The Movie Orgy (Joe Dante, 1968) 280 minutes

A mind-bending predecessor to the modern mash-up, The Movie Orgy is also the Rosetta Stone for Joe Dante’s oeuvre and a must-experience for movie fans and cinephiles alike.

Before The ‘Burbs, before Gremlins, before The Howling, before he started his career cutting trailers for Roger Corman, director Joe Dante made The Movie Orgy. An evolving compilation of serials, film clips, ads and film trailers, originally Dante and his collaborator Jon Davison “mixed” The Movie Orgy live, switching between two projectors to make a reactive, free-flowing, communal live experience.

This 50th anniversary screening is extremely rare, and it’s only the 4th European screening in 20 years. At its longest, it ran 7.5 hours. The current version is 4.5 hours long and screens from Dante’s own digital edit.

NB As Dante says, “You can leave the room, go out and buy popcorn or a beer, come back ten minutes later, a little more cheerful.”

This free-but-ticketed event is part of the Scalarama Glasgow 2018 programme.

Free tix: bit.ly/movieorgy 

Thanks to Joe Dante & Renfield Productions