The Nickel | Independent Cinema in Clerkenwell, London

Become a member of The Nickel Cinema

The Nickel is an adult-oriented space. The films, preshow materials and space itself may contain violent, sexual and potentially offensive imagery unsuitable for under-18s or those of a sensitive disposition.

Please note we are unable to offer refunds or exchanges on tickets. No late admissions from 15 minutes after showtime.

Poster for FORBIDDEN WORLD

FORBIDDEN WORLD

(1982, USA, Allan Holzman)

A group of scientists working at a remote space research facility create a new lifeform as part of an experimental project, but the creature rapidly mutates into something violent and uncontrollable. As it escapes containment, the crew must navigate a collapsing station while facing the consequences of their own unchecked scientific ambition.

A low-budget 1980s science fiction horror film that leans heavily into practical effects, synth-heavy atmosphere, and exploitation-era pacing. Its mix of claustrophobic space setting and creature-feature violence gives it a pulpy, grindhouse energy typical of early B-movie sci-fi.

Runtime: 77 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for THE VISITOR

THE VISITOR

(1979, Italy, USA, Giulio Paradisi)

THE VISITOR

A mysterious drifter arrives in Atlanta to protect a troubled eight-year-old girl whose extraordinary psychic abilities have made her the focus of a sinister conspiracy. As supernatural forces gather around the child, an escalating battle between cosmic good and evil unfolds through a bewildering series of visions, murders and apocalyptic revelations.

Directed by Giulio Paradisi, The Visitor is one of the most singular films to emerge from the golden age of Italian genre cinema, blending science fiction, occult horror, religious allegory and Hollywood spectacle into an audacious cinematic fever dream. Featuring an astonishing international cast including Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen, John Huston, Franco Nero and Sam Peckinpah, the film defies easy categorisation. Long overlooked outside Italy, it has since become a cult favourite, celebrated for its hallucinatory imagery, outrageous ambition and complete disregard for conventional storytelling.

Runtime: 101 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES

BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES

(2020, Japan, Junta Yamaguchi)

In a small café, a seemingly ordinary television reveals a glimpse of the future: exactly two minutes ahead. The café owner and his friends experiment with this time loop, only for simple curiosity to cascade into chaos, comedy, and escalating temporal confusion. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes transforms a low-stakes premise into a labyrinth of cause and effect, where every action multiplies and timelines overlap in unexpected ways.

Yamaguchi’s long-take cinematography and meticulous real-time framing create a kinetic, immersive experience, trapping characters—and viewers—in the cascading logic of near-future sight. What begins as a playful experiment becomes a study of consequence, improvisation, and human desire to control the uncontrollable. Time here is both a tool and a trap, and connection feels urgent, fleeting, and perpetually one step ahead of itself.

Runtime: 87 mins

Certificate: 12

Poster for A NEW LOVE IN TOKYO

A NEW LOVE IN TOKYO

(1994, Japan, Banmei Takahashi)

Part whip-smart hangout comedy, part pink film erotica. A New Love in Tokyo follows Rei, an aspiring actor and professional dominatrix, as she splits her time between rehearsing experimental theatre, hanging out with her friend Ayumi - a call girl, and gleefully dominating her clients in the dungeon.

Marketed in some territories (and still occasionally referred to) as ‘Tokyo Decadence 2’, A New Love in Tokyo stands distinct as an unashamedly joyous, charming, and sexually-charged work. Directed by pinku/V-cinema legend Banmei Takahashi (Door, Door II), and shot with an energetic, moody atmosphere. Don’t miss the rare chance to catch this newly restored pink cinema classic on the big screen.

Programmed and introduced by film critic Alexander Sternberg

Runtime: 115 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for BELLE DE JOUR

BELLE DE JOUR

(1967, France, Italy, Luis Buñuel)

A young, wealthy housewife living in Paris is unable to consummate her marriage with her husband and becomes consumed by elaborate sexual fantasies. After learning about a discreet brothel where clients’ identities are protected, she begins working there during the afternoons under an assumed name while maintaining her conventional domestic life.

As her double life continues, the boundaries between fantasy and reality become increasingly unstable, and her relationships outside the brothel begin to intersect with her secret work in unexpected ways. The narrative maintains ambiguity over what is real versus imagined, sustaining a tone of psychological uncertainty throughout.

Runtime: 101 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE

THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE

(1977, France, Spain, Luis Buñuel)

A wealthy middle-aged man becomes infatuated with a young woman he meets during a train journey, initiating a turbulent and frustrating pursuit of her affection. Despite repeated encounters, she continually eludes his attempts at intimacy, appearing in shifting contexts that complicate his understanding of who she is and what she wants.

Luis Buñuel structures the narrative around repetition and contradiction, with the same events retold from different perspectives, emphasizing instability in perception and desire. The film’s fragmented storytelling and surreal interruptions create a constant tension between romantic obsession and psychological uncertainty.

Runtime: 103 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for SUCCESSIVE SLIDINGS OF PLEASURE

SUCCESSIVE SLIDINGS OF PLEASURE

(1974, France, Alain Robbe-Grillet)

A young woman is arrested after the violent death of her roommate, who is found bound to a bed with scissors driven into her chest. She is held under suspicion of murder and brought into contact with police, judges, and religious authorities as her case is examined.

During questioning, she gives shifting and contradictory accounts of events, in which reality, fantasy, sexual ritual, and courtroom procedure begin to overlap. Each version of the story alters details of the crime, the identities of those involved, and even whether the murder occurred as described.

Runtime: 102 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY MOVIE

MYSTERY MOVIE

Not for the easily offended, and strictly programmed for adult audiences only - our mystery films are eye-popping forays into the bold and bonkers world of psychotronic cinema. Expect the unacceptable.

Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Certificate: 18

Poster for ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

(1981, USA, John Carpenter)

In the near future, Manhattan has been sealed off and transformed into a maximum-security prison, its bridges and waterways guarded by the military and its inmates left to govern themselves. When the President of the United States crash-lands inside the city, former soldier and convicted criminal Snake Plissken is offered his freedom in exchange for mounting a rescue. Implanted with explosives and given only hours to complete the mission, Snake enters a ruined New York controlled by violent gangs and the self-proclaimed Duke of New York.

Written in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and eventually produced following the success of Halloween, Escape from New York combines dystopian science fiction, the Western and the urban action film. Carpenter’s vision of a decaying America was realised largely in fire-damaged areas of St Louis, whose abandoned buildings and empty streets stood in for Manhattan. Kurt Russell’s performance as Snake Plissken transformed his clean-cut Disney image and created one of the defining antiheroes of 1980s genre cinema. The film’s stripped-back world-building, electronic score and distrust of political authority subsequently influenced cyberpunk fiction, action cinema and video games.

Runtime: 99 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

(1971, USA, Mike Nichols)

College roommates Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel) begin their adult lives with sharply contrasting attitudes towards sex and relationships. Sandy approaches women with nervous idealism, while Jonathan treats intimacy as a contest governed by conquest, appearance and status. As the film follows them across several decades, their conversations and romantic entanglements—including their relationships with Susan (Candice Bergen), Bobbie (Ann-Margret) and Cindy (Cynthia O'Neal)—reveal how youthful fantasies harden into resentment, disappointment and emotional isolation.

