Special Effects (1984)
- Directed by
- Larry Cohen
- Genre
- thriller film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Rated
- R
- Rating
- 4.8 of 10 from 46 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
A struggling director murders a woman and then casts a lookalike in a film based on the crime. The new actress gets drawn into his twisted scheme as reality and fiction blur.
suspensefuldarkmetauneasygrittytwistedslow-pacedmanipulative
What happens
Special Effects is a 1984 American psychological horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Zoë Lund and Eric Bogosian. Its plot follows a New York City woman who is cast in a film by a struggling director based on a murder he committed and captured on film. Cohen based Special Effects on a screenplay he wrote in 1967 titled The Cutting Room. The film was shot on location in New York City in early 1984. The film received a limited theatrical release in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 30, 1984 through New Line Cinema before being released to home video in 1985. It was later screened as part of a retrospective on Cohen's films at The Public Theater in New York City in 1986. The film has been noted by some film scholars for its self-reflexive elements and references to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly Juno and the Paycock (1930) and Vertigo (1958). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
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Dreamscape (1984)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.