Cinema squared

What's a Hollywood legend like Kirk Douglas doing mixed up with stag films, a murderous housekeeper, and the inhabitants of hell? ''Illusion,'' which Douglas says is his cinematic swan song, is featured in Belmont World Film's ''It's All in the Family'' series, which continues Sunday with screenings through April 30. It coincides with the ninth-annual Boston Underground Film Festival, or BUFF, which opens tonight and runs through Sunday with a variety of cutting-edge movies.

''Independent films are very often far more gratifying,'' the 90-year-old Douglas says on the phone. ''You don't have a big studio breathing down your neck, and it's just a few young guys and an old kook like me working together, and it's so much fun.''

BELMONT WORLD FILM

''Illusion,'' Douglas's 74th feature, was co-scripted and directed by star Michael Goorjian, who on Sunday will host a pre-screening reception at the First Armenian Church (380 Concord Ave., Belmont) and a post-show Q&A session for ''Illusion'' at Studio Cinema (376 Trapelo Road, Belmont).

''Just because something is uplifting, that doesn't mean it has to be childish or fluffy,'' says Goorjian. ''I really wanted to make a film that truly inspired people.''

Inspiring in a completely different way, Jan Hrebejk's ''Beauty in Trouble'' (on April 22) is also the most thought-provoking offering in either festival. Marcela (Ana Geislerova, believable from every angle) finally finds a nice guy to pull her and her two kids out of the emotional quicksand of their desolate existence. Nevertheless, the beauty in question finds that her unshakable primal urges keep hurling her back to her brutish, estranged husband (Roman Luknar), who makes Stanley Kowalski look positively demure.

With opening scenes of meddlesome matchmakers and neighborhood gossips interfering in young love, you'd think you were watching an exotic remake of ''Hello, Dolly!,'' but it's actually ''A New Day in Old Sana'a'' (April 23), a sort of ''Yemen 90210.'' Bader Ben Hirsi's tale of remaining true to your heart's desire may be awfully familiar and notably thin on plot, but it is atmospherically rich and the cinematography by Muriel Aboulrouss is splendid.

For eclectic casting, you can't beat Rowan Atkinson, Patrick Swayze, and the inimitable Maggie Smith all in one movie. Factor in a witty script and Kristin Scott Thomas to boot, and it's pretty appalling that Niall Johnson's ''Keeping Mum'' (April 30) was virtually ignored upon its initial release in 2005. In sleepy Little Wallop, a lonely vicar's wife hires a frightfully efficient housekeeper and discovers that all of her problems - and neighbors - begin obediently disappearing. If that premise isn't horrifying enough, there's also a notorious sequence featuring a 53-year-old Swayze in a thong.

BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM

Benjamin Meade's ''American Stag'' (tonight at the Brattle) is an unapologetic raunch-o-rama that vividly chronicles the history of the pre-porn stag film. This audacious documentary includes appropriately cheeky commentary from the likes of Adam Carolla and Tommy Chong and is respectfully ''dedicated to all the preacher's kids in America.'' Take that, Fred Phelps.

Unrepentant sinners are also the focus of ''Dante's Inferno'' (tomorrow at the Brattle), a visually ingenious adaptation of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic sizzler. Sean Meredith's inventive rendition resurrects Victorian-era toy theater techniques and showcases some repulsive puppets, the kind that seem much better acquainted with ''Mean Streets'' than ''Sesame Street.''

As inviting as a cobra's kiss, ''The Hamster Cage'' (Saturday at the Brattle) isn't afraid of going over the top or hitting below the belt. If you can get beyond the acidic tone, unlikable characters, and overcooked outlandishness, you'll find a game cast headed by Patricia Dahlquist and Tom Scholte as a hostile brother-sister duo who attempt to literally bury some horrendous secrets during a nightmarish family gathering. Larry Kent's 2005 shocker seems to be courting cult status, and you can decide if this is the next ''Plan 9 From Outer Space'' or ''Mommie Dearest.''

Proving that bigger isn't always better, a number of exceptional short films are also being presented at BUFF, and these untamed vignettes are grouped together under such kicky classifications as ''Blasphemous Rumors'' (shorts focused on moral and religious issues, screening Saturday at AMC Loews Harvard Square). Hot-button topics such as global warming and the war in Iraq are explored in ''Free Speech Zone'' (Saturday at the Brattle).