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East
3rd Street, between Avenues A and B (closer to A) * New York City |
| Join fellow genre fans, as well as the humbly curious, at the Pioneer Theater again this October for another month-long freakfest featuring ultra-imaginative macabre indie features and classics – and this year is certainly the best in recent memory. Featured titles include the animated stop-motion vision quest BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING, the Florida-based, Frankenstein-inspired FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY NIGHTMARE, animator Bill Plympton’s high school horrorfest HAIR HIGH, and a high-tech Expressionist remix of the classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI starring Doug Jones (Hellboy, Fantastic 4, Pan’s Labyrinth and the upcoming Silver Surfer series). CABINET is just one of a slate of exciting neo-silent films reworking classic film styles in modern film form. Other Neo-Silent films in the series include the short film THE LISTENING DEAD (screening in a shorts program on October 3), the xxx-rated HUMOURESQUE (October 13), and J.T. Petty’s SOFT FOR DIGGING (October 20). Also on tap this month, among many other exciting events: Director Harry Kumel in person October 2nd for a special Fangoria screening of his 1971 lesbian vampire classic DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS; a double bill of operatic chaos on Friday the 13th featuring the 1925 Lon Chaney version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and Dario Argento’s 1987 classic OPERA; and an all-night cinematic séance of witch and warlock movies on October 28 including WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES; BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE (starring Kim Novak); and NIGHT OF THE DEMON (directed by Jacques Tourneur). The Month of Horror will climax in an October 30 screening of the classic SQUIRM (1976), attended by director Jeff Lieberman, at which audience members are invited to respond to and participate in what happens onscreen, and a Halloween-night short film extravaganza called DIE LOLA DIE, as badass downtown filmmakers gather to kill off East Village rocker, filmmaker, and bartender Lola Rock'N'Rolla in film after film after film! This month was assembled by Dr. Reinhardt van Nostrand, Professor Emeritus of Schlechtendingen at the University of Wurms, Germany, and special consultant to the Pioneer Theater on matters of the paranormal and the occult. The series is presented with the generous collaboration of many cherished colleagues, including Jay Stern and Victor Varnado (First Sundays); Kevin Higgins; Phil, Sean, and all at the Hive; Joe Toto; Keith Crocker (Cinefear); Carl Morano and John Carchietta (Media Blasters); Jack Thomas Smith; Henri Falconi (Falcon Film Festival); Mitch Davis (Fantasia Festival, Montreal); Gregory Hatanaka (Pathfinder Pictures / Cinema Epoch); Tony Timpone, Michael Gingold, and David Wengrod (FANGORIA); Bill Lustig and Greg Chick (Blue Underground); Exhumed Films; Brian Juergens (campblood.org); Charlene Rule (scratchvideo.tv); Todd Brown (twitchfilm.net); Gary Palmucci and Don Krim (Kino); Ross Klein (MGM / UA); Elias; Bill Plympton and the Plymptoons studio; J.T. Petty; Houston King (Goodbye Cruel Releasing); Bryan Yuzna and Tom Holland; Larry Fessenden, James McKenney, and all at GlassEyePix; Doug Sakmann; Susanne Jacobson and Michael Schlesinger (Sony Repertory); Jeff Lieberman; Lola RockNRolla; and many others. Special thanks as well to the Federation of Undead Artists. |
|
Chicago City Limits First Sundays Comedy Films First Sundays Sun Oct 1 7pm - buy tix filmmakers & special guests will attend! This is a Sunday Shorts program. Early evenings on many Sundays, the Pioneer presents programs of short films. |
THIS MONTH: ALL HORROR FILMS Part stand-up comedy act, part film festival, part party, First Sundays is a monthly festival featuring the best in short comedy films from around the world. Each screening features new films, audience and judges awards, and an after party sponsored by Stella Artois. Hosted by the illustrious Jay Stern and Victor Varnado. |
|
(dir. Kevin Higgins, 99 mins, 2006) Sun Oct
1 9pm - SOLD OUT |
