The 16mm feature film, Kill the Moonlight, completed in 1991, is an unconventional comedy about a loser stock car racer. It starts normal enough, like a low budget drive-in movie from the 70's, but as the film unfolds, the main character starts to unravel in strange ways when he is contaminated by toxic waste. At the same time, the plot of the film disintegrates and scenes start to go out of sync, and the picture goes upside down and backwards at times. Sort of like a folk song turning into an experimental noise jam. Two of the film's characters are sampled in Beck's hit song "Loser". The film was unprinted and seen by very few until 1994 when it premiered at the Rome Italy Film Festival.
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Kill the Moonlight | |
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Directed by | Steve Hanft |
Written by | Steve Hanft |
Produced by | Steve Hanft |
Starring | Thomas Hendrix Ross Harris |
Cinematography | Steve Hanft |
Edited by | Steve Hanft |
Distributed by | Plexifilm |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
A stock car racer blows a rod and his car catches fire. To raise money to get back into the game he works as fish hatchery worker, toxic waste cleaner, drug peddler and thief. Director Steve Hanft, captures the ridiculous life of a complete and total loser in slices of life as his surreal illegal days unfold in a different kind of narrative that casually leaves out plot and resolution.
First issued by Sympathy for the Record Industry in 1997, the out of print soundtrack to Kill The Moonlight was reissued with the Plexifilm DVD release, this time including tracks from Beck and Steve Hanft's band Loser.