Network

Opening:

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS—Tom Hanks as the captain of a US cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates. Co-starring Barkhad Abdi and Barkhad Abdirahman. Directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum). Flix, Maple Ridge, Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW—A man on vacation with his family at a giant theme park has a breakdown after learning he has lost his job in this movie shot guerilla style at Disney World. Directed by Randy Moore. Reviewed this issue. Amherst

Haloween Horror

It’s no news to horror fans that Halloween has expanded to take over most of the month of October. But for those who seek their trashy thrills outside the mainstream, the month clearly peaks this weekend. The last thing you want to do is waste your time at Machete Kills (it’ll still be here next weekend) when you can choose from the following:

• From the creator of Snow Shark, Lockport resident Sam Qualiana, the premiere of The Legend of Six Fingers, reviewed in this issue, at the Screening Room.

• At the Transit Drive-In, the greatest zombie triple feature of all time: George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead (1968), Shaun of the Dead (2004), from the blokes who gave you the recent The World’s End, and the first ever local screening of Dead Alive, a.k.a. Brain Dead (1992), the outrageous splatstick comedy from Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson.

• An extremely rare screening of Humphrey Bogart’s only horror movie, The Return of Doctor X (1939), in which he plays a zombie lab assistant with a Bride of Frankenstein-ian hair do, opening a series of Bogart films at the Old Chestnut Film Society. (Bonus feature: the rare 1963 TV documentary A Man Called Bogart.)

• Return of the Killer Shrews, a new sequel to one of the all-time so-bad-it’s-good classics with the original film’s star James Best (who provided an autographed poster that will be raffled off). Weekend screenings at the Angola Screening Room will include the original 1959 The Killer Shrews, starring Peter Graves and a bunch of dogs wearing rat snouts as the killer beasties.

- M. Faust

MACHETE KILLS—Sequel. Now in development: Machete Kills Again...In Space! No, I’m not kidding. Starring Danny Trejo, Mel Gibson and Demian Bichir. Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids). Flix, Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In

STILL MINE—James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold as an elderly couple fighting to remain in their New Brunswick home. Co-starring Campbell Scott. Directed by Michael McGowan (Score: A Hockey Musical). Reviewed this issue. Amherst

ETC:

AQUÍ Y ALLÁ (HERE AND THERE)—From Mexico, a drama contrasting the image of America with the real lives of people in a small mountain village who hope to go there. Directed by Antonio Méndez Esparza. Part of the Ibero-American Film Festival. Thurs Oct. 10 5 pm Canisius College, Student Center/Regis North.

UN CUENTO CHINO (CHINESE TAKEAWAY)—The popular Argentine actor Ricardo Darin, star of The Secret in Their Eyes, Nine Queens and Son of the Bride, is consistently funny as the curmudgeonly owner of a neighborhood hardware store who becomes the unwilling caretaker of a Chinese immigrant in desperate straits. What follows isn’t entirely unpredictable, but it finds unusual ways to get to where you know it’s going. Recommended. Directed by Sebastián Borensztein. Part of the Ibero-American Film Festival. Thurs Oct. 17 5 pm Canisius College, Student Center/Regis North.

THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS—Premiere of a new horror movie by Lockport’s Sam Qualiana (Snow Shark). Starring Andrew Elias, Debie Rochon, Lynn Lowry and Tim O’Hearn. Reviewed this issue. Screening Room.

NETWORK (1976)—The film that gave us the phrase “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. Thirty-five years and we’re still taking it, and scripter Paddy Chayefsky’s satire on corporate owned news reporting stings even more bitterly. Starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch. Directed by Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon). Presented by the Buffalo Film Seminars. Market Arcade

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004), and DEAD ALIVE (1992)—The greatest zombie triple feature of all time, capped by the first-ever local screening of Peter Jackson’s 1992 splatstick comedy, originally released as Brain Dead. Transit Drive-In

THE RETURN OF DR. X (1939)—The Old Chestnut Film Society opens its first ever season devoted to Humphrey Bogart with one of his least seen movies, a horror thriller in which he plays a zombie lab assistant (dig the hair). With the even rarer 1963 television documentary A Man Called Bogart. Fri 7:30 pm. Philip Sheridan School, 3200 Elmwood (836-4757)

RETURN OF THE KILLER SHREWS—New sequel to the 1959 so-bad-it’s-good cult classic (where the monsters were played by dogs in rat snout masks). Amazingly it features the same star, veteran character actor James Best. Weekend shows will include the original THE KILLER SHREWS. Angola Screening Room

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)—Because it just wouldn’t be Halloween without Dr. Frank N. Furter prancing about somewhere. Do the Time Warp again! Thurs Oct 17 7 pm. City Honors Auditorium, 186 E. North St. (www.chsfilm.org)

ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)—Mia Farrow as a Manhattan housewife who doesn’t know that her unborn child is literally the devil’s spawn. Roman Polanski’s American debut is claustrophobic but muted, at least compared to his later exercises in apartment-based paranoia. With John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans and Ralph Bellamy. Screening Room

TOO LATE BLUES (1962)—Downbeat drama starring Bobby Darin as a jazz pianist who refuses to compromise his standards, no matter how much it hurts his career. Directed by John Cassavetes, working as a director for hire but clearly engaged with the material. Darin’s band includes Benny Carter, Shelly Manne, Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Rowles, and Niagara Falls’ Tommy Tedesco in the early days of his astonishing career as a session guitarist. Part of Hallwalls’ Jazz Noir series. Hallwalls