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FRIDAY: Programmers' Picks

Programmed by Addison Wood, Ian Resnick, and Hannah Halpern

You walk through the dreary streets of Hyde Park, pursued by a winter quickly approaching. The mist coats your face with an inescapable dampness, and you wonder to yourself where refuge might lie. Suddenly, a great light slices open the near impenetrable haze, and Ida Noyes Hall stands erect before you. The doors lurch and creak as you pry them open. The hinges feel as though they might rip from the wall. You have escaped for now. Exhaustion having overtaken you, there is no point in resisting: your quarter pass is emerging from your wallet.

But what’s this? It’s Friday. Oh God, anything but Friday! You cannot possibly bear the chilling terror of the programmers’ picks. Ghoulish tales of vampirism, stalkers, a sunken place, cannibalism, and incestuous Greek families (we admit that last one isn’t really that scary but look programming a series can be hard and maybe that’s like a thing for some of y’all).

You’re trapped in the confines of the Max Palevsky Cinema. Never before have you seen such horrific sights on celluloid! But there is no escape. You are doomed for the next nine weeks to bear witness to the deepest horrors ever put to film...

7:00PM Friday, September 30th

Perfect Blue still

Perfect Blue (1997)

Satoshi Kon · 81m · DCP

She’s the real thing! Mima’s about ready to give up her idol career; she’s spent too long being the good girl, and acting’s her way out. But Mima quickly realizes she’s got more than she ever asked for. Satoshi Kon’s brain-melting anime thriller is a film wholly of its own, a brutally violent fever dream of stalkers, psychosis, serial murders, and dissociation. Nevertheless, we’re sure Mima will figure it out. Question is: Who’s the real Mima?

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, October 7th

Train to Busan still

Train to Busan (2016)

Yeon Sang-ho · 118m · DCP

Passengers riding a train from Seoul to Busan have their journey transformed into a fight for survival when an outbreak turns those infected into zombies. Faster than a speeding bullet (train), the epidemic rips through the coaches, with no relief in sight at already-infected stations. The only hope is reaching the end of the line in Busan, where a military quarantine awaits—but will the survivors reach it in time before the zombies reach them?

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, October 14th

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night still

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Ana Lily Amirpour · 101m · DCP

Is this the only Iranian feminist skateboard revenge vampire suburban Expressionist Western out there? Even if it’s not, it’s certainly the best. Ana Lily Amirpour's œuvre chronicles the interactions of a series of characters in the fictional Bad City including drug dealers, junkies, partiers, and a mysterious vampiric woman. With gorgeous black and white cinematography and elegant direction, this is a film that demands to be seen on the big screen.

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, October 28th

Get Out still

Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele · 104min · DCP

We would’ve programmed it a third time if we could. Come see Jordan Peele’s breakout 2017 hit Get Out, the official film of Doc 2022 Halloween-eve-eve-eve (listen, scheduling is hard). Scary, cringy, funny, and infinitely quotable, Get Out has quickly become one of the best American films of the millennium. Chris, a Black Brooklyn-based photographer, visits his white girlfriend’s family only to discover that beneath their smiles lurks a dark secret…

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, November 4th

Dogtooth still

Dogtooth (2009)

Yorgos Lanthimos · 97m · 35mm

Unequivocally disturbing to the nth degree, Dogtooth is quarantined homeschooling from hell. Three teenagers, a son and two daughters, are raised wholly in a compound, knowing of the outside world only the dangers of man-eating cats and the possible existence of another brother. To quell the son's sexual frustrations, the father hires a woman to come to the home, but this outsider soon threatens to undo the perverted world the kids' parents have created.

Tickets can be bought here.

8:30PM Friday, November 11th

The Funhouse still

The Funhouse (1981)

Tobe Hooper · 96m · DCP

A criminally underrated piece of horror from the master of slashers, Tobe Hooper, The Funhouse is the quintessential 1980s teen slasher flick. When four Iowa teens take a trip to a rundown travelling carnival, they never expected to meet their end at the hands of a grusome serial killer. What begins as a night of pot-smoking, strip-teasing, and general crass '80s humor takes a turn for the worse when the true nature of the funhouse is revealed...

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, November 18th

Enter the Void still

Enter the Void (2009)

Gaspar Noé · 143m · 35mm

Enter the Void is Gaspar Noé's psychedelic afterlife movie from hell—a movie you should keep away from the children, the parents, and the dog. Shot entirely from the point of view of Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), an American drug dealer killed by Tokyo police in a drug bust, the film follows Oscar's soul as it journeys through past, present, and future seeking resurrection. An extreme, exhilarating movie, it's guaranteed to leave beads of sweat on your brow.

Tickets can be bought here.

7:00PM Friday, December 2nd

Tetsuo: The Iron Man still

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Shinya Tsukamoto · 67m · DCP

A homoerotic merger of Lynch's Eraserhead and the kaiju genre, director Shinya Tsukamoto's first feature is the epitome of cyberpunk body horror. Tetsuo: The Iron Man follows the "Salaryman" as he is thrust into a carnal, industrial nightmare, slowly turning into a metallic monster after being cursed by the "Metal Fetishist" he accidentally hits with his car. Grimy, grotesque, and grossly phallic, this is the film masochist's cult classic must-see.

Tickets can be bought here.