The Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Heathers
Nitehawk Cinema; 4/28–4/29 at noon and midnight; 136 Metropolitan Ave., nr. Berry St., Williamsburg; 718-384-3980
You might not think onscreen violence and delicious food go together, but that’s why Nitehawk serves stiff drinks for weak stomachs. The Williamsburg theater will host two veritable cult classics this weekend, with showtimes to match the story lines. Heathers starts at noon, daylight pairing nicely with the film’s tongue-in-cheek disposition, while TCM screens at midnight, the only appropriate hour for Tobe Hooper’s grind house masterpiece.
Death Row Portraits
IFC Center; 4/25 at 6:30 p.m., April 26 at 9:30 p.m.; 323 Sixth Ave., at 3rd St.; 212-924-7771
Leave it to Werner Herzog to challenge his audience. As a companion to 2011’s Into the Abyss, Death Row Portraits is a four-part series centered on five inmates awaiting lethal injection. Herzog himself will be on hand for the film’s two-night U.S. premiere and will stick around after each screening to wax philosophical on his film, America’s death penalty, and more.
Labyrinth
Film Biz Prop Shop; 4/28 at 8 p.m., 4/29 at 11:30 p.m.; 540 President St., nr. Fourth Ave., Gowanus; 347-384-2336
BBQ Films wants to remind you of the babe this weekend when they screen the Jim Henson classic Labyrinth among the Hollywood detritus of the Film Biz Recycling prop shop. Billingsgate Brewing will be supplying four Bowie—inspired beers for any wallflowers, goblins, or dwarves.
The Devil’s Carnival
Times Scare NYC; 4/26 at 10 p.m.; 669 Eighth Ave., nr. 42nd St.; 212-586-7829
Following in the footsteps of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Repo: The Genetic Opera comes The Devil’s Carnival, a gonzo horror-musical touring the country as a roadshow. Seeing the genre-blending film with its director, strobe lights, and a raucous large group should make the vaudevillian screening worthwhile.
Tribeca Talks: Does the Cloud Have a Silver (Screen) Lining?
SVA Theatre; 4/26 at 2:30 p.m.; 333 W. 23 St., nr. EighthAve.; 212-592-2980
Ever watched a movie on Netflix Instant? Subscribe to Hulu Plus? Then this panel’s for you. The Tribeca Film Festival is bringing five industry experts together to debate the merits of major studios, tablet, the cloud, and everything in between. In an age where streaming is such a huge part of how we digest films, this free event should dredge up some interesting conversations amongst friends.
WarGames
SVA Theatre; 4/28 at 1:30 p.m.; 333 W. 23 St., nr. EighthAve.; 212-592-2980
Join director John Badham, actress Ally Sheedy, a Bitcoin technical lead, a program manager Ph.D., and a computer hacker in screening 1983’s WarGames. After watching Matthew Broderick defeat a supercomputer, stick around for the aforementioned panel to discuss the “relationship between military strategy and technical innovation, storytelling with gaming and simulation tools and the challenges of depicting cutting-edge technology on the big screen.”
Robert Nelson, Program 2
Anthology Film Archives; 4/28 at 6:30 p.m.; 32 Second Ave., at 2nd St.; 212-505-5181
Slow Art Day is an international nonprofit event encouraging audiences to look at art the slow way—patiently. More than 88 venues are participating in the global art-appreciation initiative, and the Anthology Film Archive will be one of them, by screening a selection of films by the late Robert Nelson.
Columbia University Short Film Festival
Walter Reade Theater; 5/5 at 2 p.m., 5/6 at 3 p.m.; 140 West 65th St., nr. Broadway; 212-875-5600
For the 25th year in a row, Lincoln Center will host the Columbia University Short Film Festival. More than 40 short films, screenplays, and teleplays by MFA students will be screened, presented, or performed. Now’s your chance to see what Manhattan’s artistic Ivy Leaguers have been up to over the past academic year.