Creepy Cartoons - The Dark Side of Animation - Fri. Nov. 1st - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Creepy Cartoons - The Dark Side of Animation, a program of strange, dark, and unsettling animation from around the world.  Cartoons are generally thought of as light entertainment for children, but the medium allows the viewer to explore dark and surreal worlds and subject matter at a two-dimensional distance.  The devilish delights of this program include a pencil-drawn version of a 19th century British folk song Widdecombe Fair (1948) about an ill-fated trip to the fair on an old grey mare for Tom Pierce and a dozen of his closest friends. Comic strip Krazy Kat comes back to the big screen to fight off ghosts and other haunts, while his puppy fights with a skeleton in the silly romp Krazy Kat in Krazy Spooks(1933). Optical printing bring Gustave Dore's engraving of Poe's The Raven to haunting life.  Adorable bunny rabbits teach us a lesson about gun-violence and racial inequality in the justice system in The Punishment Fits the Crime (1972). Looney Tunes animator Paul Julian creates a dark and surreal vision of Maurice Ogden's poem The Hangman (1964). The Czechs bring us two pieces, the clever cutout animation The Sword (1967) and Bretislav Pojar's tale of global annihilation, Boom (1979).  Peter Foldes and the National Film Board of Canada create a nightmarish vision of excess in the early computer animated stunner Hunger (1974).  And because we can't get enough of them, we will be bringing back two of our all-time favorite cartoons of the collection, Bruno Bozzetto's dark and sexy examination of the working man's Freudian subconscious, Ego (1970) and Betty Boop teaming up with Cab Calloway for one spooky night in Minnie the Moocher (1932).  Plus, early birds will be treated to the Di$ney Halloween classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949).

Date: Friday, November 1st, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00, Limited Seating, RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or RSVP@oddballfilm.com

Vintage Halloween Hullabaloo - Thur. Oct. 31 - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Vintage Halloween Hullabaloo, a program of vintage 16mm films to get us in the mood for All Hallows Eve with cartoons, ridiculous educational films and made-for-tv terrors.  Di$ney teaches us the history, mystery and danger of this ghoulish night with the narrator from the Haunted Mansion and his classic cartoon pals in Di$ney's Haunted Halloween (1984). Trick or Treat (1969) tells the story of four boys and a ‘trick’ on Halloween that leads to serious damage and injury.  Halloween Safety (1985) gives us valuable lessons about awesome robot costumes, horrible face makeup and of course, tainted candy.  TV's original Joker, Caesar Romero haunts a rundown mansion while teaching you all about dental hygiene in The Haunted Mouth (1974).  Joseph Cotton narrates a loving overview of some of the silver screen's most horrific creatures in Monsters We Have Known and Loved (1964).  With a rockin' musical break, featuring some interpretive-dancing spectres in an Old-West ghost town from John Byner's Something Else (1970) and the ridiculous cartoon Spooky Boos and Room Noodles (1970s) that flat out lies to children, so they won't be afraid of the dark. Plus, a coffin full of Horror Movie Trailers, Sweet Treats, Scary Surprises and a Ouija board for pre-show haunts!

Date: Thursday, October 31st, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Hell House - Wed. Oct. 30 - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes filmmaker Selina Lewis Davidson for a screening of the remarkable documentary Hell House (2002). Hell House documents a high-tech fire-and-brimstone sermon that a Dallas Pentecostal church puts on every Halloween to scare kids into coming to services. Trinity Assembly of God church invented Hell Houses in 1990 and every Halloween since, they've pulled out truckloads of lights, enlisted hundreds of actors and built an enormous haunted compound from scratch. Trinity's Hell House looks to be just a souped-up haunted house until one enters. Inside, a tour guide dressed as a demon takes groups of kids from room to room to view depictions of school massacres, AIDS deaths, fatal drunk-driving crashes and botched abortions. All the while, demons goad gullible teen actors to commit sins and then drag their recently departed souls off to hell. In the end, the audience is escorted to Hell to watch all of the sinners from Hell House burning and suffering and begging anyone who will listen not to make the same mistakes they made. With full access to the behind-the-scenes action, Hell House the documentary follows the process of putting up the show from the first script meeting until the last of the 13,000 visitors pass through the Hell House doors. The movie gives a verite window into the whole outrageous process of creating this over-the-top sermon while showing an intimate portrait of the people who haunt this peculiar culture.  Before the film, we will be screening a haunting excerpt of the (unreleased on VHS or DVD) 1935 Spencer Tracy film Dante's Inferno, featuring hundreds of scantily clad sinners writhing in eternal damnation.  It's sure to be one Hell of a night!