Written by cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer and directed by Mike Nichols, Carnal Knowledge emerged during a period when American cinema was becoming more explicit in its treatment of sex, masculinity and dissatisfaction. Built around extended conversations and confrontational performances rather than conventional romantic plotting, the film examines the gulf between sexual liberation and genuine emotional maturity. Jack Nicholson delivers one of the defining performances of his early career, while Ann-Margret earned an Academy Award nomination for her fearless portrayal of Bobbie. The film's frank treatment of sexuality prompted censorship disputes in the United States, culminating in a landmark 1974 Supreme Court ruling that confirmed it was not legally obscene.

Runtime: 97 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for DANGEROUS MEN

DANGEROUS MEN

(2005, USA, John S. Rad)

After the brutal murder of her fiancé during what should have been a celebratory trip to the desert, Mina embarks on a relentless campaign of revenge against the men responsible. As her search expands, the film veers unpredictably between vigilante thriller, romantic drama, police procedural and surreal character study, embracing increasingly baffling narrative detours that defy conventional logic.

Written, directed, produced, photographed, edited and scored by Iranian-American filmmaker John S. Rad, Dangerous Men was shot intermittently over more than two decades before finally being completed in 2005 and became an international cult phenomenon, celebrated as one of the defining works of outsider cinema for its singular filmmaking style and unwavering commitment to its creator's vision.

Runtime: 88 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for ASH WEDNESDAY

ASH WEDNESDAY

(1973, USA, Larry Peerce)

Fearing that her husband is leaving her for a younger woman, wealthy American Barbara Sawyer undergoes extensive cosmetic surgery at a private clinic in Switzerland. While recovering at an exclusive Alpine resort, she waits for him to arrive and encounters Erich, a younger playboy whose attention forces her to reconsider what she has endured in the hope of preserving her marriage.

Built almost entirely around Elizabeth Taylor’s star presence, Ash Wednesday is a glossy, melancholy melodrama about ageing, beauty and the unequal pressures placed upon women. Directed by Larry Peerce and co-starring Helmut Berger and Henry Fonda, the film became notorious for its unusually graphic plastic-surgery sequences, while Taylor’s vulnerable performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Part of an Elizabeth Taylor double feature presented by programmer Ally Russell Shields

Runtime: 99 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for NIGHT WATCH

NIGHT WATCH

(1973, UK/USA, Brian G. Hutton)

Confined to her London home while recovering from a nervous breakdown, Ellen Wheeler becomes convinced she has witnessed a murder in the derelict house opposite. When neither the police nor her husband can find any evidence that a crime has taken place, Ellen's certainty begins to unravel, leaving her to question whether she is uncovering a conspiracy or losing her grip on reality.

Adapted from Lucille Fletcher's successful stage play, Night Watch reunites Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey for the final time in a stylish psychological thriller directed by Brian G. Hutton. Echoing classics such as Gaslight and Rear Window, the film blends Gothic suspense with domestic melodrama, while Taylor delivers one of her strongest performances of the 1970s as a woman whose testimony is dismissed by everyone around her.

Part of an Elizabeth Taylor double feature presented by programmer Ally Russell Shields

Runtime: 99 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for PUTNEY SWOPE

PUTNEY SWOPE

(1969, USA, Robert Downey Sr.)

When a sudden boardroom shuffle leaves an unlikely successor in charge of a major Madison Avenue advertising firm, Putney Swope—a lone Black executive in a sea of complacent white colleagues—seizes the opportunity to upend the system from within. Renaming the agency and firing much of its staff, he installs a new, mostly Black creative team determined to reject the hollow language and manipulative tactics of corporate America. What follows is a chaotic attempt to sell rebellion back to the very culture it critiques.

Directed by Robert Downey Sr. and starring Arnold Johnson in the title role, the film unfolds as a sharp, absurdist satire of race, capitalism, and the commodification of dissent. Commercials become surreal sketches, slogans turn into punchlines, and revolution is filtered through the machinery of marketing. Irreverent and deliberately rough-edged, Putney Swope captures the volatile spirit of late-1960s America while questioning whether true change can survive inside the structures it seeks to dismantle.

Runtime: 85 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX?

WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX?

(2010, Uganda, Nabwana Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey)

A mafia leader's brother is captured in a shootout, prompting a revenge attack on the army camp. But when troop leader Captain Alex is killed during a raid, a violent war escalates between the two sides. The captain's brother takes matters into his own hands, while mafia henchmen take to the skies to bomb Kampala.

Narrated with energy and wit by 'Video Joker' Emmie, ultra-low budget thriller Who Killed Captain Alex became an international viral sensation when its trailer first hit YouTube. Self-taught film-maker Nabwana Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey produced, directed, shot, wrote and edited the film from his home in the slums of Uganda (a.k.a 'Wakaliwood') for under $200.

Runtime: 68 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THE STABILIZER

THE STABILIZER

(1986, Indonesia, Arizal)

After the murder of his fiancée by flamboyant drug smuggler Greg Rainmaker, whose spiked shoes double as weapons, Peter Goldson sheds his former life and becomes “The Stabilizer,” a vigilante devoted to restoring balance to a city sliding into criminal excess. When Rainmaker kidnaps the eminent Professor Protost, Goldson forms an uneasy alliance with the professor’s daughter, Christina, navigating docklands and industrial corridors in pursuit of both rescue and revenge.

An artifact of exploitation-inflected action cinema, The Stabilizer frames personal vendetta against a backdrop of narcotics trafficking and scientific intrigue. Its stark urban settings and blunt confrontations sketch a moral universe where order is reclaimed through force, even as the film hints that the line between justice and obsession may be perilously thin.

Runtime: 87 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for GEMINI

GEMINI

(1999, Japan, Shinya Tsukamoto)

Respected physician Yukio Daitokuji appears to lead an enviable life in Meiji-era Japan, until the sudden deaths of his parents and the arrival of a mysterious stranger bearing his exact likeness begin to unravel everything he believes about his family and himself. As buried secrets emerge, Yukio is drawn into a dark confrontation with his own past, where questions of identity, class and desire become inseparable from violence and revenge.

Adapted loosely from a story by Edogawa Ranpo, Gemini sees cult filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto exchange the industrial nightmare landscapes of Tetsuo: The Iron Man for an exquisitely realised period setting, without abandoning his fascination with the primal impulses lurking beneath civilised society. Combining Gothic melodrama, psychological horror and social critique, the film remains one of the most visually sumptuous and accessible works in Tsukamoto's extraordinary body of work.

Presented by critic and programmer James Balmont.

Runtime: 84 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for KILLING

KILLING

(2018, Japan, Shinya Tsukamoto)

In the final years of the Edo period, young ronin Mokunoshin lives a quiet existence in a rural farming village, where his extraordinary skill with a sword has never been tested in earnest. When a seasoned samurai invites him to join the growing civil conflict, an act of sudden violence forces Mokunoshin to confront the gulf between the idealised image of the warrior and the brutal reality of taking a human life.

Written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Killing strips the samurai film back to its psychological and physical essentials. Rejecting the heroic conventions of the genre, Tsukamoto presents violence as chaotic, terrifying and morally corrosive, continuing the visceral approach that has defined his work since Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival, the film offers a stark meditation on masculinity, duty and the human cost of war.

