BEST ROBOT MOVIES OF ALL TIME

Together with the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium, I'll be hosting a retrospective on the best robot movies ever made.

Here is an oerview of the most entertaining robot movies that will be showing at the Offscreen Film Festival, most of them on 35 mm. The festival will take place between March 8 and March 26, 2023. 

METROPOLIS

Fritz Lang's Expressionist silent classic reached a new generation via this Giorgio Moroder version with an 1980s pop soundtrack. Brigitte Helm plays a double role as proletarian heroine Maria and the iconic robot created in her image. See the eternal class war played out in an Art Deco setting, with a cast of thousands! 

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

The intergalactic equivalent of a UN observer lands in Washington DC and demands a stop to nuclear testing in this sci-fi allegory with religious undertones. The earthlings ignore his pleas for peace, leaving them at the mercy of a giant robot that can only be stopped with the immortal words "Klaatu barada nikto!" 

IKARIE XB-1

A starship heads to Alpha Centauri on a search for alien intelligence in this classic Stanislaw Lem adaptation, a key influence on everything from 2001 to Star Trek with its depiction of everyday life in space and discovery of an abandoned vessel. The old-fashioned robot is a figure of fun - until he saves the day! 

THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS

After a nuclear war, human survivors fear and despise the robots they now depend on, with extremists even launching terrorist attacks against the blue-skinned humanoids. Wooden acting and no-budget sets give an agreeably avant-garde flavour to this forgotten sci-fi gem packed with unusually progressive ideas.

BLADE RUNNER

A Los Angeles gumshoe, assigned to terminate rogue replicants, starts to question the ethics of his job. Scott's visionary reworking of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? revolutionised the face of sci-fi cinema with its neo-noir imagery, unforgettable androids, and spine-tingling Vangelis score. 

I, ROBOT

A Chicago cop suspects a robot may be responsible for the death of a robotics company CEO. Are robots starting to ignore Asimov's Three Laws, which prevent them from harming human beings? Meanwhile, the laws of Hollywood blockbusters ensure a full complement of superb special effects and Will Smith kicking robot ass.

THE IRON GIANT

During the Cold War, a young boy befriends a big metal-eating robot from outer space which crashlands near his small town, but the paranoid government sends agents to investigate. This lovely animated fable, based on a children's story by poet Ted Hughes, flopped on its release but is now hailed as a modern classic. 

FORBIDDEN PLANET

William Shakespeare's The Tempest gets a sci-fi makeover in this fantasy masterpiece with an avant-garde score. A starship lands on a planet where a sinister force has killed all but two members of a previous expedition: a scientist and his daughter. Robby the Robot, their mechanical servant, was a big hit with the public. 

EX MACHINA

Alex Garland's directing debut is a virtual three-hander in which a naïve programmer is helicoptered into a billionaire tech bro's luxury home to determine whether a female android is capable of independent thought. Toxic masculinity and Machiavellian mind games ensue, with results that will keep you guessing to the end.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a creaky old T-800 sent back in time to protect mankind's future saviour and his mom from the more advanced T-1000 - a robot made of liquid metal! Just because this blockbuster has a pro-peace message doesn't mean it's not packed with chases, explosions and mind-blowing special effects. 

GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA

Just when you thought Godzilla was one of the good guys, he goes on the rampage again. But it's a mechanical imposter, controlled by aliens from another planet! The real Godzilla, outmatched, has to team up with King Caesar, a shaggy kaiju from Okinawa, for a three-way showdown that would do credit to Sergio Leone. 

EVA

In 2043, androids are part of everyday life. Daniel Brühl (speaking fluent Catalan) plays a cybernetic genius who returns to his hometown to build a robot child modelled on his niece. Exquisite virtual interfaces, a droll robot factotum and adorable robo-cat are the supporting stars in this bewitching sci-fi yarn. 

WESTWORLD

You've seen the TV show, now revisit Michael Crichton's original sci-fi classic about a futuristic theme park where tourists can interact with lifelike androids in recreations of the wild west, ancient Rome and medieval times. What could possibly go wrong? Yul Brynner, as an implacable robot gunslinger, is nightmare fodder.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 

C-3PO and R2-D2 return for the first and best sequel in the Star Wars franchise, which introduces Yoda and spills the shocking truth about Darth Vader. This time the loveable droid duo faces formidable robotic competition in the shape of Imperial AT-AT Walkers; the tie-in toys were an instant hit with young fans. 

