She Likes to Watch

“Evil Dead,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” mix with friendlier fare

More cinematic scares are in store for audiences this week, along with a black-and-white classic and a family-friendly science fiction blockbuster.

This week’s movie calendar kicks off tonight with a special screening of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

It’s a fundraiser for the Five Cities Chapter of Quota International, a service organization dedicated to helping deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired people as well as disadvantaged women and children.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, “To Kill A Mockingbird” stars Gregory Peck as a principled small-town lawyer in the Depression-era South. Assigned to defend a black man accused of rape, he fights against prejudice at the risk of harm to himself and his family.

Peck won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his inspiring performance as Atticus Finch.

Admission is $20 and includes the movie, soda, popcorn and a raffle ticket. Generous souls who purchase a $100 “VIP ticket” will receive 20 raffle tickets, chocolate truffles and something called “personal waitperson service.” Sounds ritzy.

According to Quota, proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit “mini home makeovers” for folks in the Five Cities areas.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” will be shown tonight at the Fair Oaks Theatre, 1007 E Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

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See the movie that launched Sam Raimi’s directing career and made Bruce Campbell a B-movie icon tonight when “The Evil Dead” shows in San Luis Obispo.

In “Evil Dead,” five friends head to an isolated cabin in the Tennessee woods. They find and play a tape containing incantations from an ancient text known as The Book of the Dead, unleashing forces of unspeakable evil.

Big mistake. One by one, the terrified teens turn into bloodthirsty zombies — leaving hapless Ash (Campbell) to fend them off.

The first in Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy, this low-budget horror film earned cult classic status for its graphic gore and off-beat humor. Although it’s arguably inferior to sequel “Evil Dead II,” “The Evil Dead” still packs some pretty effective punches — including an “tree rape” scene that I can’t watch without squirming.

“The Evil Dead” plays at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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On Thursday, the Young Professionals Networking Group hosts a charity screening of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

When several people encounter strange lights, sounds and other phenomena, they find themselves drawn to a single place: Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

The faithful include two government researchers (Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban), a single mom (Melinda Dillan) and her toddler, and a lineman (Richard Dreyfuss) so obsessed with his UFO encounter that he carves mountains in his mashed potatoes.

Steven Spielberg’s surprisingly warm movie was a smash success back in 1977, raking in $116.4 million in North America alone. Don’t miss the chance to see this sci-fi favorite on the big screen.

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Palm Theatre. Tickets are $10, include a raffle for hotel stays, spa treatments, food and wine, and benefit the Food Bank of San Luis Obispo County.

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Friday turns freaky with a screening of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at the Palm Theatre.

A terrifying figure is haunting the dreams of the denizens of Elm Street: a ragged, badly scarred man with razor blades for fingers.

Years ago, serial killer Fred Krueger was cornered by an angry mob of parents and burned alive. Now Freddy’s back and looking for revenge on the children whose parents who drove him to his death.

When her friends start dying in their sleep, 15-year-old Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) realizes she must stay awake in order to stay alive.

Like “Friday the 13th,” Wes Craven’s “Nightmare” is considered a slasher classic. Keep your eyes peeled for young Johnny Depp, who appears as Glen Lantz, one of the kids being stalked by the spectral Freddy.

Catch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Palm Theatre. Tickets are $7.50.

Celebrate Halloween the right way with these terrifying films

More than Christmas, Easter or the Fourth of July, Halloween is a holiday made for movie lovers.

Theaters and video stores trot out their most horrific titles. Workplaces and classrooms morph into mad scientists’ labs, pirate ships, spooky lairs. Candy flows from the heavens. And everyone — I mean, everyone — dons face makeup and sequins.

Being a big fan of All Hallows Eve, I started prepping for the holiday back in August. The rest of you, on the other hand, might need some help.

Let’s start with Halloween costumes. Want to dress up in style? The movie mavens at Rotten Tomatoes have some ideas for you.