Presented by critic and programmer James Balmont.

Runtime: 80 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for TOTAL RECALL

TOTAL RECALL

(1990, USA, Paul Verhoeven)

Construction worker Douglas Quaid has long been haunted by dreams of Mars, despite never having visited the planet. Hoping to experience the adventure artificially, he purchases an implanted memory from the Rekall Corporation, but the procedure appears to unlock a hidden identity. Pursued by assassins and unsure whether his experiences are real or manufactured, Quaid is drawn into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to the colonised Martian frontier.

Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dick's short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall combines explosive action with philosophical questions about memory, identity and reality. Directed by Paul Verhoeven at the height of his Hollywood career and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film balances spectacular practical effects, dark satire and uncompromising violence to create one of the defining science-fiction blockbusters of the 1990s. Its ambitious visual design earned a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Runtime: 113 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THE FOURTH MAN

THE FOURTH MAN

(1983, Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven)

Alcoholic writer Gerard Reve travels to the Dutch city of Vlissingen to deliver a literary lecture, where he becomes fascinated by Christine Halsslag, an enigmatic beauty with a history of dead lovers. As Gerard embarks on an increasingly obsessive relationship with Christine and her younger partner, visions, religious symbolism and erotic fantasies begin to blur the boundaries between intuition, desire and prophecy.

Made immediately before Paul Verhoeven's move to Hollywood, The Fourth Man is widely regarded as the culmination of his Dutch period. Adapted from Gerard Reve's novel, the film fuses psychological thriller, black comedy and erotic melodrama while exploring Catholic guilt, sexuality and the unreliability of perception. Rich with visual symbolism and dream imagery, it remains one of Verhoeven's most audacious and accomplished works.

Runtime: 102 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for RATS!

RATS!

(2024, USA, Maxwell Nalevansky and Carl Fry)

It's 2007 in the fictional town of Pfresno, Texas, where teenage graffiti artist Raphael finds himself swept into an increasingly deranged chain of events involving corrupt police officers, teenage delinquents, meth dealers, plutonium, a pet pig and an ever-growing cast of eccentrics. What begins as a minor arrest rapidly escalates into a gleefully chaotic odyssey in which every new twist is more absurd than the last.

Written and directed by Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky, RATS! embraces the anything-goes spirit of underground American cult cinema, combining deadpan humour, gross-out comedy and DIY punk energy. Set against the backdrop of mid-2000s emo culture, the film became a festival favourite before earning wider acclaim for its relentless invention, anarchic storytelling and refusal to follow a single convention for more than a few minutes.

Runtime: 85 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY MOVIE

MYSTERY MOVIE

Not for the easily offended, and strictly programmed for adult audiences only - our mystery films are eye-popping forays into the bold and bonkers world of psychotronic cinema. Expect the unacceptable.

Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: NATIONAL SPORT + Q&A

TFFF: NATIONAL SPORT + Q&A

Professional queuer lan is content to spend his life waiting. As his girlfriend, Anna, prepares to move to Australia, he avoids making decisions that might change their future together, finding greater comfort in queues and conversations with strangers than in confronting the end of their relationship. Moving through chance encounters and unfinished ambitions, lan reflects on time, commitment and his dormant dream of
becoming a writer.

This World Premiere will be followed by a Q&A with the director William North.

Runtime: 120 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: HARD TIME LOVER

TFFF: HARD TIME LOVER

Rio de Janeiro, the night time: Miguel runs into his ex-girlfriend outside his apartment, and she speaks in riddles before her new boyfriend takes her away. Still processing, Miguel meets a masked enigma in the hallway, who may put something inside his head. Driven by forces beyond his understanding, Miguel follows an occult pattern through the city streets that will take him to a dark underworld haunted by past and future violence, as well as harsh noise music.

UK Premiere.

Runtime: 87 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: ERAMUS + Q&A

TFFF: ERAMUS + Q&A

When a romantic interest vanishes without explanation, a woman becomes convinced he is dead and that the truth has been deliberately obscured. Her search for answers leads through psychic mediums, social media archives, and conversations with LLMs, becoming a contemporary katabasis into digital culture's emerging spiritual infrastructures.

This World Premiere will be followed by a Q&A with the director Oliver James Hunt.

Runtime: 80 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: SOFTSHELL + Q&A

TFFF: SOFTSHELL + Q&A

Following the death of their mother, a Thai-American brother and sister navigate living in the New York City and beyond. Mourning in their own subdued ways, Jamie starts her new job at a Zoo while Narin continues his work at a neighborhood Ji-Jitsu gym. When Jamie has an awkward interaction with a guy she's seeing, she decides to plan an impromptu trip for her and her brother to get out of the city. Along the way, and upon their return to New York, the two siblings face a series of unexpected revelations.

This UK Premiere will be followed by a video Q&A with the director Jinho Myung.

Runtime: 87 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: PLANE FILM + Q&A

TFFF: PLANE FILM + Q&A

In an effort to continue using filmmaking as exposure therapy (after conquering her fear of the Tube in Tube Film), filmmaker Orla Smith tackles an even bigger fear: planes. On a trip to Porto, the camera is wielded as a shield against panic attacks. But this time, things don't go
exactly to plan.

This World Premiere will be followed by a Q&A with the director Orla Smith.

Runtime: 61 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: AFFECTION AFFECTION + Q&A

TFFF: AFFECTION AFFECTION + Q&A

In the winter on the French Riviera, a teenage girl goes missing on her birthday. Géraldine, an employee in the mayor's office, takes on the role of a detective. Versions of the truth rapidly multiply and she struggles not to be overwhelmed by all the gossip and theories. The unexpected return of her mother will not facilitate her task. Small villages, it is well known, are full of small crimes...

This UK Premiere will be followed by a video Q&A with the directors Alexia Walther & Maxime Matray.

Runtime: 101 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: SITTING IDLE + Q&A

TFFF: SITTING IDLE + Q&A

A meandering, meditative visual poem that follows the life of a nameless character over the course of a year - as he traverses across the country, meeting and living with friends along the way. Sitting Idle presents an unconventional plot-free narrative that acts as a visual longitudinal study and diary - exploring feelings of loneliness, alienation, and jadedness amid the death throes of a decaying urban landscape and changing social climate. A major global event looms.

This UK Premiere will be followed by a Q&A with the director Luke Olutunmogun.

Runtime: 86 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TFFF: BELIEF IS NOT WITHOUT PATHOS + Q&A

TFFF: BELIEF IS NOT WITHOUT PATHOS + Q&A

The chance discovery of a cache of photographs sets off a spiralling journey into the distant past; aided by a medley of re-enactors, paintings, murals and statues that are trying desperately to make sense of it. A documentary.

This UK Premiere will be followed by a Q&A with the director Owen Vince.

Runtime: 92 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for BAD LIEUTENANT

BAD LIEUTENANT

(1992, USA, Abel Ferrara)

A corrupt New York City police lieutenant spirals through a world of drugs, gambling, and moral decay, abusing his authority while sinking deeper into self-destruction. When a brutal crime shocks the community, he becomes obsessed with the case, confronting questions of guilt, redemption, and faith as his own life unravels.