"Every town has a legend." Headed to Miami to celebrate winter break, a group of four college students from New Jersey take a detour into the bowels of rural West Virginia. There, the unwitting friends uncover a grotesque legend that stains the fabric of Rolling Glen, a sleepy backwoods town: the legend of Ray Williams, a black truck driver from Maine, on his way to Texas to make a delivery, brutally beaten by a band of locals after stopping off in town for a drink, his body left for dead in an empty cornfield and never found. They learn of crooked sheriff Earl Taggart, who helped acquit the locals involved in the attack, and who still lords over the small village with an iron fist. Fifteen years later, whispers of the Williams incident still float through the tired walls and eaves of Rolling Glen. As the four friends quickly find out, some believe Williams still roams the woods on the outskirts of town, surviving on the slaughter of wildlife. Others claim to have seen Williams in person, a looming figure with a ghostly white visage, purportedly a makeshift cast to mask the scars and wounds left from the merciless assault. They have a name for Williams now: Plasterhead. Soon, the four friends find themselves holed up in an abandoned farmhouse, mired in a macabre web of terror. Sheriff Taggart will do anything to keep the truth buried…the truth that Plasterhead is frighteningly real. As these teens will soon learn, true evil has no face. |
| Monster
Monday! DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (dir. Harry Kümel, 100 mins, 1971) Mon Oct
2 6:30pm Full-length extended cut of the film screening from professional quality video projection This is a "Bizarro Monday" program. Every Monday at 7pm the Pioneer presents the finest (and trashiest) in horror, sci-fi, freakshow, exploitation, martial arts, genre, b-movies, z-movies, and just plain weird stuff |
Director Harry Kümel in person, all the way from Belgium! Hosted by Blue Underground's Bill Lustig “EROTIC
AND UNUSUAL. . .One Of The Finest Vampire Films Ever Produced!” International screen icon Delphine Seyrig (of LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD fame) stars as Elizabeth Bathory, an ageless Countess with a beautiful young ‘companion’ (Goth goddess Andrea Rau) and a legendary legacy of perversion. But when the two women seduce a troubled newlywed couple (French beauty Danielle Ouimet and John Karlen of DARK SHADOWS and CAGNEY & LACEY), they unleash a frenzy of sudden violence and depraved desire that shocked both art house audiences and grindhouse crowds worldwide. Co-written and directed by Harry Kümel, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS remains one of the most exquisitely mesmerizing adult horror films ever made. Blue Underground is now proud to present the Director’s Cut of this classic psychosexual shocker in stunning widescreen and featuring new Extras produced exclusively for this definitive edition. |
|
Tues Oct 3 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. Sponsored by Harpoon India Pale Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, and Woodchuck Cider. |
Several of the most exciting horror shorts from the last year, including BEHIND
THE BEDROOM DOOR CODE.1624 THE
LISTENING DEAD tentative: |
|
(dir. Armando
Crispino, 85 mins, 1975) |
It'll take you... apart! A pathology med student and a priest team up to investigate a wave of suicides blamed on sun spots and discover a number of them to be actual murders. Italian Giallo! Simona Sana (Mimsy Farmer) is a young pathologist who works in a morgue in Rome, which gets hit by a wave of violent suicides which are attributed to a summer heat wave. Driven to exhaustion from the intense heat and the long hours worked, Simona struggles to complete her college thesis about natural deaths when another “suicide victim” is brought to the morgue. . . |
|
(dir. Christiane Cegavske, 69 mins, 2006) Weds
Oct 4 9pm - buy
tix
|
"Fantastically
macabre . . . stunning. . . enchanting . . . lovely. . . mind-boggling!" "Fascinating,
macabre and ominous . . . sinister, surreal BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING
casts a spell all its own." "Some
trippy shit, and paired with some acid, this is a film that will make
for some freaky hallucinations . . . Horror fans need apply." "one
of the most insanely unsettling and creepy films I’ve ever seen.
. ." ". .
.the oddest film I've seen all year." ". .
.the spirit and style of Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay, with
more than a little David Lynch thrown in for good creepy measure . .
