Being the month of October, there is certainly no shortage of horror films being shown on the silver screen. Many film festivals have popped up all over the country. Ideally, the best way to see a horror movie is in a theater with a fun audience. What's great about these festivals is that they give younger audiences the opportunity to see some classic and not-so-classic films the way they were originally meant to be seen.
Exhumed Films of Philadelphia began in 1997 in New Jersey as a great way to do just that. Amazingly, they've managed to bring some of the best horror films to audiences who probably were too young (like yours truly) to see them theatrically, like SUSPIRIA, DEMONS, TOURIST TRAP, THE CHANGELING, INFERNO, CURTAINS, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, and BLACK CHRISTMAS to name just a few.
Look at their website http://www.exhumedfilms.com/ to find out about their upcoming October 13, 2006 shows. Beginning at 8pm, they're showing SLEEPAWAY CAMP with one of the strangest endings ever. Angela!! Followed by GRADUATION DAY, a lackluster effort best known for Linnea Quigley taking over for an actress who was fired for refusing to do nudity. Rounding out the triple feature is WACKO, a spoof of horror films that makes me wish that STUDENT BODIES will get a showing to new audiences. I miss those horsehead booksends! The most obvious title missing from this line-up is FRIDAY THE 13TH on Friday the 13th of all days! More on this later
On October 28, 2006 they have another line-up of goodies. Beginning at 8pm, they're showing BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT, a film I saw a thousand centuries ago. It stars Joseph Langdon in this rather strange foreign horror film. Followed by DEVIL TIMES FIVE, which seems like a prequel to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST: three couples at a snowbound lodge are terrorized by a group of mental patients bent on murder, one of whom is Leif Garrett!!! How can you go wrong with a horror film that stars Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke)?? Last is SCREAMERS, a film I remember being shown here in 1981 and was chosen as a Dog of the Week by Siskel and Ebert, a label they gave to the worst movie they saw that week. This Italian film is actually called ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN and stars Richard Johnson of THE HAUNTING, ZOMBIE, and THE NIGHT CHILD (with scary little Nicoletta Elmi where is show now?). This is a Dr. Moreau-like story of a group of people who end up on an island inhabited by genetically altered fishmen. I remember the poster saying, I'll actually see a man turned inside out! The beauty of it is this: it never happens!
If you're in Denton, TX you might want to check out the Friday Night Frights (or you might want to fly to Texas to catch these flicks!). This looks like fun. They're at http://www.myspace.com/fridaynightfrights and are planning to show FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER on October 13th. On October 20th they're showing EVIL DEAD 2, and on October 27th they have the 20th anniversary showing of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 WITH Dennis Hopper, one of the craziest movies I've ever seen. I'm bringing it down!!! Down to hell!! Bring it all down!!!!
On October 30 and 31, HALLOWEEN makes its return to theaters. I'm thrilled to see this as I've never seen HALLOWEEN on anything other than a TV. Read about it all here: http://www.halloweenmovies.com/
