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For this Friday Movie Night, first up is Lunacy (2005), a Czech surreal horror-comedy from renowned auteur Jan Svankmajer, whose work has appeared numerous times on the ‘tube, including Alice (1988), Little Otik (2000), and Conspirators of Pleasure (1996). This is another of his best-regarded works, centering on an evil marquis obsessed with sadomasochism, who invited a troubled man to live at his mansion, only to persuade his visitor to check himself into an asylum. He finds there that the patients have taken over and have locked the staff in the basement; will anyone be able to stop this lunacy? Not before a bunch of weird stuff happens, much of it in surreal, and sometimes stop-motion-animated style, in Svankmajer’s usual manner. It is pretty much an amalgamation of ideas from Poe and Sade. Reviews are great.

BONUS: Between the features, we will watch the 34-minute Spanish horror short The Telephone Box (1972), a Kafkaesque nightmare about a guy who goes into a phonebooth and can’t get out. Yep, that’s the whole plot. This is pretty much what would happen if a Buster Keaton gag dragged out until the comedy became horror. It is considered the magnum opus of director Antonio Mercero.

After that is Ghostwatch (1992), a British mockumentary about a BBC crew that decides to investigate the paranormal for a Halloween special, taking a film crew intowhat is supposedly the most haunted house in Britain. Everything progresses in the usual fluffy BBC holiday fashion until, uh-oh, turns out the house they’re investigating actually is haunted. Suddenly, it becomes an actual horro film as the hosts find themselves terrorized by an evil spirit hell-bent on revenge against the living. This is the only credit of note for director Lesley Manning; she is a one-hit wonder. Generally considered one of the BBC’s better TV movies.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:

blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

Doesthedogdie.com links:

CWs for Lunacy:

  • Mental hospital scene.
  • Unstable reality.
  • Cutting of flesh.
  • Blood and gore.
  • Body horror.
  • Sex.
  • Sexual assault.
  • BDSM.
  • Nudity.
  • Dismemberment.
  • Torture.
  • Someone is buried alive.
  • Mental illness.
  • Anxiety attacks.

CWs for Ghostwatch:

  • Child abuse.
  • Sad animal.
  • Destruction of child’s toy.
  • Claustrophobia.
  • Mind control.
  • Ghosts.
  • Spitting.
  • Eye mutilation.
  • Mention of pedophilia.
  • Misophonia.
  • Violent mentally-ill person.
  • Unstable reality.
  • Anxiety attacks.
  • Jump scares.
  • Flashing lights.
  • Shaky cam.
  • Screaming.
  • Broken fourth wall.
  • Misrepresentation of trans person.
  • Suicide.
  • Blood and gore.
  • Unconsciousness.
  • Sad ending.

Links to movies: