The Theatre Bizarre

Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims' eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep.

Directed by Buddy Giovinazzo, Douglas Buck, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Tom Savini, Richard Stanley, Jeremy Kasten, The Theatre Bizarre leans on a strong ensemble — Udo Kier, Virginia Newcomb, Amanda Marquardt — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about horror titles of 2011.