(Courtesy Anthology Film Archives)
We love you, Anthology Film Archives, but that doesn’t mean we want to see your old porn. Ok, maybe.
On Friday, the East Village theater launches a steamy new series dedicated to the “porno chic” age of adult cinema, when legit actors starred in top-notch skin flicks whose plots went beyond just someone ordering a pizza.
As with all good porn-related titles, the name of the series, “In the Flesh,” is a double entendre: each screening will be accompanied by an in-the-flesh appearance by a director, actor, or crew member who made the magic happen. Grab your trenchcoat: the first installment, this weekend, features a quartet of NYC-based films.
Tomorrow at 8 p.m., High Rise is a 1972 flick from the guy who went on to direct “Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning,” about a woman who presses the up button on an an apartment tower’s elevator and somehow ends up going down on all the tenants (the film’s composer will be in person).
Friday, Through the Looking Glass, said by Anthology to be “the adult film genre’s sole psychological horror film” (and they should know?) features a score by Harry Manfredini, who, it so happens, soundtracked the “Friday the 13th” series (director Jonas Middleton will be in person).
Saturday, Take Off is a 1978 comedy based on Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” in which the protagonist (played by future disco singer and soap star Wade Nichols) achieves eternal youth via a magical stag reel. Vanessa del Rio makes an appearance along with a plethora of other sultry starlets.
And finally, on Sunday, Wanda Whips Wall Street (1981) sounds like it could give The Wolf of Wall Street a run for its money: it’s about a much, much comelier Bernie Madoff type (played by Veronica Hart) who sleeps her way to the top, only to be “privately” investigated by Ron Jeremy (director Larry Revene will be in person).