Although he’s moved away from the genre in recent years, David Cronenberg—the man who brought us exploding skulls, acid-vomiting Jeff Goldblums, and more vaguely vaginal flesh wounds than you can shape a phallic symbol of humanity’s increasing alienation and dependence on technology at—will always have a warm, slightly sticky place waiting for him in the halls of horror. Thus the announcement today that Los Angeles-based genre film festival Beyond Fest will be playing tribute to the master this year, announcing a 13-film Cronenberg On Cronenberg retrospective that’ll see the man himself hanging out with fans during screenings of some of his most celebrated films.
Looking over the schedule, it’s primarily focused on films that Cronenberg both wrote and directed—so no Dead Zone, Fast Company, or M. Butterfly—although a separate event will host a couple of his more well-regarded director-only films, like Eastern Promises and A History Of Violence. The main event, though, will be at L.A.’s Egyptian Theater, which will host a run of films ranging from Shivers all the way up through eXistenZ, celebrating the new flesh in all its extremely gory forms. Highlights of the run—which will stretch from September 26 to October 9—include a 30th anniversary screening of twins-based gynecological horror opus Dead Ringers, a double feature of The Fly and Naked Lunch (complete with appearances by Cronenberg, composer Howard Shore, and star Geena Davis) and a truly upsetting-sounding double-bill of Videodrome and eXistenZ. (That last one promises appearances by Cronenberg and Shore, plus Debbie Harry and Jennifer Jason Leigh—but no James Woods. Whew!)
Tickets for the retrospective will go on sale on September 1.