---

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.

---

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.

This Spectober, Spectacle is thrilled to again work with local documentary filmmaker Curtis Whitear and the rest of the Childhood Delusion Film Festival crew to bring you one of the more obscure horror anthology series. This duology was the first foray into filmmaking for New York City’s own “Horror Himbo,” Joe Zaso— evoking another Spectacle classic HAWK JONES, SCREAMBOOK and SCREAMBOOK II: THE NEXT ISSUE are brazenly playful send-ups of Tales of the Crypt and similar series from our youth, all shot and acted predominantly by kids. Do you dare give in to your childhood delusions and open the SCREAMBOOK?

Q&A with director, writer and producer JOE ZASO moderated by Curtis Whitear and Phil Ginley October 26th 7:30 pm

All screenings will feature a sneak peek from the Childhood Delusion Film Festival team

SCREAMBOOK
Dir. Joe Zaso, 1984
United States, 78 min.
In English

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 10PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 7:30PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26 – 5PM

BUY TICKETS

IT WILL TEAR THE SCREAMS RIGHT FROM YOUR THROAT

Joe Zaso’s directorial debut at the age of 14, SCREAMBOOK is SOV horror meets high school public access TV experiment. Modeled after anthologies like CREEPSHOW, we’re treated to five spooky stories–“Family Reunion,” “Tommy,” “Secret of the Bottle,” “Ye Old Toy Shop,” and “Worms”– all lovingly introduced with construction paper and crude marker-drawn comic covers that match-cut into live action. Silly, glitchy, and charmingly creative, SCREAMBOOK is an essential piece of Long Island cinematic horror history, as well as a textbook example of young auteurs making art by any means necessary.

Screambook is a euphoric thunderclap of surrealism. It’s a voyage to other realms, where cooked spaghetti is a murder weapon and melted Play-Doh is a substitute for monsters.
–Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull

SCREAMBOOK II: THE NEXT ISSUE
Dir. Joe Zaso, 1985
United States, 74 min.
In English

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 – 10PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 10PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26 – 7:30PM (Q&A)

BUY TICKETS

Q&A TICKETS

FROM THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE YOU “SCREAMBOOK” COMES FOUR NEW HORRORS!

Like all great sequels, THE NEXT ISSUE is bigger and badder in every regard. We begin with a setting from a bygone era: the mom-and-pop video rental store. Unfortunately for the customers, the ghoul behind the counter (Jill Casey) is more concerned with telling scary stories than the latest tape release. The Cryptkeeper-like hostess with a cackling, manic no-wave jr. energy introduces four more fuzzy lo-fi tales of terror: “Till Death Do Us Part,” “Silversweets,” “Birthday Wishes,” and “A Grave Matter.” It’s DIY filmmaking as play, with all the howling and youthful tenacity from your school’s field day.

Don’t overanalyze it. Just bask in the kaleidoscopic confusion of lights, demented laughter and all the glorious mom perms. Gives you the warm fuzzies that you’ve come to expect when you blindly stumble upon an attic box full of clamshell nostalgia.
—13beersl8r, letterboxd

Special thanks to Joe Zaso and Curtis Whitear

Most movies we see are by people who have “made it.” There are many reasons to love the films of Matt Farley and Charlie Roxburgh, and chief among them is how they articulate both the struggle and the necessity of remaining creative even when any hope of “making it” falls away.

— Will Sloan

Last summer, sold-out crowds packed a sweltering Spectacle to experience Motern Mania, a showcase of the films of Matt Farley and Charlie Roxburgh. Farley is a dedicated Spotify algorithm gamer who is probably the most prolific songwriter in the history of American popular music; streaming royalties for his untold thousands of songs — about poop, gluten, fear of the Pope, and everyone who’s ever had a birthday — fund a reasonable middle-class lifestyle, and support a flourishing filmmaking practice. Farley’s book, The Motern Method, is a Bible for aspiring outsider artists (sample chapter headings: “Release Everything”; “Embrace Nonsense”), and the films in which he stars, directed by longtime friend and coconspirator Roxburgh, are beacons of resourcefulness and, in this modern grindset world, refreshing examples of hustle culture directed to economically unrewarding but spiritually fulfilling aims.

Self-described “backyard movies” shot in accessible New England locations with a cast of friends and neighbors — each blazing their own their own unique trail through thickets of loquacious dialogue — the Motern films are charming and uncompromising advertisements for the DIY spirit, but are also distinguished by their canny realism about the life of the middle-aged small-town artist, plugging away in garages and grange halls for little to no tangible reward, and by their wildly inventive approach to genre, recombining the elements of classic creature features and exploitation films with a self-aware wit.

