Event

THE SCARLET SCORPION

a/k/a: O ESCORPIAO ESCARLATE
dir. Ivan Cardoso, 1990
90 min, Brazil
In Portuguese w/ hard-burned English subs.

With our SOUTH OF HEAVEN: Supernatural Mexican Westerns series all but a distant rider in the sunset, Spectacle has partnered with our pals at Camp Motion Pictures to bring the early works of Brazilian basement & beach auteur Ivan Cardoso to Brooklyn's big screen. Cardoso, though champion of genre film back home, was largely unknown in these United States (outside of VHS releases by Something Weird Video) until only very recently. This July we're presenting his first four forays into film in the form of 1 short and 3 features featuring more tropes than you can shake a stake at - vampires, mummies, carnivorous plants, masked villains, radio detectives, unlicensed Alfred Hitchcock overdubs, Coffin Joe cameos, and more.

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Opening with a faux national news reel, THE SCARLET SCORPION, is Cardoso's vision crystalized and funneled through one of the countries most beloved pop-culture icons - The Angel.

A billionaire playboy who fights crime, The Angel was all over comics and radio dramas. In fact, in THE SCARLET SCORPION, the news reel ends with the country at a standstill as the announcement of a new Angel show comes over the airwaves. As the story continues the events of the radio show inspire the work of a copycat - none other than Angel's archival - The Scarlet Scorpion himself! Angel must match wits with Scarlet Scorpion in order to save the love of his life - a fashion designer by the name of Gloria.

Though not horror by any stretch - THE SCARLET SCORPION is nothing if not thrilling (and hilarious). Cardoso would continue to make films into 2013 with one still listed at "in post-production" on IMDb but THE SCARLET SCORPION caps off our Summer series with a bang.