| The Outsiders |
CULT FOLLOWING
SCALA!!! As a new doc drops, here are five films that epitomise the Scala repertory cinema, and its legendary programming.
Co-directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall, the documentary Scala!!! charts the rise and fall of the legendary London repertory cinema. Running between 1978 and 1993, the Scala was synonymous with cult programming, showcasing horror, exploitation, and LGBTQ+-themed movies. Giles, who was a programme manager at the venue, and Catterall, who was a regular attendee, talk us through five archetypal Scala titles.
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (1965)
‘The Scala had started getting into Russ Meyer films like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls [1970], partly because of the sexploitation elements, and partly because of their camp, bubblegum quality. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! wasn’t available on video in the 1980s. It wasn’t a film about nudity: it was about dynamic, strong women and it appealed to men and women.’
THUNDERCRACK! (1975)
‘There was only one print of this film that Stephen Woolley, the Scala owner, had imported from America. We kept showing the film as long as the print held up and audiences kept coming. Going to see Thundercrack!, which is a sort of underground, kinky, art-horror film, was like a rite of passage for audience members. The film is very long and in places very boring and in some ways it’s unintelligible, but it’s also very funny and there are some amazing scenes.’
THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
‘This was the first film acquired by Woolley, who had set up the video distribution company Palace Pictures with Nik Powell. Its cabin-in-the-woods template has become very familiar, but at the time it felt exciting. The British tabloids in the 1980s labelled it a “video nasty”, and claimed that the people who had made it were sickos and perverts and were corrupting innocent children.’
‘We were the only cinema in the UK not to show Eraserhead in late-night slots’
TAXI ZUM KLO (1980)
‘This German black comedy about urban gay life in late 1970s Berlin was a massive hit at the Scala. Made before the AIDS crisis, it was very funny and very rude and quite revolutionary. Rather than being a serious-minded film about the pressures and problems of homosexuality, it crossed into La Cage aux Folles territory. At the time, long before the internet, the Scala was a cruising ground and there were lots of guys in leather in the audience. It would be great to revive the film.’
ERASERHEAD (1977)
‘David Lynch’s Eraserhead was the film that was screened the most at the Scala. It came out of the midnightmovie circuit in the United States. We were the only cinema in UK not to show it in late-night slots – we put it on in the daytime and evenings. When it first came out, the critics didn’t have a language to describe it. Stanley Kubrick screened it to the cast and crew of The Shining to convey the atmosphere he was seeking.’
SCALA!!! OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 5 JANUARY 2024.