Want to get in the spirit of Halloween? See a great horror movie and get spooked by warewolves, vampires or axe murderers. Here's the upcoming film schedule for the Washington DC area.
2011 Halloween Horror Movie Schedule
- Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival at Artisphere - 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Rosslyn, Virginia
October 13-16, 2011. The festival will kick-off on October 13 at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. with the international hit HELLDRIVER, one of the most popular Japanese horror films. Filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura takes you on an apocalyptic ride into a diseased and flesh-eating world. Fourteen additional feature films will be screened during the festival, including the world premiere of MR. BRICKS: A HEAVY METAL MURDER MUSICAL, a GG Allin meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show bloody musical adventure. A number of DC-area premieres are slated, as well, including the giant monster hit THE MILLENNIUM BUG, the sleek vampire smash MIDNIGHT SON, the modern Science Fiction masterwork PIG, the Australian slasher comedy THE KILLAGE, the mind-blowing “found footage” Canadian feature SKEW and THE OREGONIAN. Each feature film will be preceded by selections from The Shorts Program, comprised of 27 short films, including Winner of Best Short at the Fantasia Film Festival “The Suicide Tapes,” Winner of Best Horror Film at the American International Film Festival “An Evening with My Comatose Mother,” Winner of Best Short at the Dark Carnival Film Festival “Enter the Dark” and Winner of Best Horror Short at the Phoenix Film Festival “Bugbaby.”
- Halloween Films at AFI Silver Theatre - 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
WITCHFINDER GENERAL, aka THE CONQUER OR WORM
Fri, Oct 14, 10:45 (with VINCENT); Wed, Oct 19, 6:30 (Montgomery College Show) Evil spreads across the English countryside as witch hunter Vincent Price literally needles confessions out of suspected witches while collecting money from local magistrates. Burnings, drownings and hangings are all in a day’s work, as Price gives his most brutal, scornful and bullying performance, drained of camp. NOT RATED Contains graphic violence; not suitable for all audiences.
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
Sun, Oct 16, 9:40; Wed, Oct 19, 9:05 The first, and for many the best, of three very different screen adaptations of Richard Matheson’s postapocalyptic novel “I Am Legend” stars Vincent Price as the titular scientist, the only man immune to a plague that has decimated the world’s population and mutated the survivors into shadow-dwelling zombie-vampire crossbreeds. Price ably conveys his character’s struggle to stay determined in the face of despair, as every day he faces a bleak and lonely world, and every night the mutant hordes attempt to invade his fortified home. NOT RATED.
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
Mon, Oct 17, 9:20; Thu, Oct 20, 9:05 A bona fide favorite among horror buffs, this film crafts a story of obsession and guilt around the archetypical death trap of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. In 16th-century Spain, the haunted Don Medina (Price) has recently lost his beloved wife, Elizabeth (scream queen Barbara Steele) under dubious circumstances. Her brother Francis (John Kerr) suspects that the Don might be up to something—playing around in his father’s old torture chamber, perhaps under ghostly possession. NOT RATED.
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
Fri, Oct 21, 9:45 (with VINCENT); Thu, Oct 27, 9:30 The last of the eight Corman-Price collaborations, Martin Scorsese has called this film his favorite in the series, an opinion shared by Price himself. More ambitious, provocative, allusive and atmospheric than the previous films, it gains much from its location shooting at the Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk, England—instead of the cheesy sets used in some of the jokier entries—and boasts a more mature-minded screenplay by Robert Towne, a decade before he would win the Oscar for CHINATOWN. NOT RATED.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Fri, Oct 21, 11:30; Sat, Oct 22, 11:59; Fri, Oct 28, 11:30; Sat, Oct 29, 11:00 A surprise hit in 2004 and an enduring cult item since, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s “rom-zom-com”—a romantic comedy, with zombies, that is—remains one of the best examples of the horror-comedy hybrid genre. Dumped by his girlfriend, slacker appliance salesman Pegg is so down in the dumps that he fails to notice the zombie plague taking over his London neighborhood until one pops up in his backyard. Fortunately, he and his couch-potato flatmate Nick Frost prove to be ace zombie dispatchers, and round up their remaining loved ones to make a final stand at their local pub, the Winchester. RATED R.
DEAD SNOW
Sat, Oct 22, 9:45 A group of medical students’ plans for a holiday weekend spent frolicking in the winter wonderland of northern Norway go horribly wrong when they stumble upon an evil presence, long forgotten: a battalion of Nazi SS soldiers, former occupiers turned casualties of war, who have returned, through an incredible twist of fate, as a zombie menace. Writer-director Tommy Wirkola makes ample use of his snowy settings to wreak picturesque havoc, coolly combining cold-blooded gore with over-the-top action-comedy. NOT RATED.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Fri, Oct 28, 7:00 A vengeful, hideously deformed composer (Lon Chaney) prowls the depths of the Paris Opera House, appearing only when his love for the beautiful young singer Christine (Mary Philbin) can be stifled no longer. “One of the scariest and most influential horror films of all time. This gorgeous new print, recently restored by Alloy’s sister company, Box 5, reproduces the extremely intricate color scheme of the original release with elaborate tinting, the experimental two-strip Technicolor sequence at the masked ball, and luscious hand tinting. NOT RATED.
NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF HORROR
Fri, Oct 28, 9:30 Casting a long and terrifying shadow over the genre, German silent film master F.W. Murnau’s uncredited appropriation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” set the standard for all vampire flicks to come. Max Schreck’s monstrous Count Orlok is singularly frightening, repulsive and beastly where Bela Lugosi was courtly and Christopher Lee seductive. “The greatest vampire movie of all time! This exquisite new print, hand tinted in the Czech Republic, reveals the creepy genius of this masterpiece for the first time in decades!” NOT RATED.
THE RAVEN with VINCENT
Sat, Oct 29, 7:00; Mon, Oct 31, 5:00 Wizard-turned-raven Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre) seeks the aid of Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) to undo the spell placed on him by rival sorcerer Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff). Using Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem only as a departure point, Richard Matheson’s fun and freewheeling screenplay mixes comedic hijinks with occult trappings, culminating in Price and Karloff’s can-you-top-this magic battle. NOT RATED.
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH with VINCENT
Sat, Oct 29, 9:00; Mon, Oct 31, 9:30 Roger Corman’s favorite of his Poe-Price vehicles, this film has elicited comparisons to the work of Ingmar Bergman for its evocation of the Middle Ages and anatomization of cruelty. As plague spreads across the Italian countryside, sadistic, Satan-worshipping Prince Prospero (Price) tortures prisoners for the enjoyment of his decadent guests. The script is by TWILIGHT ZONE vet Charles Beaumont, so expect a twisty comeuppance. NOT RATED.
