Midnight Movies
The weird, the unusual, the disturbing, the movies that are usually shown at late night gatherings when all the decent people are in bed.
To borrow DVDs find the case on the shelf in the 2nd floor A/V section and take it to the circ desk. For a list of all the movies available through the Libraries, do a keyword search on "Feature Films" in the Libraries' Catalog.
| Cult Classics | ||
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Reefer Madness
When originally produced, this was a sincere
exploration of the evils of marijuana. Over time, it
has become classic camp. High school kids get hooked on
marijuana, which leads to wild behavior, accidents and
ultimately death and murder. Bonus features: includes
All-New Color version and restorted original
black-and-white version; audio commentary by Mike
Nelson of TV's "Mystery Science Theater 3000"; color
design commentary by Legend Films; short film:
"Grandpa's marijuana handbook" by Evan Keliher; Reefer
Madness trailer.
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show
A mixture of fantastical rock opera and horror movie
spoof. A couple of ordinary kids have car trouble one
dark and rainy night and knock on the door of a looming
gothic mansion. They are stunned to learn that they
have stumbled into an ongoing convention of kinky
characters, hosted by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad
scientist from the planet Transsexual. A long time
staple of late night showings where particpants act out
the show.
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Eraserhead
Is it a nightmare or an actual view of a
post-apocalyptic world? Set in an industrial town in
which giant machines are constantly working, spewing
smoke, and making noise that is inescapable, Henry
Spencer lives in a building that, like all the others,
appears to be abandoned. The lights flicker on and off,
he has bowls of water in his dresser drawers, and for
his only diversion he watches and listens to the Lady
in the Radiator sing about finding happiness in heaven.
Henry has a girlfriend, Mary X, who has frequent
spastic fits. Mary gives birth to Henry's child, a
frightening looking mutant, which leads to the
injection of all sorts of sexual imagery into the
depressive and chaotic mix. A bizarre and challenging
debut from the man who would go on to make Blue
Velvet and Mulholland Drive.
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| Punkathon | ||
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24 Hour Party People
Follow the rise, fall and rise again of promoter Tony
Wilson and the wild rave culture he brought to England
and the rest of the world. Pulsates with the rhythmic
energy from the post punk movement through the
evolution of rave music.
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Repo Man
Two ace "Repo Men" are out to beat ruthless government
agents, UFO cultists, hired thugs, a lobotomized
nuclear scientist and the infamous Rodriguez Brothers
to an incredibly valuable '64 Chevy containing a secret
that can change the course of civilization overnight.
Special features: Up close with Harry Dean Stanton; the
missing scenes; Repossessed; the missing scenes;
feature commentary; theatrical trailer; scene
selection.
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Another State of Mind
In the summer of 1982, the Better Youth Organization of
Los Angeles planned a North American tour for eleven
punk rock musicians. Video filmmakers Peter Stuart and
Adam Small recorded the adventures of these musicians,
both in concert and on the road. Features performances
by Youth Brigade, Social Distortion and Minor Threat.
Special features: Commentary by Mike Ness; Shawn, Mark,
and Adam Stern; Adam Small and Peter Stuart.
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| Early works from genre directors | ||
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Meet the Feebles
Jackson himself said in his Oscars speech that it was
'wisely overlooked' by the Academy. The story is set in
a run-down theatre in the sleaziest part of town. This
is the home of the 'Feebles Variety Show, ' a
second-rate show with a third-rate producer and no-rate
performers. Not for the easily offended!
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Bad Taste
The other film that Peter Jackson wanted the Academy to
forget about. "When an army of evil aliens invades
earth with the intention of selling mankind as
intergalactic hamburger meat, the New Zealand
government calls in as elite team of psychotic
assassins. But are these boys brutal enough to tackle
the vilest villains in the universe?".
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Dark Star
Dark Star is a futuristic scoutship traveling far in
advance of colony ships. Armed with Exponential
Thermostellar bombs, it prowls the unstable planets.
But there is one obstacle that its' crewmembers did not
count on--one of the ship's thinking and talking bombs
is lodged in the bay, threatening to destroy the entire
ship and crew. Early work from John Carpenter.
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| American Psychos | ||
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The Night of the Hunter
A psychotic self-styled preacher with love tattoed on
one hand and hate tattoed on the other marries and
murders a young widow for her money. He then pursues
her children to get his hands on the money, only to
meet his match in the form of a saintly farm woman.
