“Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair”: The Plague Dogs (1982)

Directed by Martin Rosen. 103 minutes. Rated PG-13. In English.

Screens as part of “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair,” a week-long festival presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque. Discounted festival passes ($65, or $50 for PMA members and students) are available here. A festival pass will automatically register you for all “Bleak Week” screenings.

Please Note: This film will screen at SPACE Gallery, at 538 Congress St. in Portland.

A very different kind of animated film. Make sure to leave the kids (and pets) at home for The Plague Dogs, a rarely-screened masterpiece of arthouse animation whose haunting memory will never leave you.

This fascinating follow-up to 1978’s landmark Watership Down follows lab test dogs Snitter and Rowf, who jailbreak from their torture in a secret facility only to find that the outside world’s even more bleak. Since the dogs accidentally broke a vial used by plague researchers on their way out, the human world launches a lethal hunt. Here is a world where animals are not a blank slate for our ideals and morality, but are the direct expression of the animals themselves; Humanity’s the bad guy, and the audience is not left off the hook. Featuring a slew of top-tier British voice talents: John Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Judy Geeson and Patrick Stewart.