Ahh, October. The month when all the bloody, gory, scary, and spooky movies crawl out of the cinematic woodwork. In other words, MY FAVORITE MONTH. There's plenty of spooky stuff showing this weekend, so I thought I'd pick a few things for you to spend your $$ on.  

Central Cinema is showing Kubrick's The Shining tonight, so you can view Jack Nicholson's madness, creepy twin girls, and the fantastic blood-filled elevator in all their cinematic glory. It's also a great tie-in to EMP's Can't Look Away Exhibit! See the movie tonight, than head to the museum tomorrow to see the actual axe. How awesome is that? Showtime at 9:30pm, $8 tix. (Plays again 10/11 and 10/12) 

The Varsity has Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil - which by all accounts is more funny than scary, but it's got Alan Tudyk (oh, WASH, I weep for you) and splatter! And it looks hilarious. Basically two backwoods hillbillies run across a bunch of college kids and save one of the girls from drowning, which is mistakenly viewed as kidnapping by the rest of the kids - who then proceed to try to rescue her, wherein accidents happen resulting in lots and lots of murders. Hooray! Showtimes: 2:40pm & 5:00pm, $8 matinee tix, and 7:30pm & 9:30pm, $10.50 tix. 

And lastly, The Grand Illusion Cinema has 1940's classics The Wolfman (this one is WAY better than that Benicio del Toro thing they put out in 2010, trust me!) at 7pm, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman at 9pm, both starring Lon Chaney Jr. and both chock full of awesome sets and screaming dames. $8 tix, $5 for members, $6 for students | seniors. 

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The Northwest Film Forum is screening Shut Up, Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, all week (9pm tonight, 7pm Tues, Weds, and Thurs). This documentary about the power of viral media rocked everyone's socks off at SIFF this year -- and hey kids, you too can learn how much power a casette tape wielded in the pre-internet world of 1987 (what). See, these two SF guys decided to record the drunken ramblings of their next-door neighbors -- a raging homophobe and his flamboyantly gay roommate -- (what. what.) and play them for people....who copied them and passed them on to other people, and so on, and so on, and so on. $6 for NWFF Members, $6.50 for seniors/students/kids, $9 for everyone else

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The final (sniffle) week of SIFF approaching portends the beginning of another annual Seattle film tradition, STIFF.  This Friday {6/3} the Seattle True Independent Film Festival opens it's doors to go mano-a-mano with their more established counterpart SIFF.  Yeah, yeah - I get that there's a tradition of counterprogrammed fests, more voices are good, yada yada yada.

When the Charlie Brown style adult voices end all I'll I've heard is that I'm gonna have to make some choices (i.e. miss some films) because the two events overlap. But that doesn't mean one should stick their head in the sand and ignore the extra bounty. STIFF is here and worth paying attention to. Focusing more on english language independent that on international fare, it's different enough to make some sense (see, I can be nice).  Plus it's hard for me to be too critical about MORE film choices. So in the spirit of hey it's here, all-access passes are only $50 (and include more films all year) parties are included and all venues serve alcohol - let's peruse the schedule together ...

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Over the next week, Seattle theaters welcome to town a wide range of film options. Here's a few suggestions ranging from one-off screenings to larger independent openings.

Personally, all my anticipation for this week cinematically comes down to Hobo With a Shotgun, which arrives in US living rooms via various video on demand outlets including Amazon Instant Video. It's the only film I got shut-out on at SXSW - with Rutger Hauer and the easy to visualize title I'm not surprised it was a sellout there. I'll be rushing home tonight to queue that up. But there are also some very good choices at Seattle-area theaters over the coming week.

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I was delighted to see that one of my favorite cheesy movies from the 80s is making an appearance at Central Cinema this month: the over-the-top adaptation of Stephen King's short story Trucks, written and directed by the horror maestro himself.

Maximum Overdrive is a prime example of extremely bad movie-making (and of why King should never get behind the camera), yet I still love every horrible second of it because it's one of the first horror flicks I saw at the impressionable age of 13.

Starring a cast of characters including heartthrob Emilio Estevez and squeaky-voiced Yeardley Smith (AKA: Lisa Simpson), this "machines gone wild" fantasy involves cars, trucks, and all manner of appliances trying to kill their human creators(??), and features a grinning Green Goblin semi and a murderous soda machine (I swear I didn't just make that up). AS IF that wasn't enough to get you there, the soundtrack is composed entirely by AC/DC, making the $8 ticket price a complete bargain!

Purchase your ticket in advance online, or line up on Monday, 3/28 for the 7pm showing. Because honestly, a pizza and a pitcher (or two) of beer are really the only good way to see this 1986 masterpiece.

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If there's one film you see this weekend, please make it Cold Weather at the Northwest Film Forum. If there are two films you see this weekend, I'm gonna have to suggest seeing Cold Weather twice. Seeing three, first let me say, "Good for you!" If you're looking to pull off a cinematic hat trick, my parents would strongly suggest Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (also at the Northwest Film Forum). Huge fans of Mr. Ochs, they saw the film during its brief stop in NYC and couldn't speak more highly of it. Unfortunately I'm off to SXSW this weekend, so I won't get a chance to see the Phil Ochs film until it hits video.