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The Honeymoon Killers
Martha is sullen, overweight and heartbreakingly
lonely. Through the Friendship Club, she strikes up a
correspondence with Ray, a sauve charismatic
smooth-talker who could be the man of her dreams. A
stark portrayal of the desperate lengths to which a
lonely heart will go in order to find true love. From
brutally immoral killings to a passion that transcends
all bounds. Special features: new video interview with
writer/director Leonard Kastle; illustrated essay by
Scott Christianson about the true crime story of
"Lonely hearts" killers Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck;
original theatrical trailer; cast and crew biographies
by film historian Bruce Eder; new essay by critic Gary
Giddins.
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Maniac
A deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of
unspeakable childhood abuse, prowls the seedy streets
of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young
women.
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| Amazing Wackiness | ||
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The Marx Brothers Collection
Night in Casablanca / David L. Loew ; directed by
Archie Mayo -- Night at the opera / directed by Sam
Wood -- Day at the races / directed by Sam Wood -- Room
service / produced by George Abbott ; directed by
William A. Seiter -- At the circus / directed by Edward
Buzzell -- Go West / produced by Jack Cummings ;
directed by Edward Buzzell -- Big store / produced by
Louis K. Sidney ; directed by Charles Riesner.
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The Marx Brothers Silver Screen
Collection
"Duck soup" originally released as a motion picture in
1933; "Horse feathers" originally released as a motion
picture in 1932; "Monkey business" originally released
as a motion picture in 1932; "Animal crackers"
originally released as a motion picture in 1930; "The
cocoanuts" originally released as a motion picture in
1929.
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The quest for the Holy Grail by King Arthur and his
Knights of the Round Table is retold in the inimitable
Python fashion.
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| Apocalypse Now | ||
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A Boy and His Dog
An adaptation of Harlan Ellison's novella about a
misogynistic society in the post World War IV
civilization of 2024.
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The End of August at the Hotel
Ozone
Director Jan Schmidt paints a chilling, bleak picture
of the future. Nuclear war has destroyed almost all
civilization. A group of women has gone to primal
barbarity to survive. They go in search for men to help
them have children.
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Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb
A satire in which the President and his military
advisors struggle ineptly to avert a holocaust after a
psychotic Air Force general launches a nuclear attack
on the Soviet Union. Special features include:
Digitally mastered audio & video ; new documentary,
The art of Stanley Kubrick : from short films to
Strangelove ; Inside the making of Dr. Strangelove ;
original split-screen interview with Peter Sellers and
George C. Scott ; original advertising gallery ;
theatrical trailers ; talent files ; animated menus ;
production notes ; scene selections.
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| Sci-Fi Meltdown | ||
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Blade Runner
Los Angeles, 2019: Deckard, an expert "blade runner,"
must identify and execute four replicants, genetically
engineered beings virtually identical to humans, which
have illegally returned to earth from their off-world
slave duty. This director's cut omits Deckard's
voiceover narration, develops in slightly greater
detail the romance between Deckard and Rachael and
removes the "uplifting" finale...most intriguing of all
is a newly included unicorn vision that suggests
Deckard may be an humanoid.
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Mad Max
In the desolate near future, road cop Mad Max tires of
chasing after vicious roving gangs and quits. When his
wife and child are murdered by a motorcycle gang he
returns to seek revenge. Features the original
Australian soundtrack as well as the badly dubbed U.S.
version.
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Darkman
A scientist is horribly disfigured when gangsters break
in and destroy his laboratory. After being burned
beyond recognition and altered by an experimental
medical procedure, he is reborn as Darkman and seeks
revenge on the criminals who were responsible.
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| None of the Above | ||
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The Big Lebowski
"The Dude. One cool guy. Who one day comes home to find
two thugs have broken in and ruined his favorite
carpet--the one that made the room "hang together."
Thing is, they did it because he's got the exact same
name as one of the richest men in town, Lebowski. But,
hey, no problem, he'll get even. At least he'll get
someone to pay for a new carpet." Big Lebowski
festival.
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The Valley of Gwangi
A cowboy captures a prehistoric beast and hits on the
idea of putting it on display at a traveling circus.
The beast, however, has other ideas. Incredible
showcase of Ray Harryhausen's talents with stop motion
animation.
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The Private Life of Sherlock
Holmes
Holmes travels to Scotland to help a woman search for
her missing husband. Lengendary director Bill Wilder's
take on the Sherlock Holmes legend.
