Add this to the list of reasons we wished we lived in New York. Beginning next week on Thursday, September 1st, the incredible Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn will kick off an ongoing new film series, Visual Vengeance (which we just recently got a taste of in Blu-Ray form). This series celebrates the weirdest and wildest shot-on-video horror films from the video store era that have long been relegated to dedicated collectors tracking down battered copies of questionable quality. If you are looking for stomach-churning genre films from the 1980s to the early 2000s, you will not want to be anywhere else.
This series is hosted by Horror Boobs creator Matthew Desiderio, who will DJ at a VHS-themed party at the theater’s Lo-Res Lounge after the screening. There will also be free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs, and collectibles. Whether you get genuine enjoyment out of these films or not, there is no doubt that seeing them in a theater with a packed house will be an experience to remember.
Kicking things off on September 1st is the so-called “Japanese Evil Dead,” Shinichi Fukazawa’s Bloody Muscle Body Builder In Hell. By now we all know of the scrappy production of the Sam Raimi original, but Fukazawa’s odyssey blazes its own trail while paying proper homage to the legacy film. The film is filled with gnarly practical effects and plenty of thrills to go around. I mean, a body builder trying to survive a blood-soaked night of insanity against a demonic ghost that is hell-bent on revenge? It is downright selfish to ask for more.
Can’t make it to this first outing? No worries, this ongoing monthly theatrical series will continue on September 29th with the Hawaiian-lensed curiosity Slaughter Day, one of the rarest VHS releases of the century and a horror action obscurity. The film is arguably the most ambitious microbudget horror action movie ever made. These two give you a taste of what you have in store for the foreseeable future, so be sure to make a space in your calendar if you are in a reasonable distance of this series. For all the details, be sure to check out the Nitehawk Cinema website here.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.