In this bold, genre-defying horror-musical mashup —  the playful and confident debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska — a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters are drawn ashore in an alternate ’80s Poland to explore the wonders and temptations of life on land. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly aura make them overnight sensations as nightclub singers in the half-glam, half-decrepit fantasy world of Smoczynska’s imagining. In a visceral twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s original Little Mermaid tale, one sister falls for a human, and as the bonds of sisterhood are tested, the lines between love and survival get blurred. A savage coming-of-age fairytale with a catchy new-wave soundtrack, lavishly grimy sets, and outrageous musical numbers, THE LURE explores its themes of sexuality, exploitation, and the compromises of adulthood with energy and originality.

What’s better than a horror anthology film? How about one directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King? Based on the E.C. horror comic books of the 1950s, Creepshow is a made up of five short horrifying tales told to a young kid by “The Creep” who gets in trouble for reading “Creepshow.” With Father’s Day, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, Something to Tide You Over, The Crate and They’re Creeping Up on You! you’ll get monsters of all shapes and sizes. Evil husbands, corpses, and outer space visitors are just the tip of this iceberg of terror!

Stringent vegetarian Justine encounters a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world during her first week at veterinary school. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her principles and eats raw meat for the first time. The young woman soon experiences terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge.

Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard

Found video footage tells the tale of three film students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams) who’ve traveled to a small town to collect documentary footage about the Blair Witch, a legendary local murderer. Over the course of several days, the students interview townspeople and gather clues to support the tale’s veracity. But the project takes a frightening turn when the students lose their way in the woods and begin hearing horrific noises.

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kirsten Baker, Stuart Charno

Influenced greatly by Mario Bava’s Bay of Blood, Friday the 13th Part 2 brings in a new set irresponsible, sex-crazed camp counsellors to Crystal Lake. Five years after the horrible bloodbath at Camp Crystal Lake, it seems Jason Voorhees and his demented mother are in the past. Paul opens up a new camp close to the infamous site, ignoring warnings to stay away, and a sexually-charged group of counselors follow — including child psychologist major Ginny. But Jason has been hiding out all this time, and now he’s ready for revenge.

You’d be hard pressed to find a haunted house film more outlandishly fun than this Vincent Price classic. Starring as an eccentric millionaire, Price invites five strangers to spend the night in a “haunted” house and whomever survives will get one million dollars. Directed by the ultimate film showman William Castle, House on Haunted Hill is full of plot holes but the film’s charm is part of the fun-loving gimmick experience of the time period that would make Castle a legend. Just beware any flying skeletons in the theater.

Starring: Alice Lowe, Gemma Whelan, Kate Dickie, Jo Hartley

A pitch black, wryly British comedy from the mind of Alice Lowe (SIGHTSEERS), PREVENGE follows Ruth, a pregnant woman on a killing spree that’s as funny as it is vicious. It’s her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth’s actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. Struggling with her conscience, loneliness, and a strange strain of prepartum madness, Ruth must ultimately choose between redemption and destruction at the moment of motherhood. PREVENGE marks the directorial debut from Lowe, who is a true triple threat, writing, directing, and acting in the film during her own real-life pregnancy.

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Gunner Hansen, Jim Siedow, Edwin Neal, Teri McMinn, John Dugan,  Paul A. Partain

Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of a handful of films that punctuate the very life-blood of cinematic history. Intensely brutal with very little reprieve or consideration for the audience, it came out of a rift of a socio-cultural framework, bursting onscreen with the evisceration of the family structure, youth culture, and cultural fragility in a post-Vietnam United States. Like Night of the Living Dead did five years earlier, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre reveals the unraveling framework of society and places the possibility of horror/death to occur anywhere; not in the Gothic castle nor in the fields of Vietnam but, more terrifyingly, in our surrounding neighborhoods. The film also reveals one of the first final girls (Sally) in the American slasher genre.

Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand, DEADPOOL’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead) and McKayla (Alexandra Shipp) are just a couple of high-school BFFs trying to get more followers for their blog. Except their on-line project is devoted to a local murder spree, and they’ve just captured and imprisoned the perpetrator. How do they keep the slaughter spree going so they have more to report on? Well, they’re willing and able to improvise… Director/co-writer Tyler McIntyre delivers a spirited satire of teenage values in the Internet era, coupled with a gruesomely imaginative creative killfest. The leads are right on target as girls whose status obsession has a body count, and the supporting cast includes Craig Robinson (also one of the film’s producers) in a very funny turn.

Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé

The FOFIF presents a special Halloween screening of SUSPIRIA, emphasizing and celebrating Dario Nicolodi’s co-authorship. Screening before the feature is the short film NO OVERNIGHT PARKING by Meg Swertlow. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

“Everything belongs to me in Suspiria.” – Daria Nicolodi

Suspiria is the classic fantasy-horror film directed by Dario Argento in which a young American ballerina goes to a dance school in Berlin only to discover it’s operated by a coven of witches. The story comes from Daria Nicolodi (Argento’s wife and actress) involving her grandmother and the collection of essays, Suspiria de prundis, by Thomas De Quincey; essential influences that both come directly from Nicolodi. The FOFIF presents this beloved film with the context of Nicolodi’s writing and creative labor context in mind.

Inspired by the essay “The Secret Beyond the Door” by Martha Shearer in “Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre.

NO OVERNIGHT PARKING
Directed by Meg Swertlow, 2022
10 min.
A woman fleeing her abusive husband gets trapped in an underground parking garage with a misogynistic, masked killer out for blood.