Cafe Flesh (1982) - Stephen Sayadian
Related: science fiction film - body horror - apocalypse - 1982 - pomo porn
Cafe Flesh (1982) - Stephen Sayadian/Rinse Dream
image sourced here.In the aftermath of nuclear apocalypse, humans are divided into Sex Negatives and Sex Positives; 99% of the survivors are Sex Negatives - they become violently ill if they attempt it. The minority Sex Positives are forced to perform on stage in a carnal theater for the entertainment of the Negatives at Cafe Flesh. Café Flesh is probably the last ambitious porn film from the porn chic era; it came out in 1982, right on the cusp of the home-video revolution. It played midnight shows at legitimate theaters and would make an ideal double bill with 1983's Liquid Sky (a non-porn sci-fi black comedy).
Description
Café Flesh is a 1982 post-apocalyptic cult pornographic science fiction film co-directed by Stephen Sayadian (under the pseudonym "Rinse Dream") and an uncredited Mark S. Esposito and co-written by Sayadian and Jerry Stahl . Music was composed and produced by noted music producer Mitchell Froom. [1]
Pomo porn
The movie's most challenging aspect is its disgust for its own audience. If you rent it to see copulation, you'll get that, but you'll also get dissed. The hapless, zombie-like spectators in the club are stand-ins for the spectators in the movie theater (or living room). In short, it's pomo porno. It gives you more and less than you expect. Cafe Flesh is good enough to make some of us regret the domination of porn by such cheerful hacks as Seymour Butts (and his bubbly, ready-for-whatever starlet Shane, the Sandra Bullock of porn). The medium needs more artists like Stephen Sayadian, who tried to crack the mainstream with 1989's Dr. Caligari. --http://www.angelfire.com/movies/oc/cafe.html [Oct 2004]
your Amazon recommendations