THE BLACK HOLE

A deep space research crew finds a missing spaceship at the edge of a black hole in Disney's sci-fi spectacular with superb effects, a terrific John Barry score, and a trippy ending that traumatised a generation of kids. What will the crew and their faithful droid find on board? A mad scientist, and robots galore! 

TEST PILOTA PIRXA

A heroic pilot agrees to lead a mission to Saturn, aware UNESCO has placed an android on his crew as part of a risky experiment. Can he work out which of his men is the non-human? This adaptation from one of Stanislaw Lem's Pirxa stories blends Cold War aesthetics and Arvo Pärt music with thrilling deep space action. 

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

In the 22nd century, a robot child embarks on a Pinocchio-like quest to become a real boy and win back the love of the mother who rejected him. This adaptation of a Brian Aldiss story, initially developed by Stanley Kubrick, goes off on some very dark tangents (The Flesh Fair!) before a poignant emotional payoff. 

THE QUESTOR TAPES

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry conceived this TV film as the pilot for a series that was never made, but it works on its own as a globe-trotting adventure powered by the bromance between a human and an android, clearly the prototype for Next Generation's Data. Typical Roddenberry, it's humane, touching and funny. 

DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS

The BBC's beloved sci-fi TV show first aired in 1963 and quickly spawned this big screen spin-off. Peter Cushing plays the time-travelling doctor who is transported with his two daughters and an assistant to Planet Skaro, home of the doctor's most fearsome enemies, the robotic Daleks. Their catchphrase? EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

THE ARTIFICE GIRL 

Government agents interrogate a computer geek about the pubescent girl he's been using to trap sexual predators online. She turns out to be virtual (an uncanny performance by young Tatum Matthews) in a cerebral three-act chamber piece that dives deep into the ethics, pitfalls and potential of Artificial Intelligence.

METOROPORISU

Fritz Lang's Metropolis was inspiration for this spectacular dieselpunk anime in which a female android called Tima struggles against a destiny in which she will be deployed as a superweapon. The cityscapes are stunning, with a retro feel that's echoed in the ragtime-adjacent score and unexpected use of a Ray Charles hit. 

GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE

Major Kusanagi has a cameo, but the protagonist of this underrated sequel is her partner Batou, the world-weary semi-cyborg with a loveable Basset Hound. He and Section 9 trace a series of sexbot killings to a labyrinth of false realities and existential philosophy in an exquisite feast for the eyes, ears and brain. 

AUTOMATA

In 2044, humans need robotic help to survive in a world scorched by solar flares. Antonio Banderas plays an investigator examining claims that robots have been breaching protocol by modifying themselves. This handsome sci-fi epic pits paranoid humans against philosophical machines who may be mankind's last hope. 

SCREAMERS

A long war has left a remote planet littered with lethal robots that are evolving to look and behave just like humans. The lives of a battle-weary colonel (Peter Weller) and his men depend on distinguishing man from machine, but easier said than done in this tense, creepy adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story. 

ROBOCOP

"I'll buy that for a dollar!" Verhoeven stirs hyper-violence, splattery humour and religious allegory into a delicious satire on modern America. Peter Weller does some impressive acting with his mouth and chin (the only visible parts of his face) as a Detroit cop, murdered by crooks, who is resurrected as a cyborg. 

DEATH MACHINE

In what could be the most unhinged performance of his career, Brad Dourif plays a mad scientist who unleashes his choppy, stabby killer robot on CEOs and eco-warriors trapped in a high-rise. Steven Norrington, in his feature debut, directs the hell out of this often hilarious mash-up of The Terminator, RoboCop and Hardware.

CHERRY 2000

In the year 2017, a businessman ventures into a perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of spare parts for his beloved but obsolete sexbot. Melanie Griffith oozes 1980s star charisma as the hardboiled tracker he hires as a guide. Low-budget sci-fi with mad stunts, a western vibe and a Michael Almereyda screenplay. 

HARDWARE

Richard Stanley, in his feature debut, works wonders on a minuscule budget with a 2000 AD-inspired yarn set in a post-apocalyptic neo-punk netherworld. A sculptress unwittingly solders a piece of lethal military android into her latest scrap metal creation, and the mechanical artwork runs amok. Heavy metal carnage to the max! 