Following Spectacle’s initial streaming-only retrospective in 2020, Motern Mania has spread across North America, the tumor-like growth of their fame only increasing in its rapidity since last year’s retrospective. Farley and Roxburgh’s films have played to appreciative crowds at venues of increasingly legitimacy, including 2024’s TIFF precursor event Midnight Dankness. With the streaming release of their latest film, EVIL PUDDLE, now imminent, we’re delight to welcome them back to Spectacle with a new selection of old and new films, once again programmed in collaboration with Brianna Zigler.

Thanks to Peter Kuplowsky.

---

EVIL PUDDLE
Dir. Charlie Roxburgh, 2025.
United States. 95 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 – MIDNIGHT

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 5PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 7:30 PM, Q&A with Matt Farley & Charlie Roxburgh, moderated by Brianna Zigler. This event is $10.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22 – 7:30PM

Q&A TICKETS

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS

If you’re not counting one of the handful of alternate cuts for Heard She Got Murdered, Motern’s new release Evil Puddle marks Farley and Roxburgh’s triumphant return to color, for the first time since 2016’s Slingshot Cops. That stylistic choice is in-keeping with the film’s tone, a family-friendly homage of low-budget disaster films like Ants! and Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo.

After a town’s water supply becomes tainted with evil water from an alternate dimension, it’s up to William Van Rhyn (Matt Farley) to keep his community safe while figuring out how to stop encroaching evil puddles from freezing his fellow citizens where they stand. Features an eclectic ensemble cast including a star-marking appearance by Motern Mania co-programmer Brianna Zigler!!!

---

FREAKY FARLEY
Dir. Charlie Roxburgh, 2007.
United States. 83 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 – 7:30PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 10 PM, Q&A with Matt Farley & Charlie Roxburgh, moderated by filmmaker Adrian Anderson. This event is $10.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 7:30PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 – 5PM

Q&A TICKETS

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS

Farley Wilder (Matt Farley) is an adrift young man, spending his days as a voyeur peeping in the windows of cavorting women. When he’s not living up to his reputation as the town weirdo, he’s disappointing his overbearing father. Though his father just wishes his aimless son (now “too old for college”) would finally get a job, Farley quietly brews with resentment until one day, it unleashes in a bloody wrath! Sent away for his crimes, who will save Farley’s small New Hampshire town when its woods become overrun by beasts known as Trogs?

A tribute to one of Farley and Roxburgh’s all-time favorite B-movies, Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, this early-career outing is also the Motern duo’s first and only foray into 16mm filmmaking. The muted colors and homey, old-fashioned quality to the film grain gives this autumnal-set horror film the perfect Halloween vibe.

---

METAL DETECTOR MANIAC
Dir. Charlie Roxburgh, 2021.
United States. 108 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3 – 5PM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 – Midnight, introduced by Matt Farley & Charlie Roxburgh. This event is $10.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 10PM

Q&A TICKETS

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS

The Motern version of a noir sees Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo playing versions of themselves as music professors and amateur musicians who become citizen sleuths in the face of an unknowable menace: a weird guy with a metal detector. As the pair delves deeper into the dark past of their “Metal Detector Maniac” during sabbatical, they find him a surprising source of inspiration for their forthcoming album.

As ever, Metal Detector Maniac is a hilarious treatise on artistic hangups and the struggle for creativity. At the same time, it plays out like something akin to Matt Farley’s Blue Velvet, as Tom and Matt uncover the rot hidden at the heart of their otherwise “sleepy bedroom community.”

THE WORLD DROPS DEAD
dir. Brandon Colvin, 2025
United States, 70 min
In English

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – 7:30 w Q&A moderated by Joanna Arnow
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH – 7:30PM w Q&A moderated by Brandon Streussnig
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH – 5PM w Q&A moderated by Mark Asch
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST – 5PM
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH – 10PM

Q&A TICKETS

REGULAR TICKETS

Claire struggles to cope as the shock of her father’s passing ripples through her small Quaker community. Beset by visions and desperate to reunite with the only person who seemed to understand her, Claire reaches out to her father across the boundary of death.

to be followed by a screening of

WHEN THE MOON RETURNS
dir. Brandon Colvin, 2025
United States, 15 min
In English

Young Deirdre and her clan of druids eke out an itinerant existence in the forest. When the threat of Christianizing forces grows more imminent, a holy sacrifice is made that changes Deirdre’s life forever.

