Film Screamings

1. What could be worse than being attacked by aliens? Being replaced by aliens. Which is exactly the threat facing all of humanity in Don Siegel’s 1956 paranoid sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers, screening this weekend on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Pothole Pictures. Memorial Hall Theater, 51 Bridge St, Shelburne Falls, (413) 625-2896.

 

2. The Next Stage Arts Project is also serving up some film fright, with everyone’s favorite scary movie musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show showing at 10 p.m. on All Hallow’s Eve, Oct. 31. Call (802) 387-0102 for directions, or head up to 15 Kimball Hill in Putney.

 

3. If you prefer your horror films silent—and accompanied by live music—you won’t want to miss the Bing Arts Center’s Oct. 30, 8 p.m. screening of Robert Wiene’s classic 1920 German Expressionist offering The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, featuring a performance by Brendan Cooney’s Not So Silent Cinema ensemble. The Bing is limiting seating to just 50 film-goers. 716 Sumner Ave., Springfield, (413) 731-9730.

 

Ghoulish Geometry

4. The past comes alive at the Springfield Museums for this Thursday’s weekly lunchtime lecture, “Ghosts of the Quadrangle,” in the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts when architect William J. Devlin discusses the history of the Quadrangle, from the time it was a presumably undeveloped patch of land 400 years ago to the present. Oct. 31, 12:15 p.m., $4, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, (413) 263-6800.

 

Bookish Witches

5. Massachusetts-born Mabel Loomis Todd is perhaps best known for her collaboration with Thomas Wentworth Higginson to publish the poems of Emily Dickinson in 1890, four years after the Belle of Amherst’s passing. But Todd was also a noted author and speaker. Her oratorial accomplishments will be celebrated by members of the Amherst Woman’s Club on Halloween with a reading of Todd’s 1906 lecture, “Witchcraft in New England.” Oct. 31, 7 p.m., 35 Triangle St., Amherst.

 

Spine-Tingling Tunes

6. Halloween music has come a long way since Bobby Picket’s 1962 single “Monster Mash,” and the Valley offers plenty of opportunity to enjoy some ghastly sounds this weekend. Head up to The Rendezvous at 78 3rd St. in Turners Falls for Tawdry’s Halloween Hoedown at 9 p.m. on Oct. 31.

 

7. Then continue the sonic fright at the Iron Horse (20 Center St., Northampton) on Nov. 1 at 10 p.m. with the Primate Fiasco’s Zombie Party, featuring Dr. Westchesterson. Edible brains, beware!

 

8. Finally, legendary singer/songwriter Elvis Costello will be at The Calvin—19 King St., Northampton—on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m., performing in support of his new album, seasonally titled Wise Up Ghost. Afraid. Be very afraid.

 

On Our Cover:

Agawam resident Josh Levesque caught a ghostly image on his cell phone last weekend. He didn’t realize what he had captured until the next day, when he looked at them more closely. This one stood out over the others: you can make out a perfect face inside the flames. This has happened to other photographs with images of fire as well. Check out more examples here:

www.ghoststudy.com/new2/fire.html