The week before Halloween is basically an excuse to get together with a few hundred like-minded people and watch as many scary movies as you can – and Toronto’s repertory cinemas are more than happy to oblige. A mix of beloved favourites and lost treasures will be showing all around the city. Some will have live performances before, during or after the movie – some will have running commentaries, drunken or otherwise. And some will just scare the crap out of you.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24
Fox Trivia: Horror Edition
Drake Hotel trivia host Jeromy Lloyd takes over the Beaches cinema for two hours of horror-movie trivia. Teams of up to four are welcome, and hopefully there’ll be at least one question about the origins of the pseudonym John Carpenter used to write Prince Of Darkness. (It’s a good story.)
7 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
Ladies of Burlesque: Picnic At Hanging Rock
I don’t really understand how you tie a burlesque performance to Peter Weir’s evocative, unnerving 1975 drama about a group of Australian schoolgirls who vanish during an outing in 1900, but Loretta Jean is going for it. Anyway, the movie’s a classic.
8 pm, The Royal (608 College). theroyal.to.
Drunk Feminist Films: I Know What You Did Last Summer
Resh Brown, Bee Quammie and DeAnn Smith assemble to tackle the post-Scream slasher, in which privileged teens Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Philippe, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar cover up a hit-and-run only to find themselves stalked by a taunting killer a year later. (It’s already sold out, unfortunately.)
8:30 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (506 Bloor West). drunkfeministfilms.com.
Army Of Darkness
The conclusion to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy finds Bruce Campbell’s heroic doofus Ash battling Deadites in the 13th century, trying to save the past so he can return to the present. It’s all just an excuse for Campbell, Raimi and producer Robert Tapert to make the movie they always dreamed of making when they were kids in high school: a berserk horror-comedy that mixes splatterific violence with Three Stooges eye-boinks. It’s not exactly scary, but it’s an awful lot of fun.
9:15 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
Night Of The Living Dead: 50th Anniversary
George A. Romero’s horror classic gave us the zombie movie as we know it, and its subtextual racial politics have only grown more relevant as the decades go by. Newly restored in 4K by The Film Foundation and the Museum Of Modern Art, it looks as good as it ever has – a relentless black-and-white apocalypse, where the desperation and arrogance of strangers proves far more dangerous than the undead horde. Have fun with it!
10 pm, Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP (10 Dundas East). cineplex.com.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25
Taste The Blood Of Dracula
British production company Hammer Films’ fifth Dracula movie finds the resurrected Count (Christopher Lee) stalking three decadent aristocrats to claim an unholy revenge – so, business as usual. It might not be Lee’s best Dracula picture – the actor was tiring of the role, and had to be coaxed back – but it’s atmospheric and creepy in the classic Hammer mode, and the ending’s appropriately spectacular.
7 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26
Scream
Wes Craven’s 1996 blockbuster reinvigorated the slasher movie for a new generation, and 22 years later the Carlton Cinema is showcasing it with a week-long run over Halloween. Savour the snap of Kevin Williamson’s dialogue! Freak out along with Drew Barrymore in that ingenious prologue! Watch Neve Campbell become an A-list star right before your eyes! C’mon, watching it at home isn’t nearly as much fun.
6:45 pm and 9:10 pm through November 1, Carlton Cinema (20 Carlton). imaginecinemas.com.
Neon Dreams: The Fog
John Carpenter followed Halloween with this chiller about a small seaside town invaded by ghosts. Less successful at the time, it’s grown in estimation over the decades and a new 4K restoration promises to do justice to its creepy atmosphere, the recurring image of the spectral assailants’ eerie, burning eyes and the circa-1980 hairstyles on Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook.
8 pm, The Royal (608 College). theroyal.to.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Shadowcast Edition
If there’s one constant in this city, it’s that The Rocky Horror Picture Show will play Halloween engagements at the Bloor Cinema accompanied by live performers. So go throw confetti at Brad and Janet, do the Time Warp in the aisles and have a generally great time. (If you can’t go Friday night, they’ll do it all again Saturday at 11:30 pm, and twice on Halloween at 7 pm and 10:30 pm.)
11:30 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (506 Bloor West). hotdocs.ca.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27
Throwback Cinema: Beetlejuice
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Tim Burton’s giddy ghouls-n-goblins comedy – starring Michael Keaton as a paranormal exorcist hired to oust the annoying humans from the house haunted by glum ghosts Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis – really benefits from a raucous audience and a big screen. The 1 pm show is sold out, but tickets are still available for the 4 pm screenings Saturday and Sunday. You should go!
1 pm and 4 pm, Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles). revuecinema.ca.
Cinemacabre: Phantasm
Don Coscarelli’s freaky midnight movie about weird goings-on at a small-town mortuary hasn’t grown any more coherent in the decades since it opened, but that’s kind of its charm – it’s a swirling nightmare of quasi-zombies, bloodthirsty murder spheres and Angus Scrimm’s Tall Man bellowing his wrath at poor little Michael Baldwin. But if you absolutely need an explanation, Coscarelli is scheduled to Skype in for a Q&A after the screening.
8 pm, The Royal (608 College). theroyal.to.
Courtesy of Shudder
Argentinian director Demián Rugna’s Terrified has its Toronto theatrical premiere at TIFF Bell Lightbox on October 30.
KinoVortex: Terrified
Colin Geddes’s showcase of strange and unusual cinematic offerings kicks off its fall season with the Toronto theatrical premiere of Argentinian director Demián Rugna’s horror film, set on an ordinary suburban street whose residents are inexplicably plagued by nightmarish visitations. Mixing the pop scares of Poltergeist with the more measured chills of Mike Flanagan’s Oculus and The Haunting Of Hill House, it’s an ensemble horror story that won’t be satisfied until it’s tugged on your very last nerve. (And sure, you could stay home and watch it on Shudder … but then you’d be able to press the pause button – like a coward.)
