Grand Illusion Cinema

10/13/2026

Original trailer is long gone, so here is a period-style preview pr...

10/13/2026

“It transcends the conventions of the horror genre and remains one of Lewton-Tourneur’s most compelling studies in light and darkness.” Don Druker, Chicago Reader

We present I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE October 17th at the SIFF Film Center!

Supplemental screening opportunity: See Tourneur’s classic and then stay to see it discussed in Maya Annik Bedward’s new documentary BLACK ZOMBIE.

When she takes a job caring for a comatose woman on a Caribbean island, a young nurse (Frances Dee) finds herself plunged into a mysterious world where the ghosts of slavery haunt the present and Vodou priests have the power to summon the living dead. Sugarcane swaying in a moonlit field, the hypnotic beat of ceremonial drums, the relentless pull toward death—the otherworldly atmosphere of this bold reimagining of Jane Eyre is as close as studio-era Hollywood ever came to pure dream-state surrealism.

Producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur elevated the horror film to new heights of poetic abstraction with this entrancing journey into the realm between life and death.

10/12/2026

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day we are once again paying Real Rent to the Duwamish Tribe. We'll continue to pay annually in solidarity with the First Peoples of this land. Real Rent Duwamish

10/12/2026

Cinema is returning to the U District (exact date TBD)!

We've been hard at work in our new home, doing things like turning on big work lights, loosening hundreds of screws and bolts, and swinging sledgehammers (don't worry, the classy main auditorium is unharmed).

To open our new home and truly make it a grander Grand Illusion, we've launched a $200,000 fundraising campaign. This money will help us make improvements, install new cinema equipment, and give us a strong foundation for our first year of operations. You can read more about our plans here: https://grandillusioncinema.org/moving/

You can support the Grand Illusion with a tax-deductible donation and/or a membership. If your membership has expired please consider rejoining us during this transformational time. If your membership doesn't expire soon, you can still renew now, keep the existing renewal date, and help us open our new home. Thank you to everyone who has already donated or purchased a new or renewing membership!

10/11/2026

In BLACK ZOMBIE, director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood. Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power. A symbol of stolen agency was recast as an object of fear, while Black spiritual traditions were distorted, sensationalized, and erased.

Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, BLACK ZOMBIE exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.

We present the film Saturday, October 17 at 730pm at the SIFF Film Center.

Screening location: SIFF Film Center – 167 Republican St, Seattle (located within the Seattle Center, just north of Climate Pledge Arena / east of KEXP and The Vera Project)

10/10/2026

NIGHT OF THE VAMP-FRIARS is the first feature film wholly produced by Vinegar Syndrome Pictures, directed by Kurtis M. Spieler (Re-Director of New York Ninja). We present it with our friends Central Cinema on Oct. 29 at 8pm! Tix are on sale now!

A group of friends in a punk rock band discover a hidden cemetery in the woods, where they accidentally raise a horde of undead friars. Shot entirely on 16mm film, NIGHT OF THE VAMP-FRIARS is a loving tribute to the homegrown horror films made during the height of the video store era.

10/08/2026

We present a new 4K restoration of A CHINESE GHOST STORY on Oct. 20 at the SIFF Film Center!

A traveling tax collector (Leslie Cheung) short on funds opts to take shelter in a seemingly abandoned temple. He is surprised to discover a young woman (Joey Wang) there and instantly falls for her beauty and grace. While every romance has its challenges, the tax collector gets more than he bargained for when he learns that the maiden is, in fact, a ghost... forced into servitude by a demon. With the help of a brave warrior, the tax collector must brave the perils of a supernatural world in order to free his newfound love.

In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Special live intro from local Hong Kong genre film connoisseur and one of the programmers of the Seattle Film Society, Patrick McFarland.

“…hard to top for stylistic boldness, vivid pictorialism, and dramatic power.” Ted Shen, Chicago Reader

“Blending every genre under the sun into a film that feels like a permanent sugar rush, this action horror classic was perfecting wire-fu long before Western audiences knew what it was.” Justin Bowyer, Empire

10/07/2026

From the flickering screens of Hollywood horror to the haunted cane fields of colonial Haiti, BLACK ZOMBIE unearths the buried origins of the zombie, reclaiming it as a symbol of survival and spiritual resistance. We present it Oct. 17 at 730pm at the SIFF Film Center.

Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power. A symbol of stolen agency was recast as an object of fear, while Black spiritual traditions were distorted, sensationalized, and erased.

Director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie, reconsidering iconic films like I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, White Zombie, and The Serpent and the Rainbow, alongside archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, BLACK ZOMBIE exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.

Critic’s Pick! “The gangs of the undead are all here to reflect an often ignored and complicated genealogy: from the entranced white woman in Victor Halperin’s White Zombie to the multiracial mob of flesh-eaters in George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead to the frenzied hordes in World War Z and beyond.” Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times

“An intellectual pleasure. Maya Annik Bedward artfully threads the needle between Caribbean spiritual practices and what we’ve seen on screen. A smart, nuanced love letter to Haiti, and a delight for cinephiles.” Caroline Colvin, Dread Central

“Black Zombie demands you reconsider both the horrors humans are capable of and the untold beauty of the living and the dead. It’s the rare documentary you want everyone you know to watch.” Jessi Cape, Austin Chronicle

10/06/2026

Producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur elevated the horror film to new heights of poetic abstraction with this entrancing journey into the realm between life and death. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE plays October 17 at 530pm at the SIFF Film Center!

Supplemental screening opportunity: See Tourneur’s classic and then stay to see it discussed in Maya Annik Bedward’s new documentary BLACK ZOMBIE at 730pm (separate admission price).

When she takes a job caring for a comatose woman on a Caribbean island, a young nurse (Frances Dee) finds herself plunged into a mysterious world where the ghosts of slavery haunt the present and Vodou priests have the power to summon the living dead. Sugarcane swaying in a moonlit field, the hypnotic beat of ceremonial drums, the relentless pull toward death—the otherworldly atmosphere of this bold reimagining of Jane Eyre is as close as studio-era Hollywood ever came to pure dream-state surrealism.

“It transcends the conventions of the horror genre and remains one of Lewton-Tourneur’s most compelling studies in light and darkness.” Don Druker, Chicago Reader

“It is Tourneur’s caressingly evocative direction, superbly backed by Roy Hunt’s chiaroscuro images, that makes sheer magic of the film’s brooding journey into fear.” Tom Milne, Time Out

10/05/2026

“AN ARIA ON GAZES is a fascinating study on alienation and how technology has accelerated that process. Besides still being firmly rooted within the areas of pink film and exploitation, the design of each scene, the lighting and the overall aesthetics create an unforgettable experience, arousing while still disturbing at the same time.” Rouven Linnarz, Asian Movie Pulse

See one of legendary filmmaker Hisayasu Satô’s most celebrated and visually stunning works, newly restored! Tomorrow at 6pm at the SIFF Film Center.

Housewife Kyoko (Kiyomi Ito) begins moonlighting at a mysterious s*x club as a means of rebelling against her boring salaryman husband Akihito (Mineo Sugiura). The Bedroom isn’t like any normal s*x club, though: the female hostesses all take the powerful sedative Halcion to sleep through their perverse encounters with the male clientele, waking up at the end of their shifts with no memory of what’s been done to them. But when Kyoko decides to explore her fe**sh for voyeurism by not taking the drug, the lines between fantasy and reality quickly become increasingly blurred—and dangerous.

In Japanese with English subtitles.