SHRIEK SHOW XI

SHRIEK SHOW XI

WELCOME BACK to the official return of the IN PERSON SHRIEK SHOW MARATHON!

After a brief hiatus last year (and a remote-stream marathon in 2020 for the Spec-Twitch-Heads), we are ready to melt faces for 12+ straight hours in person again.

Mystery meat all day and night long, starting at NOON and ending when your brain leaks out your ears and/or after the midnight movie.

Those brave enough to stay for all features can expect a satisfying arc / certain ‘rhyming’ elements from one movie to the next, so stick around if you can!

Hints + rough showtimes below, expect random shorts + trailers + goodies between screenings. BYOScreams.

GET YOUR TICKETS!

10/22 – NOON TO 1:30AM
$5/MOVIE OR $25 FOR DAY-PASS

NOON –
XXX XXXX XXXX XX XXXXX
dir ??????? ??????????, 196X
Italy, 90 min
English dub

We kick off our day of screams with a heady dose of gothic witchcraft goodness with this underseen black and white mid-60’s classic, starring one of Italy’s greatest scream queens.

2PM
XXX XXXXX XX XXXXXXXXXX
dir XXXXXXX XXXXX, 198X
Italy, 86 min
English dub

One of dozens of made-for-TV schlock gems by one of Italy’s most prolific horror directors – fans of our MADE FOR ITALIAN TV series from a few years ago (or any of the GHOST HOUSE / LA CASA series), take note!

4PM
XXXXX
dir. XXXXXX XXX, 197X
Japan, 103 min
In Japanese with English subtitles

Up next as an afternoon aperitif, the most ‘serious’ film of the day – a surprisingly moody folk horror eco-freakout from Japan, focusing on a town about to be exploited for its natural resources and a vengeful spirit. Still has a generous helping of sleaze though, don’t worry!

6PM
XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Dir. XXXX XXXXXX, 199X
USA, 71 min
In English

Enough with the polished, ‘classy’ sleaze – time for home brew SOV premium grade trash!

Teens helping one of their uncle’s clean out a barn on haunted Native American land, cursed during the Trail of Tears, accidentally unleash an ancient demonic force.

Jokes aside, this no budget Missouri-shot Evil Dead labor of love is better than it has any right to be, packing an impressive amount of gore and inventive camera techniques – not to mention flat exposition in thick Missouri accents (and fashions) into 70 minutes.

8PM
XXXXXX XXXXXX
dir. XXXXX XXXXX, 198X
Mexico, 83 min
In Spanish with English subtitle

It’s about 8pm, and its time for the tough stuff. This recently remastered Spanish horror flick feels like a direct mix of RABID DOGS and TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD as it follows a group of young degenerates on a crime spree, who eventually stumble onto the myth of a vast fortune buried in catacombs beneath abandoned ruins in the countryside (and also, maybe, a satanic curse?!).

This one will keep you off balance til the end, a real underseen gem of a facemelter.

10PM
XXXXX XXXXXXXX
dir. XXX XXXXXX, 198X
USA, 74 min
In English

Up next, a psychotic brew of every type of horror flick imaginable from one of the greats of homebrew horror (hint: shot in Maryland…)

A Vietnam vet on a killing spree links up with a group of criminals, also on a bit of a spree – their flight to the countryside brings them to the home of a family who isn’t what they seem…

The less said about this one the better, but it’s grimey in all the ways you could hope for and over before you know it.

MIDNIGHT
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dir. XXXXX XXXXXX, 199X
Canada, 82 min
In English

As your sanity slowly slips away, the casio tones of our final SOV feature of the night wash over you, and you think, ‘yeah, this is it, this is the best movies have ever been’

Two cops investigating a suicide find a tape cassete recounting a group of teens’ strange night at a farm. Shot in Canada (and for some reason, recently re-released with ‘revamped’ atrocious CGI FX (which we will NOT be showing)), this is the hidden Halloween garbage classic you didn’t know you needed.

Not the goriest of the night, but maybe the most unhinged in its own way, and a truly special sign off for this year’s Shriek Show.

