Your Life is on the Line!: A Joe Christ Anthology

Outrageous…Revolting…Abrasive…Tasteless…These are just a few of the adjectives that define the polarizing work of punk musician turned transgressive filmmaker Joe Christ. Combining the gross-out provocations of early John Waters with the penurious, confrontational shock aesthetics of Nick Zedd, Christ utilized video as his primary medium to rail  against the cinematic boundaries of general decency and good taste. Saturn’s Core is proud to present the first volume in the complete filmography of Joe Christ, which conjures up a disturbing worldview populated solely by victims and their potential assailants; an unsettling portrait of early ‘90s American white trash culture teetering on the brink of psychosis. 

Communion in Room 410 (1988) presents a cinema vérité variation on the Last Supper replete with nudity, self-mutilation, and blood drinking. Speed Freaks with Guns (1991) chronicles the murderous home movies of a raving, paranoid amphetamine addict. In Crippled (1992), a bed-ridden, disabled woman is repeatedly abused by her amoral caretakers. Acid Is Groovy Kill the Pigs (1993) follows Christ on a homicidal, acid-fueled road “trip” that’s loosely inspired by the real life, Jeffrey MacDonald / Fatal Vision murders. Sex, Blood & Mutilation (1995) unfolds as a shocking, Mondo-style video freakshow featuring appearances by David Aaron Clark (We Await), Tattoo Mike Wilson (War is Menstrual Envy), and industrial pioneer Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV).