LATE NIGHT VAMPIRE WEEKENDS HALLOWEEN, Chelsea Theater
LATE NIGHT VAMPIRE WEEKENDS HALLOWEEN
October 4 - November 24, 2024
The Late Night series and Vampire Weekends present a blend of cult classics and vampire films that highlight the enduring fascination with vampire lore in cinema. Chilling thrillers to films that push the boundaries of vampire mythology, these selections are a perfect fit for the Halloween season.
THE FACE OF ANOTHER
Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara | 122 mins | TBC
Oct. 4 @ 10:00 pm
Oct. 5 @ 10:30 AM (in the morning)
Chelsea Late Night - Staff Pick: Oliver
The first film in our Chelsea Late Night series, THE FACE OF ANOTHER is a direct influence on Aaron Schimberg's A DIFFERENT MAN. The 1966 Hiroshi Teshigahara film is his third collaboration with the acclaimed writer Kōbō Abe (PITFALL, WOMAN IN THE DUNES). The film explores the existential and physical dissection of identity when Okuyama, played by Yojimbo's Tatsuya Nakadai, receives reconstructive surgery. With unforgettable imagery, Teshigahara's film explores both the limits and freedom in acquiring a new persona, and questions the notion of individuality itself.
SECONDS
Dir. John Frankenheimer | 106 mins | R
Oct. 5 @ 10:00 pm
Oct. 6 @ 10:30 AM (in the morning)
Chelsea Late Night - Staff Pick: Oliver
The second Chelsea Late Night that is a direct influence on Aaron Schimberg's A DIFFERENT MAN, John Frankenheimer's 1966 thriller SECONDS follows an unhappy middle-aged banker played by Rock Hudson in one of his most captivating performances who agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity - one that comes with its own price.
SILENTS SYNCED: NOSFERATU
Dir. F.W. Murnau | 94 mins | TBC
Oct. 11 @ 10:00 pm
Oct. 12 @ 10:00 pm
Silents Synced creatively combines classic silent films with modern rock music, starting with Radiohead’s “KID A / Amnesiac” albums paired with the 1922 silent film masterpiece, Nosferatu. This initiative rekindles the indie cinema tradition of merging films with contemporary music. In anticipation of Robert Eggers' upcoming Nosferatu remake, we celebrate over a century of vampire cinema, tracing back to F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, a seminal German Expressionist film that was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Despite initial copyright challenges from Stoker's widow, the film profoundly impacted cinema and vampire lore, introducing elements like vampires being destroyed by sunlight. This intertwining of vampire narratives and cinematic innovation continues to evolve, casting a long shadow over the genre and contributing new dimensions to its cultural and artistic expression.
NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR
Dir. F.W. Murnau |94 mins | PG
0ct. 12 @ 10:30 am
Oct. 13 @ 10:30 am
In anticipation of Robert Eggers' upcoming Nosferatu remake, we delve into the origins of vampire cinema with F.W. Murnau's 1922 German Expressionist film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. An influential yet unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, this film adapted its content for a German audience, altering character names and settings, and introducing "Nosferatu"—a name previously unheard in vampire lore, likely derived from a misheard Romanian word. Despite facing intense copyright litigation from Stoker's widow, the film profoundly influenced cinema and vampire mythology, notably introducing elements like vampires being destroyed by sunlight. Nosferatu's legacy continues to evolve, casting a long shadow over the cultural and artistic landscape of the vampire genre.
JIGOKU (THE SINNERS OF HELL)
Dir. Nobou Nakagawa | 101 mins | TBC
Oct. 18 & 19 @ 10:00 pm
Oct. 20 @ 10:30 AM (in the morning)
Shocking, outrageous, and poetic, JIGOKU (Hell, a.k.a. The Sinners of Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelgänger. But all possible escape routes lead straight to hell—literally. In the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour de force of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories, JIGOKU, with its truly eye-popping (and -gouging) imagery, created aftershocks that are still reverberating in contemporary world horror cinema.
