SHRIEK for Halloween

SHRIEK is back!

On October 21, we’ll dive into PET SEMATARY. Co-host/co-producer Heather is particularly excited to discuss grief in this film. As added perks, we get Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar!) as Rachel Creed, Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster!) as Jud Crandall, and baby Miko Hughes (Dylan Langenkamp in WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE!) as the terrifying toddler Gage Creed.

We’ll also discuss why protagonist Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff, TIME TRAX) keeps making the worst decision to resurrect his dying loved ones, plus the traumatic childhood of Rachel as she was forced to care for her dying sister. There’s a zombie cat and zombie humans, there’s a benevolent (but gore-riddled) ghost, and there’s a haunting memory of death in childhood—sounds like a very Stephen King story. Ready for Halloween?

On October 24, we’ll finally give PSYCHO the SHRIEK treatment. SHRIEK tackled THE BIRDS this past July, and now it’s time for Hitchcock’s other major horror contribution. Does PSYCHO hold up over time? Some of the original fright elements look altogether campy to current audiences, but the chills are still present. Let’s talk about that.

There’s so much to explore here. We have Janet Leigh’s criminal protagonist, who disappears at the end of Act One to make room for Norman Bates to lead the narrative (a bait-and-switch mimicked by Brian de Palma in his homage/knock-off, DRESSED TO KILL). There’s the tense relationships between the director and Vera Miles and Leigh as well as Hitchcock’s notorious treatment of his actresses. And, of course, there’s the fact that PSYCHO started the damaging trope of trans and cross-dressing killers in the horror genre (inspired by the true case of Ed Gein).

We can plot a clear arc from PSYCHO through SLEEPAWAY CAMP and DRESSED TO KILL to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, where the trope finally burns out. Having screened SLEEPAWAY CAMP and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS on previous SHRIEK nights, you can be sure we’ll address this. The SHRIEK community has grown a strong queer and trans following in Seattle, and we don’t gloss over these issues in our horror films.

Join us Sunday, October 21, for PET SEMATARY as we discuss of the power of grief in the horror genre, and October 24 for PSYCHO and our discussion of women in Hitchcock.

PET SEMATARY (1989)

Sunday, Oct 21, 2018

doors 6:30pm, opening talk & screening 7:00pm

Naked City Brewery & Taphouse

8564 Greenwood Ave N.

Seattle 98103

21+

Get tickets.

Trailer

PSYCHO (1960)

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2018

7:00pm