CELIA (1989), Folk Horror Around the World
Schedule
Sun, 21 Sep, 2025 at 04:30 pm
UTC-05:00Location
5228 Gravois Ave, St Louis, MO 63116-2310, United States | Southhampton, MO
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“Turner’s film is more effective that any dozen more conventional genre works. It gets under the skin like a tick, like an infection, like myxomatosis, and lingers there, dully throbbing, driving us to pick at it and ponder.” – The CurbRarely screened in the United States since its minimal initial theatrical release, Ann Turner’s CELIA is a dark coming-of-age masterpiece ripe for rediscovery. Too sprawling, ambitious, and sensitive to be simply called a horror movie yet too terrifying to be classified as anything else, Turner’s award-winning film resists easy synopsis. Marketed as a straightforward shocker in the vein of The Bad Seed—the film’s US distributor subtitled it “CHILD OF TERROR”—the film is set in 1950s Australia, where 9-year-old Celia hears the disturbing fairy tale of “The Hobyahs” in school, causing her to interpret real-life conflicts such as her parents’ struggling relationship, the threat of communism and the country’s plague of rabbits as emanations of evil. CELIA paints a disquieting picture of innocence trying to make sense of the harsh and complex world around her through escape into dark fantasy.
Presented with a creepy Australian children’s TV pre-show at 4 pm!
Each month, Arkadin presents a selection of FOLK HORROR AROUND THE WORLD, creepy folktales from all corner of the globe to give you the Sunday scaries.
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Where is it happening?
5228 Gravois Ave, St Louis, MO 63116-2310, United States, 5228 Gravois Ave, St Louis, MO 63116-2310, United States, SouthhamptonEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
