Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Bluray Tuesday Featuring: Annabelle Creation, War For The Planet of The Apes & Personal Shopper


October 24th 2017


Bluray Tuesday returns! Just in time for Halloween, WB Pictures releases Annabelle Creation today. If you missed our review check it out here. WB has been releasing their horror without slipcovers lately, like Lights Out and The Conjuring 2. These both would have been great with slipcovers especially The Conjuring to match the first one that had a lenticular cover. Annabelle Creation I can confirm does come with a slipcover. I know some people don't mind but the collector in me loves a cool slip. Personal Shopper is another highlight for me this week and it's also apart of the Criterion Bluray line. It's a slow burn thriller that's both intriguing and haunting, I highly recommend it. The third film in the Planet of The Apes Trilogy hits shelves today, War For The Planet Of The Apes. I missed this one in theaters and loved the first two so a definite pickup for me this week. Warner Archive releases Night School for the first time on Bluray, you can only order online. I don't remember much about this slasher and look forward to checking out in the near future. Vinegar Syndrome also released a few titles today, check those out below. So what will you buy, rent or just skip today? Let us know! Also on Netflix today Mark Duplass's sequel to 2014's Creep hits Netflix, Creep 2. Until next week!

Annabelle Creation: Amazon - $22.99

Former toy maker Sam Mullins and his wife, Esther, are happy to welcome a nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. Years earlier, the couple's 7-year-old daughter Annabelle died in a tragic car accident. Terror soon strikes when one child sneaks into a forbidden room and finds a seemingly innocent doll that appears to have a life of its own.

Annabelle: Creation (Blu-ray) 

Personal Shopper: Amazon - $25.99

A young American in Paris works as a personal shopper for a celebrity. She seems to have the ability to communicate with spirits, like her recently deceased twin brother. Soon, she starts to receive ambiguous messages from an unknown source.

Personal Shopper (Blu-ray) 

War For The Planet Of The Apes: Amazon - $19.99
4k: Amazon - $24.99

Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless colonel (Woody Harrelson). After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both of their species and the future of the planet.

War for the Planet of the Apes 4K (Blu-ray) 

War for the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray) 

Blood Beat: Amazon - $23.99

A woman who lives in deer-hunting country in rural Wisconsin is possessed by the spirit of a Japanese samurai warrior.

Blood Beat (Blu-ray) 

Demon Wind: Amazon - $22.99

Cory and friends visit a broken down old shack in the middle of nowhere to investigate the mysteries of his past. After realizing that his grandparents dabbled in black magic, demons and the undead begin to attack, taking Cory's friends down one by one.
 
Demon Wind (Blu-ray) 

Prime Evil/Lurkers: Amazon - $19.99

PRIME EVIL: Nestled in a Manhattan monastery, evil is lurking. A group of devil worshipping monks are stalking the city, looking for victims to sacrifice to the dark lord in the hope of bringing satanic rule to the world! A stylishly photographed neo-gothic horror, PRIME EVIL packs in gore, nudity, and loads of 80s NYC locales. LURKERS: When Cathy was a girl, she saw her deranged mother murder her father and only narrowly escaped with her life. Haunted by memories of her macabre childhood, her nightmares turn into a terrifying reality when she’s lured back to her childhood home, only to be transformed into a ‘lurker;’ members of the vengeful dead who seek to terrorize those who wronged them. Findlay’s suspenseful ghost story explores trauma and grief between moments of shocking violence.    

Prime Evil / Lurkers (Blu-ray) 

The Corpse Grinders: Amazon - $17.99

When the owners of the Lotus Cat Food Company, who manufacture an exotic, high-priced type of kitty chow, run short of cash, they find themselves in big trouble with their suppliers. The two disreputable partners soon turn to a new and plentiful source for product--fresh cadavers! Grave robbing and unreported murders soon provide plenty of raw material for "the food cats crave," but there's only one problem--cats all over town have begun attacking and killing their human owners, filled with a newly-found taste for human flesh! Experience maverick director Ted V. Mikels' independent terror classic in a brand-new transfer that will give you chills you never knew you had in you! For God's sake, don't watch it with your cat!

The Corpse Grinders (Blu-ray) 

George A. Romero: Between Night & Dawn: Amazon - $62.99

There's Always Vanilla:A pregnancy complicates a couple's (Ray Laine, Judith Streiner) relationship when she considers secretly having an abortion.
The Crazies: A nurse (Lane Carroll) and her husband (W.G. McMillan) try to get out of their infected town, but the Army has it sealed off.
Season of The Witch: A bored housewife's life spins out of control after she dabbles in the occult. 