While some of these suggestions are pretty lame — I can’t imagine anyone wanting to dress up as Adam Sandler’s Israeli super-soldier in “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” — pulling together an instantly recognizable, homemade version of Indiana Jones, Juno or Rambo should be a snap. Scour those thrift stores, people!

Not quite nerdy enough? Not to fear. Geek haven io9.com offers its version of “Halloween Costumes That Rule” as well as a Flickr group dedicated to the best (and worst) of science fiction-themed costumes.

Elsewhere in Blogland, SpookMaster has some killer pumpkin-carving patterns, including Darth Vader, Yoda and the “Batman” symbol.

The Lightning Bug invites you to check out “The Halloween Top 13″ — a baker’s dozen designed to delight the senses and scare the living daylights out of you. First up is “Friday the 13th,” a veritable Halloween classic.

Film School Rejects also has a list of top terror flicks, titled “31 Days of Horror.”

Invasion of the B Movies will be featuring reviews of the ever-popular”Halloween” series during the last nine days of October. (For those of you getting out your calculators, the list includes “Halloween: H2O,” “Halloween: Resurrection” and Rob Zombie’s 2007 “Halloween” remake, now available on Blu-Ray. That’s a lot of mask-wearing, knife-wielding psychopaths.)

Meanwhile, over at KillerFilm.com, Jon offers his excellent “Halloween Watch List”, Matt gushes over James Whale’s “The Bride of Frankenstein” and Topher shares “What I’ve Learned From American Psycho.” Apparently, this slick thriller about a Wall Street yuppie turned serial killer is actually a heartwarming lesson about “friendship and self-appreciation” — with an inspiring role model, no less! Who knew?

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Movie poster courtesy of PosterWire.com.

This week’s films cover elections, space travel and alien invasions

Another week, another packed movie calendar.

HopeDance Magazine launches its latest local film series tonight with “Free For All!: One Dude’s Quest to Save Democracy.”

Inspired by the controversy over the 2004 presidential elections, “Free For All!” follows filmmaker John Ennis as he explores the electoral process in the state of Ohio. He talks to journalists, politicians, attorneys and activists in a personal quest for truth.

“Free for All!” will be screened at 7 p.m. tonight at the San Luis Obispo Library, in San Luis Obispo. A $5 donation is suggested.

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For thrills and chills of a different sort, turn to the Palm Wednesday movie series.

Tonight, the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo offers a screening of “Event Horizon.”

When Earth picks up a signal from the Event Horizon in 2047, a group of astronauts led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) are sent to investigate the long-lost spaceship, lost in a wormhole on its maiden voyage. They discover the vessel in orbit around the planet Neptune, intact but seemingly abandoned.

As the crew of the Lewis and Clark explores the ship, however, they uncover the horrifying truth: Someone or something is on board. And it wants blood.

“Event Horizon” earns its R rating with gore galore and a terrifying story that mixes elements of horror, science fiction and psychological thriller.

Tim Burton’s alien invasion spoof, “Mars Attacks!”, plays Friday at the Palm.

Drawing inspiration from the popular Mars Attacks trading card series, this zany blockbuster is the stuff of classic B-movies: Big-brained aliens with deadly rayguns invade Earth.

When aliens land near Las Vegas, the President of the United States (Jack Nicholson) and his staff assume they must be friendly. Hippies rejoice. Scientists celebrate.

Sorry, folks. Turns out the interstellar travelers have other plans for Earth.

Burton harkens back to the B-movies and ensemble comedies of the 1950s and ’60s with ample camp and an all-star cast (Glenn Close, Annette Benning, Pierce Brosnan and Danny DeVito, to name a few). Don’t miss the many allusions to science fiction favorites such as “War of the Worlds,” “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” “Godzilla” and “This Island Earth.”

Both movies will be screened at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Palm, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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“Mars Attacks!” photo courtesy of the blog WhatToFix.com.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”: Give yourself over to absolute pleasure

Plenty of movies have fervent followings.