Writer/director Brandon Colvin (A Dim Valley) returns with another daringly poetic microbudget salvo from the American south. With The World Drops Dead and the accompanying animated short, When the Moon Returns, the director has created a cryptic cinematic diptych that fearlessly explores a trinity of interrelated concerns—love, faith, and death.

Part What Dreams May Come, part folk horror, part Clive Barker, part Takeshi Miike, Colvin’s pair of elegant new works represent the most exciting possibilities for contemporary independent film. Minimal yet thematically and visually ambitious, these idiosyncratic and emotionally raw films interrogate the darker sides of the human mind and heart without blinking and without suggesting easy answers. Elevated by Colvin and collaborator Aaron Whitt’s hypnotic score, and given thorny psychological depth by the dense, shadowy foliage of its wooded setting, The World Drops Dead is a film rich with sensorial delights.

When the Moon Returns supplements the feature with its own expressive and implicit mythic connections, turning pagan ritual into hallucinatory psychedelia. It’s a heady and satisfying pair of films that revel in their own esoteric complexities as works of intimate fantasy, love, and grief only possible outside of the mainstream.

For centuries, humanity has turned to the sky for answers; facing the clouds, begging for mercy, salvation, an answer. Let’s try it together! Wherever you are, look up at the sky. What do you see? A bird? A plane? A drone? A security camera? Or something else?

For truthseekers, the knowledge you crave is all around – if you know how to ask the right questions, that is. This September at Spectacle, we hope to provide a roadmap when it comes to all things Extraterrestrial. A Beginner’s Guide to asking the right questions: Will I find love? Will I find fear? Am I being manipulated? Can you really cut a chicken with a laser?

Only you can answer these questions for yourself. But Spectacle is here to help. Trust us 😉

A STRANGE HARVEST
Dir. Linda Moulton Howe. 1980.
United States. 58 min.
In English.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 – 5 PM [BUY TICKETS]
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – 7:30 PM [BUY TICKETS]
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]

Produced in 1980 by Emmy-winning environmental documentarian and former Miss Idaho Linda Moulton Howe, A STRANGE HARVEST examines multiple disturbing and unexplained incidents of cattle mutilation and their potential causes. This and future investigations into the phenomenon would change Linda’s life forever, starting her down the path towards disclosure advocacy and cementing her as one of the foremost voices in the world of UFOlogy.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES DEPICTED!

MIRAGE MEN
Dir. John Lundberg. 2013.
United Kingdom. 85 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 – 7:30 PM [BUY TICKETS]
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 – MIDNIGHT [BUY TICKETS]

MIRAGE MEN follows the case of Paul Bennewitz, an engineer and UFO researcher driven to madness by U.S. Airforce Intelligence Operative, Disinfo Agent, and possible Lizard Person Richard Doty and the swirly, murky machinations of United States Deep Intelligence. MIRAGE MEN is a must-see for all true believers and anyone holding even a small window into our alternate reality. “Question Everything” means exactly that: Believe Nothing. You are not immune to propaganda and manipulation. Nothing around you is what it seems. Nothing.

LOVE & SAUCERS
Dir. Brad Abrahams. 2017.
Canada/United States. 67 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 – 7:30 PM [BUY TICKETS]
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 – 7:30 PM w/ Q&A (This event is $10) [BUY TICKETS]

For as long as he can remember, completely sane New Jersey based artist David Huggins has been visited by beings from another world. However, these Close Encounters really emphasize the closeness; David is being used as a human stud in an off-world breeding program with his alien wife Crescent, with whom he has sired at least 50 alien-human hybrids. As any good artist would, David has chosen to document his experiences through the power of the paintbrush. LOVE & SAUCERS offers a strangely breathtaking peek into Huggin’s out of this world lifestyle to anyone who chooses to believe.

Join us at Spectacle for a Q&A with director Brad Abrahams on September 30 at 7:30 PM!

THE ALIEN REPORT
Dir. Patrick Donnelly. 2022.
United States. 81 min.
In English.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 – MIDNIGHT [BUY TICKETS]
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – 10 PM [BUY TICKETS]
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 – 7:30 PM [BUY TICKETS]

A man tormented by a lifetime of alien abductions discovers an ingenious way to document and share his encounters. The result is THE ALIEN REPORT, one of the most acclaimed and mind-meltingly terrifying found footage films of the decade.

WARNING: STROBES AND FLASHING LIGHTS!

---

---