Say you’re looking for something to see in the theater during these final waning nights of the Halloween season, but you don’t much care for the scares and screams of the usual horror fare that normally packs cinema seats in October.
Well, that might seem like a tall order in a movie season uniquely loaded with great indie horror, brand-new splatterfests, and even some Hollywood horror offerings scaring up better-than-expected reviews and returns.
But not all hope is lost.
Oklahoma City theaters are currently counterprogramming the Halloween season with a handful of films designed to play on your paranoia, activate your anxiety, and test the very limits of your patience and taste, all without ever veering into more classical horror territory.
So whether your nerves are wracked by ticking clocks, entitled teens, sleep disorders, or abject greed, OKC theaters will have something to thrill you without chilling you.
‘The Line’ – Rodeo Cinema Film Row – October 25th through November 7th
What could be scarier than a campus’ worth of unhinged, unsupervised fraternity bros wreaking havoc on impressionable minds and questionable traditions?
Well, if the thought already makes you cringe, writer/director Ethan Berger’s “The Line” is likely to have you leaving the theater hoping you never speak to anyone under thirty ever again.
Filmed entirely in and around the University of Oklahoma, Berger’s film follows a young man’s descent further and further down the decadent, depraved, and increasingly dark rabbit hole of fraternity life, leaning heavily on the shocking realities of hazing and the physical and psychological tolls it can take.
Luckily for our protagonist, a burgeoning relationship with a more thoughtful, respectful classmate (played by Halle Bailey of the recent “The Little Mermaid”) offers him a path out of the fraught, frightful frat world, as well as some romance and levity to lighten the mood slightly.
So while “The Line” surely qualifies more as thriller than horror, it may still have you feeling some terror about the generation poised to take the reins of the country soon.
For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit rodeocinema.org.
‘Sleep’ – Oklahoma City Museum of Art – October 25th through October 27th
Likely the closest to outright horror on this list, the debut feature from South Korea’s Jason Yu seems like it’s a psychological horror study of sleep disorder, but might in fact be all about the creeping anxieties of marriage and expectant parenthood.
We follow a young, recently married couple on the cusp of welcoming their first child when the man suddenly begins to develop an increasingly worrisome sleep disorder, not only sleepwalking, but uttering some disconcerting and even disturbing phrases.
It’s not just the troubling sense of sleepwalking dread that takes hold, but a deeper concern over the possibility that something may be possessing her husband that sends mother-to-be Soo-jin into a spiral of her own as she loses sleep in order to keep an eye on him.
So yes, it’s got middle-of-the-night fears, fraying psychology, and even supernatural possession paranoia, but still, “Sleep” isn’t going to be your average horror offering.
And that’s because Yu has long been an assistant and confidant to Korean cross-genre icon and Oscar-winner Bong Joon-ho, with all of his oddball humor and wickedly unexpected storytelling turns and angles.
Expect the same kind of on-your-toes tone from “Sleep.”
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit okcmoa.com.
‘Saturday Night’ – Harkins Theatres Bricktown – Now Playing
Okay, so how can a behind-the-scenes dramedy about the first-ever episode of television sketch institution “Saturday Night Live” be considered Halloween programming?
Well, for a lot of people, there’s nothing more terrifying than a ticking clock and the boiling anxieties of counting down to a live performance on the world’s biggest stage.
So while you may think you know the story of how “SNL” got it’s less-than-auspicious start in 1974, “Saturday Night” makes it clear that the stakes were even higher – and the likelihood of failure even greater – than you realize.
Tracking the final two hours before that fateful first episode went live on the air, “Saturday Night” is pure, palpable excitement and a building, bubbling wave of stress, fights, panic, and setback after setback.
Obviously, we all know how it turned out and how the show grew into one of the greatest television successes in history, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but that makes the story of that first night no less anxiety-inducing and no less terrifying for any producer or manager today.
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit harkins.com.
‘The Apprentice’ – AMC Quail Springs Mall – Now Playing
At the risk of editorializing or showing bias, I think it’s safe to say that, for a lot of people, there’s nothing scarier right now than Donald Trump, and this pseudo-biographical, semi-origin story of the man who would be President does nothing to allay those fears.
Once poised to be the most controversial and contentious film of the year, director Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” spotlights the young Trump’s relationship with divisive, dead-eyed uber-lawyer Roy Cohn in 1970s New York, and how “The Donald” learned to weaponize wealth and celebrate the power of greed.
Is it hyper-sensationalist election year agit-prop? Well, by all accounts, no, and the generally tepid domestic box office and scant discourse surrounding the movie would imply that it’s more straightforward and believable than some pundits have claimed.
Even as some posters bill the film as “an American horror story,” consensus is that it’s more a simple showcase of talents for Jeremy Strong’s loathsome (and self-loathing) Cohn and Sebastian Stan as the young Trump – all coifed hair and pursed lips – and for the age of greed itself.
Still, for plenty of viewers, it’s as much a monster movie as any of the gruesome slashers terrifying theaters this season, and Trump’s camp has already threatened to sue and has decried the film as a “politically disgusting hatchet job.”
So make of that what you will.
For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit amctheatres.com.
Catch Brett Fieldcamp’s film column weekly for information and insights into the world of film in the Oklahoma City metro and Oklahoma. | Brought to you by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Brett Fieldcamp is our Arts and Entertainment Editor. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for 15+ years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
