all movies by location | Offscreen
Cinematek
THE HEROIC TRIO
Screen goddesses Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui play rival superheroines who join forces to foil an evil being who has been kidnapping newborn babies in this action fantasy with wuxia-inspired effects, unexpected infant mortality and gratuitous urination. Watch out for Anthony Wong's flying guillotine!
FULL CONTACT
Hong Kong superstars Chow Yun-Fat, Simon Yam and Anthony Wong play scumbags who double-cross each other and shoot, stab or blow up anything that moves, including innocent bystanders. Early use of "Bullet Time" seals the deal in the sort of raunchy, ultra-violent shindig that makes Hollywood action pics look anaemic.
NAKED KILLER
Kitty, an air hostess who shoots men in the balls, is mentored by a female assassin who keeps rapists chained up in her basement for killing practice, but starts to lose her edge when she falls for a traumatised cop (Simon Yam). A sexy, action-packed work of Cat III genius, featuring death by poisoned lipstick!
THE WICKED CITY
Humans and demons coexist uneasily in this live-action adaptation of a Japanese anime. Two cops investigate a deadly new drug which turns its users into vapour, while demons jostle for power in an orgy of mad special effects, turning themselves into a spider-woman, drinking water, and a fuckable pinball machine.
ENCOUNTER OF THE SPOOKY KIND
Supernatural action comedy directed and choreographed by the legendary Hung, who plays a village pedicab driver. His wife's lover plots to murder him with black magic, leading to slapstick encounters with ghosts, zombies and hopping vampires, a duel between rival sorcerors and some sensational fight sequences.
ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN
Hark's epic masterpiece is a breathless parade of dazzling beauty and groundbreaking special effects. In fifth century China, a young army deserter tags along on a wuxia quest for twin magic swords to defeat an evil sect. Sammo Hung plays a wizard who keeps a Blood Demon at bay with nothing more than his eyebrows!
A CHINESE GHOST STORY
Leslie Cheung plays a poor debt collector who spends the night in a haunted temple and falls in love with a beautiful ghost. Alas, a long-tongued tree demon is forcing her to lure men to their doom. Can our hero escape a grisly fate? Delightful period rom-com with freaky special effects and wuxia wire-fu action.
BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS
Sadistic Japanese soldiers abuse sexy nurses in Hong Kong's contribution to the women-in-prison genre, set in a WW2 concentration camp. Obligatory ingredients include an evil lesbian guard, whipping, and a rape montage before the film switches genres for an action-adventure finale involving a quest for stolen gold.
ZEN KWAN DO STRIKES PARIS
John Liu wrote, directed and stars in this bonkers vanity vehicle in which high-kicking John Liu (playing himself) flies to Paris to rescue his kidnapped dad, but literally loses the plot amid tragic romantic flashbacks of scantily-clad girlfriends, duels against random karate champions, and a visit to the dentist.
KARATE ON THE BOSPHORUS
Turksploitation star Cüneyt Arkin plays a cop who teams up with a Hong Kong agent to smash a smuggling ring led by a martial artist so evil he murders his own henchmen as well as a belly dancer. Many minions with moustaches get karate-chopped against picturesque Istanbul backdrops en route to a rooftop showdown.
THE UNTOLD STORY
Anthony Wong won Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance as a restaurant owner who becomes chief murder suspect after severed limbs are washed up on a Macau beach. This creepy cult classic, inspired by a real news item, ends with one of the most shocking scenes in film history.
NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF DEAD
Jeffrey Combs plays H.P. Lovecraft, whose perusal of the forbidden Necronomicon frames the three segments of this portmanteau film inspired by his work. Prepare to have your spine chilled by a slither of fishmen, slimy tentacles and batlike creatures from another dimension that will suck the marrow from your bones!
NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF DEAD
Jeffrey Combs plays H.P. Lovecraft, whose perusal of the forbidden Necronomicon frames the three segments of this portmanteau film inspired by his work. Prepare to have your spine chilled by a slither of fishmen, slimy tentacles and batlike creatures from another dimension that will suck the marrow from your bones!
