“They’re heee-eeeeere.”

The late, great director Tobe Hooper (probably best known for his seminal horror film THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, which screens at the Rio Theatre as a Friday Late Night Movie on October 20) also directed one of the 1980s biggest supernatural blockbusters, the original POLTERGEIST. With a screenplay from producer Steven Spielberg, the plot focuses on a typical, suburban California family whose home is quietly invaded by malevolent ghosts that eventually abduct the family’s younger daughter. Starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Dominique Dunne, Heather O’Rourke and Zelda Rubinstein.

“Smartly filmed, tightly scripted, and — most importantly — consistently frightening, POLTERGEIST is a modern horror classic.” (Rotten Tomatoes)

“Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg hold our interest by observing the everyday rituals of this family so closely that, since the family seems real, the weird events take on a certain credibility by association.” (Roger Ebert)

“POLTERGEIST is like a thoroughly enjoyable nightmare, one that you know that you can always wake up from, and one in which, at the end, no one has permanently been damaged. It’s also witty in a fashion that Alfred Hitchcock might have appreciated.” (New York Times)

Sunday, October 29
POLTERGEIST
Doors 4:15 pm | Movie 4:45 pm

Single Tickets $10 advance HERE | $12 at the door

Why not double your inner-80’s kid’s ghost-loving pleasure with a POLTERGEIST + GHOSTBUSTERS Double Creature Feature?!

See both POLTERGEIST at 4:45 pm and GHOSTBSUSTERS at 7:15 pm for $13 advance HERE | $15 at the door

*Minors OK in the balcony for both shows! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK for any single film only. Please redeem at the door.

POLTERGEIST (Tobe Hooper, 1982 / 114 mins / PG) Steve Freeling lives with his wife, Diane, and their three children, Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne, in Southern California where he sells houses for the company that built the neighborhood. It starts with just a few odd occurrences, such as broken dishes and furniture moving around by itself. However, when he realizes that something truly evil haunts his home, Steve calls in a team of parapsychologists led by Dr. Lesh to help before it’s too late.

GHOSTBUSTERS (Ivan Reitman, 1984 / 107 mins / PG) After losing their academic posts at a prestigious university, a team of parapsychologists goes into business as proton-pack-toting “ghostbusters” who exterminate ghouls, hobgoblins and supernatural pests of all stripes. An ad campaign pays off when a knockout cellist hires the squad to purge her swanky digs of demons that appear to be living in her refrigerator.