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| Eurohorror II | ||
Deep Red
A psychic who can read minds picks up the thoughts of a
murderer in the audience and soon becomes a victim. An
English pianist gets involved in solving the murders,
but finds many of his avenues of inquiry cut off by new
murders, and he begins to wonder how the murderer can
track his movements so closely. Considered by many to
be Italian horror auteur Dario Argento's finest work.
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Night of the Hunted
Stylish, futuristically surreal and a departure from
director Jean Rollin's familiar vampire territory, "The
Night of the Hunted" features a mass of people
suffering with insanity and collective amnesia.
Bizarre, even by Rollin's standards, it still displays
fairy tale qualities mixed with extremes of sadism, sex
and violence. Restored from the original negative.
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Living Dead Girl
In this dark erotic fantasy, a radioactive gas leak
resurrects a dead woman who seeks the blood of the
living. Jean Rollin's most populat work.
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| Faith and Fantasy | ||
Heaven
"Created and directed by the multi-talented Diane
Keaton, Heaven takes a wonderfully lighthearted look at
the Great Beyond. Keaton intersperses outrageous
interviews with extraordinary film footage from such
European and American film classics as Metropolis,
Green pastures and Stairway to heaven."
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The Lord of the Rings
When a dangerous and powerful magic ring falls into his
hands, a hobbit named Frodo gets caught up in an
adventure. The mighty wizard Gandolf and a daring band
of elves, dwarfs and warriors defend their enchanted
land from the wicked sorcerer who would see it
destroyed. Ralph Bakshi's 1978 adaptation of the first
one and a half books of the trilogy. Notable for its
sometimes disorienting use of "rotoscoping"
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The Wicker Man
When a young girl mysteriously disappears, Police
Sergeant Howie travels to a remote Scottish island to
investigate. But this pastoral community, led by the
strange Lord Summerisle, is not what it seems as the
devout Christian detective soon uncovers a secret
society of wanton lust and pagan blasphemy. Can Howie
now stop the cult's ultimate sacrifice before he
himself comes face-to-face with the horror of the
Wicker Man? Currently being remade with Nicholas Cage
with a plot relocated to Maine.
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| Asian Extreme | ||
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Visitor Q
Visitor Q" is one of the most disturbing and
taboo-bashing experimental works from acclaimed
director Takashi Miike of "Audition", "Dead of Alive",
and "Fudoh" fame. "Visitor Q" presents a harrowing
absurdist take on the reality TV phenomenon, depicting
the chilling disintegration of a dysfunctional family.
Starring Kenichi Endo ("Dead or Alive 2", Takeshi
Kitano's "Violent Cop"), "Visitor Q seals Miike's
reputation as one of world cinema's most daring and
dangerous cinematic visionaries.
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Tetsuo: The Iron Man
After hitting a mysterious derelict with his car a man
experiences an infection where metal pieces start to
protrude from his body. This disease, which seems to be
intelligent, turns his body into mechanical walking
scrap heap.
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Happiness of the Katakuris
Black comedy about a modern dysfunctional family and
their shared dream of opening an inn in the country.
The Katakuri family has just opened their guesthouse in
the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits
suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to
bury him in the backyard. Things get way more
complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo
wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage
girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to
fill up more and more.
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| Not Ready for Prime Time Animation | ||
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Fritz the Cat
Animated film about Fritz, an alleycat student in New
York City during the 1960s who seeks new and varied
experiences. He and his friends begin their lusty
adventures in Washington Square Park, where cruising
for chicks is the neighborhood pastime. Rated X upon
release in 1972.
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Heavy Traffic
A look at the underside of city life and a young man's
effort to follow his fantasies into the sunlight of a
better world. He draws the people, plans and paranoid
visions of his everyday environment and his drawings
leap to life and work out their destinies. A
combination of animation and live action.
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Wizards
Animated fantasy originally released as a motion
picture in 1977. Special features: Audio commentary by
Ralph Bakshi; "Ralph Bakshi : the wizard of animation"
featurette; still gallery; TV spot and theatrical
trailers. Avatar, the eccentric old sorcerer who rules
the rainbow paradise of Montagar, must use magic to
save the world from his brother, Blackwolf of Scortch,
who has sent his minions forth to destroy and conquer.
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This page is maintained by Matt Benzing.