Dearest Rio Friends & Movie-Lovers: As per the government’s latest directive on November 23, 2020, we will be suspending operations until December 8, 2020 (barring any further changes). Screenings will be re-scheduled, and ticket-holders will be contacted shortly. In the meantime, we thank-you for your endless generosity and boundless support. Don’t worry – we’ll be firing up the projector as soon as we can! In the meantime, keep calm, stay kind, wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay safe out there. – The Rio Theatre

“I am not an animal! I am a human being! I.. am… a… man!”

With this poignant second feature, David Lynch brought his atmospheric visual and sonic palette to a notorious true story set in Victorian England. When the London surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) meets the freak-show performer John Merrick (John Hurt), who has severe skeletal and soft-tissue deformities, he assumes that he must be intellectually disabled as well. As the two men spend more time together, though, Merrick reveals the intelligence, gentle nature, and profound sense of dignity that lie beneath his shocking appearance, and he and Treves develop a friendship.

Shot in gorgeous black and white and boasting a stellar supporting cast that includes Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Freddie Jones and Wendy Hiller, THE ELEPHANT MAN was nominated for eight Academy Awards, cementing Lynch’s reputation as one of American cinema’s most visionary talents.

“David Lynch’s powerful depiction of Merrick (played by John Hurt) moves a viewer from revulsion and fear to empathy and tenderness. That’s the very movement of the story itself.” (The New Yorker)

“It is an absorbing and satisfying drama, and John Hurt’s Merrick is very powerful.” (Guardian)

“Director David Lynch has created an eerily compelling atmosphere in recounting a hideously deformed man’s perilous life in Victorian England.” (Variety)

“This is a tale of redemption and transcendence, of the hunchback of London Hospital, of the noble phantom who wanted to go to the opera, of Beauty and the Beast.” (TIME Magazine)

Wednesday, November 25
Doors 6:10 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Please arrive on time. Start time subject to change.
Advance tickets $15 HERE | $15 at the door

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

PLEASE NOTE: All of the Rio Theatre’s screenings are operating at a sharply reduced capacity. We can’t guarantee availability of tickets at the door, so advance tickets for all screening events are strongly recommended. Our online box office can be found at www.riotheatretickets.ca. Online sales for every screening automatically end 1 hour before any given showtime.

THE ELEPHANT MAN (David Lynch, 1980 / 124 mins / PG)  A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his “owner” as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.