CHOPPING MALL

Security robots get their circuits scrambled by an electrical storm and hunt down the horny teens who are partying after hours in a shopping mall. B-movie mayhem from the Corman stable, packed with gratuitous boobs, cheesy exploding head effects, in-jokes and a cult cast including Dick Miller and Barbara Crampton. 

STEEL AND LACE

When her evil yuppie rapist is found not guilty, a classical pianist commits suicide, but is resurrected by her genius brother as a killer-cyborg programmed to murder the scumbag and the buddies who gave him a fake alibi. Rape-revenge exploitation with a melancholy streak offset by some creative and surprising kills! 

THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE

Heroic Autobots battle evil Decepticons in this spin-off from the animated TV show; more fun than Michael Bay's live-action pics, and not averse to killing off beloved characters. The illustrious voice cast includes Robert Stack, Leonard Nimoy and Orson Welles, in his final role, as the voracious planet Unicron. 

SHORT CIRCUIT

"Number 5 is alive!" A military robot gains sentience and goes on the run in this family-friendly comedy adventure. A scatty animal lover (Ally Sheedy) thinks it's an extra-terrestrial and teaches it the ways of humans before they team up with the robot's inventor to evade the army killjoys who want it terminated.

 
WALL-E

By the year 2805, mankind has abandoned a polluted Earth for luxury starliners, leaving an amiable but lonely robot to clean up the mess in this lovely Pixar animation with an eco-message and inspired action out of the Buster Keaton playbook. Can WALL-E and his new robo-pal Eve teach humans how to heal their planet? 

ANDROID

In 2036, three criminals seek refuge on a space station occupied only by creepy scientist Klaus Kinski and a naïve android, Max 404, who models himself on James Stewart. With its Space Invaders-era graphics, this no-budget but inventive New World production takes some unexpected turns en route to a violent climax. 

CYBORG 

In a plague-ridden future, a cyber-woman has to carry life-saving data from New York to Atlanta. Only  Jean-Claude Van Damme and his signature helicopter kicks can protect her from the Flesh Pirates! Pyun applies his no-budget know-how to a post-apocalyptic argy-bargy featuring characters named after classic guitars.

My latest book, Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children, is now available from Amazon and other retailers.

43 Best Time Travel Movies

Messages from the future, precognition, the Butterfly Effect, the Grandfather Paradox, time loops, multiverses, wormholes... There seems no end to the variations on the time-traveling theme. Yet filmmakers were slow to recognize its dramatic potential. Despite several screen versions of Mark Twain’s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) and H.G. Well's novella The Time Machine (1895), and time travel being adopted as a recurring device in 1960s TV shows such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, it remained a marginal phenomenon on the big screen, chiefly confined to experimental or arthouse films (La Jetée, Je t'aime, je t'aime, Idaho Transfer). But the floodgates finally opened in the 1980s blockbuster era with The Terminator (1984) and Back to the Future (1985), mainstream entertainment that hit the sweet spot between science and fiction. Henceforth, time travel, bolstered by increasingly sophisticated special effects, would be a familiar element in Hollywood's SF arsenal.

This year, the Offscreen Film Festival is doing an entire strand on time travel movies, serving up not just crowd-pleasers such as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Looper and Interstellar, but some of the lesser-known and alternative examples of the genre, from rip-roaring B-movies such as Trancers (1984) to brain-scrambling cult favorites such as Timecrimes (2007) and Triangle (2009).

Here's an overview of the more than 40 films that they will be screening.

Offscreen Film Festival 2020

This year, I've been once again part of the programming team for the Offscreen Film Festival, which takes place in Brussels between March 4th and March 22nd. My 'babies' for this edition are the beach movies, the premieres, and the Jeff Lieberman retrospective. Check out the program and participate in the Rafflecopter below to win free tickets to the movie of your choice:

Must-see films at the Offscreen Film Festival

This is the first year I've been part of the programming team of the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium. The festival starts on Wednesday, March 7th, and I'm proud to show you all the cinematic delights we have in store for you.

Offscreenings

The Offscreenings program presents a fine selection of special, new and unreleased films, giving a platform to movies at the cutting edge of contemporary cinema. These films are noted for their artistic originality, unique vision and inventive approach to the medium and genre.

You can find the Offscreenings program here.

Our guests for this module are Vicky Krieps (actress, Gutland & Phantom Thread), Kevin Janssens (actor, Revenge) and Govinda van Maele (director, Gutland).

