Fever Freaks

A detective is hired to find the original copy of a lost ancient book. The book recounts the tale of a plague. A form of radiation, unknown at the present time, activates a virus. The virus affects the sexual and fear centers in the brain and nervous system; fear is converted into sexual frenzies which are reconverted back into fear, the feedback leading in many cases to a fatal conclusion.

Fever Freaks manipulates and re-edits individual frames from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1974 film Arabian Nights to illustrate a passage of William S. Burroughs’ 1981 book Cities of the Red Night.

Music by Ben Lamar Gay

Musicians: Ben Lamar Gay, Joanna Wiesbrock, Isaiah Spencer

Music Recording: Todd Carter at Bel Air Studios

Sound mix and mastering: Lou Mallozzi 

Original Text: Cities of the Red Night, William S. Burroughs (1981) 

Original Image: Il Fiore delle Mille e una Notte, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1974)

Thanks to Abbas Hyderi, Casey Puccini, Roger Brown Residency, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago