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Alamo Drafthouse – Eat, Drink, Be Scary This October With the ‘Spread Fear’ Series and Tasty New Treats!

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Spooky season has arrived, and Alamo Drafthouse is celebrating Halloween in a big way this year. First up, their “Spread Fear” series embraces horror all month long, delivering a witches brew made up of some of the best, bloodiest, downright maniacal horror films out there.

“Our Spread Fear series embraces all the chilling fun of the holiday season (the one with ghouls and ghosts, not sugarplum fairies) with a full slate of some of the greatest horror movies ever put to film,” Alamo Drafthouse previews. “We’re talking THE THING, GHOSTBUSTERS (1984), THE LOST BOYS Movie Party, THE MUMMY + THE WOLF MAN Double Feature, a Champagne Cinema screening of THE CRAFT, and so much more.

“But Halloween isn’t all about killers and tortured monsters, it’s also about the candy. The whole family can get in on the spooky fun with Trick or Treat Cinema, a series dedicated to maximum value and maximum fun with discount tickets and candy for everyone. Costumes are highly encouraged, just make sure they don’t disrupt the experience for the other guests.”

The team continues, “While we worship at the altar of horror all year, there’s one night in particular where we hold nothing back with the most maniacal, menacing, maddening movies – Dismember the Alamo. Our yearly mystery marathon is back in select theaters to shock and delight with a curated list of films sure to shake the nerve of even the most hardened of gorehounds. Learn more and find tickets right HERE (or HERE for Alamo Drafthouse Manhattan, or HERE for Alamo Drafthouse La Vista).

“Of course there’s plenty more to enjoy this month, including our series honoring the late/great William Friedkin, The Story of a Hurricane. And while Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday are always great ways to get your genre fix, we’re turning up the terror and the weird for October.”

This year’s horror lineup includes…

  • Doctor Sleep
  • The Craft
  • Sleepy Hollow Brunch
  • Frankenstein + Invisible Man Double Feature
  • The Thing (1982) 
  • Opera
  • Sorcerer
  • The Cabin in the Woods
  • The Others
  • Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
  • Ghostbusters (1984)
  • Psycho (1960)
  • The Lost Boys Movie Party
  • Cruising
  • The Black Cat
  • Dracula (in Spanish)
  • Get Out + Society Double Feature
  • World of Tomorrow Trilogy
  • Beetlejuice Movie Party
  • Crimson Peak Brunch
  • Poltergeist (1982)
  • The Mummy + The Wolf Man Double Feature
  • Little Shop of Horrors
  • To Live and Die in L.A.
  • Bug
  • The Cassandra Cat
  • Halloween (1978)
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show Movie Party
  • The Exorcist
  • Dracula + Dracula’s Daughter Double Feature
  • Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Monster House
  • Trick ‘r Treat
  • Wendell and Wild
  • Scream (1996)

You can preview the full “Spread Fear” collection on the Alamo Drafthouse website.

Additionally, Alamo Drafthouse has updated their “Bonus Features” menu for the Halloween season with three brand new Fall-themed treats that they’re serving up through Halloween.

The lineup includes Apple-Pecan Goat Cheese Salad, Pulled Pork BBQ Bowl, Caramel Apple Donut Holes. Learn more about each item on the Alamo Drafthouse website.

The Further

Salem Horror Fest 2024 Kicks Off With Scream Queen Linnea Quigley and ‘The People’s Joker’ [Event Report]

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From venue changes and the pandemic to political backlash and the threat of litigation, Salem Horror Fest founder and director Kay Lynch has never been one to back down. The festival’s seventh annual event, which kicked off last night at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, was further proof of her resilience.

After its original headliner, Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy, canceled with less than 48 hours notice, the festival’s entire opening night ceremony was restructured. Tickets, which had sold for $50, were refunded and the program was made free (with the option to make a donation), costing the festival an untold amount of money.

But the show must go on and it did so in spectacular fashion with horror icon Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons) sitting down for a live interview, while the Hocus Pocus screening was replaced by The People’s Joker, previously scheduled to be the festival’s closing film.