Abel Ferrara’s film is raw and confrontational, driven by an intense central performance and an unflinching look at addiction and spiritual crisis. Its loose, almost documentary-like style gives the story a sense of immediacy, pushing the character’s descent into something deeply uncomfortable and difficult to shake.

Runtime: 96 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for DRILLER KILLER

DRILLER KILLER

(1979, USA, Abel Ferrara)

A struggling painter in downtown Manhattan finds his creative frustrations compounded by financial pressure, intrusive roommates, and the relentless noise of a neighbouring punk band. As his psychological state deteriorates, the boundaries between artistic desperation and personal collapse erode, culminating in nocturnal escapades of violence that steadily overwhelm his grip on reality.

Positioned at the intersection of no-budget punk cinema and urban psychodrama, Driller Killer captures late-1970s New York at its most frayed—tense, impoverished, and artistically volatile. Ferrara’s portrait of creative burnout situates horror within the material conditions of the city, reflecting the economic precarity and cultural fragmentation that shaped the downtown scene.

Runtime: 96 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for STRAY CAT ROCK - DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS

STRAY CAT ROCK - DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS

(1970, Japan, Yasuharu Hasebe)

When a turf war erupts between rival youth gangs in Tokyo, fearless biker Ako and her all-female crew find themselves caught in the escalating conflict after offering protection to a young man on the run. As violence spills onto the streets, shifting loyalties, gang rivalries and generational tensions force the women to fight for their independence in a world dominated by organised crime and male authority.

The first entry in Nikkatsu's influential Stray Cat Rock series, Delinquent Girl Boss helped redefine the Japanese delinquent film at the beginning of the 1970s. Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe and starring the iconic Meiko Kaji in one of her earliest leading roles, the film combines pop-art style, countercultural fashion and kinetic action with a distinctly feminist edge. Its blend of youthful rebellion, psychedelic energy and exploitation cinema would prove enormously influential on both Japanese genre filmmaking and later international cult cinema.

Runtime: 81 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for STRAY CAT ROCK - SEX HUNTER

STRAY CAT ROCK - SEX HUNTER

(1970, Japan, Yasuharu Hasebe)

Meiko Kaji headlined her first ongoing series with a group of five girl-gang biker films, made during Nikkatsu Studio’s heyday of “New Action” films, which amped up the sex and violence while addressing contemporary social issues from a distinctly left-wing point of view.

Sex Hunter, the third entry in the series, stars Kaji as the leader of the Alleycats and girlfriend to the morose, possibly impotent Baron (Tatsuya Fuji), who leads a biker gang of his own in attacks on mixed-race kids around the US military base in Yokosuka. Co-starring burly, half-Italian actor Rikiya Yasuoka (Tampopo) as tough outsider Azuma, his not-quite-consummated romance with Kaji burns up the screen as their increasingly violent brawls with Baron’s gang, as well as the local yakuza, pile up the casualties on both sides.

Runtime: 93 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

(1974, USA, Martin Scorsese)

After the sudden death of her husband, Alice Hyatt leaves her small New Mexico town with her young son, determined to pursue the singing career she abandoned years earlier. As the pair travel across the American Southwest in search of a fresh start, Alice navigates a series of jobs, relationships and setbacks while striving to build a life on her own terms.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore marked a significant departure from the crime films that would define much of his career. Blending comedy, romance and social realism, the film offered an unusually nuanced portrait of female independence in 1970s America and earned Ellen Burstyn the Academy Award for Best Actress. Warm, funny and deeply humane, it remains one of the most distinctive entries in Scorsese's remarkable filmography.

Presented by Agnė Qami of discreet.cine.

Runtime: 112 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for WWW.RACHELORMONT.COM

WWW.RACHELORMONT.COM

(2024, USA, Peter Vack)

Rachel Ormont lives in a tightly controlled dystopian environment where her existence is shaped by advertising, surveillance, and a parasocial relationship with a pop star known as Mommy 6.0. As her sense of self becomes increasingly unstable, the boundaries between identity, media, and performance begin to dissolve in a surreal feedback loop of consumption and control.

A dense, hyper-stylised experiment in digital-era satire, the film collapses internet culture, identity formation, and performance into a fragmented, overwhelming experience. Its abrasive structure and sensory overload aesthetic turn contemporary media life into something both absurd and unsettlingly intimate.

Runtime: 80 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN 3D

FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN 3D

(1973, Italy/France, Paul Morrissey)

Presented by The Evolution of Horror: Baron Frankenstein pursues a grotesque scientific mission to construct a perfect master race, harvesting bodies and limbs from the peasantry to assemble his ideal creations. As his experiments descend into obsession, sexual pathology, and farce, the boundaries between aristocratic authority and abject violence collapse. Excessive, confrontational, and deliberately artificial, Paul Morrissey’s Flesh for Frankenstein reframes the horror myth as a corrosive satire of power, reproduction, and class, presenting a diseased vision of Europe where ideology and flesh are equally disposable.

Runtime: 95 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY MOVIE

MYSTERY MOVIE

Not for the easily offended, and strictly programmed for adult audiences only - our mystery films are eye-popping forays into the bold and bonkers world of psychotronic cinema. Expect the unacceptable.

Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Certificate: 18

Poster for HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: AS TARAS DO MINI VAMPIRO + short film BOX BALL

HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: AS TARAS DO MINI VAMPIRO + short film BOX BALL

(1987, Brazil, José Adalto Cardoso)

A lost classic from the Cinema da Boca do Lixo movement in 1980s São Paulo, Brazil. This is fun enough to watch without knowing what is going on, but here we have had it subtitled in English for the first time!

This film stars dwarf actor, Chumbinho, as a tiny vampire whose fangs are so small and underdeveloped he can’t break the skin when he goes in for a bite! To get the blood he so desperately needs, he's reduced to sucking on used menstrual pads (when he isn't lucky enough to get the menstrual blood straight from the source). As if his personal problems weren't enough, the mayor - after learning about our hero terrorizing young couples having sex in town - has hired a vampire hunter, determined to capture the mini vampire as a tourist attraction.

HONK! Adult Magazine is created by a husband and wife team a.k.a. GREASY CINEMA, who collect and preserve adult media - in print and on film - curating the weirdest and wildest of the absurd and obscure for the world to see. HONK! Adult Magazine combines vintage and contemporary treasures to celebrate how freakish humanity can be.

Runtime: 70 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: A NIGHT AT THE PEEP SHOW VOL.I

HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: A NIGHT AT THE PEEP SHOW VOL.I

Encore! Encore! Our sold out show from earlier this year is back for round 2! We immortalized the show on stunning VHS under the title HONK PARTY TAPE #1, and we will be screening it from VHS here!

See the best of HONK!’s archive of 8mm hardcore loops from golden age of porn - digitised and restored by the curators and presented with original musical scores from a variety of perverted noise musicians. Witness good triumph over evil in BATMAN AND ROBIN VS DICKNOSE, a young Jamie Gillis and Serena in bisexual scene THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, and even find out what’s given SON OF QUAZIMODO the “hump”… and MUCH MORE!!!

HONK! Adult Magazine is created by a husband and wife team a.k.a. GREASY CINEMA, who collect and preserve adult media - in print and on film - curating the weirdest and wildest of the absurd and obscure for the world to see. HONK! Adult Magazine combines vintage and contemporary treasures to celebrate how freakish humanity can be.

