Nov. 16
7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave.
New York, NY 10003

Hosted by: Light Industry

Before I give the screening info, a brief note about Light Industry, which is no longer located in Brooklyn. I don’t have any details on the shutdown of their 177 Livingston Street location, but founders Thomas Beard and Ed Halter plan on setting up a new permanent location somewhere in January 2011. Until then, Light Industry screenings will take place at various locations around NYC beginning with this one at the esteemed Anthology Film Archives. And it’s a doozy!

This is a true grindhouse double-feature by sexploitation auteur Stephanie Rothman. Student Nurses (1970) will screen at 7:00 p.m. and Terminal Island (1973) will screen at 9:00 p.m. While these films provide lots of jiggly action that soft-core film aficionados crave, they also come with a surprising amount serious-minded political drama.

Student Nurses begins as a typical hospital sex romp, but as the plot develops soon all types of controversial topics — such as euthanasia, abortion and urban poverty — squeeze themselves into all the hi-jinx.

In Terminal Island, women used as sex slaves on an island prison inhabited solely by convicted murderers execute a bloody and brutal revenge. It’s violent rebellion, women’s lib style!

I couldn’t find an embeddable video for Student Nurses, but below is a hilarious trailer for Terminal Island that has had its soundtrack remixed. The best part is the very serious narrator intoning that this is the “most exciting motion picture of the decade.” Indeed!