5 Points Theater Horror Film Festival
October 23 to 30th
The Five Points Theater has finally become that place which it was apparently meant to be. Lots of cool films, hard to find showings and a center for something local and original to start taking place.
Perhaps by no coincidence, the crowds have started to show up in numbers big enough to qualify as a success, even for local independent productions like the recent documentary of Stevie Stiletto and the Switchblades that played to full houses and crammed five points with old school punkrockers and fans of the band.
The theater is following an aggressive schedule of programming which is almost too busy for the local press to keep up with, and it is festival intensive. Five Points hasn't had so many planned activities since the early years of the decade, and is already benefiting from the hubbub.
Fresh from the heels of the Viva Cinema Festival, Halloween inspires the first Horror Film Festival in Jacksonville since 1982 at the old Town and Country Theater in Arlington when it was an arthouse cinema.
You would think that a town with the rich film prehistory that is the heritage of Jacksonville would be filled with these events, and maybe it finally will be.
The Horror Festival is a great start!
Here is the latest update on the Schedule. Afterwards, scroll down to see more details on the movies including many short clips and trailers of the films to help you plan your festival experience.
October 23rd
7pm – Nightmares in Red, White & Blue (Documentary)
9pm – Pontypool (Independent)
11pm – Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Classic)
October 24th
3pm – Frankenstein (the original 1931 Classic)
5pm – Carnival of Darkness (Short Films)
7pm – Zombie Girl (Documentary)
9pm – Dead Snow (Foreign)
11pm – An American Werewolf in London
October 25th
3pm – The Invisible Man (1933 Horror Classic)
5pm – Locally Made Short Films
7pm – How to be a Serial Killer (Horror/Comedy)
9pm – Cannibal Holocaust (70’s Classic)
11pm – Secret Horror Classic!
October 26th
80’s Horror Night – Films TBD
October 27th
Local Horror Films!
October 28th
7:30pm – Zaat (Locally-made Horror Classic)
October 29th
7pm – Class of Nuke’em High (Horror/Comedy)
9pm – Q&A with TROMA filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman (unconfirmed)
9:30pm – Poultrygeist (Horror/Comedy)
October 30th
11pm – Halloween Party
The film selection looks to be eclectic and fun for every night of the week! In addition to multiple genres of horror, including a few foreign films, there are also some gold plated classics, like Frankenstein and a nod to the local film industry in Zaat!
What follows is a detail of the programming in order of its scheduled showing.
Join us there and get ready to have a blast!
October 23rd 7 pm Nightmares in Red, White & Blue (Documentary)
Featuring exclusive interviews with legendary directors such as John Carpenter, George A. Romero, and Joe Dante and illustrated with clips from over 150 films, Nightmares in Red, White and Blue explores the timeless, universal appeal of horror movies from Lon Chaney to Hannibal Lecter and beyond.
9 pm Pontypool (Independent)
Pontypool was adapted from the novel Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess, who also wrote the screenplay. The story is about "Shock jock" Grant Mazzy who has, once again, been kicked-off the Big City airwaves and now works at the only job he could get hosting the early morning show at CLSY Radio in Pontypool Ontario, which broadcasts from the basement of the small town's only church. What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations due to yet another massive snow storm, things quickly turn deadly when reports of people having bizarre seizures, developing strange speech patterns and evoking horrendous acts of violence start piling in. Before long, Grant and the small staff at CLSY find themselves trapped in the radio station as they discover that this insane behaviour taking over the town is actually a deadly virus being spread through the English language itself. Do they stay on the air in the hopes of being rescued or, are they in fact providing the virus with its ultimate leap over the airwaves and into the world?
Here is the trailer for this indie flick:
12 am Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Classic)
October 24th 3 pm Frankenstein (the original 1931 Classic)
5 pm Carnival of Darkness (Short Films)
Check out the website for a whole lot of information about the Carnival of Darkness Shorts http://site.carnivalofdarknessfestival.com/
7 pm Zombie Girl (Documentary)
"Zombie Girl: The Movie" is a feature-length documentary covering the time it took 12-year-old Austin, Texas, filmmaker Emily Hagins to make her zombie movie "Pathogen." The film also explores the advancements in technology that have made it possible for so many young people to shoot and edit their own movies. Official website: zombiegirlthemovie.com
Check out the trailer:
9 pm Dead Snow (Foreign)
Dead Snow is a Norwegian comedy horror film, starring: Charlotte Frogner, Stig Frode Henriksen, Bjørn Sundquist, Ane Dahl Torp and Jenny Skavlan. It is directed by Tommy Wirkola. The film was released on 9 January 2009 in Norway. It then premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, after which IFC Films purchased the US distribution rights. The movie was nominated for four 2009 Scream Awards awards; Fight-to-the-Death Scene, Most Memorable Mutilation, Best Foreign Movie and Best Horror Movie.