Runtime: 90 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: A NIGHT AT THE PEEP SHOW VOL.II

HONK! ADULT MAGAZINE PRESENTS: A NIGHT AT THE PEEP SHOW VOL.II

A new installment of HONK! Magazine’s curated hardcore films, with wild new music and never before seen treasures! See the best of HONK!’s archive of 8mm hardcore loops from golden age of porn - digitised and restored by the curators and presented with original musical scores from a variety of perverted noise musicians. Find our what an institutionalised sex psycho does with his nurse when life hands him a root vegetable! See an enormous appendage unsheathing itself like a turtle’s head as if by magic! Witness an actual skull-fucking! Plus MUCH MORE!!!

HONK! Adult Magazine is created by a husband and wife team a.k.a. GREASY CINEMA, who collect and preserve adult media - in print and on film - curating the weirdest and wildest of the absurd and obscure for the world to see. HONK! Adult Magazine combines vintage and contemporary treasures to celebrate how freakish humanity can be.

Runtime: 90 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY DOJO: SURPRISE KUNG FU MATINEES

MYSTERY DOJO: SURPRISE KUNG FU MATINEES

Enter the 36 Chambers of Grindhouse Cinema, with these Sunday mystery martial-arts matinees that harken back to the glory days of 42nd Street.

Expect deep-cut chopsocky plucked from the 70s and 80s screening on both digital and VHS - with bone-crushing bashers from the genre that mixed Chinese folklore and fantasy, spaghetti westerns, melodrama, Japanese samurai films and American genre cinema into an electrifying combo that inspired both the future of action films - and hip hop.

These Kung Fu flicks became an international sensation in the 1970s, particularly at the Grindhouse cinemas that proliferated in impoverished inner-cities. Here were movies in which working-class heroes stood up to oppression, speaking loud and clear to the marginalised underclasses around the world.

Bring the ruckus!

Certificate: 18

Poster for PLEIN SOLEIL

PLEIN SOLEIL

(1960, France/Italy, René Clément)

Young drifter Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to persuade the wealthy Philippe Greenleaf to return home, but quickly becomes seduced by Philippe's glamorous lifestyle of yachts, sun-drenched villas and effortless privilege. As admiration turns into envy, Ripley's desire to assume another man's identity leads him down an increasingly dangerous path of deception, manipulation and murder.

René Clément's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley transformed the novel into one of the defining psychological thrillers of European cinema. Bathed in the dazzling Mediterranean light suggested by its title, the film contrasts idyllic surroundings with mounting moral corruption, while Alain Delon delivers the performance that established him as an international star. Its elegant visual style and chilling portrait of identity, obsession and ambition have made it a lasting influence on crime cinema and later adaptations of Highsmith's work.

Runtime: 118 mins

Certificate: PG

Poster for MR KLEIN

MR KLEIN

(1976, France/Italy, Joseph Losey)

Paris, 1942. Art dealer Robert Klein profits from buying valuable possessions cheaply from Jewish families desperate to flee occupied France. When he begins receiving mail intended for another Robert Klein—a Jewish man sharing his name—his attempts to uncover the stranger's identity draw him into an increasingly unsettling labyrinth of bureaucracy, suspicion and mistaken identity, where the distinction between hunter and hunted begins to disappear.

Directed by Joseph Losey from a screenplay by Franco Solinas, Mr. Klein is a masterful psychological thriller that examines complicity, identity and moral indifference under the Vichy regime. Alain Delon delivers one of the finest performances of his career, anchoring a film that combines Kafkaesque paranoia with meticulous historical detail. Winner of three César Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, it remains one of the most powerful cinematic explorations of occupied France.

Runtime: 123 mins

Certificate: 12

Poster for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

(1978, Czechoslovakia, Juraj Herz)

A humble village girl becomes the captive of a grotesque Beast, a figure both terrifying and tragic. As she navigates his eerie, shadow-filled castle, fear gives way to curiosity and compassion, revealing the humanity hidden beneath his monstrous exterior.

A darkly gothic and visually striking fairy tale, Juraj Herz’s Beauty and the Beast blends horror and romance, exploring obsession, transformation, and the thin line between terror and tenderness.

Runtime: 91 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for AUDITION

AUDITION

(1999, Japan, Takashi Miike)

A widowed businessman attends a series of auditions to find a new wife, seeking companionship through what begins as a seemingly innocent and orderly process. He becomes fascinated by one quiet, enigmatic woman whose demeanor conceals a darker, unpredictable side. As their relationship develops, hidden obsessions and violent impulses emerge, turning courtship into terror and control into a deadly game.

Takashi Miike’s Audition is a slow-burning psychological horror that lulls viewers with calm, meticulous pacing before erupting into shocking violence. The film explores desire, loneliness, and the dangers of idealizing another person, gradually revealing the thin line between attraction and obsession. Disturbing, tense, and unforgettable, Audition transforms a conventional romantic premise into a haunting study of horror and human cruelty.

Runtime: 115 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for SHRIME TIME: A NIGHT OF BIZARRO UNDERSEEN ANIME

SHRIME TIME: A NIGHT OF BIZARRO UNDERSEEN ANIME

Shrime Time, now in its first orbit round the sun, continues to serve prime pedigree chum for the eyeball in your bum.

Anime and Japanese experimental animation. Offensive, reductive, perverse, bizarre, abrasive, gratuitously contentious, depraved and unhinged—rarely sentimental, always beautiful, mental and morose. Ninety minutes no warranty.

Masterpiece and disaster-piece are bedfellows here. The rectacular spectacle operates in the shadows, every film a mystery film. No holes barred: mecha, mutant, mafia, tentacles and torture, saccharine sweetness and vapid vaudeville slapstick combine to enshrine the Shrime.

The name comes from the Shirime, a yokai whose entire reason for existing is flashing samurai with an eyeball where the sun daren’t shine. No warning. No context. Just b-cinema’s whole philosophy, distilled into a single grotesque wink.

Nothing evades the all-seeing rectacular spectacle.

All hail the nickel and all who sail with her. The time is Shrime.

Certificate: 18

Poster for BYZANTIUM

BYZANTIUM

(2012, UK/Ireland, Neil Jordan)

After arriving in a quiet English seaside town, the enigmatic Clara and her withdrawn teenage daughter Eleanor attempt to build new lives while concealing a secret that has bound them together for generations. As Eleanor forms her first genuine friendships and begins to reveal the truth about their existence, the violent past they have spent centuries fleeing threatens to catch up with them once again.

Directed by Neil Jordan and adapted from Moira Buffini's play A Vampire Story, Byzantium reimagines vampire mythology through a distinctly female perspective. Rejecting many of the genre's familiar conventions, the film blends Gothic horror, dark fantasy and intimate character drama while exploring themes of power, exploitation and motherhood. Led by acclaimed performances from Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton, it has become recognised as one of the most distinctive British vampire films of the twenty-first century.

Introduced by writer Susan Jonusas.

Runtime: 118 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN

A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN

(1971, Italy/France/Spain, Lucio Fulci)

Carol Hammond, the daughter of a prominent politician, is tormented by increasingly vivid dreams involving her glamorous, free-spirited neighbour Julia Durer. When Julia is found brutally murdered, the line between Carol's nightmares and reality begins to dissolve, drawing her into a labyrinth of murder, hallucination and psychological manipulation where nothing can be trusted.

