Anthologies are back! But it wasn't always like this. On Wednesday, March 18, 2015, lowculture returns to PhilaMOCA to take us to a time when the anthology horror film was crawling towards its deathbed -- the late '80s. That night, TERROGRAM (1988) and CHILLERS (1987) will return from the dead on INGLORIOUS VHS!
Unfortunately, there was a period of time, spanning the 1990s and 2000s, when the horror anthology was nearly extinct. Thanks to a combination of bad imitations cluttering the home video market and a waning interest in horror more generally, the anthology slowly drifted into near obscurity. But with the rise of V/H/S and V/H/S/2, THE ABCS OF DEATH and TRICK OR TREAT in recent years there seems to be no lack of creative stories about stories. And Wednesday, March 18, will showcase two under-appreciated gems of the video era that went overlooked in the fading days of the anthology, in their element, ON VHS!
TERRORGRAM is a strange hybrid of genres. Clearly placing its tongue firmly in cheek, there are definite elements of comedy and satire running throughout, but each segment tackles serious issues with a charmingly grim determination typically only seen in "message films." The first segment, "Heroine Overdose," might even be one of the most INSANE segments ever committed to an anthology horror -- it explicitly attacks sexism in the horror industry by up-ending ideas of the stalker and the "final girl" in a Troma-like hyper-satirical fashion. And best of all? James Earl Jones "stars" in the wrap-around segments, connecting each story as the god-like, disembodied Voice of Retribution. TERRORGRAM is a movie for fans of NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR. Take that however you want.
CHILLERS is a regionally-spiced anthology horror film from the deep, dark woods of West Virgina. Following five passengers at a rural bus stop during a layover, it's framed as a retelling of nightmares experienced by each. These horrifying dreams contain the angry spirits of ancient Aztecs (in West Virginia), goth vampires (naturally), and deranged backwoods slashers chasing... 10 year-old boy scouts! A winner of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror's Silver Scroll, CHILLERS is a dark, and sometimes humorous, journey back to an era when the anthology ruled and everyone saw it as a vehicle for their crazy ideas.
NIGHT TERRORS is a recurring monthly series of double-features that takes place the third Wednesday of every month. Established as a co-production between PhilaMOCA and lowculture, the series intends to highlight the strange and disturbing, with a primary focus on low-budget trash cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. In the coming months NIGHT TERRORS will cover everything from gory no-budget horror freakshows to hyper-violent action-schlock and everything in-between in an attempt to establish thematic links between the seemingly contradictory and the occasionally obvious.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Doors 7:00, First Movie at 7:30
$10
http://www.philamoca.org/
http://www.lowculturemedia.com/
