16TH ANNUAL AERO HORRORTHON

ABOUT THE FILMS

 IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, 1994, Warner Bros., 95 min. Dir. John Carpenter.

Scored and directed by John Carpenter, this film functions as a nod to his friend, the masterful Stephen King. After successful horror novelist Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) disappears, a dubious insurance investigator, played by Sam Neill, goes after Cane’s publisher in the hopes of retrieving the writer’s unfinished manuscript for his latest novel, “In the Mouth of Madness,” and discerning his whereabouts. Suffering nightmares provoked by Cane’s earlier works, Trent must overcome his fears and make a nighttime excursion to the missing novelist’s eerie hometown.

FORMAT:  35mm

IT’S ALIVE, 1974, Warner Bros., 91 min. Dir. Larry Cohen.

And they say the second child is always easier. Unassuming couple Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell) leave their son in the care of a family friend as they head to the hospital to give birth to their second child. Their second child, however, turns out to be a mutant with a knack for killing when frightened. And easily frightened it is. Larry Cohen’s freakish film pits father against “son” as Frank tries to destroy the monstrous infant against this family’s pleas.

FORMAT:  35mm

NIGHTBEAST, 1982, AGFA, 80 min. Dir. Don Dohler.

A small town is shook up by an unexpected visitor. The twist? This stranger happens to be from outer space and happens to have a thirst for blood. Human blood. Perry Hall’s Sheriff Jack Cinder (Tom Griffith) must evacuate the town before the creature’s bloody rampage conquers all. From cult director Don Dohler, this film functions as both a remake and sequel to Dohler’s first film THE ALIEN FACTOR (1978).

FORMAT:  DCP Restoration courtesy of Troma Entertainment and the American Genre Film Archive

HOUSE OF WAX, 2005, Warner Bros., 113 min. Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra.

A group of college friends are on their way to a school football game when they get a flat tire and end up in a ghost town. The only place that’s open? A strange and spooky wax museum run by disturbed twin brothers. The teens soon discover that the wax figures are not what they seem and must fight to stay alive or risk becoming the next exhibit. An overlooked gem from the early 2000s, this slasher flick features Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton.

FORMAT:  35mm

HORROR EXPRESS, 1972, AGFA, 91 min. Dir. Eugenio Martin.

Set in 1906 China, a famed British anthropologist boards the Trans-Siberian Express with his newly uncovered frozen specimen. Not the missing link he was hoping for, the anthropologist’s latest discovery turns out to be a mysterious and murderous entity with the power to control minds. With passengers dropping off one by one, will this train of terror ever reach its destination? Starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

FORMAT:  35mm

THE BRAIN, 1988, AGFA, 94 min. Dir. Ed Hunt.

A group of teens stumble on a mad scientist (David Gale, RE-ANIMATOR) who is attempting to control people’s minds via a public access TV show. And this somehow leads to a goop-filled, multi-tentacled mutant brain that eats a guy, throws a woman out of a window, and forces neighbors to commit chainsaw murders. Combining teen angst from OVER THE EDGE, conspiracy theories that out-strange STRANGER THINGS, and monster effects that feel like outtakes from KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, THE BRAIN is a one-in-a-zillion trash-horror treasure chest.

FORMAT:  DCP Restoration courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive