Oddball
Films and guest curator Emily Schleiner present I Want You To Bite Me!, an evening that examines and celebrates
those glorious shape-shifting bloodsuckers, Vampires; both the lore and the
fearful psychological fascination. Vampire lore, in one form or another, has
existed in different cultures throughout the ages. From the Mesopotamian and
Hebrew traditions, and even on to the monsters from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Laugh at and shiver from tales of
vampires and their precursors! Sink your fangs into delicious excerpts from the famous Dracula (1931), starring Bela Lugosi, a
confection that introduced the legendary Count Dracula and his spider eating
minion Renfield to the silver screen. Delve
into a psychadelic mishmash of otherwordly Tibetan demons from ancient scroll
paintings in Tanka (1976), by David Lebrun. Hide your femoral artery for Doom of Dracula, excerpted from House of Frankenstein (1927), a short
film about a conscienceless professor-impersonator who brings Dracula to
life! On the lighter side, see hilariously spooky bits from Bud Abbott
and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), directed by Charles Barton,
where the wacky duo encounter Dracula! A 1970s anti-smoking
commercial takes the form of a melodramatic vampire scene called Ashes of Doom! The rarely screened Teeth Are for Chewing (1971) gives incisive information about your
incisors. Catch the 1970’s documentary about animal hunters, their canine
teeth, and their killer instincts in Predators
of North America (1981) as well as excerpts from the documentary Freud: The Hidden Nature of Man (1970)
where you will learn about our human impulses that lie just beneath the
surface! And watch Felix the Cat hypnotize
a hippo! Whether you enjoy a good
startle or some hilariously dated antagonists, there is something here for
everyone, humans and bloodsuckers alike!
Date:
Friday, September 7th, 2012 at 8:00pm.
Venue:
Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission:
$10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: programming@oddballfilm.com or 415.558.8117.
Featuring:
Dracula (B+W, 1931)
In this
epic film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi, a solicitor visits
a sinister castle despite warnings from the locals! Renfield (the solicitor)
becomes Dracula’s minion who brings him to London, where he wreaks havoc
attacking lovely ladies, and turning them into vampires. Will Dracula continue his swath of
destruction? Or will a couple of
protective gentlemen stop him?!
Tanka (Color, 1976)
Tanka
means, literally, a thing rolled up. It is a cyclical vision of ancient gods
and demons, an animated journey through the image world of the Tibetan Book of
the Dead! Filmmaker David Lebrun has
filmed a series of Tibetan paintings from Tibetan scrolls, of the sixteenth to nineteenth
centuries, that he then inputted into an optical printer to create the illusion
of animation. The original score is by Ashish Khan (sarod), Buddy Arnold
(saxophone, clarinet, flute), Pranesh Khan (tablas) and Francisco Lupica
(percussion). The dazzling, vibrantly colored result is a series of dancing
gods, wild revels, raging fires and sea battles between monsters!
Doom of Dracula excerpted from House of Frankenstein (B+W, 1944)
Directed
by Erle C. Kenton, this film is a portion of the mad-dash combination of horror
heros crammed into House of Frankenstein. In this excerpt, two men, having
murdered a professor and taken over his traveling show "The Chamber of
Horrors!" find the skeletal remains of Dracula himself. They attempt to revive the dark price so that
he will follow their commands!
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet
Frankenstein
(B+W, 1944)
In
this film (excerpted), directed by Charles Barton, see two hapless freight
handlers who find themselves encountering Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and
the Wolf Man! The film opens with
Dracula and a lovely fur-coated woman discussing what they should do with Frankenstein’s
body! Abbott and Costello and the lovely dame convene at a party with Dracula.
Is she under his thrall? A stranger
recognized Dracula and starts yelling about how Dracula is the “real” Count
Dracula. But everyone dismisses him and
the woman takes Lou Costello into the forest for a lover’s walk! What will happen next?!
Ashes of Doom (Color, 1970s)
In this campy and dramatic
short, a woman, wracked with nerves, calms herself by chain smoking. Finally, the moment she has been dreading
arrives! It’s Dracula and he’s ready to
embrace her and suck her blood! He goes
in for the bite and comes back up with a surprised look on his face! What is the problem Dracula?!
Teeth Are for Chewing (Color, 1971)
This film
features cool shots of people and animals chewing! Get a good look at canines,
incisors, and molars and take a few tips on dental hygiene in this bizarre
combo!
Predators of North America (Color, 1981)
In this documentary on preditors in North
America, take a close look at a variety of animals that must kill to
survive! Faced with the necessity of finding,
catching, and killing animals capable of fight or flight, predators have
developed into some of the most intelligent, skillful, and resourceful members
of the animal kingdom. Learn about the
characteristics all predators share and about the tremendous diversity among
predators ranging in size from the tiny shrew to the giant bear and including
members of the feline and canine
families!
Freud: The Hidden Nature of Man (Color, 1970)
In this
gritty seventies documentary about Freud, directed by George Kaczender, Freud
says "we live in a world of illusion acting out our roles in a world of
shadow-play." From this film you can get a personal take on Freud's ideas
from his own dream analysis. Learn about
the Oedipus complex, the rigid superego, look at some Edward Munch paintings,
and so much more!
Felix Goes A Hunting and Felix ‘Hyps’ the Hippo (B+W, 1920s)
In
this rare and unique animated silent film from the 1920s, Felix the cat tries
to teach a man to hunt rabbit in order to please his wife. She complains to her husband, “All the
neighbors have fur coats but me!” (And she says this via an animated thought
bubble!) Felix offers to shoot him some
rabbits. Felix chases a rabbit into a
tree and then dukes it out with the rabbit inside the tree, finally getting
dumped out of the tree along with a black bear!
What will happen next?! In the
next Felix cartoon, he chases and bats a mouse around who eventually hypnotizes
him. Felix doesn’t know what happened
and is confused. From the book “How to
be a Hypnotist” can he learn to hypnotize as well?!
Patterns of Pain (Color, 1977)
In this
creepy keeper, a professor of psychology, a zoologist, and a doctor discuss the
perception of pain in the nervous system. They circle around topics such as the
absence of pain perception by the wounded in battle, pain control through
hypnosis, acupuncture and yoga, thresholds of pain, the body’s ability to produce
its own analgesic, and surgical techniques for implanting electrodes in the
brain to block the perception of pain!
What next??
Curator's Biography:
Emily Schleiner is a Brooklyn and Davis CA-based new media artist and
thinker. She has been writing since 2009
and has shown internationally. She has
been published in the Trondheim's TEKS's 'Making Reality Real' Journal and has
presented at the 2nd Inter-Disciplinary.net Global Conference in Budapest. She
received her Masters from Performance and Interactive Media Arts department at
Brooklyn College, NY in 2010. To learn more about Emily go to
www.cordial-emily.com.