with color, delirious spectacle, and tons of blood and gore. A clan of vampires lures humans into a hotel where they plan to set up a blood farm. Sardonic entertainment from the maker of “Suicide Club”.
THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR
After the brutal murder of an underage prostitute, an undercover agent infiltrates a Milanese gang and finds a trail leading to the highest echelons of power. An essential link between giallo and poliziottescho, directed by Martino as an unpredictable roller coaster ride full of spectacular chases.
18 March 2018
CHOPPER SQUAD
In Rome, a cop (Luc Merenda) unwittingly discovers that employees of the Italian Ministry of Defense are being murdered, and their deaths made to look like suicides or accidents. Inspired by the Golpe Borghese, a failed right-wing coup d'état in 1970.
HAGAZUSSA: A HEATHEN'S CURSE
This haunting, hypnotic study of witchcraft, superstition, sexuality, and madness in the 15th century Austrian Alps is reminiscent of Robert Eggers' “The Witch”, while offering an extraordinary and disturbing viewing experience which echoes the cinema of Tarkovski in its abstract and lyrical approach.
SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD
When an anthropologist goes missing in the jungle of New Guinea, his wife and her brother set out to find him, only to run into a tribe of torture-loving cannibals... This infamous “video nasty” was banned for years in the UK due to its explicit sex, gratuitous violence, and alleged animal abuse.
CRONOS
A mysterious device giving eternal life to its owner resurfaces after 400 years. But immortality has its price. This original, compelling revision of vampirism is the debut feature of the Mexican filmmaker who would go on to win international acclaim with “Pan's Labyrinth” and “The Shape of Water”.
THE ADDICTION
The New York director of “Ms. 45” and “Bad Lieutenant” links vampirism to drug addiction and AIDS in a bizarre urban horror film infused with theological concepts of sin and redemption. With Lili Taylor as a bloodthirsty philosophy student and Christopher Walken as a Nietzschean elder vampire.
19 March 2018
COONSKIN
In an innovative mix of freestyle animation and stylized live action, Ralph Bakshi employs blatant stereotypes to force us to reflect on racism and corruption. Made in 1975, this provocative story about African-Americans is, unfortunately, still relevant.
20 March 2018
HABIT
Sam has just broken up with his girlfriend. A rebound with the sensual Anna promises to be the perfect distraction, but she lures him into a web of addiction and bloodlust. Larry Fessenden (“Wendigo”) tackles both the directing and the leading role in this compelling psychological horror.
21 March 2018
SHORTSCREEN
For the annual Shortscreen program, Offscreen and website Kortfilm.be present a selection of recent short films that fit the Offscreen criteria: original, unusual, bizarre, and surprising. The films will be introduced by the filmmakers!
BOUCHE SANS FOND OUVERTE SUR LES HORIZONS + LES TRIBULATIONS DE ST-ANTOINE + ARTIFICES D'ACIER
Zéno's debut, “Bouche sans fond ouverte sur les horizons”, is a portrait of schizophrenic artist Georges Moinet; “Les tribulations de St-Antoine” evokes the life of the hermit featured in many famous paintings; and “Artifices d'acier” is an award-winning short about a sculpture by Olivier Strebelle.
LE FRISSON DES VAMPIRES
A fang-tastic example of French filmmaker Jean Rollin's personal and unorthodox vampire movies of the 1970s. An orgy of colorful, stylized violence and pubic hair eroticism that blooms into a nightmarish atmosphere where wet dreams and bloody reality overlap.
CANIBA
In 1981, Issei Sagawa murdered and cannibalized a Dutch student in Paris. Today, he lives with his brother in Japan. The makers of “Leviathan” film this new documentary in experimental style, in extreme close-up, to sketch an intimate, lurid, captivating portrait of a man consumed by his dark urge.
THE NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT
Fritz the Cat may have lost one of his lives in the comics, but in his new movie, he has eight more lives left to go! While his wife screams at him, Fritz lights up a joint and reminiscences about what could have been.
22 March 2018
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN
Two criminals and their hostages seek refuge in a seedy truckers' bar which turns out to be the front for a horde of vampires. Rodriguez and Tarantino pull out all the stops in this heist movie which morphs into pure horror. With George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis and Salma Hayek.
EUTHANIZER
The Finnish director describes his film about a 50-year-old black-market mercy killer of pets as “'Dirty Harry' with animals”. Wrapped in grungy 1970s B-movie packaging, this social satire about animal rights, suffering and death packs a powerful emotional punch.
BLADE
Wesley Snipes plays the half-vampire half-mortal superhero, based on the Marvel Comics character, who slays fanged monsters to protect the human race. A visually innovative film thanks to acrobatic camera angles, bizarre costumes, and continuous cutting between closeups and long shots.
A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN
In 2014, Billy Moore wrote a book about his incarceration in one of the world's most notorious prisons: Thailand's Klong Prem Prison, a hell on earth, where the inmates stage Muay Thai boxing matches. This vicious, realistic drama in the vein of “Midnight Express” hits the emotional bullseye.
23 March 2018
VAMPIRE'S KISS
Peter thinks he's a vampire. Or is he insane? Nicolas Cage's outrageous overacting and the useless discussions with his “psychotherapist” evoke the brilliantly inept scenes from “The Room” and will have you roaring with laughter. Cage also eats a real live cockroach. A quirky gem of 1980s horror-comedy.
