Hello Everyone! We are super excited to announce that our 35mm print of THE KILLING OF SATAN, the only known 35mm print of this film in existence, will be screening as part of The Music Box of Horrors in October!
The Music Box of Horrors is at, of course, The Music Box Theatre on October 22nd. For more information and tickets, Please click HERE
Hope to see you all there!
Hello Everyone!
It has been a little while since we have been able to have in person events. We are currently waiting for more predictability in terms of our partner venues being able to host events consistently and for restrictions to subside so that our patrons are able to attend such events with equity. We will be sure to provide ample notice regarding any future events. Despite not having any in person events as of late, this by no means that we have not been active in the film community.
1) The Chicago Cinema Society Film Archive has been busy loaning out 35mm prints to theaters across the country. For theaters with reel to reel 35mm projection, please reach out to us via the contact tab above.
2) The director of Chicago Cinema Society is also one of the head programmers over at The Chattanooga Film Festival whose programming would likely parallel the interests of those of you who have been following our programming over the years. The festival is also virtual so not being able to travel to Chattanooga would not be an issue (granted we strongly encourage a visit there as the city is cute). We highly recommend that you follow the festival if you enjoy our programming.
That is all for now. We just wanted to update you on what is going on with CCS during these challenging times. Take care and hope to see you soon!
Love,
The Chicago Cinema Society
Hi! Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we will be rescheduling this event. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates or check back here! 🙂 Thank you.
Event Type:
Lecture/presentation and film screening
Intro:
Join us for a presentation of Mexican genre cinema guided by Mexico’s Morbido Film Festival head programmer Abraham Castillo Flores at Chicago Filmmakers on Saturday, March 28th. Delving beyond luchadores, Abraham unearths Mexican vampires, ghosts and monsters that fomented a distinctive but barely acknowledged corner of our cinematic consciousness. After the presentation we will be screening a brand new DCP of the amazing film THE SHIP OF MONSTERS directed by Rogelio A. González.
Description:
For decades, Mexican fantasy and horror cinema hid in the shadows, wearing a luchador mask, surviving budgets tainted by economic gloom, holding vampires with a nylon thread, receiving the scorn of nearsighted critics and consumption by audiences sunk into tongue-in-cheek appreciation.
But things have changed. Throughout the first 19 years of the 21st century there has been a clear rise in the amount, quality and risk found in Mexican horror and fantasy cinema. It is not by chance that today, in the midst of a horrifying reality, Mexican genre films enjoy popularity, freedom and sometimes, profitability. As if that were not enough, our beloved alpha genre warrior — Guillermo Del Toro — has been knighted by Hollywood.
Who would have thought that stories filled with wailing legends from our pre-Hispanic past, starved female vampires, Aztec mummies, monk ghosts, child practitioners of the dark arts and tropicalized sci-fi queens would become part of our cultural heritage?
We will revisit the origins of Mexican fantasy and horror cinema and examine its development through the 20th Century and the start of the 21st. In parallel, we will dissect national legends and traumas that have been continuously reinterpreted by our national filmmakers that stand as a reaction to the tragic reality that Mexico is now experiencing.
THE SHIP OF MONSTERS:
We are incredibly excited to be presenting a brand new DCP of the classic THE SHIP OF MONSTERS (aka: La Nave De Los Monstruos) and we are grateful of support of Fundación Televisa for allowing us to bring this new DCP to Chicago! The DCP is in it’s original Spanish dialogue with English subtitles.
THE SHIP OF MONSTERS synopsis:
Two Venusian women, Gamma (Lepe) and Beta (Velázquez), are sent on a mission by their queen (Consuelo Frank) to search for males to repopulate the planet. Along the way, they and their servant, Tor the robot, acquire a colorful array of male extraterrestrial creatures in their “ship of monsters”, including Martian prince Tagual, Uk the cyclops, Utirr the spider and skeletal Zok. Landing in Mexico, Gamma and Beta become enamored with singing cowboy Lauriano (Eulalio González).
THE SHIP OF MONSTERS clip:
About the Presenter:
Abraham Castillo Flores has been Head Programmer at Mexico’s Morbido Fest since 2010, where he curates and presents exotic and outrageous films to audiences hungry for intense emotions. A Mexican offspring of the 1970s obsessed with the power and paradoxical beauty of genre stories imprinted onto celluloid and pixels. Graduated with honors from the School of Visual Arts, NYC with more than 20 years experience in the film industry and academia. Abraham currently lives in Mexico City where he dedicates his every breath to the promotion, restructuring, study and presentation of genre films.
This event is co-presented with our good friends over at The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. Check out their website for other great presentations around the world. Click onto their name above for more information.
