SHOCK IT TO ME!

Do you remember that popular Bay Area show, “Creature Features” and its cigar-smoking host, Bob Wilkins? Well, even if you’re not a local, it seems there was a horror show in everyone’s hometown—long before multiplexes took over and slashers replaced Dracula and Frankenstein as our favorite screen monsters.

Well, we’re digging them back up—SHOCK IT TO ME!, San Francisco’s annual film festival, devoted to the Golden Age of Horror Cinema, returns to the historic (and haunted) Castro Theatre on October 17th & 18th, 2008 for a fourth year of monstrous movies, live presentations, celebrity guests, trailers of terror, and a vendors area on the Castro’s monstrous mezzanine.

This year, SHOCK IT TO ME! features six sinister films: Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY (1964), George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), Terence Fisher’s HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) and CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), Dan Curtis’ NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971) and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970), on the Castro’s gigantic screen—the last single-screen theater of its size in San Francisco, is the only setting for such a film festival devoted to classic horror cinema.

But, SHOCK IT TO ME! isn’t just a film festival, it’s a bonafide Horror Convention in a theater setting, with guests, special on stage presentations, giveaways and more. SHOCK IT TO ME! is proud to present cult actor Sid Haig to our gruesome guest line-up this year! Mr. Haig is one of the stars of Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY, who is best known today as the creepy clown, “Captain Spaulding,” in Rob Zombie’s HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS.

In honor of the upcoming Johnny Depp/Tim Burton remake of the cult ‘60s series DARK SHADOWS, our special celebrity guests will include the stars of the original series and movies, Kathryn Leigh Scott (“Maggie Evans”), and Lara Parker (“Angelique Bouchard”). Film historian, Darren Gross, will also be on hand to present a look at the extensive restoration for the upcoming DVD release of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.

Our guests will be in attendance all weekend and will meet and greet with fans and sign autographs up on our monstrous mezzanine. Your horrible hosts for this year’s SHOCK IT TO ME! are award-winning author and veteran horror host John Stanley (Creature Features) and the beautiful, but deadly, Ms. Monster (The Search for the Next Elvira), who will temp you to try out for our infamous Zombie-Eating Contest for putrid prizes! We will also be giving away a real dead body to a “lucky” member of the audience each night.

SHOCK IT TO ME! is guaranteed to pop the stitches off of a mummy’s britches—we’ve pulled out all of the stops (and a few bloody stakes) to make this the most haunted happening of the Halloween season. SHOCK IT TO ME! is so shocking, that we can’t promise you will make it out of the theatre alive!

(Tickets for each SHOCK IT TO ME! Double Feature presentation are only $10.00 for Adults and $7.00 for Children/Seniors. You may purchase your tickets at the Castro Theatre’s box office the day-of-show or in advance from ticketweb.com. Check out “This Year’s Films” for details on our monstrous movie line-up and showtimes.)