Boston Revival Screenings Oct. 14-20
Revivalist movie theatres, theatres that screen non-contemporary, independent, and international films, are some of the strongest proprietors of film as a cultural art in the vast and seemingly exclusively for-profit contemporary movie landscape. As Emerson College’s own independent film publication, The Independent aligns with the values of protecting and encouraging cinematic art history, which brings us to what you, the audience, are reading now: Welcome to This Week in Revival! This is the first in a series of weekly comprehensive lists of revivalist screenings, independent screenings, and Q&As in the Boston area with our must-see highlights at the end.
Want to skip to the good stuff? Check out our highlights here!
Boston Revival Screenings Oct. 14-20
Monday Oct. 14:
2:00, 8:00 • Boxcar Bertha (1972) dir. Martin Scorsese – The Brattle Theatre
35mm projection
During the Great Depression, a union leader and a young woman become criminals to exact revenge on the management of a railroad. Tickets.
4:00, 9:45 • Dementia 13 (1963) dir. Francis Ford Coppola – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A scheming widow hatches a bold plan to acquire her late husband’s inheritance, unaware that she is being targeted by an ax murderer who lurks in the family’s estate. Tickets.
4:15 • Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) dir. Hayao Miyazaki – Alamo Drafthouse
35mm projection • presented in Japanese with English subtitles
In Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film, a dashing thief, his gang of desperadoes and an intrepid cop struggle to free a princess from an evil count, and learn the secret of a treasure that she holds part of the key to. Tickets.
7:00 • Interview with the Vampire (1994) dir. Neil Jordan – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Digital projection
A vampire recounts his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter. Tickets.
7:00 • Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir. Edgar Wright – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse. Tickets.
Tuesday Oct. 15:
4:15 • Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir. Edgar Wright – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse. Tickets.
5:00, 7:00, 9:00 • Targets (1968) dir. Peter Bagdonovich – The Brattle Theatre
35mm projection
An aging horror star contemplates retirement amid the modern culture of random violence, while a disturbed young gun collector embarks on an unprovoked killing spree. Tickets.
7:00 • Beetlejuice (1988) dir. Tim Burton – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home and hired a malicious spirit to drive them out. Tickets.
7:00 • 13 Ghosts (1960) dir. William Castle – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Presented in Illusion-O*
Reclusive Dr. Zorba has died and left his mansion to his nephew Cyrus and his family. They will need to search the house to find the doctor’s fortune, but along with the property they have also inherited the occultist’s collection of 13 ghosts. Tickets.
*Illusion-O is an early rendition of what ultimately turned into 3D glasses; with Illusion-O, audiences receiving a card with a blue lens and a red lens, one on top of the other. Depending which lens you look through, different images of will appear on screen, in this case, whether or not you want to see the ghosts in Castle’s “13 Ghosts” can be controlled by which lens you choose to look through, as the film was shot with different colored filters to block out certain objects that can only be seen with color contrast.
7:15, 10:00 • The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
In 1920s Los Angeles, a bedridden patient in a hospital captivates a young girl with a fantastic tale of heroes, myths, and villains on a desert island. Tickets.
7:30 • Marnie (1964) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Somerville Theatre
35mm projection
Marnie is a thief, a liar, and a cheat. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, catches on to her routine kleptomania, she finds herself being blackmailed. Tickets.
Wednesday Oct. 16
3:45, 9:50 • The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
In 1920s Los Angeles, a bedridden patient in a hospital captivates a young girl with a fantastic tale of heroes, myths, and villains on a desert island. Tickets.
4:00, 8:00 • The Shooting (1966) dir. Monte Hellman – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
Two miners agree to guide a mysterious woman, who has appeared in their camp from nowhere, to a nearby town; but soon, because of her erratic behavior, they begin to suspect that her true purpose is quite different. Tickets.
6:00 • Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) dir. Monte Hellman – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse. Tickets.
7:00 • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) dir. Wes Craven – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop’s daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers’ children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world… Tickets.
7:00 • Polyester (1981) dir. John Waters – Coolidge Corner Theatre
35mm projection – in Odorama!*
Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart — until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow. Tickets.
*Odorama! is an old movie theatre gimmick invented for Waters’s “Polyester”, where the theatres would spray different scents in time with designated moments in the film to enhance the experience. In other words, smell-o-vision. At this screening, attendees will be provided with scratch-and-sniff cards to coincide with the film.
7:30 • Hangdog (2023) dir. Matt Cascella {Q&A with Writers, Director, and Star} – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
When an anxiety-ridden thirty-something entrusted with watching his girlfriend’s beloved fur baby accidentally gets the dog stolen, he’s thrust on a quest through an unfamiliar city to confront his fears and retrieve the dog or risk losing them both. Tickets.
