The rare, really strange and atmospheric dark films that will be screened during Kunigunda days at Festival club BIX:
04.29 friday
16.30 - "La Chute de la maison Usher"
04.30 saturday
14.30 - "The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb"
15.45 - "La Casa dalle finestre che ridono"
~ 02.00 - "Marquis"
05.01 sunday
15.00 - "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats"
16.30 - "La Rose de fer"
~ 21.00 - video footage from
Kunigunda Lunaria 2005
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La Chute de la maison Usher
(The Fall of the House of Usher)
1928 - dir. Jean Epstein/Luis Bunuel !!!
63 min. in English |
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In a wind-blown mansion on a haunted moor, Roderic Usher paints portrait of his young wife Madelein, claiming that she is more alive in his art than in real life. Middle-aged visitor Allan sees her wandering the halls, sickly and forlorn, and it is true that as Roderick’s picture become more vivid, she seems to wane in vitality. Shortly Madelein dies. As Roderick himself succumbs to the melancholy, noises from Madelein’s tomb cry out – death is not the end! Working from several of E.A. Poe’s stories, French avant-garde visionary Jean Epstein crafted one of the most acclaimed film adaptations of Poe.
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The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
1993 - dir. Dave Borthwick
60 min. in English |
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Animation about the life of a miniature baby born into a world of misfits and asocial giant freaks who grunt without saying anything intelligent. Place populated by scurrying insects, reptiles and other unidentifiable species. World full of dark alleys, high tech labs, swampy landscapes and garbage ruins. Tom Thumb is stolen from his home by sinister government agents. He later escapes from a lab where mutation experiments are performed. This flick much like the films of the outstanding work of animation master Jan Svankmajer.
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La Casa dalle finestre che ridono
(House with the Windows That Laugh)
1976 - dir. Pupi Avati
110 min. in Italian / subtitles in English |
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Pupi Avati's "House with the windows that laugh" is certainly one of the best Italian horror movies ever made. Set in a small Italian village the film concerns an artist named Stefano who has been commissioned to restore a fresco in a little church. The fresco portrays the suffering of Saint Sebastian, and is the last work of mad painter Buono Legnani, known locally as "the painter of agony". Our protagonist quickly realises that there is a sinister and ominous atmosphere in the village.
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deep night screening:
Marquis
1989 - dir. Henri Xhonneux
79 min. in French / subtitles in English |
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Ribald, satirical and surreal, "Marquis" offers a unique take on the events of the French revolution as seen from the perspective of the notorious Marquis de Sade. Presented in metaphorical terms, each of the actors' faces are covered by an animal mask that represents their character. The tale opens while Marquis serves jail time for allegedly raping and impregnating the cow-faced Justine, who was really victimized by the camel-headed priest Don Pompero, and the cocky Gaetan De Preaubois try to keep this secret. When not working on his writing, de Sade engage in conversations with Colin his penis, a meter long member endowed with a human face, who criticize the works of Marquis.
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Death Bed: The Bed That Eats
1977 - dir. George Barry
77 min. in English |
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A demon falls in love with a maiden and takes on human form in order to make love to her. She dies, and the saddened demon cries tears of blood upon their bed. The bed absorbs this blood and becomes living predator… which consumes anyone unfortunate enough to rest upon it. Psychedelic, atmospheric, bizzare, sensuous, comfortable, dreamlike, artistic… and of course obscure. The director has managed to make a film filled with Lynchesque surrealism that is equally intentionally humorous and frightening.
--> George Barry on Death Bed
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La Rose de fer (Rose of Iron)
1973 - dir. Jean Rollin
85 min. in French / subtitles in English |
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"Rose of Iron" has been difficult to find and largely neglected up until this point. The plot concerns a young couple who decide to take a stroll through a quiet, seemingly unending cemetery. When night falls, the lovers realize that they can't find the way out. As time progresses, fear gives way to madness... It's beautifully shot and almost having surreal, dreamlike quality.
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