New Scares
In New York City, summer’s signature horror movie event is Film at Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies (Aug. 12-20), a reliably disturbing festival of new films and revivals. This year’s 16-film series opens with “Buddy,” Casper Kelly’s deranged-looking new work about a fuzzy but not-so-cuddly host of a children’s TV show. (It opens in theaters on Aug. 28.) On Aug. 19, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick will introduce “Family Movie,” a slasher sendup they directed, starring their children, Sosie and Travis.
If you can handle it, on Aug. 16 the festival is showing the premiere of a 4K restoration of “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” the despairing 1986 shocker. The director John McNaughton will be there for a Q&A.
Other new horror movies in theaters include the blockbusters “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” plus “Evil Dead Burn,” the latest in the “Evil Dead” franchise.
Classic Frights
Buckle up on Aug. 2, when the Metograph Theater on the Lower East Side shows “Wake in Fright,” a brutal 1971 Australian thriller about a schoolteacher who gets stranded, to put it mildly, in a rural town populated by horrible men.
As part of its queer Narrow Rooms series, Anthology Film Archives in the East Village screens a 35-millimeter print of “Strangers on a Train,” Alfred Hitchcock’s dark 1951 psychological thriller, on Aug. 21. Farley Granger and Robert Walker are spectacular as the gay-coded strangers who team up to commit the perfect murder.
On Aug. 29, the Quad Cinema in the West Village is party headquarters for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” complete with a live shadow cast of actors who mirror the on-screen shenanigans. If you’re not familiar with how it works, there’s a pre-screening lesson to teach you what all the toilet paper is for.
Midnight Movies
The Late-Night Favorites series at the IFC Center in the West Village spotlights out-there genre films every weekend. My pick is the depraved “Battle Royale” (2000), about a group of Japanese students in a fight to the death on a deserted island. It screens Aug. 14 and 15.
Stream Screams
On days when the heat would make even Satan sweat, stay indoors and watch an indie film. My new favorites include “Blood Barn,” a smart and very funny homage to slashers (on Amazon Prime Video); “Raptus,” a sci-fi psychological thriller about a beefcake robot (on Tubi); and “Hoagie,” a bonkers, gore-forward creature-feature comedy (on NightFlight+).
Stage Frights
Late on a recent Friday night, I called a number and for the next hour tried to calm down a young man named Danny who was convinced that a bloodthirsty demon lurked inside his closet. Or was the demon talking to me about a kid named Danny? Either way, the conversation sent ice through my veins, delightfully so. This is “CLAWS,” an interactive thriller performed live by phone by the theater group Candle House Collective. Reservations are being taken through Oct. 2.
On Broadway you can see “Paranormal Activity,” an adaptation of the nerve-plucking 2009 found footage film, starting Aug. 14 at the August Wilson Theater; Luke Evans and Rachel Dratch in a revival of “The Rocky Horror Show,” at Studio 54; and “The Lost Boys,” based on the 1987 feral-punk vampire movie, at the Palace Theater.
Off Broadway, Ethan Slater and Betsy Wolfe headline the revival of the sweet-but-sinister musical comedy “Little Shop of Horrors” at the Westside Theater.
Get Out
My favorite way to keep track of New York City horror happenings is the Scream Scene newsletter, a compendium of goings-on from the Brooklyn Horror Society, the Astoria Horror Club and other local groups.
That’s how I heard about the Twisted Spine, a recently opened horror bookstore, cafe and event space in Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, that has a robust calendar of book clubs, watch parties and author talks. On Aug. 19, the novelist Chuck Wendig will discuss his new occult drama “The Calamities.”
Schmooze with other horror aficionados on Aug. 13, when the Wood Shop in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, hosts Scream for Summerween, a night of music, monster cosplay, tarot readings and sick treats from the bakery Scary Good Desserts.
Museum Horror
The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, and the streaming service MUBI are partners on “Reframing the Slasher,” an exhibition of VHS tapes, costumes and other materials related to Jane Schoenbrun’s bizarro new meta-slasher film “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” in theaters starting Aug. 7. While you’re there, check out “Horrible Sites,” an exhibition on how killer makeup and production design made “The Exorcist” so head turning. (“Reframing the Slasher” is on view through Nov. 8, and admission is free.)
A Day With the Dead
Get acquainted with the spirit and spirits of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, by taking Grave Beginnings, a free, 90-minute morning walking tour. Don’t skip the new $43 million visitor’s center and exhibition hall.
Trips to Hell
Lady vengeance is the diabolical theme of this year’s All Night Horror Marathon at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, N.Y., on Long Island, on Aug. 29. It kicks off at 9 p.m. with “Pearl” and continues with a stellar lineup of “Jennifer’s Body,” “The Craft,” “Ginger Snaps” and the original “Suspiria.”
For an old-school scary-movie excursion, try the Mahoning Drive-In in rural Lehighton, Pa., a two-hour drive from New York City. Each summer, the drive-in has outstanding programs of new and old horror cinema, not to mention killer pierogi. On Aug. 14 and 15, the composer Alan Howarth, best known for his stylishly ghoulish synth scores for “Christine” and other John Carpenter films, will perform live.
The post Your Scary Summer of Movies, Graveyards and Horror Clubs appeared first on New York Times.