George A. Romero: Between Night and Dawn (Blu-ray) 

Night School: Amazon - $17.99

They work by day, take a full schedule of classes all night and somehow find time for study and an occasional date. Women in the evening curriculum at Boston’s distinguished Wendell College do a lot to get ahead in life. But there’s someone who will go to even greater heights. Someone will do anything to get a head: a killer whose m.o. is the ritualistic decapitation of victims.

Night School (Blu-ray) 

The Emoji Movie: Amazon - $19.99
4K: Amazon - 27.99

Hidden inside a smartphone, the bustling city of Textopolis is home to all emojis. Each emoji has only one facial expression, except for Gene, an exuberant emoji with multiple expressions. Determined to become "normal" like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his best friend Hi-5 and a notorious code breaker called Jailbreak. During their travels through the other apps, the three emojis discover a great danger that could threaten their phone's very existence.

The Emoji Movie (Blu-ray) 

The Emoji Movie 4K (Blu-ray) 

Bushwick: Amazon - $16.99

When a Texas military force invades their Brooklyn neighborhood, 20-year-old Lucy and war veteran Stupe must depend on each other to survive.

Bushwick (Blu-ray) 


  -The Impostor

Monday, October 23, 2017

Screenings in the Bay (Monday to Friday): Another Hole in the Head Film Fest, Avant-Garde Horror, Gialloween, Jigsaw


If every week in the bay area was as crazy as this one we'd all lose our minds! Not only is the long awaited Jigsaw carving its way into theatres starting this Thursday, but San Francisco's own horror/ sci-fi/ fantasy film fest, Another Hole in the Head kicks off its 14th year this Wednesday! Their lineup pays homage to the classics, but also features several indie gems that you seriously don't want to miss. The one closing out the week this Friday night already left its mark on Book Wyrm at the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival (ahem), and now it's coming to our side of the states. Of course I'm talking about Tragedy Girls! AHITH runs for two weeks and I'll keep a close eye on their schedule to let you guys know what's coming up.

Also this week, the Roxie Theatre and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts ring Halloween in early each with their own themed film series. At the Roxie, Gialloween starts tonight and runs through Thursday. And the Yerba Buena's Avant-Garde Horror lineup begins Thursday night and runs to Sunday.

We've got a lot of choices to make people.


Opening This Week


Early Screenings Thursday 26th (!hr 31min)
Opens Friday 27th
Crime/ Horror/ Mystery (IMDB)
Thirteen years ago on Halloween weekend--SAW and the character of JIGSAW introduced the world to a new face of horror. For seven straight years "If it's Halloween it must be SAW" was a holiday tradition. This October 27, Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures proudly present JIGSAW! After a series of murders bearing all the markings of the Jigsaw killer, law enforcement find themselves chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade and embroiled in a new game that's only just begun. Is John Kramer back from the dead to remind the world to be grateful for the gift of life? Or is this a trap set by a killer with designs of their own?



Comes to Netflix Tuesday 24th (1hr 18min)
Horror/ Thriller (IMDB)
A video artist looking for work drives to a remote house in the forest to meet a man claiming to be a serial killer. But after agreeing to spend the day with him, she soon realizes that she made a deadly mistake.




Opens Thursday 25th (2hrs 1min)
Drama/ Horror/ Mystery (IMDB)
Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family's life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family's domestic bliss.






Wednesday 25th @ 9pm (1hr 31min)
Action/ Drama/ History (IMDB)
Late in the War of 1812, a young Mohawk woman and her two lovers battle a squad of American soldiers hell-bent on revenge.



Thursday 26th @ 7pm (1hr 34min)
Horror/ Thriller (IMDB)
A bizarre series of murders begins in Los Angeles, where people start going bald and then become homicidal maniacs. But could the blame rest on a particularly dangerous form of LSD called Blue Sunshine the murderers took ten years before?



Thursday 26th @ 9pm (1hr 58min)
Fantasy/ Horror/ Mystery (IMDB)
A wicked mind, a childish mind, a nightmare... Different stories connected to a mysterious serial killer, called "General Cubicus", weave together.