Fundación Televisa: Televisa S.A. de C.V. All Rights Reserved. We appreciate the support of Fundación Televisa
When and where you might ask? Here is all the information:
Date: Saturday, March 28th, 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Chicago Filmmakers
5720 N. Ridge Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60660
773-293-1447
www.chicagofilmmakers.org
Price: $10
Hello Everyone! We just wanted to note that Doc Films at The University of Chicago will be screening our 35mm print of WILD AT HEART from our film archive. Here are the details for the screening:
WILD AT HEART (35mm print)
Location: Doc Films at The University of Chicago Address: 1212 E 59th St, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Screening times: 7:00pm and 9:30pm
Ticket price: $7.00
Here is also the link to the facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2257224501051205/?active_tab=about
Hope to see you all there!
Hello Everyone! We are really excited to be hosting the Chicago Premiere of the incredibly fun MEGA TIME SQUAD with our friends at Chicago Filmmakers. MEGA TIME SQUAD has been receiving many accolades on the Film Festival circuit over the last year and we are happy to be able to share it with you! Check out the trailer below and synopsis below it:
Johnny (Anton Tennet) lives an underwhelming life. He is a low-level drug dealer in Thames, New Zealand, he lives in his mother’s garage, his time is spent with a blundering friend Gaz (Arlo Gibson) at the local bowling alley and doing petty errands for the local kingpin Shelton (Johnny Brugh of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS) and his henchmen (including Milo Cawthrone of DEATHGASM and ASH VS. EVIL DEAD). When a once-in-a-lifetime chance at a big score reveals itself, Johnny finds himself wondering, “Do I have what it takes to pull off a caper?” He quickly realizes no, he doesn’t. That is, not until he stumbles upon an ancient relic that allows him to travel across time. With the power to bend time in Johnny’s hands, a hodgepodge of hilarity ensues and the “bogans” (Kiwi for loser) sets his sights once again on the wealth just beyond his grasp. However, what are the consequences of this temporal insanity, and does Johnny have what it takes to face off against Shelton and his henchmen?
New Zealand has shown itself to pack a comedic wallop in recent years, proving time and time again that it is a force to be reckoned with. MEGA TIME SQUAD is a fresh and hysterically funny new addition to Kiwi genre film and comedy, following in the footsteps of recent favourites HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE and DEATHGASM. Tim van Dammen’s boisterous second feature weaves charm and charisma into every scene of his brilliantly bonkers yarn. Don’t miss this witty blend of LOOPER, Monty Python, FARGO and good ol’ Auckland! (Justin Langlois – Fantasia International Film Festival)
When and where you might ask? Here is all the information:
Date: Saturday, January 19th, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Chicago Filmmakers
5720 N. Ridge Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60660
773-293-1447
www.chicagofilmmakers.org
Price: $10
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
We are incredibly excited to be hosting two screenings of one of the most beloved films currently on the festival circuit, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (aka: Vuelven), with our friends at Chicago Filmmakers. Stephen King tweeted “this is one terrific film, both tough and touching.” Guillermo del Toro declared it one of the ten best films of 2017 and he has subsequently arranged to produce director Issa Lopez’s next film.
Tigers are not afraid synopsis: Estrella (Paola Lara) is a 10-year-old girl who is left alone when her mother never comes home one day. She makes a wish for her mother to return, but flees home when her wish comes true: Her mother is dead, and returns to haunt Estrella. The girl takes to the streets where she joins a gang of boys roughly her age who have all been similarly abandoned or orphaned by the violence that plagues their city. Estrella tries to keep her other two wishes a secret, terrified of what may result from them, but the brutal crime lord responsible for her mother’s death and his gang become an imminent threat to Estrella and her friends.
Here are the details:
Two screenings only on:
Friday, May 18th at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 20th at 7:00pm
Location:
Chicago Filmmakers
5720 N. Ridge Avenue
773-293-1447
www.chicagofilmmakers.org
Price: $10
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
The Chicago Cinema Society in association with the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and Bleeding Skull! brings a wild double feature of cult insanity to Chicago Filmmakers for one night only! CCS co-director Jason Coffman recently published a book of his collected film reviews, THE UNREPENTANT CINEPHILE, and we’re celebrating with two of the most insanely entertaining films recently released by AGFA and Bleeding Skull!
JUNGLE TRAP is a shot-on-video horror movie about a group of researchers who run into supernatural unpleasantness at a mysterious hotel deep in the jungles of South America. Shot in 1990, JUNGLE TRAP was never completed until Bleeding Skull worked with director James Bryan to finish and release the film over 25 years later! THE SWORD AND THE CLAW (aka LIONMAN) is an out-of-control action epic starring Turkish action superstar Cüneyt Arkin as a man raised by lions who must lead a resistance to overthrow his kingdom’s brutal overlord. Released in the United States in 1982 by William Mishkin–the same distributor who produced nearly all of cult legend Andy Milligan’s deranged oeuvre–LIONMAN was retitled and given a bizarre English dub track that only enhances the feeling of sanity-breaking unreality already inherent in the movie.
