ECCENTRIC CINEMA

DEATH BECOMES HER (1992)

Saturday, May 2, 9:45 pm

Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 camp classic returns to the big screen. Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) is a fading movie star whose relationship with her plastic surgeon hubby Ernest (Bruce Willis) has reached a dead end. Fearing the loss of her youth, Madeline visits a mysterious woman (Isabella Rossellini) who claims to have discovered an elixir that prevents aging. Rejuvenated and ready for a new life, Madeline finds out Ernest has been having an affair with an old rival, Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn). Murder and mayhem ensue when it’s revealed Helen has also taken the same elixir. While the film’s CGI was a technological advancement in the ‘90s, what has kept Death Becomes Her popular is its wicked sense of humor and over-the-top performances from Streep, Hawn and Willis. Playing like a goofier, rubbery What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, the film has attracted a devoted cult audience.

SANTA SANGRE (1989)

Saturday, May 9, 9:30 pm

Visionary director Alejandro Jodorowsky, the creator of cult hits El Topo and The Holy Mountain, delivers this surreal horror film about a young boy who grows up in the shadow of his mentally unbalanced mother. Fénix (Adán Jodorowsky) watches as his circus entertainer father cuts off both of the mother’s arms after she catches the man having an affair. Now fully grown, Fénix (Axel Jodorowsky) exists to serve his mother (Blanca Guerra), acting as her arms by sitting behind the woman in order to feed her, apply makeup, or play piano. Soon, young ladies who Fénix develops a romantic interest in begin to die horrible, bloody deaths. Is the mother the killer or is Fénix carrying out her orders under hypnosis?

THE ROOM (2003)

Second Saturday of every month
Saturday, May 9, 9:45 pm

Johnny is a successful banker who lives happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée, Lisa. One day, inexplicably, she gets bored with him and decides to seduce his best friend, Mark. From there, nothing will be the same again.

If you have not experienced The Room at the Drexel, you don’t know what you’re missing. The loyal fans have created their own live experience à la The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They’re always excited to indoctrinate newbies into the cult of Wiseau. A Drexel tradition for 16 years, The Room is a gonzo masterpiece. (2003, dir. Tommy Wiseau)

ANGEL (1984)

Saturday, May 16, 9:30 pm

Meet Molly “Angel” Stewart, a high school honor student who moonlights as a Hollywood Boulevard escort. Abandoned by her mother, Molly lives in a halfway house under the watchful eye of her kooky but loving landlord Solly (Susan Tyrrell) while being guarded by her fellow outcasts out on the street: magician Yoyo Charlie (Steven M. Porter), drag queen Mae (Dick Shawn), and aging movie cowboy Kit Carson (Rory Calhoun). When a psycho (John Diehl) starts offing other escorts, the young girl turns to her friends and a fatherly detective (Cliff Gorman) to hunt down and stop the killer’s reign of terror.

CENTIPEDE HORROR (1982)

Saturday, May 23, 9:30 pm

As the lone survivor of a fire that destroyed his village, a psychotic wizard (Hussein Abu Hassan) promises to seek revenge against the family of the man who started the inferno. Generations pass without incident until a young woman vacations near the site of the tragedy. She is murdered by a horde of giant centipedes. Her brother Pak (Michael Miu) investigates the death, discovering his family’s unsettling past and learning that the wizard controls a whole army of murderous centipedes. This damp, creepy shocker from Hong Kong is not for the squeamish, featuring some way-out gore and thousands and thousands of disgusting centipedes. There are also dueling wizards, flying fireballs, chicken skeleton warriors, some nasty looking scorpions and a centipede face tattoo. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

EXCALIBUR (1981)

Saturday, May 30, 9:30 pm

John Boorman (Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz) directs this Sturm und Drang interpretation of the King Arthur legend. This haunting, ethereal adaptation follows the rise and fall of Arthur (Nigel Terry) and his Knights of the Round Table. Nicol Williamson co-stars as a slightly crazed Merlin who fights off the evil machinations of Morgana (played by a stunning Helen Mirren). Incredible costume work, impeccable set design, stunning matte paintings, and larger-than-life performances elevate this above other King Arthur films. Also starring Gabriel Byrne, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Patrick Stewart, Ciarán Hinds, and Liam Neeson.