Date: Wednesday, October 30th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Satanic Sinema: The Devil Gets His Due - Tues. Oct. 29 - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Satanic Sinema: The Devil Gets His Due, a program of vintage 16mm netherworld delights with saucy cartoons, lost TV episodes, experimental marvels, satanic smut and more!  Kenneth Anger teams up with Anton LeVay for the psychedelic satanic symphony Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969) with music by Mick Jagger.  Betty Boop faces off against the horned one in Hell, and brings down the temperature with her icy stare and her seductive dance in the Fleischer Brothers' Red Hot Mamma (1934). Sid Caesar stars as the lord of the underworld trying to lure Ronald Reagan's wife away in GE Theater's The Devil You Say (1961), based on a story by Rosemary's Baby author Ira Levin.  Canada's Nelvana studios brings us a classic tale of selling your soul for rock n' roll in the animated rodent rock opera The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978). The rise of occultism in the late 60s and early 70s led to many "investigations" like the hippy-witchy Occult: X-Factor or Fraud (1973). Burlesque Queen Betty Dolan is half-devil, half-dancer and all delightful in the magnificently costumed mid-century Satan-Tease.  A young-witch must cast a spell on her beloved in the lovely poetic short Mantis (1971).  Plus! Original trailers for Satan's Cheerleaders and The Omen, sinful sweets for all and even more satanic surprises for one Devil of a night!

Date: Tuesday, October 29th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Baby Jane and the Child Star's Revenge - Mon. Oct. 28 - 8PM

Oddball Films kicks off its week of Halloween Haunts with Baby Jane and the Child Star's Revenge, featuring the creepy classic Whatever Happened to B@by Jane (1962).  Starring two of the grandest of dames from classic Hollywood, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Robert Aldrich's macabre masterpiece was made with a prayer and a song, with no major studio willing to finance a picture with "those old broads".  The film went on to be a box-office smash, was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and propelled both aging actresses back into the spotlight.  Set in a decaying Hollywood mansion, two sisters tear at each other's mind with memories of lost stardom, painful accidents and crippling codependence.  When Blanche becomes confined to a wheel chair after a devastating accident at the height of her Hollywood success (and sister's downfall), Jane must care for her sister, amidst the startling decay of her mind.  Driven by jealousy, greed and sadism, Jane plans to be rid of the burden of Blanche and gain her rightful place in the spotlight.  The ferocity of Bette Davis's unnerving portrayal of former child star Baby Jane Hudson counters Crawford's meek interpretation of her crippled and forever-suffering sister Blanche.  Shot in stunning black and white, Baby Jane blends the visual style of a film noir with the psychological twists of great horror. Preceding the feature, we will be screening several rare and startling shorts of 1930's child stars, including an excerpt of a 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. in Rufus Jones for President and Shirley Temple as a 4 year old prostitute in the pre-code "Baby Burlesk" Polly Tix in Washington. Everything screened on film with chocolate treats for all!

