Suggesting a convulsive hall of mirrors, Tscherkassky’s widescreen tour de force Outer Space reinvents a 1981 Barbara Hershey horror vehicle, leaving the original’s crystalline surface intact only to violently shatter its narrative illusion. After Hershey enters a house at night time, sounds of crickets, static, and distorted music give way to explosions, screams, and garbled voices. In an eruption of panicked subjectivity, the actress’s face multiplies across the screen as the frame is invaded by sprocket holes, an optical soundtrack, and flashes of solarized imagery.

Kristin M. Jones