Staff Picks
After a summer that hung around well past curfew, we’re finally in the spooky season — and local indie moviehouses have no shortage of scary movies to enliven these quickly darkening nights. Here’s a sample of what’s on offer around town. Boo!
The Beacon
If you’ve seen the Japanese horror classic “Ring” (way scarier than the American remake), you remember how the idea of a haunted VHS tape somehow seemed terrifying. The Beacon screens it Oct. 10, as a double feature with another J-horror classic, “Ju-On: The Grudge.” For vampire connoisseurs, Nicolas Cage chews the scenery (and, the story goes, actual cockroaches) in “Vampire’s Kiss” (Oct. 18, 22, 23) and Bill Paxton plays a rockabilly vamp in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark” (Oct. 24, 25, 28). Robert Wise’s 1963 horror classic “The Haunting,” based on Shirley Jackson’s Gothic ghost story “The Haunting of Hill House,” screens Oct. 26-27, and a group of 12-year-olds must save their town from a gaggle of monsters led by Count Dracula in the 1980s cult favorite “The Monster Squad,” screening Oct. 26 and 30.
4405 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle; 206-420-7328, thebeacon.film
Central Cinema
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the friendly Central District food-and-drink theater has plenty of scary fare for the month. “Beetlejuice” scuttles in Oct. 3-8, in a double feature with the 1996 truck-stop-vampire flick “From Dusk till Dawn,” featuring an early starring role for George Clooney. More vampires arrive the following week: The 1931 horror classic “Dracula,” starring Bela Lugosi, runs with “The Lost Boys” Oct. 10-14. “Poltergeist” shares the screen with the very strange Japanese horror movie “House,” Oct. 17-21.
1411 21st Ave., Seattle; 206-328-3230, central-cinema.com
Grand Illusion Cinema
The Grand Illusion is still looking for a permanent home in the University District, but that won’t stop this longtime nonprofit from presenting its annual All Monsters Attack! series, an October tradition for nearly 20 years. Among the offerings: “Frankenhooker” (celebrating its 35th anniversary, and yes, it’s about exactly what you think it is) on Oct. 2; the classic 1955 French thriller “Diabolique” on Oct. 6; David Cronenberg’s “Videodrome: Director’s Cut” on Oct. 8; James Whale’s “Bride of Frankenstein” (celebrating its 90th birthday!) on Oct. 14; “Ghost Almanac,” a collection of classic horror clips with live soundtrack on Oct. 12; and Park Chan-wook’s “Lady Vengeance,” the final film in the director’s “Vengeance Trilogy,” screening in 35mm on Oct. 19 and 20. Locations include Northwest Film Forum, Here-After (a 21-and-older venue), SIFF Film Center and Central Cinema.
Multiple locations in Seattle; see grandillusioncinema.org for details
SIFF
“Scarecrowber,” presented with Scarecrow Video, is a series of five 1960s-’70s horror films from around the world, chosen and introduced by Scarecrow staffers. Among the selections: “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” from the U.K., about a doctor bent on revenge (Oct. 7); “Tombs of the Blind Dead,” from Spain (Oct. 9); the Federico Fellini adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe tale, “Toby Dammit” (Oct. 14); the Japanese extraterrestrial adventure “Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell” (Oct. 23); and, from the Czech Republic, “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders” (Oct. 28). All screen at SIFF Cinema Uptown, and half the ticket price goes to support Scarecrow Video.
The Blaxploitation classic “Blacula” swoops onto SIFF screens Oct. 9, and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” in a special event featuring live pole dancing, burlesque and drag, plays Oct. 25, 26 and 31; all at SIFF Film Center. (Fans of “Rocky Horror” should note that the film will have a special 50th anniversary screening at the Paramount on Oct. 28, with star Barry Bostwick in attendance; see stgpresents.org for more information.) And the Uptown celebrates the holiday with “Collide-O-Scope Halloween,” a collection of found footage and oddball video, complete with prize drawings — only on Oct. 31. Trick or treat!
SIFF Film Center, Seattle Center campus, Seattle; SIFF Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle; 206-464-5830, siff.net
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