Directed by Lucio Fulci before his celebrated cycle of gore films, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin is one of the masterpieces of the Italian giallo. Combining surreal dream imagery, elaborate murder set pieces and psychedelic visual design, the film reflects the influence of the sexual revolution while pushing the boundaries of censorship with its graphic violence and eroticism. Featuring a mesmerising score by Ennio Morricone and standout performances from Florinda Bolkan, Stanley Baker and Anita Strindberg, it remains one of Fulci's most elegant and accomplished works.

Runtime: 103 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for SLEEPING DOGS

SLEEPING DOGS

(1977, New Zealand, Roger Donaldson)

Starring the late Sam Neill as disillusioned drifter Smith who retreats to an isolated stretch of the New Zealand countryside in search of peace. His solitude is shattered when an authoritarian government tightens its grip on the country, forcing him into the path of a growing resistance movement. Reluctantly drawn into a conflict he never sought, Smith finds himself at the centre of a struggle that threatens to erupt into civil war.

Based on C. K. Stead's novel Smith's Dream, Sleeping Dogs is widely regarded as the film that launched the modern New Zealand film industry. Directed by Roger Donaldson and featuring Sam Neill in his first leading screen role, the film combines political thriller, action cinema and dystopian speculation to imagine an alarmingly plausible slide into authoritarianism. Decades later, its portrait of democratic institutions under pressure remains as compelling as ever.

Runtime: 107 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for CRASH

CRASH

(1996, Canada/UK, David Cronenberg)

After surviving a devastating car accident, film producer James Ballard is introduced to a clandestine subculture whose members derive erotic and psychological fascination from automobile collisions. As Ballard and his wife become immersed in this increasingly obsessive world, the boundaries between sex, technology, violence and desire begin to dissolve in ways that challenge every conventional notion of intimacy.

Adapted from J. G. Ballard's controversial novel, Crash is one of David Cronenberg's most provocative and uncompromising films. Rejecting sensationalism in favour of clinical detachment, Cronenberg explores the relationship between modern technology, the body and human desire with unsettling precision. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the film sparked fierce debate upon its release and remains one of the defining works of transgressive cinema.

Runtime: 100 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for SINGAPORE SLING

SINGAPORE SLING

(1990, Greece, Nikos Nikolaidis)

A wounded private detective, searching for a missing woman, stumbles into the decaying estate of a mother and daughter whose lives revolve around sadistic ritual, role-play, and psychological domination. Captured and subjected to their shifting fantasies, he becomes an unwilling participant in a closed-loop world where grief, desire, and violence merge into a delirious theatricality. As identities blur and power dynamics mutate, the house transforms into a claustrophobic arena of obsession and irreversible degradation.

A defining entry in the extreme European underground of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Singapore Sling fuses film noir tropes with surrealist melodrama and confrontational exploitation aesthetics. Nikolaidis deploys high-contrast black-and-white cinematography, mannered performances, and deliberately disorienting tonal shifts to create a work that is both perversely stylised and defiantly abrasive — a meditation on mourning and madness rendered through operatic excess.

Runtime: 111 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY MOVIE

MYSTERY MOVIE

Not for the easily offended, and strictly programmed for adult audiences only - our mystery films are eye-popping forays into the bold and bonkers world of psychotronic cinema. Expect the unacceptable.

Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Certificate: 18

Poster for CASSANDRA CAT

CASSANDRA CAT

(1963, Czechoslovakia, Vojtěch Jasný)

A magician living in a small Czech town discovers that his cat possesses a strange power: whenever people look at it while wearing special glasses, their true personalities and hidden desires are revealed in bursts of vivid colour. The cat’s arrival throws the town into chaos, exposing hypocrisy, jealousy, and repression among its respectable citizens.

Blending fantasy, satire, and children’s fable, the film uses playful visual experimentation to critique conformity and social performance. Its shifting colours and whimsical tone mask a sharp commentary on authority, desire, and the fear of emotional honesty.

Runtime: 104 mins

Certificate: PG

Poster for EXISTENZ

EXISTENZ

(1999, Canada, David Cronenberg)

Game design as body horror; virtual reality as wetware infection. David Cronenberg’s late-century provocation drops us into a near-future where entertainment isn’t streamed or projected but surgically plugged into the spine. Organic consoles pulse like exposed organs, bio-ports gape in the lower back, and reality itself flickers under interrogation.

This is conspiracy thriller reduced to viscera: guns grown from bone, fast-food mutations, corporate espionage played out in abattoirs and back rooms. Jennifer Jason Leigh’s celebrity game designer navigates shifting layers of simulation with manic conviction, while Jude Law plays the neophyte dragged — willingly or not — into recursive worlds where authorship, agency, and even identity are up for grabs.

Cronenberg treats technology not as sleek futurism but as penetrative biology. Every interface is sexual, every system unstable. eXistenZ doesn’t ask whether we’re inside a game; it suggests the question is already obsolete.

Runtime: 97 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TENEBRAE

TENEBRAE

(1982, Italy, Dario Argento)

A series of brutal murders terrorizes a small Italian town, leaving the police baffled and the community in fear. A young woman becomes the focal point of the investigation as strange occurrences and mysterious figures point toward a supernatural presence, suggesting that the killings may be linked to dark, hidden forces rather than ordinary criminals.

Dario Argento delivers a masterful giallo that combines intricate murder mysteries with visually stunning set pieces and suspenseful camerawork. The film’s stylish violence, eerie soundtrack, and tense pacing create a hypnotic, unsettling atmosphere that has cemented it as a cornerstone of Italian horror cinema.

Runtime: 96 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THEY LIVE

THEY LIVE

(1988, USA, John Carpenter)

Arriving in Los Angeles in search of work, drifter John Nada stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses that reveal a hidden reality. Through their lenses, advertising slogans become commands, money displays subliminal messages, and a significant portion of the population is exposed as alien beings disguised as ordinary humans. As Nada attempts to understand the scale of the deception, he becomes involved with an underground resistance movement determined to expose the forces manipulating society from behind the scenes.

Released at the height of the Reagan era, They Live combines science fiction, action cinema, and political satire to critique consumer culture, economic inequality, and the influence of mass media. Adapted loosely from Ray Nelson's short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning, the film translates Carpenter's recurring interest in outsiders and hidden power structures into one of his most overtly political works. Although initially received as a genre curiosity, it has since become a widely discussed text of late twentieth-century American culture, with its imagery and slogans continuing to resonate far beyond their original context.

Runtime: 94 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THE WICKER MAN

THE WICKER MAN

(1973, UK, Robin Hardy)

When a devout Christian police sergeant travels to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, he encounters a close-knit community whose pagan beliefs and seasonal rituals stand in stark contrast to his own. As his investigation deepens, every answer seems only to raise more disturbing questions, leading him towards a revelation he could never have anticipated.

Directed by Robin Hardy from a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, The Wicker Man overturns the conventions of the traditional horror film, replacing monsters and haunted houses with folklore, religious conflict and mounting psychological unease. Christopher Lee considered Lord Summerisle to be his finest performance, while Paul Giovanni's extraordinary folk-inspired soundtrack became inseparable from the film's haunting atmosphere. Initially released in a heavily truncated version, it has since been restored and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest British horror films ever made.

