TRUCK TURNER
(1974, USA, Jonathan Kaplan)
“More funk than you can handle. More firepower than you can survive.”
Lock your doors, load your .44, and buckle the hell up—because Truck Turner is rolling into town, and he ain’t takin’ prisoners!
Join us for a blistering, bullet-riddled, funk-fueled screening of the Isaac Hayes cult classic that redefined badassery. Ex-footballer turned bounty hunter Mack “Truck” Turner is on the streets of L.A., chasing down pimps, dodging bullets, and laying down the law with a scowl and a shotgun. When a job gone wrong puts him in the crosshairs of a ruthless crime queen and her army of lowlifes, Truck shows 'em all why you don’t mess with the best.
Featuring a funk-drenched soundtrack by Hayes himself, explosive 70s action, killer one-liners, and a body count higher than your rent, this is pure grindhouse gold the way it was meant to be seen—loud, gritty, and on the big screen.
One night only. No remakes. No apologies. Just Truck.
WEDNESDAY 18TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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THE LANDLORD
+ INTRO BY ELLEN E. JONES
(1970, USA, Hal Ashby)
“If you want to change the system… first you’ve got to survive it.”
Before gentrification was a buzzword, THE LANDLORD kicked the damn door down.
Get ready for a razor-sharp, taboo-smashing, darkly hilarious trip into the heart of America’s cracked social mirror. When rich, bored Elgar Enders buys a Brooklyn tenement to “do something different,” he gets way more than he bargained for—angry tenants, race-fueled tensions, radical politics, and a culture he never dreamed he’d have to understand… or be changed by.
Directed by Hal Ashby in his mind-blowing debut and powered by a fearless performance from Beau Bridges, The Landlord blends satire, soul, and sharp social commentary into a cinematic cocktail that still hits like a Molotov.
With introduction by Ellen E Jones, co-host of Screenshot and writer of Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World.
THURSDAY 19TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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ROLLING THUNDER
(1977, USA, John Flynn)
PART OF THE DOUBLE FEATURE: BACKYARD NAM!
“They took his arm. They took his family. Now he’s taking everything.”
Major Charles Rane came home a hero—but in Rolling Thunder, that’s just where the nightmare begins. Scarred by years in a POW camp, he returns to Texas to find a country he no longer recognizes… and a brutal home invasion that takes everything he had left.
Big mistake.
With a prosthetic hook for a hand, a shotgun in the trunk, and revenge burning in his soul, Rane teams up with a fellow vet (Tommy Lee Jones in a scene-stealing early role) to unleash hell on the scum that tore his world apart.
Written by Paul Schrader, dripping with post-Vietnam rage, and soaked in 70s grit, Rolling Thunder is a slow-burn vengeance bomb that explodes in its final act—and leaves no one standing.
FRIDAY 20TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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(1977, USA, John Flynn)
PART OF THE DOUBLE FEATURE: BACKYARD NAM!
“They took his arm. They took his family. Now he’s taking everything.”
Major Charles Rane came home a hero—but in Rolling Thunder, that’s just where the nightmare begins. Scarred by years in a POW camp, he returns to Texas to find a country he no longer recognizes… and a brutal home invasion that takes everything he had left.
Big mistake.
With a prosthetic hook for a hand, a shotgun in the trunk, and revenge burning in his soul, Rane teams up with a fellow vet (Tommy Lee Jones in a scene-stealing early role) to unleash hell on the scum that tore his world apart.
Written by Paul Schrader, dripping with post-Vietnam rage, and soaked in 70s grit, Rolling Thunder is a slow-burn vengeance bomb that explodes in its final act—and leaves no one standing.
FRIDAY 20TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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COMBAT SHOCK
+ VIDEO INTRO FROM EDDIE PEPITONE!
(1986, USA, Buddy Giovinazzo)
PART OF THE DOUBLE FEATURE: BACKYARD NAM!
“He survived Vietnam. Now he’s dying in Staten Island.”
Welcome to the other side of the American dream. In Combat Shock, Vietnam vet Frankie Dunlan is back in the U.S.A.—but there’s no parade, no peace, and no way out. Haunted by war, plagued by poverty, and trying to feed his mutated baby while navigating the rotting streets of Staten Island, Frankie’s world is a waking nightmare of urban decay, despair, and desperation.
Shot on a shoestring, soaked in nihilism, and ending with one of the most jaw-dropping finales in grindhouse history, Combat Shock is raw, relentless, and unforgettable—the Vietnam movie they don’t show in high school.
FRIDAY 20TH JUNE
9PM DOORS. 9.30PM FILM.
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RATS!
UK PREMIERE
+ LIVE INTRO + Q&A FROM DIRECTOR MAXWELL NALEVANSKY
(2024, USA, Maxwell Nalevansky + Carl Fry)
“The American dream just OD’d in a strip mall parking lot.”
Welcome to Pfresno, Texas—a sun-blasted purgatory where graffiti artists get waterboarded, disembodied hands roam the streets, and the cops are more cracked-out than the criminals. When teenager Raphael gets busted by a deranged officer with a God complex, he’s dragged into a spiraling, surreal hellscape of narcotic nightmares, paranoid pig-men, and mall goth conspiracies.
RATS is a feral blast of post-9/11 paranoia, fast food nihilism, and DIY punk energy—equal parts gross-out comedy, suburban satire, and midnight movie mayhem. It’s Kids by way of Repo Man, shot through a camcorder smeared in hot sauce and spray paint.
SATURDAY 21TH JUNE
7PM DOORS. 8PM FILM.
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THE UNKNOWN
PROJECTED ON 16MM FILM + LIVE SCORE BY FISCAL HARM
(1927, USA, Tod Browning)
“Love. Obsession. Mutilation. Step right up.”
