A science fiction oddity from the early 1980s set in the subterranean world of heroin addicts, performance artists and androgynous models in New York City’s East Village, Liquid Sky became a staple of the midnight movie circuit and college campus film societies. Produced with a budget of only $500,000, the film became the most successful independent film of 1983 grossing $1.7 million in the first several months of release. It’s also seen as heavily influencing the “electrotrash” club scene that emerged in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris and London.

 

A tiny UFO lands on the roof of a grungy penthouse apartment inhabited by an androgynous model played by Anne Carlisle (who works overtime in dual roles as Jimmy, a snarling junkie, and Margaret, his female nemesis, a languid model with an unusual kiss of death) and her drug-dealing lover Paula E. Sheppard (the former child star of Alice, Sweet Alice). As explained with deadpan gravity by hilariously naive alien hunter Otto Von Wernherr, the UFOs congregate in areas of intense heroin concentration and feed off the highs of addicts. This alien, though, has found an even better high: orgasms.

 

Flying saucers, fatal orgasms, rampant androgyny and relentless nihilism make Liquid Sky one of the most original and hallucinatory films in memory – a stunning cultural collage that offers an alien’s-eye view of Manhattan’s lurid clubs, majestic skyline and jaded populace. Hailed by Time Magazine as “a two hour act of imagination,” co-writer/director Slava Tsukerman created a true underground masterpiece of avant-garde science fiction filmmaking. Vinegar Syndrome is proudly bringing this quintessential midnight movie to Blu-ray, newly restored in 4k from its original 35mm camera negative.

 

This new special edition also features a brand-new commentary track with Slava Tsukerman; a video interview with Anne Carlisle; a director’s introduction’ Liquid Sky Revisited, a 50-minute making-of documentary; a filmed Q&A session from the 2017 Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers screening; never-before-seen outtakes; an alternate opening sequence; behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage; multiple theatrical trailers; a photo gallery; a new booklet featuring an essay by Samm Deighan; and new artwork designed by Derek Gabryszak.

 

Check out these gorgeous, newly restored images below and make sure to pre-order your copy here. The special edition DVD/Blu-ray combo hits shelves at the end of April.

 

 

 

 

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