Check out the trailer:
12 am An American Werewolf in London
October 25th 3 pm The Invisible Man (1933 Horror Classic)
5 pm Locally Made Short Films
7 pm How to be a Serial Killer (Horror/Comedy)
How to Be a Serial Killer pokes fun at the self-help literature industry and motivational speakers in general. There are so many ways to get off track while pursuing the perfect life, and an even greater number of pop-psychologists and gurus out there to lead the masses astray. Mike Wilson has found the perfect method of getting your life back on track and achieving a meaningful existence. Mike teaches his method in an exciting seminar series: How To Be A Serial Killer. Mike tells all of his students: "You have what it takes, you just have to pull the trigger on the life you deserve." Students rave about Mike's depth of knowledge on the subject of serial killing and his endless enthusiasm and zest for life. One student described Mike as "a tasty smoothy made from a little bit of Charles Manson, some Tony Robbins, and a sprinkle of the messianic charisma of Jesus."
Mike administers his first one-on-one tutorial when he recruits a lost soul named Bart to be his pupil in the art of serial killing. Mike's 10-lesson program includes weaponry, corpse disposal, keeping things from loved ones, and many other pearls. As Mike begins to teach Bart more and more about the ways of successful serial killing, it becomes more and more difficult to hide the truth from his girlfriend Abigail. And when she does inevitably find out, Mike's life as serial killer gets thrown for a serious loop. Now, devastated by the loss of the love of his life, and with the cops on his tail for the first time in his life, Mike and Bart retreat to Mike's desert hideout to make preparations for their escape to Mexico. But when a local sheriff's department interrupts their preparations, all hell breaks loose, and Mike must learn a lesson of his own: how to deal with police standoffs and full-scale gunfights.
Director: Luke Ricci
Writer: Luke Ricci
Studio: Monterey Media
Cast: Matthew Gray Gubler, Laura Regan, George Wyner
9 pm Cannibal Holocaust (70’s Classic)
12 am Secret Horror Classic!
October 26th
80’s Horror Night – Show up and See! Total Surprise film here.
October 27th
Local Horror Features. This outta be spellbinding.
October 28th
7:30 pm Zaat
Zaat, also known as The Blood Waters of Dr. Z or Hydra, is a 1975 cult movie that gained significant exposure when it was used in an episode of movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in May 1999.
The film begins with Nazi mad scientist Dr. Kurt Leopold in his lab, where he has lived alone for about twenty years. He is comtemplating about his former colleagues' laughter at his formula (described as "ZaAt" — read Z-sub-A, A-sub-T — but which he simply calls "Zaat"). His formula can turn a man into a walking catfish. He injects himself with the serum. He proceeds to climb into a basket above a tank of Zaat and lowers himself in. After a few minutes, a man-sized catfish-human hybrid creature climbs out of the tank, looks in the mirror, and remarks that it is beautiful what he has done to himself.
His first act of revenge on society that he feels has wronged him is to release several smaller walking catfish around the town's lakes and river (filmed in the St. Johns River near Green Cove Springs, FL), an annoyance to the townspeople. He then releases Zaat into the local water supply, rendering many of the townspeople ill.
October 29th
7 pm Class of Nuke’em High (Horror/Comedy)
9 pm Q&A with TROMA filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman (unconfirmed)
9:30 pm Poultrygeist (Horror/Comedy)
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead continues Troma’s pioneering technique of genre mélange… this time adding onscreen singing and dancing to Troma’s seminal slapstick-gore satire.
Poultrygeist is both a satire of the zombie genre, and an assault on the fast-food industry’s stranglehold on America. Director Lloyd Kaufman states that “... giant, devil-worshipping conglomerates today control the food & media we consume—and it’s the media that perpetuates the hegemony of a restaurant industry that is literally killing us and turning us into McNuggetcraving zombies.” Poultrygeist continues Troma Entertainment's long history of cinematic political activism. The film tells the story of mass-exterminated chickens possessed by the souls of massacred Native Americans, who then take revenge on unsuspecting fast-food patrons and workers.
Poultrygeist was shot on 35mm. Kaufman says that in addition to aesthetic concerns, the reason he shoots his films on 35mm is because Ӆ Troma fans enjoy the communal experience of going to a movie theater.” Poultrygeist is cinema’s first chicken-zombie horror-comedy… with musical numbers!
SYNOPSIS
Quote
When well-meaning but somewhat dim Arbie (Jason Yachanin) returns to the spot of his first (and only) romantic encounter with his high school sweetheart-- the not-so-romantic Ancient Tromahawk Tribe Indian Burial Ground-- he is shocked to discover two horrible realities: Not only has the graveyard been bulldozed to make room for the newest fast-food “American Chicken Bunker” chain restaurant, but after only one semester at college, his girlfriend Wendy
(Kate Graham) has been transformed into a left-wing, lipstick-lesbian liberal, and spends her free time protesting the corporate takeover of America.
Reeling from heartbreak and a brutal beating from Micki (Allyson Sereboff), Wendy’s new
activist girlfriend, Arbie channels his spite into applying for a job at the very restaurant they are protesting against.