Vampires Suck: 21 most unusual vampire movies

In March, the Offscreen Film Festival brings a retrospective of the most unusual vampire movies ever made.

No supernatural creature has been portrayed as frequently in cinema history as the vampire. Bram Stoker's Dracula, everyone's favorite bloodsucker, has alone racked up nearly 200 different movie appearances. Even today, the vampire continues to fascinate, guaranteeing the box office success of franchises such as Twilight and Underworld. The flipside of this popularity is that the monster has become too hokey and familiar. Indeed, to quote the title of one Twilight spoof, "Vampires Suck." But they are also supremely versatile, as Offscreen shows with a selection of 21 unusual vampire movies which turn the genre conventions upside down, breaking with the clichés of Gothic castles, garlic, and crucifixes to depict the creatures as hyper-realistic, modern, exotic, hybrid, or simply deranged. These films provide unique spins on vampire mythology and inject the genre with compelling stories about the human condition, sexuality, addiction, disease, and mortality.

Offscreen Film Festival 2017

In March, I spent three weeks at the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels, which is known for its screenings of both old and new cutting edge movies. This year, they put the focus on Czech fairy tales, Indonesian action cinema, and the films of Stephen Sayadian (Rinse Dream) and Walerian Borowczyk.

The opening night of the Offscreen film festival saw the premiere of the teenage cannibal movie Grave which I thought was too soft and on-the-nose but almost everyone else loved because of its gruesomeness and unpredictability.

Caturday Movies - Morgiana

Wednesday, March 8th. I'm joining Juraj Herz and his wife, Martina, for lunch at Arcady in Brussels. In case you're not familiar with Juraj Herz, he's one of the most noted film directors from the Czech Republic. Chances are you've seen his movies The Cremator and Morgiana.

Communicating with the almost 83-year-old Juraj Herz isn't an easy feat. He's tired after having traversed the “largest airport in the world” and has only a basic knowledge of English. Because I don't speak Czech, Yugoslavian, Slovenian and Polish, I go for German which I understand but don't speak well. Still, we both get only half of what the other is saying. “I'm afraid I only know one word in Czech: Kočka,” I say. He looks up to me and his eyes start to sparkle. “Kočka! Cat! I love cats,” Herz answers and, all of a sudden, he finds the words to get the conversation going. “I had a cat once called Boogie Woogie. I also wanted to adopt one of the seven cats that played Morgiana. I took him home with me but he only stayed three weeks. My wife at that time didn't agree with me keeping the cat.”

That brings us to our Caturday movie of the week: Juraj Herz' Morgiana (1971).

Top 18 best fantastical films from Czechoslovakia

This month, the Offscreen film festival in Brussels, Belgium, brings a retrospective of eighteen Czech films from the 60s and 70s, from lyrical pearls, over historic parables to atypical fairy tale adaptations of Cinderella, The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. Director Juraj Herz of dark masterpieces like The Cremator and Morgiana is a festival guest, along with stop-motion filmmaker Jiri Barta.

Here are the eighteen best fantastical films from Czechoslovakia according to Offscreen...

Let's Scare Jessica to Death

I'll be giving an introduction to John D. Hancock's Let's Scare Jessica to Death at the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels on March 20th.

In this chilling ghost story from 1971, the fragile Jessica longs for a new beginning, having recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. She isolates herself in an old farmhouse with her husband and a friend. But is she safe from the aftermath of her mental illness? Once she hears the local stories about vampires roaming the countryside, Jessica starts having nightmarish visions that will defy everything she has ever experienced before.

Offscreen Film Festival 2015

The Offscreen Film Festival started on Wednesday with a screening of Roy Andersson's latest A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence. Whereas the film excels in interesting compositions, its theme of life being boring and meaningless results in a film that is as empty as the situations and people it describes. It's all about recurring locations, static actors, endless shots, and repetitive dialogue. “We just want to help people have fun,” one of the characters says. Considering the strong Monty Python-like vibe of A Pigeon..., I'm guessing this was Roy Andersson's objective as well. Unfortunately, he accomplished the opposite.

