Violent Movies Unraveled

Violent Movies Unraveled (2013)

If movie attackers had to face their attackees…

Since the beginning of film history, cinema has compressed physical space onto a single plane – the movie screen. This means we never really see characters face to face – no matter what they’re doing to one another. “Violent Movies Unraveled” re-edits famous movie scenes for two screens so that attackers face their attackees.

The prototype performance happened on a pair of apartment windows in Los Angeles on December 7, 2012. The windows were visible to people walking or driving past the building. The movies used for the proto-show were Psycho and Scarface. Although sound wasn’t used in the proto-show, I’ve included split-screen composites below that show the source videos with sound:

Split-screen composites of the source videos with sound:


“Scarface Unraveled” – split screen composite


“Psycho Unraveled” – split screen composite

The Violent Movies Unraveled proto-show was developed in residence at iotaCenter.