. a stunning achievement." “a
David Lynchean fever dream on Beatrix Potter terrain…as lovingly
crafted as it is unsettlingly sour-sweet” “a
triumph of creative passion ...” BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING is a handmade stop-motion fairy tale for adults. Thirteen years in the making, Christiane Cegavske’s dialogue free film tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart’s desire. The Mice commission the Oak Dwellers to create a beautiful doll for them. When she is complete, the Creatures fall in love with her and refuse to give her up. Resorting to thievery the Mice abscond with her in the middle of the night. Meet fantastical creatures and view dazzling scenery as the Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak journey through this mystical land to reclaim their love. See the mice descend into debauchery as they become drunk on blood tea! See what happens when the Oak Dwellers eat the yellow fruit! A heart rending musical score that was composed and performed by Mark Growden accompanies this disturbing and wondrous adventure. |
|
Doors Art Foundation
presents RED
DUST (dir. Zrinko Ogresta, 105 mins, 1999) Thurs Oct 5 7pm - buy tix A Cultural Thursdays program. At 7pm on the First Thursday of the month, the Doors Art Foundation presents a film from Croatia. Other Thursdays at 7pm often feature programming presented with other ethnic and cultural groups. |
The Doors Art Foundation presents a new film from Croatia. "Red Dust" takes its title from a line in Dostoevesky which says that "the blood is least visible on the red" - a phrase whose significance is not revealed until the end of the film. The story is told through the eyes of 16-year-old Skgra , who witnesses the whole, violent chain of events. Everything begins when Crni, a successful amateur boxer, deserts from the army after the authorities fail to deliver the telegram about his mother's death, and returns to Zagreb, where his girlfriend, Lidija, is about to marry the local mafia boss. Crni himself drifts into petty crime, and ends up unintentionally working for the same boss. Lidija eventually leaves her violent husband, but dies in suspicious circumstances in Crni's house. He is jailed. Then the war breaks out and everything changes, and such small crimes begin to pale into insignificance alongside what is happening in Croatia. showing from DVD |
|
(dir. Kevin Higgins, 99 mins, 2006) Fri Oct 6 7pm - SOLD OUT |
"Every town has a legend." Headed to Miami to celebrate winter break, a group of four college students from New Jersey take a detour into the bowels of rural West Virginia. There, the unwitting friends uncover a grotesque legend that stains the fabric of Rolling Glen, a sleepy backwoods town: the legend of Ray Williams, a black truck driver from Maine, on his way to Texas to make a delivery, brutally beaten by a band of locals after stopping off in town for a drink, his body left for dead in an empty cornfield and never found. They learn of crooked sheriff Earl Taggart, who helped acquit the locals involved in the attack, and who still lords over the small village with an iron fist. Fifteen years later, whispers of the Williams incident still float through the tired walls and eaves of Rolling Glen. As the four friends quickly find out, some believe Williams still roams the woods on the outskirts of town, surviving on the slaughter of wildlife. Others claim to have seen Williams in person, a looming figure with a ghostly white visage, purportedly a makeshift cast to mask the scars and wounds left from the merciless assault. They have a name for Williams now: Plasterhead. Soon, the four friends find themselves holed up in an abandoned farmhouse, mired in a macabre web of terror. Sheriff Taggart will do anything to keep the truth buried…the truth that Plasterhead is frighteningly real. As these teens will soon learn, true evil has no face. |
|
EASY RIDER (dir. Dennis Hopper, 90 mins, 1969) 35mm print Oct 7
11pm - buy
tix |
A landmark in film history, EASY RIDER blew the studio doors open for more young directors than any film before or since, helping to create the wide-open climate that would lead to the production of many outstanding films in the 1970s. As its director, Dennis Hopper is usually given the lion's share of credit for the film's success, but the revelations of time suggest that the contributions of the late Terry Southern and, to some degree, Jack Nicholson have endowed the film with much of its residual power. Starring
Peter Fonda as Wyatt (alias Captain America) and Hopper as Billy, it traces
the hippie duo's adventures as they mount their seriously chopped hogs
on a journey to find the real America en route to Mardi Gras. In Arizona,
they visit a commune whose members are having a tough time, and in a small
Texas town they're jailed for joining a parade. But they're quickly sprung
by an ACLU lawyer, the quirky, hard-drinking George Hanson (Jack Nicholson),
who accepts their offer to join them on the trip to New Orleans, eager
to visit the best whorehouse in the South. EASY RIDER accurately reflects
the tensions and hostilities of the period, Laszlo Kovacs's photography
is superb, Nicholson is exceptional in his breakthrough role--and the
