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Event
ANGST (1983) Digital Restoration
Danger After Dark and PhilaMOCA present:
ANGST -- the new digital restoration of one of the most disturbing horror films ever made
Austria, 1983
83 minutes
Directed by Gerald Kargl
Danger After Dark's Travis Crawford will be in attendance to introduce the film
A more graphic and intense European precursor to HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, director Gerald Kargl's unforgettable 1983 shocker ANGST is the all-time favorite film of Gaspar Noe (ENTER THE VOID, IRREVERSIBLE), who has seen it dozens of times and cites it as the greatest influence on his work. That should tell you all you really need to know. Indeed, ANGST resembles a cross between HENRY and the early films of Kargl's fellow Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke (think FUNNY GAMES and BENNY'S VIDEO), filtered through the stylized subjective camerawork and lacerating sensibilities of Noe's films. ANGST ran into censorship and distribution difficulties in many countries, and while it became a cult hit in France, it has been largely unseen and shamefully obscure over the past 32 years -- but now Cult Epics has done a full digital restoration of the uncut version, touring North America this summer. The story, based on real life Austrian mass murderer Werner Kniesek, finds an unnamed serial killer being released from prison, only to immediately set out to kill again -- this time targeting the isolated country villa of a middle-aged woman, her mentally disabled and wheelchair-bound son, and her adolescent daughter. What follows is the ultimate "home invasion" nightmare. Unlike the detached and clinical perspective offered by films like HENRY and the Haneke works, ANGST is feverish and fervent, vicious and visceral, driven by the killer's narration and a visual approach which affixes the viewer to the murderer with no relief and no mercy. The technique of attaching the camera to the body of the actor -- later used by Noe, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Lee, etc. -- is used to brutal effect here, and some of the other camerawork and imagery is so groundbreaking that Kargl and his filmmaking partner, cinematographer/editor/co-writer Zbigniew Rybczynski, had to basically invent new methods of shooting (mirrors, a system of ropes and pulleys for camera movement, etc.) to make the film (in a bizarre twist, Rybczynski actually won an Academy Award, for best short animated film, the same year ANGST was released, and then relocated to the U.S. to became a major music video pioneer of the 80s). Subsequently, the expensive production of ANGST bankrupted Kargl, and this remains the only fiction feature film he ever directed -- but his placement in horror cinema history is assured with this one masterpiece. Fueled by a haunting score from Tangerine Dream's Klaus Schulze, ANGST is one of the great unsung and unappreciated horror films, and we hope that you'll join us for this special, one-night-only screening...as long as you're prepared for what you're getting into. -- Travis Crawford
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015
Doors 7:30, Movie 8:00
$10 admission, no refunds or exchanges
Trailer for the new restoration of ANGST (be warned: somewhat spoiler-ish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az6V22WNayY
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LocationPhilaMOCA (View)
531 N. 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
United States
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