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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.


FRIDAY

JUNE 19

SPIELBERG DOUBLE FEATURE



7:00 p.m.
JAWS
(US, PG, 1975, 124 min.)
Directed by Steven Spielberg

The original summer blockbuster! Admit it, do you really remember seeing this on 35mm on the big screen? Well, here's your chance to watch one of the greatest horror films of all time! Every once in a while the right talented people are at the right place together and come up with a masterpiece. This is one of the best films ever made - period. Nearly everyone in the Western world has seen this film and rightly so, Jaws is a masterpiece of audience manipulation. It's is full of suspense and sheer horror at times. Who hasn't jumped when the head popped out of the hull of the submerged boat? Who didn't cringe when Robert Shaw was bitten in two? Who didn't get scared when the shark popped its head out of the water when Brodie was chumming? We could go on for ages. There are some many great scenes in this movie. You can't beat this nowadays.

Cinema One




AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM
(US, PG, 1984, 118 min.)

The darkest and most violent of all the Indiana Jones films! Blood sacrifices! Beating hearts! Child slavery! This is the one that caused such a stir with parents (along with Gremlins) that the MPAA created the PG-13 rating. It's true that this film gets gory and violent (you get to see a man gets crushed to death under a huge stone crusher) but Raiders of the Lost Ark had people's faces and skulls melting away, not to mention big Germans getting shredded up courtesy of aeroplane propellers. By contrast, Doom, has an even darker and more sinister edge to it. Indiana Jones goes on the hunt for a sacred stone which was stolen from an Indian village. His search leads him to discover an underground Thuggee cult, which has stolen the stone and forced the children of the village in slave labor. It's up to Dr. Jones to retrieve the stone and free the children.

Cinema One









Previously shown at Retrofantasma
 

FRIDAY, SEP 26

Creepers aka Phenomena     



7:30 p.m.
 CREEPERS
(Italy, R, 1985, 82 min.)
Directed by Dario Argento

Jennifer Connelly stars in this U.S. theatrical cut of Dario Argento’s psychic
thriller, Phenomena, as the daughter of an American film star, who arrives in
Switzerland to attend the Richard Wagner School for Girls.  Unfortunately, she
arrives just as a killer starts stalking the girls at the school. She is befriended
by wheelchair-ridden Scottish entomologist John MacGregor (Donald
Pleasance) who discovers that Jennifer has an ability to telepathically
communicate with insects. As she explores her newfound ability, Jennifer
realizes that she can use insects to discover the killer’s identity! 


"Jennifer has a few million close friends.  She's going to need them all."


AND


9:30 p.m.
 DEMONS
(Italy, R, 1986, 88 min.)
Directed by Lamberto Bava

Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava co-wrote this horror film which was a huge
European hit upon release! Set in a refurbished German movie palace, our
hapless soon-to-be victims arrive for a sneak preview of a horror movie and
soon half of the audience have been turned into blood thirsty zombies forcing
the remaining patrons to defend themselves from the unholy beasts!            


 “They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs."




FRIDAY, OCT 10

Get a Clue!     



7:30 p.m.
CLUE
(US, PG, 1985, 94 min.)
Directed byJonathan Lynn

This ain't no game! The popular game comes to life in this mystery-comedy movie with an all-star cast headed by Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Lesley Anne Warren, Christopher Lloyd and Madeline Kahn.  Six people are invited to Hill House for dinner and for a little something else.  Once they arrive, they meet Wadsworth the butler, and soon their host, Mr. Boddy arrives and they all get to know one another. Mr. Boddy gives everyone weapons like a candlestick, rope, lead pipe, wrench, revolver, and knife.  Mr. Boddy switches off the lights and when they come back on, someone has killed Mr. Boddy! Was it Colonel Mustard in the study with a gun?  Miss Scarlet in the billiard room with a rope? Or was it Wadsworth the butler?  Meet all the notorious suspects and discover all their foul play.  You'll love their dastardly doings as the bodies and the laughs pile  up before your eyes.  RETROFANTASMA is proud to screen this special 35mm print which includes all three original endings!


"It's not just a game anymore!"


