YOUR GUIDE TO SPOOKY CINEMA

Various dates/locations—see film calendar for venue abbreviation key

It should go without saying that October is a banner month for film screenings, as programmers unleash the horror fare they’ve been holding in all year. So rather than focus on one particular series or event, this month we present all the spoopiest cinematic offerings we couldn’t fit in the show listings.

COOLIDGE has got the whole month covered with their beloved 12-hour Halloween marathon (10/27), and an outdoor screening at ROCKYWOODS of the original 1990 IT miniseries (10/12) with screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen in attendance, and a monthlong tribute to Jamie Lee Curtis (10/5-10/31) in celebration of the new HALLOWEEN sequel. Speaking of, lucky viewers can see the new film two weeks early at SALEM as part of the Salem Horror Fest (10/4-10/14), along with countless classic screenings, plus special guests like Linnea Quigley and Elvira. CAPITOL will host a screening of Lon Chaney’s 1923 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (10/18) with live music by Jeff Rapsis.

BRATTLE focuses on electronic deviltry with “STRANGE FREQUENCIES,” (10/23-11/1) with such modern classics as THE INNKEEPERS and REC. MFA showcases British horror with “LET THE DEVIL IN” (10/3-10/31), featuring DON’T LOOK NOW, THE WICKER MAN, and others. HFA celebrates a monstrous bicentennial with FRANKENWEEK (10/22-10/31) with several classics from the Universal and Hammer vaults. And VU will feature Friday night horrors all month long (free for members!), capping off with a sanguine Samhain double feature of Roger Corman’s A BUCKET OF BLOOD and Herschell Gordon Lewis’ BLOOD FEAST. And that’s not even the half of it– check out the calendar page for more, and the venues’ websites for everything we couldn’t fit.

Phew—trick or treat indeed!

– Oscar Goff