JUNGLE TRAP description from Bleeding Skull!:
Shot in 1990 and unreleased until THIS VERY MOMENT. The final collaboration between exploitation demigods James Bryan (DON’T GO IN THE WOODS) and the late Renee Harmon (FROZEN SCREAM), JUNGLE TRAP is a decapitation-fueled, shot-on-video horror masterpiece about a jungle hotel haunted by kill-crazy ghosts in loin cloths. The movie remained unedited, unscored, and unseen by human eyes for over two decades . . . UNTIL NOW. Under Bryan’s guidance, the Bleeding Skull! team meticulously edited the movie and recorded a soundtrack utilizing vintage 1980s synthesizers. For the first time ever, Bryan and Harmon’s raging slab of anti-sanity can be deeply enjoyed by the world’s most adventurous viewers. That’s you.
THE SWORD AND THE CLAW description from AGFA:
Before the infamous TURKISH STAR WARS — there was 1975’s THE SWORD AND THE CLAW! AGFA’s latest preservation is a wild ride through that same hallucinogenic netherworld, and features genre legend Cüneyt Arkin in his most iconic role. This is CONAN THE BARBARIAN meets The Three Stooges meets DOLEMITE — with more lo-fi bloodshed, pop-art visuals and lunatic dubbing than the boundaries of reality can handle.
Jason Coffman will give a brief introduction to both films and copies of THE UNREPENTANT CINEPHILE–which covers over 800 cult, exploitation, horror, and independent films–will be available for purchase for the ludicrously low price of $10! Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime double feature of finely curated paracinema! More information on his book here:
THE UNREPENTANT CINEPHILE on Amazon:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/
Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/
When and where you might ask? Here is all the information:
Date: February 17 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location (our first screening at the new CF location!):
Chicago Filmmakers
5720 N. Ridge Avenue
773-293-1447
www.chicagofilmmakers.org
Price: $10
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Tuesday, October 17th
The Nightingale
1084 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, IL 60642
7:30 PM, $7-10
The Chicago Cinema Society in association with The Nightingale is proud to bring author and filmmaker Andrew Leavold back to Chicago for a very special evening of action! Mr. Leavold is on tour promoting his first book THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG, the thrilling tale of a former cult video store manager turned guerrilla film-maker and B-film detective who goes looking for the two-foot-nine “James Bond of the Philippines!”
An exclusive 90 minute compilation called THE LOST FILMS OF WENG WENG – three of Weng Weng’s Tagalog language films edited down to their essentials and subtitled into English – all seen for the very first time outside the Philippines! You get the gold from – Stariray (Dolphy’s 1981 gay disco actioner, in which a gruff-voiced Weng Weng as Chief of Operations teaches him kung fu); Da Best In Da West (another Weng Weng western also from 1981, this time as Dolphy’s deputy Bronson!); and Legs…Katawan…Babae! (stars Hagibis, the Filipino Village People, in a delirious disco kung fu spy musical WESTERN [!!!] in which Weng Weng makes a cameo in the final blazing line-dancing number).
About the Author:
Andrew Leavold owned and managed Trash Video, the largest cult video rental store in Australia, from 1995 to 2010. He is also a film-maker, published author, researcher, film festival curator, musician, and above all, unrepentant and voracious fan of the pulpier aspects of genre cinema. His writing has been published globally in mainstream magazines, academic journals and underground cinema fanzines, for the last two decades. This is his first book.
Leavold toured the world with his feature length documentary The Search For Weng Weng (2013). His ten years of research on genre filmmaking in the Philippines formed the basis of Mark Hartley’s documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (released internationally in 2010), on which Leavold is also Associate Producer, and he has since been recognized both in the Philippines and abroad as the foremost authority in his area of expertise, teaching Philippine film history at university level in Australia, the United States, and throughout the Philippines. Leavold teamed with Daniel Palisa to co-direct The Last Pinoy Action King (2015), both a feature-length documentary on the late Filipino action idol Rudy Fernandez, and a dissection of film royalty, politics, privilege, idolatry, and the Philippines’ pyramid of power.
He is currently shooting two new feature-length documentaries – The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (also with Palisa), the third in his Filipino “Guns, Goons And Gold” trilogy, about erotic cinema under Marcos; and Pub, a history of Melbourne’s mythic St Kilda music scene as told through its most outrageous progeny, musician and artist Fred Negro. Both films are due for release in 2018.
Andrew will be in attendance for a Q&A and will be signing any purchased books.
Trailer for Andrew Leavold’s documentary THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG:
The Chicago Cinema Society in association with Shudder is proud to present the Chicago premiere of Kuso, the debut feature film from Flying Lotus, at the historic Davis Theater!
