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WELCOME
TO RETROFANTASMA!
A monthly film series of double-features dedicated to bringing
classic horror movies back to the big screen in 35mm! Created
in 1998, RETROFANTASMA has developed a large dedicated audience
of horror movie enthusiasts whose desire to see their favorite
terror flicks is matched only by their willingness to cheer at
the screen.
From John Carpenter to Dario Argento to Lucio Fulci, this diverse
film series offers it's audience a joyful jolt of terror and nostalgia.
You'll likely find yourself screaming and applauding in the same
breath. Before long, you'll be joining the thousands of people
who have whispered in the dark to their friends, "Did you
ever see the one where....?" Much like the infamous midnight
screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The RETROFANTASMA
Film Series is pure devilish fun for anyone who loves the mysterious.
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Walter Hill’s THE WARRIORS
(US, R, 1979, 93 min.)
Friday, May 24th
7:00 p.m.
A battle of gigantic proportions is looming in the neon underground
of New York City. The armies of the night number 100,000.
They outnumber the police five-to-one. And tonight they're
after the Warriors---a street gang blamed unfairly for a rival gang
leader's death.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON
ELM STREET
(US, R, 1984, 91 min.)
Friday, May 24th
Begins 15 minutes after the end of The Warriors
And here he is, phantom fiend Freddy Krueger in all his razor-fingered
infamy. Wes Craven (Scream) directs this trendsetting first in the
slasher-hit series. The premise is simple: Freddy (Robert Englund)
homicidally haunts the sleep of Elm Street teens. The results are
terrifying and mind-blowingly innovative.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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What
Jim says…
It's been more than a decade since we last screened A Nightmare
on Elm Street. The reason I've waited so long has nothing
to do with Freddy Krueger or his reputation as one of
the greatest horror villains of all time. In fact, those are
the downsides. The problem with Elm Street is that everyone
is so familiar with the story (and all those sequels plus the remake)
that it's hard to judge whether anyone's much interested in
seeing it on the big screen again. To pull in an
audience, you've got to program something entirely different
to double bill against Elm Street, and not just more of the bloody
same. That's why Hellraiser or They Live aren't gonna
cut it here. For a time, I considered Michael Mann's Manhunter. When somebody
suggested The Warriors for an altogether different series,
I instinctively knew I was onto something. Here's a popular and
often-requested thriller with similar dark themes but without
the stigmatic familiarity of the first. By pairing The
Warriors with Elm Street, I've (hopefully) broadened the audience
appeal without compromising either film's intensity.
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Clint Eastwood's HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER
(US, R, 1973, 105 min.)
Friday, June 7th
7:00 p.m.
Clint Eastwood’s second directorial effort is a revenge tale
with supernatural echoes. “Damn you to hell,” curses a
town marshal as he’s lashed to death by grinning killers. Along
comes Eastwood, another man with no name, but this stranger is no wandering
gunman but quite possibly an Old Testament Angel of Vengeance
summoned by the dying man.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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Delmer Daves’ 3:10 TO YUMA
(US, NR, 1957, 92 min.)
Friday, June 7th
Begins 15 minutes after the end of High Plains Drifter
Adapted from an Elmore Leonard story, this tense Western thriller
is boiled down to its essential elements: a charming and cunning
criminal, an initially reluctant hero whose courage and resolution
hardens along the way, and a waiting game that pits them in a battle
of wills and wits. Glenn portrays a ruthless killer with polite
manners and an honorable streak.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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What
Jim says…
If there was ever a double feature at Retrofantasma Classics that
made me want to light a celebratory cigar after programming it,
this is the one. It's a measure of how far this series has
evolved that we started with 50s creepy creatures and a few Vincent
Price flicks and now find ourselves with this: the first all-Western
double feature to screen at Retrofantasma. It's also a testament
to the ever-broadening tastes of Retro audiences that we find ourselves
here at all. I dunno, perhaps I'm being over-analytical.
Replace the guns with butcher knives and you've essentially still
got a bunch of guys trying to kill each other, except on horseback.
Come to think about it, a lot of Westerns share the same characteristics
of horror movies: good versus evil, revenge, and that final showdown.
Originally, I'd programmed Eastwood's Play Misty For Me with High
Plains Drifter. It seemed like a good idea, but when I learned
that Sony Pictures had struck an all-new print of Yuma, I instinctively
knew a better double feature was in the making.
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Tobe Hooper’s POLTERGEIST
(US, PG, 1982, 114 min.)
Friday, June 21st
7:00 p.m.
Steven Spielberg co-wrote Poltergeist, which taps into primal, childlike
fears of monsters under the bed, sinister clown faces, and all manner
of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings
in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow creepier
until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza
when 5-year-old Carole Anne is kidnapped and held hostage in another
dimension.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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THE BOOGENS
(US, R, 1981, 96 min.)
Friday, June 21st
Begins 15 minutes after the end of Poltergeist
In a small town near Denver, two young men explore a long-abandoned
mine. When one the men is discovered missing, his friends begin
a search that leads them to horrifying consequences. They're all
unaware of the evil that's been unleashed and soon, one by one,
a monster that no one has seen snatches up the townspeople.
• Link
to movie trailer
• Link
to IMDb listing
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What
Jim says…
Are you a horror film geek like me? If you glanced at this
double feature and a soul-rattling sensation didn't rip through
your body, then you're probably not. You've never heard of
The Boogens and are likely here to watch the latest Judi
Dench/Mira Sorvino mash-up, and that's fine. (Really. Enjoy
your movie.) The reaction of a true horror film geek, however,
goes something like this: "Oh look, they're showing Poltergeist.
I've always liked that movie but I've probably seen it on TV a thous---OH
MY GOD! AM I HALLUCINATING!? THEY'RE SHOWING THE BOOGENS!
What's the date? Oh no, that's my grandmother's 82nd birthday.
Well, I'm just gonna hafta go on Craigslist and send that old
girl some flowers! THE BOOGENS, BABY!" It is a well-known
fact that true horror film geeks cannot actually read The
Boogens without immediately saying it three times in their
heads. This has been proven by scientists. Boogens,
boogens, boogens. I think it's because we're all still
secretly children and the word sounds a lot like boogers.
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