Date: Monday, October 28th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

A/V Geeks present Good Cop, Bad Cop - Sat. Oct. 26 - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes the A/V Geeks' Skip Elsheimer all the way from North Carolina for Good Cop, Bad Cop, an evening of 16mm films featuring one of his favorite genres - police training films.  Handpicked from the A/V Geeks archive of over 20,000 films, these films offer a glimpse into one of the hardest jobs out there - one that deals with people at their absolute worst. To prepare officers with the harsh realties of their job, police training films are often gritty - filled with profanity, blood and violence, as well as unintended hilarity. Films include Civil Liability: Failure To Protect (1978) A series of vignettes that demonstrate possible civil liabilities that a police offer can face in the line of duty -- all set to a nice funky soundtrack; Bombs II (1971)  While this film is mean to be cautionary film for officers how to deal with bombs, it almost reads like a How-To film for potential bomb makers. So, what could make this film even more amazing? How about a cameo appearance by Mickey Rooney as a mad bomber?; It's Your Move Sergeant (1973) Another series of vignettes that show cops dealing with misbehaving fellow officers, this film is made for sergeants to discuss how to manage the misbehaving cops; Crimes In Progress - Patrol Procedures (1973) Who could imagine that a film talking about basic patrol procedures could contain such flowery prose? Brilliant!; and Sudden Birth (1966) Really the best way to show a police officer how to deliver a baby in the back of a car, is to just show a baby being delivered in the back of a car! Filmed in the Bay Area! Plus! A silent slapstick pre-show with Buster Keaton's Cops (1922). Regardless how you feel about law enforcement, these films illustrate what a pain in the ass it is to be a cop!

Date: Saturday, October 26th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://www.avgeeks.com/
http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2013/10/av-geeks-present-good-cop-bad-cop-sat.html

Elevator Girls in Bondage with Cockette Rumi Missabu in Person - Fri. Oct. 25 - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes original Cockettes member Rumi Missabu with a screening and DVD re-release party for the 1972 cult classic Elevator Girls in Bondage.  This audacious piece of madness and nostalgia was directed by Michael Kalmen and stars Rumi as well as other fellow Cockettes Pristine Condition, Hibiscus and Miss Harlow.  The underpaid staff of a seedy hotel rises up in revolt and by the time head elevator girl Maxine (the fabulous Rumi) starts spouting a surreal mix of folk songs and Marxist maxisms, followed by an uproariously explicit sex scene, you'll be ready to join the cause. Rarely has the dissection of exploitation been so silly, or so much fun to watch. A mad, camp satire on almost every type of film from gangster, 40's musicals and monster, to propaganda and pornography, Elevator Girls seems a piece of irrelevant nonsense until satire after satire hits home with unnerving accuracy. Then, in the final sequence, the film bursts into genius.  Plus, Rumi will be presenting an additional half-hour of surprise clips from other film work/music videos as well as a few short live performances to add to the fabulousness.  Films include Interiors, I Scare Myself, Tiptoe Past the Witch and Ruminations.  With Live Performances by Carl with Records, Donna Personna, and Rumi, Patalo Alfonso, Vinc Costa and Shun Trenholm in The Vampire.  A sparkling new re-mastered 3rd edition of the DVD will be available for sale during the event both lipstick kissed and personally autographed for $20.  

Date: Friday, October 25th, 2013 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2013/10/elevator-girls-in-bondage-with-cockette.html

