Screening On Friday: Three Sequels Lacking Initial Episodes

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 2, 2011 9:15PM

It's only Tuesday, but if you're like us you're already dreaming of Friday. We need some vintage cinematic escapism this weekend, and we're having difficulty whittling it down to one from three very good options. Here are three diversionary movies that also happen to be "sequels" though, curiously, none had earlier installments.

First, Friday marks the beginning of the Cultural Center's series of film screenings to accompany their exhibition of hand-panted movie posters from Ghana, Movie Mojo. The first title, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, may be an artifact of a time before there was such a thing as an "Action" genre, but it shows that what might be called "Adventure Movies" have always gotten away with being a bit skimpy on plot. We find Sinbad facing off against a dragon, a cobra, a two-headed flying beast, a horned cyclops, a genie, and more, but it is a testament to Bernard Harmann's incredible soundtrack and special effects titan Ray Harryhausen's inimitable stop-motion animation (or dynamation) that keeps this classic so watchable. We didn't need to see those first six voyages to anyhow, we never get tired of watching the seventh one over and over.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad plays at 6:30 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center's Claudia Cassidy Theater.

Next under consideration is a more blood-spattered option. Whether you call it Zombi 2, Island of the Dead, Zombie Island, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Woodoo or just Zombie, Lucio Fulci's distinctly Italian take on Romero-invigorated undead genre is something a of a legend in the horror cannon. Mostly enjoyed stateside in video format, the chance to see this 1979 gem, once officially derided by the British Parliament for its gore, in 35mm is rare indeed. A box office success in Europe and a cult favorite in the states, Zombi 2 (there was no Zombi 1) is especially notable for the pioneering zombie vs. shark sequence and some mememorable shots of a boat-full of zombies floating around Manhattan.

Zombi 2 screens Friday at 7 p.m. at Doc Films.

Finally, Friday sees the August installment of the Near Northwest Arts Council-sponsored Shock Theater, and quite a double feature it is. Before reaching the pinnacle of cinematic success with The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola's broke through as a director with Dementia 13 (there was no Dementia 1-12--the name came from a bogus mental health test, cooked up as publicity for the flick and handed out viewers of the film), a ghost/murderer tale whose assured realization set it apart from the perhapse less nuanced Roger Corman productions of the mid-60s in which it often found itself as part of double bills. Not that we don't love a good, pulpy shot of straight Roger Corman--otherwise we wouldn't also be looking fowrard to the back end of the bill, Corman's The Terror, a dreamily atmospheric and resolutely gothic nineteenth century tale of a french soldier, a ghost and a castle. With different bits purported to be directed by Corman, Coppola, Two Lane Blacktop's Monte Hellman, and even Jack Nicholson (the young star of the film) it's just another of many testaments to Corman's ingenuity that it turns out as well as it does.

The program featuring Dementia 13 and Terror begins at 9 p.m. Friday at the Wicker Park Arts Center, 2215 W. North Ave.