Saturday Creature Features at Rosendale, NY
Classic monster movies on the BIG SCREEN—including Dracula, King Kong, House on Haunted Hill, and more!
The Rosendale Theatre is featuring a monthly series of retro Monster/Horror/Sci-Fi films entitled Saturday Creature Features, sharing classic (and wonderfully campy!) monster movies. Screenings will include Universal Monsters, Alien Invaders, Mad Scientists, Giant Monsters and enough Atomic Mayhem to delight the whole family. Costumes will be encouraged, games will be played—come by for the fun!
The series will take place monthly at The Rosendale Theatre in Rosendale, NY (about 75 minutes north of NYC). They’ll be showing Dracula (1931) on Saturday June 25, 2022 at 10:00pm.
Below, find a list of films. We also have an interview with Bob Esposito, who shares more about the event.
More info on the series here: Saturday Creature Features | The Rosendale Theatre
Complete Saturday Creature Features 2022 schedule:
June 25, 2022: Dracula (1931)—Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naïve real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
July 30, 2022: Frankenstein (1931)—Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.
August 29, 2022: Carnival of Souls (1962)—After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
September 24, 2022: Spider Baby, or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)—A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father’s death.
October 29, 2022: Double Feature—
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)—A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.
King Kong (1933)—A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition.
November 19, 2022: House on Haunted Hill (1959)—A millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
For 2022, all films run on Saturday night. If 2022 is successful, the theater will continue the series through 2023. More info on the series here: Saturday Creature Features | The Rosendale Theatre
Bob Esposito tells us more about the event…
1) What inspired this series as a whole?
Pretty much my love for old time horror and sci-fi films. I had recently retired and I approached the Rosendale Theatre asking if they might consider running a series of old time monster movies to which they very enthusiastically agreed. My background is in producing classic horror film actor collector card sets (Boris Karloff—Beyond the Monster, Dwight Frye—True Character and Henchmen of Horror) so the theatre felt they were in good enough hands to give such a series a shot.
2) What led to these specific movie choices?
With the 2022 season consisting of just seven films, I wanted to give the intended audience as broad a range of films as possible. Three 1930s classic monster films, one 1950s haunted house film, one 1960s ghost/after life film, one 1960s horror/comedy, and one 1970s cult movie favorite. Of course, there are dozens of other categories to choose from, but we’ll have to get to some of those in 2023.
3) Who all was involved in making these choices? What was the process of putting together this list?
The theatre, basically, left it up to me to make the film choices. I’m not a fan of gore films and the theatre would not wish to be associated with them either. With this mutual understanding, they felt comfortable enough to let me put together the film choices.
4) What inspired you to be a fan of movies?
Perhaps for much the same reason as many youngsters. Movies are an alternate reality filled with entertainment and education worthy of exploration and I gladly went in that direction at a young age.
5) What inspired you to be a fan of *monster* movies?
As a 4-year old in 1964, I saw The Monster That Challenged the World on local tv and it scared me silly! However, at the same time I was also drawn to this type of movie and I kept watching different monster movies in brief amounts until I became too scared and shut them off. Eventually though, I was able to watch an entire monster movie all the way through.
1955’s Bride of the Monster was the first monster movie I could sit all the way through and not be scared (sorry, Ed Wood!). I’ve been watching horror and sci-fi films ever since.
6) Does this event include any special context or materials?
These are old-time monster movies to have a fun night out with and leave the theatre with a smile. As we know, vintage horror and sci-fi films are often mocked for their datedness and budget restrictions but we're steering clear of all that. These are films to celebrate for the pure fun and joy of them.
Some materials that will be available to view on show nights will be about a dozen Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Monster Times, etc. magazines which will be displayed on a table in the lobby that people will be encouraged to browse through.
There will also be a “Monster Movie Information Board” set up which will contain the names of key book publishers, authors, Facebook groups, vintage monster magazines and internet websites focusing on classic horror/sci-fi. People will be encouraged to photograph the info board with their cell phones.
7) What’s your advice for people thinking of coming?
Come for the fun, come for the joy and come to learn some interesting back stories of the actors and of the films.