Friday 27th @ 9pm (1hr 38min)
Comedy/ Horror (IMDB)
Best friends Sadie and McKayla are on a mission to boost their social media fandom as amateur crime reporters hot on the trail of a deranged local serial killer. After they manage to capture the killer and secretly hold him hostage, they realize the best way to get scoops on future victims would be to, you know, murder people themselves. As the @TragedyGirls become an overnight sensation and panic grips their small town, can their friendship survive the strain of national stardom? Will they get caught? Will their accounts get verified?



70mm Screening

Monday 23rd @ 7pm & 10pm (1hr 49min)
Horror/ Sci-Fi/ Fantasy (Rotten Tomatoes)
A crew in Antarctica finds a neighboring camp destroyed and its crew dead. Whatever killed them is nowhere to be found, unless it's hidden in plain sight.


4K Restoration

Tuesday 24th @ 12:45pm (1hr 32min)
Drama/ Fantasy/ Horror (IMDB)
A candy-colored nightmare from Italian terror maestro Dario Argento, Suspiria weaves a menacing tale of witchcraft as a fairy tale gone horribly awry. From the moment she arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tans Academy, American ballet-dancer Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution. Ill at ease as the result of her fellow student's peculiar behavior and increasingly terrified following a series of gruesome and spectacular murders, Suzy slowly begins to unravel the dark history of the academy. Convinced that the occult roots of the school and the horrific tale of its founding mother may hold an unthinkable secret, she begins a hallucinatory journey into the black heart of one of the most powerful witches ever known to exist. As Suzy edges ever closer to a secret that may hold the answers to all of her nightmares, the coven's grip on her soul begins to tighten until there is seemingly no escape. Will Suzy solve the mystery of the cursed academy before the fearsome Black Queen consumes her, or will she finally reveal the secret that has forever haunted the lavish corridors of the academy and bring an end to the Black Queen's terrifying reign?


Terror Tuesday

Tuesday 24th @ 7pm & 9:45pm (1hr 36min)
Horror (IMDB)
There is panic throughout the nation as the dead suddenly come back to life. The film follows a group of characters who barricade themselves in an old farmhouse in an attempt to remain safe from these flesh eating monsters.

West Coast Premiere of the 4K Restoration


Weird  Wednesday

Wednesday 25th @ 9pm (1hr 47min)
Drama/ Music (IMDB)
Identical twin brothers (both played by Blake Rayne) are separated at birth during the Great Depression. Their parents (Brian Geraghty, Amanda Crew) just cannot afford to give them both a life beyond poverty, so one is adopted by loving family. Despite their very different upbringings, the boys' shared passion for music causes their lives to unknowingly intersect as they experience a powerful and mysterious connection often felt by twins. (c) Official Site




Night Skies Presents

Tuesday 24th @ 7:30pm (1hr 37min)
Fantasy/ Horror (Google)
David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he's plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.



Castro Theatre

I Wake Up Dreaming
Triple Feature

House of Horrors (1946)
Monday 23rd @ 6:30pm (1hr 5min)
Noir/ Horror/ Thriller (IMDB)
An unsuccessful sculptor saves a madman named "The Creeper" from drowning. Seeing an opportunity for revenge, he tricks the psycho into murdering his critics.

-with-


The Spiritualist (aka The Amazing M. X) (1948)
Monday 23rd @ 7:50pm (1hr 18min)

Noir/ Horror/ Thriller (IMDB)
Also known as The Amazing Mr. X, The Spiritualist stars Turhan Bey as the title character, a mysterious mystic named Alexis. Making a comfortable living by fleecing the gullible wealthy, Alexis' latest target is grieving young widow Christine Faber (Lynn Bari). Hoping to communicate with her husband, who supposedly died in a car crash two years earlier, Christine submits to Alexis' crystal-ball act. Our hero finds out more than he bargained for when the "deceased" Mr. Faber (Donald Curtis) turns up very much alive as the central figure in an elaborate fraud scheme.


-with-


The Soul of a Monster (1944)
Monday 23rd @ 9:20pm (1hr 1min)
Horror (IMDB)
As a beloved physician lies hopelessly ill at death’s door, a mysterious woman arrives, hastening his miraculous recovery amidst the suspicious aura of satanic skullduggery! This strangely hypnotic horror / noir hybrid makes for a highly rewarding film with deeper, more spiritual messaging than normally expected of a sixty-minute B picture.




