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THE CABIN IN THE WOODS & THE DESCENT (35mm) @ The SMC Theater


  • Secret Movie Club 1917 Bay Street Los Angeles, CA, 90021 United States (map)

SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents

Part of our MIDNIGHT MOVIE MADNESS Series, Saturday, October 29, 2022

LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021

*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.

11pm THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011, dir. Drew Goddard, Lionsgate, USA, 95mns, 35mm)

1am THE DESCENT (2005, dir. Neil Marshall, Lionsgate, UK, 100mns, 35mm)

SPECIAL NOTE: This is Halloween weekend. We encourage audience members to dress in costume and come ready to have a good time. We’ll have wine, beer, candy, popcorn and we’ll have a special award for the winner of the audience chosen BEST COSTUME!

Can’t make it to our Monday night Halloween party at the Secret Movie Club Theater but still want to party, dress up in costume, and have a great time? We got you covered! We’re doing a midnight double bill (harkening back to our Vista Theater days!) of two great undersung 2000’s horror movies.

First up is the hilarious, clever, you’ll actually never see exactly what’s coming even to the very last shot horror comedy Cabin in the Woods. The movie throws you a curve ball from the very first scene where, instead of seeing your requisite group of oversexed teenagers heading to the woods, you instead meet two corporate drone looking middle managers heading to what appears to be another day of work.

What that day of work turns out to be and how the group of oversexed teenagers we do eventually meet (including Chris Hemsworth pre-Thor) collide is one of the most clever twists on the “cabin in the woods” genre that slashers like Friday the 13th and Evil Dead codified in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

Much like Final Girls after it, The Cabin in the Woods manages to have its cake and eat it too. Rest assured you will laugh. But also rest assured, it will deliver a shocking finale.

We follow up the sweet laughs with some savory terror in one of the most genuinely unsettling horror movies of the first decade of the 21st century: The Descent. Director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers) initially didn’t want to direct another horror movie but decided to tackle The Descent when inspiration hit to make sure all the main characters were women, a group he felt woefully underrepresented in the active agency roles of horror cinema.

A group of friends, one still trying to overcome the trauma of a recent car accident, all head out to the North Carolina mountains for a weekend of adventure spelunking in local caves. But when their fearless (and reckless) leader Juno reveals after their entrance caves in that she chose an unexplored system of caves, we sense this is going nowhere good.

And sure enough, the group discovers cave paintings, abandoned spelunking equipment, and “Crawlers”, subterranean creatures who view these top-dwellers as threats to their dark complex maze of tunnels.

The Descent is pretty hard core. Like The Babadook and Don’t Look Now and even David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, it makes the unsettling observation that past trauma is no guarantee or immunity from even worse present unexpected trauma. It’s a relentless horror movie. And we won’t know which ending we have (there is a marginally more optimistic American ending and a much bleaker UK ending) until we inspect the print. Either way, buckle up!

And if Saturday night is your night for a Halloween party, we’re on it. Party with us at the Secret Movie Club Theater!

Best always,

Craig Hammill

Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer

*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

REFUNDS:

We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.

However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)

HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:

We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.

There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.

HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?

You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm

You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.

HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:

You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.