I LIKE BATS
dir. Grzegorz Warchoł, 1986
Poland. 90 mins.
In Polish with English subtitles.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD – MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9TH – 7:30PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12TH – 5PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24TH – 5PM
TICKETS
The only feature film directed by Polish actor Grzegorz Warchol, and written by feminist novelist and columnist Krystyna Kofta, I LIKE BATS is dreamy fugue of a vampire picture set in a storybook Poland where empty cobblestone streets are bathed in fog and a supernatural glow. Katarzyna Walter stars as the woman with a fondness for the flying mammals in question; Iza, a vampire living a quaint, simple life working in her aunt’s curio shop. Her aunt insists that everyone would be happier if Iza had a man, but she is far too content making pottery, tending to her beloved bats, and satisfying her bloodlust by wreaking vengeance on the town’s local creeps. That is, until a celebrity psychoanalyst catches Iza’s eye and she feels a sudden urge for something more human. A colorful, feverish oddity featuring several iconic shots of its protagonist, I LIKE BATS promises to quench your seasonal Spectober desires for blood, love, and nocturnal critters.
2k restoration by Severin Films. Special thanks to the American Genre Film Archive.
TERROR TRACT
Dir. Lance W. Dreesen & Clint Hutchison, 2000.
United States, 96 min.
In English
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5TH – 5PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13TH – 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24TH – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29TH – 7:30PM
TICKETS
A real estate agent shows a newlywed couple houses, each with a darker secret than the last…
TERROR TRACT is a criminally underseen horror anthology film featuring performances by Brian Cranston and John Ritter. Comprised of three chilling stories—NIGHTMARE, BOBO, and COME TO GRANNY—the film masterfully blends horror and dark humor. This October, come on a trip down the nightmarish streets of TERROR TRACT and uncover the sinister secrets lurking behind your neighbor’s door.
THE PASSING
Dir. John Huckert, 1984.
United States, 96 min.
In English.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD – 7:30PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9TH – 10PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19TH – 5PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30TH – 10PM
TICKETS
An elderly veteran is forced into an experiment where his consciousness is transferred into the body of a death row prisoner.
Produced on a budget of less than $100,000 over seven years by director John Huckert, THE PASSING is a heartfelt and thought-provoking exploration of aging, loneliness, and mortality. The film is elevated by the compelling performances and authentic on-screen chemistry of its two elderly leads, James Carrol Plaster and Welton Benjamin Johnson, who reflect deeply on their lives and relationships—described by author Arthur C. Clark (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) as “Amazing! Deeply moving.” THE PASSING remains a rare and touching gem, having seen limited exposure beyond its brief week-long theatrical run in 1985.
THE OCCULT EXPERIENCE
Dir. Frank Heimans, 1985
Australia, 95 min.
In English.
FROM THE DEPTHS OF MEN’S DARKEST SOULS COMES…
MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 – 10PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 – 5PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 – 7:30PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 7:30PM
BUY TICKETS
The 40th anniversary screening of this seminal examination on Paganism and other esoteric spiritual practices.
A documentary collaboration between filmmaker Frank Heimans and the prolific English-Australian folk religion scholar Nevill Drury, THE OCCULT EXPERIENCE first premiered on TV via Sydney’s Channel 10. Further presented at the 1985 International Film and Television Festival of New York, and now, forty years later, for the most ominous of Spectobers. Cross-country explorations of the peculiar met with refreshing sympathy, treated to some of the most wholesome H.R. Giger along the way.
Special thanks to Megan Drury and Jay, the current webmaster for https://www.nevilldrury.com
THE KISS
Dir. Pen Densham, 1988.
United States, 101 min.
In English.
SUNDAY, 5TH – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, 18TH – MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY, 23RD – 10PM
WEDNESDAY, 29TH – 10PM
TICKETS
Amy’s estranged aunt comes to live with her after the sudden death of her mother. However, Amy soon starts to suspect her aunt may have something to do with the sudden influx of supernatural occurrences and the death of her mother.