FROM BEYOND
From the team that brought you Re-Animator, this interdimensional malarkey literally fuses mad scientists, body mutation, kinky sex and elongated pineal glands that suck people's brains out through their eye sockets. The cherry on top of this deliriously gloopy gateau? Barbara Crampton dressed in dominatrix gear!
FROM BEYOND
From the team that brought you Re-Animator, this interdimensional malarkey literally fuses mad scientists, body mutation, kinky sex and elongated pineal glands that suck people's brains out through their eye sockets. The cherry on top of this deliriously gloopy gateau? Barbara Crampton dressed in dominatrix gear!
THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE
After Bruce Lee's untimely death, a mad doctor uses his DNA to produce three lookalikes (who actually don't look anything like him) in this prime slice of "Bruceploitation." Bolo Yeung plays the kung-fu trainer who prepares them for combat against podgy bronze men in underpants. Also featured: naked beach frolics.
Cinema Nova
THE INNOCENTS
Unnoticed by adults, prepubescent children on a suburban housing estate flex their nascent telekinetic and telepathic abilities. But when one kid veers towards the dark side, the others are faced with a dilemma in this ultra-tense Norwegian horror film enriched by superb child performances and subtle special effects.
THE INNOCENTS - SECOND SCREENING
Unnoticed by adults, prepubescent children on a suburban housing estate flex their nascent telekinetic and telepathic abilities. But when one kid veers towards the dark side, the others are faced with a dilemma in this ultra-tense Norwegian horror film enriched by superb child performances and subtle special effects.
EBOLA SYNDROME
Anthony Wong, fearless as ever, plays a horny sleazebag who catches ebola from a woman he rapes in Africa. Pausing only to murder his boss and turn the corpse into burgers, he carries the virus back to Hong Kong and runs amok. Yau’s gory yuckfest is tasteless, hilarious and guaranteed to offend just about everyone.
THE CAT
An intrepid writer suspects an odd couple and their cat are extra-terrestrials, though he's slow to realise what we already know: these aliens are the good guys. The real threat comes from a psionic blob-monster in this sci-fi fantasy packed with demented special effects, including a crazy cat vs dog kung fu fight.
EARWIG
In a crepuscular apartment in 1950s Europe, a caretaker is tasked with the daily maintenance of a young girl's ice dentures, until, one day, he receives orders to prepare her for departure. Dark symbolism, mesmerising ritual, non-specific but ever-present menace and a haunting score fuse into an otherworldly dream.
In the presence of director Lucile Hadzihalilovic
SEX AND ZEN
A scholar is obsessed with seducing women, leading to slapstick comedy, tragic irony and plenty of softcore lubriciousness in this sensuous adaptation of a 17th century Chinese erotic novel. Highlights include a horse penis transplant, letter-writing by vagina, and a flute co-opted as a lesbian sex-aid.
HONG KONG CATEGORY III: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
The 1990s were a notorious period in the history Hong Kong cinema. By turns gory sexualised, violent and just plain outrageous, Category III films quickly gained a reputation as cult films. As often in extreme exploitation movies, these films challenged a whole range of societal norms and French critic Julien Sévéon will explore the taboo breaking aspects of Category III films that has made them such a cultish draw for so many. Examining films before and after the handover of Hong Kong to China, Dr Calum Waddell (University of Lincoln) will interrogate the ways in which these films seem to foreshadow the current political crisis in Hong Kong. We will also be joined by Dr Victor Fan(King’s College, London) who will turn his wide-ranging expertise in Chinese cinema and politics on to the crazy, bizarre and confrontational world of Category III.
CATEGORY III: THE UNTOLD STORY OF HONG KONG EXPLOITATION CINEMA
This documentary tells you everything you need to know about Hong Kong cinema at its most extreme, from early shockfests to the shadow of real-life political events to the post-handover scene. Among the talking heads are Anthony Wong, star of some of Cat III's most outrageous hits, and Josie Ho, of Dream Home fame.
Free entry
VIVA EROTICA
Leslie Cheung plays a struggling film director who has to compromise his ideals by making softcore porn. This sex-comedy meta-masterpiece pokes fun at Category III and features unusually nuanced female characters, notably Karen Mok as the director’s girlfriend and The Assassin's Shu Qi as his starlet, “Miss Mango”.
