The Movie Orgy

Alfred Hitchcock, Fu Manchu, Richard Nixon. Elvis Presley, Superman, Moby Dick. Clips from old films, TV shows, and commercials compiled in an ironic, absurd fashion form this four-hour-plus monumental work, which is to YouTube mash-ups what D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance is to contemporary filmmaking. Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy can be watched in different ways: as a kind of ongoing series, waiting to see what the next cut will bring, or in an oneiric trance, sinking into a sleep-like state, drifting along with the stream of images. But always, as the title suggests, the viewing will have an air of perverse bacchanalia – not only because of the sheer quantity of the material, but also the fetishistic process of its selection. The whole concept is inspired by the idea of camp and indulges camp tastes, attuned to the bizarre, perverse, and kitschy.

Piotr Mirski

Joe Dante (b. 1946) is an American filmmaker who started out as an editor for Roger Corman. After proving himself as a director of such low-budget films as Piranha (1978) and The Howling (1981), he got a chance to direct the big-budget horror comedy Gremlins (1984), which was a major hit. Most of his subsequent films, such as The ’Burbs (1989) and Matinee (1993), have been made in a similar vein. A fan of classic animation, he also directed Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).

Restored in 2022 by American Genre Film Archive in collaboration with Joe Dante and Jon Davison from the original 16mm.

Screening schedule: part 1: 165 min + 20 min intermission + part 2: 110 min