But something else is feeling wronged by all of the construction and commotion… Something not human…
Meanwhile, newly employed Arbie’s coworkers are a colorful group: the sassy manager Denny
(Joshua Olatunde); the burqa-clad Muslim, Humus (Rose Ghavami); the animal-loving yokel Carl Jr. (Caleb Emerson); the effete Mexican spitfire Paco Bell (Khalid Rivera); and a mysterious 60-year-old man who has been working in fast-food all his life (Lloyd Kaufman).
Together, they slowly uncover the supernatural secret of the American Chicken Bunker, while the owner General Lee Roy (Robin L. Watkins) tries to keep a lid on the scandal, lest it taint his growing empire. But once workers and customers start dying in bizarre and grotesque ways, it becomes clear that this isn’t just a mild case of salmonella … but something much more FOWL.
Will Arbie and his friends stop the demons before they infect all the artificial foodstuffs, the
customers, and the world beyond? Will Arbie be able to win Wendy back now that he’s making
minimum wage? What’s Carl Jr. doing with that frozen chicken? And what’s with all the singing and dancing?
(Kate Graham) has been transformed into a left-wing, lipstick-lesbian liberal, and spends her free time protesting the corporate takeover of America.
Reeling from heartbreak and a brutal beating from Micki (Allyson Sereboff), Wendy’s new
activist girlfriend, Arbie channels his spite into applying for a job at the very restaurant they are protesting against.
But something else is feeling wronged by all of the construction and commotion… Something not human…
Meanwhile, newly employed Arbie’s coworkers are a colorful group: the sassy manager Denny
(Joshua Olatunde); the burqa-clad Muslim, Humus (Rose Ghavami); the animal-loving yokel Carl Jr. (Caleb Emerson); the effete Mexican spitfire Paco Bell (Khalid Rivera); and a mysterious 60-year-old man who has been working in fast-food all his life (Lloyd Kaufman).
Together, they slowly uncover the supernatural secret of the American Chicken Bunker, while the owner General Lee Roy (Robin L. Watkins) tries to keep a lid on the scandal, lest it taint his growing empire. But once workers and customers start dying in bizarre and grotesque ways, it becomes clear that this isn’t just a mild case of salmonella … but something much more FOWL.
Will Arbie and his friends stop the demons before they infect all the artificial foodstuffs, the
customers, and the world beyond? Will Arbie be able to win Wendy back now that he’s making
minimum wage? What’s Carl Jr. doing with that frozen chicken? And what’s with all the singing and dancing?
October 30th
11 pm Halloween Party
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sheclown
October 19, 2009, 08:02:12 AMWhat a great idea!
stephendare
October 19, 2009, 09:52:47 AMYeah, this looks simply amazing.
Lake do we have anything about Zaat?
5 Points Theatre
October 19, 2009, 11:26:58 AMI'm afraid something terrible has happened.
We've lost Lloyd Kaufman. He's got to go to Toronto and talk to potential financiers for the Toxic Avenger musical.
Let us know what we should do instead - do people want to see TROMA films without LLoyd?
KenFSU
October 19, 2009, 01:18:41 PMCannibal Holocaust is such a disturbing movie. It's so graphic that the film's director, Ruggero Deodato, was arrested on obscenity charges and investigated for murder amidst charges that several of the actors were legitimately killed in the film. The movie is also infamous for its scenes where the actors murder live animals. One particular scene, where a live turtle is cut wide open, was nearly impossible to watch. This will be a really interesting one to watch in a theater setting, if for no other reason than to watch people's reactions.
stephendare
October 19, 2009, 02:33:44 PMKen, I agree with you. Cannibal Holocaust is probably the most nauseating film I have ever seen in my life.
I watched it because of its reputation for unspeakableness, and it totally lived up to its hype.
Its fascinating, and its pretty open social criticism, but Im glad I watched it after I went travelling in the South American Jungle, because if I had, I would never have gone.
aprilhutchinson
October 19, 2009, 09:20:58 PMI can't wait to see The Invisible Man on the big screen. Zombie Girl seems interesting as well.
thekillingwax
October 20, 2009, 03:45:14 AMNot big fan of anyone promoting Cannibal Holocaust simply because of the animal violence it contains. I know plenty of movies feature it but CH does so simply because it's shocking, for a crazy 70's theme I probably would've gone with some of the Fulci movies. Could be worse though, at least they aren't playing any of that August Underground stuff.
5 Points Theatre
October 21, 2009, 12:06:35 PMWe've got some softer stuff as well - we tried to put in a little something for (almost) everyone.
I'm very excited to see the original Frankenstein on the big screen...
Also, the 80's Horror Night mystery films will be more on the fun side - I think we're going to have everyone's favorite brooding teen vampire horror / comedy film from the 80's.
copperfiend
October 23, 2009, 05:47:18 AMI found out a few days ago that a short film some friends and I made will be shown on Sunday.
stephendare
October 26, 2009, 11:06:10 AMThe Horror Film Festival in Five Points is going full swing, and tonight is the "80's Horror Night"
The movies are Monster Squad at 7 and Lost Boys at 9. Better yet, both movies are $5.
Monster Squad
Lost Boys