"The Scala existed to stick two fingers up to formal mainstream movies," so said founder Stephen Wooley, who oversaw an era of bold, left-field programming that has rarely been seen in this country - and certainly not since its demise in 1993, a victim of both the video boom and a legal battle with Stanley Kubrick and Warner Brothers over an illicit screening of A Clockwork Orange. Inspired by the legendary US grindhouses, the Scala boasted an incomparably eclectic programme that ranged from Argento, Waters, Romero, Meyer and Woo through to Herzog, Capra, Bunuel, the Marx Brothers, Leone, early cult classics like Freaks, euro-smut and any genre you like that ended in -sploitation.
And now it's back, kinda. For seven weeks only, screens across London will pay tribute as part of the Scala Forever season, organised by the Roxy Bar & Screen , which kicked off on Saturday at the Roxy with a screening of the 1933 King Kong - the first film to grace The Scala - and closes, fittingly, with A Clockwork Orange. Echoing the programming that made the Scala the icon it is, the season offers a taste of the unhinged joy it had to offer, minus the cats, the smell, the rumble of the tube train, the dodgy sound, the druggies and the couple copping off behind you.
Like the sound of it? Want more? How do you fancy winning a pair of tickets to a double bill of unforgettablly infamous arthouse world horror in the form of Jodorowsky's unhinged Santa Sangre and the Asian surrealism of Tetsuo: The Iron Man on Sunday 4th September at the Roxy?
All you need to do is drop us a mail here, making sure you put Scala Forever in the subject line. Please note, you must be over the age of 18, and seats are not allocated, so get there early to bag a good seat.
Main photo copyright dusashenka
No comments:
Post a Comment