Spotlight Events
Our selection of unmissable screenings in our event programme, including milestone anniversaries, exciting collaborations, special events and other Festival highlights.
Our selection of unmissable screenings in our event programme, including milestone anniversaries, exciting collaborations, special events and other Festival highlights.
As the summer comes to a close, we’re turning up the heat with a 25th anniversary screening of the cult crime classic Sexy Beast. Jonathan Glazer’s tale of a safe-cracker forced out of retirement is full of shocks, thrills, pitch-dark comedy, and Ben Kingsley’s scariest turn as a psychotic mob boss. In honour of the film’s iconic opening scenes on the Costa del Sol - and to toast the end of summer - we’ll be pairing it with a tasting of Spanish wines.
Our matinee screenings at the Caves bring classics from the archives back to the big screen at discounted prices, and 2025’s Underground Cinema starts with our first ever Friday matinee screening! We’re celebrating the 75th anniversary of Cinderella, Walt Disney’s beloved take on the 17th Century fairy tale. A critical and commercial hit, it rejuvenated Disney’s post-WWII fortunes and remains one of the studio’s most seminal works to this day.
Like Bruce Wayne descending into the caverns beneath Wayne Manor, it’s your opportunity to leave the surface behind and slip into Redcliffe Caves for a 20th anniversary screening of Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan’s first Batman film not only rebooted the franchise, but set the tone for a darker era in both superhero movies and more widely in 21st Century blockbusters. Come and witness the birth of a legend - and in case you’re worrying, we can pretty much guarantee that your venue will be bat-free, apart from the ones onscreen…!
Regulars will know that we have a fond spot for some of the older movie musicals, and we’re delighted to present a Vintage Screening of Annie Get Your Gun for its 75th anniversary! Based on Irving Berlin’s musical and starring Betty Hutton as the titular sharpshooter - plus Howard Keel in his Hollywood debut - it’s a rootin’ tootin’ musical misadventure! In keeping with the setting, we’ll be pairing the film with wines from the frontiers of the Wild West – but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be American…
Is it Halloween already? Well, no, but if you venture into the Caves on Friday night for our 30th anniversary screening of Se7en, you may well feel chilled to the bone unseasonably early! David Fincher’s gritty and grimy tale of a Seven Deadly Sins-inspired serial killer is not for the faint-hearted, but push past the grislier moments and you’ll find yourself immersed in a gripping detective noir thriller that has set the benchmark for so many imitators and homages ever since.
Saturday’s matinee at the Underground Cinema is a 40th anniversary screening of The Black Cauldron. In keeping with Saturday’s theme of cult classics, this dark fantasy has developed a dedicated fan following over the decades. With echoes of Welsh mythology, a stirring Elmer Bernstein score and John Hurt as one of Disney’s creepier villains, it’s an epic adventure that’ll reawaken your inner child.
Our cult classics continue in the Caves on Saturday with a 40th anniversary of the teen sci-fi fantasy comedy Weird Science. John Hughes’ third coming-of-age film combines the Frankenstein mythology with 80s computer geeks to create a knowingly goofy mash-up inspired by 50s comics, classic monster movies and Hughes’ hallmark touch of breathing life into awkward teenager tropes. So place your tongue firmly in your cheek, and start coding…
Next up on Cult Classics Saturday at the Caves is another 40th anniversary screening: it’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome! The third outing in the epic post-apocalyptic series introduces Tina Turner in her iconic role as the ruthless Aunty Entity, and is packed with stunning vehicle choreography, one of the most epic movie fight scenes of all time, and enough energy to keep the franchise alive until the Tom Hardy revival. Strap yourselves in…
Join us as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator with a wine and pasta night fit for an emperor! This special Vintage Screening will be serving up six Italian wines to taste alongside the film, as well as a meal during the interval courtesy of Toff’s Pasta. It promises to be an epic evening.
Sunday’s matinee at the Underground Cinema is a 40th anniversary screening of Ridley Scott’s Legend. Starring a pre-Top Gun Tom Cruise and Tim Curry in a terrifying turn as the demonic creature Darkness, it also assembled the largest makeup team ever at that time to bring the dark fantasy world to life, ultimately winning an Oscar in this department. It’s as 80s as it gets, and all the greater for it!
