Dir: Alan Gibson | U.K. 1972 | 96 minutes | Cert. 18

We are kicking off the first Forbidden Worlds Film Festival by honouring a legend – Sir Christopher Lee.

Celebrating what would have been the iconic actor’s 100th birthday, we’re screening the unique Hammer horror Dracula A.D. 1972, 50 years after it was first released.

The Count is back, with an eye for London's hot pants . . . and a taste for everything. Set in Chelsea during the early seventies, Count Dracula returns after a black magic ceremony in a desolate churchyard. The only one that can stop him? Jessica Van Helsing, descended from the Van Helsing line of vampire hunters!

TRIVIA: Four actors from the James Bond franchise appear in this film. Of course, Christopher Lee who played Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, but also Hammer Horror icon Caroline Munro who played Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me, Michael Kitchen who portrayed Bill Tanner in Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough appears as Greg and Christopher Neame who played corrupt MI6 agent Fallon in Licence to Kill appears as Dracula’s servant, Johnny Alucard.

Dir: George Miller | Australia 1981 | 95 minutes | Cert. 15

Prepare to witness the iconic action film that spawned a genre unto itself and a thousand pale imitators – Mad Max 2.

Mel Gibson returns as ex-pursuit cop Max Rockatansky, a battle-scarred warrior, who is constantly battling in a post-apocalyptic world made of leather and steel.

Some three years after the death of his wife and child, Max sets out to fight a personal war against the evil tribes who scavenge in the post-apocalypse world where gasoline is the only hard currency.

The film will be preceded by a talk by 20th Century Flicks’ Dave Taylor about how home entertainment has changed over the past 40 years and how in 1982, VHS rental transformed film consumption forever allowing people to watch films from the comfort of their own home without waiting for it to appear on commercial television.

Dir: Robert Deubel | U.S. 1982 | 96 minutes | Cert. TBC

The early eighties were a golden age for the slasher movie, so where would a genre film festival be without one?

It’s the night of the annual scavenger hunt at an Ohio university, but the students participating don’t know that they are also the hunted. A psycho has stolen the college’s mascot outfit – a saucer-eyed bear with a protruding tongue – added some serrated knives to its claws, and is dispatching the student population one by one…

 An exclusive preview of a brand-new 2K restoration by Arrow Films, ahead of the Blu-ray release, Girls Nite Out (aka The Scaremaker) is one of the more idiosyncratic slashers, mixing campus humour with plenty of gore.

Dir: Don Bluth | U.S. 1982 | 82 minutes | Cert. U

From Don Bluth, the director of An American Tail and The Land Before Time, comes his directorial debut based on the 1971 children’s novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien.

With the VHS being a staple of many homes during the 1980s, Don Bluth’s animated classic has seared itself into many a young psyche with its iconic animation style and its exciting sequences.

Mrs. Brisby is a mild-mannered mother mouse with a plan to move heaven and earth (or at least her house and home) to save her family from Farmer Fitzgibbons’ plow. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH — a secret society of highly-intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab and whose know-how might be the key to completing her quest.

TRIVIA: Bluth took the book to Disney animation where he was told, “We’ve already got a mouse and already done a mouse movie” referring to Mickey Mouse and The Rescuers.

Cert. 18

1982 was a big year for 3-D movies. It ushered in a brief period when Hollywood studios attempted to revive stereoscopic cinema with such releases as Friday the 13th Part III, Amityville 3-D and Jaws 3-D.

In this presentation, film archivist Tom Vincent will give an overview of this period, and the history and technology that led up to it, from the 19th century to the 1980s via a stop in the 1950s.

Expect to see lots of clips of classic movies, and some rarities that have never been screened before, all presented in digitally restored 3-D versions.

3-D glasses will be be provided for this event.

Dir: John Frankenheimer | U.S. 1982 | 113 minutes | Cert. 18

A thrilling clash of 13th century Japan and 20th century technology!

Come and see this wildly under-seen action classic from John Frankenheimer, the director of The Manchurian Candidate, French Connection II and Ronin, and starring Scott Glenn and Japanese acting titan Toshiro Mifune.

Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set-up in a bitter blood-feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman. At the behest of the businessman, Rick undertakes samurai training from the other brother, but joins his cause.

TRIVIA: One of the film’s technical advisors and martial arts coordinators is ‘Steve’ Seagal.

This screening is also part of Future City Film Festival. We are grateful to the British Film Institute for their support.

Dir: Tobe Hooper | U.S. 1982 | 114 minutes | Cert. 15

Originally conceived as a horror sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind called Night Skies, Poltergeist has become one of the most iconic horror films of the 1980s.

Made at the same time as Spielberg was filming E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, Poltergeist was helmed by Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper who managed to deliver thrills and spills within the Amblin parameters.

Steve Freeling moves his family into a new housing development and they begin to settle in. But strange things soon start happening and it appears that the Freelings are not alone in their home. At first, the spectral presence appears benign, simply moving objects around the house — then the hauntings start to intensify and Carol Anne, the family's youngest member, vanishes through a mysterious portal.