Before slashers, before freakshows got sanitized, there was Lon Chaney—the original master of the grotesque—and The Unknown, Tod Browning’s (Freaks) twisted masterpiece of lust, deception, and the human body pushed to the brink.
Chaney stars as Alonzo the Armless Wonder, a circus performer who throws knives with his feet and hides a terrible secret under his straitjacket. He’s in love with Nanon (a young Joan Crawford), who can’t stand the touch of men. So Alonzo makes the ultimate sacrifice… and the consequences are pure, silent-era insanity.
WEDNESDAY 25TH JUNE
7PM DOORS. 8PM FILM.
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BITTER MOON
+ INTRO BY OLIVE PARKER
(1992, France/UK, Roman Polanski)
“Love dies screaming.”
When passion turns poisonous, romance becomes revenge—and no one gets out unscathed.
Strap in for a deliriously dark cruise into the abyss of obsession. On a luxury liner to Istanbul, a repressed British couple meets Oscar, a bitter American writer in a wheelchair, who begins recounting the twisted, erotic collapse of his relationship with the magnetic, mercurial Mimi.
As the tales grow more debauched—and more dangerous—Nigel, the husband, finds himself hypnotised by Mimi’s pull and Oscar’s poison. What starts as flirtation spirals into voyeurism, humiliation, and emotional annihilation.
Directed by Roman Polanski and co-written with Gérard Brach, Bitter Moon is a warped romance soaked in sensuality, sadism, and champagne—part jet-black comedy, part psycho-sexual melodrama, and entirely unforgettable.
Come for the cruise. Stay for the collapse.
THURSDAY 26TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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MILANO CALIBRO 9
(1972, Italy, Fernando Di Leo)
“In this town, everyone’s got a number. His is on a bullet.”
Welcome to Milan—where loyalty is a lie, justice is a racket, and the streets run on paranoia.
When low-level gangster Ugo Piazza is released from prison, he swears he’s gone straight. But no one believes him—not the cops, not the mob, and definitely not The Americano, a ruthless crime boss convinced Ugo stashed a fortune before going in. As the screws tighten and the bodies drop, Ugo plays a dangerous game of double-crosses, old grudges, and brutal reckonings.
Directed by Fernando Di Leo and soaked in style, sleaze, and cynicism, Milano Calibro 9 is a hard-boiled masterpiece of the Italian poliziotteschi wave—where the jazz is slick, the suits are sharp, and the violence hits like a pipe to the ribs.
Featuring a knockout score by Luis Bacalov and Osanna, and starring Gastone Moschin in a career-defining role, this is crime cinema at its coldest, coolest, and most explosive.
There are no heroes. Just survivors.
FRIDAY 27TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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THE BIG RACKET
(1976, Italy, Enzo G. Castellari)
“The cops are outnumbered. The law is outgunned. Time to break the rules.”
A wave of brutal extortion sweeps through Rome, as a sadistic gang terrorises shopkeepers, women, and anyone who won’t pay up. Enter Inspector Nico Palmieri—a no-bullshit cop who’s had enough of watching innocent people get steamrolled by thugs and red tape. When the law won’t back him up, he assembles his own rogue’s gallery of vigilantes: ex-cops, ex-criminals, and one very pissed-off wrestler.
Directed by Enzo G. Castellari (Keoma, Inglorious Bastards), The Big Racket is a bone-crunching, glass-smashing, justice-by-any-means slice of Italian poliziotteschi mayhem. With slow-motion shootouts, relentless brutality, and Fabio Testi giving the performance of his life, this is vigilante cinema turned all the way up.
It’s not a war on crime. It’s an execution.
FRIDAY 27TH JUNE
8.45PM DOORS. 9.15PM FILM.
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SWEET BABY CHARLIE
AKA THE SADIST
(1963, USA, James Landis)
“His name is Charlie. His smile is sweet. His gun is loaded.”
Before Manson, before Leatherface—there was Charlie Tibbs.
Three unsuspecting schoolteachers stop to fix their car in a dusty California junkyard… and step straight into a waking nightmare. Hiding in the shadows is Charlie, a twitchy, sadistic maniac with a .45, a cheerfully deranged girlfriend, and a serious God complex. What follows is a relentless, real-time descent into terror, as Charlie toys with his captives like a cat with wounded mice—and every second ticks toward the inevitable.
Shot on a shoestring and burning with grindhouse intensity, The Sadist is a lost American horror-noir classic, loosely inspired by the real-life killing spree of Charles Starkweather. Featuring an unhinged, unforgettable performance by Arch Hall Jr., it’s pure drive-in terror: sweaty, cruel, and disturbingly ahead of its time.
No gore. No monsters. Just evil—up close and grinning.
SATURDAY 28TH JUNE
6PM DOORS. 7PM FILM.
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SPIDER BABY
AKA THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD
(1967, USA, Jack Hill)
“The family that slays together, stays together.”
Welcome to the Merrye House—wipe your feet, lose your mind.
Somewhere off the highway, hidden behind overgrown hedges and half-buried warning signs, the last members of the Merrye family live in decaying splendor. They suffer from a rare genetic disorder that causes them to regress into violent, childlike savagery… and today’s the day distant relatives arrive to take over the estate.
Bad idea.
Directed by cult legend Jack Hill (Coffy, Switchblade Sisters) and starring a wonderfully off-kilter Lon Chaney Jr., Spider Baby is a twisted, gothic black comedy that plays like The Addams Family by way of Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Part haunted house, part backwoods horror, part sad little fairy tale—this is one of the strangest, most charming horror oddities of the 1960s.
SATURDAY 28TH JUNE
8.45PM DOORS. 9.15M FILM.
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The Nickel Cinema
117-119 Clerkenwell Road
London, EC1R 5BY
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