startling, stunning ending is a shocker. |
|
(dir. Ted V. Mikels, 72 mins, 1972) Fri Oct 6 11pm - buy tix |
The Corpse Grinders turn bones and flesh into screaming, savage blood death! When the Lotus Cat Food Company finds itself in financial trouble, the owners decide to find a new, cheap source of meat -- the local graveyard. Only one problem -- soon cats develop a taste for human flesh, and tabbies are tearing out throats all over town. |
|
DISORDER (dir. Jack Thomas Smith, 103 mins, 2006) Sat Oct 7 7pm - buy tix |
Fox Trail Productions presents this chilling psychological thriller written and directed by Jack Thomas Smith. When David Randall (Darren Kendrick) was sent away for a brutal double murder, his claims of innocence and description of a masked killer went ignored. Now, accompanied by the horrific memory of that night, David, a medicated schizophrenic, has returned home, hoping for a new life. But his attempt is failing. The deadly masked figure from David's past has returned. And when David believes that his friend and co-worker, Melissa (Lauren Seikaly), is in danger, he turns to his psychiatrist (Sean Eager) and the local sheriff (Alan Samulski) for help. But their suspicions grow, fearing that David has stopped taking his medication and has slipped into a delusional state. Is David a threat to Melissa and everyone around her? Or does the killer really exist, and is David being set up once again? |
|
(dir. Ryuhei Kitamura, 120 mins, 2000) Sun Oct 8 6:45pm - buy tix |
There are 666 portals that connect this world to the other side. These are concealed from all human beings. Somewhere in Japan exists the 444th portal.... |
|
(dir. Elio
Scardamaglia, 75 mins, 1971) Mon Oct 9 7pm - buy tix |
Patients and staff of an isolated mental hospital are being killed off by a hooded maniac who stalks the halls. "This spooky Italian thriller is set in a remote medical clinic for the deaf-mute in a town terrorized by a mysterious hooded slasher. Many suspect that the doctor himself has been killing lovely young women. The rumors say that he does the grisly deeds to help reconstruct the quick-lime burned face of his formerly beautiful sister-in-law. Though it looked as if her falling into the vat of lime was an accident, some believe the doctor pushed her. The mystery comes in because the doctor is not the only one at the clinic with murderous tendencies. Other suspects include his crippled wife, a crazed patient, and an extortionist." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide |
Tuesdays@7 Tues Oct 10 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. Sponsored by Harpoon India Pale Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, and Woodchuck Cider. |
The Falcon Film Fiesta is a non-competive forum in which independent filmmakers have the opportunity to screen their short films before a capacity crowd in a New York City movie theatre. Films include: Angry
Jenkin's Farm - Enrico Falconi 9 minutes - 2001 and more to come... |
An evening of political and poetic invasions of public space Weds Oct 11 7pm - buy tix |
The Disembodied Theater Corporation presents a program devoted to secular magic; the elusive art of transmuting everyday life into fiction - or is it vice versa? Join filmmaker Ross Lipman, activist Andrew Boyd, and Theater Oobleck's Danny Thompson on their journey. Including: a video document of a bicycle exorcism, a lost puppet play Samuel Beckett wrote at age 7, and another public unveiling of the Oil Enforcement Agency, all as described below. ENTER
GODOT: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT MICHAEL
BARRISH SCREEN TEST THE
OIL ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: BEHIND THE CONTROVERSY HAPPY
HAPPY BUNNY MEETS SAD SAD OWL GREEN/BIKE/VIDEO |
| FRANKENSTEINS BLOODY NIGHTMARE (dir. John R. Hand, 77 mins, 2006) Weds
Oct 11 9pm - buy
tix
|
"Visually
it's a perfect 10 . . . something beautiful . . . a handmade object
that looks ravishing . . . the overall effect is like watching some
kind of lost exploitation film from the 1970s cobbled together by a
deranged grindhouse projectionist out of damaged film." "A
1970’s-style horror oddity that could pass for a perverse experiment
masterminded by a mad scientist." “John
R. Hand might just be America’s answer to Shinya Tsukamoto. Layered
with a surreal theatricality, raw experimentation, a fixation on the
intersection of humanity and technology, disturbing sexual overtones,
a firm genre sensibility and a driving soundtrack.” A brand-new Pioneer discovery from Florida, John R. Hand’s first feature is a wonder of independent filmmaking and inspired imagery. Shot on Super-8 combined with video elements, FRANKENSTEINS BLOODY NIGHTMARE draws on the Frankenstein myth and reimagines it for our times. Brilliant young research scientist Victor Karlstein (John R. Hand) finds himself lost in an abyss of personal turmoil and professional stress after the woman he loves dies while under the care of his own mysterious medical facility. Determined to keep her alive, Victor creates a Frankenstein-like creature from a mechanically-enhanced reanimated corpse and sends the monster out to murder young women in order to furnish "raw parts" for his lover’s new body, among other devious things.
