MoMI - Halloween WeekHorror double features pair Hitchcock’s Psycho and The Birds, ’70s slasher classics Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, ’80s ghoulish comedies Little Shop of Horrors and Beetlejuice, and more; plus preview screening of Justin Simien’s Bad Hair

New York, New York, October 8, 2020 — This Halloween, the Queens Drive-In—a partnership between Museum of the Moving Image, Rooftop Films, and New York Hall of Science—will present a series of scary movies, including a selection of double features, as part of its fall season, which concludes at the end of November.

Oct. 24: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho + The Birds
Oct. 25: Nosferatu (with live music) + Young Frankenstein
Oct. 29: Get Out + The Babadook
Oct. 30: Halloween + The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Oct. 31: Little Shop of Horrors + Beetlejuice

The Queens Drive-In will also present a preview screening of the horror comedy Bad Hair, from Dear White People director Justin Simien, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and a free Day of the Dead screening of the Oscar-winning Pixar film Coco on Sunday, Nov. 1. See below for all announced October and November programs; additional events to be added as they are confirmed.

Free community screenings continue with support from Queens Borough President Sharon Lee (Wall-E on Oct. 14) and NYC Council Member Francisco Moya (Black Panther on Oct. 18, Coco on Nov. 1, and The Nightmare Before Christmas on Nov. 15).

The Queens Drive-In was co-created by Rooftop Films, New York Hall of Science, and Museum of the Moving Image to present safe, communal moviegoing in New York City during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, while sustaining jobs, and supporting New York and the larger filmmaking community. Since August, it has been presenting an exciting mix of new and classic movies on a 62-ft.-wide screen featuring bright 4K projection in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on the grounds of the New York Hall of Science. A portion of every ticket sale is donated to non-profit organizations that serve the hardest-hit communities in our borough. The Queens Drive-In has also served as a venue for major film festivals, allowing for in-person events for the New York Film Festival and NewFest.

SCHEDULE: OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2020 AT THE QUEENS DRIVE-IN
Co-presented by Rooftop Films, Museum of the Moving Image, and New York Hall of Science. Address: New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111 St, Corona, NY.

Tickets: Free; $35 (single feature) or $45 (double feature); members of the presenting organizations receive a 15% discount. For tickets, visit rooftopfilms.com/drivein/queens/. Sign up for email updates at QueensDriveIn.com.

Wall-E
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 7:00 P.M.
Recommended for ages 5+ (Rated G)
Dir. Andrew Stanton. 2008, 97 mins. With its wide-set E.T.-like eyes and tiny, motorized R2D2 body, trash compactor Wall-E is one of Pixar’s most poignant creations. This tiny robot becomes humanity’s greatest hope in an adventure that takes him to space and back to Earth again. Part of the Wednesday Night Movies series of free screenings presented by Queens Borough President Sharon Lee. Free with RSVP. More info. [SOLD OUT]

Moonstruck + Love Is Short (Films)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 7:00 P.M.
Recommended for ages 10+ (Rated PG)
Dir. Norman Jewison. U.S., 1987, 102 mins. Moonstruck stars a revelatory Cher in her Oscar-winning role as Loretta Castorini, a young Brooklyn widow who is supposed to marry Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello) but falls for his brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) instead. Fueled by an Academy Award–winning screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Moonstruck endures as a quintessential New York love story. Preceded by the short film program Love Is Short (Films), stories of wayward loves and unexpected romantic entanglements: Waiting for Sun (Dir. Zelene Pineda Suchilt. U.S., 3 mins.), an ode to the art and music of El Barrio; and Who Can Predict What Will Move You? (Dir. Livia Huang. U.S., 9 mins.). More info.

DOUBLE FEATURE PRESENTATION
Kirsten Johnson: Dick Johnson Is Dead + Cameraperson
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 6:30 P.M.
Director Kirsten Johnson’s darkly funny and wildly imaginative Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020, 102 mins.) is a love letter from a daughter to a father, blending fact and fiction to create a celebratory exploration of how movies give us the tools to grapple with life’s sadnesses and challenges. Followed by Johnson’s groundbreaking Cameraperson ( 2016, 103 mins.), a moving glimpse into one filmmaker’s personal journey and a thoughtful examination of what it means to train a camera on the world. Free event courtesy of Netflix. Free with RSVP. More info.

