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5:00 PM Showtime 2
The Descent (2005 GB): The program guide says this will be a letterboxed airing of The Descent, one of the better horror films of recent vintage. The film tells the tale of a group of spelunking women trapped underground amidst blind, ravenous meat-eating creatures (not to be confused with men, of course), and whilst it works fine in pan and scan, you might want to set the timer this afternoon just in case Direct TV isn't lying.

Thursday 03/20/08

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
A Modern Musketeer (1917 USA): This extremely rare Douglas Fairbanks vehicle makes its TCM premiere this afternoon. Fairbanks plays Kansas boy Ned Thacker, whose obsession with Alexandre Dumas' story The Three Musketeers - and specifically the character of D'Artagnan - inspires him to feats of heroism. With the help of sidekick James Brown (Tully Marshall), Ned rides to the rescue of socialite in distress Dorothy Dodge (Marjorie Daw), who has fallen into the hands of treacherous Native American Chin-de-dah (Frank Campeau). Shot to good effect in and around the Grand Canyon, A Modern Musketeer has only recently been restored to full length by the Danish Film Institute and is one of Fairbanks' earliest surviving productions.

8:30 PM Flix
Chained Heat (1983 USA): The Women in Prison genre reached its apogee (or nadir, depending on your perspective) with this relatively big budget exploitation effort. Linda Blair stars as Carol Henderson, a young woman serving an 18 month term for manslaughter somewhere in the depths of a California correctional facility. Both the wardens (John Vernon and Stella Stevens!) are voyeuristic sadists, and the drug-dealing, gun-wielding inmates aren't much better. What's a nice girl to do? Why, bare her breasts, of course, and partake in some down and dirty lesbian sex! Co-starring Tamara Dobson (Cleopatra Jones) and Sybil Danning as inmate big wigs, Henry Silva as a (surprise!) sadistic prison guard, and Edy Williams and Michael Callan in smaller roles, this is perhaps the ne plus ultra of the WIP genre - and with any luck (and this being Flix), will be airing in letterboxed format. No promises, though.

Friday 03/21/08

12:15 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
Straw Dogs (1971 GB): I’ve never been a huge fan of this discomforting exercise in paranoia, but it doesn't show up very often on premium channels, so I'll give it a mention anyway. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs stars Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a milquetoast intellectual who, in an effort to escape the violence of the American big city, has relocated to the remote British countryside with his attractive wife Amy (Susan George). Alas, the locals seem only a step or two removed from the caveman, and take an instant disliking to the outsider - as well as a fancy for the attractive young woman suddenly thrust into their midst. Featuring one of the most controversial rape scenes of all time (debate still rages as to whether or not George's character seems to be enjoying herself), Straw Dogs is difficult going for the hardiest souls, but looks great thanks to cinematographer John Coquillon's slate gray renderings of the damp Cornish countryside.

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