The Great Astor Spooktacular — The Sequel

Overview

When October rolls around, movie lovers turn their attention to one thing: films of the spookiest, eeriest, most terrifying and frightening variety. When Halloween is upon us, 'tis the season for bumps, jumps, screams, creepy celluloid dreams and getting scared while sitting in a cinema — but there are halloween marathons, and then there's the Astor Theatre all-night movie-watching extravaganza.

Back after a pandemic hiatus, The Great Astor Spooktacular knows how it wants you to feel while you're watching — and this year's event knows that it's been there and done all of this before. So, 2022's festivities have been dubbed The Great Astor Spooktacular — The Sequel, with the program all about follow-ups to some of cinema's most unsettling franchises.

And grooviest horror franchises, too — yes, Evil Dead II, screening in spectacular 4K, is on the bill. From 9.15pm on Saturday, October 29, it'll be joined by Scream 2 and Final Destination 2, both on 35mm, plus A Nightmare on Elm St 3: Dream Warriors, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Demons 2 and Jason X. Ash, Ghostface, Freddy, Leatherface, cinema's most famous son of a summer camp cook, bizarre and inescapable accidents, iconic Italian filmmaker Dario Argento: they're all covered.

Seven horror movies makes for a hefty marathon, but that isn't all that's on the agenda. This year, there'll also be two secret flicks — sequels, naturally. You can start guessing what they are now. Our dream pick: Halloween III: Season of the Witch, because surely Michael Myers has to be represented as well.

Top image: Charlie Kinross Photography.