TRIVIA: Poltergeist became the eighth-highest grossing film of 1982 and was nominated for three Oscars.

This screening is also part of Future City Film Festival. We are grateful to the British Film Institute for their support.

Dir: Frank Henenlotter | U.S. 1982 | 91 minutes | Cert. 18

The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982's Basket Case is perhaps his most revered – a riotous and blood-spattered midnight movie experience, now immortalized in a lavish 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Duane Bradley is a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed, fleshy lump whom he carries around in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at the seedy Hotel Broslin, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation.

Filmed on a shoestring budget against the backdrop of 1980s New York (where the movie would become a staple of the infamous 42nd Street grindhouse circuit), Basket Case has clawed its way from humble origins to become one of the most celebrated cult movies of all time.

TRIVIA: The film is clearly an inspiration on James Wan’s 2021 horror Malignant.

Dir: Jim Henson/Frank Oz | U.S. 1982 | 93 minutes | Cert. PG

A much darker affair than audiences had come to expect from the creator of The Muppets, Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s fantasy has only grown in stature since its release in 1982.

Join Jen, a Gelfling, on their perilous quest to bring peace to a faraway kingdom by overthrowing the evil Skeksis and restoring the power of the Dark Crystal!

Inspired by the tone of Grimms’ Fairy Tales and a stated belief that it was unhealthy for children never to be afraid, Henson, Oz and artist Brian Froud created a masterpiece of modern myth making, world-building and exquisitely crafted puppetry.

Though ostensibly a family-friendly fantasy, any parent who was exposed to the film as a child will know exactly what they are about to inflict on their own Podling should they wish to bring them!

TRIVIA: Did you know that Frank Oz, better known as the voice of Yoda, was born in Hereford?

Dir: Hsin-Yi Chang | Taiwan 1981 | 89 minutes | Cert. 18

From a 2K scan of the only known 35mm print in existence comes this hallucinatory fantasia that blends everything from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Masters of the Universe.

A comet impregnates a queen. She gives birth to a fleshy egg. In disgust, the king tosses the egg in the river. Seven little people stumble upon the egg. They stab it with a knife and find a cute baby inside – who grows up to be a beautiful princess. One day, she runs into a prince fighting a multi-headed dragon, and of course, the two royals fall in love. Unfortunately, a group of dastardly wizards want to keep them apart, and they’ll use every creature at their disposal to do it!

The film will be screened in Mandarin with burnt-in English subtitles. Preservation courtesy of Gold Ninja Video and the American Genre Film Archive.

TRIVIA: Listen for the theme to the 1970s Battlestar Galactica series being used throughout!

Dir: Ridley Scott | U.S. 1982 | 117 minutes | Cert. 15

It wouldn’t be a celebration of 1982 if we didn’t screen Ridley Scott’s definitive sci-fi noir.

We will be screening the ‘Final Cut’ version, which more closely reflects Scott’s original vision of the film.

In a future of high-tech possibility soured by urban and social decay, Rick Deckard hunts for fugitive, murderous replicants and is drawn to a mystery woman whose secrets may undermine his soul.

If you’ve never seen this sci-fi classic on the big screen, this is the perfect opportunity.

TRIVIA: Most of the incredible special effects were supervised and directed by Douglas Trumbull. A pioneer in special visual effects filmmaking, Trumbull worked on other iconic science fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He also directed the films Silent Running and Brainstorm. Trumbull sadly died earlier this year.

This screening is also part of Future City Film Festival. We are grateful to the British Film Institute for their support.

Dir: Dario Argento | Italy 1982 | 101 minutes | Cert. 18

We are extremely pleased to present the UK premiere of a brand-new 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s classic giallo.

A one-time “video nasty”, Tenebrae sees Argento update the giallo template for the eighties, bringing more blood, more gore and more synthesisers (courtesy of an earworm of a score) while maintaining his usual flair for sadism, suspense and audacious set-pieces.

The streets of Rome are the prowling ground for a serial killer. The target is Peter Neal, an American novelist in town to promote his latest work of horror, also titled Tenebrae. As those around him fall prey to the psycho, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur… and madness seeps in.

This screening will be the English-language version of the film. Restoration courtesy of Arrow Video.

TRIVIA: Argento wanted Christopher Walken to play the role of Peter Neal, but the actor turned him down.

Dir: Allan Holzman | U.S. 1982 | 77 minutes | Cert. 18

After the success of Alien, cheap knock-offs littered the VHS market, however few were as entertaining as this offering from B-movie maestro Roger Corman!

Longtime Corman editor Allan Holzman (Crazy Mama, Battle Beyond the Stars) brings a healthy sense of humour and buckets of gore to his raucous directorial debut, blending the space junk aesthetic with a dash of 70s sleaze.

In the distant future, a federation marshal arrives at a research lab on a remote planet where a genetic experiment has gotten loose and begins feeding on the dwindling scientific group.

Restoration courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive.