THE FACE OF HORROR After Dark

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, screenwriter and producer Anna Biller, cinematographer M. David Mullen, composer Gabriel Andrés Gallegos and actor Jesse Merlin.

Anna Biller (VIVA, AFI FEST 2007; THE LOVE WITCH) continues her streak of pulpy, technicolor flair with a reimagined feminist folktale loosely inspired by the Japanese onryō (vengeful ghost) story, Yotsuya Kaidan. Redressing its Eastern setting to medieval England, we observe the handsome but dishonorable knight Edward (Jonah Hauer-King) and his squire take a detour from their daily pillaging and set their sights on the beautiful, innocent Eleanor (Kristine Froseth) and her sister. An act of cruel deceit earns their hands in marriage, but it’s not long before Eleanor is left home alone for days pining for her absent husband, while Edward’s greed and boredom lead him down another duplicitous mission to court a wealthier noblewoman. Biller cleverly plays with the robust gender politics abound in pastoral milieu, juxtaposed with a vibrant display of kitschy, lavishly offbeat costumes and sets that have become a stylistic staple in her work. Though fans of darker fare need not worry, when Edward’s treacherous betrayal leads to an unforgivable tragedy, Eleanor’s revenge becomes fervent ground for Biller’s sumptuous macabre and an ardent subversion of the monstrous-feminine. –Anna Li