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
FRIGHT NIGHT
(US, R, 1985, 96 min.)
Directed by Tom Holland

Since its release, this tongue-in-cheek vampire flick has certainly gained a cult audience, and it's mostly thanks to being solidly acted by all, having some pleasingly gooey effects (like the meltdown moment), and the fact it never takes itself seriously.  In fact it's one of the more enjoyably goofy films in a crop of 80s vampire movies that would include Vamp, Near Dark and The Lost Boys.  Young Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) believes that his next door neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire.  When he brings the police around, he's treated with ridicule by everyone including his own girlfriend, Amy. But that same night, Dandridge enters Charlie's room and threatens to kill him unless Charlie promises to keep his mouth shut.  Terrified, Charlie goes to famous horror actor Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell), host of the TV horror show "Fright Night," to try to obtain his help. As Dandridge seduces Charlie's girlfriend Amy over to his side, Charlie tries to convince Vincent to overcome his cowardice and help him destroy Dandridge before Amy is forever lost to him.

 “There are some very good reasons to be afraid...ot the dark."




FRIDAY, NOV 21

10th Anniversary Celebration


 
7:30 p.m.
THE BEYOND
(Italy, NR, 1981, 87 min.)
Directed by Lucio Fulci

The seven dreaded gateways to hell are concealed in seven cursed places...And on the day the gates of hell are opened, the dead will walk the earth!

From legendary Italian horror master Lucio Fulci comes the ultimate classic of supernatural terror.  A remote and cursed hotel, built over one of the seven gateways, becomes a yawning malevolent  abyss that begins devouring both the bodies and the souls of all who enter in a graphic frenzy of gory crucifixions, chunk blowing chain-whippings, eyeball impalements, sulphuric acid meltdowns, flesh-eating tarantulas, throat-shredding demon dogs and ravenous blodthirsty zombies.  The Beyond is a towering achievement in hair-raising, mind-bending cinematic terror!

"Beyond this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell.  No one who sees it lives to describe it.  And you shall live in darkness for all eternity."


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
THE BURNING
(US, R, 1981, 91 min.)
Directed by Tony Maylam

Ten years ago, Retrofantasma was founded with a screening of Friday the 13th Part II. It's fitting that one of the most requested films in Retro history finally makes its debut in our 10th Anniversary Celebration, and kiddies, are you in for a treat! Of all of the post-Friday the 13th slasher films, The Burning is one of the most interesting. The film stars two actors who went on to greater things:  Jason Alexander (in a suppporting role) and Academy Award winner Holly Hunter (in her motion picture debut).  The effects work was done by Tom Savini.  And even more interesting, The Burning is one of the first films produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein!  Shot the year after Sean S. Cunningham's summer camp slasher hit box office gold. The Burning was the Weinstein brothers' entry point into the film business after spending years as rock concert promoters. The film opens with a group of campers playing a trick on their summer camp's despised caretaker, a piggish alcoholic named Cropsy. The trick goes terribly wrong, Cropsy is burned into an unrecognizable monstrosity, and five years later he returns to slaughter a new generation of campers.  Propelled forward by Rick Wakeman's bombastic synthesizer (not surprisingly, it had some trouble with the MPAA ratings system and wound up on the British police's "video nasty" list).

 “It will take you further than fear."




SATURDAY

  DEC 20

Holiday Horrors   



7:00 p.m.

YES, 7 pm REALLY!
THE SHINING
(US, R, 1980, 146 min.)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, The Shining is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time!  Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the secluded mountains of Colorado.  Jack, being a family man, takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights.  During their stay strange things occur when Jack's son Danny sees gruesome images powered by a force called "The Shining."  Along with writer's block and the demons of the hotel haunting him, Jack has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worse.  Altogether now, "Heeeeer's Johnny!"



"He came as the caretaker, but this hotel had its own guardians - who'd been there a  long time."


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
 SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT
(US, NR, 1974, 81 min.)
Directed by Theodore Gershuny

Wilford Butler returns home on Christmas Eve in 1950 after several years in exile and discovers that his house had been turned into a mental institution for the criminally insane.  Upon his return, he dies in a mysterious fire.  The townspeople believe his death was an accident, and the institution is later closed down.  The house is later bequethed to his grandson Jeffrey. A few years pass, and Jeffrey decides to sell his grandfather's house.  As the sale is being finalized, a deranged lunatic escapes from a nearby asylum and tears a path to the mansion, hacking apart any man or beast that gets in the way.  Once alone within the large dark house, the killer begins making creepy phone calls to the city council members.  One by one, the madman lures the townsfolk to their doom inside the mansion.  As the body count rises it becomes clear that all of the victims had a past history with their slayer.       


