THE PYX
(aka THE HOOKER CULT MURDERS)
Dir. Harvey Hart, 1973
Canada. 107 min
In English

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3 - 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 - 5 PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26 - 7:30 PM

This October is the 50th Anniversary of Harvey Hart’s diabolical thriller THE PYX. In order to honor the occasion, we’ve decided to resurrect this Spectacle Classic, which originally screened in 2015 and subsequently streamed as part of SPECTOBER IN EXILE following the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Somewhere between ROSEMARY’S BABY and KLUTE, this Canadian supernatural mystery offers plenty to satisfy police procedural fans as Dr. Sgt. Jim Henderson (played by Christopher Plummer) investigates the murder of Elizabeth Lucy (Karen Black). As the film moves back and forth between Henderson’s investigation and Lucy’s last days we learn of her connection to a cult of devil worshipers.

While other films would try to drive up the tension, there’s a quiet, sullen feel to THE PYX, from the grubby rain-soaked streets of Montreal to Lucy’s manipulative madam to the minimal orchestral score, supplemented by Karen Black’s songs, all of which build a slow sense of inescapable dread. Lucy’s conflagration of sex, heroin and Catholicism drifts through the entire film, a counterpoint to the increasing paranoia and futility of the detectives seeking to understand what remains beyond them as both storylines mirror the downward spiral of the other.