The JFK assassination meets Frankenstein in 13 minutes of pure media nightmare fuel.
Bruce Conner’s most celebrated film for a reason: it takes historical moments that were replayed over and over on television—chilling repetition of Kennedy assassination coverage—and repurposes them into a meditation on how the media tries to exert authority and apply a sense of order to the anarchic. And though it may sound perverse to say so, the film is also—not incidentally—a thrill to watch. -- The A.V. Club
Editing
Rapid-fire montage that weaponizes found footage.
Sound
Radio static and orchestral horror collide.
Direction
Conner's 13-minute masterclass in media criticism.
Director
Bruce Conner
John F. Kennedy
Self (archive footage)
Jacqueline Kennedy
Self (archive footage)
John Connally
Self (archive footage)
Lee Harvey Oswald
Self (archive footage)
Colin Clive
Henry Frankenstein (archive footage - Bride of Frankenstein (1935))
Ernest Thesiger
Doctor Pretorius (archive footage - Bride of Frankenstein (1935))
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Conner spent months acquiring broadcast footage before fair use existed; this was radical theft.
The Bride of Frankenstein clips aren't random—Karloff's monster and Oswald are both created villains, media-made.
US
