The Brighton Film Festival

Dir: Roger Corman. US 1963. 79 mins.

Arguably Roger Corman’s finest production, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) was a B-movie sensation. Legendary American avant-garde rock band Pere Ubu generate a dark and atmospheric live underscore, which restores the film’s fabled “lost” ending.

Dr. Xavier (Ray Milland), in pursuit of a serum to improve eyesight, discovers a formula for x-ray vision. Thwarted by his more short-sighted colleagues, the doctor tests the potion on himself only to find that his ability to see through walls, clothes and flesh soon turns him into a pariah. Still, he is overcome by an insatiable desire to look further and further… until, finally, he dares to peer into the place Man Is Not Meant To Go.

“I grew up addicted to Friday Night sci fi flicks,” Pere Ubu’s David Thomas said. “The genre had an incalculable effect on the third generation of Young Rock Giants who emerged in the 70s. Now it’s time to honor our debt.”