SCARY TOWN: The Scary Films of Simple Town & the Inspiring Films that Scared Us

This October, Simple Town screens their most frightening work, as well as a few horror shorts that have inspired them. This special event will feature a live performance by Simple Town.

OCTOBER 6TH, 8PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

SCARY HOUSE
dir. Simple Town, 2020
3 mins

When one of our members, Sam, lost his Dad, he had to go and clear out the home that he grew up in. Weeks later, he brought us back to make “Scary House,” a slapstick short improvised in his Dad’s empty house.

Her Son Can’t Stop Growing
dir. Life of Luxury, 2021
21 min, USA

Life of Luxury is a YouTube collaboration that makes short films that are somewhere between Paranormal Activity and the MTV show Catfish. They play on trendy internet fears with big eye-catching thumbnails, and the videos themselves are both freaky and really funny.

SCARY CAR
dir. Simple Town, 2022
14 mins, USA

Four teens nearing their 30’s go into the woods to summon a being from another world. Things take a turn when one of them comes back changed. Selected for “Short of the Week.”

Rachel
dir. Andrew DeYoung, 2019
11 min, USA

This is truly the best comedy short if you haven’t seen it. John Early and Kate Berlant recreate an actual bizarre intruder event at a friend’s house. Andrew DeYoung directs the thing masterfully. The final shot is all-time.

AIRBNB (Premier)
dir. Simple Town & Andrew DeYoung, 2022
10 mins

Made in collaboration with Andrew DeYoung (director of “Rachel”), our latest short finds Simple Town checking into an AirBnb and discovering security cameras hidden around the house. Sam does not want his friends to find the camera in his room. Because he did something in there, and he doesn’t want them to see…

Simple Town is a Brooklyn-based comedy group that does film and live performance. Their work has appeared on Adult Swim, Comedy Central, and Short of the Week. Simple Town is Ian Faria, Caroline Yost, Sam Lanier, Felipe Di Poi & Will Niedmann. Ian directs; Felipe, Caro, Sam and Will perform.

FACES OF JAIL & JAIL FOR KIDS

Back again for “Spectober,” Worse Than Jail Presents: Jail for Kids & Faces of Jail.

Faces of Jail & Jail for Kids is a bold, horror-centric back-to-back program about nightmares and bad kids by Matt Minter, aka Worse Than Jail. His films collage and merge a depraved mix of obscure, lost and forgotten video clips ranging from nightmares and children’s entertainment for disaffected youth to the world of alcoholic clowns, public access Star Trek parodies, and DIY tributes to The Muppet Show.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 – MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 – MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24 – 10PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Faces of Jail
dir. Matt Minter (aka Worse than Jail), 2022
45 min, USA
Faces of Jail focuses on the nightmarish aspect of horror masks and what lies beneath them. Strangely grotesque and mysterious, Minter presents a mix of faces, masks, visages, and expressions in which the audience can see how masks in horror films take on different forms— from being abstract to strictly frightening.

Jail for Kids
dir. Matt Minter (aka Worse than Jail), 2022
45 min, USA

This film takes the audience on a journey through deranged children’s entertainment found via public access TV and obscure, lost and forgotten films. Today we like to think of the Teletubbies or Barney as a “creepy kids show” with subtle symbols and messages secretly meant to corrupt children, but Minter dives deeper and earlier than these shows to weave a mix of surprising content that’s too strange to be real.

Worse Than Jail is the internet alias of Kentucky-based artist Matt Minter. Minter is most notable for his horror-centric B&W illustrations, as well video work and association with the noise-rock group Wretched Worst. Worse Than Jail Video is a series amassing the filmic inspirations for Minter’s work. Expanding on Minter’s curatorial contributions to Los Angeles’ Cathode Cinema, the series will check off a list of exceptionally psychotronic obscurities.

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS
Alex Phillips, 2022
72 mins, USA.
English


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 10 PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31 – 7:30 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Two strangers bond over eating addictive, hallucinogenic worms leading them on a psychotic bender full of murder and perversity through the back alleys of Chicago.