Black Panther
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 6:00 P.M.
Recommended for ages 10+ (Rated PG-13)
Dir. Ryan Coogler. 2018, 134 mins. The late Chadwick Boseman portrayed the King of Wakanda—and Marvel hero Black Panther—with fierce dignity and sly charisma, in this acclaimed, groundbreaking action movie. Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright co-star as the strong, brilliant women who provide support, while Michael B. Jordan embodies his nemesis, Erik Kilmonger. Part of a free screening series presented by NYC Council Member Francisco Moya. Free with RSVP. More Info.

Bad Hair
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Justin Simien. 2020, 115 mins. With Zaria Kelley, Corinne Massiah, Elle Lorraine. Director of Dear White People, Justin Simien combines his brilliant satirical humor with horror in his second feature film. Set in 1989, Bad Hair follows an ambitious young black woman who gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career comes at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own. Preceded by a program of short horror films. More info.

Be Water
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Bao Nguyen. 2020, 105 mins. Be Water chronicles actor and martial artist Bruce Lee’s earliest days as the son of a Chinese opera star, and his unsteady childhood in Hong Kong. His ambition ever rising, Lee eventually made his way to Los Angeles, where he strove to break into American film and television. Be Water is told by the family, friends, and collaborators who knew Lee best, with an extraordinary trove of archive film providing an evocative, immersive visual tapestry that captures Lee’s charisma, his passion, his philosophy, and the eternal beauty and wonder of his art. Courtesy of ESPN. Free with RSVP. More info.

DOUBLE-FEATURE PRESENTATION
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho + The Birds
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 6:30 P.M.
Recommended for ages 12+ (Psycho is very scary!)
Alfred Hitchcock’s horror game-changer Psycho (1960, 109 mins.) is a film of spare intensity, at once austere and baroque in style, and so shockingly perverse in its implications that it cracked cinema wide open forever after. Followed by The Birds (1963, 119 mins.), Hitchcock’s masterpiece of avian horror, in which Tippi Hedren’s mod socialite Melanie Daniels finds herself fleeing for her life from swarms of seagulls, jays, hawks, and sparrows gone curiously amok in Bodega Boy, California. More info.

DOUBLE-FEATURE PRESENTATION
Nosferatu (with live music) + Young Frankenstein
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 6:30 P.M.
Recommended for ages 10+
F. W. Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu (1922, 94 mins.) is an unnerving—and unofficial—adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Elegant expressionist visuals make this a work of poetic horror, but it’s Max Schreck’s terrifying makeup and performance that make this film truly unforgettable. Followed by Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974, 106 mins.), starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, and Teri Garr. Nominated for two Oscars, this legendarily quotable film features Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Frankensteen!), American grandson of the infamous scientist, who’s hell-bent on proving himself. Chaos, hilarity, and syncopated soft-shoe jazz performances ensue. More info.

DOUBLE-FEATURE PRESENTATION
Get Out + The Babadook
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 6:30 P.M.
Masterfully combining elements of horror and satire, Jordan Peele’s brilliant Get Out (2017, 104 mins.) is about Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a young Black photographer who spends the weekend with his white girlfriend (Allison Williams) and her affluent family. His unease turns to horror once he finds out about the Sunken Place, and must fight to get out. Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay, Get Out is a brutally honest take on racism in American society. Followed by Australian director Jennifer Kent’s acclaimed The Babadook (2014, 94 mins.), in which a single mother and her unruly six-year-old son contend with a storybook ghoul that terrorizes their home. More info.

DOUBLE-FEATURE PRESENTATON
Halloween + The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 6:30 P.M.
John Carpenter knew how to use the super-wide CinemaScope frame better than any other horror director, and his proto slasher film Halloween (1978, 91 mins.), about a masked maniac stalking babysitters in suburban Illinois, remains the most elegantly shot and composed film of its kind. Followed by Tobe Hooper’s low-budget masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 83 mins.): After picking up an unhinged hitchhiker during a drive deep in rural Texas, a group of young people from somewhere up north are unwittingly plunged into a nightmare as they find themselves hunted down by a cannibalistic clan of maniacs. More info.

