The cultural capital of Australia, Melbourne is inarguably the premiere location for film fans down under (no matter what anyone from Sydney tells you). These weekly posts will take you beyond the multiplex and highlight the Top 5 movie alternatives worth checking out each week.
1. The Thing or The Stuff (Palace Westgarth Cult Vault)
After eighteen months away, Melbourne’s home of late night horror movie shenanigans has returned. For February, Cult Vault audiences can choose between two schlocky eighties classics: John Carpenter’s The Thing or Larry Cohen’s killer ice-cream movie, The Stuff. (Friday, February 1 at 11:30pm)
2. Indie Game: The Movie (The Shadow Electric)
Chronicling the development of three different independently produced video games, this crowd-sourced Canadian doco has garnered quite a bit of buzz since premiering at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and was one of the best reviewed films of last year (according to Rotten Tomatoes anyway). Very much looking forward to checking this one out. (Thursday, February 7 at sundown)
3. Blood for Dracula // Flesh for Frankenstein (The Astor)
The latest director retrospective at The Astor focuses on the work of Paul Morrisey and his collorations with Andy Warhol. This pair kitschy, sexually explicit horror films – both rated X by the Motion Picture Association of American upon their release – should make for the perfect B-movie double feature. (Monday, February 4 at 7:30pm)
4. Get Carter (Rooftop Cinema)
Best known at the time for playing lovable scoundrels in films like Alfie and The Italian Job, Michael Caine went against type, to great success, to play hardened gangster Jack Carter in this seminal British crime film. (Wednesday, February 6 at 9:30pm)
5. The Magistrate (Cinema Nova)
A classic Victorian farce, The Magistrate is the latest stage production from the National Theatre in London to hit screens at Cinema Nova. John Lithgow plays the title role, a respected judge caught up in a serious of what are presumably hi-larious scandals. (Sat Feb 2 – Sun Feb 3 at 1pm, Tue Feb 5 – Wed Feb 6 at 6:30pm)
What will you be watching this week, in Melbourne or anywhere else?
