Flaming Creatures (1963)
- Directed by
- Jack Smith
- Genre
- erotic film, vampire film, LGBTQ-related film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 43 min
- Rating
- 4.7 of 10 from 61 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
An experimental film from 1963 follows a group of drag performers through a series of disconnected scenes. They act out a lipstick commercial, an orgy, and an earthquake on a New York rooftop.
transgressivesurrealcampyfragmentedplayfulchaoticeroticdefiant
What happens
Flaming Creatures is a 1963 American experimental film directed by Jack Smith. The film follows an ensemble of drag performers through several disconnected vignettes, including a lipstick commercial, an orgy, and an earthquake. It was shot on a rooftop on the Lower East Side on a very low budget of only $300, with a soundtrack from Smith's roommate Tony Conrad. It premiered April 29, 1963, at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village. Because of the film's sexual content, some venues refused to show Flaming Creatures, and in March 1964, police interrupted a screening and seized a print of the film. The screening's organizers (Jonas Mekas, Ken Jacobs, and Florence Karpf) were prosecuted, and the film was ruled to be in violation of New York's obscenity laws. Mekas and critic Susan Sontag mounted a critical defense of Flaming Creatures, and it became a cause célèbre for the New American Cinema movement. Judge Abe Fortas, who had spoken in favor of reversing the convictions, faced scrutiny for his position years later when he was nominated to become Chief Justice of the United States. Flaming Creatures eventually fell out of circulation. After Smith's death, a restoration was undertaken to preserve the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Scorpio Rising (1963)
The Balcony (1963)
Normal Love (1963)
Scum of the Earth! (1963)
Blonde Cobra (1963)
Playgirls International (1963)
Christmas on Earth (1963)
Europe in the Raw (1963)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.