Starring: Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker
A sinister secret has been kept in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church for many years. With the death of a priest belonging to a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement and discovers a vat containing a green liquid. The priest contacts a group of physics graduate students to investigate it. Unfortunately, they discover that the liquid contains the essence of Satan himself, and they also discover that he will release HIS father – an all-powerful Anti-God! The liquid later comes to life itself, turning some of the students into zombies as the Devil comes forward to release his father. Will these students be able to stop him?
Starring: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks
When her older sister Jacqueline disappears, Mary Gibson is forced to leave her private school to look for her in New York City. A bit naive and out of her depth, she is not quite sure how to go about finding her. Eventually she meets Gregory Ward, her sister’s husband and a mysterious psychiatrist, and Dr. Louis Judd, who claims to know of Jacqueline’s whereabouts. What she doesn’t realize is that her sister became involved with devil worshipers who now want to eliminate her for having revealed their existence.
Starring: Katie Douglas, Celina Martin, Sara Canning
Having spent their entire lives trapped in a prison-like school, the teenage girls of Vestalis Academy must follow a strict educational system that enforces conforming to “The Feminine Virtues.” They are forced to follow the school’s rules for fear of extreme punishment – with the light at the end of the tunnel being adoption to a loving upper class family. Sixteen-year-olds Vivien and Sophia, who have reached the final level of the school are on the cusp of adoption, until they learn the horrifying truth about the academy.
Canadian filmmaker Danishka Esterhazy crafts a cold female-centric satire featuring striking imagery of a dystopian society. Loaded with charismatic performances, LEVEL 16 is an intense and cerebral experience like no other. Sure to get under your skin by the finale, Esterhazy will take you on a journey through the past, complete with characters named after classic Hollywood stars to express a sharp, feminist critique.
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak
Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
Master of horror John Carpenter executive produces and serves as creative consultant on this film, joining forces with cinema’s current leading producer of horror, Jason Blum (Get Out, Split, The Purge, Paranormal Activity). Inspired by Carpenter’s classic, filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride crafted a story that carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film, and Green also directs.
Starring: John David Washington, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Anthony Ramos
One night, in front of a bodega in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, Manny Ortega witnesses a white police officer wrongfully gun down a neighborhood street hustler, and Manny films the incident on his phone. Now he’s faced with a dilemma: release the video and bring unwanted exposure to himself and his family, or keep the video private and be complicit in the injustice?
With a deep sense of humanity and a deft directorial hand, Reinaldo Marcus Green smartly reformulates the traditional construction of “protagonist” to magnify the power of perspective. Green tells the story of how the footage affects the lives of three upstanding men in Bed-Stuy–a young father striving to support his new family, an African American cop dealing with the fallout of his colleague’s mistake, and a star high school athlete who becomes politicized by the incident. Each man is very different, but they equally feel the urgency of the question they must all face: should I take moral action or remain safely on the sidelines? Green provokes viewers to ask themselves the same question.
Starring: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac
How much can you really know about another person? The unsettling truth that even those closest to us can harbor hidden dimensions drives this thrillingly unpredictable, blood-stained fear trip. Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) are a couple celebrating their one year anniversary at a secluded cabin in the woods belonging to Jackie’s family. From the moment they arrive, something changes in Jules’ normally loving wife, as Jackie (if that even is her real name) begins to reveal a previously unknown dark side—all building up to a shocking revelation that will pit Jules against the woman she loves most in a terrifying fight to survive. Defying expectations at every turn, Director Colin Minihan delivers a nerve-twisting cat and mouse thriller built around a shattering tale of heartbreak and betrayal.
Starring: John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed, Jake Gyllenhaal
It is 1851, and Charlie and Eli Sisters are both brothers and assassins, boys grown to men in a savage and hostile world. They have blood on their hands: that of criminals, that of innocents… and they know no state of existence other than being gunmen. The older of the two, introspective Eli (John C. Reilly) rides hard with his younger sibling yet dares to dream of a normal life. The younger of the two, hard-drinking Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) has taken charge with gusto as lead man on the duo’s assignments. Each increasingly questions, and quibbles with, the other’s methods.
The Sisters brothers find themselves on a journey through the Northwest, bringing them to the mountains of Oregon, a dangerous brothel in the small town of Mayfield, and eventually, the Gold Rush land of California – a journey that will test the deadly family ties that bind. But, can it also be the path to rediscovering what remains of their humanity? THE SISTERS BROTHERS reimagines the cinematic western as a dangerous, witty and emotionally cathartic exploration of what it means to be a man.
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh
In anticipation of the upcoming release of The Holdovers (opening 11/2 at Nitehawk Prospect Park), reuniting director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti, Nitehawk is hosting a special Sideways Film Feast this November! For every ticket sold, Focus Features will donate 10 Thanksgiving week meals to the North Brooklyn Angels.
Two middle-aged men embark on a spiritual journey through Californian wine country. One of them an unpublished novelist suffering from depression, the other only days away from walking down the aisle. Both meet two beautiful women on their trip and become romantically involved with them.
Starring: MacLeod Andrews, Margaret Ying Drake, Evan Dumouchel
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Closing Nite & North American premiere of THE RUSALKA!
Looking for some peace and quiet, Tom rents out a small and isolated lake house, one marked by a local legend of a woman who, after drowning, haunts the surrounding woods and drowns anyone she encounters. That myth particularly intrigues Tom’s new neighbor, Al, who’s mourning the recent death of his husband. Starting off rather friendly, Tom and Al’s rapport slowly changes as the former befriends a mysterious woman named Nina, for whom Al can’t shake his negative suspicions.
Back in 2015, Perry Blackshear turned heads with his creepy lo-fi breakout THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE; for his follow-up, the NY-based filmmaker reunites the same cast and tells a story that’s different in scope and tone yet just as subtly powerful. Equal parts supernatural romance and intimate tragedy, THE RUSALKA flips the conventions of star-crossed soul-mates fiction into a lyrical and genre-infused look at the darker side of love.