Runtime: 94 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for THE CREMATOR

THE CREMATOR

(1969, Czechoslovakia, Juraj Herz)

Karel, a mild-mannered crematorium worker, becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea of “cleansing” humanity through death, aligning his private rituals with the rise of Nazi ideology. As his moral compass erodes, he descends into madness, turning the people around him into victims of his delusional sense of duty.

A darkly comic and chilling horror, The Cremator blends psychological terror with surreal satire, offering a haunting meditation on complicity, obsession, and the banality of evil.

Runtime: 101 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for SUPERVIXENS

SUPERVIXENS

(1975, USA, Russ Meyer)

After a violent confrontation leaves his wife dead, restless drifter Clint Ramsey flees across the American Southwest, drifting from one bizarre encounter to the next with a succession of larger-than-life women. As Clint attempts to outrun both the law and his own misfortunes, his journey becomes an increasingly surreal blend of sex, violence and absurd comedy.

Written and directed by Russ Meyer, Supervixens is one of the defining works of the filmmaker's outrageous blend of sexploitation, satire and cartoonish Americana. Made in the wake of the commercial success of The Seven Minutes, the film sees Meyer return to the anarchic style that made him famous, combining kinetic editing, exaggerated performances and comic-book excess with a gleeful send-up of American machismo. It remains one of the most exuberant and influential films in the history of exploitation cinema.

Runtime: 106 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for BLUE MONDAY - MYSTERY EROTIC CINEMA

BLUE MONDAY - MYSTERY EROTIC CINEMA

Blue Monday presents undisclosed selections from the deepest recesses of horny cult cinema - encapsulating everything from erotic thrillers, carnal noir, golden age porno and transgressive sleaze from both the underground and the mainstream.

This screening will feature adult-themed content, including sexually explicit and risqué material. Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Adults only.

Certificate: 18

Poster for GAME OF DEATH

GAME OF DEATH

(1978, Hong Kong/USA, Robert Clouse)

Martial arts superstar Billy Lo finds himself targeted by a powerful criminal syndicate determined to exploit his fame for their own gain. Refusing to submit to intimidation, Billy is forced into a deadly confrontation that culminates in an ascent through a towering pagoda, where each level presents a formidable new opponent testing a different style of combat.

Left unfinished following Bruce Lee's death in 1973, Game of Death was eventually completed by Golden Harvest using body doubles, archive footage and newly shot material under director Robert Clouse. Although the finished film differs dramatically from Lee's original vision, its climactic pagoda sequence—featuring unforgettable encounters with masters including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dan Inosanto—remains among the most celebrated martial arts scenes ever filmed. The film's yellow-and-black jumpsuit has since become one of the most enduring images in action cinema.

Runtime: 101 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE

THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE

(1980, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Joseph Kong, Nam Gi‑Nam)

A brilliant professor uses cells from the recently deceased Bruce Lee to create three fully grown clones, each trained in martial arts and sent out to battle crime and corruption across Southeast Asia. One clone infiltrates a film production tied to a gold smuggling racket, while the others are dispatched to stop a mad scientist’s sinister plans, leading to a series of increasingly absurd fights and confrontations before the chaos finally resolves itself.

The film is a wild, over-the-top example of Bruceploitation, packing nonstop kung fu action, outrageous stunts, and madcap sci-fi elements into a delightfully ridiculous package. Its sheer audacity and campy energy have earned it cult status among fans of 1970s and 80s martial arts cinema.

Runtime: 81 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for TIMES SQUARE

TIMES SQUARE

(1980, USA, Allan Moyle)

Runaway teenager Pamela Pearl escapes from a psychiatric hospital and forms an unlikely friendship with Nicky Marotta, a rebellious streetwise girl surviving on the margins of New York City. Reinventing themselves as the punk duo "The Sleez Sisters", the pair become underground sensations, but their growing notoriety brings them into conflict with parents, police and the institutions determined to separate them.

Released at the dawn of the 1980s, Times Square captures the final years of Manhattan's most notorious era, transforming the decaying streets of Midtown into the backdrop for an exuberant celebration of youth, rebellion and self-invention. Directed by Allan Moyle and featuring an iconic soundtrack packed with new wave and punk artists including Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Lou Reed and The Ramones, the film initially struggled at the box office before becoming a beloved cult classic and an enduring portrait of New York's vanished underground.

Runtime: 111 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET

FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET

(1973, USA, Andy Milligan)

Working as a stripper in the heart of New York's infamous Forty-Second Street, Dusty navigates a world of hustlers, performers, lonely regulars and fleeting romances while searching for something beyond the grind of daily survival. Rather than building towards sensational violence or exploitation, the film drifts through the lives of its characters with surprising tenderness, capturing an overlooked corner of the city on the eve of profound change.

Long believed lost before being rediscovered and restored decades later, Fleshpot on 42nd Street occupies a unique place between exploitation cinema and American independent filmmaking. Directed by Andy Milligan under the pseudonym Kelly Gordon, it strips away the lurid expectations of its title in favour of an unusually compassionate portrait of New York's sex industry and Times Square's disappearing grindhouse culture. Today it stands as one of the most distinctive and emotionally resonant films in Milligan's remarkable body of work.

Runtime: 89 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for KAMIKAZE GIRLS

KAMIKAZE GIRLS

(2004, Japan, Tetsuya Nakashima)

Obsessed with Rococo fashion and the fantasy of an aristocratic eighteenth-century France, solitary Lolita Momoko lives a life of elaborate daydreams in rural Japan. Her carefully constructed world is disrupted when she forms an unlikely friendship with Ichigo, a foul-mouthed member of an all-female biker gang. Despite their opposing personalities, the pair embark on a series of misadventures that gradually reveal an unexpected bond.

Adapted from Novala Takemoto's novel, Kamikaze Girls established Tetsuya Nakashima as one of Japan's most inventive visual stylists. Blending hyperactive editing, pop-art imagery and irreverent comedy with genuine emotional warmth, the film celebrates individuality, female friendship and the liberating power of subculture. Since its release, it has become a modern cult favourite and one of the defining cinematic portraits of Japan's Lolita fashion movement.

Programmed and introduced by illustrator and animator Kassia Karras.

Runtime: 102 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for MERMAID LEGEND

MERMAID LEGEND

(1984, Japan, Toshiharu Ikeda)

After the sudden death of her husband during a night fishing trip, Migiwa Saijima begins to suspect that the incident was not an accident but the result of corruption involving local businessmen and powerful figures along the coast. Isolated and struggling with grief, she gradually uncovers signs that her husband’s death was tied to a larger conspiracy connected to land development and criminal interests in the region. As the truth becomes clearer, her sorrow transforms into a fierce determination for revenge.

Taking advantage of local folklore surrounding a legendary sea spirit, Migiwa begins a calculated campaign of retaliation against the men she believes responsible. Using the image of a vengeful mermaid to spread fear and confusion, she lures her targets into increasingly dangerous situations, turning the coastal landscape into the setting for a series of violent confrontations.

