The October 2021 repertory movie roundup

Phantom of the Paradise
PhilaMOCA, 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia
Wednesday, October 6, 7:30pm

Brian DePalma's crazy horror rock opera gloss on the Phantom of the Opera legend comes to PhilaMOCA, in association with Exhumed Films. The screening will be hosted by Ari Kahan, the principal archivist of Swan Archives, a resource devoted to the film.

Sunset Blvd.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr
Wednesday, October 6, 7:30pm; Saturday, October 9, and Tuesday, October 12, both at 1pm

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille." Billy Wilder's 1950 tale of a screenwriter (William Holden) and his doomed run-in with a washed-up silent film star (Gloria Swanson) comes to Bryn Mawr Film Institute this month, where it will also be the subject of a Cinema Classics Seminar on October 12 at 6:30pm.

Hocus Pocus
The Bourse Food Hall, 111 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia
Friday, October 8, 15, and 29, all at 7pm

The famous Halloween comedy from 1993 is coming to the Bourse—not the movie theater, but the food hall next door—for a trio of showings ahead of Halloween.

Arrebato (Rapture)
Lightbox Film Center, 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia
Saturday, October 9, 7:30pm

The Lightbox hosts a 4K restoration of the Spanish film from 1979, the final feature from filmmaker Iván Zulueta. It tells the story of a horror film director dealing with the return of an ex-girlfriend as well as the arrival of a mysterious box.

Halloween: The Thorn Trilogy
Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville
Saturday, October 9, 7pm

The Colonial will host a 35mm presentation of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films in the Halloween series: 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, 1989's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and 1995's Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. The screening is just six days before the arrival of Halloween Kills, the latest new movie in the series.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Colonial Theatre
Sunday, October 10, 1:30pm

The same weekend, the Colonial will offer a showing of the 1948 comedy/horror mashup in which the comedy duo has a run-in with Frankenstein's monster.

Messiah of Evil
Media Arts Council, 609-B West State Street, Media
Wednesday, October 13, 7pm

The folks behind the recently shuttered video store Ardmore Viva Video have re-emerged with a series called the State Street Movie Night, in association with the Media Arts Council. Former Viva clerk Dan Santelli will host a look at the 1973 horror film Messiah of Evil, directed by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the duo that would later direct the notorious Howard the Duck.

Pan's Labyrinth
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Wednesday, October 13, and Tuesday, October 19, at 7pm; Wednesday, October 20, 1pm

The film, one of the most beloved ones from director Guillermo del Toro, tells the story of a young girl who meets mythical creatures in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. The film is showing, in addition to a Cinema Classics Seminar, at Bryn Mawr Film Institute, on Wednesday, October 20.

30th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival
Various locations
Wednesday, October 20, through Saturday, October 30

The annual Philadelphia Film Festival is set to return to live programming this year, after going virtual- and drive-in-only in 2020. The lineup won't be announced until later this week, but we know that the festival has traditionally included some classic films alongside new movies.

Mulholland Dr.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Monday, October 25, and Thursday, October 28, at 7pm; Tuesday, October 26, 1pm

David Lynch's 2001 Hollywood fantasia, which grew out of an unsold network TV pilot, marks its 20th anniversary this month and it's getting three screeners at Bryn Mawr Film Institute to mark the occasion. The film, a Lynchian deconstruction of Hollywood myths and monsters behind diners, is also getting a Cinema Classics Seminar on Tuesday, October 26, at 6:30pm.

Halloween (1978)
Colonial Theatre
Friday, October 22, 9:45pm

The original film from 1978 is getting a 35mm showing at the Colonial, late at night on Friday, the 22nd.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Wednesday, October 27, 7pm; Saturday, October 30, 1pm

The 1954 low-budget horror film, directed by Jack Arnold, comes to Bryn Mawr Film Insitute at the end of the month, a rare showing in both 35mm and 3D.

The Addams Family (1991)
Ambler Theater/Ambler Yards, 300 Brookside Avenue, Ambler
Thursday, October 28, 7pm

There's a new animated Addams Family out, and this month you can also have a chance to catch Barry Sonnenfeld's much more subversive 1991 live-action comedy version, which marks its 30th anniversary this year. The film starred Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia, and a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Colonial Theatre
Friday, October 29, 7pm

Steven Spielberg's much-loved 1982 film, which was about a visit from an alien but certainly wasn't a horror movie, gets a big-screen showing at the Colonial's White Rabbit Theatre.

Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein
Colonial Theatre
Sunday, October 31, 1:30pm

And on Halloween itself, director James Whale's two classic horror films from 1931 and 1935 are getting the double feature treatment and should end early enough in the day to make time for trick-or-treating. The same theater will also be showing a new documentary, Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster, this month.