Oct 25th @ 7pm – 12am
2nd Annual Chelsea Halloween Costume Party
THE LOST BOYS
Dir. Joel Schumacher | 97 mins | R
Oct. 25 @ 7:00 pm
Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire.
Joel Schumacher's slick comedy-horror is simultaneously the most 80s thing you'll see all day and as timeless as a vampire ought to be. It's for leather-clad, punk rock, SoCal teens but appeals to adults and kids alike referencing Peter Pan and Manson in the same breath.
BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA
Dir. Francis Ford Coppola | 128 mins | R
Oct. 25 @ 9:30 PM
Francis Ford Coppola's take on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel claims to be the most novel-accurate version ever put on screen, but we know this to be untrue. It is, however, a fascinating interpretation with visually striking set pieces and costumes designed by Eiko Ishioka that veers heavily, to the point of getting lost in amazing ways, into the Vlad the Impaler vein of Dracula lore, which developed as scholars speculated about the novel over the decades.
It features a stellar cast lead by Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves. It is a rich, romantic romp through love, lust, and eternity.
WERNER HERZOG’S NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE
Dir. Werner Herzog | 96 mins | PG
Oct. 28 @ 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm
Werner Herzog's NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979) is part remake and part reinterpretation of F.W. Murnau's original NOSFERATU (1922). It reverts some character names back to the names in Bram Stoker's Dracula novel including Count Dracula, played by Klaus Kinski who is made up to look like NOSFERATU's Orlok. Kinski plays against his frightful appearance, leading to some of the most compelling and memorable moments in the film. Herzog's interpretation pays homage to the original NOSFERATU, German cinema, and culture while using a few updated New German Cinema tricks along the way to help the film appeal to a modern audience.
THE VOURDALAK
Dir. Adrien Beau | 91 mins | TBC
Oct. 31 @ 7:00 pm
When the Marquis d’Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, is attacked and abandoned in the remote countryside, he finds refuge at an eerie, isolated manor. The resident family, reluctant to take him in, exhibits strange behavior as they await the imminent return of their father, Gorcha. But what begins simply as strange quickly devolves into a full fledged nightmare when Gorcha returns, seemingly no longer himself...
Adapted from a novella that predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by over half a century, The Vourdalak is an atmospheric, unexpected, sensorial experience that will leave you reeling and giddy in equal measure
THE VELVET VAMPIRE
Dir. Stephanie Rothman | 80 mins | R
Nov. 1 @ 10:00 pm
Nov. 2 @ 10:00 pm
In this cult exploitation skin flick, the lusty vampire trope, set by the story Carmilla, is thrust into the modern free love seventies in the heat of the Southern California desert. Continuing a tradition of such exploitation films, director Stephanie Rothman, creates an illusory, sensual desert mirage of a vampire film, playing into the hypnosis and stunning mind control aspect of vampire lore.
Sleepy-eyed nice guy Lee Ritter and his vapid, but pretty wife, Susan accept the invitation of mysterious vixen Diane LeFanu (A nod to "Carmilla" author J. Sheridan LeFanu) to visit her in her secluded desert estate. Tensions arise when the couple, unaware at first that Diane is in reality a centuries-old vampire, realize that they are both objects of the pale temptress' seductions.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
114 mins | R
Nov. 4 @ 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm
One of the most beloved independent films of the 21st Century, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a tender story of devotion and love first before it becomes a vampire film. The narrative focuses on the relationship between Vampire and Familiar, the vampire's caretaker and is a masterclass in the arts of inductive/deductive cinematography and unfolding show-don't-tell suspense.
Tomas Alfredson's chilly, visually stark, Swedish masterpiece was the true advent of Hoyte Van Hoytema (INTERSTELLAR, DUNKIRK, NOPE, OPPENHEIMER) as one of the great modern cinematographers. It is a truly lovely thriller that deserves a Familiar attention and devotion.