Speaking of SXSW - in addition to the music its most famous for, there's also a tremendous amount of film. Last year was my first trip out there and it was quite the experience. I saw a lot of great stuff - with one of the highlights being Cold Weather.  I almost saw it again in Vancouver at their festival.  Couldn't quite make it work, but I did attend a meet the filmmaker series session with the Portland-based director. This is a film that defies easy characterization - except that it's really, really good. It's a fairly unique (the only other example I can think of is Monogamy) mash-up of a chatty relationship slice-of-life drama centered around twenty-something characters, shot in a natural style with a whodunnit mystery. Yet it's not really fully either, and the sum is greater than the individual parts.

A lazy description would be a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys adventure for the mumblecore crowd. Especially worth a theater viewing, as on top of everything else the cinematography deserves to be seen on a large screen - particularly one breathtaking shot at an Oregon waterfall (you can see this shot briefly in the trailer below in my full review). Yep, I super dug it. Hope you will too.

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Are you among the few who've heard of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy (mostly because people like me won't shut up about it), but haven't actually, oh you know, ever SEEN it? Well my friends, you're in luck.

Starting this Friday, 2/18, Central Cinema is showing both The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, followed up with an Army of Darkness Quote Along on Wednesday, 2/23. Tix are $6 adv/$8 day of for ED 1&2 (separate for each film), and $9 adv/$11 day of for the Quote Along.

The original The Evil Dead (1981) was a super-low budget flick billed as straight-up horror. Tall tales of the film's infamous "tree rape" scene haunted my pre-teen years, so when I was finally able to see it, I was surprised it was much campier than expected. Raimi took that camp to a whole new level in Evil Dead 2 (1987), which cemented Bruce Campbell as a true "B" movie icon who slap-sticked his way through demon beheadings and various disgusting fluids.

I love all 3, but my favorite has always been 1992's Army of Darkness (né: Medieval Dead), mostly because it has a fantastic homage to Ray Harryhausen's skeleton army from Jason and the Argonauts (go ahead & say it with me now: NERD!) - and well, let's face it: Bruce Campbell is f'ing hilarious. Anyway - if I were you, I'd buy tickets to all 3, but if you have to pick one, pick AoD, if only so you can yell out gems like:

"That was just pillow talk, baby"
"That's right! BIG boom stick!"
and of course...
"Hail to the King"

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Yes, kids. Thre was a time when John Cusack made good movies. It was called "the 80s". Haul your cookies over to Central Cinema tonight at 8pm for an awesome Quote Along to the Savage Steve Holland classic Better Off Dead starring an utterly adorable John (circa 1985) as depressed teen Lane Meyer, whose hot girlfriend (hey! That's Tina from A Nightmare on Elm Street) leaves him for a snooty, popped-collared, feather-mulleted ski jock. 80s hilarity ensues as Lane attempts suicide, hallucinates dancing hamburgers, drag races, and pretty much totally ignores the even hotter French exchange student trapped at the hell that is his neighbors.

But hey - why am I telling you this? You already know, and that's why you need to go to the Quote Along tonight. Tickets are $11 at the door (too bad they're not $2!), and you can drink wine or beer and have a FRAUNCH dip or FRAUNCH baguette while you yell out your favorite lines. "Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky." As a bonus, free Q-tips will be provided.

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I cannot think of a better way to spend New Year’s Eve than shouting, “My daddy hates me wearing these boots”, “Maybe in another town it’s a classic” and “This is our time to dance” at a movie screen while having a massive dance party to Kenny Loggins, Bonnie Tyler, John Cougar Mellencamp (I swear he’s changed his name more times than Diddy), and Shalamar. I’m serious. That’s pretty much my idea of (almost) paradise. - seewhatIdidthere?

Luckily for people like me, Central Cinema is having a Footloose Dance Your Ass Off Party this Friday for New Year's Eve! There are even subtitles in case you haven’t seen the movie 100x, interactive dance time, and a champagne toast at midnight, followed by dance videos.

The best part: It’s only $10 in advance or $12 at the door. Seriously—could Central Cinema BE any more rad?

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Tonight, Wednesday 11/17, my friends over at The Beta Society are putting on a show that could potentionally rival the ever-popular Salon of Shame called E-mails from My Parents.

Rather than read your own embarassing journals, why not share the most embarassing e-mails, voice mails, or even videos from your parents? I mean, they've embarassed you enough, right? Why not turn the tables?

Head over to Central Cinema from 7-8:30pm tonight and experience dramatic re-enactments of parental tomfoolery, live readings of e-mail, and actual videos from the 'rents. I can't think of a better thing to do on a rainy, cold night - can you? Tix are $7 at the door, and the usual CC food & drink menu will be available.

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