FLUX GOURMET
A writer tries to control his agonising flatulence as he observes the power struggle between the head of an institute for alimentary performance art and the sonic catering collective in residence. Britain's most original auteur stirs deadpan comedy, surrealism and social anxiety into a glorious situationist satire.
In the presence of director Peter Strickland
TAXI HUNTER
When his pregnant wife gets her dress caught in a cab door and is accidentally dragged to her death, a mild-mannered insurance salesman (Anthony Wong) flips out and wreaks revenge on bad taxi drivers. Vigilante madness, peppered with dark humour and references to Taxi Driver.
BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION
A video archivist fixates on cases of a mysterious masked hacker disrupting local TV schedules in this unsettling QAnon-style conspiracy thriller set in Chicago, 1999. Desperate to find out what happened to his missing wife, he plunges down a rabbit hole of vintage tech and paranoia to pick through the evidence.
ULTRASOUND
Stranded by a flat tyre, a man seeks refuge in a house where the host invites him to sleep with his wife... But if you think you know where this sci-fi twister is going, think again. What may appear to be continuity errors are not errors at all, and this gripping multi-layered story will keep you guessing to the end.
MAN BEHIND THE SUN
The film for which the Category III rating was first created is a gruelling account of horrific experiments conducted by Japanese scientists on Chinese prisoners during WW2. Mutilation of real cadavers, human vivisection and animal cruelty are just some of the atrocities on show. Warning: not for the squeamish.
SHORTSCREEN 2022
For their annual Shortscreen programme, Offscreen and website Kortfilm.be present a selection of recent short films that meet the Offscreen criteria: original, uncommon, bizarre, and surprising.
JUST BEFORE DAWN
Young urban folk visit a cabin in the backwoods of Oregon, but their jaunt goes horribly wrong. This superior "Deliverance"-style hillbilly slasher pic benefits from spectacular scenery, the iconic presence of George Kennedy as a forest ranger uttering ineffectual warnings, and an extraordinary Final Girl moment.
This film will be introduced by the director.
ZERIA
The last man on blighted Earth narrates his life and loves in a video-letter to a grandson who has yet to be born on Mars, where his mother-to-be has migrated. Using stop-motion animation, silhouettes, masks, puppets and miniatures, actor and filmmaker Cleven conjures up a moving elegaic vision of a dying world.
In the presence of director Harry Cleven as well as the film crew.
SQUIRM
The killer worms in this Nature Bites Back classic aren’t even giant ones; they’re common earthworms that begin to devour the inhabitants of a small Georgia town after getting a shot of electricity from a fallen power line. From then on it’s worms a-go-go, oozing out of taps, burrowing into faces…
This film will be introduced by the director.
REMOTE CONTROL
"Why did they pick home videos to destroy mankind?" Kevin Dillon ("The Blob") plays a video store clerk who stumbles across an alien plot to distribute a hokey old 50s SF film that brainwashes viewers into killing each other. The 80s-tastic action also features aerobics, futuristic lamé costumes, and disco carnage!
In the presence of director Jeff Lieberman.
BLUE SUNSHINE
Californians lose their hair and turn into psychokillers in this 70s horror classic. Could it be connected to the politician now running for Congress? Zalman King (later to direct softcore cheese like Wild Orchid) plays the hapless hero, caught at so many murder scenes the cops naturally assume he’s the killer.
+ short film The Ringer (Jeff Lieberman, 1972)
These films will be introduced by the director.
SPRING
A troubled young American seeks refuge in southern Italy, where he meets a girl who might be his soulmate. Filmmakers Benson and Moorhead can always be trusted not to take the obvious route, so this slow-burning, sensitive and oddly optimistic romance has surprises up its sleeve, some of them involving tentacles.
SEXUAL DRIVE
A sleazy, ambiguous pervert called Mr Kurita engineers three encounters in which his uninhibited talk about the aphrodisiac qualities of Japanese dishes (natto, tofu, ramen) excites the libidos of his "victims". No explicit sex here, but this funny, clever erotic triptych will leave you stimulated and salivating.
