Tod Browning (U.S., 1931) Family Fun! Bela Lugosi's eerie portrayal of the Transylvanian bloodsucker set the bar for all future Draculas in this iconic horror film. Followed by The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932), with Boris Karloff as an ancient Egyptian priest driven to possess the modern-day incarnation of his long-lost love; an enduring contribution to the pantheon of Universal monsters. (152 mins)

Les Blank with Maureen Gosling, Chris Simon (U.S., 1994). Les Blank in person. Join us for three films that celebrate individuality and creativity: The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists, a portrait of local artist Gerald Gaxiola; Julie: Old Time Tales of the Blue Ridge; and Gap-Toothed Women, which addresses issues of beauty, womanhood, and personal fulfillment. (96 mins)

Roberto Rossellini (Italy, 1961). Studio Vault Print! Sandra Milo won Best Actress at Venice with her performance as the daughter of a Roman aristocrat who falls in love with a wounded patriot. Based on a story by Stendhal, Rossellini's last commercial feature is set in 1824, during the Risorgimento. (113 mins)

Alexei Guerman (U.S.S.R., 1971/1986) New Print! A former Nazi collaborator rejoins his Russian brethren to fight against the Germans in this WWII war film/philosophical treatise, banned for fifteen years for “de-heroicizing” Soviet history. “A bleak description of war that ranks with the stories of Solzhenitsyn and Isaac Babel”(Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound). (98 mins)

Mario Soldati (Italy, 1941). Imported Print! In Austrian-occupied Lombardy in 1850, a young aristocrat (Massimo Serato) marries the humble Luisa (Alida Valli), incurring the wrath of his grandmother, a marchioness. This was the role that established Valli as a serious actress. (106 mins)

Gus Van Sant (U.S., 1989) Archival Print! In Gus Van Sant's breakthrough feature, Matt Dillon plays the leader of a pack of dopers in 1970s Portland who survive by jacking pharmacies. With William S. Burroughs as a junkie former priest. “One of the best films in the long tradition of American outlaw road movies” (Roger Ebert). (104 mins)

Alexei Guerman (U.S.S.R., 1998). Guerman's notorious film maudit, set during the infamous “Doctor's Plot” Stalinist purge, is “an orchestrated cataclysm, a narrative inferno that demands to be inhabited rather than decoded; it is Russian cinema's answer to Finnegan's Wake” (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound). (137 mins)

Joseph Green (U.S., 1962). Free outdoor screening on Center Street! DJ Timber, a reading by artist Dean Santomieri, and a preview of Tiffany Shlain's new brainy film set the scene for The Brain That Wouldn't Die. A demented doctor grafts his decapitated fiancées's brain onto the body of a disfigured model, and telepathic mayhem ensues. (71 mins, plus pre-movie mania)

Alfred Hitchcock (U.S., 1963). The Birds does for our fine feathered friends what Psycho did for showers, as a seaside community (Bodega Bay) is terrorized when seemingly normal birds turn suddenly and inexplicably malevolent. Noted for its rapid montage of attack sequences and Bernard Herrmann's score, composed entirely of manipulated bird sounds. (120 mins)