It was a place where art students mixed with aristos, punks, goths, pensioners and misfits. Pushing the boundaries of the ordinary with a defiant blend of avante-garde, grindhouse and classic films the Scala cinema became an off-beat institution in London’s King Cross, burning brightly for 15 years before a controversial screening of a taboo film proved its undoing.
Now, a new documentary Scala!!! has brought the legendary venue back to life, celebrating one of the world’s most unconventional movie houses.
The film, co-directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall, is based on Giles’ 2018 book Scala Cinema 1978-1993 and chronicles the cinema’s daring screenings and atmosphere of sex, drugs, and rock and roll during Thatcher-era Britain.
The Scala featured all sorts of controversial and cutting edge films, from David Lynch’s Eraserhead to the controversial Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. It was the haunt of equally edgy celebrities like Sid Vicious from The Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy, the then controversial Boy George, and Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground.
Auteur director John Waters described it as “a country club for criminals and lunatics”.
Being arrested for movies is a good thing to have on your resume.
The film recently closed out the 18th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival alongside a diverse lineup of feature films, documentaries, and shorts.
A wide-ranging series of 50 interviews, that includes John Waters, Isaac Julien, Peter Strickland, Ben Wheatley, Mary Harron, and other filmmakers, audience members, and local British artists, underpins the film. Most notably, British DJ Mark Moore recalls his wild experience at the cinema as a teenager, sneaking in to have his first glimpse of real hedonism.
The film also includes clips from the more notorious works that screened at the Scala, like Waters’ Pink Flamingos. Although the confronting visuals and fast pace of the documentary might be overwhelming for some, it’s highly engaging and often funny.
At times it is reminiscent of Jennie Livingston’s widely acclaimed documentary Paris is Burning (1980), an audacious showcase of the defiant spirit of New York’s drag ball culture. The commentary of Scala!!! does not feel as blatant, as Giles and Catterall do not directly address complex subjects like class and race as Livingston does. However, in both we see the bizarre mated with the mundane, and equally they highlight a subculture of outsiders often overlooked by mainstream narratives.
Giles and Catarall effectively characterise the Scala Cinema as an identity in and of itself, brought out through the excitingly fast pace of the film making and its emphasis on the cinema’s quirks; strange smells, cold temperature, uncomfortable seats, old film prints that would burn, all-night movie marathons, and unlikely subcultures connecting. Another of its whimsical aspects is the inclusion of the two cats, Huston and Roy, that lived at the cinema and were adored by regulars.
“It was a building that all the different tribes came to, kung fu people, the horror fans, the sexploitation, they all thought they owned it,” Giles said in a recent interview with the Cannes’ Film Festival’s The Fantastic Pavilion.
And the film portrays it this way: as a place “where outsiders and freaks belonged”.
The Scala’s demise was brought upon by something fitting of its anti-authoritative nature. After its illegal screening of the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange in April 1992, which had been withdrawn from release by Warner Bros in 1973, after accusations its extreme violence was producing copycat killers. A controversial legal case was brought against the Scala for breach of copyright and the ensuing financial costs combined with the lease on the premises expiring led to its closure.
In Scala!!!, John Waters comedically comforts Giles by telling her: “Being arrested for movies is a good thing to have on your resume.”
The Scala eventually reopened in 1999, but as a music venue.
Scala!!! does a great job evoking nostalgia for the ‘80s and ‘90s, and adopting a very ‘you should have been there’ sentiment via its talking heads. The film leaves this generation reminiscent of a time and place they were not around for. It pays homage to not only the classic movie stars, but also the diverse audience it attracted and the cinema’s unique curation of films.
Ultimately, the film itself not only recounts Scala’s notorious history but also becomes a love letter to the renegade cinema culture that nurtured it, capturing both the highs and lows of running a space that became synonymous with artistic freedom and chaos.
Scala!!! leaves us pondering the importance of celebrating absurdity, and how in a time of social and political uncertainty, we can continue to forge our own rebellion.
Scala!!! is not currently screening or streaming in Australia. You can purchase the film HERE.
Main image screenshot from trailer montage with movie poster.
