Scorpio Rising (1963)
- Directed by
- Kenneth Anger
- Genre
- LGBTQ-related film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 28 min
- Rating
- 6.6 of 10 from 152 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
The film follows a group of bikers getting ready for a night out. It uses pop songs and colorful lighting to create a stylized mood.
experimentalstylizedprovocativeatmosphericedgysubversivemusic-driven
What happens
Scorpio Rising is a 1963 American experimental short film shot, edited, co-written and directed by Kenneth Anger, and starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Loosely structured around a prominent soundtrack of 1960s pop music, it follows a group of bikers preparing for a night out. Anger shot most of the film in New York City over the course of three months. His unique style makes extensive use of colorful non-diegetic lighting. Central themes include the occult, biker subculture, homosexuality, Christianity and Nazism. Scorpio Rising also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, such as James Dean and Marlon Brando (referred to by Anger as Byron's "heroes", likely a direct reference to the trope of the Byronic hero). The film premiered on October 29, 1963, at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City. It became the subject of protests and a lawsuit by the American Nazi Party, an obscenity prosecution overturned by the California Supreme Court, and a copyright lawsuit by the Lutheran Church. Scorpio Rising received praise from film critics and was credited with igniting leather gear and motorcycles as a fad in New York. The film is recognized as a predecessor to the development of the modern music video and has influenced directors such as Martin Scorsese, John Waters, and Nicolas Winding Refn. In 2022, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
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Horse (1965)
Flaming Creatures (1963)
Blonde Cobra (1963)
The Leather Boys (1964)
The Girl with the Hungry Eyes (1967)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.