The Films of the Ormond Family - Screening w/ author Jimmy McDonough!

PRS and present:

The Films of the Ormond Family: IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU, WHAT WILL HORSES DO? + THE BURNING HELL – with author Jimmy McDonough In-Person!

“The odd combination of actors/semi-actors plus Southern non-acting churchgoers give an Ormond / Pirkle film a particular off-kilter charm. Is it a documentary? A sermon? A hallucination? What is it?” – Jimmy McDonough

For almost half a century, June, Ron and Tim Ormond, a Nashville mother-father-son trio, cranked out a wild bunch of movies, from Lash LaRue westerns to the stripper-gore-musical outrage THE EXOTIC ONES, and plunged into every area of showbiz. What’s more, they did it all on a shoestring, totally independently, with no studio to back them. At the height of their frenzied career, Ron and June experienced a spiritual awakening when their private plane crashed on the way to a premiere. From then on, they turned their back on secular show business to produce a series of shocking, surreal religious pictures, including an unbelievable trio of films for Mississippi Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle – films such as THE BURNING HELL, which made millions, despite never being shown in an actual movie theatre.

These strange, wonderful examples of truly Outsider filmmaking have recently been restored by byNWR and Cinema Preservation Alliance for the Powerhouse Films/Indicator Blu-ray box set From Hollywood To Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of The Ormond Family, released to coincide with the publication of forensic biographer Jimmy McDonough’s awe-inspiring tome on the extraordinary life and work of the Ormond Family, The Exotic Ones (byNWR / FAB Press). Author and film historian Jimmy McDonough will join us to present two of the most wildly entertaining and outrageous Ormond Family films:

IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU, WHAT WILL HORSES DO? – 1971, 52 min. Dir. Ron Ormond. “Many of you listening to me today will see hundreds of dead bodies in your towns,” warns Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle, in this hilariously and rabidly anti-Communist / anti-sex education / anti-mini skirt wearing religious propaganda classic. Truly jaw-dropping from the get-go, featuring a laundry list of corrupting dangers to watch out for including Saturday morning cartoons and drive-in theaters – and worst of all, bearded Cuban soldiers handing out candy to stunned grade-schoolers courtesy of their glorious leader, Fidel Castro!

THE BURNING HELL – 1974, 58 min. Dir. Ron Ormond. “Every hour at least 3,000 people go to hell,” intones Estus Pirkle, in one of the Ormond Family’s best-known films, filled with grinning demons, charcoaled sinners, and “recreations” (ahem) of large chunks of the Bible featuring decidedly non-Middle Eastern actors. The plot involves Pirkle trying to save the soul of a young hippie biker whose friend unfortunately rejects Pirkle’s teachings and is sent to roast in Hell – where he meets a multi-colored harlequin Satan leaping around in the film’s most bonkers sequences.

Introduction to screening by author Jimmy McDonough, who will sign copies of his new book on The Ormond Family, “The Exotic Ones” (byNWR / FAB Press), available for sale in the PRS Bookstore!

Special Thanks to: byNWR and Peter Conheim

Films are restored by byNWR and Cinema Preservation Alliance

Ticket Price: $20 (in-person event only).

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Event Venue

Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States