Liquid Sky

Aliens in search of some killer smack land on the rooftop penthouse of Margaret (Anne Carlisle), a fashion model who lives with her drug-dealer girlfriend who also performs music with a “rhythm box.” After one particularly harrowing encounter, Margaret soon realizes that she can kill people with her orgasms. Meanwhile, a German scientist is tracking the aliens and tries to warn Margaret and her model nemesis Jimmy (also played by Carlisle) that they are both in imminent danger. If all that sounds deeply strange, it’s because it is.

Liquid Sky quickly became a cult phenomenon when it finally hit cinemas in 1983, almost a year after it’s premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival. What followed is a nearly four-year run at cinemas in New York, Boston, and Washington D.C., and it’s easy to see why so many were so captivated with it. The colors jump off the screen, the costumes are fierce, and the music pulses with sinister intentions. Liquid Sky is a candy-colored, psychedelic trip documenting a New York City that doesn’t exist anymore.

If, like me, you were too young to have seen Liquid Sky when it opened at the Nickelodeon in 1983, you probably first experienced it on a crappy VHS tape. And you couldn’t go to the video store down the street; you had to go across town to the cool video store, because they were the only place that carried it. It was one of those kind of films. Even in that inferior format, which was the best we had before the internet era, the film still managed to win hearts and blow minds. So, whether VHS is the only way you’ve seen it, or if you saw it in its original run, or if this is your first time, do not miss this ultra-rare screening of this cult-classic in glorious 35mm!