Strange Sinema 69: Strange Sex - Thur. Oct. 24 - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 69: Strange Sex!, Oddities From the Archives, an evening of offbeat discoveries and choice rarities from the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 reel film archive. This installment of Strange Sinema: Strange Sex! is an eye-popping program of perverse pleasures featuring films too way-out and weird to be called Sex. It's a carnal cornupcopia of animated sex, alien sex puppets, kinky drag and steamy smut. Who knows; after this screening you might have a new concept of what sex is really about. We begin with a preshow Bra Barrage with (“I Can’t Believe It’s a Bra”), girdle (“The 18 Hour Girdle”) and cosmetics (“Sex Appeal”) commercials and some trailers for “The Cheerleaders” and the “Naughty Stewardesses” guaranteed to get your blood pumping and heart racing! Other sexual oddities include the world’s first alien teen sex ed puppet film Deciso 3003 (1982) where even puppets (designed by legendary Julie Taymor) feel shamed; VD Attack Plan (Technicolor, 1973), Walt Di$ney Productions' fully animated (and hilarious!) film with some forward thinking approaches on the subject of sexually transmitted diseases, including promotion of condoms (instead of abstinence) and the fact that VD can be spread through same sex couplings; in Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) Tex Avery liberates its storybook characters from their Di$ney-style forest and slaps them in the middle of swanky Manhattan with Little Red as a red-hot singer-stripper and the Wolf as a model of lupine lechery; watch Amour Pour Un Femme (1950) -you’ll never guess which sex is which in this burlesque surprise!; Sandy Sunrise in The Baby Sitter (1971), raunchy, over-the-top animated smut, featuring a girl and her vegetables-with music by the Beach Boys!; Black Cap Drag (1969) showcases a rare look inside swingin’ 60s London draq queen club scene; Ego (1970), a mesmerizing classic of animated eroticism and desire by Italy’s Bruno Bozzetto with soundscore by ultra-lounge master Franco Godi; The Story of Menstruation (1945), another classic Walt Di$ney Production produced for American schools detailing the menstrual cycle.  Rumored to be the first film with the word “vagina” in its screenplay it’s a dreamy bit of preteen fluff with real facts-sponsored by Kotex. Plus much more including: Big Babies (1950s) beefcakes in diapers, a super-sexy Jeno's Pizza commercial (1967), The Excitable Redhead/with Dr. Crackem (B+W, 1948), Pajama Boys' (1971) enema, Wet Dreams (1973), highlights from the Best of the NY Erotic Film Festival (1971), the trailer for Black Mama White Mama (1972) and too much more to mention!

Date: Thursday, October 24th, 2013 at 8:00PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or RSVP@oddballfilm.com

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2013/10/strange-sinema-69-strange-sex-thur-oct.html

Monster Mash-up featuring Winter of the Witch - Thur. Oct. 17 - 8PM

Oddball Films and guest curator Lynn Cursaro present Monster Mash-up featuring Winter of the Witch.  The classic creatures of Universal horror and the cackling brides of Satan are the focus of this year’s Halloween spectacle. Everyone’s favorite monster appears in highlights of both the spare Son of Frankenstein (1939) and the broadly comic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Doom of Dracula (1944) features an elegantly turned out Boris Karloff as the Count’s protector. Some people can find a teachable moment in any holiday, as the cheese-heavy Halloween Safety (1969) attests. Georges Méliès’s pioneering cinema of mayhem is the perfect vehicle for a pair of hellzapoppin’ otherworldly shenanigans: The Inn Where No Man Rests and The Witch’s Revenge (both 1903). Witchcraft’s time-tested power is pitted against Woody Woodpecker's madcap cartoon mojo in Witch Crafty (1955). The devil gets his due in appropriately fleshy style in Betty Dolan`s endearingly strange mid-century burlesque in Satan-Tease. And of course, Hermione Gingold is back in Winter of the Witch (1969) as a mischievous old dear who is nonetheless eager to share the delicious secret of happiness.  More is stewing in the Oddball cauldron, so be there!  And as always, complimentary home-baked treats appropriate to the season for all!

Date: Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 8:00PM.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco

Admission: $10.00, Limited Seating, RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or RSVP@oddballfilm.com

MESS with Punk Art Surrealist Winston Smith - Fri. Oct. 18 - 8PM

Oddball Films has the rare opportunity to present the fifth annual installment in the innovative interview-based series MESS (Media Ecology Soul Salon) featuring punk innovator and collage artist Winston Smith. Los Angeles media artist and curator Gerry Fialka will interview Smith in person on the Oddball Cine Stage.  A Punk Art Sur­re­al­ist and mas­ter of “hand-carved” col­lage, Winston Smith has craft­ing thought-provoking art since the 1970’s. Smith first became known (and later beloved) for his collab­o­ra­tions with punk leg­ends Dead Kennedys and his numer­ous album covers, inserts and fly­ers for the band in their for­ma­tive years.  His tech­nique of cut­ting out by hand and glu­ing each indi­vid­ual ele­ment has inspired a genera­tion of artists.  Winston has constructed over 50 album covers for a variety of artists and is also a prolific illustrator who has worked for such prestigious and anti-prestigious magazines as The New Yorker and Playboy.This event is a MESS (Media Ecology Soul Salon), an engaging interview by Gerry Fialka with the following modern thinkers who'll address the metaphysics of their callings and the nitty-gritty of their crafts.

