Scala!!! Or, The Incredibly Strange Rise And Fall... [Blu-ray]

Scala Blu-ray documents the chaotic, influential history of Londons most notorious repertory cinema, a cultural pressure cooker that ran from 1978 to 1993 and screened over 4000 films that reshaped underground film culture. Directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall, the documentary captures how the Scala Cinema became a sanctuary for counterculture, cinephiles, punks, artists, activists, and future filmmakers hungry for films that challenged taste, politics, and censorship.

Built from rare archival footage, extensive film clips, and interviews with former Scala staff, audiences, and cultural icons including John Waters, Mary Harron, Ben Wheatley, Kim Newman, Nick Kent, Isaac Julien, Matt Johnson, Jah Wobble, and many others, the film portrays the Scala as more than a movie theater. It was a living organism where midnight movies, all-night horror marathons, banned films, and confrontational programming created a shared cinematic consciousness that still echoes today.

Presented by Severin Films, this massive three-disc Blu-ray edition is a definitive archival release featuring more than thirteen hours of bonus material. In addition to the feature documentary, the set includes rare shorts screened at the Scala, extensive outtakes and interviews, animation experiments, archival programs, and the feature-length documentary Splatterfest Exhumed, exploring the infamous 1990 all-night horror festival that became Scala legend.

directed by: Jane Giles, Ali Catterall
starring: John Waters, Mary Harron, Ben Wheatley, Kim Newman, Nick Kent, Isaac Julien
2023 / 96 min / English

Number of discs: 3
Audio: English 5.1 surround