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On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: In Defense of Female Hysteria and Cinematic Foreplay

Final girls have it rough in general. Running from chainsaws is exhausting. Hanging on meat hooks is no fun. And if you get possessed by a demon, your boyfriend just will not see you the same way. Still, there’s a special sadism to the torture inflicted on scream queens sacrificed to horror movies about female hysteria.

It’s a subgenre best summed up by the dramatic question “Is this bitch haunted or just crazy?” — a cataclysmic collision of society’s sexist...

Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Richard Cox, Don Scardino, Joe Spinelli, Jay Acovone, Randy Jurgensen, Barton Heyman, Gene Davis | Written by William Friedkin, Gerald Walker | Directed by William Friedkin

Within the filmography of the late William Friedkin, one of the most controversial works he delivered was Cruising. Set during a hot summer in New York City, the story sees a serial killer murdering and dismembering several gay men within the world of S&m and leather bars. Assigned to this case is Steve Burns (Al Pacino), an officer whose physical similarities to the victims makes him perfect to go undercover, with the prospect of rapidly advancing his career by doing so.

Poorly received upon release, this film was protested by New York’s gay community under the belief that it stigmatised them. This reviewer admittedly may not be the best judge as an outsider, although I...

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By Todd Garbarini

In the history of cinema, it is a known fact that the producers and director of a film all have their own opinions about what a finished film should be titled. Movies generally use a working title which rarely ends up being used upon release. Even the film’s own writer invariably believes that it is his/her title that should be used with consideration given to no one else. One can only wonder how Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) would have fared at the box office had it been marketed under its original title, A Boy’s Life. Ridley Scott’s initially panned and now revered science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner (1982), its title taken from a 1979 novella by William S. Burroughs, would have found difficulty being displayed on movie marquees had it gone by the jaw-breaking title of...

Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, William O’Malley, Barton Heyman | Written by William Peter Blatty | Directed by William Friedkin

More than the possession of a young girl, The Exorcist possesses every inch of our bodies, dragging us from our safe rooms into the very streets of George Town. It embodies everything that is grand and glorious about cinema, everything that is tragic and hard about life and everything terrifying, shocking and haunting that is horror.

The Exorcist was first released in 1973 and I suppose, by now, everything that can ever be said about the film has surely been said, however that won’t stop me saying how I feel, or even what this film did to me. Now as I write down these words The Exorcist is a film that I’ve only had in my world for...

1985: General Hospital's Anna remembered the past.

1985: Dynasty wedding guests faced the Moldavian Massacre.

1987: Days of our Lives' Andrew was baptized.

2012: Days' Will Horton came out to his parents."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Pat (Susan Trustman) begged Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) to dip into her savings account to loan her enough money to buy a new bathing suit.

1967: On Days of our Lives, Susan (Denise Alexander) decided to give David (Clive Clerk) a divorce.

1975: At the 2nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards,...

1985: General Hospital's Anna remembered the past.

1985: Dynasty's Moldavian Massacre.

1987: Days of our Lives' Andrew was baptized.

2012: Days' Will came out to his parents."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Pat (Susan Trustman) begged Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) to dip into her savings account to loan her enough money to buy a new bathing suit.

1967: On Days of our Lives, Susan...

Top 100 horror movies of all time: Chicago Film Critics' choices (photo: Sigourney Weaver and Alien creature show us that life is less horrific if you don't hold grudges) See previous post: A look at the Chicago Film Critics Association's Scariest Movies Ever Made. Below is the list of the Chicago Film Critics's Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time, including their directors and key cast members. Note: this list was first published in October 2006. (See also: Fay Wray, Lee Patrick, and Mary Philbin among the "Top Ten Scream Queens.") 1. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock; with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam. 2. The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin; with Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow (and the voice of Mercedes McCambridge). 3. Halloween (1978) John Carpenter; with Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Tony Moran. 4. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott; with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt. 5. Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero; with Marilyn Eastman,...

People in horror movies do the darndest things, don't they? We've all had a "Don't go in there, you idiot!" moment or twelve while watching fright flicks. Horror sure does bring out the stupids.

This counter-intuitive behavior makes it seem like these folks are handing over their lives on a silver platter, so in honor of this weekend's "Evil Dead" let's celebrate the good, the bad and the dumber-than-a-bag-of-hammers of the genre. Appropriately enough, our first entry comes from that franchise.

15. Ash, 'Army of Darkness' (1992)

Body Donor: Bruce Campbell

Iq Fail: Even in the semi-serious first "Evil Dead" Campbell's Ash was a few french fries short of a Happy Meal, but by this third entry he had devolved into hubris incarnate. His buffoonery lands him in the Middle Ages, where he's forced to do battle with skeletons raised after he misspoke three lousy words he was supposed...

As a horror fan and collector, one of the things I find utterly maddening is discovering that a title I’m dying to add to my collection is out of print and selling for a fortune. Rather than do the sane thing, and wait for the film to be re-issued, I usually cough up absolutely idiotic sums of money, because I am reckless, impatient, and highly impulsive. Since I am also thoughtful, I have compiled a guide to out of print titles (Oop), the going rate, and more. Included in the list below are ten films in various stages of manufacturing moratorium. Several of them are recently out of print, so we are providing you a ‘heads’ up to so that you have the opportunity to snag them before they become hideously expensive.

Popcorn (1991) Trailer

Popcorn

This 1991 film is commanding nearly $80 on Amazon for a brand new copy. I impetuously...

by Colleen Wanglund, MoreHorror.com

Based on the short story “Carmilla” by Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) is a low-budget horror film directed by John D. Hancock (Bang the Drum Slowly {1973}). It stars Zohra Lampert as Jessica, a woman who was recently released from a mental institution. Jessica, her husband Duncan (Barton Heyman) and family friend Woody (Kevin O’Connor) move to a country farmhouse on an island in Connecticut. Their reception by the residents of the small town is a cool and strange one, but doesn’t put them off. Upon their arrival at the farmhouse, the trio meets a squatting hippie named Emily (Mariclare Costello), whom they allow to stay the night. Emily suggests they have a séance and as a result, Jessica begins to hear voices.

Ultimately Emily is asked to stay indefinitely and Jessica begins to experience more strange happenings. The...