 “The mansion ... the madness ... the maniac ... no escape."




FRIDAY

JANUARY 16

Things for the Memories




7:30 p.m.
THE THING
(US, R, 1982, 109 min.)
Directed by John Carpenter

Director John Carpenter and special makeup effects master Rob Bottin teamed up for this 1982 remake of the 1951 science fiction classic The Thing From Another World, and the result is a modern-day masterpiece.  It's got moments of highly effective terror and spine-tingling suspense, but it's also a showcase for some of the goriest and most horrifically grotesque makeup effects ever created for a movie. With such highlights as a dog that splits open and blosssoms into something indescribably gruesome, this is the kind of movie for die-hard horror fans.  It all begins when scientists at an arctic research station discover an alien spacecraft under the thick ice and thaw out the alien body found aboard.  What they don't know is that the alien can assume any human form, and before long, the scientists can't tell who's real and who's a deadly alien threat. Kurt Russell leads the battle against the terrifying intruder, and the supporting cast includes Richard Masur, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffat and Wilford Brimley.  If you've got the stomach for it (and let's face it, there's a big audience for eerie gore), this is a thrill ride you won't want to miss.



"Man is the warmest place to hide."


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
THE VISITOR
(US, R, 1979, 101 min.)


Along with Pieces, this is a film that RETRO fans have been begging us to screen again for years! And believe us, this IS the epitome of alien invasion-demonic tyke-Second Coming flicks.  The plot goes something more or less like this:  Satan, that intergalactic dictator, has succeeded in fathering a child on Earth to Barbara Collins, a genetically perfect woman.  The resulting ten-year-old girl, Katie, has amazing powers.  Satan's board of directors on Earth explain to Barbara's lover that he must marry her and father a similar boy.  But when Barbara refuses him, Satan's minions arrange that she be abducted by a UFO and artificially inseminated.  (And whoa, folks!) The results are bizarrely incoherent to say the least.  What makes the film halfway watchable is its often WTF moments: Glenn Ford gets attacked by an overgrown clay pigeon; John Huston, who presides over an intergalactic group of bald-headed children, spends the film on top of a building amid flashing blue landing lights; Linda Blair-like Paige Connors spends the film wearing oversized sunglasses and, when she removes them, reveals gleaming metallic eyes underneath - and, in the opening few minutes, psychically blows up the ball at a basketball game.  Much psuedo-mystical twaddle is bandied about: absolutely nothing makes sense.  This it the type of film that begs to be seen during a beer special!    


 “They know we are here..."




FRIDAY

FEBRUARY 13

Nevermore Fund Raiser



7:30 p.m.
TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
(US, PG, 1984, 84 min.)
Directed by John Carpenter

If you love techno-anime, this mix of American storytellers and Japanese animators from the original 80's Transformers turned out to be one of the most successful and remembered films of that era.   And this colossal movie that worked as introduction to a whole new cast of characters is a magic piece of cinema.  It is the year 2005. The war between The Autobots and Decepticons has escalated all the way to Cybertron, which the Decepticons have reclaimed.  The Autobots, without Optimus Prime after a conflict on Earth takes his life, must now face a destiny they know nothing of.  Megatron and a group of forsaken Decepticons have been reformed by the ultimate transformer, a planet consuming demon known as Unicron into even deadlier warriors.  Now Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus must destroy The Autobot Matrix of Leadership for Unicron's glory or suffer the horrific destruction of Cybertron.  However, Optimus Prime has decreed that an Autobot will rise from his rank and use the power of The Matrix to light the darkest hour of the Autobots.  With Hot Rod facing responsibility for Prime's death, he feels he may be able to use the power of the Matrix to turn the tide of the Cybertronian Wars and stop Unicron.  Until all are one, the future of the Autobots and Decepticons is uncertain.  Includes the voices of Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, and Scatman Crothers!


AND


 
 9:15 p.m.




11:00 p.m.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
(US, R, 1981, 97 min.)


Two American students are on a walking tour of England and are attacked by a Werewolf.  One is killed, the other is mauled.  The Werewolf is shot and the townspeople are able to deny it's existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on 4 feet at first, but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he find a way to die to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural death.    


 





CLASS OF 1984  
(Canada, R, 1982, 98 min.)


