The American Cinematheque, here in Los Angeles, is having its annual festival of fantastique cinema, and this year looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Here are the details!

7th Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction 2007

In collaboration with scienceplusfiction, Trieste International Science Fiction Film Festival, Italy

You won’t find a better place to indulge your appetite for spine-tingling entertainment THIS SUMMER!
Only our super air-conditioned theatres are more chilling!

Legions of flying brains, a secret society of degenerate bloodsuckers, saber-toothed canines, giant scorpians, bloodthirsty vampire breasts, murderous severed hands, a hideous fur-covered claw, mutants born of botched experiments, human-hating apes, evil alien foes, blind zombie slaves, lesbian vampires, werewolves, body snatchers and a sensual blonde engine of vengeful destruction are just a few of the diabolical characters perpetrating all manner of macabre shenanigans onscreen at the American Cinematheque in August!


The festival tributes the work of late author Kurt Vonnegut and director Curtis Harrington (WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HELEN) with individual Memorial Tribute Screenings. Vonnegut will be remembered with a double feature of film adaptations of his SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE and the rare HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE (the title character is deceased and plays shuffleboard with Jesus in heaven). GAMES, Harrington’s 1967 pop art tale of sinister parlor games starring Simone Signoret, James Caan and Katherine Ross will be presented on the Egyptian’s giant screen - in the theatre where Cinematheque member Curtis spent many nights watching films himself!
If you like your horror and sci-fi with a British accent, you won’t want to miss these hard to see devilish delights from the 1960's - 1970's, including the rare THE PROJECTED MAN starring the founder of Janus Films(!); HORROR HOTEL, for which the phrase “Ring for Doom Service” was coined; DEVIL DOLL, the creepiest of evil puppet movies; Ken Russell’s sex and satan blashphemy THE DEVILS (not on DVD!) with Oliver Reed; QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, a brilliant fusion of apocalyptic sci fi and supernatural mystery; a restored, uncut print of Hammer Films’ atomic age parable,THESE ARE THE DAMNED directed by Joseph Losey - and don’t forget, NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER!


European terror lurks! Some new, including the Los Angeles premiere of Lamberto Bava's latest, GHOST SON (not the only film in the fest to feature some serious “sex with the undead”); Swedish vampire flick FROSTBITE, steeped in Goth terror during an eternal Lapland night; French mockumentary, OUR EARTHMEN FRIENDS; and some retro: Roger Vadim's dreamy, lesbian vampire classic, BLOOD AND ROSES, Mario Bava's last feature, SHOCK, Pupi Avati's frightening ZEDER, Jess Franco’s VENUS IN FURS, a bewitching ghost story with a jazz rock fusion score, inspired by the tragic life of jazzman Chet Baker, and more!


Made on American soil, where sci-fi proliferated in the atomic age, these 1950's drive-in masterpieces will scare you silly! Watch out for the pod people in the classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and marvel at the plot ingenuity behind the absent-minded professor contaminated by poisonous prehistoric fish blood that turns him into the MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS!!!, Plus, the extremely rare WORLD WITHOUT END (the first science fiction film to be shot in Cinemascope and color!), screening in a gorgeous new 35mm print!


Treat yourself to three of the best Jules Verne adventure adaptations ever -- JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA projected on the Egyptian’s big screen! Not to mention Peter Lorre classics and new Science Fiction and Horror short films with many of the filmmakers in attendance.


Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Japanese sensation, Ultraman with the Los Angeles Premiere of ULTRAMAN MEBIUS AND THE ULTRA BROTHERS and last, but not least, the Los Angeles Premiere (and limited engagement) of TRAPPED ASHES, the anthology horror opus produced and written by former American Cinematheque programmer, Dennis Bartok. Flip this page over to see the in-person guests brave enough to enter our theatre of terror!
At the Aero, you’ll see Charlton Heston abused by civilized apes in the original PLANET OF THE APES, screening with its sequel, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, an In-Person Richard Donner double bill of LADYHAWKE and THE GOONIES and new films (Jim Hemphill's BAD REPUTATION, Takashi Okazaki's AFRO SAMURAI and Erik Nelson's documentary-work-in-progress, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH about legendary science fiction scribe Harlan Ellison - with Mr. Ellison In-Person!).

http://www.americancinematheque.com