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19 reviews in total

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19 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
He's a rebel, 14 April 1999
Author: matthew wilder (picqueur@aol.com) from los angeles

Ever sit there looking at a Michael Bay movie, or a Martin Scorsese movie, or a Portishead video, or a CK1 commercial, and think, "So where did this come from, anyway?" The answer is Kenneth Anger's remarkable 1964 short film, the barbaric birth yawp of modern (and postmodern) cinema as we know it. Ostensibly a fetishistic self-generated porn reel, made, as Genet wrote his fiction, for the maker's masturbatory pleasure, SCORPIO RISING pulls together unlicensed pop songs with obsessive images of hunky guys, leather, chrome, comic strips, and death, to create a code for the programming of music, picture, and unspoken content that would go on to inform everything you see from Nicolas Roeg to VH-1. God knows where poor Anger is rubbing two nickels together, but tonight, say a prayer of thanks for the guy who made all your culture, the good, the bad and the ugly, possible.

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16 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Butch bikers or closet queers?, 30 March 2001
Author: MWadman (mwadman@hotmail.com) from Vancouver, BC

What is significant about this text is that Anger got many of the shots from the initiation rites of American biker gangs. As such, the butch ruggedness of these ostensibly "straight" men is conflated with the none-too-subtle homoeroticism of their rites--which leads the viewer to question the rigid dichotomies of "straight" and "gay" that dominate North American social discourse.

Also of significance is the extent to which, by appropriating "butch markers" such as leather and motorcycles, the homoeroticism undermines the stereotypicality of the "nelly" homosexual male.

Not a terribly accessible text, but it becomes pregnant with significance for the viewer who does a little background reading first.

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
One of the best experimental films ever shot, 28 March 2006

Author: CoreyBoy86 from United States

Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising", set to the tune of thirteen 1960's pop songs, ranks as one of the best films ever shot in the experimental genres, which to some people might translate as the best pile of dog poop ever made, but in terms of visual imagery, context, and use of music, it ranks up there as one of the most important films of the 60's. Kenneth Anger's trademarks (outsider as protagonist, homosexual iconography, pop culture looked at in a different light) are at their most poignant here with most memorable scenes set to 'Blue Velvet", "I Will Follow Him", and "Wipe Out". Also classic is the use of clips from Cecil B. DeMille's "King of Kings" of Jesus and his disciples walking superimposed between shots of gay bikers. A classic piece of Americana.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Gains a certain rhythm, 17 December 2002
Author: Itchload from Mass

Homoerotic bikers, nazism, suicide, 50's/60's pop songs, Jesus, pulp cartoons, mustard, and quite a bit of leather, i.e. everything I look for in a movie. This had me questioning "This Kenneth Anger guy achieved notoriety?" at the first 3 minutes, but by the end, the whole thing gained a certain rhythm and I began to understand what it was trying to do. This is for fans of experimental underground/midnight cinema, anyone else I would recommend staying far away.

As for the guy below who claims this inspired Martin Scorsese, Calvin Klein commercials and Michael Bay...Okay, Martin Scorsese, yes, to an extent. Calvin Klein commercials...maybe. Michael Bay? What? If the comment was sarcasm, than I accept you as an evil genius, otherwise you might belong in an asylum. Although I guess you could argue his last two movies are far more depraved than Scorpio Rising.

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17 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
challenging film, 17 June 2003
Author: lost1-1

I saw this movie in a community college film study class filled with dopey surfers, jocks, and hicks. Our professor was from a more cultured area and decided we needed to experience experimental, underground film-work that helped shape the way we view films today. The lights went out. The projector went on. We were brutally raped by images that we'd never seen before, only heard about. Many of the students were offended by it and didn't return to the class. The few of us who stuck around afterward learned about Kenneth Anger, what he was trying to say and the way he used film as a tool of expression rather than a story telling medium. This movie I will never forget as it reached out and smacked the viewer in the face and still does even by today's standards.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A film of Perversion, Sub Culture, and Brilliance, 12 October 1999
Author: mr.smith-2

When Jonas Mekas, Alfred Leslie, etc sat down to compose the mainfesto of "The New American Cinema" in 1961, the amount of films made under this artistic statement doubled. Out of this period, we see the creation of some of the greatest underground films the world has seen. Taylor Meed's The Flower Thief, Bruce Conner's A Movie and Report, and most importantly Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising.

Scorpio Rising's devices are fundementally simple-didactic montage, ironic sountracks, and archival footage. What seperates SR from the realm of mediocre is its deep underooted message of sexual perversion, S&M, and the cruelty of sexuality to a point of Nazist ideology. Scenes such as young man with a smile on his face being "raped" by leather clad bikers is a point of sadio-estasy. To say that SR is not a 22 min. perversion is to ignore its fundemental principles and the principles of its filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Anger has emerged himselfin both the terror of the haunte monde of Hollywood in the 30's (hence the birth of his hugely read Hollywood Babylon- a study as perverse as SR) and the drug and sexually illusioned world of the 50's/60's lower bohemia.

Scorpio Rising is a film of a generation. As Allen Ginsberg put it: "a generation starved on madness". It's signifigance ranks up there with Keroauc, Ginsberg, and Burroughs. Anger's film is a portrait of a world so far from our 90's train of thought- yet so strikingly fimiliar.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
King of Kings Reference, 28 February 2008

Author: mondocane69 from United States

During the early 80's I attended many screenings where Anger was present to introduce "Scorpio Rising." The clips of Jesus are not from "King of Kings" as one viewer wrote,but according to Anger, the clips are from a religious instruction film that he received by mistake one day while he was editing the film. He took it as sign to use some clips in the film. This is a great work of art and one of the best and most influential underground films ever created. It's influence on the modern music video and other aspects of popular culture cannot be dismissed. I urge everyone to get the 2 volume DVD set that's out now. Check out Anger's other films among them "Puce Moment," "Rabbit's Moon," and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome."

