Other Cinema DVD has just released “EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR,” a phantasmagoria of visionary works that expand the genre of the horror film. Programmed by filmmaker/curator Noel Lawrence, “EXPERIMENTS” includes some of the oddest, eeriest, and most fascinating moments from the last forty years of horror cinema.
Showcased in the program is Peter Tscherkassky’s “Outer Space”, a cinemascope masterpiece that reworks a conventional Hollywood thriller into a convulsive hall of mirrors. Images fragment, redouble, and overlap in a violent assemblage, shattering spatial-temporal coherence. Since its premiere in 1999, “Outer Space” has won 10 prizes in international film festivals and was ranked as the third most important film of the year 2000 by Cahiers du Cinema magazine.
Narrowing the gauge from 35mm Cinemascope to Super 8, “Dawn Of An Evil Millennium” by Damon Packard (Reflections of Evil) chronicles a demon summoned to earth who takes command of a souped-up 1970 Oldsmobile and goes on a road-kill rampage.
David Sherman’s “Tuning The Sleeping Machine” (1997 Whitney Biennial, New York Film Festival – Official Selection) uses images and figures from classic horror films to examine early cinema’s fascination with the subconscious.
Also included are Lloyd M. Williams “Ursula” (Gold Medallion – Cannes, 1961), Kerry Laitala’s “Journey Into The Unknown”, and J.X. Williams’ “The Virgin Sacrifice”.
As a special treat, “EXPERIMENTS” also includes a section of archival films, including the notorious “Psychorama” trailer which demonstrates subliminal messaging, “The Haunted Mouth” – an educational film from the American Dental Association on the horrors of tooth decay (with the inimitable voice of Cesar Romero), and selected trailers from Jenni Olson’s “Trailer Camp” and “Bride of Trailer Camp”.
For more info, visit the Other Cinema website.
