Don’t Open Till Christmas + Winterbeast: Presented by Cinematic Void, Scream Screen, & Vinegar Syndrome
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: Alan Birkinshaw, Edmund Purdom Run Time: 193 min. Rating: R Release Year: 1984
Starring: Alan Lake, Belinda Mayne, Edmund Purdom, Gerry Sundquist, Mark Jones
Join Cinematic Void, Scream Screen, and Vinegar Syndrome as they present a Christmas horror double feature of Don’t Open Till Christmas and Winterbeast! As an added bonus, Vinegar Syndrome will have a pop-up shop for guests to peruse before the films.
Whatever you do, Don’t Open Till Christmas. An unsung 1980s holiday slayride from the makers of Pieces, this unhinged slasher follows a psychopath as they slaughter anyone who’s unlucky enough to be dressed like Santa Claus during the holiday season. The twisted maniac dishes out stabbings, gunshots, a castration (!), and even burns the face of a poor Saint Nick while he’s roasting chestnuts. A fascinating and endlessly entertaining sleazefest, Don’t Open Till Christmas is infamous for its shocking gore scenes and gratuitous synth-jam performance from horror icon Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972, Maniac). Newly restored from the original 35mm camera negative
A film which truly justifies the term “unclassifiable,” Winterbeast was shot on and off for nearly half a decade and with a mix of super 8mm and 16mm, resulting in a one of a kind piece of outsider art-horror filmmaking that must be seen to be believed. When The Wild Goose Lodge is overrun with mutilation-minded beastoids, it’s up to Sergeant Whitman and Forest Ranger Stillman to take care of business! But what about the creepiest lodge proprietor who ever creeped around in a plaid suit, Mr. Sheldon? And what about Whitman’s shape-shifting mustache?! Loaded with surreal dialogue, mind-blowing stop motion animation, homemade gore effects, and more than a few genuinely creepy moments, this forgotten cult gem to has been newly restored and reconstructed from its original film elements.