Christopher Kondek

Rhyme 'Em To Death reconstructs the trial from Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame from a new perspective, that of a minor character - the goat. The trial of the goat, a postscript in the Hugo novel, has been extended and enlivened with actual transcripts of 15th-century trials in which animals were persecuted as witches.

Adapted from a novella by James Strahs (the author of “Queer and Alone”, as well as the Wooster Group’s play, “North Atlantic”), this unfinished 1997 film from the Wooster Group was first shown as part of the 1997 Whitney Biennial. Aside from a screening as part of Anthology’s tribute to the Group in 2012, it has rarely been seen since. A tale of smuggling and survivalists that adopts the tone and visual style of film noir, but with a narrative logic all its own, it stars Willem Dafoe as Jack Straw, a small-time operator who ran a “pharmaceutical outfit” before an accident changed everything. A rare instance of an extended moving-image work by the Wooster Group that was created independently of their theatrical productions, WRONG GUYS is a fascinating and little-seen work. — Anthology Film Archives