Kay Lynch

Following a Joker-inspired drag performance from local favorite Miz. Diamond Wigfall that put smiles on the audience’s faces, Lynch took the stage to make her opening remarks. The festival’s resilient leader was quick to address the elephant in the room. “It’s been hard, but when I look around at everything and everyone here, I think, ‘This is way fucking cooler than it would have been,'” she chuckled as the crowd erupted in cheers.

The Faculty of Horror co-host Alexandra West delivered an impassioned keynote address. Perfectly encapsulating Salem Horror’s ethos, she prudently addressed the real-world horrors currently going on in the world while empowering those in attendance. “Those in power have labeled us weirdos, freaks, sluts, trash, perverts, and a whole lot of other words I refuse to use. What I want to impart to everyone in this room is: be a fucking weirdo.” Her rally cry was met with thunderous applause.

Lynch was joined by Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, George A. Romero’s widow and founder of the George A. Romero Foundation, to present the recipients of this year’s GARF Fellowship, which recognizes “up-and-coming filmmakers who embody that DIY, punk-rock spirit that George had” by connecting them with established filmmaker mentors.

Livescreamers director Michelle Iannantuono and Meltdown: A Nuclear Family’s Ascension into Madness director Colton Van Til will receive mentorship from Jenn Wexler (The Ranger, The Sacrifice Game) and Travis Stevens (Girl on the Third Floor, Jakob’s Wife). Lynch also announced the festival’s jury winners: Jasmine J. Johnson’s Inner Demons for Best Short and Rachel Kempf & Nick Toti’s It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This for Best Feature.

Suzanne Desrocher-Romero

Rue Morgue executive editor and Faculty of Horror co-host Andrea Subissati led a brisk, 20-minute conversation with Quigley, covering her journey as a woman in horror from watching Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers with her parents to working with Dan O’Bannon on Return of the Living Dead and beyond. The scream queen cites The Walking Dead as a turning point for the genre’s mainstream respect.

Via a video intro, The People’s Joker director/co-writer/star Vera Drew reminded viewers that the movie is protected by copyright law while poking fun at the situation. It’s no surprise that rights issues plagued the Batman parody’s festival run, but Altered Innocence has brazenly given it a theatrical release.

I expected the film to be outrageous it’s very funny, especially with an audience but I wasn’t prepared for how profound it is. Beyond the manic energy, self-aware absurdity, endearingly crude effects, and animated interludes is a heartfelt, coming-of-age tale exploring queerness. Its core message of being true to oneself is universal, but its representation is particularly important for the trans youth of today.

The Salem Horror Fest team deserves endless commendation for pivoting on such short notice, as does the community for rallying behind it.

The festival continues April 26-28 and May 3-5 at various venues in Salem.

Andrea Subissati & Linnea Quigley

In addition to the aforementioned award winners, programming highlights include George A. Romero’s Resident Evil, a documentary on the master of horror’s unmade adaptation; Carnage for Christmas, from prolific trans filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay; The Monkey, based on Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew short story; Ghost Game, director Jill Gevargizian’s follow-up to The Stylist; and Faceless After Dark, a meta horror tale starring Terrifier‘s Jenna Kanell.

Other features include Black Lake: Director’s Cut, Ghost Game, I Will Never Leave You Alone, It’s Not Paint, The Judgment, Liminal, My Mother’s Eyes, Purgatory Jack, Sigil, Sins of the Father, Sweet Relief, The Vizitant, Welcome Week: A College Horror Anthology, and Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered.

Salem Horror has teamed with GARF and Coolidge After Midnite for screenings of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Deadat the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. The former two are digital restorations, while the latter two will be shown on 35mm.

The festival will also host several repertory screenings followed by live podcast recordings: Cat People with Faculty of Horror, The Grudge with Horror Queers, Demon Knight with Girl, That’s Scary & Blerdy Massacre, plus a secret screening presented by Cinematic Void.

There will also be short films (including a selection of Stephen King’s Dollar Babies adaptations), author discussions (with the likes of Christopher Golden, Bracken MacLeod, Kayla Cottingham, Cat Scully, J.W. Ocker, and Alyssa Alessi), filmmaker Q&As, after parties, and more.

Get your tickets for Salem Horror Fest 2024 now.

Miz. Diamond Wigfall

Alexandra West

Kay Lynch & Suzanne Desrocher-Romero

Linnea Quigley

K/XI & Kay Lynch

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