10/9/25 Program Line Up and Links
ROGER CORMAN MEMORIAL SCREENING AND SEANCE
FULL LINE-UP WAS AS FOLLOWS:
1.
Coming Attractions Montage (by Dan Dennis). These are standard, as local Madison filmmaker and archivist DAN DENNIS makes a unique found footage montage from, or program of, previews, adverts, and general video miscellany, all always in keeping with that night's theme.
This montage of Corman-specific trailers featured “X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes” (1963) and “Tomb of Ligeia,” prompting me to proudly state that “X” was in my top five all time Corman picks, and to also acknowledged that critical consensus has “Ligeia” as the “best” of the Corman’s Poe cycle, but I will die on the hill of “Masque of the Red Death.”
I am working on getting all of Dan's SRC theme-specific trailers and found footage montages up on my youtube channel (mazurbeem) but it is hard because they are nothing but crimes against copyright and thus keep getting taken down by the algorythmic fascism that governs and provides shape to this, our post-post-modern enslavement existence.
So much for fair use.
Here at least is a sample of Dan's work (from September’s SRC “9/11 Repression and Remembrance, Amnesia and Denial: a political violence tripple feature).”
2.
"10/20/1984" (2017)
Peak 2010's Youtube virality by editing collective FATAL FARMS (better known by their Youtube moniker LASAGNA CAT.) One of the very best of a long series of satiric Garfield shorts by editors with an unspecified grudge against Jim Davis. Shown by me as a warmup for the upcoming November 13th screening* of the LasagnaCat feature length masterpiece “7/27/1978,” arguably the best video on Youtube.
*November’s theme is ‘Animated Animals’ (featuring “Watership Down” (1975, dir. Martin Rosen).
3.
“Little Shop of Horrors” (1960)
Also on my short list of best Corman films, all time. A perfect fucking movie. This one is available with ads and in various states of digital degradation and vandalization (colorization), on every gutter-level streaming site and potato-vision public domain clearing house west of Tubi…and of course also on Tubi. The version I screened, which was the best I found anywhere, was a 1080p Youtube upload from a channel called MIDNIGHT'S EDGE AFTER DARK, and it looked great. Check out their channel; they just got demonitized so could prolly use the traffic.
WATCH “Little Shop of Horrors” HERE
4.
INTERMISSION - we had a ouija board seance in an attempt to conjure Mr. Corman and ask him questions about these films and/or his career, but no responses were forthcoming.
5.
“Masque of the Red Death” (1964)
There are multiple bluray releases of “Masque” (including copies available in the Madison Public Library system) and even a recent 4k restoration from StudioCanal which is what I used. It is available to rent in HD from Screen Pix and is available on MGM+ (with subscription). A truly sumptuous kaleidoscope of ballgowns and gore.
“Masque,” along with “The Secret Invasion” from the same year, may be Corman’s 2 best looking films, although for very different reasons: the former dripping with the vibrant artiface of the stage and it's tricks and trappings, vs the artful (and decidedly not artsy) on-location documentation of Italian scenicness with 24 postcards-per-second journalistic precision.
Like much (most? all?) of Corman directorial output, shitty transfers of “The Secret Invasion” abound. Screen Pix however has an excellent version available to rent.
6.
“The Terror” (1963)
One of Jack Nicholson’s first, and one of Boris Karloff’s last films, respectively. But neithers first nor last, respectively. Again, many versions of varying quality (and saturation of ad breaks) exist. An HD transfer is available from YOUTUBE MOVIES.
Alternatively I have it on VHS if you want to borrow it.