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PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA (dir. Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer, 71 mins, 2005) Thurs Oct 12 7pm - buy tix The Evil City Film Fest returns October 11th - 16th, 2006 with another killer program of true independent films. Set within the confines of NYC's East Village, the Evil City will continue to cultivate the works of underground artists, from New York and Beyond... Now accepting submissions: Narrative Shorts & Features, Documentaries Shorts & Features, Animation and Music Videos. (link) |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program. A feature documentary directed by Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer, with narration by legendary counterculture filmmaker John Waters and music by the southwestern, alt-rock supergroup, Friends of Dean Martinez. Once known as the California Riviera, the Salton Sea is now called one of Americas worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Yet a few hardy eccentrics hang on to hope, including a roadside nudist waving at passing European tourists, a man building a religious mountain out of mud and paint, beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary Hunky Daddy, and the real-estate Ronald McDonald known simply as The Landman. Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed. Accidentally created by an engineering error in 1905, reworked in the 50s as a world class vacation destination for the rich and famous, and then suddenly abandoned after a series of hurricanes, floods, and fish die-offs, the Salton Sea has a bittersweet past. Congressman Sonny Bono himself was once dedicated to saving the lake, until he went skiing one day Now amongst the ruins of this man-made mistake, these few remaining people struggle to keep a remodelled version of the dream alive. However, this most unique community is now threatened by the nearby megalopolises of Los Angeles and San Diego, as they attempt to take the agricultural run-off that barely sustains the sea. The fate of this so-called ecological time bomb and the community that surrounds it remain uncertain, as the Salton Sea might just dry up. While PLAGUES & PLEASURES covers the historical, economic, political, and environmental issues that face the sea, it more importantly offers up an offbeat portrait of the eccentric and individualistic people who populate its shores. It is an epic western tale of fantastic real estate ventures and failed boomtowns, inner-city gangs fleeing to white small town America, and the subjective notion of success and failure amidst the ruins of the past. Hair-raising and hilarious, part history lesson, part cautionary tale and part portrait of one of the strangest communities youve ever seen, this is the American Dream gone as stinky as a dead carp. |
|
HUMOURESQUE 18 AND OVER. PERIOD.
BRING ID. (dir. Corey Michael Smithson, 50 mins, 1993-2006) Fri Oct 13 7pm - buy tix |
A
love poem to D.W. Griffith,
Like GONE WITH THE WIND on food stamps. In production for over eleven years, "Humouresque" is a dirty movie with something for everyone. Told in four acts of twenty chapters, the labyrinthine plot references prostitution, aging, drug addiction, incest, medieval surgery, rape, patent medicine quackery, fortune-telling, time-travel, madness, lust, transsexualism, aristocratic debauchery, Rococo costume design, sexual slavery, florid hallucinations, and overwrought turn-of-the-century penny-dreadfuls. Baroque and bewildering, the film seems to be simultaneously coming alive and breaking apart in the projector, with the narrative itself threatening to disintegrate as well. Actors of both genders switch roles several times in the same scene, so that each character becomes a Vaudevillian archetype, a sort of flexible “shell” occupied by more than one body. Several seemingly unrelated semi-comic stories collide in twenty chapters of perfervid text, humor, engaging music, and unforgettable images. |
|
(dir. Rupert
Julian, 92 mins, 1925) with OPERA (dir. Dario Argento, 1987, 107 mins, 35mm) 107 minute cut Fri Oct
13 OPERA If buying
for the double bill, select the reduced rate price when purchasing both
tickets |
MASSACRE
AT THE OPERA Lon