Our Sunday screenings at the Underground Cinema are all about fantasy and adventure, and the schedule continues with a star turn from Robin Williams in a 90s action-adventure: the original Jumanji! Based on a novel and spawning sequels, spin-offs and even theme park rides, the original film turns 30 this year - stampede on down to Redcliffe Caves to enjoy its thrills and spills deep beneath the surface…
We’re delighted to bring a 20th anniversary screening of The Adventures Of Tintin to the Caves this autumn. Tintin’s creator Hergé personally stated that Steven Spielberg “was the only person who could ever do Tintin justice,” and this breathtaking animated adventure draws inspiration from three of the plucky journalist’s most beloved stories. With Snowy, Captain Haddock, Thomson and Thompson, Bianca Castafiore and more all joining the fun, it’s a must-watch for any fan.
ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS FOR THIS SLICK AND TWISTING CRIME THRILLER
Our October Vintage Screenings start with a bang on 10th October with a 30th anniversary screening of The Usual Suspects. This compelling crime thriller is packed with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very last minute - and to honour that, we’ll be doing the same with another blind tasting evening, giving you subtle clues to help you pick the odd wine out before the evening is up…!
A PIONEERING ANTHOLOGY OF CHILLING TALES FROM A BELOVED BRITISH STUDIO
Our October Vintage Screenings continue with a chilling warm-up (or perhaps chill-down?) for Halloween, Dead Of Night. One of Ealing Studios’ rare horror outputs and helping to set the tone for British horror for the rest of the century, this anthology of eerie tales turns 80 in 2025. We’ll be pairing it with a wine flight inspired by some of the stories that it tells, in a spine-tingling celebration of the macabre.
We’re returning to Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol’s very own necropolis, for the start of our Halloween Season 2025. We’re hosting a triple bill celebrating acclaimed filmmaker Tim Burton, starting with a 20th anniversary screening of Corpse Bride. Burton’s directorial stop-motion debut is delightfully eerie, packed with dry wit and dark whimsy, and surprisingly poignant. The titular bride’s story of love transcending even death will warm even the coldest of hearts as the nights begin to draw in this autumn…
This October, we invite you to step back into the twisted, magical world of Oz with a 40th anniversary screening of Return to Oz. This spiritual sequel to the original film delves deeper into L. Frank Baum’s stories to present a darker, wilder journey beyond the yellow brick road. Join us this cult classic where Tik-Tok ticks (not the app!), Wheelers creep, and Dorothy faces her strangest adventure yet. We know that some of our Gen X audience still have their nightmares haunted by the spookier moments in this warped fantasy, so whether you’re discovering this strange chapter for the first time or facing up to your childhood cinema-based trauma, we’re ready to welcome you back to Oz…!
Our weekend of horror-tinged sci-fi at the Planetarium starts with a 25th anniversary double bill of futuristic frightfests from 2000. First up is the action-packed chiller Pitch Black, which introduced the world to Vin Diesel’s antihero Riddick, as he battles for survival on a planet where what you can’t see can really, really hurt you…!
Our double bill of futuristic frightfests from 2000 concludes with Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Hollow Man, which features Kevin Bacon as you’ve, erm, never seen him before, fulfilling the mad scientist role as the creator of an invisibility drug who can’t handle the consequences of his creation, with murderous results for his peers…
We’re returning to St Mary Redcliffe during our 2025 Halloween season for a special centenary screening of The Phantom Of The Opera, featuring a career-defining performance from Lon Chaney as the Phantom and one of cinema’s earliest and most infamous jump scares… This remarkable film will be set to an original score performed live by Bristol-based quartet Minima - their score for this seminal film is an event not to be missed!
Our Matinee Screenings return to the Caves on Saturday and Sunday mornings – these screenings, starting at just £10 a ticket, showcase vintage films from the horror vault. For Saturday’s Matinee Screening, we’re celebrating the 80th anniversary of Bride Of Frankenstein. Elsa Lanchester appears as the eponymous bride opposite Boris Karloff as the original monster in this shocking sequel to the 1931 adaptation. It’s one of the all-time great sequels and still a cornerstone of the genre.
