Source a bafflingly eerie screencap?

May 25, 2011 4:37 AM

Can anyone provide a source for this creepy screencap of two men dressed in formal white clothing preparing a child to present to a disembodied goat head lurking behind a plastic curtain?
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

Looks like something Jake and Dinos Chapman might make.
posted by crazylegs at 4:49 AM on May 25, 2011

I'm pretty sure it's from Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain.
posted by hot soup girl at 4:57 AM on May 25, 2011

Response by poster: I think his hat is a bit different, and the Holy Mountain hat-guy didn't have white greasepaint on, I don't think...?
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 5:06 AM on May 25, 2011

It's not from any Jodorowsky I've ever seen, and unless it's from their new film, I don't think the Chapmans have anything to do with this either. I immediately thought about the Cremaster Cycle, but a quick look through the characters doesn't come up with these two.

I'm stumped, but I'll keep looking...
posted by Chichibio at 5:46 AM on May 25, 2011

Not from the Cremaster Cycle.
posted by beerbajay at 5:52 AM on May 25, 2011

Huh; you're right. The costuming and goat imagery are reminiscent of The Holy Mountain's Alchemist, but I've just rewatched the whole film (for the first time in twelve years) and this scene doesn't appear.
posted by hot soup girl at 6:39 AM on May 25, 2011

Did you find this on Tumblr? Trace back to the original poster and see if they have an "Ask" function on their site.
posted by hermitosis at 7:50 AM on May 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

A shot in the dark, but perhaps Fellini Satyricon?
posted by mkultra at 8:52 AM on May 25, 2011

It's not from Satyricon, I can confirm that.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:12 PM on May 25, 2011

Response by poster: No ask function on the original Tumblr!
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 8:27 PM on May 26, 2011

Would it be possible for you to post the original Tumblr here? I'm still hunting, and any clue is a good clue!
posted by hot soup girl at 3:58 PM on May 27, 2011

Response by poster: Very NSFW.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 9:32 PM on May 27, 2011

OH MY GOD WHAT THE F IS UP WITH THAT SITE???

It just keeps going, and going, and ohmygod am I going to be visited by the evil spirit of some little girl in 7 days now?

And why, of all the random freaky pics, is that the one that made you wonder where it came from?
posted by mkultra at 8:02 AM on May 28, 2011

Thanks for posting the Tumblr; we now have two more images that seem to have come from the same source.

I've reblogged the first image on my Tumblr and added a note asking 4fucksakebabes where it's from (I also included a link to this question); it's a pretty slipshop form of communication, but it's worth a try. Fingers crossed!
posted by hot soup girl at 5:31 PM on May 28, 2011

This, again from that tumblr, seems like it's from the same work as well. So, blood too.
posted by cortex at 3:39 PM on May 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

For what it's worth, I've tracked down quite a few music videos that draw inspiration from Holy Mountain's visuals (Santigold/MGMT/Four Dead in Ohio/Late of the Pier/Yeasayer/Marilyn Manson) but so far, no dice.
posted by hot soup girl at 6:47 PM on May 30, 2011

I HAVE (part of) THE ANSWER. Someone on the internet saw the query I posted to my Tumblr back in May, and has emailed me to say that the image is from the work of Romeo Castellucci. He seems to be an Italian experimental theatre director, so presumably these shots document a perfomance, though I couldn't figure out which one in particular.
posted by hot soup girl at 8:24 AM on October 30, 2011

Best answer: Okay, I found it. The image is from Romeo Castellucci's Dal Ciclo della Tragedia Endogonidia.
posted by hot soup girl at 8:31 AM on October 30, 2011 [5 favorites]