HALLOWEEN HORROR
Leading up to Halloween, we will present two effective European chillers guaranteed to get under your skin: Nicolas Roeg’s masterful Don’t Look Now and the new variation on the “Giallo” genre, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (also part of our Premiere Showcase selections). Then, on the evening of October 31, we will present The Wicker Man - Final Cut, the definitive version of director Robin Hardy’s memorably unsettling horror classic.
- Fri., Oct. 3 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
This jaw-dropping vision of love and paranoia may be the most underrated of Friedkin’s films. A lonely waitress living in a rural motel bonds with a mysterious, recently discharged soldier… then the bugs start to arrive. A consummate master of suspense, Friedkin ratchets up tension until finally giving way into a full-bore freakout in the unforgettable final act. Built on spectacularly intense, raw performances from Judd and Shannon (who originated the role on stage in Chicago), Bug is guaranteed to get under your skin. (MK)
- Wed., Oct. 8 | 7:00 PMMarquee
William Peter Blatty adapted his own bestselling horror novel about a 12-year-old girl (Blair) whose violent and demonic behavior convinces her mother (Burstyn) to call in a pair of exorcising priests (Miller and Max Von Sydow). At the time of its initial release, there was just as much screaming, vomiting and fainting going on inside the theaters as there was on screen! Seen today, the film has lost little of its ability to shock audiences. This version of The Exorcist includes approximately 10 minutes of footage added for the classic's re-release in the year 2000.
- Fri., Oct. 17 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Sutherland and Christie are a couple living in Venice, who may or may not be receiving warnings from beyond the grave. Steeped in atmospheric location shooting around the “City of Canals” and capitalizing on a lush, evocative score by Pino Donaggio, the film also includes the two leads in one of the most exquisite and explicit sex scenes in modern cinema. Ranked eighth among BFI’s list of Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century, Roeg’s enigmatic masterpiece establishes a mood of dread in the very first scene that doesn’t let up until the shocking finale. (BR)
- Fri., Oct. 24 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Crafted with an unbelievable level of sensory detail, this next-level horror fantasia begins when a man’s wife mysteriously vanishes without a trace. His search through their art-deco apartment building leads him down a labyrinth of rabbit holes, deep into a hallucinatory zone of terror. Guided by a nightmare illogic, this trippy riff on the giallo genre offers one tense, bravura setpiece after another, each a spellbinding combination of sound and image. (MK)
- Mon., Oct. 27 | 7:00 PMMarquee
Sheer cinematic mayhem, this bonkers spaghetti sci-fi/horror is an amalgam of The Omen, The Birds, The Fury, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a few other considerably better movies. Filmed largely on location in Atlanta, Georgia by a mostly Italian crew, the “story” concerns a nine-year-old girl with telekinetic powers who may or may not be the antichrist and the attempts of interplanetary forces (led by Huston) to stop her before she blows things up real good. The oddball cast also includes Euro superstar Franco Nero (Django) in a cameo as Space Jesus and Glenn Ford as a cop who, while driving, gets his eyes pecked out by a hawk.
- Fri., Oct. 31 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Anthony Shaffer followed up on his Frenzy and Sleuth screenwriting successes by penning this singular entry in the field of Horror. Woodward stars as Police Sergeant Neil Howie, who has been dispatched to the remote island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a little girl. Needless to say, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Part musical, part whodunit and featuring an impeccably coiffed Lee as Lord of the island, The Wicker Man is both a black comedy and a blood chilling horror movie. As directed by Hardy, this is one of those rare cult films that fully lives up to it’s reputation. (BR)