7:30 • Little Shop of Horrors (1986) dir. Frank Oz – West Newton Cinema
Digital projection
Seymour Krelborn is a nerdy orphan working at Mushnik’s, a flower shop in urban Skid Row. He harbors a crush on fellow co-worker Audrey Fulquard, and is berated by Mr. Mushnik daily. One day Seymour finds a very mysterious unidentified plant which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and soon begins to sing for its supper. Tickets.
Thursday Oct. 17
7:00 • The Wolf Man (1941) dir. George Waggner – Capitol Theatre
Digital projection
After his brother’s death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf. Tickets.
7:00 • I Married a Witch (1942) dir. René Clair – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Digital projection
Rocksford, New England, 1672. Puritan witch hunter Jonathan Wooley is cursed after burning a witch at the stake: his descendants will never find happiness in their marriages. At present, politician Wallace Wooley, who is running for state governor, is about to marry his sponsor’s daughter. Tickets.
7:30 • Frenzy (1972) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
After a serial killer strangles several women with a necktie, London police identify a suspect—but he claims vehemently to be the wrong man. Tickets.
8:55 • Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) dir. Roy William Neill – Capitol Theatre
Digital projection
Grave robbers exhume the wolf man and awaken him. He doesn’t like the idea of being immortal and killing people when the moon is full so he tries to find Dr. Frankenstein in hopes that the doctor can cure him. Dr. Frankenstein has died; however, his monster is found. Tickets.
9:55 • It Follows (2015) dir. David Robert Mitchell – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Digital projection
When carefree teenager Jay sleeps with her older boyfriend for the first time, she learns that she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sexual intercourse. Death, Jay learns, will creep inexorably toward her as either a friend or a stranger. Jay’s friends don’t believe her seemingly paranoid ravings, until they too begin to see the phantom assassins and band together to help her defend herself. Tickets.
Friday Oct. 18
6:00 • The Student Nurses (1970) dir. Stephanie Rothman – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
Follows the lives of a group of young nurses in Los Angeles, including a nurse who joins a band of revolutionaries, and one who finds herself succumbing to drugs. Tickets.
7:00 • Belarmino (1964) dir. Fernando Lopes – Harvard Film Archive
Digital projection
A portrait of Belarmino Fragoso, a veteran boxer in Lisbon nearing the end of his career. In a blend of reportage and re-enactment, the many vices of the once national featherweight champion are revealed against a background of the grim economics of boxing in 1960s Portugal. Tickets.
8:00 • Caged Heat (1974) dir. Jonathan Demme – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A young woman is convicted on drug offenses and sent to a women’s penitentiary run by a repressed and oppressive female warden. When the prison’s sadistic doctor begins conducting illegal “therapeutic” experiments on the inmates, the ladies plot their revenge. Tickets.
9:00 • The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future. Tickets.
9:15 • Change of Life (1967) dir. Paulo Rocha – Harvard Film Archive
Digital projection
After completing his military service in the Angolan War of Independence, Adelino goes back to the Portuguese fishing village he calls home, only to find that the woman he loves has married his brother. Overcome by bitterness, he sets off to find work in the countryside where he meets Albertina, a free-spirited young woman who challenges him to change his life. Tickets.
10:00 • Stop Making Sense (1984) dir. Jonathan Demme – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album “Speaking in Tongues.” The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals. Tickets.
11:59 • Tales of Terror (1962) dir. Roger Corman – Coolidge Corner Theatre
35mm projection
Three stories adapted from the work of Edgar Allen Poe: 1) A man and his daughter are reunited, but the blame for the death of his wife hangs over them, unresolved. 2) A derelict challenges the local wine-tasting champion to a competition, but finds the man’s attention to his wife worthy of more dramatic action. 3) A man dying and in great pain agrees to be hypnotized at the moment of death, with unexpected consequences. Tickets.
11:59 • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) dir. Tobe Hooper – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Digital projection
A group of five young friends face a nightmare of torment at the hands of a depraved Texas clan. Tickets.
Saturday Oct. 19
12:00 • Amarcord (1973) dir. Frederico Fellini – The Brattle Theatre
35mm projection
In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios. Tickets.
12:00 • The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick – Alamo Drafthouse
Digital projection
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future. Tickets.
5:30 • Chopping Mall (1986) dir. Jim Wynorski – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A group of teenagers that work at the mall all get together for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock down before they can get out, the robot security system activates after a malfunction and goes on a killing spree. One by one the three bots try to rid the mall of the “intruders.”, and all the kids have to defend themselves are the supplies in the stores. Can they make it till morning when the mall reopens? Tickets.
7:00 • Lucifer Rising (1974) dir. Kenneth Ranger – Harvard Film Archive
16mm projection
Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer in order to usher in a new occult age. Tickets.