MAD GOD
A would-be assassin descends into a hellish dystopia in this animated feature from an Oscar-winning effects visionary. It's a stop-motion smörgåsbord of squished corpses and gruesome autopsies, where subhuman entities are trapped in an endless cycle of atrocity. Bosch, Bruegel and Svankmajer would surely approve.
+ virtual q&a with director Phil Tippett
THE DUNWICH HORROR
Dean Stockwell, channelling infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, plays a sinister stranger who shows interest in a rare copy of the Necronomicon and (not coincidentally) in an equally rare college student (Sandra Dee) who is still a virgin. Dark family secrets, psychedelic effects, cosmic mayhem? Yog-Sothoth ahoy!
MASKING THRESHOLD
A hypochondriac IT nerd seeks a cure for his tinnitus by shutting himself up in a homemade lab to record his increasingly deranged experiments. Uncompromising aesthetic choices (we never see the narrator's face), extraordinary macro camerawork and unnerving sound design lead into a stomach-churning heart of darkness.
In the presence of director Johannes Grenzfurthner
DAGON
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is transposed from New England to a Spanish fishing village, where an American couple is stranded after a yachting accident. But there is something fishy about the villagers, not entirely unconnected to an ancient god which demands blood sacrifices and human females for breeding purposes.
+ short film An Eldritch Place (Julien Jauniaux, BE, 2016, 17'), introduced by the director
SANS SOLEIL
In the near future, solar flares trigger earaches so excruciating that it drives the afflicted underground, among them Léa (Asia Argento). Ten years later, the adolescent son she left behind encounters a woman who could be his mother in this mysterious and compelling sci-fi thriller containing Belgian DNA.
In the presence of director Banu Akseki
BULL
After a 10-year absence, a gangland enforcer returns to wreak bloody vengeance on ex-colleagues for reasons duly revealed in flashbacks. Neil Maskell (Kill List) anchors the ultra-violence with a performance of implacable menace in this low-budget British shocker that gets darker and more unsettling by the minute.
In the presence of actor Neil Maskell
ABSENTIA
Flanagan, of Netflix's Midnight Mass, first impressed genre fans with this low budget chiller in which his skill at evoking supernatural dread is already in evidence. A woman is plagued by nightmares about her missing husband, while her sister gets creeped out by a pedestrian tunnel in their Los Angeles neighbourhood.
IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
Sam Neill plays an investigator hired to find a missing horror novelist in this eldritch yarn. The trail leads to a New England town not marked on any map, an unholy church, and tendrils in the oddest places on a wild and crazy ride that ends up picking at the threads of reality itself! One of Carpenter's best.
+ short film Family Matters (Steve De Roover, BE, 2019, 6'), introduced by the director
RE-ANIMATOR
Jeffrey Combs gives a magnificently deadpan performance in this classic splatterfest as Lovecraft’s Herbert West, an arrogant medical student who claims to have conquered brain death. His demented experiments lead to a zombie cat attack, sexual assault by severed head, and a colourful riot of walking corpses.
SILENT NIGHT
Comfy British comedy turns apocalyptic as a middle-class family and friends celebrate Christmas at a country house. Old rivalries and petty squabbles abound, but everyone is aware there is a lethal cloud of gas drifting towards them. Can they settle their differences before it's time to take the suicide pills?
SILENT NIGHT - SECOND SCREENING
Comfy British comedy turns apocalyptic as a middle-class family and friends celebrate Christmas at a country house. Old rivalries and petty squabbles abound, but everyone is aware there is a lethal cloud of gas drifting towards them. Can they settle their differences before it's time to take the suicide pills?
Cinema RITCS
COLOR OUT OF SPACE
Nicolas Cage moves his family to a New England farm to breed alpacas, but when a meteor crashes in their yard it exercises a baleful purple-tinged influence over the local flora and fauna, plunging them into a body horror nightmare. Lovecraft’s classic comes to the screen in all its mind-blowing cosmic terror.
+ short film Transfer (Jonas Govaerts, BE, 2021), introduced by the director
THE CALL OF CTHULHU
Long thought unfilmable, Lovecraft's seminal text is filmed in the retro-style of a 1920s silent movie, emerging as one of the most faithful adaptations of the writer's work. This deep plunge into dark secrets, ancient cults and mounting terror culminates in a rare opportunity to see Cthulhu itself on the big screen.
