Reel life: Catch Amy Rapp's 'Alley Cat' at festival
<b>That's a Rapp, Amy!</b>
The 50th anniversary Chicago International Film Festival is underway at Chicago's River East Theaters through Oct. 23. One of the movies is "The Alley Cat," featuring Schaumburg native and actress Amy Katherine Rapp, who's had quite a week. On Tuesday, her movie "The Wake" played at the Midwest Independent Film Festival at Chicago's Century Centre Cinema.
You can catch "The Alley Cat" (the "heart-rending portrait of a young woman coming to terms with her own family life") at 9:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, plus 4:45 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, and again at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21. Go to chicagofilmfestival.com for a complete schedule and tickets.
<b>Scooby-who?</b>
Just in time to get into the Halloween spirit, The Woodstock Theatre presents a one-time showing of "Scooby-Doo" at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 11. Admission is only $1. Tickets can be purchased at the Woodstock Theatre Box Office, 209 Main St., Woodstock. Kids can come dressed in Halloween costumes. Go to classiccinemas.com.
<b>Dead-on horror films</b>
If you're dead tired of boring PG-13-rated horror tales, consider this super lineup of dead movie titles Sunday, Oct. 12, at the Hollywood Blvd. Cinema, 1001 W. 75th St., Woodridge. George Romero's 1968 classic "Night of the Living Dead" will be shown at 3 p.m. followed by a 1978 sequel "Dawn of the Dead."
This leads to the big-screen showing of the Season 5 premiere of AMC's bold and bloody zombie TV series "The Walking Dead" at 8 p.m. To sweeten (deaden?) the deal, Hollywood Blvd. will have makeup artist Colleen Jones of Chicago Zombie in the lobby to create undead makeovers for $5 ($10 for a full blood/latex application).
Admission to the Romero movies is $6 per show. Free admission tickets to "The Walking Dead" premiere will be available on Sunday, Oct. 12. Go to atriptothemovies.com.
<b>Expressionism yourself</b>
Here's a cinematic treat. A restored version of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," Robert Wiene's 1920 silent classic foray into German Expressionism, comes to Chicago's Music Box Theatre starting this weekend.
The movie is about a demented doctor and a carnival sleepwalker committing some ghastly murders. Go to musicboxtheatre.com for tickets.
You can use the same website for tickets to the 10th annual Music Box of Horror marathon Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11 and 12. The lineup includes a sneak preview of the graphically violent "Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead" (it opens Oct. 17), plus Chicagoan John McNaughton's "The Borrower," the sleazy "Don't Look in the Basement" and classics such as "Cat People" plus Werner Herzog's remake "Nosferatu the Vampyre."
<b>It's Moore 007 coming</b>
The Chicago Film Critics Association presents a special showing of "The Spy Who Loved Me" as part of the ongoing "Critics Classics" series at the Elk Grove Theater.
"Spy" is generally considered the best James Bond adventure to star Roger Moore, the third actor to portray Agent 007 on the silver screen. "Spy" used only the title of Ian Fleming's book, then created entirely different characters and story having nothing to do with its literary source.
Longtime CFCA member, James Bond expert and Palatine resident Jeff Westhoff will introduce the movie and conduct a Q&A session following. Show times are at 1 and 7 p.m. at the Elk Grove Cinema, 1050 Arlington Heights Road, Elk Grove Village. Admission costs $5. Go to classiccinemas.com.
<i> Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>