On Thursday, I spent the day with Tobe Hooper and his girlfriend Rebecca, showing them around all the cozy corners of Brussels. Tobe insisted on having a drink at Le Cerceuil, a bar in the centre of Brussels where you sit around coffins, and drink cocktails with names such as Cadaver's Urine out of skulls. Besides our mutual love of horror movies, we also shared a passion for animals. Tobe stops in the street to gawk at passing dogs, obsesses over Milou (Tintin's dog), and just tries to find as much excuses as he can to talk about his canine loves.

On Friday, I introduced the movies The Duke Of Burgundy and Matango: Attack Of The Mushroom People at Offscreen. The Duke Of Burgundy was an absolute marvel. For the first fifteen minutes, it looked banal and wooden, but that was only because director Peter Strickland was playing his audience's strings like a puppeteer. Once you realize that you're watching a lesbian couple playing out a sexual fantasy, the story becomes really interesting. As the fantasy becomes part of the couple's daily routine, little fissures in the relationship start to show. Both women don't always react the way they want each other to, frustrations build up, and the dominant party in the RPG becomes the dominated one in real life. Despite the weirdness of the film, it's all surprisingly recognizable, a mirror to the reasons why many couples fail after a while. It's smart, multi-layered stuff, and the visual appeal is nothing less than magnetic.

After having attended Tobe Hooper's masterclass on Saturday, I went to see Lifeforce. I can't say I'm a fan of Tobe Hooper's adaptation of Colin Wilson's 1976 novel The Space Vampires. Therefor, the film has too many dull moments (the silly ones are rather charming). On the other hand, Lifeforce contains iconic scenes that you keep thinking about long after the film has ended (London being engulfed by zombies, the look of the victims after they've been sucked from their energy, the hypnotic presence of Mathilda May). It has too many good moments to be ignored, and too many dull ones to be recommendable.

On Sunday, Jasper Sharp and Tim Grabham introduced their documentary The Creeping Garden: Irrational Encounters With Plasmodial Slime Moulds in which they explore the frightening intelligence of slime moulds. I expected the documentary to be sensational in nature (the slime moulds' behavior reminds us of The Blob and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), but Jasper Sharp and Tim Grabham go for a realistic, fringe scientific approach. After this documentary, you'll never look at slime moulds the same way. The Creeping Garden is now also available as a book.

Next, I introduced Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive. It was the first movie Tobe Hooper made after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and it's easy to spot the similarities between those two films. There's the same gritty atmosphere, the same hopelessness, the same rage. In 2000, Tobe Hooper would make a second killer crocodile film, and herein it's obvious that the director has become more moderate and commercial. Eaten Alive is definitely one of my favorite Tobe Hooper films, mainly because the set pieces are so efficient (everything has been filmed inside the studio, including the exterior scenes in the swamps).

On Wednesday, we took Tobe Hooper and his girlfriend Rebecca to Bruges. For Tobe, that means spending eighty percent of the day inside the restaurant. He ate mussels for the first time in his life and enjoyed several local beers such as Brugse Zot and Brugse Straffe Hendrik. He loved the sightseeing part, though. His eyes sparkled as he discovered the cobblestone streets and walked along the fairytale-like canals.

By the way, did you know that Tobe is superstitious? Whenever we passed a lantern, he insisted we crossed it from the same side as he feared the lantern would divide the group's energy and bring bad luck.

When we passed Aalter on our way back home, I mentioned that I saw a UFO there when I was a kid. Tobe replied that he had seen two UFOs as well and that he is absolutely certain these are aliens.

After dinner in my favorite Thai Restaurant Villa Singha, I introduced Salem's Lot on Thursday. I stayed to watch the film for what is probably the thirtieth time in my life. A lot of people consider Salem's Lot one of the creepiest vampire movies ever made. I can only agree. It all started in 1979 with a TV mini series – the most expensive ever made at that time. Because the TV mini series was successful, the material was heavily cut in order to turn it into a film. That was the version we got to see at Offscreen. Tobe Hooper himself loathes this cut, and I can see why. The first thing to go from the TV mini series was the character development. The film feels rushed. Important information is missing so that several scenes become illogical. Ben and Susan go from “Let's have a date” to being a couple without any transition scenes. And when Ben exclaims that Susan has to go back to Boston, the viewer can only wonder why she has to go to Boston if she lives in Salem's Lot (she actually explains in a cut scene that she has to go to Boston for a job interview). And what happened to Susan after she entered the Marsten House? There are more than a few hiccups in this cut, but overall the film version works and the cuts are generally from scenes that only slowed down the TV series.