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS is a wildly dark, perversely funny, and shockingly sincere head trip through the seedy underbelly and industrial outskirts of Chicago.

Shot in sporadic chunks throughout the pandemic, WORMS is a rare labor of love that refuses to be pinned down or easily categorized – though if comparisons must be made, we’d say it falls somewhere between John Waters, John Cassavettes, and an actual cess-pool.

Ahead of its streaming debut in November and fresh off packed screenings at Fantasia + Fantastic Fests, Spectacle is proud to present this singularly perverse and delirious midnight flick that really does deserve to be seen with a squirming audience. Not for the faint of heart!

ANNA BILLER’S SHORT FILM COLLECTION

ANNA BILLER’S SHORT FILM COLLECTION
Anna Biller, 1994-2001
107 mins, USA.
English


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04 – 10:00 PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 08 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 10:00 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

From the acclaimed director of THE LOVE WITCH, Anna Biller, Spectacle presents
“ANNA BILLER’S SHORT FILM COLLECTION.” From sex demons and night terrors to children’s fairy tales and feminist deconstruction, Anna Biller’s short films are dissonant and hallucinogenic. Our theater will present a special artist talk (remote) with Biller to discuss her creative processes following the premier of this program on October 8th.

This short film collection will feature the following works by Biller:

Three Examples of Myself as Queen
26 minutes
In this film, it is programmed as a “trilogy” of thematic segments, each dealing with a different aspect of the Biller’s enigmatic and intriguing personality.

The Hypnotist
45 minutes
In this film a hypnotist attempts to come between a feuding family and their inheritance using dastardly ways.

A Visit from the Incubus
26 minutes
In this western themed film, Incubus, a sexual demon that visits women at night, torments a young woman. Biller seamlessly weaves cinematic elements from old films such as Johnny Guitar, Rancho Notorious and Billy the Kid.

Fairy Ballet
11 minutes
In this film, Biller adapts Madame d’Aulnoy’s fairy tale “The White Cat” with an emphasis on the story’s symbolism.

COCKAZOID

COCKAZOID
dir. Nick Verdi, 2021
USA, 85 min
In English


SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2 – 5PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 10PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 7:30PM WITH Q&A *this event is $10
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19 – 10PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Andrew, a delusional loner who wants to kill all white men in Massachusetts, returns to his hometown in the wake of family tragedy and goes on a murderous rampage.

“…a gripping, hard-hitting psychothriller with the grimy, realistic edge of John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” – CinemaSpection

“It plays like a horrific dream during which you’re just following this one person the entire time and you don’t want to keep learning these terrible things about them, but you can’t wake up. Lead actor Jimmy Laine, who plays that brooding and delusional loner named Andrew, was the glue that made the concept stick. His performance is heightened and effective, bringing you along with him on this spiral. It’s hard to take your eyes off him. If you’re looking for an underseen (and bizarre) gem from 2021, this is it.” – Lex Briscuto, Dread Central

“No redeeming qualities to this one IMO. A large portion of the movie is the lead making anguished faces while nothing happens. Felt like it had nowhere to go and nothing to say along the way.” – Adam Vass, Letterboxd user

I CAN SEE YOU

I CAN SEE YOU
dir. Graham Reznick, 2008
United States. 97 mins.
In English


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 – MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 5PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

When three languishing ad-marketers from Brooklyn venture into the woods to find inspiration to modernize the branding of an old cleaning product (Claractix!), it doesn’t take long for their masked resentment for each other to unravel and for their minds to dissolve with it. This is especially true for the ill-fated wannabe painter Richards (Benjamin Dickinson), who is put on the spot when he reunites with an unrequited crush as his trip unfolds and photos he shoots in the woods keep yielding increasingly surreal after-effects.

Showcasing the psychedelic potential of shooting on DV, I Can See You is a terrifying work of lost-in-the-woods hipster-sploitation that feels like a marriage between Old Joy and Inland Empire: an unforgettable mind fuck of the Recession era.

The film is also an early example of director Graham Reznick’s knack for horror, whose accomplishments would extend into the realm of horror video games with scripts for the beloved Until Dawn (2015) and this year’s The Quarry.

