Learn The ABCs Of Genre-Busting Movies

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 9, 2011 9:00PM

Film geeks' weakness for any movie which toys knowingly with its genre is well known. If it's "revisionist," we're probably going to try and convince you to see it. If one set of generic conventions gets mangled up with the those of another, we'll fall all over ourselves to map the mash-up. And if we learn to interpret the world fundamentally through the codes of genre, we end up... becoming Quentin Tarantino.

So it's no surprise that we're looking forward to the eighth session of Facets' Night School screening and lecture series, titled Genre-Busting. Beginning with 2009's recapitulation of 1970s Blaxploitation, Black Dynamite on June 18, the series will explore eight very different genre-defying movies.

Some of our favorites from the syllabus include Stephen Chiodo's hilarious and unnerving 1988 cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space and the great Roger Corman's best Vincent Price vehicle, Masque of the Red Death from the Horror shelf, and Hal Hartley's wonderful Amateur (screening in a 35mm print from presenter Julian Antos' personal collection).

Screenings begin at midnight, with an opening lecture and a post-screening discussion. Your $5 admission fee also entitles you to an pack of notes, essays, articles, bibliography and other educational goodies. Visit the Facets website for more information.

Video from The Underground Multiplex.