Starring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Stephen Root
Corporate drone Peter Gibbons hates his soul-killing job at software company Initech. While undergoing hypnotherapy, Peter is left in a blissful state when his therapist dies in the middle of their session. He refuses to work overtime, plays games at his desk and unintentionally charms two consultants into putting him on the management fast-track. When Peter’s friends learn they’re about to be downsized, they hatch a revenge plot against the company inspired by Superman III.
Starring: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone
Twenty-seven years after the Losers Club defeated Pennywise, he has returned to terrorize the town of Derry once more. Now adults, the Losers have long since gone their separate ways. However, people are disappearing again, so Mike, the only one of the group to remain in their hometown, calls the others home. Damaged by the experiences of their past, they must each conquer their deepest fears to destroy Pennywise once and for all…putting them directly in the path of the shape-shifting clown that has become deadlier than ever.
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss, Tiffany Haddish, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Alicia Coppola
In 1978, three Hell’s Kitchen housewives’ mobster husbands are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia’s matters into their own hands.
Starring: The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Crosby Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin
On the 50th anniversary of the concert, we’re screening the documentary Woodstock, an intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival. Held in Bethel, NY in 1969, the film documents the festival from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.
Starring: Lou David, Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua
Apart from early appearances by Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter, an interesting score by Rick Wakeman, and some typically effective work by effects icon Tom Savini, this slasher film is also among the more frightening of its kind. The plot concerns a summer-camp caretaker named Cropsy (Lou David) who is horribly burned by mischievous teen campers during a botched practical joke. Years later, he leaves the hospital as a disfigured gloppy mess with an axe (actually, hedgeclippers) to grind. After dispatching a local prostitute, Cropsy heads out to the wilderness to terrorize a group of campers. They’re the usual bunch of horny, obnoxious teenagers, but there are some interesting performances by Larry Joshua as a mean-spirited bully and Brian Backer (of Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as a put-upon nerd.
Starring: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Michael Sheasby, Baykali Ganambarr
Set in 1825 in colonial Tasmania, Clare, a young Irish convict, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Attention: The Nightingale features potentially triggering acts of sexual violence, as well as violence towards children and Tasmanian Aboriginal people. The reason for this is to show an authentic and honest representation of Tasmanian history during colonization.
Playing before each screening of The Nightingale is the short film Kaya directed by Catherine Fordham (Nitehawk Shorts Festival alum).
A woman’s desperate search through truck stops and motels explodes in vigilante justice when she discovers a young girl being trafficked by the same crew of truckers who took her teenage sister.
Starring: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Kim Walker, Shannen Doherty
Westerburg High School’s elite clique of popular girls is “The Heathers,” comprised of Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara. Rounding out the foursome is Veronica Sawyer, who is so fed up with the Heathers and the entire peer pressure cooker that she starts running with J.D., a mysterious motorcycle-riding newcomer. Their noble effort to rid Westerburg of its bad apples ends up taking a real toll, and their teen rebellion produces a serious and mounting body count.
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Bokeem Woodbine
Following the arrest of her mother, young Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon) decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland). During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Starring: James Duval, Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech
Teens Jordan White (James Duval) and Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) pick up a handsome drifter named Xavier Red (Johnathon Schaech). Red tends to create combustible situations as the trio voyages through small-town America, where Amy is accosted by various men claiming to be her lovers, and she and Jordan find themselves drawn to Xavier. But can any amount of sex lift the sense of doom hanging over them?
Starring: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Charlotte Rampling
Amphetamine-popping Kowalski (Barry Newman) attempts to drive a race car from Denver to San Francisco in order to win a bet. As the police become informed of his crazy endeavor, Kowalski struggles to avoid the cops with the help of a blind radio disco jockey who calls himself Super Soul (Cleavon Little).
