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COLUMN: Celebrate the season at Nelson’s Civic Theatre

The Civic Theatre presents a program of Halloween delights
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The warmth of late summer, the golden trees of Uphill, and the end of the soccer season all combine to make September a delightful month. Unless you’re a movie theatre programmer.

September can actually be a dead and difficult month to program at the Civic Theatre. I don’t mean to cast a cloud on your delightful month, of course, but aside from content not being particularly strong, it is difficult for families just getting back into the routines of school and programming for their kids following the dog days of summer.

Visits to the theatre may not be a priority.

That’s why I am so glad we’re now well into October. The routines are back even though they’re very much dependent on coffee as fuel. But more importantly film distributors start seeping their award contenders into the release schedules, and… it’s almost Halloween!

The Civic Theatre does love its Halloween, and always gets behind it with special programming like 2016’s Week of the Dead, and last year’s Zombie takeover of Chako Mika Mall with a post-screening of Dawn of the Dead. This year is no different.

Starting this Friday, Oct. 19, Nelson audiences can check out our first contender of the season, the critically acclaimed A Star Is Born. Bradley Cooper directed and acted in this film which features a naturally presented Lady Gaga. She plays struggling artist Ally who has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer until Jackson (the dashing Cooper) coaxes her into the spotlight.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think The Predator and Venom were really good films too, but they just aren’t what the Academy is looking for.

Following A Star is Born, and starting Oct. 26, we are tentatively booked to screen another contender, this one from Academy Award-winning director Damien Chazzelle. (Whiplash, La La Land).

First Man, starring Ryan Gosling, tells the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. A visceral, first-person account, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost — on Armstrong and on the nation — of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

And to finish off the month of October and build up to a most spectacular Halloween, you won’t want to miss Vesper Valentine’s Monster Mash Bash Cabaret, a spooktacular evening full of drag, burlesque, circus acts, comedy, flow artists, live music and much more. So put that into your calendar for Saturday, Oct 27.

Then, on Sunday Oct. 28, our fifth annual Zombie Walk will be followed by a 3 p.m. screening of the 30th Anniversary of Beetlejuice, in restored DCP. Finally, to bring in Halloween itself, you need to be on the edge of a Civic seat for the 40th anniversary restoration of the John Carpenter ‘78 classic Halloween, also presented in DCP.

There you have it. Good movies, good fun, good classic horror with hundreds of your friends, and the fall leaves haven’t all fallen yet. So go and get yourself some more coffee and get in some solid entertainment at your community cinema. Happy October. See you at the Civic.

For more details on these events and more, check out Civictheatre.ca and the Civic Theatre’s Facebook page.

Jason Asbell is the programming director and Igor to everything Civic Theatre related.