Sci-Fi

  • Peter Liechti – Marthas Garten AKA Martha’s Garden (1997)

    1991-2000DramaPeter LiechtiSci-FiSwitzerland

    Quote:
    Since weeks it’s cold and wet. It’s already late, Karl Winter is on his way home. Under dark circumstances he accidentally meets a woman of mysterious fascination – Martha… And so begins a love story of fatal dynamics which throws Karl far off the tracks of reason. Wicked dreams and subliminal changes in Karl’s surroundings confirm his feelings that with Martha the uncanniness has also entered his life.Read More »

  • Lambert Hillyer – The Invisible Ray [+commentary] (1936)

    USA1931-1940HorrorLambert HillyerSci-Fi

    Visionary scientist Janos Rukh convinces a group of scientists and supporters to mount an expedition to the African continent to locate and study an ancient meteorite of great significance. He exposes himself to the highly toxic radiation of the meteorite, and while an antidote devised by Dr. Benet saves him from death by radiation poisoning, his naked touch causes instant death to others. Back in London, the benefits of the meteorite’s controlled radiation offer Dr. Benet an opportunity to restore eyesight to the blind. The antidote’s toxicity excites Prof. Rukh into paranoid rages as he seeks revenge against the members of his expedition, who he accuses of stealing his discovery for their own glory.Read More »

  • Trinh T. Minh-ha & Jean-Paul Bourdier – Night Passage (2004)

    2001-2010ExperimentalJean-Paul BourdierSci-FiTrinh T. Minh-haUSA

    Made in homage to Kenji Miyazawa’s children’s sci-fi classic MILKY WAY RAILROAD, NIGHT PASSAGE is the latest experimental feature from celebrated filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha and artist Jean Paul Bourdier (REASSEMBLAGE, THE FOURTH DIMENSION, A TALE OF LOVE, SHOOT FOR THE CONTENTS, SURNAME VIET GIVEN NAME NAM). This provocative digital tale tells the story of three young friends traveling for a brief moment together on the train between life and death. Their journey into and out of the land of ‘awakened dreams’ occurs on a long ride on a night train. Ingeniously framed through the train window, filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha and artist Jean Paul Bourdier create whimsical and sensual dreamscapes, which is matched by an equally beautiful and other-worldly music score. Once again, Minh-ha shifts the way she engages with the form and the spirit of the cinema—to challenge and provoke her audience.Read More »

  • Carter Stevens – Rollerbabies (1976)

    1971-1980Carter StevensEroticaSci-FiUSA

    In the future sexual intercourse is outlawed because of overpopulation and people take anti-aphrodisiac pills in order to curtail any carnal urges. The only form of coitus allowed is done by licensed performers on live television broadcasts as an aid to masturbation. Shrewd, but down on his luck television executive Sherman Frobish, the man responsible for a naughty top-rated TV program, comes up with the bright idea of a live TV sex show contest in which the participants fornicate while racing around on roller skates in order to salvage his floundering career.Read More »

  • Edward Dein – The Leech Woman (1960)

    1951-1960Edward DeinSci-FiUSA

    When the 140 year-old Malla visits the endocrinologist Dr. Paul Talbot, she asks him to pay a trip to Africa for her. In return, she would give the secret of the eternal youth from her Nando tribe to him. Dr. Talbot accepts the offer and then he decides to travel to Africa with his estranged wife June Talbot, who lost her beauty with the age and has become a bitter alcoholic woman. They witness the secret of the Nando and when June learns that her husband brought her to be his guinea pig, she kills him and returns to the United States with the powder and the ring to keep her youth. Now she becomes addicted to be young but the price to pay is too high.Read More »

  • Jean Yarbrough – The Devil Bat [+commentaries] (1940)

    USA1931-1940HorrorJean YarbroughSci-Fi

    Synopsis:
    Dr. Carruthers feels bitter at being betrayed by his employers, Heath and Morton, when they became rich as a result of a product he devised. He gains revenge by electrically enlarging bats and sending them out to kill his employers’ family members by instilling in the bats a hatred for a particular perfume he has discovered, which he gets his victims to apply before going outdoors. Johnny Layton, a reporter, finally figures out Carruthers is the killer and, after putting the perfume on himself, douses it on Carruthers in the hopes it will get him to give himself away. One of the two is attacked as the giant bat makes one of its screaming, swooping power dives.Read More »

  • John Carpenter – Escape from New York (1981)

    1981-1990ActionJohn CarpenterSci-FiUSA

    Quote:
    In the future, crime is out of control and New York City’s Manhattan is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President’s plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed lone warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables.Read More »

  • Spencer Gordon Bennet – Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945)

    1941-1950ActionSci-FiSpencer Gordon BennetUSA

    Plot summary for
    Manhunt of Mystery Island
    A young couple journeys to Mystery Island to rescue the girl’s father, who is being held prisoner by the evil Captain Mephisto, a pirate from 200 years ago who uses his Transformation Machine to travel forward in time and disguise himself as one of the four owners of Mystery Island. Written by AnonymousRead More »

  • Shin’ya Tsukamoto – Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)

    2001-2010HorrorJapanSci-FiShinya Tsukamoto

    Quote:
    Twenty years after making his breakout cult hit, “Tetsuo,” and 17 years after its sequel, “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer,” multihyphenate filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto busts out the big guns again with “Tetsuo the Bullet Man.” Contempo-set pic doesn’t bring much new to the half-man-half-machine concept, but with its delirious editing and eardrum-crunching soundtrack, it punches above its weight and musters a certain retro charm with its old-school effects, all done on about one-hundredth of the budget of a “Transformers” movie. Fans of the franchise will have this in their sights and show support, but crossover potential looks iffy.Read More »

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