Gialloween

Monday 23rd @ 9:15pm (1hr 24min)
Horror/ Mystery/ Thriller (IMDB)
If a serial killer isn't stopped, there won't be any beautiful young models left in Rome. The killer always wears a stocking mask, making things extremely difficult for detective Thomas Reiner. The plot contains few surprises: what socks this one over is its gruesome stylishness, a trademark of director Mario Bava. As usual, however, Bava seems more comfortable with shock cuts and clever camera angles than he is with actors. Even such dependable performers as Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok come off like stick figures. All the same, Blood & Black Lace is a serviceable introduction to the blood-spattered ouevre of Mario Bava.



Tuesday 24th @ 9:15pm (1hr 47min)
Horror/ Mystery/ Thriller (IMDB)
One of the final links between the Edgar Wallace-based German krimi genre and the Italian giallo thriller, this creepy mystery stars Fabio Testi as a college professor who sleeps with his students and is blamed when a string of murders occurs. Joachim Fuchsberger, as usual, is the police inspector trying to solve the killings; Camille Keaton, Buster Keaton's grand-niece and later the star of Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave (1980) has a supporting role; cameraman Aristide Massaccesi, later infamous as gore director "Joe D'Amato," turns up as a cop. Massimo Dallamano's direction is assured. This first-rate thriller was based on Wallace's Secret of the Green Pin.



Wednesday 25th @ 9:15pm (1hr 36min)
Thriller (IMDB)
That title alone should tell you this one isn’t to be missed. Sergio Martino’s lurid take on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” stars giallo queen Edwige Fenech in one of her wildest roles.



Thursday 26th @ 9:15pm (1hr 42min)
Horror/ Mystery/ Thriller (IMDB)
When several young boys are brutally murdered in a small southern Italian village, the superstitious locals react with ignorance and violence. All misfits are immediately suspected, such as big-city tart Barbara Bouchet, the local village idiot, and voodoo practitioner Florinda Bolkan, who is brutally murdered by the villagers in a startling and powerful scene. Cop Tomas Milian (Almost Human, Amistad) comes to investigate, and is rather curious about a young priest who censors the town's reading material to keep it free of corruption. The peculiar clergyman seems to envy the dead boys, who will never grow up to be corrupted. Milian soon becomes convinced that the priest wants to send the kids' souls to Heaven and feels guilt about desiring the boys sexually.




Avant-Garde Horror


Thursday 26th @ 7:30pm (1hr 35min)
Mystery/ Thriller (IMDB)
A collision with a sheep on a country road initiates a series of unsettling experiences for a young married couple. Slowly they become incapable of knowing exactly where they are: in the real world? in their own minds? Or could they be characters in someone else’s imagination?



Friday 27th @ 7:30pm 
Celebrate Halloween on the big screen with these vintage and modern experimental shorts, spanning almost a century. This sinister lineup will be (mostly) shown on 16mm film.



-Huntress

Friday, October 20, 2017

Screenings in the Bay (Friday to Sunday): Space Visitors Film Fest, Suspiria, Old Dark House


We are dangerously close to Halloween night guys! There just a week and a half, and one more Friday night left before we see who commits to a costume all day to celebrate October 31st, who backs out at the last minute, and who goes all out. It's definitely bittersweet, because once it's over it's just a short matter of time before the decorations come down and the counter is reset. But hey, there is some mouth watering film programming between then and now! This weekend alone, Suspiria is screening at two different places, Leatherface and The Snowman are both released in theatres, and the Castro Theatre outdoes itself with another genius set of double features. And to top it all off, the Space Visitors Film Fest is getting ready to land at the Balboa Theate... This is an insane weekend!!

Opening Today


Opens Friday 20th (1hr 30min)
Horror/ Mystery/ Suspense (Rotten Tomatoes)
In Texas, years before the events of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in the early days of the infamous Sawyer family, the youngest child is sentenced to a mental hospital after a suspicious incident leaves the sheriff's daughter dead. Ten years later, the Sawyer teen kidnaps a young nurse and escapes with three other inmates. Pursued by authorities including the deranged sheriff out to avenge his daughter's death, Sawyer goes on a violent road trip from hell, molding him into the monster now known as Leatherface.





Opens Friday 20th (1hr 59min)
Crime/ Drama/ Horror (IMDB)
When an elite crime squad's lead detective (Michael Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit (Rebecca Ferguson), the cop must connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall.



