Enter the Optigan
A segment from the abandoned documentary film "The Collectors." Shot in 1999 and edited in 2013–2014. The short documentary centers on Pea Hicks, a collector of an obscure electronic instrument called the Optigan.
Rodney Ascher
Director
Casts & Crew
Pea Hicks
Himself
Also Directed by Rodney Ascher
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
THE S FROM HELL is a short documentary-cum-horror film about the scariest corporate symbol in history - The 1964 Screen Gems logo, aka ‘The S From Hell.’ Built around interviews with survivors still traumatized from their childhood exposure to the logo after shows like Bewitched or The Monkees, the film brings their stories to life with animation, found footage, and dramatic reenactments.
Appropriated from one of fundamentalist comic book artist Jack Chick’s short “Chick tracts” designed to illustrate Christian doctrine, a young boy in the city is led astray by an older friend who disparages a sidewalk sermonizer.
A perfect little nightmare, WHEEL OF TORMENT takes several dizzying turns around Hieronymus Bosch’s epic pageants of violence set to Buckethead's spastic music.
Alfred is a (very) short film about the mysteries of other people's inner lives, the isolation of the individual within a group, good stiff drinks and traffic safety.
Primal Screen is a documentary about a person's childhood fear of ventriloquist dummies and dolls due to the uncanny valley.
A musician’s money grab Halloween composition unleashes the haunting sound of his own mother’s death.
A young woman meets the ultimate terror, a supernatural reality-bending maniac with a very large collection of out of print VHS tapes.
When buying a marital aid at an adult emporium, Tom Smith unexpectedly discovers legendary exploitation filmmaker Doris Wishman working behind the counter and their unexpected adventure begins. This short film and amazing tale Rodney Ascher (ROOM 237) about a late-career creative effort by Doris Wishman has never been published until now. Included as bonus material is the final music video referenced in the title, finally edited some 20 years after it was shot.
A wilfully offensive band, The Mentors gained infamy for performing in black executioner hoods and spewing cartoonishly racist, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in the 1980s and ‘90s—but was their use of shock meant to propagate hate or confront it?
