Splice

For about a year and a half I've run Splice, a film club at Washington University in St Louis. Splice existed for several years before I became president and is dedicated to championing the lesser-seen films in life: cult classics, foreign films, indies, B-movies, under-rated picks and nostalgic viewing.

We take a different tactic than WU's other film club, Film Board, which gets a multi-thousand dollar budget and blows it all two or three events such as on-campus screenings of "college classics" like "Old School" and free tickets to the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Splice takes it for granted that students are regularly exposed to, marketed at and saturated with, exactly this type of cinema already and tries to display material that is more interesting, rarer and just plain better. Needless to say we have almost no budget and rather small attendance. Those who come, however, are dedicated, open-minded and hopefully enjoy the experience.

This semester I decided to change our previous method of last-minute selection and made a loose schedule (changes have already been made) which I'm presenting below. I think it will be a good year.

All screenings are on Saturdays, at 2pm in Liggett Lower Basement

Jan 27: Wild Zero
-Ace and Guitar Wolf team up to fight zombies in a Japanese rock & roll epic
Feb 3: Family Viewing
-Warning: Do not view this movie with your family
Feb 10: The 5000 Fingers of Dr T
-The only musical co-directed and scene-designed by Dr Seuss
Feb 17: Dead Alive
-After 15 years, still a top contender for goriest movie of all time
Feb 24: Night and the City (1950)
-Forgotten, but excellent dark and brooding film noir from the UK
Mar 3: Save the Green Planet!
-Korean comedy/sci-fi/mystery about kidnapping and insanity
Mar 10: (Spring Break)
Mar 17: American Astronaut
-Sci-fi western musical involving characters like “The Blueberry Pirate”
Mar 24: Even Dwarfs Started Small
-German art-film about escaped inmates featuring an all-midget cast
Mar 31: Master of the Flying Guillotine
-Blind assassin hunts one-armed exiled kickboxing ninja
Apr 7: Diva
-Clever French thriller involving opera and gangsters
Apr 14: Danger: Diabolik!
-Ultra-kitsch 1960’s Italian cult-classic about the ultimate jewel thief
Apr 21: Spider Baby
-Cult horror B-movie with ultra-low budget
Apr 28: The Element of Crime
-Arty Danish existential murder mystery shot in only orange-and-blue

Other Options:
Barton Fink – Coen brothers modern noir about writers block and murder
Cannibal, The Musical – Debut film by the directors of South Park
Charisma - Japanese existential eco-thriller about an evil tree
Dead Man – Existential western featuring Johnny Depp
Faust (1994) – Extremely loose Czech stop-motion retelling of the Faust story
Fiend without a Face – Poetic French horror movie from 1960
Irma Vep – Failed attempt to remake a 10-hour silent lesbian vampire jewel-thief series
Punishment Park – “Documentary” about the conservative government putting hippies into death camps
Sonatine – Deadpan Japanese yakuza comedy
Star Crash – Cheap Italian knock-off of Star Wars
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders – Surreal Czech vampire fable!