The October calendar has arrived! Take a look…if you dare.
For the month of Shocktober, we’ve stacked our line-up with horror films, new and old. If you get scared, don’t fret, we would be happy to offer you a drink to calm your nerves.
FIRST-RUN: FESTIVAL BREAKOUT UNDER THE SHADOW
Both one of the most memorable debuts and one of the finest horror films in years, UNDER THE SHADOW takes a critical look at the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Finding the language of realism insufficient for conveying the era’s atrocities, director Babak Anvari turns toward the supernatural for an explanation.
Shideh, a medical student, must slowly accept the possibility that her daughter’s tales of an invisible woman are not simply the comforting strategies of a scared child. And those cracks in the walls and ceiling, are those the result of airstrikes or of something more sinister? A hit from Sundance to New York’s New Directors/New Films and the UK’s FrightFest, UNDER THE SHADOW is a film unlike any you have seen and one you won’t soon forget.
LIVE SCORES: LOVELESS RECORDS & TENTH INTERVENTION
Our partnership with Loveless Records continues with HAXAN, a classic of silent horror that takes aim not at witchcraft but at the institutions that drive women to it. At the time, HAXAN was the most expensive Scandinavian, and every dollar (or kroner) shows in its lavish sets and convincing costumes. A live electronic score is sure to bring out the moody, atmospheric undertones of this singular, relevant film.
In addition to HAXAN, we also welcome back Tenth Intervention (Hajnal Pivnick, violin/Dorian Wallace, piano) on Halloween Night for two more accompaniments of NOSFERATU, F.W. Murnau’s German Expressionist and horror landmark. Sold out last year and back by popular demand, what better way to spend the hallowed evening than with the first and greatest Dracula adaptation, exactly as it was always meant to be seen?
HALLOWEEN DANCE AND COSTUME PARTY
Halloween weekend will also bring our annual party; this time themed to Netflix’s out-of-nowhere nostalgic hit STRANGER THINGS. Waffles, chocolate pudding, the upside-down, goodie bags, and a killer soundtrack…we’ll have it all and more as we celebrate the things that go bump in the night and the TV show that evokes them best.
A DOUBLE DOSE OF DARIO ARGENTO
The maestro of Italian horror, Dario Argento is best known for SUSPIRIA, his terribly dubbed – but nonetheless terribly frightening – masterpiece about magic and murders at a girls’ ballet school. The blood-curdling screams, shock cuts, grotesque close-ups, and mesmerizing music, courtesy of Goblin, made the film memorable enough, but we’ll be making it even more memorable with accompanying choreographed dance.
But the buck doesn’t stop there: In conjunction with MUBI, a curated subscription-streaming service that will be offering the finest in horror for the entire month, we will also be screening the complete, uncut version of Argento’s PHENOMENA, released as CREEPERS in the United States. Another bedeviling tale of witches and death set at a girls’ school, PHENOMENA shows Argento is just as remarkably adhering to Giallo tropes as he is breaking them.
DRINK SPECIALS! To accompany THE CRAFT, THE FLY, HOCUS POCUS, and THE SHINING!
Plus, the Brooklyn premiere of New Directors/New Films standout DEMON, an extra-scary First Friday screening of SOCIETY, TROUBLE EVERY DAY, and more.
And don’t miss…
Robert Greene’s KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE + Antonio Campos’ CHRISTINE
On July 15, 1974, WXLT-TV news anchor Christine Chubbuck, partly frustrated that her investigative findings were always being bumped from the telecast for reports of more gruesome and ephemeral stories, committed suicide on live television. This incident serves as the basis both for Robert Greene’s nonfiction KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE, depicting Kate Lyn Sheil as she prepares for the role, and Antonio Campos’ fictional CHRISTINE, starring Rebecca Hall as Chubbuck. Taken together, they offer a searing portrait of American sadism and a treatise on the limits and revelations of representation.
KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE screens September 30 – October 2, with guests TBA and a FREE sneak preview of CHRISTINE, will take place on Monday, October 10, ahead of its October 14 theatrical release.
Fluent City presents DIABOLIQUE and THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Our partnership with Fluent City continues in October with a pair of arty thrillers: Henri-Georges Clouzot’s DIABOLIQUE, in which a wife and mistress conspire to kill their shared man only to see strange happenings follow, and Pedro Almdóvar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN, in which a plastic surgeon takes his experiments in transgenesis to unwelcomed extremes.
Also going on…
HAUSU, THE HUNGER, ALIEN and MS. 45 midnights, the Brooklyn premiere of acclaimed Tibetan film CHARLO, DEATH BECOMES HER with Slumber Party Film Society, Oh My Science presents CABIN IN THE WOODS, Books on Film continues with Happy Place: Living the Disney Parks Life author Scott Renshaw in-person, and much more!