Chaney stars in Lon Chaney's appearance in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, marked the actor's hard-earned entry into full-fledged superstardom. In portraying the maniacal Erik, the spectral figure who lurks within the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, Chaney demonstrated a physical and emotive talent few performers have ever approached. While he has been duly praised for the creation of Erik's monstrous skull-like visage (a masterpiece of makeup that still retains its power to astonish), Chaney is to be credited just as much for his performance from within the featureless, face-concealing mask. Though his expressions are hidden, Chaney moulds the Phantom into a complex bundle of contradictory, libidinal emotions that punches through the surface of cinematic sterotype and carried the art of screen acting to a new plateau, upon which the foundation for the American horror film would be laid. Gaston Leroux's story has been remade, revamped, and set to music by numerous artists since, yet all owe a substantial debt to the 1925 production and the shining star upon whose shoulders the film was majestically carried. Dario
Argento directs "a
film of rare beauty, a celebration of love's absence and the ferocious
force of the gaze." Italian horror master Dario Argento pays homage to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which he would remake a decade later, with this film about a hooded killer who torments the opera diva whom he adores. Cristina Marsillach stars as Betty, a young understudy who gets a chance to star in a production of Verdi's Macbeth when the lead breaks her leg. Her performance receives universal acclaim and also attracts the hooded killer who periodically kidnaps Betty, tapes razor blades under her eyes, and forces her to watch him commit murder. (synopsis from RottenTomatoes.com) 107 minute cut |
|
NYC Women in Film Program Sat Oct 14 5pm - buy tix |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program. 3
in 34 Carla
Cope Nuthin’
But the Blues The
Visitors Aesop’s
Diner Twitch Pet
Peeve |
|
SAVING CBGB (dir. Pat Byrne, 64 mins, 2006) Sat Oct 14 7pm - buy tix |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program. New York is home to many things, but rock clubs are becoming extinct. In the summer of 2005, Filmmaker Pat Byrne set out to document the last summer of the original CBGB lease. This Film shows what happened over that summer as well as show a little of the clubs history. Highlights include: historic band performances, and interviews with NYC punk rock luminaries regarding the last days of this beloved Bowery club. |
|
LovecraCked! (dir. Elias, et al., 87 mins, 2006) 18 AND OVER
ONLY. Sat Oct 14 11pm - buy tix |
Weapon-wielding psychopaths, evil temptresses, creatures from beyond, forces of the unknown, zombie sex. . .and a journalist without a clue. "An
eclectic mix of terror and laughs." “Something
for almost every horror fan.” From BiFF JUGGERNAUT Productions... With tongue planted firmly in cheek, our story follows the exploits of a bumbling investigative journalist as he struggles to discover the truth behind enigmatic horror author H.P. Lovecraft and his mysterious past. Along the way strange and macabre tales play out, pulling the journalist ever deeper into the mystical world of the author. Will our fearless reporter finally prevail or will he end up without a clue as usual? One thing's for sure: the truth is out there... he's just not entirely sure where. Featuring: Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, horror-porn queen Joanna Angel and many more! |
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Last Minute Shorts Sun Oct 15 3pm - buy tix
|
Note: This is not a horror or genre program Alias:
the Roughest Cut wants... The
Consortium of Residual Performers (The C.O.R.P.S.) Our
founder, Thomas Brixton, petitioned Congress to agree to afford the Entertainment
three-part-harmony:
part one: francis For the past few years, Frank‘s obsessively manic state has progressed and he has become numb. But on this valentine‘s day, as the pain amplifies, Frank finally gets himself a date... An
American’s Guide to Kicking Terrorism’s Ass!!! CONJURING
ELF |
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Comedy Shorts Program Sun Oct 15 5pm - buy tix |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program She’s
Got an Atomic Bomb Shackelton:
Quest for the Pole Phone
Call to God Pitch Furious
George All
Bookies Wear Speedos |
|
Sun Oct
15 7pm |
THIS MONTH: ALL HORROR FILMS Mad Hatter Filmz presents 'SHORTZ', a third Sunday event profiling the latest indie short films. Now screening productions from young filmmakers as well as professionals alike, with films from every genre which compliment every taste. |
|
A CANTOR'S TALE (dir. Erik Greenberg Anjou, 95 mins, 2005) |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program. "A
CANTOR'S TALE is a real rarity, a very funny but very serious documentary
that touches on issues of deep concern to the Jewish world." "A
movie that manages to be part biography of the amazing cantor, Jack
Mendelson, part history lesson, and more than anything, a movie that
undoes years of bad Hebrew School experiences and excruciating Saturday
mornings. . ."
