Scream, Queen!

We’re queering the scariest month of the year with SCREAM, QUEEN!, a five-film series celebrating the myriad forms of queer horror. Tracing the legacy of the genre through multiple decades, we bring to the big screen an early Hollywood creature feature, an ’80s practical effects gore-fest, a grimy ’90s anti-capitalist environmental horror, a contemporary late-night techno grime shorts package, and the ballerina bloodbath that continues to thrill midnight moviegoers nearly half a century after its release. Tickets are now on sale. Get them while supplies last! See you at the movies, FilmSceneCYBERGRIME Wednesday, October 18 10:00pm  Buy Tickets

Presented as part of Late Shift at the Grindhouse

Cybergrime is a disgusting erotic nightmare lovingly extracted from the fiber optic cable lodged in the slimiest depths of your brain. Oversaturated and underexposed: 8 twisted short films plus original glitch art form this breakneck 62-minute collection of hypersleazy technophilic homo-depravity. Curated by Henry Hanson from Chicago's Full Spectrum Features, Cybergrime contains eight short films. Content warnings: extreme sexual violence, murder, suicide, gore, nudity, bodily fluids, substance abuse, slurs, flashing lights.

FRIGHT NIGHT Saturday, October 21 7:00pm  Buy Tickets

With a special introduction from Andy Owens, Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa department of Cinematic Arts.

Teenage Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a horror-film junkie, so it's no surprise that, when a reclusive new neighbor named Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) moves next-door, Brewster becomes convinced he is a vampire. It's also no surprise when nobody believes him. However, after strange events begin to occur, Charlie has no choice but to turn to the only person who could possibly help: washed-up television vampire killer Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall).

"The submissive and dominant dynamic of male vampires drips with homoeroticism."—Nadine Smith, them.

FRESH KILL Tuesday, October 24 7:00pm Buy Tickets

A lesbian couple living on Staten Island find themselves ensnared in a vast conspiracy involving a ghost ship of nuclear refuse, ominous television commercials, and deadly cat food. Envisioning New York City as a toxic waste dump of consumerist detritus, Fresh Kill offers a bracing, queer feminist response to the patriarchal poison of corporate capitalism.

"A collage of ideas that linger between the noir and the sci-fi."—Panos Kotzathanasis, Asian Movie Pulse

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN Friday, October 27 7:00pm Free!

A FilmScene in the Park screening with special introduction from the LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library

After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) falls under the control of his former mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who insists the now-chastened doctor resume his experiments in creating new life. Meanwhile, the Monster (Boris Karloff) remains on the run from those who wish to destroy him without understanding that his intentions are generally good despite his lack of socialization and self-control.

"A great horror classic."—Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle

SUSPIRIA Saturday, October 28 7:00pm Buy Tickets

Suzy (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend ballet school. She arrives on a stormy evening to find no one there to let her in; from here, things only become stranger. A fleeing student is later murdered in her apartment, Suzy hears strange noises in the night, and a general sense of disorientation and illness permeates the atmosphere. As more dancers begin to die mysteriously, Suzy is forced to reckon with the terrifying secret history of the place.

"The movie's sheer exuberance is the cinematic equivalent of a blood transfusion."—Adam Nayman, The Ringer