Another Chance to Be Terrified

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 6, 2008 5:44PM

Halloween is over. Tuesday night was certainly the complete opposite of scary. But if you're still in the mood for something ghoulish White Light Cinema has got your back. This Sunday at the Music Box they're presenting a special screening of the incredibly rare meta-vampire flick Vampir-Cuadecuc. Not available on DVD, this 1970 film was directed by Spanish filmmaker Pere Portabella and stars Christopher Lee -- playing Christopher Lee playing a vampire. Sort of. It's a documentary but it isn't, and it's also creepy.

Jonathan Rosenbaum will introduce the screening, and here's his description:

... the lush, high-contrast cinematography evokes deteriorating prints of Nosferatu and Vampyr, and the extraordinary soundtrack by composer Carles Santos intersperses the sounds of jet planes, drills, syrupy Muzak, and sinister electronic music, all of which ingeniously locate Dracula and our perceptions of him in the contemporary world.

Although Portobella had a retrospective at the Siskel in 2006, he's still a little-known filmmaker, and Sunday's 5 p.m. show is one of only two in the U.S. this fall. If you liked Let the Right One In then it's a definite must-see.

We'll have more vampires here at Chicagoist soon. Watch for our advance take on Twilight just before its release on 11/21.