"If the hills are alive with the sound of Julie Andrews' music, then
Cantor Jacob 'Jackie' Mendelson would have viewers believe that Brooklyn
is once again to be alive with the sound of Chazzanut." The tradition of Eastern European Jewish cantorial music is alive and well in modern America in no small part thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn-born Cantor Jacob Mendelson. "Jackie," as he is affectionately called by everyone, explores the American roots of "hazzanut"( Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem. There's music in the air, everywhere. The experience of hearing the world's most renowned cantors in the synagogue was part of a lifestyle that provided American Jewry with a rich cultural heirloom. It is Cantor Mendelson's mission to insure that this legacy is passed on to this and the next generation and generations to come, in a way that is both true to its origins and relevant to the modern world. This feature-length documentary provides a nostalgic journey through family, neighborhood, and tradition. It also treats us to appearances by renowned cantors and aficionados Joseph Malovany, Ben-Zion Miller, Alberto Mizrahi, Matthew Lazar, Neil Shicoff, Jackie Mason and Alan Dershowitz. A Cantor's Tale is very much like "Levy's Real Jewish Rye", you don't have to be Jewish to love it! |
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ARNA'S CHILDREN (dir. Juliano Mer Khamis, Palestine / Netherlands, 2004, 85 mins, Arabic / English / Hebrew with English subtitles) Tues Oct 17 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. Sponsored by Harpoon India Pale Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, and Woodchuck Cider. |
(Not a horror movie. Well, not conventionally, anyway.) Juliano Mer Khamis in person! ARNA'S CHILDREN tells the story of a children's theatre group in Jenin refugee camp that was established by Arna Mer Khamis. Arna, an Israeli from a Zionist family, married a Palestinian, Saliba Khamis. the theatre group she founded helped Jenin's children to express the everyday frustrations, anger, and fear of life under Israeli occupation. Arna¹s son Juliano filmed the children during rehearsals from 1989 to 1996. After the battle of Jenin in April, 2002, Juliano went back to see what happened to those children. Yussef committed a suicide attack, Ashraf was killed in the battle of Jenin, and Ala leads a resistance group. The director looks back and tries to understand the choices made by the children he loved and worked with, and the tragedy and horror of lives trapped by the Israeli occupation. Portions of the Proceeds to Benefit The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp |
|
(dir. Peter
Newbrook, roughly 99 mins, 1973) Weds Oct 18 7pm - buy tix |
When an eccentric Victorian scientist who obsessively photographs freshly dead bodies discovers a smudge on his film, he believes he has captured the asphyx, the spirit of death. |
|
(dir. Bill Plympton,
78 mins, 2005) screening with
"Guard Dog" and "Guide Dog," Through Sunday, all ticket buyers receive a sketch by Bill Plympton most
shows expected to sell out.
|
BILL PLYMPTON IN PERSON AT SCREENINGS THROUGH SUNDAY. "a
lot like GREASE - only raunchier, more perverted and, most important,
produced, animated and directed by Bill Plympton." "Gleefully
outrageous. . .the lunacy and incongruity rarely let up. Mr. Plympton
nicely walks the border between ridiculously gross and outright offensive.
. . but the sex that’s shown will be of interest primarily to
poultry." GIANT CHICKEN IN, WELL, PERSON AT SOME SCREENINGS. "Boasting
a veritable cult cast (Matt Groening, Beverly D’Angelo, two Carradines),
adolescent, sex-crazed humor and a genuine sweetness underneath its
gruesome veneer, the film is a must for Plympton fans." THROUGH SUNDAY, ALL TICKET BUYERS RECEIVE A SKETCH BY BILL PLYMPTON "Plympton
has an eye for the grotesque and a taste for gross-out humor - in one
scene a chain-smoking biology teacher literally pukes his guts out.
. .HAIR HIGH nails the high-school experience." "Mr.
Plympton's spectacular drawings delight in twisting the human body inside
out, and his hand-drawn lines jitter and shake as if they're wired on
caffeine."
"HAIR HIGH is like taking drugs through the optic nerve." "Cartoonist
Bill Plympton's latest is an amusing send-up of late '50s/early '60s
high-school melodramas and teen-tragedy pop hits. Plympton has fun exaggerating
the period's social and stylistic norms to an atomic degree. . .it's
a good setting for his swacked sexual/physical humor to run rampant." An outrageous Gothic myth from the 1950’s, HAIR HIGH is the legend of Cherri and Spud, a teenage couple who are murdered on prom night and left for dead at the bottom of Echo Lake. Exactly one year later, their skeletal remains come back to life and they return to the prom for revenge and their justly-deserved crowns. |
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(dir. J.T.
