The Notorious Bettie Page || Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter || The Rocky Horror Picture Show || Dune

7:30pm Friday 26 October

The Notorious Bettie Page

Dir: Mary Harron 2006 USA 100 min MA15+

This biopic tells the story of Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol), a Playboy centerfold who posed for a series of dominatrix-themed photos and challenged the social mores of the conservative 1950s. Her daring earned her an investigation by a Senate committee.

 

A picture that's fully open to some pretty rough truths. But it's also a joyful, heartfelt movie, one that speaks to the openness and vitality we see in Bettie's pictures. Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Harron needed just the right actress to play Bettie. And she lucked out big time. Gretchen Mol is hot stuff in every sense of the term. She delivers the first performance by an actress this year that deserves serious Oscar consideration. Peter Travers Rolling Stone

Mary Harron's deeply affectionate and subversively brainy "The Notorious Bettie Page" humanizes Page without demystifying her. Harron and her star, the astonishing Gretchen Mol, understand that we don't want our Bettie Page to be demystified. Salon

7:30pm Friday !6 November

Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter

Dir: Lee Gordon Demarbre  Canada 2001 85 min MA15+

The first testament says "an eye for an eye."
The second testament says "love thy neighbour."
The third testament… KICKS ASS!

The second coming is upon us, and Jesus has returned to earth. But before he can get down to the serious business of judging the living and the dead, he has to contend with an army of vampires that can walk in the daylight. This sure ain't Sunday School.

 

 

 

 

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7:30pm Friday 30 November

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Dir: Jim Sharman 1975 UK 100 min MA15+

Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell.

The film concerns the creation of a oversexed Frankenstein by the name of Rocky for the sole purpose of being a lovetoy for sexually ambiguous transvestite Dr. Frank-n-Furter (Tim Curry).

Frankie’s a little crazy, so he invites motorcycle gangs to party, murders people in public, eats food on their corpses, and begins singing and dancing funny rock musical numbers.

Witnessing this are Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Surrandon), two recently-engaged youngsters living in the shadow of the 70s. This bizarre combination leads to some of the most twisted musical numbers you’ll ever hear outside of the parody songs you sing to yourself in the shower and a generally enjoyable film.

The longest running release in film history. $139,876,417 (USA) (sub-total) in box office receipts since its release. Original budget for the movie was $1,200,000 (estimated).

7:30pm Friday 14 December

Dune

Dir: David Lynch 1984 USA 180 min M
Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Brad Dourif, Kenneth McMillan, Sting , Francesca Annis

Dune is set far in the future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary fiefdoms are controlled by noble Houses that owe allegiance to the Imperial House Corrino. The novel tells the story of young Paul Atreides (heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and scion of House Atreides) as he and his family relocate to the planet Arrakis, the only source of the spice melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe. In a story that explores the complex interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, the fate of Paul, his family, his new planet and its native inhabitants, as well as the Padishah Emperor, the powerful Spacing Guild, and the secretive female order of the Bene Gesserit, are all drawn together into a confrontation that will change the course of humanity. Wikipedia

Badly received by fans and critics alike, David Lynch recognised that with the demands of his producer (de Laurentis) and that he knew he did not have the final cut there were real difficulties. Those difficulties were amplified by an extremely long shoot in Mexico.

There are several versions available but Lynch's release is a true Director's cut.

With all these negatives the film developed a cult following over the years and it remains a Lynch film which creates a strong atmospheric impression which is unforgettable.

"This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time." Roger Ebert 1984.