BAD TRIPS
Sometimes it's better to just stay home.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES 1977
New 4K restoration! From the mind of Wes Craven, THE HILLS HAVE EYES stands alongside the likes of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD as one of the defining moments in American indie horror.
Taking a detour whilst en route to L.A., the Carter family (featuring Dee Wallace of E.T. and THE HOWLING) is in deep shit when their camper van breaks down in the middle of the desert -- and they find themselves at the mercy of monstrous cannibals lurking in the hills. With their lives under threat, the Carters are forced to fight back by any means necessary.
Horror master Craven achieved critical and commercial success with the likes of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SCREAM -- but for many genre fans, the director’s seminal ‘77 effort remains his masterpiece.
Friday, July 2
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Martin Speer
Runtime: 90 min., USA
Language: English
IMAGES 1972
Wealthy housewife and children’s author Cathryn (Susannah York) receives a series of disturbing and eerie phone calls in her home in London one dreary night. The female voice on the other end suggests mockingly to her that her husband Hugh (René Auberjonois) is having an affair. Cathryn’s husband comes home, finding her in complete disarray. Hugh attempts to comfort her, but then he is gone, and she sees a different man who is behaving as if he were her husband. She screams in horror and backs away, only to see her vision of the figure revert to her husband.
Hugh attributes her outburst to stress and her budding pregnancy. He decides to take a vacation to the countryside at an isolated cottage. But as she dwells there, Cathryn delves into darker delusions as the stranger returns, and she finds it difficult to determine what is reality and what is in her mind. (American Cinematheque)
Friday, July 10
Sunday, July 12
Director: Robert Altman
Starring: Susannah York, René Auberjonois,
Marcel Bozzuffi
Runtime: 101 min., UK
Language: English
BUTTER ON THE LATCH 2013
Sarah and Isolde share an interest in the traditional music and dance of the Balkans, but it turns out that shared interests don’t always unite them. Their trip, initially a fun bonding experience, takes a southward turn when Sarah becomes interested in handsome fellow camper Steph. A seemingly innocent romantic overture touches off an abrupt shift in the dynamic between the two girlfriends, steering a previously ecstatic camp outing down a psychological rabbit hole.
Friday, July 17
Director: Josephine Decker
Starring: Isolde Chae-Lawrence, Sarah Small, Charlie Hewson
Runtime: 72 min., USA
Language: English
LITAN 1982
Worried by a disturbing dream, Nora wakes to find her husband missing during a trip to Litan. She goes out to find him but encounters one bizarre event after another taking place at the village festival, including uncanny acts and a masked marching band. As Nora and Jock attempt to escape the village, a series of strange murders take place against the backdrop of a mad doctor performing experiments on the recently deceased. Jean-Pierre Mocky’s Litan is a classic cult Euro-horror and a Kafkaesque fever dream of surrealist imagery, arrestingly shot by Edmond Richard (The Trial, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie). (Radiance Films)
Sunday, July 19
Director: Jean-Pierre Mocky
Starring: Marie-José Nat, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Nino Ferrer
Runtime: 88 min., France
Language: French w/ English subtitles
TOURIST TRAP 1979
The roads of America hold many dangers. These include -- but are not limited to -- talking mannequins, telekinetic fiends, and acid-tinged facials. In other words, welcome to TOURIST TRAP! The mysterious Mr. Slausen (Chuck Conners) owns a dilapidated roadside attraction in the woods. When a carload of road-tripping party people arrive on his doorstep, Slausen introduces them to a whole new grade of nightmare fuel. Produced by Charles Band (RE-ANIMATOR, GHOULIES) and featuring production design by Robert Burns (THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE), TOURIST TRAP is an elegant, nerve-shredding slasher that set the gold standard for thousands of car-broke-down-in-a-maniac’s-front-yard movies. (Alamo Drafthouse)
Friday, July 24
Director: David Schmoeller
Starring: Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Joe Van Ness
Runtime: 89 min., USA
Language: English
THE DESCENT 2005
Just when you thought it was safe to go cave spelunking, you hit THE DESCENT! After a tragic car accident, emotionally wounded Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) joins five friends on a cave expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. But questionable decisions leave the group trapped underground and alone...except for the subhumanoid slime monsters that want to eat them for dinner.
THE DESCENT feels like what would happen if Stanley Kubrick directed THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in a cave with an amazing ensemble cast of women. Writer-director Neil Marshall (DOG SOLDIERS) delivers high tension and goopy violence over a foundation of empathy, friendship, and survival – and that’s what makes this movie an essential benchmark of 21st-century horror. (Alamo Drafthouse)
Friday, July 31
Saturday, August 1
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid
Runtime: 100 min., UK
Language: English