This time Cinema Lux Alterna will take you to a completely different

world: the world of exploitation films and more specifically

sexploitation

In the 60’s and 70’s the exploitation genre had its heydays. Movies

were made to please audiences with the things that always

fascinated people the most, namely sex and violence. One of the

interesting parts of this genre was that it was always trying to

transcend the cultural boundaries. With low budgets film makers

needed to be original to reach a certain audience. This usually

meant shock value and going places the mainstream cinema

wouldn’t go. In many ways these movies are way more extreme

than anything released in the last decades, especially when you

compare it to that specific time frame. Nowadays, we are all numb

for violence and are actually more puritan when it comes to sex

compared to those days.

The movie we’ll be showing this time is by one of the most popular

directors within the sexploitation genre: Russ Meyers. If you ask

anyone who is familiar with his work, they will tell you his movies

are mostly known for the double D features of his actresses in the

bust department. However, his films have much more to offer than

just that. Russ Meyers films are typical for the spirit of the 60’s and

70’s. Keywords are: free love, quirky dialogues, pushing the

boundaries of what is acceptable and playing with social norms.

Our feature for tonight, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, holds all

these ingredients. A very strange movie that mixes multiple genres

and leaves you wondering every time if the actors are really serious

about the subject matter. In short, it is the story of a groovy all girl

band that gets entangled in the debauchery and decadence of the LA

music scene (occupied with many strange and sometimes outright

obscene characters) and finally become involved in a very strange

and violent turn of events, that will make your jaws drop.

Although not received well by critics at the time, it quickly became a

cult classic, loved by several artists and musicians of its time. It was

a personal favourite of the Sex Pistols and main reason to hire Russ

Meyers as (initial) director of their pseudo documentary film The

Great Rock ‘n Roll Swindle.

Are you going to see a dramatic well written plot tonight? No.

Are you going to see amazing Oscar winning acting performances?

Not a chance. What about beautiful Tarkovsky like camera shots?

Forget about it. Are you however going to have a whole lot of sick,

twisted and perverted fun? You bet! So put some groovy boots on and venture down with us to go beyond the

Valley of the Dolls...