7:30 • Piranha (1978) dir. Joe Dante – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort’s rivers, the guests become their next meal. Tickets.
8:30 • El Topo (1970) dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky – Harvard Film Archive
35mm projection
El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a transformative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. Tickets.
10:00 • Stop Making Sense (1984) dir. Jonathan Demme – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album “Speaking in Tongues.” The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals. Tickets.
11:30 • The Exorcist (1973) dir. William Friedkin {Director’s Cut} – Coolidge Corner Theatre
35mm projection
When a charming 12-year-old girl takes on the characteristics and voices of others, doctors say there is nothing they can do. As people begin to die, the girl’s mother realizes her daughter has been possessed by the devil–and that her daughter’s only possible hope lies with two priests and the ancient rite of demonic exorcism. Tickets.
11:59 • Poundcake (2023) dir. Onur Tukel – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
There’s a madman loose in New York City. Late at night, he stalks the streets looking for straight white men to punish. When he finds them, he kills them in unspeakable ways. Tickets.
Sunday Oct. 20
12:00 • Stop Making Sense (1984) dir. Jonathan Demme – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album “Speaking in Tongues.” The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals. Tickets.
12:30 • House on a Haunted Hill (1959) dir. William Castle – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
Frederick Loren has invited five strangers to a party of a lifetime. He is offering each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in a house. But the house is no ordinary house. This house has a reputation for murder. Frederick offers them each a gun for protection. They all arrived in a hearse and will either leave in it $10,000 richer or leave in it dead! Tickets.
2:00 • The Last Man on Earth (1964) dir. Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter. Tickets.
3:00 • Trails (1978) dir. João César Monteiro – Harvard Film Archive
Digital projection
Parallel tales of young couples desperately escaping cruel false fathers, each couple on the run across different regions of the country and during increasingly contemporary time periods. Tickets.
3:00 • Invisible Nation (2024) dir. Vanessa Hope {Director in Person}- Coolidge Corner Theatre
Digital projection
With unprecedented access to Taiwan’s sitting head of state, director Vanessa Hope investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. Tickets.
4:00 • Holding Back the Tide (2024) dir. Emily Packer {Writer, Director, and Editor in Person} – Somerville Theatre
Digital projection
This impressionist hybrid documentary traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, Holding Back the Tide looks to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival. Tickets.
4:00 • Autumn Sonata (1978) dir. Ingmar Bergman – The Brattle Theatre
35mm projection
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva. Tickets.
6:30 • Rock ‘N’ Roll High School (1979) dir. Allan Arkush – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration. Tickets.
7:00 • Vilarinho Das Furnas (1971) dir. António Campos – Harvard Film Archive
Digital projection
Situated at the foot of Yellow Mountain, which protected it from the cold offshore winds of winter, and between the rivers Man and Eido, which irrigated the fields around it, the village of Vilarinho das Furnas was destroyed in 1969. This documentary provides a tribute to the people of the town during the last 12 months of its existence, before being erased by the cold and clear waters that gave it life for so long. Tickets.
8:30 • Suburbia (1984) dir. Penelope Spheeris – The Brattle Theatre
Digital projection
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart. Tickets
The Independent’s Highlights
Monday: Dementia 13 (1963) dir. Francis Ford Coppola – The Brattle Theatre
In an era of late work from some of the golden age of directors, why not revisit some of their earliest work?
Tuesday: 13 Ghosts (1960) dir. William Castle – Coolidge Corner Theatre
With an interactive element and piece of cinematic viewing history to boot, it would haunt you if you missed “13 Ghosts”!
Wednesday: Polyester (1981) dir. John Waters – Coolidge Corner Theatre
Some of the filthiest, smelliest, and queerest (literally and… literally!) filmmaking of all time. What’s not to love?
Thursday: I Married a Witch (1942) dir. René Clair – Coolidge Corner Theatre
This early forties Halloween-esque flick is defined not by its era, but by its timeless seasonal spirit.
Friday: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) dir. Tobe Hooper – Coolidge Corner Theatre
One of the canon pieces of not just horror cinema, but American filmmaking.
Saturday: Lucifer Rising (1974) dir. Kenneth Ranger – Harvard Film Archive
A rare 16mm print screening with a groundbreaking experimental psychedelic fantasy flick.
Sunday: Autumn Sonata (1978) dir. Ingmar Bergman – The Brattle Theatre
We’re settling into Autumn with this sincere, reflective, and tumultuous family drama.
Week Highlight: Rock ‘N’ Roll High School (1979) dir. Allan Arkush – The Brattle Theatre
The Ramones make their star turn for the silver screen in this classic American high school romp, with an original rock soundtrack and electric teen spirit.
All loglines for the listed films are sourced from Letterboxd or IMDb.
Regions: Boston