Special thanks to Graham Reznick and Larry Fessenden of Glass Eye Pix.

THE OREGONIAN

THE OREGONIAN
Dir. Calvin Lee Reeder, 2011
USA, 81 min
In English


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 – MIDNIGHT
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 10PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

After a car accident on a lonely stretch of road, a woman finds herself stranded and badly wounded with no memory of her name. A series of strange encounters leads her through the woods and sand, searching desperately for the answers she needs to finally be at peace.

Calvin Lee Reeder’s first feature film The Oregonian could be described as “Purgatorial Noise Horror”. A juxtaposition of breathtaking Pacific folk wilderness against derelict lo-fi nightmares. An aggravating piece of surreality with a gooey black sense of humor. Ojai Manson/Hipster sensory assault, edited to all hell, soaked in sickening reds and otherworldly greens. You may never want to eat an omelette again.

JACK-O

JACK-O
Dir. Steve Latshaw, 1995
USA, 88 min
In English


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 – MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 7:30PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

HE’S BAAACK!

A long long time ago a wizard was put to death, but he swore vengeance on the townsfolk that did him in, particularly Arthur Kelly’s family. Arthur had done the final graces on him when he came back to life as Mr. Jack the Pumpkin Man. The Kellys proliferated through the years, and when some devil-may-care teens accidentally unleash Jack-O, young Sean Kelly must stop him somehow as his suburban world is accosted and the attrition rate climbs

It’s not often you encounter garbage with a heart as golden as JACK-O’s, a mid-90’s straight to DVD slasher that hasn’t gotten the cult following it deserves.
Shot on a shoestring budget on location in Apopka, Florida and produced by legendary B-filmmaker Fred Olen Ray. Also features scream queen Linnea Quigley, and John Carradine’s final (released) performance – filmed in 1985, seven years before his death and a full decade before the film’s listed release date.
Don’t miss this chance to catch your new bargain bin Halloween favorite on the big screen!

WHO’S WATCHING: THE EARLY FILMS OF THE PACIFIC STREET COLLECTIVE

Who’s Watching: The Early Films of the Pacific Street Collective

On Saturday, October 29th, Spectacle and Cine-Móvil will host a tribute to the Pacific Street Collective and their early works of counter-surveillance. This program celebrates the 50th anniversary of RED SQUAD (1972), which will be followed up by the equally audacious SURVEILLANCE: WHO’S WATCHING? (1971).

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29TH – 7:30 PM

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Red Squad
dir. Pacific Street Collective, 1972
45 mins, USA.
In English

“An extraordinary work of investigative journalism.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Made by then-NYU students under the tutelage of Martin Scorsese, RED SQUAD sees the Pacific Street Collective disrupt and annoy extrajudicial police and FBI surveillance units who continually intruded on anti-Vietnam War demonstrations throughout the ‘70s. Their brave efforts to disclose these wanton acts of targeted surveillance by a prejudiced police force was acclaimed by critics, including Amos Vogel who dubbed it “an extraordinary political film.”


Surveillance: Who’s Watching?

dir. Pacific Street Collective, 1971
60 mins, USA.
In English.

SURVEILLANCE: WHO’S WATCHING? can be seen as a direct precursor to RED SQUAD, as young members of the newly formed Pacific Street Collective position themselves as bait during a peaceful demonstration to out members of Chicago PD’s radical squad on television. Despite catching PD knuckleheads Maurice Daly and Truman Stromberg in the act of surveillance, all three members of the Collective were arrested and told to leave Chicago under threat of violence, a testament to their courage as politically-motivated documentarians at an early point in their careers.

Special thanks to Steve Fischler, Joel Sucher and Cine-Móvil.

Cine Móvil is a pop-up cinema collective spreading revolutionary culture across the five boroughs. Founded in the wake of the 2020 uprisings, the collective endeavors to bring together audiences to view and discuss radical cinema. Cine Móvil recognizes the role that culture plays in movements, and aims to uplift the revolutionary consciousness of people, connecting the films they screen with the real material conditions which people and organizations face in the present. Cinema is for the people!