Outer Space (1999)

In the haunting darkness of the night, a house eerily surfaces, twisting in the camera's view before sinking back into the abyss. Within this foreboding silhouette, a young woman tentatively approaches, drawn into its unsettling depths. The film's rhythm shudders and stutters, smothering the soundtrack with an unnerving crackle. A cinematic collage crafted from fragments of forgotten Hollywood footage serves as the backbone of the narrative. Barbara Hershey emerges as a spectral figure, meandering through the disordered images, tossed around by them, and ultimately challenging them. Through Tscherkassky's artistic manipulation of the original film, he meticulously recycles, recopies, and re-exposes the material. This technique contorts the images and spaces within each other, akin to a disorienting nightmare, leaving the viewer suspended in a disconcerting reality. In this filmic chaos, foreign bodies infiltrate from the void of outer space, instigating a montage of panic. The film's boundaries are punctured; its empty perforations and skeletal soundtracks invade the narrative, further obscuring the already uncertain action. It's as if cinema is tearing at its own seams, driven by the anticipation of a climactic frenzy. Glass shatters, furniture tumbles in disarray as Tscherkassky subjects his heroine to extreme duress. She repeatedly appears to resist the cinematic system until the images stutter, veering off course. 'Outer Space' is a cinematic journey that tests the boundaries of film, creating an immersive experience that is as captivating as it is disconcerting.

Outer Space is a horror movie featuring Barbara Hershey and directed by Peter Tscherkassky.

Outer Space is currently streaming on DocAlliance Films and MUBI.

It is also possible to buy Outer Space on DocAlliance Films.