No substances necessary for our upcoming screening of ALTERED STATES - one of the most hallucinogenic movies of its ilk and very much at the top of every "weird movies" listicle. It follows Dr. Edward Jessup, a brilliant but unhinged scientist who experiments with psychedelics during confinement in an isolation tank. Years into the study, Jessup finds himself in Mexico, hoping to participate in a ceremony involving psychedelic mushrooms boiled into a broth, which he is told will put him in unity with his soul. He takes the broth with him to his sensory deprivation tank, and finds that his visions develop much further than just hallucinations, they begin to actually manifest physically. 

It almost goes without saying that in the current climate, A Face in the Crowd has resurfaced as a necessary watch about the nature and danger of celebrity and the institutions that create them. Kazan's film is an aggressive breakdown of the megalomaniacal main character, Lonesome Rhodes, starting at the beginning as a charismatic folksy hero and then careening towards the booming, unhinged person he becomes.

In a small New England coastal town, tourists are being murdered and photographed by their killer. As the town Sheriff and local coroner work together to track down the murderer, they discover that the corpses are reanimating to carry out someone’s deadly will…

God Told Me to is truly a film like no other - it takes its cop flick bones and builds its muscles in esoteric science fiction, mixed with horrific imagery in the culminating sequence that will assuredly render the entire audience quiet. It also features a serendipitous cameo from infamous "song and dance man" Andy Kaufman as a possessed policeman, who happened to be in a St. Patricks day parade antagonizing the crowd, and in true Cohen gonzo form: he saw the opportunity for an interesting scene, managed to steal it, and to top it all off - did not even have permission to film the parade.

Bigger Than Life serves as a timeless melodrama with its lavish Technicolor glossiness, but it is never saccharine or easy to swallow. With James Mason's powerful performance as a man in the midst of a downward spiral, combined with the film's foreboding sense of dread leading up to an explosive ending - the audience is forced to confront the movie's criticism of 1950's morality. Strap in and take a dose of a very weird and very special little number, only at The Royal Cinema! 

Remaining as a staple figure in science fiction and horror for decades, and is certainly a favourite of The Royal Cinema and Retropath, it is not much of a surprise that this year we tip our hat again to the iconic smokey legend and his Christmas birthday. In this current climate more than ever, maybe the works of Serling might hit too close to home, but that only speaks to the timelessness of shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Night Gallery. Join us for a 90 minute slot of some of his most infamous and beloved works! The selection changes annually! 
 

The notorious tagline "an exercise in poor taste" almost seems politely understated compared to what John Waters' film Pink Flamingos actually delivers. In actuality, Pink Flamingos is an exercise in unrestrained gritty, heaving, slobbering deviancy - murder, assault, gluttony, voyeurism, cannibalism, and all means of repulsion are all at the forefront of Waters' film, to create one of the most infamously disturbing films to ever grace the screen. We're not being cute when we say that if you haven't seen Pink Flamingos before you really have to prepare yourself for what you're about to witness. If you so dare: join us for an exercise in absolutely unrelenting filth! 
 

DEAD ALIVE was a box office flop 25 years ago, but quickly became a cult favourite amongst gore-heads and splatstick fans for its sheer, unadulterated assault on the senses that culminates in an unforgettable house party sequence. A veritable orgy of blood and guts with (dare we say) some of the most iconic special effects in Jackson’s filmography, DEAD ALIVE is not to be missed on the big screen!

Eaten Alive is wall-to-wall frenzied energy, all taking place on shadowy sound-stages pierced by bright colours (most commonly: bright red blood, of course), to provide a disconnected, horrific landscape for its viewers. Loosely based on the story of Joe Ball (or the Bluebeard of South Texas or The Alligator Man), who owned a bar with an alligator pit as a local attraction in Elmendorf, Texas. After several women began to go missing and strange flesh was found by his gators, he was suspected of the murders but was never formally convicted because he committed suicide before he was arrested. Eaten Alive feels like an inescapable backwoods carnival nightmare, offering one of the most bizarre experiences you can find this October without actually tracking down an alligator pit yourself.

Frank and Eleanor Perry's The Swimmer holds a powerful lens on the main character, slowly breaking apart Ned Merrill to reveal a truth that cannot be expected. It is equal parts bizarre, uncomfortable, enthralling and devastating, offering a perfect counter-balance to the sunny rays of August.

Alongside all of the butt jokes anyone could ever want, Society is an aggressive Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque story, absolutely skewering the rich yuppie culture of the 1980's by depicting them as murderous, incestuous beasts.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 lives in infamy as a cult classic, laden with queer subtext, and remains one of the most layered and interesting instalments to the franchise.

Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly is a masterpiece in film noir cinema. It effectively marries the tropes of the genre with cold war horrors, as personified in the infamous briefcase - one of the most iconic MacGuffins to exist on film.

With a combination of Joan Crawford at the helm, king of schlock William Castle behind the camera, and Robert Bloch (who most know for penning Psycho, another little story about a bad mom!) writing the script, Strait-Jacket is an assured Retropath! favourite.

In a dystopic alternate reality 1970s, we find Steven Shorter (Paul Jones of Manfred Mann), a disillusioned pop star who has been manipulated by the church and state into being a messianic figure to his listeners.

The Honeymoon Killers is a sordid masterpiece - written and directed by Leonard Kastle and inspired by the true story of 'The Lonely Hearts Killers", a dangerous duo named Raymond Ferandez and Martha Jule Beck, who murdered as many as 20 women between 1947 and 1949, by answering lonely hearts ads in newspapers.

Friends and enemies of Valentine's Day and lovers of the Great Canadian Slasher Film rejoice, because our annual screening of MY BLOODY VALENTINE is back, with a vengeance!

Richelle Charkot and Emily Gagne will be selling their horror zine SLICES on February 8 before the MUFF TO screening of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at The Carlton Cinema!

[...] the movie makes you feel like you mixed Nyquil with Prozac and you’re trying not to freak out." - Jason Soto

"[...] meat never looked more distasteful." - The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

Ten year-old Michael Laemle has a couple of problems on his plate. He just moved to a new neighbourhood, he's got no friends, he's painfully shy around the other kids at school, he's plagued with nightmares, and to top it all off: he's pretty sure his parents are cannibalistic killers.

Does the thought of WHITE CHRISTMAS and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE make you want to puke? If yes, then we have the holiday event for you! Join fellow trash connoisseurs as Ladies of Burlesque and Retropath: A Bizarre Cinema Showcase co-present a yuletide celebration of teenage delinquency, unwed mothers, and crime sprees with FEMALE TROUBLE—John Waters' smutty exercise in debasement and degradation!

Imagine, if you will, a more important event than Christmas taking place on December 25. 92 years ago on Christmas day, Esther Cooper Serling and Samuel Lawrence Serling welcomed their little bouncing baby boy into the world: the inevitably smokey sci-fi powerhouse behind such shows as The Twilight Zone and The Night Gallery, Rod Serling.