Get spooked with the whole family at Lumina Theater's Halloween Movie Series

Campy horror and nostalgia enthusiasts better clear their calendars for Saturdays in October.

The Lumina Theater in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village will host its Halloween movie series, “Flick or Treat,” throughout October. The movie series features 10 a.m. showings every Saturday morning, plus special midnight screenings on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, all for $1 per person. 

The theater will screen “Labyrinth,” “The Addams Family,” “Beetlejuice,” “The Shining,” “Poltergeist,” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Jason Barker, general manager at The Lumina, said the idea for the Halloween Movie Series came in part from the positive feedback the theatre received for its summer flashback-cinema series. 

“We had a number of throwback movies that did very well, and it’s always been important to me to share the experiences that (we’ve) had on a format that (audiences) wouldn’t necessarily get a chance to experience it on normally,” Barker said. “I realized Beetlejuice can be seen on Netflix, but seeing it on a TV at home, no matter how big your TV is, is not the same as seeing it on the big screen with an entire audience full of people reacting to it.”

Will Davies, assistant manager at The Lumina, said “The Shining” in particular is a completely different movie on the big screen.  

“You watch it on TV, you still get to see it, but to see it big is an experience unto itself,” Davies said. “The first time I saw it big, it gave me nightmares all over again.”

Barker said he picked films that had an effect on him as a kid and that he wanted to share with a new generation of children.  

“I remember having to hide behind the sofa in our living room while watching ("Poltergeist") just because I was just so frightened of everything that was happening,” said Barker. “And it’s a bonus because technically it’s a PG movie and logically it’s gonna scare the living jingles out of lots of little children, which is what Halloween’s all about.”

Mary Kate McLoughlin, an employee at The Lumina, said the process of choosing the films was a combination of what movies they enjoyed watching as kids and what they knew were October season classics, particularly with “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“There’s always just this big cult following behind Rocky Horror because it’s a very interactive movie,” McLoughlin said. “There are call-outs, you can have these goodie-bag kits and interact with scenes in the movies, like throwing up toasters and newspapers and flashing lights everywhere. We thought it’d be really cool to bring that into our theater and have people come in and join that experience.”

Although “Rocky Horror Picture Show” will be the theater’s first interactive showing, The Lumina has hosted other themed movie series. During their summer outdoor movie series, The Lumina played movies outdoors in the lawn in Southern Village. 

Barker said he hopes the Halloween Movie Series will expose people to movies they wouldn’t have experienced in a theater setting and tap into feelings of nostalgia. 

“It’s definitely to get people into the Halloween spirit and mood,” Barker said. “It’s a family-friendly way to transition to the season — Saturday morning cartoons, Halloween style.”

Barker said he hopes people come out to the Halloween Movie Series so the theater can continue its themed series and to give the community a chance to enjoy these cult classics at an affordable price.

“We just finished picking out the movies we’re gonna do for the holiday series,” said Barker. “I wanna do it over February, just all kinds of romantic comedies. I wanna do a Western month. I wanna do all kinds of things with throwback cinema. It’s really something I’m passionate about and care deeply about. It’s only a dollar a person. It’s very inexpensive and the experience itself would be priceless.”

arts@dailytarheel.com