#double bills

Paul Fitzpatrick: July 2024 Going to the movies used to be so easy, you rolled up, bought a ticket, sat wherever you wanted and a nice lady would come into the auditorium during the intermission to serve up choc ices and a refreshing splash of Kia-ora The average cost of a cinema ticket in 1974 was less than 50p and for that you got two feature length movies with a 15 minute intermission.  I’m…

All titles available through YouTube, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Criterion Channel; I highlight which specific paid subscriptions have certain titles now, but you can always check YouTube and iTunes for any of these:

1. GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST SILENT CLASSICS The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - YouTube (free) Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922) - YouTube (free)

2. 1940s CHILLERS PRODUCED BY VAL LEWTON, WRITTEN BY ARDEL WRAY & DIRECTED BY JACQUES TOURNEUR The Leopard Man (1943) - Criterion Channel I Walked with a Zombie (1943) - Criterion Channel

3. TESTING YOUR LIMITS Eyes Without a Face (1960) - Criterion Channel The Evil Dead (1981) - Hulu

4. AMERICAN VALUES Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Criterion Channel Ravenous (1999) - Hulu

5. HORROR SUPERHEROES Blade (1998) - Hulu The Crow (1994) - Netflix

6. VARIATIONS ON BLOODLUST The Lure (2015) - Criterion Channel The Hunger (1983) - Amazon Prime [$2.99], iTunes [$3.99], YouTube [$2.99]

7. FEAR BEGETS FEAR The Brood (1979) - Criterion Channel The Devil's Backbone (2001) - Criterion Channel

8. SCHOOL IS OUT OF SESSION Diabolique (1955) - Criterion Channel Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Criterion Channel

9. ABOUT WOMEN, WRITTEN/DIRECTED BY WOMEN (COLLEGE EDITION) The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - YouTube (free) Sorority House Massacre (1986) - YouTube (free)

10. ARE OUR BODIES OUR SELVES? The Skin I Live In (2011) - Amazon Prime [$2.99], iTunes [$3.99], YouTube [$3.99] Under the Skin (2013) - Netflix

11. SCENES FROM TWO MARRIAGES Rosemary's Baby (1968) - Hulu Hour of the Wolf (1968) - Criterion Channel

12. THIS APARTMENT BUILDING ISN'T WORTH ALL THE MURDER Shivers (1975) - Hulu Inferno (1980) [sequel to Suspiria] - YouTube (free)

Perfect Double Bills

Five Easy Pieces (1970) Dir. Bob Rafelson

Buffalo 66 (1998) Dir. Vincent Gallo

There is a brilliance that echoes in Buffalo 66 that directly comes from Five Easy Pieces, whether it is intentional who knows, and Vincent Gallo sure won't ever admit his genius comes from anywhere else but his head. 

Five Easy Pieces was one of the first, cinema shaking rolling stones of New Hollywood and Rafelson's direction is bold and voice incredibly individual. Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66 is almost as fresh to cinema in 1998 than Five Easy Pieces was in the 70's, there is something Godard-esque in his breaking rules and conventions of how things should be framed, filmed, acted and composed...it is an idiosyncratic masterpiece.

But the marvellous thing about both films, is that even though the voice is so individual and unique, there is something in both films that really string the heart and you end up part of their individual worlds and relationships.