This wild hybrid of live action, puppetry and animation premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival as part of their Midnight selections. It immediately gained a reputation as one of the most bizarre and confrontational films to ever screen there, and now this comedic horror fantasia will be on big screens across the country for two nights only!
Tickets for these midnight screenings are $12 and are now available in advance through the Davis Theater ticketing site. The Davis has assigned seating, so if you have a favorite spot make sure to get your tickets ASAP!
Don’t miss this chance to see one of the ultimate cult films of 2017 on the big screen!
Both screenings are presented from digital projection and take place at the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625.
1st screening:
Date: Friday, July 21st
Time: 11:55 p.m.
Ticket price: $12.00
2nd screening:
Date: Saturday, July 22nd
Time: 11:55 p.m.
Ticket price: $12.00
The Chicago Cinema Society is excited to announce that we have discovered an uncut Italian 35mm print of Suspiria. The print was rescued from an Italian cinema that had closed down and the print had gone untouched in their storage area since 1977/78. After a brief inspection to assess the overall condition of the print, it appears as if it had only been screened a handful of times at most. The print is in excellent physical condition with no substantial wear, uncut heads and tails, minimal fading and no vinegar syndrome. Once we had the print in our film archive, we then made a very careful inspection to determine which version of Suspiria we had obtained. We were stunned to find that the print is a completely uncut 6 reel print with a run time of 98 minutes in Italian language. We then privately screened the print and recorded excerpts, which can be found on our YouTube channel, to give people a better sense of what the print actually looks like. Here a clip which includes one of the more notorious cut scenes (pun intended) that does not exist in 1977 US release prints:
We reached out to Don May at Synapse Films to see if they would be in need of our print for restoration purposes. He noted to us that they have all of the film elements that they need for their upcoming digital restoration. We then shared information on our discovery with a number of film programmers across the country, many of whom had become very interested in screening the print. Since preservation elements for Suspiria exist, we arranged a tour for our print to start late this summer. More venues have reached out to us with interest in screening our print so follow Chicago Cinema Society on Facebook and check in at our website for updates and the additions of any other screening dates. Do not miss out on this opportunity to see Suspiria in the way that it was intended to be seen! As of the moment, our print of Suspiria is scheduled to screen, with projected subtitles (soft-subbing), at the following venues:
7/28 – 8/2/2017: The Metrograph, New York City, NY
8/11 – 8/13/2017: Roxie Theatre, San Francisco, CA
8/23 – 8/25/2017: Gateway Film Center, Columbus, OH
9/1/2017: The Denver Film Society, Denver, CO
9/7/2017: The Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
9/15+ 9/16/2017: The Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN
10/2/2017: The Egypitan Theatre (as part of Beyond Fest), Los Angeles, CA
10/14 + 10/17/2017: Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA
10/26 – 10/27/2017: Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
11/6/2017: Music Box Theatre (as part of Cinepocalypse), Chicago, IL
11/18/2017: Alamo Drafthouse, Littleton, CO
11/24/2017: Alamo Drafthouse, Yonkers, NY
12/1 – 12/3/2017: Northwest Film Center, Portland, OR
12/13/2017: Suy-Ray Cinema, Jacksonville, FL
1/12/2018: Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY
1/18/2018: The Charles Theater, Baltimore, MD
1/27/2018: Hollywood Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
2/3/2018: Coral Gables Art Cinema, Miami, FL
2/17/2018: The Little Theatre, Rochester, NY
4/13/2018: Lightbox Film Center (as part of Cinedelphia Film Festival), Philadelphia, PA
Stay tuned for more updates! Thanks!
THE SHIP OF MONSTERS: We are excited to announce that we will be screening a brand new DCP for THE SHIP OF MONSTERS as part of our upcoming event: The Morbido Crypt’s Guide to Mexican Fantasy and Horror Cinema on March 28th! Thanks to Fundación Televisa for their support!
4We are super excited to be collaborating with our wonderful and marvelous friends over at Miskatonic Institute to bring to Chicago one of our favorite human beings, Abraham Castilo Flores, to Chicago for his amazing presentation: THE MORBIDO GUIDE TO MEXICAN HORROR! Be there!
Chicago! March 28 Abraham Castillo Flores returns with THE MORBIDO GUIDE TO MEXICAN HORROR, this time at the @CCinemaSociety tix and details at https://chicagocinemasociety.org
FILMMAKERS! We are working with our friends over at The Windy City Horrorama to bring some amazing genre films to the third annual fest this April! Submit your films! We have seen some amazing submissions so far and looking forward to seeing what you got! https://filmfreeway.com/WindyCityHorrorama
Excellent coverage of day one of The Windy City Horrorama which featured some of our favorites of the fest: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2222446847839455&id=208637469220413
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2209255379158602&id=208637469220413
