October 27th-31st
Somerville! I am back to shock an thrill you with my third Halloween Hullabaloo – it’s Triple Terror Time! I have so much fun every year watching these movies with you, and I am so looking forward to it this year! While I definitely want already established lovers of these films to attend my series, my goal for the season is for many first timers will be able to experience these films on the big screen with an audience, listening to the noises of joyous disgust at the gory bits, the way they were meant to be seen for the very first time! Envious! Come one, come all, for a shock around the clock scarefest that’ll keep ya’ comin’ back for morgue!
– Julia Marchese, series programmer
Hardcore Horror
I’m starting off hardcore with a two of the hardest horror movies there are, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (1987) & William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973). Watching these films in a theater is always a joy and the hyped up pre-Halloween crowd is going to rock some socks! These are two shocking, creative, groundbreaking horror films that need to always be revered for the place in horror history that they hold! I’ve got such sights to show you!
Demonic Haunts Times Three
A triple bill of incredibly scary movies involving hauntings? Yes please! We start off with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead (1981), one of the most indie indie films ever made, with more shemps and innovative camera work than you can shake a (possessed) stick at! Ever so much fun, oh so gory too.
That’s followed up with Mike Flanagan’s brilliant film Oculus (2013)! If you didn’t think you could be scared by a haunted mirror, think again! Mind blowing & time jumping, with incredible visuals, killer gore & scares and such a badass, smart, organized female lead!
From that gloriousness we dive right back into the hauntings with Tobe Hooper’s incendiary Poltergeist (1982). This one takes terror and brings it into suburbia in this legendary film, with great performances, stupendous FX, scares a plenty – and its only rated PG!
Lesbian Vampire Delights
My podcast Horror Movie Survival Guide has done two rounds of lesbian vampire films, and in doing so, we dove down a rabbit hole that we are yet to find the bottom of! The thing with this sub-sub genre is that the majority of them are 60’s/70’s stunning arthouse gems, awash in lush surroundings and glamorous lady vampires that I would be the Renfield for in a hot minute.
Harry Kumel’s Daughters of Darkness (1971) features the luminous Delphine Seyrig as the Countess, who is looking for a new servant, lures us into her web in this must-see foreign art house film.
Roger Vadim’s criminally under seen Blood & Roses (1960) is a film adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla, an icily perfect vampire doomed to roam the earth eternally, finding new partners as she goes. These are fantastic movies, truly hope you will come fall under their spell.
Werewolves A Go Go
No werewolf movies did the genre better than John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Joe Dante’s The Howling (1981). Come for the transformations, which are worth the price of admission alone!
These films are masterfully directed, fabulously tongue in cheek, and brought forth a slew of werewolf films in the 1980’s. From these two directors, you know the films are going to be a rollicking good time!
Psychological Sweets to the Sweet
Come join for Halloween night and get slashed with fun! Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic Psycho (1960) followed by Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)! Hoping to bring these films to new audiences and bring them into the art of horror filmmaking with these two! Anthony Perkin’s Norman Bates is the villain of film legend and Brooke Shields as you have never seen her before!
Wear your costumes and come party down with us!
Julia Marchese is an actor, filmmaker and film programmer. She is the co-host of the popular weekly podcast Horror Movie Survival Guide, and is a life long hardcore horror hound. Halloween is her favorite holiday – her best costumes include: Donnie Darko, Mari from Last House on the Left, Jason Voorhees and Scumby. Favorite Halloween candy: any fun sized chocolate bar, mellocreme pumpkins. Least Favorite Halloween candy: rando hard candy discs, abba zabbas, smarties. This is the third Halloween Hullabaloo that Julia has programmed for the Somerville Theatre.