DOUBLE-FEATURE PRESENTATION
Little Shop of Horrors + Beetlejuice
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 6:30 P.M.
Recommended for ages 12+
In Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors (1986, 94 mins), a flower-shop assistant, Seymour (Rick Moranis) becomes a sensation when he discovers a carnivorous plant. The film is an irreverent marvel, featuring toe-tapping songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who would go on to write the music for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Followed by Tim Burton’s ghost classic, Beetlejuice (1988, 92 mins), in which a family is terrorized by their new home’s deceased former owners and a rogue poltergeist they’ve hired to scare them off, played with frenetic energy by Michael Keaton. Burton’s wildly creative eighties comedy features one hilarious, inventive scene after another and some terrific stop-motion special effects. More info.

Coco
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 6:00 P.M.
Recommended for ages 7+ (Rated PG)
Dirs. Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina. 2017, 105 mins. Featuring the voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt. Young Miguel desperately wants to be a musician, but music is forbidden in his family because of events that took place many generations ago. When Miguel stumbles into the Land of the Dead and meets the ancestors who forever banned music, he may get the chance to become a great musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. The Oscar-winning animated film is one of Pixar’s very best, a joyous and poignant celebration of family, love, and following your dreams, as well as a reminder of the importance of respecting one’s ancestors. Part of a free screening series presented by NYC Council Member Francisco Moya. Free with RSVP. More info.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 6:00 P.M.
Recommended for ages 7+ (Rated PG)
Dir. Henry Selick. 1993, 76 mins. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, longs for something more in life, and thinks he has found it when he stumbles upon the brilliant twinkling lights of Christmastown. He then becomes determined to have it all for himself. Conceived and produced by Tim Burton and directed by stop-motion animation whiz Henry Selick, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a meticulously crafted fantasy, featuring Oscar-nominated special effects and a dazzling score by the great composer Danny Elfman, and has become a staple of both Christmas and Halloween. Part of a free screening series presented by NYC Council Member Francisco Moya. Free with RSVP. More info.

 

op image: Little Shop of Horrors (1986) / Courtesy of WB Classics.

Press contact: Tomoko Kawamoto, tkawamoto@movingimage.us
PRESS IMAGES (USER: press / PW: images).

ABOUT MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
The Museum's mission is to advance the understanding, enjoyment, and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the building closed since March 14, the Museum continues to fulfill its mission online through live conversations with artists, filmmakers, scholars, media educators, and other industry professionals; articles published in MoMI's online film magazine Reverse Shot and science and film resource Sloan Science & Film; access to the Museum's collection of more than 130,000 objects; and the online presentation of a range of films—including acclaimed new release features and award-winning science shorts, plus archived video of Museum events, and more. In August 2020, the Museum co-created the Queens Drive-In, in partnership with Rooftop Films and New York Hall of Science, to revive communal moviegoing in a safe environment. For more information, visit movingimage.us. Follow MoMI on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube.

ABOUT ROOFTOP FILMS
Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to their annual Summer Series –which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer–Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, rents equipment at low-cost to artists and fellow non-profits, and supports screenings citywide with the Rooftop Films Community Fund. At Rooftop Films, we bring underground movies outdoors. For more information and updates, please visit their website at rooftopfilms.com.

ABOUT NEW YORK HALL OF SCIENCE
The mission of the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is to nurture generations of passionate learners, critical thinkers and active citizens through an approach called Design, Make, Play. Design, Make, Play emphasizes open-ended exploration, imaginative learning and personal relevance, resulting in deep engagement and delight in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NYSCI was founded at the 1964-65 World’s Fair and has evolved into New York’s center for interactive science. For more information, visit nysci.org or call 718-699-0005. Follow NYSCI on Twitter and Instagram: @nysci, and on Facebook.

Museum of the Moving Image is housed in a building owned by the City of New York and has received significant support from the following public agencies: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York City Council; New York City Economic Development Corporation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Institute of Museum and Library Services; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts; and Natural Heritage Trust (administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation).