Halloween is just around the corner and London's cinemas and film clubs have dug through horror films old and new to present the best. With everything from a short film showcase from a collective of female horror film programmers to a silent film with a live soundtrack, there's a fright night for everybody this week.
Here are the 10 screenings we’ve got goosebumps for...
The Thing
This 1980s sci-fi horror sees an all-male Antarctic research group picked off one by one after they dig up something unearthly in the ice. It’s being screened on board the magnificent Cutty Sark as part of a spooky season devoted to a real-life mission to the Arctic that ended in mystery.
Tuesday 31st October at 6pm, The Cutty Sark, Greenwich. Book tickets here.
Photo: Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Hocus Pocus
Head to The Book Club for cocktails, life drawing, and a 1980s witchy caper this weekend. Art Macabre will run an art class, with all materials provided, before a screening of the campy classic.
Saturday 28th October at 4.30pm, The Book Club, Shoreditch. Book tickets here.
Photo: Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
We Are The Weirdos
Horror’s long been the preserve of male writers and directors but the genre’s shaking off its 'boys' club' reputation with the help of programming collective The Final Girls. Next Monday, they’ll be presenting a selection of short and snappy horror films, all by female directors or writers.
Monday 30th October at 6.30pm, Prince Charles Cinema, Soho. Book tickets here.
Photo: Via We Are The Weirdos
Get Out
If you missed this fresh, funny horror film when it came out earlier this year, now’s your chance to see what all the hype was about. A New Yorker heads into the countryside to meet his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, but the family’s awkward attitude towards race masks a dark secret.
Tuesday 31st October at 7.30pm, Stow Film Lounge at Mirth, Marvel and Maud, Walthamstow. Book tickets here.
Photo: Via Stow Film Lounge
Suspiria
For lovers of B-movies, 35mm and giallo, Cigarette Burns has programmed a whole night of lesser-seen horror, culminating in a screening of this sleazy Italian horror. The whole night’s presented in the gorgeous Regent Street Cinema, just a stone’s throw from Oxford Circus (and the 24-hour Victoria line).
Saturday 28th October from 11pm, Regent Street Cinema, Fitzrovia. Book tickets here.
Photo: Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Rosemary's Baby
Kill off the Sunday scaries with a dose of genuinely terrifying psychological horror. Way before Prevenge and Possession hit the big screen, this groundbreaking film was one of the first in the mainstream to be frank about how scary it can be to be pregnant.
Sunday 29th October at 3.10pm, Prince Charles Cinema, Soho. Book tickets here.
Photo: Paramount/REX/Shutterstock
Night of the Living Dead
Made on a shoestring, George A. Romero’s 1968 film became a classic in the genre and still moves audiences with its political undercurrent. It’s an old-school zombie horror, with slow-moving undead, and its reliance on tension over jump scares makes it an unmissable watch.
Tuesday 31st October at 7.30pm, Close-Up, Shoreditch. Book tickets here.
Photo: Via Close-Up Cinema
Videodrome
If you want your Halloween gorefest with a side of punk cool, head to Deptford Cinema this weekend. David Cronenberg’s super violent Videodrome stars Debbie Harry as a kinky femme fatale in a 1980s sci-fi horror that still makes stomachs churn.
Saturday 28th October at 8pm, Deptford Cinema, Lewisham. Book tickets here.
Photo: Universal/REX/Shutterstock
Nosferatu
This silent vampire film from 1922 annoyed Bram Stoker’s family so much that they tried to have every copy burned. But its appeal was too strong to die, and on Thursday it comes back to life on the big screen, soundtracked by a live orchestra.
Thursday 26th October at 7.30pm, St Luke’s Church, Clerkenwell. Book tickets here.
Photo: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock
Wait Until Dark
In the 1960s, Audrey Hepburn departed from delicate Holly Golightly/Princess Ann-type roles for a turn in a tense psychological thriller. Wait Until Dark is a sharp and stylish film that relies on iconic images and claustrophobia, making it a memorable take on ‘home invasion’ horror.
Tuesday 24th October at 6.20pm, BFI Southbank, Waterloo. Book tickets here.
Photo: Via BFI SouthbankLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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