Directed by Toshiharu Ikeda, Mermaid Legend blends elements of revenge thriller, folklore, and exploitation cinema into a dark story of grief and vengeance set against the stark beauty of Japan’s coastal fishing communities.

Runtime: 108 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for ROAR

ROAR

(1981, USA, Noel Marshall)

Tippi Hedren and Noel Marshall star as a couple living on a sprawling estate filled with over 100 untrained lions, tigers, and other big cats. Their idyllic life takes a dangerous turn when their family is threatened by external forces, and the unpredictable animals begin to attack. In a chaotic mix of comedy, drama, and sheer animal mayhem, the family must navigate life alongside some of the most dangerous predators on Earth.

Roar is infamous for its on-set hazards, with actors and crew sustaining real injuries during filming. Beyond the spectacle, the film portrays the complex bond between humans and animals, highlighting both the majesty and unpredictability of wildlife while capturing the unrelenting energy and peril of living in close quarters with wild creatures.

Runtime: 95 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for DEVIL STORY (DUBBED)

DEVIL STORY (DUBBED)

(1986, France, Bernard Launois)

On a storm-soaked night in the countryside, a series of violent and inexplicable events ensnares a stranded couple who stumble upon a masked killer, a restless undead horse, and a curse older than the crumbling manor that looms over them. As chaos spreads, the boundaries between superstition and reality collapse, leaving them trapped in a looping nightmare that defies reason.

A delirious mix of pulp horror and surreal chaos, Devil Story embraces its own madness, transforming camp and terror into a fever dream of curses, creatures, and uncanny atmosphere. The film lingers as a gleefully unhinged reminder that not all nightmares follow logic.

Runtime: 76 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for THE ELEPHANT MAN

THE ELEPHANT MAN

(1980, UK/USA, David Lynch)

In Victorian London, surgeon Frederick Treves discovers Joseph Merrick, a severely disfigured man being exploited as a travelling sideshow attraction. As Treves offers Merrick refuge within the hospital, their relationship reveals a man of remarkable intelligence, sensitivity and dignity, while exposing the cruelty and prejudice of the society that has long treated him as a curiosity rather than a human being.

Directed by David Lynch and based on the life of Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man marked a striking departure from the surrealism of Eraserhead while retaining Lynch's distinctive sensitivity to outsiders and hidden emotional worlds. Shot in luminous black and white and featuring acclaimed performances from John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins, the film received eight Academy Award nominations and remains one of the most moving and humane works in modern British cinema.

Runtime: 124 mins

Certificate: PG

Poster for EL TOPO

EL TOPO

(1970, Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky)

Across an arid, hallucinatory desert, a black-clad gunslinger undertakes a brutal spiritual odyssey—duelling mystical masters, confronting his sins, and descending into a world of outcasts who worship him as a messiah.

A feverish collision of western, religious allegory, and psychedelic ritual, El Topo reshapes myth into a violent dreamscape. Jodorowsky’s vision is both sacred and profane—a cosmic fable of enlightenment through blood, sand, and transformation.

Runtime: 125 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for MYSTERY MOVIE

MYSTERY MOVIE

Not for the easily offended, and strictly programmed for adult audiences only - our mystery films are eye-popping forays into the bold and bonkers world of psychotronic cinema. Expect the unacceptable.

Please consider yourself forewarned that these films may (and probably will) contain offensive and upsetting content. Do not attend if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Certificate: 18

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SUNDAY SABBATH - MYSTERY HORROR MATINEE

Sunday Sabbath presents undisclosed deep cuts from the history of horror cinema.

From forgotten masterpieces and overlooked oddities to international nightmares and independently made cult classics, each screening offers a surprise journey into the darker corners of the genre. Expect the unexpected: supernatural terror, psychological unease, grisly slashers, Gothic chillers, folk horror, creature features and everything in between. The only thing we can guarantee is that you'll leave having discovered something you never knew you needed to see.

Adults only.

Certificate: 18

Poster for LOVE EXPOSURE

LOVE EXPOSURE

(2008, Japan, Sion Sono)

Raised under the suffocating expectations of his widowed priest father, teenager Yu Honda embarks on an increasingly outrageous quest for sin, redemption and love. His journey leads him into a whirlwind of martial arts, upskirt photography, religious guilt, cults and mistaken identities, where every absurd twist only deepens an epic story of obsession, faith and self-discovery.

At nearly four hours in length, Love Exposure is widely regarded as Sion Sono's masterpiece and one of the defining achievements of contemporary Japanese cinema. Inspired in part by real-life upskirt photographers, the film effortlessly shifts between romantic comedy, action, melodrama and psychological drama while exploring religion, sexuality and the search for identity. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, it has become an enduring cult classic celebrated for its boundless energy, emotional ambition and fearless originality.

This screening will have a 15 minute intermission.

Runtime: 237 mins

Certificate: 18

Poster for SÉRIE NOIRE

SÉRIE NOIRE

(1979, France, Alain Corneau)

In the shadowy outskirts of Paris, a desperate door-to-door salesman crosses paths with a mysterious young woman trapped in a grim world. As his obsession deepens, his grip on reality begins to slip—and the line between escape and destruction starts to blur.

Série noire adapts Jim Thompson’s A Hell of A Woman to the banlieues of Paris: in an astonishing performance, Patrick Dewaere (Themroc) attempts to save a young girl from prostitution, with murder the only solution.

Guest programmer Eva Yelmani will introduce this screening.

Runtime: 111 mins

Certificate: 15

Poster for 2 GIRLS 1 FILM CLUB PRESENTS: CULT SHOOT ERUPT

2 GIRLS 1 FILM CLUB PRESENTS: CULT SHOOT ERUPT

**A frenzied selection of underground cult productions
by the most explorative filmmakers who hold in-ignorable
reputations among B-movie lovers speaking the other side of
the continent- Bio Toilet Releasing, Person Universe, and
Ahodaruma- invited by Fiona, 1/2 of your favourite 2 Girls
1 Film Club.**

In 4 shorts vocabulated by myths, beliefs, and
mortality(in the cultist way ever), there is a fresh
rawness that feels almost like a decapitation investigating
bodily realisations like a sequence of vigorous eruptions
shoot to be the most unexpected. That young Fiona bumped
into online that she wishes to infect a greater lot in the
last warm breath of August.

**Volcano(2024)- Bio Toilet Releasing
40 Minutes**

**Horse Person(2023)- Person Universe
15 Minutes**

In the voice of Fiona- Horses are my current
favourite animal, mobile, sideways gazing, and allegedly
sleep standing. But how does this graceful yet spacious
creature fit and flow in a modern city life? Watching Horse
Person (2023) feels like being invited to a metamorphosis of
lifting the unbearable lightness by choosing to grow into
more of a physique. Yet how I felt a certain loneliness
after I looked back and found no other two legs.

**Divad’s Field()- Person Universe
Eros(2018)- Ahodaruma
15 Minutes**

The eruption of faith- a search for the true and
highest ecstasy of sex is screeched in an attempted act of
fucking Eros, a bulk of unholy divineness, and a
dismantlement of the hose of new life in a quarter of an
hour. In his most spectacular, violent yet fable-like shots
of conversing beliefs and corporeal unleashing, a tinnitus
is left.

Runtime: 90 mins

Certificate: 18