The Ballet of Catastrophe

So it's October, which means the end of the world as we know it is looming over the horizon like that scary demon thing from Night On Bald Mountain in Fantasia. This is of course predicated on the fact that the Mayan calender is about to run out, which I suppose is a pretty filmsy basis for apocalyptic prophecy, but hey- we'll all know soon enough!
So if it's all coming down, why not spend a month looking at the big Omega on the cinema screen? Movies seem to be the best medium to fully convey the dread, the calamity and even the queasy thrill of all-out, world shaking disaster.

There's the faintly sad wish filfillment for alienated loners that the contemporary zombie genres provides in gigantic, steaming ladles. In which all societal rules are stripped away, and a might-makes-right philosophy is the order of the day, with a faceless, endless procession of enemies to be dispatched, and only the most teeth-grittingest, sleveless, shotgun-pumpingest deserve to make the cut. It's all a bit of fun I guess, but it's a genre that's veered far from the trudging, existential horror of it's origins. Origins that we're going to be examining at SLQ over the weekend of the 20th and 21st. We'll be playing the entirety of the original Night of The Living Dead trilogy, an untouchable blueprint that many have tweaked, but never equalled. And just to throw in a bit of gruesome spice, Italian maestro Lucio Fulci's Zombie will also be shuffling onto the screen, leaving a trail of slime and just generaly bringing uncomfortable vibes to the proceedings. It's going to be a lot of fun, free as usual, with the option for you to give a gold coin donation or take part in a raffle that we're holding to support the annual Brisbane Zombie Walk and the amazing work they do for the Brain Foundation of Australia. Pay them a visit: http://www.brisbanezombiewalk.com/
Of course sometimes the end of the world just creeps in naturally, as seen in the all-too realistic projections of outstanding films such as Blindness, The Road, or our Oct 7th feature, the hypnotic Children of Men. Retaining a streak of hope amongst a world falling into a slow motion maelstrom of societal collpase, it's a movie far more about tenderness than violence, and an anomaly amongst it's peers. Even if you've seen it, it's something really special on the big screen. You can find our full lineup for the month here: /whats-on/events/sliqflicks
It's going to be a fun month, perversely enough, as we hold on tight, stare into the abyss, and know that when the lights come on, there's a decent chance that there will still be a world outside for us to return to.