After 80 years, The Little Theatre is trying something new. Executive Director Bob Russell just hopes it won't be too hard to clean up all the blood. "(We've) never had a round-the-clock horror film feast," he says. "We might get a lot of fake blood over our seats. I don't know what we'd use (to clean it); we'll have to talk to the upholstery people just-in-case."
Russell is referring to the mess of The Little's inaugural 25 Hour Horror Feast — part of the theatre's 80th anniversary — where costumes and Halloween spirit are encouraged during hours of horror films and signature programs from The Little.
"We're going to showcase not just older classic horror films but true independent classics," says Russell. "We're tying in (films from) our Little Buddies Series, our Emerging Filmmaker series and we've got a foreign film that's part of it. We wanted it to be more than just showing a bunch of horror films, we wanted to have the things that have really related to The Little for over 80 years."
The event begins at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30 with zombies literally parading down East Avenue from Prince Street to the theatre. "Zombie walks are actually popping up all over the world," Russell says. "It's basically a chance for people to get together, dress up in make-up and act like zombies. People will be dragging themselves down the sidewalk of East Avenue."
The zombie walk will include the Roc City Roller Girls skating along side the troupe of undead film buffs. Fittingly, the first film shown at midnight will be George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Next, cult classic The Evil Dead, starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi, the man who helmed the Spider-Man films will be screened at 2 a.m.
A Vincent Price double feature kicks off at 4 a.m. with The Last Man on Earth, followed by The House on Haunted Hill (1959). Corpse Bride will be screened at 10 a.m. as part of the MVP Health Care Little Buddies Series and Days of Darkness is at 4:30 p.m., followed by a 20-30 minute discussion with one the film's stars, Rochester native Sabrina Gennarino.
The closing movies include the Italian horror film Suspiria at 6:45 p.m.; May, a twisted take on how to make a friend (literally, out of other's body parts) at 9 p.m.; and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) at 11:30 p.m. All films will be shown in The Little's 299-seat main theater.
"We wanted a couple of the classic horror films that people can't necessarily see on the big screen," Russell says. "Part of it was also asking, 'What haven't we seen on the big screen before and what do we think our audience will like?' We didn't want to do much of the modern ones that are getting mass distributed."
The Little's Emerging Filmmaker Series also will be a part of the Halloween activities. At 1 p.m. local directors will get a chance to show off their horror short films and there will be Edgar Allen Poe Readings and a breakfast for Zombie Pass holders.
The Zombie Passes are on sale through Friday, Oct. 23 for $50 each. They include access to all films and events, a Horror Feast T-shirt, breakfast, a reserved seat sign (so you don't need to save seats the old fashion way with coats and aggressive behavior), a tote bag and more. The cost for individual movies is $5 a piece.
Staying up for 25-consecutive hours might cause some to act like real zombies, but Russell says the concessions will be open all night and there will be plenty of caffeine available.
