Psych-Out: The Surreal Side Of Euro-Cult
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This is a season of rarely-shown Psychedelic Cult European Films, made between 1969 and 1981. The films are made by the most famous cult European directors and all have elements of the surreal: from horror to 1970s LSD-fused trippy dreams. Expect vampires, lesbians, blood, cannibalism and other strange happenings…
SURREAL SIDE OF CULT
Cult film screenings abound in the country at the moment, but we wanted to screen the more obscure cult films that a lot of people would not know about. Europe produced a lot of films on the verge of being classed as erotic/porn in the 1970s, and going to extreme levels of violence. This selection shows films that are also all infused with a sense of the surreal, typically marking the decade of “experiments” of the 1970s.
PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDTRACKS: Prog-Rock, Ennio Morricone + more
A few pretty amazing psychedelic and prog-rocky soundtracks, especially in Nerosubianco, for which members of the band Procol Harum composed the music, and in Vampyros Lesbos – Quentin Tarantino is a big fan and used a track from that film for Jackie Brown.
RARELY SHOWN!
Some of these films have not been shown on a big screen for a long time – Possession was originally banned in the UK – its full-length version was only released in 1999 in this country.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY
This season is being curated by Dr Jamie Sexton, film lecturer at Northumbria University, and is supported by Northumbria University. All films will be introduced by Dr Jamie Sexton and by Dr Russ Hunter, also film lecturer at Northumbria University.
SEASON FEATURED IN THE GUARDIAN GUIDE
This film season featured in the Guardian Guide on Sat 2 March!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/02/this-weeks-new-film-events
Films in the Psych-Out: The Surreal Side Of Euro-Cult :
02
Film: Possession (1981)
2 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Masterpiece of horror and suspense, this film follows the breaking down of a relationship with events going from the strange to the supernatural.
03
Film: Daughters Of Darkness (1971)
3 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
“One of the most exquisitely mesmerizing adult horror films ever made”, this is an erotic vampire film about a honeymoon that goes badly wrong.
06
Film: I Will Walk Like A Crazy Horse (1973)
6 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Cinematic surrealism and chaotic violence feature in this great film from the Spanish director of Viva La Muerte. Running away from the police, a man goes to the desert where he meets an uncivilized man with a special link with “Mother-Earth”.
15
Film: A Lizard In A Woman’S Skin (1971) + Euro-Disco In The Bar
15 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Psychedelic nightmares, LSD use and mysterious murders feature in this Italian giallo set in London. A young woman is accused of murdering her hippy neighbour after dreaming it exactly as it happened…
17
Film: Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
17 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
With a great psychedelic score that became a hit in the British charts in the 1990s (in the album Sexadelic Dance Party), this is an erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
28
Film: Nerosubianco (1969)
28 Mar 2013, 7:30 p.m.
With an incredible soundtrack from a band comprising 2 members of the prog rock band Procol Harum, this is non-sensical 1960s psychedelia at its best.