Cult film fans will find great escapes from New York at Coney Island summer sci-fi series
CONEY ISLAND FILM SOCIETY
Coney Island Museum
1208 Surf Ave. between Stillwell Ave. & West 12th St.
Saturday nights, May 15 – September 18, $5 (includes free popcorn), 8:15
www.coneyisland.com
Coney Island’s annual summer film series is always a hoot, a mélange of classic films, underground favorites, and little-seen, low-rent treasures. This year the focus is on science fiction, beginning May 15 with the “mightiest monster in all creation,” the one and only MOTHRA, and continuing in May with John Carpenter’s THE THING and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. June is all over the place, from the offbeat DONNIE DARKO to Stanley Kubrick’s marvelously perverse and unapologetic A CLOCKWORK ORANGE to the original ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, with no Daryl Hannah in sight. The rest of the summer will feature, among other craziness, King Kong battling it out with Godzilla, Charlton Heston fighting a bunch of damn dirty apes, Sean Connery discovering dangerous secrets in the twenty-third century, Rod Steiger covering his body with tattoos, Robert De Niro being overwhelmed by red tape, Emilio Estevez repossessing cars, and Jeff Bridges getting sucked into a computer game. Each screening is preceded by old trailers and commercials and bizarre shorts – and yes, there is plenty of free popcorn for all. But what, no Troma?