9:30 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King West). tiff.net.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28
Night Of The Living Dead
Okay, so maybe you couldn’t make the Wednesday night screening. No judgment. People get busy. But this may be your last chance to see Romero’s zombie classic in a theatre for a while, so make the time.
4 pm, Carlton Cinema (20 Carlton). imaginecinemas.com.
Scream Queens: Clue
It could be argued that Jonathan Lynn’s beloved 1985 murder-mystery comedy needs no snarky accompaniment, since anyone who tries to riff over it will have to compete with the performances of Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean and Martin Mull. Which makes drag queen and Scream Queens host Allysin Chaynes either very brave or very foolhardy. Show up and find out which.
8 pm, The Royal (608 College). theroyal.to.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29
Watching Night Of The Living Dead
Like I said, that Carlton screening was your last chance to see George A. Romero’s zombie classic on the big screen. This project, by Toronto artist Dave Dyment, recontextualizes the film by showing its appearances in other movies and TV shows over the decades. Which sounds pretty damn fascinating, if not actually scary… unless the idea of one’s work falling into the public domain due to a clerical error is the real horror.
7 pm, free, Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles). revuecinema.ca.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30
Suspiria
Before Luca Guadagnino’s remake opens November 2, take the chance to lock yourself in the dark with Dario Argento’s 1977 masterpiece – starring Jessica Harper as an American who arrives at a German ballet school and discovers a seething house of nightmares – and remind yourself what impressionistic, no-holds-barred horror really feels like. This is the new 4K restoration, which pumps up the garish colour levels that had faded over the decades and makes the hissing, pulsing Goblin soundtrack kick ever so much ass.
7 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
The Vampire Lovers
After the assault of Suspiria, Hammer’s take on Le Fanu’s lesbian vampire tale Carmilla – with Ingrid Pitt as the voluptuous stalker of female flesh, and Peter Cushing as the military man who makes the mistake of taking her in – will fall upon audiences like a gentle balm. Roy Ward Baker’s direction seems a little heavy-handed now, but the cast is having fun and the sexual subtext is surprisingly adult for what was basically a 1970 B-movie. (Fans of the Carmilla web series may find this very instructive.)
9:15 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31: HALLOWEEN
The Shining
People have been arguing about Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s best-seller since the film was released in 1980 – including King himself, who was so dissatisfied with Kubrick’s take on his book that he wound up writing and producing his own disappointing miniseries version in the 90s. Whether or not Kubrick’s Shining works the way King wanted it to, there’s no question that it works – and that watching the malevolent Overlook Hotel slowly turn the hapless Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) against his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd) is the stuff of nightmares.
6:45 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
Young Frankenstein
Mel Brooks’s other masterpiece (after The Producers) is a note-perfect spoof of the black-and-white monster movies he grew up on – but this version sees the tormented Frederic Frankenstein (co-writer Gene Wilder) as more of a hapless neurotic who falls ass-backward into grave robbing and corpse-reanimating in order to vindicate his grandfather’s work. That alone would be perfection, but throw in Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Marty Feldman and an unbilled Gene Hackman and you’ve a nonstop good time. With musical numbers, even! This free screening is already sold out, but there will be a rush line.
7 pm, Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles). revuecinema.ca.
A Night At The Bronze
This one’s a little different: not a movie or a TV show, but a live reading (and sing-along) of Once More With Feeling, the musical episode of Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer as performed by Jenna Warriner (Buffy), Liz Johnston (Willow), Ian MacIntyre (Xander), Mark Andrada (Giles), Kyah Green (Spike), Stephanie Malek (Anya), Kaitlin Morrow (Tara), Nkasi Ogbonnah (Dawn) and Conor Bradbury (the demon Sweet), with Connor Low reading the direction. It’ll be followed by a 90s vampire dance party, because duh.
8 pm, Buddies In Bad Times (12 Alexander). buddiesinbadtimes.com.
Possession
Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 psychological thriller chronicles the dissolution of a marriage from the feverish perspective of a husband (Sam Neill) whose wife (Isabelle Adjani) announces that she’s leaving him for someone else. He becomes obsessed with winning her back, or at least finding out the identity of her new lover. The answer is… complicated. Recently restored and re-evaluated after years of circulating in truncated home-video versions, Possession looks like Zulawski’s masterpiece, both for its insight into the paranoid male mindset and for the total what-the-fuckery of its final act. Don’t ask, just go.
8 pm, The Royal (608 College). theroyal.to.
The Return Of The Living Dead
For those who prefer their descent into nihilistic horror with a faster beat, there’s Dan O’Bannon’s punk-rock zombie comedy – a sideways sequel that retcons Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead into a project inspired by true events, then re-stages the people-in-a-jam mayhem at a medical warehouse where a punk stockboy and his pals have to fend off brain-eating zombies from the cemetery next door. To set the mood, the screening will be preceded by a live performance from More Brains! (The exclamation point is in their name, in case that seemed like an unusually strong endorsement.)
9 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King West). tiff.net.
Halloween
David Gordon Green’s 40-years-later sequel just had a $77.5 million opening weekend, which speaks to the staying power of John Carpenter’s 1978 original – a perfect, merciless slasher movie about a masked killer terrorizing an unsuspecting babysitter (Jamie Lee Curtis, of course) in their small town one Halloween night. If you’ve never seen it in a theatre, it’s a very different experience. So you should do that.
9:30 pm, The Fox (2236 Queen East). foxtheatre.ca.
movies@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