Date: Friday October 18th, 2013  

film clips at 8PM, interview at 8:30 PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 in advance, $12.00 at the door. Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Home Movie Day - Sat. Oct. 19

The San Francisco Media Archive and Oddball Films present Home Movie Day in conjunction with the 11th Annual Worldwide Home Movie Day.  Members of the public are invited to submit their home movies. Bring your films: 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and even Beta and VHS home movies to SFMA where they will be inspected by HMD projectionists.  Following the clinic, we'll be having a free screening of Vintage San Francisco Home Movies. These homegrown rarities include The Innocent Fair (1915, Excerpt); a Halloween treasure The Witches' Sabbath (1961); Farewell to the Fox Theatre (1963); Ken Kesey's Further Bus Visits the Panhandle (1966); Frank Savage's San Francisco Summer of Love (1967); the SFSU Student Strike (1968); Black Sabbath Float at Folsom Street Parade (1970); Warren Weinstock's Shades of San Francisco; and Georgina Corzine's Sing Along San Francisco (2002).  So bring your own family treasures for a celebration of amateur filmmaking and home movie preservation. 

"There's no such thing as a bad home movie. These mini-underground opuses are revealing, scary, joyous, always flawed, filled with accidental art and shout out from attics and closets all over the world to be seen again. Home Movie Day is an orgy of self-discovery, a chance for family memories to suddenly become show business. If you've got one, whip it out and show it now."
-- John Waters

Date: Saturday, October 19th, 2013 Screening at 8:00PM, Home Movie Clinic 6-8 or by appointment.

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110

Submissions: Submissions are being accepted until October 18^th at SFMA from 10-5PM . No submissions necessary to attend.

For More Info: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com 

Learn Your Lesson...To Death - A Horrifying Shockucation - Fri. Oct. 11th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson...To Death - A Horrifying Shockucation, the eighth in a series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection.  This month, we're getting a little morbid for the month of Halloween with a deadly collection of shocking shorts and cartoons. Officers learn about using deadly force in the police training film Shoot, Don’t Shoot II (1972) and adorable cartoon bunny rabbits teach us about the Death Penalty and racial inequality in the justice system in The Punishment Fits the Crime (1972). A little jewish boy learns about loss and sitting shiva in The Day Grandpa Died (1970).  Sid Davis, master of the shock safety film traces back the causes of one reckless boy's senseless death in What Made Sammy Speed? (1957). Gracie Barrie sings about justifiable homicide in Stone Cold Dead in the Market (1946) to teach you boys not to stray.  In Ghost Rider (1982) the new boy just made a friend on the school bus, but why is he the only one that sees her and what lessons can he learn from this mysterious girl? Plus! Horrific excerpts from heroin scare film Dead is Dead and with even more snippets, surprises and early bird specials, this is one event you'll just die if you miss!

Date: Friday, October 11th, 2013 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

Hungarian Rhapsody - The Stunning Cinema of Hungary - Thurs. October 10th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Hungarian Rhapsody - The Stunning Cinema of Hungary, a program of breathtaking short films and animation from the 1960s-1980s.  Oscar winner Istvan Szabo's You... (1963) is a new wave love letter to a beautiful girl and the city of Budapest.  Animator Marcell Jankovics brings us two thought-provoking and stunning pieces Trends (1967) and Sisyphus (1974).  The hauntingly beautiful poetic short Elegy (1968) captures the often stark realities of Hungarian life.  The kooky Academy Award winner The Fly (1980) gives us an inside glimpse into the life and death of one fly. The World Health Organization brings us Little Man-Big City (1968), a charming cartoon from Budapest with some interesting ideas on fixing society's ills.  In The Blackbird (1979), a mischievous blackbird escapes from his cage and wreaks havoc. Plus! A three-pack of cartoons in the Satiric Eye and a special kitty treat for the early birds, it's time to open your eyes to Hungarian artistry.

Date: Thursday, October 10th, 2013 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