The house bulbs dim to black. The overhead projector comes to life, blasting a high shaft of light onto the screen. Down below, in the seats, the room jitters with flashes and shadows. Darkness prevails, especially in the spaces just over your shoulder. It's impossible to tell what might be there. Behind you. In the inky blackness. Where a hand may be reaching slowly towards you, right now, undetected, as your eyes are glued to the zombies and aliens and monsters coming at you on the scream! I mean screen!
The spooky Halloween spirits will dance among us inside the Prince George Playhouse this weekend, during the freaky film fest put together by promoter Jon Russell and a band of friends who love the spooktacular entrails of Halloween and love the movies that make you quiver with Hollywood fear.
The frights start tonight on Day 1 of the First Annual Playhouse of Horror mini-festival. Doors open at 6 p.m. The first movie screens at 7 p.m. with the John Carpenter classic Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis, followed by the Vincent Price star turn in The House On Haunted Hill.
On Saturday the hours are the same, but two different films from the horror genre will be shown. The first is the original 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead followed by its sequel Dawn of the Dead. These are two of the most definitive zombie zingers ever brought to...life?
"We originally just wanted to show public domain shows, but we got more ambitious as our planning went on," said Russell. "We had to go through licensing companies to get the rights to these films, that wasn't easy in every case, and it is not cheap to show a movie to a public audience, but we think it's going to be such a good time we didn't let any of that stop us."
Russell's family has the operation contract for the Playhouse, and he knew it was a perfectly suited building for a Halloween event of some kind. He and the Russell family produced Evil Dead: The Musical at this time last year, which helped Russell form the thoughts about putting a collection of films together. But he also knew the event had to have more to it than just dimming the lights and pulling back the curtain.
"We have a host. Adam Harasimiuk [a community actor known for his roles in Putnam County Spelling Bee, Evil Dead: The Musical and Spamalot] will be a sort of Rod Serling, Twilight Zone kind of narrator," Russell said. "We didn't ask him to do this, but on his own he scripted a bit of a storyline to everything. We are in a theatre, so for sure there's going to be some of that dramatic ambiance."
There will also be all the old grindhouse touches like popcorn, candy, cuddling, and even beer.
"We want people to come out in costumes, make it a Halloweeny good time, or just come as you are. It isn't often you get to watch movies in a theatre on the big screen unless it's one of the latest things at the box office down at Famous Players. Only Cinema CNC does this other than that, so we wanted to try it out," said Russell.
Tickets are $12 per night, getting you the full double feature plus a free popcorn voucher. Buy them in advance online at www.brownpapertickets.com or get them at the door.