"It's my happening and it freaks me out!"

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Fools Rush In (Where Anger fears to tread), 27 January 2006

Author: mrdonleone from belgium

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I saw this movie when the Filmmuseum in Brussels held an Anger marathon, and I was hypnotized by this masterpiece of work from the very beginning, with that great soundtrack Fools Rush In (sung by Ricky Nelson, I believe) mixed with images of leather and bikes shot in a Brooklyn garage. It's really fascinating to see how 'Scorpio Rises'. But Scorpio isn't only the kind of hero in this movie, it's also the sign Anger has with 'Scorpio rising'. Interesting info. I enjoyed this movie, because I like biker movies, such as 'The Wild One' with Brando, and 'Rebel without a Cause' with James Dean. But I was a bit disappointed too, I found it not so homo-erotic as everybody thinks it is. Surely, there are some things like a gay party and the whole leather outfits, but I wasn't actually thinking that this was a gay film. Some other short films directed by Kenneth Anger I liked, Kustom Kar Kommandos and Lucifer Rising, for example. But nothing caught my eye the same way this one does. The thing I liked the most about 'Scorpio Rising' was the title shot. A red wall is seen on the background, and suddenly appears this man dressed in leather in front of the camera. We see his back, 'Scorpio Rising' spelled in very big letters. I'll never forget these opening credits. I recommend this movie to everyone, but if you're not keen on leather or bikes, please do not see this movie.

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4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Simply put, one of the most important pieces of cinema ever made, 17 April 2006

Author: TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA

As another reviewer stated, this is as revolutionary a film as "Breathless". While there was certainly innovation in the 60s mainstream cinema, a lot of groundbreaking went ignored. Some of the most important and innovative films of the time were made in the underground. Films such as "The World's Greatest Sinner", "Scorpio Rising", and "Flaming Creatures" presented images that Hollywood wouldn't dare show for many years, used filming techniques that were inaccessible yet innovative and made the most of the film medium, and touched upon themes that would still cause controversy even today. Warhol's films of the same period were also innovative, yet are incredibly boring and worthless as films themselves. "Scorpio Rising" employs many original film-making practices and is captivating for the film's brief duration. The latter can not be said for Warhol's films. If the film was full-length, it would become dull and repetitive. However, Anger is a filmmaker of intelligence, and manages to say all he wants to in little over a half-hour.

One of the most creative and new ideas the film had was to use pop music (unauthorized of course) for ironic moments. Through out the film, the images are visceral and assaulting on the senses, with brill-building pop tunes in the background. For instance, "Blue Velvet" is used to show a homo-erotic shot of a biker wearing blue velvet. Another interesting aspect of the film is the constant homo-eroticism. Anger questions the camaraderie of the bikers. They are shown engaging in activities that question their sexuality. The party scene is the biggest example of all this.

The budget of this film is non-existent, and with a few examples of background sound, there is no dialog. All Anger needs to convey his point is the images. The film stock is grainy, but it all adds to the underground atmosphere of the film. Also, he takes footage from "The Wild One" and a cheap religious film. The incorporation of the Jesus walking with his disciples footage with the bikers going to the party had me on the floor. Quite frankly, it was one of the most amazing sequences I had ever seen in a film. Also, the use of Nazi imagery was quite shocking yet like all other elements of the film it managed to blend in. The film accumulates with what seems to be a race and a subsequent suicide of a biker, all set to "Wipe Out".

Film is an art form, and you don't need resources to create an amazing film. This short proves that point. Despite all the experimentation, the film is accessible, and is a recommended started point to anyone interested in 60s underground cinema. It should be as much a mainstay for college film courses as for midnight movie showings. The cult following this short has gained proves that fact. It is one of the greatest cult classics and experimental films of all time. For sheer vision, it's hard to beat this. Due to the unauthorized use of popular music, it is commercially unavailable. However, bootlegs do lurk around, and see it if you are ever presented with the opportunity. It is the greatest short film I've seen, and is highly recommended. I can't say enough good things about the film, so I'll just leave you with this - see it. (10/10)

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Blue Velvet Underground, 27 January 2012

Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

One of Kenneth Anger's most popular and thematically accessible short films, "Scorpio Rising" consists of a series of montage images overlain by thirteen pop songs of the early 1960s. The film expresses nonconformist themes that herald the onset of the American counterculture movement. As the visuals focus on a group of New York City motorcyclists, viewers perceive a bohemian lifestyle, a nihilistic subtext, elements of erotica, and an amusing sense of irony from the juxtaposition of images and music.

There is no plot, no dialogue, no sets, no acting. Anger simply records on camera what he finds as he happens onto these bikers, who are not actors. Sans music, the film could easily be thought of as a polished home movie. It conveys a sense of realism and frankness. Cinematography is somewhat grainy; colors are muted. There are many close-up camera shots, and quite a few extreme close-ups.

The music gives thematic depth to the images and imposes varying moods and feelings, not the least of which is nostalgia, along with melancholy, lost childhood, rebellion, humor, and just a hint of fatalism. Probably one of the better sequences is the Bobby Vinton recording of "Blue Velvet" recorded over images of a couple of young guys who don their biker uniforms. A sequence or two in the middle seems either unnecessary or out of place. Editing is a bit fast and erratic in the second half.

Prospective viewers should expect the unexpected, given that "Scorpio Rising" is a 1960s underground film. It is definitely different. This is one of several that Anger made, all experimental. In retrospect, he can be thought of as a poetic visionary whose cultural influence is still being felt in the 21st century, especially in cinema.

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