Cult classics washing up every fortnight: an £11 ticket provides one free drink, illustrated introductions and a rare chance to see a lost pearl on the big screen. Black Pearl’s curators take a regular theme and dim the lights...
Mark Banville
Mark has been a cult movie freak for way too long and has scars to prove it! He runs the Cave of Cult socials and blog, reviewing Horror and Exploitation movies. He is the author of Theme '70 (Headpress) and is currently working on The Bad Bunch: Exploitation Cinema's Heavy-Hitters.
Michael O’Connell
Co-producer of a forthcoming Steve Marriott biopic and editor of numerous film books, the Art Decades talks have allowed Michael to show some favourite clips - now The Horsebridge lets him loose behind a projector.
Wednesdays fortnightly. Doors and bar open at 6.30pm, with the programme starting at 7pm.
Tickets are £11 or £10 for Friends.
The Sea
1 October
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Running time: 2hr
Certificate: PG
James Mason dumps the romance of the high seas for Ava Gardner as a mysterious captain coming ashore to turn a group of Bohemian expats’ lives upside down in an intoxicating mix of romance, myth, and sets by Man Ray.
15 October
Piranha (1978)
Running time: 1hr 34m
Certificate: X
Directed by Joe Dante / Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy and Barbara Steele.
"They're eating the guests, Sir!"
This John Sayles' scripted gore-filled, eco-horror black comedy is a treat. Released by Roger Corman's New World Pictures it beat Jaws 2 into the cinema by a month. Regarded as one of the better Jaws rip-offs now collectively known as Sharksploitation, it spawned an inferior sequel Piranha II: Flying Killers aka The Spawning directed by then unknown James Cameron!
DFLs
29 October
Death Line (1972)
Running time: 1hr 30m
Certificate: 18
Directed by Gary Sherman /Starring Donald Pleasance, David Ladd, Sharon Gurney and Christopher Lee.
"Mind the Doors!"
What lies deep below London's seedy sex shops and dark alleys? Between Monument and Russell Square Tube stations there lurks something far worse - or simply misunderstood? Released in the UK in December 1972 and in the US the following year as Raw Meat. If you take anything away from watching this film let it be this - never miss the last tube!
12 November
Sexy Beast (2000)
Running time: 1hr 30m
Certificate: 18
Ben Kingsley is the DFL from hell in Jonathan Glazer’s sun-kissed, blood-soaked gangland classic. With star turns from a perpetually perspiring Ray Winstone and monolithically menacing Ian McShane, a Spanish hideaway never seemed so appealing.
Christmas
26 November
My Night at Maud’s (1969)
Running time: 1hr 50m
Certificate: PG
Jean-Louis Trintignant lands in Clermont Ferrand, finds a Christmas party but isn’t sure what to do with his mistletoe. Initially misunderstood in France but a surprise US success (inspiring record sales of imported French wine), My Night with Maud is a Nouvelle Vogue masterpiece.
Wednesday 10 December
Tales From the Crypt (1972)
Running time: 1hr 30m
Certificate: 15
The Yuletide terror commences as Joan Collins faces an escaped, lunatic Santa Claus in opening segment “All Through the House". Ralph Richardson is “The Crypt Keeper” who greets a group touring catacombs to inform them individually of the horrific events that await their futures - “and then...” Peter Cushing appears in the “Poetic Justice” segment in one of his most memorable roles as elderly dustman Arthur Grimsdyke, bullied to death by his upper-crust neighbours who see him as a blight on the neighbourhood. It won't end well for them!