From Stephen Volk (GHOSTWATCH, GOTHIC) comes THE KISS — an ’80s suburban nightmare channeling the dread of POLTERGEIST and the social rot of SOCIETY; with special effects by Chris Walas (THE FLY, GREMLINS) and a pulse‑pounding score from J. Peter Robinson (THE GATE, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2). Spectacle invites you to peel back the polite veneer of small‑town life and reveal the ravenous darkness beneath with… THE KISS.
THE CARRIER
Dir. Nathan J. White, 1988.
United States, 99 min.
In English.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10TH – 7:30PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20TH – 7:30PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH – 10PM
TICKETS
A small town is thrown into chaos after seemingly random objects start melting people when touched. However, they soon realize somebody is responsible, and a civil war of mistrust and violence erupts as residents desperately search for the elusive carrier.
With a premise that echoes something from the Troma catalog, THE CARRIER unexpectedly devolves into something far more disturbing. What begins as a seemingly straightforward werewolf melodrama rapidly morphs into a bleak, post-apocalyptic nightmare, evoking films like THREADS or THE CRAZIES. This October Spetacle invites you to a town overrun with trash bag-clad villagers, where wild house cats become the only currency worth risking your life for in a world spiraling into madness.
INCUBUS
(INKUBO)
Dir. Leslie Stevens, 1966
United States. 74 min.
In Esperanto with English subtitles.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2ND – 10PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 TH- 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17TH – 5PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30TH – 7:30PM
TICKETS
Malbono neniam estis tiel alloga.
Living as a Jew in the Russian Empire through the latter half of the 19th Century, ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenhof was dismayed at the innumerable conflicts around him spawned by ethnic tensions, religious differences, and rising nationalist sentiment. Convinced that world peace would be achieved if disparate peoples could communicate easily with each other, Zamenhof developed Esperanto to act as a universal auxiliary language. His pet project became the center of a global community of goodwill and intercultural communication in the early 20th Century, a poignant example of the Utopian aspirations of the age (the word esperanto means “one who hopes”). Esperanto remains the most widely spoken constructed language in the world.
In 1965, after the cancellation of his television series The Outer Limits, Leslie Stevens began production on a horror film to keep his crew (which included future three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall) working. Stevens figured that having all the dialogue spoken in Esperanto would be a neat way to inject some uniqueness into the picture, and would help it get into arthouses, “where subtitles were.” The distinctly Outer Limits-esque story features a village with a well that yields healing waters, attracting a soldier, Marc, who seeks to recover from his war wounds. A local succubus, Kia (Stevens’ wife Allyson Ames), tries to tempt Marc and secure his soul for Hell, but since he’s played by William Shatner, she naturally falls for his charms instead, incurring the wrath of the titular incubus (Alain Delon’s stunt double/bodyguard Milos Milos).
Shot in two weeks in NorCal, Incubusultimately premiered to jeers from Esperanto speakers at the 1966 San Francisco Film Festival. The performers all learned their lines phoetically, which is obvious even if you don’t know the language. Still, Stevens was correct that it lends the movie an eerie, otherworldly quality.The film only received a theatrical run in France before ignominiously fading into a curio. Stevens blamed the lack of interest not on the movie’s dialogue being spoken in what was essentially an alien language, but on its assocation with Milos, who had killed his lover Barbara Ann Thomason (Mickey Rooney’s estranged wife) and then himself. Shatner would, of course, in short order become involved with a much better-known Utopian project. (By the way, the Esperanto term for “a blade”? Klingon.) Esperanto cinema never really caught on–Incubusremains one of only a handful of features shot wholly in the language–but Zamenhof’s dream endures.
Incubus was believed lost for decades before a well-worn 16mm print was discovered in the Cinémathèque Française in the late ’90s, which served as the basis for a new 35mm version and a DVD release. A 35mm copy in much better condition was found in 2023, and Le Chat Qui Fume used it to restore the film in 4K. Spectacle is excited to present the New York premiere of this restoration.
Thanks to Phil Ginley, Esther Rosenfield, and the American Genre Film Archive.
MONSTERS