MS. 45
Dir. Abel Ferrara | 80 mins | R
Nov. 8 & 9 @ 10:00 pm
Nov. 10 @ 10:30 AM (in the morning)
Chelsea Late Night - Staff Pick: Steffi
Abel Ferrara's MS. 45 has become a cult classic of feminist revenge. As the male gaze becomes inescapable and the traumas of sexual assault slowly eat away at a timid and mute seamstress (Zoë Lund), she is driven by fear, trauma, and anxiety to strike back and exact vengeance with a .45 caliber pistol against the unchecked patriarchy and testosterone fueled male violence in the filthy streets of New York City.
A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Dir. Ana Lily Amirpour | 101 mins | TBC
Nov. 15 & 16 @ 10:00 pm
Nov. 17 @ 10:30 am (in the morning)
The inhabitants of an Iranian ghost-town called Bad City ought to fear the silhouette of a lone girl in a hijab. There is power there that they've overlooked.
Much beloved for its singular perspective, Ana Lily Amirpour's A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014) is one of the most unique additions and expansions on vampire lore and cinema to date. It is unlike anything you've seen in the vampire cannon, and unfortunately it is unlike many films shown in the West.
Not often does a film transform and upend a narrative genre, exact bloody commentary upon oppressive societies, and do so in a stunning black & white visual style all its own. It deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the greatest social horror films of the 21st Century. Films such as EX MACHINA (2014) and GET OUT (2017) just to name a couple.
FANTASTIC PLANET + THE TIME MASTERS
Dir. René Laloux | 150 mins | TBC
Nov. 22 & 23 @ 9:30 pm
Nov. 24 @ 10:00 am (in the morning)
Chelsea Late Nights - Staff Pick: Steffi + Matt
FANTASTIC PLANET (1973)
Nothing else has ever looked or felt like director René Laloux’s animated marvel Fantastic Planet, a politically minded and visually inventive work of science fiction. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). After Terr, kept as a pet since infancy, escapes from his gigantic child captor, he is swept up by a band of radical fellow Oms who are resisting the Draags’ oppression and violence. With its eerie, coolly surreal cutout animation by Roland Topor; brilliant psychedelic jazz score by Alain Goraguer; and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded 1973 counterculture classic is a perennially compelling statement against conformity and violence.
THE TIME MASTERS (1982) 4K Restoration
Directed by visionary science-fiction animator René Laloux (Fantastic Planet) and designed by the legendary Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Mœbius) The Time Masters is a visually fantastic foray into existentialist space adventure. After his parents are killed on the dangerous planet Perdide, young Piel (voiced by Frédéric Legros) survives by maintaining radio contact with Jaffar (Jean Valmont), a pilot transporting the exiled Prince Matton (Yves-Marie Maurin) and Princess Belle (Monique Thierry) from their former kingdom. Jaffar seeks the help of Silbad (Michel Elias), a cheerful old-timer who knows how to circumvent Perdide’s hazards, including brain-devouring insects and watery graves. Along the way, Jaffar and company encounter a pair of impish homunculi stowaways, identity-less angels controlled by an amorphous hive mind, and the Masters of Time, mysterious beings who can bend reality and perhaps reveal to the heroes their secret origins and destinies.
Restored in 4K in 2023 at the initiative of CITE FILMS in collaboration with the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and with the support of the CNC.
FURTHER READING:
- Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years (2022) by Christopher Frayling (Available at the Chelsea!)
- I Spit On Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (2024) by Heidi Honeycutt (Available soon at the Chelsea! Featuring Stephanie Rothman, director of THE VELVET VAMPIRE, 1971)
- The Phantom World (1746) by Dom Augustin Calmet, the Benedictine Abbot of Senones
- The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori (From a story by Lord Byron)
- The Family of the Vourdalak (1839) by A.K. Tolstoy (Second Cousin of Leo Tolstoy)
- In A Glass Darkly (1872) by J. Sheridan LeFanu (A collection of stories featuring the highly influential “Carmilla”)
- Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker