Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011

Cinema fans hell-bent on scaring themselves senseless ahead of Halloween will be sitting on the edge of their seats on October 8, as Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com) runs a late-night marathon of classic Italian horror flicks. Festivities kick off at 10:30pm with Mario Brava’s Bay of Blood (1971; pictured), which is believed to have inspired the Friday the 13th franchise, and wind up at 6am, when everyone in the audience will likely be too scared to get any shuteye… A taste of Latin cinema can be savored as the 2011 Cinema Brasil Festival is held at Shibuya’s Eurospace (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.eurospace.co.jp), October 15-21. Highlights include The Supreme Happiness, a family drama set in the last days of WWII, and One Night in 67, a documentary about a singing contest that had a lasting influence on Brazilian popular music. (http://2011.cinemabrasil.info)… A film will offer a glimpse into a little-known country when Shibuya’s Image Forum (2-10-2 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku; www.imageforum.co.jp) screens the Kyrgyz drama Light Thief from October 8. Director Aktan Arym Kuba plays an electrician in rural Kyrgyzstan, often providing villagers with power by stealing it from the town hall, and helping them with their non-electric problems as well.

Unless otherwise noted, Japanese films are shown without English subtitles and non-English language films are shown with only Japanese subtitles.