“Star Wars” has spawned multiple movies, television series and novels, conventions and costume contests. Dudes dedicated to “The Big Lebowski” gather yearly to bowl and drink White Russians. There are cults of personality dedicated to the “Evil Dead” movies, “Brazil,” “Heavy Metal” and “Mommie Dearest.”

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has to be the only cult classic that requires its fans to strip down to their underwear, shout one-liners and toss toast at the movie screen. Yet, somehow, it’s inspired an international craze.

Some theaters have become legendary for their “Rocky Horror” screenings, such as Portland’s Clinton Street Theater.

Locally, Big Purple Onion Productions presents a live “Rocky” show every month — complete with pirates, cowboys and other delights. (Imagine your funniest, most outgoing friends lipsynching to one of the zaniest movies imaginable — in costume, of course! It’s homegrown fun in an intimate setting, right here in San Luis Obispo.)

Born as a British stage musical in 1973, “Rocky Horror” inspired midnight movie mania two years later with a fantastic film version.

Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon star as Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple who find themselves stranded at night in a torrential downpour. They seek shelter in the nearest dwelling, a castle inhabited by mad scientist Frank-N- Furter (Tim Curry) and his demented staff.

As you might imagine, Brad and Janet are in for a wild night.

“Rocky’s” plot borrows elements from “Frankenstein” and other B-movie classics, mixing cabaret, rock ‘n roll and a wacky sense of humor with counter-culture issues like transvestism, extraterrestrial life and sexual awakening. Hey, everybody! It’s “Time Warp” time!

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will be screened tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont movie theater, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

Since “Rocky” fans tend to be a rambunctious bunch, theater management has a few ground rules: No rice, toast or hot dogs. No squirt guns or spray bottles. No lighters. (Would you want to mop up cold hot dogs or try to scrub stains out of a movie screen? No. You would not.)

Costumes and other props, such as newspapers, noisemakers, flashlights and rubber gloves, are encouraged.

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MTV’s plans to remake “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” have apparently been slammed by all those involved with the original.

Show creator Richard O’Brien, who appears in the 1975 film as Riff Raff, says he won’t be involved with any remakes. Barry Bostwick called a remake “a waste of money” and Susan Sarandon simply doesn’t see the point of rebooting such a “charming … interesting” film.

Nonetheless, a “Rocky Horror” reboot is currently in the works. At least one site, imdb.com, reports the release date as 2010.

’80s mania spawns a DVD series

Paramount Pictures loves the 1980s. Paramount also loves making a quick buck.

By now, you may have noticed the covers of your favorite ’80s movies peeking out of grocery store checkout lanes and video kiosks. Was that “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” wedged between People and O magazine? “Some Kind of Wonderful” squeezed between the chewing gum and sunflower seeds?
Here’s why: Paramount is releasing 40 of your favorites from the era, all tarted up in a series titled (what else?) “I Love the ’80s.”

Repackaging the decade’s hits in pastel slip-covers , the studio doesn’t exactly splurge on the extras. In fact, few of these titles offer little more than a theatrical trailer and French subtitles.

Each “’80s Edition” comes with a “Music of the ’80s” CD featuring songs by Echo and the Bunnymen, Erasure and INXS and a-ha.

Most of the movie choices make sense.

What DVD collection, after all, is complete without a copy of “Airplane!”, “Top Gun” or “Pretty in Pink”? The same goes for “Friday the 13th,” “Footloose,” “Ferris Bueller.” All fun. All classics.

Other, more serious titles such as “Reds” and “Witness” also have their place.

“Grease 2,” on the other hand, seems like a peculiar choice. And there are other odd additions: “Rustler’s Rhapsody.” “Summer School.” “Hot Pursuit.” There must be “King David” fans out there, but I’m not sure everyone would enjoy watching the infamous “Richard Gere in a diaper” scene.

Movie buffs should skip this series in favor of superior special special editions. There are far better versions out there, with much better making-of documentaries, directors’ commentaries and other extras. Most of them probably carry the same sticker price, too.

Still, if you can’t resist buying that copy of “Beverly Hills Cop” along with your bread and milk, well, I can hardly blame you.