The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda


1968 psychedelic short

Rating: no rating

Plot: no plot

A Facebook friend named Eric sent me a link to this, and if you want to watch it, it's on Youtube. It's from poet/publisher/photographer Ira Cohen, a guy who directed only one other film (a documentary about Kumbha Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage to a holy river) and had ties to some of the Beats.

I have no idea what's going on here. It's very much a product of the late-60's, drug-fueled and psychedelic. There's a fire to the whole thing, really the sort of thing that can scorch your mind. It's trippy and trance-inducing, and although most of it just kinds of blend into one groovy clump of swimmy psychedelica, there's one haunting image that stands out--the image of a man who was buried in the mud but emerges to stare into the camera with these unforgettable eyes. Haunting.

The music for the whole thing is from Angus MacLise, the original drummer for the Velvet Underground. It's throbbing and hypnotic and fits the images perfectly.

If any of this sounds like something you'd normally enjoy, you'll likely enjoy this.

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