+ short film Pickman's Model (Pablo Angeles, MX, 2014, 11')
Japan Square (Studio Skoop)
SEXUAL DRIVE
A sleazy, ambiguous pervert called Mr Kurita engineers three encounters in which his uninhibited talk about the aphrodisiac qualities of Japanese dishes (natto, tofu, ramen) excites the libidos of his "victims". No explicit sex here, but this funny, clever erotic triptych will leave you stimulated and salivating.
Budascoop
FLUX GOURMET
A writer tries to control his agonising flatulence as he observes the power struggle between the head of an institute for alimentary performance art and the sonic catering collective in residence. Britain's most original auteur stirs deadpan comedy, surrealism and social anxiety into a glorious situationist satire.
BULL
After a 10-year absence, a gangland enforcer returns to wreak bloody vengeance on ex-colleagues for reasons duly revealed in flashbacks. Neil Maskell (Kill List) anchors the ultra-violence with a performance of implacable menace in this low-budget British shocker that gets darker and more unsettling by the minute.
Les Grignoux
MAD GOD
A would-be assassin descends into a hellish dystopia in this animated feature from an Oscar-winning effects visionary. It's a stop-motion smörgåsbord of squished corpses and gruesome autopsies, where subhuman entities are trapped in an endless cycle of atrocity. Bosch, Bruegel and Svankmajer would surely approve.
Cinéma Plaza Art
SANS SOLEIL
In the near future, solar flares trigger earaches so excruciating that it drives the afflicted underground, among them Léa (Asia Argento). Ten years later, the adolescent son she left behind catches sight of a woman who resembles his mother. A strange and compelling sci-fi containing Belgian DNA.
Ciné Rio
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
1976: A timid British sound engineer (the superb Toby Jones) arrives in Italy to work well outside of his comfort zone on a mysterious giallo picture, mixing blood-curdling screams with the grotesque sounds of hacked vegetables. Daringly original and masterfully constructed, this inspired homage to the likes of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, also recalls the claustrophobia of Brian De Palma’s Blow Out in its audacious celebration of the minutiae of sound design.
CC Binder
COLOR OUT OF SPACE
Nicolas Cage moves his family to a New England farm to breed alpacas, but when a meteor crashes in their yard it exercises a baleful purple-tinged influence over the local flora and fauna, plunging them into a body horror nightmare. Lovecraft’s classic comes to the screen in all its mind-blowing cosmic terror.
+ short film Transfer (Jonas Govaerts, BE, 2021), introduced by the director
Nickelodéon - ciné-club de l'Université de Liège
BLUE SUNSHINE
Californians lose their hair and turn into psychokillers in this 70s horror classic. Could it be connected to the politician now running for Congress? Zalman King (later to direct softcore cheese like Wild Orchid) plays the hapless hero, caught at so many murder scenes the cops naturally assume he’s the killer.
STUART GORDON VS LOVECRAFT: RE-ANIMATOR & FROM BEYOND
Filmmaker Stuart Gordon is inextricably linked to cosmic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. For this year's "Offscreen on Tour", Nickolodéon has selected his Lovecraft adaptations Re-Animator & From Beyond.
Chiméric Lab
HK MADNESS
A small film conference where the origin of Category III and the evolution of censorship in China will be discussed. Includes a crazy trailer compilation and an exhibition of movie posters.
TRIBUTE TO JEFF LIEBERMAN + REMOTE CONTROL
"Why did they pick home videos to destroy mankind?" Kevin Dillon ("The Blob") plays a video store clerk who stumbles across an alien plot to distribute a hokey old 50s SF film that brainwashes viewers into killing each other. The 80s-tastic action also features aerobics, futuristic lamé costumes, and disco carnage!
Bibliothèque de Chênée
H.P. LOVECRAFT EXHIBITION
In collaboration with the BiLA and the Chênée library, we invite you to discover the story of author HP Lovecraft and his work in a major exhibition that will take place from April 5 to 16.
Offscreen photostream
