Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco (dir: James Crump, 2017, cert 15)
Illustrator, photographer and foxy dancer, Antonio Lopez blazed a trail through the fashion industry until his life was cruelly cut short by AIDS at the age of forty four in 1987. Antonio’s girls included Grace Jones, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall amongst a high profile coterie of models painted with a wild flamboyance by the influential Lopez, his art laced with themes of queer desire and race that was revolutionary. Crump’s film utilises rare archive footage and interviews to provide a fascinating glimpse into a life lived at breakneck speed.
Mon 23 Apr 6.30pm at Everyman Cinema, The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF £13.90 www.everymancinema.com

Victim (dir: Basil Dearden, 1961, cert PG)
Dirk Bogarde is darkly and quietly poised as barrister Melville Farr tackling the odious, and all too common in its day, practice of blackmailing homosexual men. Gay sex wasn’t decriminalised until the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967 and up until that time blackmail was a prevalent problem. Dearden’s tight thriller is a ground breaking, challenging, powerful and very brave piece of cinema, with Bogarde’s and Farr’s own repression of their natural instincts lending Victim a poignant gravitas.
Tue 24 Apr 2pm at the mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

Evil Dead 2 (dir: Sam Raimi, 1987, cert 15)
For the sequel to the gruelling original, Sam Raimi produced one of the most grotesquely hilarious splatterfests in movie history. Transposing the slapstick thrills of the Three Stooges into that cabin in the woods was a stroke of absolute genius. Chin on legs Bruce Campbell’s finest moment is as the chainsaw wielding Ash, laughing maniacally as the Deadite onslaught takes it toll and his own severed hand tries to kill him. An unrelentingly inventive laugh gore riot. Screened to celebrate the launch of The Festival of Terror that begins in October, watch this groovy space.
Tue 24 Apr 6.30pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham  B9 4AA £5 www.eventbrite.co.uk

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (dir: Quentin Tarantino, 2003, cert 18) + whisky tastealong
Tarantino plunders the classics of martial arts exploitation cinema to bring us The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, seeking revenge on those who ruined her wedding day. Big, bold and brashly violent brush strokes as all the genre boxes are ticked effectively with Quentin’s customarily violent fanboy veneration. Screened in association with The Birmingham Whisky Club, Stef Holt from Nikka Whisky will be sharing samples of their single malt range at key stages during the film.
Thu 26 Apr 8pm at The Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY  £25.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Western (dir: Valeska Grisebach, 2017, cert 12A)
Utilising the familiar motifs of the Western genre and subtly recalling classics such as Fort Apache, Grisebach’s ingenious film sees a crew of German construction workers building a project in Bulgaria, with the exception of the taciturn Meinhard (Meinhard Neumann) this motley bunch of interlopers are driven by greed and have nothing but contempt for their ‘backwards’ hosts. Grisebach’s exclusive use of non-professional actors lends a gritty prescience to what is her first film in eleven years, Western is a simple tale of human resilience and shared experience possessed of an inspiringly uplifting coda.
Fri 27 Apr to Thu 3 May at the mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

The Night of the Hunter (dir: Charles Laughton, 1955, cert 12)
Robert Mitchum’s Reverend Harry Powell is one of cinema’s most frightening creations, a rapacious serial killer punishing sinners in the Lord’s name. Filmed in an expressionistic style, that recalls the work of Murnau and Lang, it was laughton’s only film as director with its subject matter being reviled by contemporary critics and audiences. The Night of the Hunter is now rightly regarded as one of the most important films ever made influencing a host of revered filmmakers such as Lynch, Scorsese and Malick to name a few.
Sat 28 Apr 3pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Arrow Video Club
The arrival of the Arrow Video Club to Birmingham is a moment to cherish. For those who don’t know Arrow Films is a cult and horror goldmine for challenging and interesting cinema from around the world, with a reputation for releasing lovingly restored classics to cutting edge contemporary movies in sumptuous and informative packaging. Yes we have them all. Two films for launch night beginning with Kinji Fukasaku’s relentless dystopian thriller Battle Royale (2000), the students of class 3B are armed and dropped on an island, only one can leave, imagine Lord of the Flies with knives and guns, it’s all overseen by a deliriously gurning Takeshi Kitano. The second screening is of Takashi Miike’s slow burning Audition (1999). A recent widower, and film producer, stages mock casting auditions to find a new wife. Sounds innocuous enough. A genuinely terrifying experience containing one of cinema’s greatest ‘jump’ moments, not easily forgotten.
Sun 29 Apr 5pm at The Mockingbird, Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £9.50 veezi.com