GUTLAND
A fugitive thief seeks refuge in a small community in rural Luxembourg, hoping to find work there. But sinister secrets lurk behind everyday village life in this Belgian co-production, a fascinating debut feature. An uncanny film noir that gradually unfurls in mystery and dark fantasy.
FRIGHT NIGHT
A teenager learns his new neighbor is a vampire, but his friends don't believe him, so he seeks help from a TV horror show host. Director Tom Holland (“Child's Play”) successfully mixes suspense with humor in this fun genre-update with wacky practical special effects and a great 1980s soundtrack.
LA COMTESSE AUX SEINS NUS
Franco cast 19-year-old Lina Romay, his muse, in her first leading role as a vampire feeding on both the sexual fluids and blood of her victims. Soaked in hypnagogic atmosphere, this Belgian co-production is one of the director's most transgressive films. Screened in the uncut erotic French-language version!
24 March 2018
SEX IN THE COMICS
In a collection of pornographic vaudeville vignettes, actors reenact the filthiest and most twisted comics, complete with cartoon character masks. Your jaw will drop in response to one of the weirdest, wildest, and most original sexploitation films ever!
CINEKETJE
These short silent films for children have one theme in common: being different. How can you fit in this world if you feel as though you don't belong? How to overcome differences? Various characters, such as a schoolgirl, a giant, a mouse, a square, and a cupcake, show us how they deal with the subject. Their moving and funny stories encourage reflexion and discussion.
LIKE ME
A young woman stops at nothing to get more “likes” for her video channel, including kidnapping and torturing a man (Larry Fessenden). And it's up to the fans to decide his fate. A contemporary, hallucinatory, and neon-soaked fever dream which references “Natural Born Killers” and Nicholas Winding Refn.
YA BASTA! LE CRI DES SANS-VISAGE + 40 MOLONS
In “Ya basta!” the native Tzotzil tribe takes up arms to demand land, work, housing, education, health, independence, freedom and democracy from the Mexican government. “40 Molons” is a video-installation inspired by the folkloric 40 Molons Orchestra of Namur.
FRITZ THE CAT
In 1972, the U.S. rating system gave this animated film an X-rating, for pornography. Yet it raked in 190 million dollars profit. The story, based on Robert Crumb's underground comic, is a death knell for 1960s ideals, with hope for a better future giving way to paranoia, cynicism, and violence.
ADULT ANIMATION NIGHT
A small Ralph Bakshi homage forms part of a crazy night of adult animation. On the program: Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, Dirty Duck en Sex in the Comics.
Q&A WITH RALPH BAKSHI
Cult film specialist and genre programmer Mike Hunchback is Master of Ceremonies of the adult animation night. Through Skype, he will link up with Ralph Bakshi for an interview about his career and a Q&A with the audience.
THE HUNGER
A beautiful vampire (Catherine Deneuve) promises her lovers eternal life, but neglects to tell them eternal youth isn't part of the deal. When her latest mate (David Bowie) starts ageing, she looks around for someone to replace him. A strange, dreamy film from the director of “Top Gun”, "True Romance", and “Unstoppable”.
HEAVY TRAFFIC
Bakshi's controversial and satirical masterpiece is a descent into an unsavory and dilapidated New York City where we meet a series of eccentrics. Transvestites, racists, junkies, gangsters, whoremongers and call girls all feature in this deliciously vicious ode to grimy inner-city life.
DIRTY DUCK
Willard has sexual fantasies about his secretary, but is too shy to put his desires into practice. Everything changes when he meets a foul-mouthed duck who introduces him to a crazy new world of partying, seduction, and sexuality. Swenson's answer to “Fritz the Cat” is a rare cult classic.
25 March 2018
THE LOST BOYS
Two brothers move to a Californian town which is teeming with teenage vampires. Fun-filled horror comedy from the director of “St. Elmo's Fire” and “Batman Forever”, featuring a cast of such up-and-coming young 1980s talent as Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, and Corey Feldman.
INSECTS
Embracing Kafkaesque absurdity, iconic Czech animator and director Svankmajer shows a theater group rehearsing Capek's famous satirical play about insects with human characteristics. The latest (and self-announced last) movie from the masterful 83-year-old surrealist maker of “Alice”, “Faust” and “Lunacy”.
INSECTS - SECOND SCREENING
Embracing Kafkaesque absurdity, iconic Czech animator and director Svankmajer shows a theater group rehearsing Capek's famous satirical play about insects with human characteristics. The latest (and self-announced last) movie from the masterful 83-year-old surrealist maker of “Alice”, “Faust” and “Lunacy”.
30 March 2018
DEMONOID
While exploring a Mexican mine, Jennifer Baines (Samantha Eggar) and her husband Mark unearth an iron casket containing a severed hand which takes possession of Mark. The appendage travels back with them to America, where it jumps like a virus from one host to another, leaving a trail of carnage.
THE HAND
Jonathan Lansdale (Michael Caine) is a comic-strip artist who loses his hand - and livelihood - in a freak accident. No-one can find the severed extremity, yet it continues to lurk, embarks on a throttling rampage, and even scuttles up the trouser leg of its former owner, with hilarious results.
25 March 2019
BENNY'S VIDEO
Fourteen-year-old Benny, a pampered middle-class kid desensitized to the modern world, records everything he does on video - even when he's calmly committing a murder. The second film in Haneke's so-called Glaciation Trilogy, this is every bit as provocative and didactic as the same director's "Funny Games".
Offscreen photostream
