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TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES

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“Experimental Films” and “Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti.” Maya Deren. Mystic Fire. $75 each. Deren was one of the godheads of the American experimental film movement, and these two cassettes have all of her work--including the posthumously edited “Horsemen,” a fascinating record of Haitian voodoo ceremonies shot in 1947-51. Deren was not really an original: “Meshes of the Afternoon” (1943), her first and most famous film, is a near-pastiche of Bunuel, Dali and Cocteau. But her films are intense and visually striking--poems of dance, seascape and madness--and her presence as actress in “Meshes” and “At Land” adds to their poignancy. What would this earthy, beautiful, audacious woman have accomplished if she hadn’t died at 44--or if she’d been working with more money and resources? Information: (212) 645-2733. 1/2

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