Class of 1984 provides a sleazy updating of one of the best known delinquency films, Blackboard Jungle. The plot involves music teacher Mr. Norris (Perry King), who has moved to a new "inner-city" school. Although many of the students are clean cut go-getters like Arthur (Michael J Fox), there are many tough punks like Stegman and his crew, razor carrying, dope dealing vandals, who recruit prostitutes and cocaine dealers at a Teenage Head concert.  When Arthur's friend buys some angel dust from Stegman, he climbs the flagpole and falls to his death!   Mr Norris tries to bust the punks, but in retaliation, they drop a Molotov cocktail in his car and kidnap his wife.  Now, it's time for revenge-- teacher style!  Strangely enough, this film was scored by Lalo Schifrin, and features the theme song "I Am The Future" by Alice Cooper.  Although Class of 1984 is cheap and exploitive, it is also very much fun.







FRIDAY

MARCH 20

Dream Scream



7:30 p.m.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS
(US,R, 1987, 96 min.)

Often described as the best of the Elm Street sequels, Kristen (Patricia Arquette) is placed in a hospital psychiatric ward with six other troubled teens, who all dream about the same horrible Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) trying to kill them. The third Nightmare continues Freddy's story with the sole survivor of the first movie, Nancy Thompson. Nancy has just accepted a position as a research scientist at a psychiatric institution near the fated house on Elm Street. She discovers that Kristen has a special gift which may help them destroy Freddy forever. Starring Heather Langenkamp and Craig Wasson.


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
SILENT SCREAM
(US, R, 1980, 87 min.)

After missing-out on late enrolment, four college students find themselves renting rooms in an old seaside mansion. Before long, the ghostly strains of melancholic 50Ős ballads descend through ancient pipes to fill the house with a strange sense of unease. And somewhere, deep within the cobwebbed recesses of the house, a butcher's knife whittles away at plaster board. Yep, it's that old chestnut: Something lurking in the attic and it wants out! Silent Scream is something of an enigma. Made at the height of the early 80's slasher craze, it is kind of a throwback to the days of windswept mansions and groaning floorboards. Starring Barbara Steele, Rebecca Balding, Yvonne De Carlo, Cameron Mitchell, and Avery Schreiber.

 




FRIDAY

APRIL 17

It's a WTF Trap!



7:00 p.m.
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME
(US, R, 1992, 135 min.)
Directed by David Lynch

Alternately fascinating and frustrating--and no doubt deliberately so on both counts--this controversial Twin Peaks installment (it was roundly booed by mystified audiences at the Cannes Film Festival) appeared in theaters after the series was canceled, serving as both prequel and coda to the whole remarkable Twin Peaks phenomenon. Designed especially for dedicated followers of the series (it would just bewilder anyone else), Fire Walk with Me further investigates the murder of Laura Palmer by exploring events that took place before the series' brilliant debut feature ("Twin Peaks: The Premiere"), up to and including the long, dark, terrible night of Laura's death. Familiar Twin Peaks denizens Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie, and Ray Wise (as the three members of the Palmer family), Kyle MacLachlan, Peggy Lipton, James Marshall, Dana Ashbrook, Miguel Ferrer, Madchen Amick, and director David Lynch himself reprise their series roles (with Moira Kelly subbing for Lara Flynn Boyle as Donna Hayward), joined by an equally motley group of guest stars, including Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie, Chris Isaak, and Kiefer Sutherland.


AND


 
 9:30 p.m.
TOURIST TRAP
(US, R, 1979, 87 min.)


Tourist Trap is a genuinely strange film. Nobody quite knew how to pigeonhole it upon its release. There was an attempt to sell it as part of the slasher cycle created by Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980), although it didn't really belong there. Four people (including Tanya Roberts) find themselves stranded by car trouble and are forced to find assistance. What they find is Slausen's Lost Oasis (a wax museum in the desert) and a seemingly abandoned mansion owned by gentle old Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors). Hidden within the home is Mr. Slausen's misunderstood younger brother. The story provides just enough plot to hang the premise on. And the premise is just as simple, but it's a fairly universal one for anyone who's ever walked through a department store: mannequins are really, really freaky. The result is a one-of-a-kind horror film which wonderfully exploits the fear potential by wax dummies and mannequins. Plus, it's got a score by Pino Donnagio!