Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
(RKO Pictures/Getty Images)
The AFI Silver is frequently your one-stop cinema for seasonal screams, and digital restorations of Dario Argento’s Suspiria (October 27-28 and 30-31) and George Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead (October 28-November 2) playing on Halloween and beyond will provide more than enough nightmare fodder. But the real treat in Silver Spring this weekend are the film of legendary producer Val Lewton—many of which will be shown in 35mm prints. Best known for the 1944 Cat People (October 28-31), Lewton’s crowning achievement may be this not-very-scary sequel. Directed by Robert Wise, this is one of the most evocative of the many films that attempt to capture the magic and danger of a child’s imagination. It’ll be shown on a double-bill with the noirish The Seventh Victim. Other than standalone screenings of the original Cat People (which cost just $5), the AFI has scheduled a number of double bills (at regular price) to maximize your entertainment value.
Watch the trailer for The Curse of the Cat People.
Curse of the Cat People and The Seventh Victim screen Sunday, October 29 at 1:45 p.m. at the AFI Silver.
(Artisan Entertainment)
Found footage horror movies come along more often than Metro trains, and you can blame their popularity on the success of this 1999 hit about three filmmaking students who go for a hike in Burkittsville, Maryland. In conjunction with the pop-up exhibit, LOC Halloween: Chambers of Mystery, on display from October 27-November 1, The Library of Congress will screen the movie as part of the special event, “Creating Modern Ghost Stories: The Blair Witch Project.” The program “examines the craft and development of a modern classic ghost story,” and includes live interviews with Blair Witch co-director Eduardo Sánchez, co-producer Michael Monello, and Julia Myrick, who developed the mythology that drove the film.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. at the Library of Congress, Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building. Get free tickets here.
(Oscilloscope)
In conjunction with the exhibit Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt, the newly-reopened Freer offers a special program for Sunday’s International Cat Day. Director Ceyda Torun ups the animal ante in this feature-length look at a series of Istanbul street cats that have established territories in various establishments around the city. Come for the cats, stay for the observation of an ancient city and its struggle with gentrification. Also screening is the 2017 Japanese film Neko Atsume House (October 29 at 3:30 p.m.), about a novelist whose encounter with stray cats, “might be just what he needs to get his life back on track.”
Watch the trailer for Kedi.
Sunday, October 29 at 1 p.m .at the Freer Gallery of Art, Meyer Audtiorium, Free.
(WPFS)
The Washington Psychotronic Film Society brings you the best in feline exploitation with this 1992 sci-fi movie from Hong Kong. Based on Ni Kuang’s book Old Cat, part of a series that spans 156 novels, it tells the story of a cat from outer space who teams up with an alien girl. As the Society describes it, “Aliens, including a young girl, an old man, and a cat, all of whom are probably on Earth illegally, team up with a detective to fight a murderous alien that can possess people. Along the way, there’s a junkyard kung fu brawl between the cat and a dog, ancient artifacts, guns a-blazin’, and lots of squick.”
Watch a clip.
Monday, October 30 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel.
(Hecht-Hill-Lancaster – Bryna / United Artists)
To celebrate Kirk Douglas, who turns 101 in December, the Mary Pickford Theatre at the Library of Congress will screen two rarely-seen titles from the Hollywood legend’s vast filmography. Next week’s feature is one of the seven movies Douglas made with Burt Lancaster. Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw, The Devil’s Disciple stars Douglas as a Revolutionary War-era misfit who’s mistaken for a New England pastor and arrested by the British. The 1959 romance sounds like a ham-fest, with Laurence Olivier as British officer John Burgoyne, who delivers such bon mots as, “Martyrdom, sir, is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.”
Watch the trailer.
Thursday, November 2 at 7 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theatre, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Free. Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
(Senses of Cinema)
The National Gallery of Art’s series, From Vault to Screen: Czech National Film Archive wraps up this weekend with a new restoration of an early film by director Miloš Forman, who was a key figure in the Czechoslovak New Wave before he found Hollywood success with such films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This 1964 comedy-drama, Forman’s first film, lyrically observes a 16-year old supermarket trainee in a small Czech town.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, October 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art, East Building auditorium.
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Also opening this week, Wonderstruck, director Todd Haynes’ adaptation of Brian Selznick’s time-shifting children’s novel. We’ll have a full review tomorrow. And check out our preview of the Washington West Film Festival, which runs through Monday.
This post has been updated.
