What's Up, Berlin?

 

The summer was turbulent so far, in terms of both the weather and all the fun things you can do with lots of amazing films, concerts, events, readings all around... And it doesn't look like that's going to change in the near future, so let's keep on looking at some of the stuff a horror fan can do in and around Berlin this summer.

My currently favorite open air cinema is the Freilichtbühne Weißensee because it's close to my home, I can ride there with my bike, and it's on a lake shore with a sandy beach and beach chairs, so summery! It's even more my favorite this summer because they screen movies about Beauty Horror every Wednesday - unfortunately all of them movies I already know well, so I won't necessarily go out of my way to watch them there, BUT on August 1st, our very own Final Girls Berlin is doing a "Beauty is Pain" evening with the very best short film selection about the pain of trying to stay young and pretty. Buy your ticket here.

And somewhere across town, namely in Rollberg Kinos in Neukölln, this summer has been declared The Summer of Craven for the legendary horror director Wes Craven who died ten years ago in the summer. What does that mean? Well, it means that each Saturday (the very few exceptions prove the rule) at 10.30 pm at the Rollberg Kino you can watch a select Wes Craven movie. The series has kicked off last Saturday, I was there and watched in an almost fully booked room the very disturbing revenge classic The Last House on the Left. In the upcoming weeks Swamp Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker and The People Under the Stairs will be screened. If you ever wanted to see these pictures on the big screen, I'd say go for this unique chance. Also there are special Summer of Craven T-Shirts and other merch.

Yet in another corner of Berlin, in Schöneberg, the Odeon screens a witch movie monthly; The Witches of Eastwick, The Witch, The Crucible, The Craft, and Häxan. As you can calculate, this one goes beyond the summer months and extends until the end of the year.   

Once we're in Schöneberg, the jump to Charlottenburg isn't all that far, so let's do that and take a look at the Fantasy Filmfest movies that have been announced already! The FFF will take place from September 3 - 10 and features movies like Bone Lake, Crushed, Que ma volonté soit faite/Her Will Be Done, and Marco.

Back to Kreuzkölln, meanwhile, the British science fiction legend Peter Hamilton will be back at the Otherland on July 26, at 7 pm, for a reading event, because the last spontaneous event was so nice.

There are a number of horror films opening this summer, though it's always hard to know if they will be shown here in Germany, so I found a couple of titles that I'm pretty sure will have theatrical release in Berlin, although I'm not 100% sure. But I 100% hope they will. On the top of my list there are Bring Her Back, Together and Weapons. 

Interestingly, although they have release dates a bit more far into the future, there are a number of Stephen King adaptations on the way. The titles I gathered so far are The Life of Chuck, The Running Man, The Long Walk, The Institute (TV series), IT: Welcome to Derry (TV series), and Carrie (TV series). These are only the titles who have concrete opening dates or are in pre-production, if I wrote here all the movies which are in development or aren't fleshed out yet, my hand would hurt and your jaw would drop. There's a real Stephen King boom on the way, and deservedly so. As a super fan I approve.

So, there will probably even more stuff coming in but even if you watch all the movies I gave you here, you'll be quite busy until my next movie post. So stay safe, watch movies and have a great time!