I watched Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films again on Friday. You may remember that I had already seen this documentary at the Sitges Film Festival. The fact that I watched it again at Offscreen proves how much I love it. Electric Boogaloo is easily one of the most insightful and funny documentaries I've seen in years. It never bores for a single second. It doesn't matter whether you know Cannon films or not; if you love great documentaries then this one is not to be missed.

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films ignited my desire to watch Ninja III: The Domination (1984) later that evening. Ninja III is known as one of the worst movies the Cannon Group has ever produced and there are no words for how silly it is. The story follows a young woman (Lucinda Dickey) who gets possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja who avenges his death from beyond the grave. The audience was laughing hard as Lucinda Dickey stripped in front of the hairy police officer she just met and poured V8 over her chest, when she did aerobics when she was assaulted by the evil spirit, or when laser beams came out of the arcade game. An unmissable “so bad it's good” movie that has often been described as a mix between Enter The Ninja, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and Flashdance. You have to see it to believe it.

The weekend was spent having dinner with the festival's guests at Houtsiplou and Ricotta & Parmesan. We also went to the Made In Asia convention and Mini Europe (miniature representations of Europe's famous landmarks) with Electric Boogaloo director Mark Hartley.

On Saturday, I introduced the 1987 movie Street Smart at Cinematek. In this crime drama from Cannon, a journalist (Christopher Reeve) writes an article on a fictitious pimp. By coincidence, the story resembles that of an actual pimp (Morgan Freeman), now convicted of murder. The day afterwards, it was time to introduce Tobe Hooper's Invaders From Mars (1986), an alien invasion movie written by Don Jakoby and Dan O'Bannon (who also wrote the script of Lifeforce).

I watched the new remastered version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre twice in a row on the big screen on Tuesday. The first time was for the sound check of the screening in the Bozar theater and the second time together with the audience. It was a good fifteen years since I last saw the film, but my opinions have remained the same: brilliant shots, broody atmosphere, creepy sound effects that make your bones tingle, a baleful build-up, and a nightmarish scene in which a chainsaw-yielding Leatherface unexpectedly shows up in the woods at night and chases Marilyn Burns for ten long minutes without giving the viewer any second to pause or breathe. Contrary to most viewers, though, I don't like the dinner scene (it breaks the tension as it renders the villains ridiculous). Otherwise, a masterpiece.

After having spent the day with Tobe Hooper and his girlfriend Rebecca again on Wednesday, I introduced the 80s action movies Avenging Force and 10 To Midnight at Offscreen. I stayed for Avenging Force which turned out to be banal for the first hour, but once Michael Dudikoff is being hunted in the swamp, the film picks up and becomes huge fun. Another good thing about Avenging Force is that the script is varied and that it features some unexpected death scenes.

You may remember from last year that I had the opportunity to take photos in the abandoned porn cinema ABC (you can find the pictures here ). Offscreen, Cinema Nova, and La Rétine tried to save the cinema and managed to collect 60,000 euros in crowd funding. Just when they were about to sign contracts, the owner of the ABC died. Unfortunately, his son had other plans with the place. While the ABC cinema may not have been saved, Cinema Nova did manage to salvage more than 600 films, three of which have been shown at Offscreen on Friday when Offscreen paid tribute to the ABC cinema with an evening full of movies, trailers, striptease acts, games, etc.

On Saturday, I watched Matango: Attack Of The Mushroom People. The fact that it was a pristine 35mm print that had traveled the world in order to be shown at Offscreen, made the screening worthwhile. Nothing really happened during the majority of the film, though, and when the mushroom people finally arrived, they didn't do much but stand there.

I ended the day with a screening of Masters Of The Universe, long revered as one of the campiest films ever. Courtney Cox and her boyfriend find a cosmic key that can open a portal to any point in time and space, and are being hunted by an evil creature wearing a Halloween mask. Luckily, there's He-Man Dolph Lundgren and his team to save them. The costumes and dialogue in Masters Of The Universe will push your limits of bad taste.

On the last day of Offscreen, I introduced Tobe Hooper's The Mangler. I'd seen this film back in 1995 when it came out and didn't like it. Twenty years later, my opinion still hasn't changed, but I had forgotten how gory and gruesome The Mangler was.

The festival closed with a screening of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (which I had already seen at the Sitges Film Festival) and lots of themed treats.

Have you seen any of the Offscreen films? Which ones are your favorites?