Petty, 74 mins, 2001) Fri Oct 20 7pm - buy tix |
J.T. Petty in person From
J.T. Petty Unlike many low-budget horror films, SOFT FOR DIGGING relies on a low-key premise and unique film style instead of gore and clichés. Told in a series of increasingly strange and suspenseful chapters, with an absolute bare minimum of dialogue, the film tells the story of Virgil, a hermit who lives in the woods on the edge of civilization. While traveling through the forest one morning, he witnesses a murder, but then later discovers no evidence and an unbelieving police force. Frustrated, Virgil begins to have haunting dreams about the murder that seem to be leading him towards a horrific conclusion. |
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(dir. Jon Gorman, 72 mins, 2006) |
starring Debbie Rochon and Carmine Capobianco Blood
Boobs and puke! BIKINI BLOODBATH is being described as a beautiful and heartwarming tale of love lost and life lessons learned. This coming of age dramedy is chock full of delicate yet poignant commentary on growing up in today’s suburban Ameriscape. Coupled with BIKINI BLOODBATH's obvious political statements, the viewer will begin to understand the films Cinematic impotence. So layered are its characters and so profound their story that you will want to relive their adventures over and over again, for very the first time. You will laugh out loud, but you will cry harder. You will take the sodden imagery of BIKINI BLOODBATH with you on every day’s journey on the long road to your death. If you will it, it is no dream. Dream a little dream of BIKINI BLOODBATH. Okay, it’s actually senseless violence, nudity, and dick and fart jokes. It’s about a bunch of girls who have a sleepover and get murdered by an evil Chef. |
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Women
Filmmakers Tues Oct 24 7pm - buy tix This is a Tuesdays@7 program. Every Tuesday at 7pm features special guests presenting their film, and is followed by a beer and pizza reception for ticket holders. |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program CINEWOMEN
NY SCREENS: WOMEN FILMMAKERS – IFP MARKET 2006 Friends
for Life The
Dishes Election
Day No
Umbrella |
| THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (2005)
(dir. David Lee Fisher, 76 mins, 2005) Weds
Oct 25 7pm - buy
tix
|
*
ScreamFest LA: Audience Choice, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects
* “This is without a doubt, one of the most creepy and atmospheric films ever made… a great film that does justice to the term remake!” - joblo.com “This independent production makes use of digital technology to recreate the groundbreaking impressionistic sets of the original - its as if the crew traveled back in time to the original sets and re-shot the film with sound equipment.” - blowupthemoon.com An unexpectedly fabulous visual remix of the 1920 silent original, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI is the brainchild of David Lee Fisher, a digital effects veteran from the Bay Area. This updated version features backgrounds scanned from an original 35mm print combined with brand-new green screen footage of actors including Doug Jones (Hellboy, Fantastic 4, Pan’s Labyrinth and the upcoming Silver Surfer series) as the somnambulist (sleepwalker) Cesare. This classic tale takes place in its eerily beautiful, expressionistic world of the German original, but features sound, dialogue, and music – a perfect Halloween treat for cineastes! In the unsuspecting hamlet of Holstenwall, Germany, the time has come again for the town's annual fair. When Francis and his best friend Alan attend the festivities, they are led into an exhibition that will change their lives forever. The sinister hypnotist, Dr. Caligari, is the keeper of a clairvoyant sleepwalker who wakes from his endless night to predict Alan’s terrifying future. When Holstenwall suffers a series of murders, Francis takes the investigation into his own hands. What he doesn’t know yet is that the only way to save his fiancé Jane from the same grim fate is to discover the secret of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Now, combined with a chilling script that expands on the silent, yet twisted story of the original, the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has been opened once again in horrifying sight and sound! Starring
Doug Jones as Cesare
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|
Doors Art Foundation
presents MARSHAL
TITO'S SPIRIT (dir. Vinko Bresan,
97 mins, 1999) Thurs Oct 26 7pm - buy tix A Cultural Thursdays program. At 7pm on the First Thursday of the month, the Doors Art Foundation presents a film from Croatia. Other Thursdays at 7pm often feature programming presented with other ethnic and cultural groups. |
Note: This is not a horror or genre program The Doors Art Foundation presents films from Croatia Best Director, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival MARSHAL TITO'S SPIRIT is a very funny comedy set on an island where a dead Marshal from the Communist era seems to be haunting the locals. The people on a small, dull Adriatic island are bored. There have been no tourists for years and their town lies in such a dilapidated state that the mayor, a fervent capitalist, has been able to buy up the local museum, hotel and real estate at rock bottom prices. He has big plans. When the spirit of the dead communist Marshall Tito starts to wander it has the unexpected effect of bringing in a wave of elderly tourists nostalgic for communism. Life on the island becomes increasingly surreal when a police officer from the mainland is sent to investigate. |
|
(dir. Bryan
Yuzna, 99 mins, 1989) Fri Oct 27 8pm - buy tix |
Screening dedicated to the trustfund kids of the East Village and Lower East Side From Brya |
