Shock! Cinema August 8, 2009

EVENT: Stephen Parr’s “Shock! Cinema”, a mind-body blow-out program of 1950s, 60s and 70s 16mm mental health, hygiene, science, social psychology films and more programmed to alarm, warn, shock and scare some “sense” into the unwary viewer. Others offer startling scientific findings of the human condition. Films include The Innocent Party (1959), PCP: You Never Know (1979), Human Aggression (1974) , Look Alive! , Fears of Children (1951), Conditioned Reflexes (1961) and much more.
VENUE: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
DATE: Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 8:30PM
ADMISSION: $10.00 RSVP (Limited seating) *Adults Only-No Kids!* to [email protected] or 415-558-8117.
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Shock_Cinema.pdf
“Shock! Cinema”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 8:30 PM Oddball Films presents Stephen Parr’s “Shock! Cinema”, a mind-body blow-out program of 1950s, 60s and 70s 16mm mental health, hygiene, science and first aid films programmed to alarm, warn, shock and scare some “sense” into the unwary viewer. Others offer startling scientific findings of the human condition.
Watch scare tactics, social propaganda and scientific and graphic demonstrations of the human condition and a “safe and sane” society gone awry!

Program Highlights:

The Innocent Party (1959)
The guilt-tripped noir-like shocker about a “dirty” girl and a hidden secret-VD! Watch what happens when she “gifts’ her boyfriend with it. Produced by the Kansas State Department of Mental Health.

"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act." (1974)
Human Aggression (Color, 1974)
In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Miligram created the famous Obedience to Authority experiment, examining whether human beings would follow the instructions of an authority figure, even if the instructions were morally questionable. Famous for his Six Degrees of Separation and Lost Letter studies, Milgram shows why human beings act the way we do. This fascinating Milgram film depicts spontaneous occurrences of aggression seen in the activities of a youth gang, and relates them to scientific principles and laboratory findings.

PCP: You Never Know (Color, 1979)
Ever wonder what the ruckus was about PCP use? Well, for starters it’s a dangerous animal tranquilizer! Why do teens abuse it? Watch as teenagers, medical authorities, and law enforcement officials present basic information on PCP ("angel dust” , “Sherman”, “Crystal”) and reveal the dangers of this widely abused drug. Designed for prevention and general information and the female freak-out scene ramps up the danger. With medical advice from Los Angeles’ famed “coroner to the stars” Dr. Thomas Noguchi.

Meeting Strangers: Red Light Green Light (Color, 1965)
This stranger is so clearly "bad" that we don't need to be warned! There are other bad characters, all waiting alone and stalking children with evil intentions. They are getting ready to pounce! Surprisingly, one of them is a woman. After dealing with these shifty-eyed strangers in different parts of the city, our narrator introduces us to adults we can trust: People like policemen and clergymen(!), friendly and trustworthy. Good characters get a "green light" of trust, while bad characters (including stereotypical gay pedophiles) get a "red light".

Look Alive! (B+W, 1961)
Produced by the US Department of Health Education and Welfare as a Public Service, this oddball traffic safety film places the camera in the eyes of our unseen narrator, a businessman in a hurry to get to an appointment who becomes involved in a vehicular accident. Odd camera angles and a “you-are-him” point of view make this disjointed scare film more creepier than anything else. With an introduction by Raymond (“Perry Mason”) Burr.

Conditioned Reflexes: An Introduction to the Work of Ivan Pavlov (B+W, 1961)
This gorgeously bizarre science film made by the Russian Art Kino Company showcases the animal experiments of the famous nineteenth-century Russian physiologist Dr. Ivan Pavlov. Like many great scientific advances, classical conditioning was discovered accidentally. Pavlov was looking at salivation in dogs in response to being fed, when he noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever he entered the room, even when he was not bringing them food. At first this was something of a nuisance (not to mention messy!).
Pavlov started from the idea that there are some things that a dog does not need to learn. For example, dogs don’t learn to salivate whenever they see food. This reflex is ‘hard wired’ into the dog. In behaviourist terms, it is an unconditioned reflex (i.e. a stimulus-response connection that required no learning)The film highlights in graphic detail (no surgery but not for the squeamish) his groundbreaking experiments with animal control.

What You Should Know About Biological Warfare (B+W, 1952)
(B+W, 1951) This cold war paranoia film mixes propaganda and low budget production values to scare and prepare us all for the coming apocalypse.
Fears of Children (B+W, 1951)
This terrifying tale produced by the Okalahoma Department of Mental Health tells the story of five-year old Paul who mother is unduly protective and whose father is overly severe. Shows how childhood fears are horrifically magnified by inconsistency in parental attitudes. A rare and classic mental hygiene brain squeezer-you’ll feel the sting of childhood all over again!
Memories With Miss Aggie (Color, 1974)
Porn auteur Gerard Damiano (Deep Throat) fancied himself as a modern day Hitchcock and in this psychobilly-smut trailer he manages to combine horror and low life white trash. From the golden age of adult cinema.

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