As we move into Saturday evening at Horror In The Caves, we’re resurrecting Fright Night for a 40th anniversary screening. This comedy-horror about a vampire next door inspired a sequel, remakes, comic books, novels, a video game, a stage adaptation, and there’s even a rumoured prequel in the pipeline - but it doesn’t get better than the original, with its chills, thrills, and affectionate homage to the glory days of vintage horror crossed with 80s pop culture. One worth sinking your teeth into!
We’re celebrating another 40th birthday on Saturday evening at Horror In The Caves: it’s the notorious Re-Animator! Stuart Gordon’s infamous adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story is one of the bloodiest mad scientist stories out there, as two medical students create a literally death-defying serum with horrific consequences. We’re presenting a restoration of the original unrated cut; it’s both genuinely scary and genuinely funny, for those with a warped sense of humour and a stomach for gore…
Saturday at Horror In The Caves 2025 concludes with a late evening screening of Bone Tomahawk, which turns 10 this year. This gritty Western - with Kurt Russell on top form as a grizzled sheriff - suddenly takes shocking twists and turns and descends into full-throated, unflinchingly brutal horror. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know it’s a modern genre-fusing classic. If you haven’t seen it, we’re not saying anything more than “Prepare yourself” and “There’s a reason we’re showing this one in a cave complex”…!
For Sunday’s Matinee Screening at Horror In The Caves 2025, we’re celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Night Of The Hunter. Widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, one-time director Charles Laughton didn’t live long enough to see his work become recognised as a classic - but Robert Mitchum’s nightmarish turn as a murderous “preacher” remains one of the enduring villains of the genre.
Sunday afternoon at Horror In The Caves 2025 takes us back a quarter of a century to the original Final Destination. The franchise is still box office gold, but the very first film expertly sets up the fiendishly stressful premise of Death itself hunting down a group of friends who literally cheat it when they narrowly avoid a plane crash. The Rube Goldberg-style machinations of seemingly ordinary objects creating deathtraps will have you on the edge of your seat!
As Sunday evening draws in at Redcliffe Caves, we’re presenting a 20th anniversary screening of the possession chiller The Exorcism Of Emily Rose. Part courtroom drama and part demonic nightmare, this eerie film is all the creepier knowing it’s inspired by real-life events - and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, Quarantine) is ghoulishly hypnotic as Emily Rose, channeling dark forces in an award-winning and incredibly physical performance that has to be seen to be believed!
This November we’re presented a trio of Hitchcockian Vintage Screenings to mark some major anniversaries of some of his finest films. Our first screening is the haunting adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which turns 85 this year. This was Hitchcock’s only film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, and it’s a glorious Gothic psychological thriller. We’ll be pairing it with some suitably Gothic wines inspired by the film’s character and characters…
This November we’re presented a trio of Hitchcockian Vintage Screenings to mark some major anniversaries of some of his finest films. Our second screening is Spellbound, which turns 80 this year; this brooding psychological thriller sees Ingrid Bergman face off against Gregory Peck, a man who isn’t who he seems and can’t be sure of who he’s supposed to be… We’ll be pairing it with wines that each have a Hitchcockian twist to them that make them unusual in their respective categories… Intrigued? We hope so!
Our trio of Hitchcock Vintage Screenings in November concludes with a 90th anniversary screening of the espionage thriller The 39 Steps. Showing just in time for St Andrew's Day, you can choose either a wine tasting or opt for a Scotch whisky tasting flight in honour of both the seminal film's setting and patron saint. Slainté!
With kind permission from Hammer Films, we’re thrilled to bring a 70th anniversary screening of The Quatermass Xperiment to the Planetarium this November. Based on the BBC serial, this chilling story of extraterrestrial threat and body horror was a major influence on cult director John Carpenter, and this digitally restored print will be a treat on the big screen once more for all fans of sci-fi and vintage horror!