Alamo Drafthouse


Friday 20th @ 8:45pm (1hr 23min)
Saturday & Sunday @ 1:05pm & 8:30pm
Drama/ Romance (Google)
Alone and depressed after the suicide of her lover, American flight attendant Gina (Lindsay Burdge, A TEACHER) travels to Paris and hooks up with nightclub bartender Jerome (Damien Bonnard, STAYING VERTICAL) on her layover. But as Gina falls deeper into lust and opts to stay in France, this harmless rendezvous quickly turns into unrequited amour fou. When Jerome's ex Clemence (Esther Garrel) reenters the picture, Gina is sent on a downward spiral of miscommunication, masochism, and madness. Inspired by European erotic dramas from the '70s, THIRST STREET burrows deep into the delirious extremes we go to for love.


4K Restoration

A candy-colored nightmare from Italian terror maestro Dario Argento, Suspiria weaves a menacing tale of witchcraft as a fairy tale gone horribly awry. From the moment she arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tans Academy, American ballet-dancer Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution. Ill at ease as the result of her fellow student's peculiar behavior and increasingly terrified following a series of gruesome and spectacular murders, Suzy slowly begins to unravel the dark history of the academy. Convinced that the occult roots of the school and the horrific tale of its founding mother may hold an unthinkable secret, she begins a hallucinatory journey into the black heart of one of the most powerful witches ever known to exist. As Suzy edges ever closer to a secret that may hold the answers to all of her nightmares, the coven's grip on her soul begins to tighten until there is seemingly no escape. Will Suzy solve the mystery of the cursed academy before the fearsome Black Queen consumes her, or will she finally reveal the secret that has forever haunted the lavish corridors of the academy and bring an end to the Black Queen's terrifying reign?


Screening in 70mm

Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd @ 12:15pm (1hr 49min)
Horror/ Sci-Fi/ Fantasy (Rotten Tomatoes)
A crew in Antarctica finds a neighboring camp destroyed and its crew dead. Whatever killed them is nowhere to be found, unless it's hidden in plain sight.




Super Shangri-La Show Presesnts

Saturday 21st @ 10am (all day)
The Balboa theatre and Super Shangri-La Show present an all day event of
Movies, Documentaries and Gust Speakers about visitors from beyond our
galaxy! From the classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Laserblast,
Plan 9 From Outer Space and In Search Of, to Small Town Monsters-The
Invasion of Chestnut Ridge and the Mothman of Point Pleasant, we will
showing cult classics along with new films.




4K Double Feature

The Old Dark House (1932)
Friday 20th @ 7:30pm (1hr 12min)
Comedy/ Horror (IMDB)
Frankenstein director James Whale turned J.B. Priestley's novel "Benighted" into a nerve-jangling tale (originally released in 1932) that became the template for all spooky-house chillers to come. Stranded travelers stumble upon a strange old house, and find themselves at the mercy of a highly eccentric and potentially dangerous family. This atmospheric thriller features an unforgettable post-Frankenstein horror role for Boris Karloff, as the hulking, disfigured butler Morgan.

-with-


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Friday 20th @ 8:55pm (1hr 23min)
Horror (IMDB)
Just as Hitchcock's Psycho was based on the life of deeply disturbed farmer Ed Gein, so is this little story of depravity and dementia. When a sister and her brother take a group of friends to visit the farmhouse of their deceased grandfather, they discover that just next door lives a whole family of repugnant psycho killers. Most noteworthy is "Leatherface" who is the bloke who wields the power saw and has a penchant for human flesh. Though the film did not enjoy immediate success at the box office, it has since gathered a hefty cult following. Directed by Tobe Hooper, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is considered by many to be groundbreaking work in the genre of horror.



Suspiria (1977)
Sunday 22nd @ 7pm (1hr 32min)
Drama/ Fantasy/ Horror (IMDB)

-with-


Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Sunday 22nd @ 8:55pm (1hr 32min)
Thriller/ Indie (Google)
After record producer Swan (Paul Williams) steals the music of songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finley) and gives it to one of his bands, Leach sneaks into Swan's offices. Catching Leach, Swan frames him for dealing drugs, which lands him in prison. After Leach breaks out and again attempts to sabotage Swan's empire, an accident crushes his face. Leach then dons a costume and becomes the Phantom, intent on ruining Swan while saving singer Phoenix (Jessica Harper) from a terrible fate.




Midnight Madness

Friday 20th @ 11:55pm (1hr 50min)
Saturday 21st @ 11:55pm
Slasher/ Thriller (Google)
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.





Saturday 21st @ 4:30pm (1hr 59min)
Sunday 22nd @ 8:45pm
Action/ Drama/ Horror (IMDB)
A Tokyo college student is attacked by a ghoul, a superpowered human who feeds on human flesh. He survives, but has become part ghoul and becomes a fugitive on the run.


-Huntress