“FREAKY FRIDAYS” FILM SERIES

 

 
New York, NY, (July 18, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the continuation of a summer tradition of showcasing great genre classics to beat the heat. Following the tradition of last summer’s popular “Midnight Movies” series, each film in the new “Freaky Friday” series will kick off the weekend at 11pm and have the same weekly blend of mind-melting, gross-out horror as well as some rarely screened classic cult favorites in glorious 35mm, curated by Film Society programmer and Film Comment Editor Gavin Smith.
 
Smith said, “Freaky Fridays will get an earlier start each evening this year, but the selections will once again hit that ‘Midnight Movie’ sweet spot, running the gamut from fan favorites like Mary Harron’s American Psycho and Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, to the cult staples like Carnival of Souls and Paul Morrissey’s Blood For Dracula. Throw in the literally creepy crawly Squirm, underrated Pumpkinhead, and the disturbing The Night Porter, and Film Society’s fridays should be freaky indeed.”  
 
The series, including the early works of many future Oscar winners, kicks off with Jeff Lieberman’s debut film,Squirm, which features makeup design by the legendary Rick Baker, who won his first of seven Academy Awards forAn American Werewolf in London (he also worked on Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video and, most recently,Maleficent). Another “first” includes Pumpkinhead, the directorial debut of special-effects wizard Stan Winston (who won Oscars for Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Jurassic Park).
 
FSLC will also screen the late-1980s vampire Western Near Dark made by Kathryn Bigelow prior to becoming the first female director to win the Academy Award for Best Director (for The Hurt Locker). The film had top critics like Time’s Richard Corliss hailing it as “weird (and) beautiful” and Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers as “gory and gorgeous.”
 
Additional films include David Cronenberg’s “Body Horror” classic, The Brood (1979); Herk Harvey’s trippy cult film, Carnival of Souls (1962); and Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000), featuring a memorable star turn by Christian Bale. Freaky Fridays will also present Paul Morrissey’s one-of-a-kind take on the vampire genre, Blood for Dracula (1974); and Liliana Cavani’s kinky The Night Porter (1974), with Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling – both of which are rarely screened.
 
Special discount prices for Freaky Friday screenings! Tickets are only $10; $7 for students, seniors (62+); and Film Society members. On Thursday, June 19, tickets will go on sale to all the screenings in July and August. Visit www.FilmLinc.com for complete film festival information.
 

 
Squirm
Jeff Lieberman, USA, 1976, 35mm, 92m
A horde of flesh-eating worms driven into a feeding frenzy by a downed power line devour the inhabitants of a backwoods town in Georgia. Can our city-boy hero overcome the crazed worm-ridden redneck and save his girl and her sister from being eaten alive?
Friday, July 11, 11:00pm
 
American Psycho
Mary Harron, USA, 2000, 35mm, 101m
Christian Bale is sheer genius as Patrick Bateman, a suave Wall St. investment banker and blithe serial killer, in this hilarious yet unsettling satire on 1980s conspicuous consumption and yuppie narcissism, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s notorious novel.
Friday, July 18, 11:00pm
 
Pumpkinhead
Stan Winston, USA, 1987, 35mm, 86m
With the help of the local witch, a country storekeeper (Lance Henriksen) summons a marauding 15-foot demon to avenge the death of his son, accidentally slain by a group of teens on vacation. Brought to you by the SFX genius behind Aliens and Jurassic Park.
Friday, July 25, 11:00pm
           
Carnival of Souls
Herk Harvey, USA, 1962, 35mm, 78m
In this haunting, dreamlike cult indie rediscovered in 1989, the sole survivor of a car accident is haunted by a ghoulish apparition and finds herself caught up in a series of terrifying uncanny events. What does it all mean?
Friday, August 1, 11:00pm
 
The Night Porter
Liliana Cavani, Italy, 1973, 35mm, 118m
Reunited by chance in Vienna, a Holocaust survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and a former SS officer (Dirk Bogarde) resume their sadomasochistic relationship 13 years after the end of the war. A surefire mix of sex, Nazis, and kinky victim/persecutor role reversal!
Friday, August 8, 11:00pm
 
Blood for Dracula
Paul Morrissey, Italy, 1974, 35mm, 103m
Produced by Carlo Ponti, filmed at Cinecittà, and written, cast, and directed by Paul Morrissey (director of Heat andTrash), Blood for Dracula began shooting the day after the completion of Flesh for Frankenstein. It is a unique and individual version of Bram Stoker’s character, Count Dracula, played by the German actor Udo Kier. Searching for virgin blood, he comes upon three beautiful daughters of an aristocratic landowner (Vittorio De Sica), but is interfered with by the estate caretaker (Joe Dallesandro). As interesting now as it was then.
Friday, August 15, 11:00pm
 
The Brood
David Cronenberg, Canada, 1979, 35mm, 91m
A bitter divorce literally spawns monsters in the most terrifying of the Canadian master’s “Body Horror” cycle. While an unorthodox psychiatrist (Oliver Reed) treats a psychotic patient (Samantha Eggar), her ex-husband tries to protect his daughter as a series of vicious murders befall those connected to him.
Friday, August 22, 11:00pm
 
Near Dark
Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 1987, 35mm, 94m
A pistol-packing outlaw family of bloodsuckers in an RV drift across Midwestern farm country in search of prey in this classic vampire road movie. Kick-ass action, hilariously gory setpieces, a mesmerizing Tangerine Dream score, and brilliant performances by Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton: it’s finger-licking good!
Friday, August 29, 11:00pm
 

 
Friday, July 11

11:00PM Squirm (92m)
 
Friday, July 18

11:00PM American Psycho (101m)
 
Friday, July 25

11:00PM Pumpkinhead (86m)
 
Friday, August 1

11:00PM Carnival of Souls (78m)
 
Friday, August 8

11:00PM The Night Porter (118m)
 
Friday, August 15

11:00PM Blood for Dracula (78m)
 
Friday, August 22

11:00PM The Brood (91m)
 
Friday, August 29

11:00PM Near Dark (94m)
 
FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, LatinBeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, The Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.
 
The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines,The New York Times, Stella Artois, the Kobal Collection, Trump International Hotel and Tower, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.