It Came From Texas Film Festival debuts on October 28-29 at The Plaza Theatre (521 W. State Street) in Garland, Texas, perfect timing to celebrate the 49th anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With special guest appearances by Academy Award winner Ron Bozman (as a producer of The Silence of the Lambs, 1991) and Kim Henkel, a co-writer of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974, the two act as headliners to a full weekend of film.
Film producer Ron Bozman, who now lives in New York City, comes full circle, returning to his hometown of Garland. Bozman grew up watching movies at The Plaza Theatre and graduated from Garland High School in 1965. In addition to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Bozman’s career included work on such notable film/TV projects as Something Wild (1986), Philadelphia (1993), and HBO’s Succession, among many others.
“When I heard they were reopening the Square with a new film festival focusing on Texas-made films at the Plaza, and they were showcasing one of the first films I worked on, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I knew I had to be there. Growing up in Garland and graduating from Garland High School holds such fond memories for me,” Bozman says.
“I remember seeing lots of films at the Plaza Theatre, like the cartoon version of Peter Pan (Disney‘s 1953 version) and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963). It will be fun to be there again. It will be a special kick seeing Chainsaw coupled with the campy horror and sci-fi double features of my ill-spent youth.”
Chainsaw co-creator Kim Henkel hails from Texas, too, graduating from UT Austin in 1969. Mutual friends introduced him to Tobe Hooper, and the rest became slasher film history. Henkel and Hooper co-wrote the original screenplay for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which Hooper then directed. Outside of Eagle Pennell’s Last Night at the Alamo (1983), which Henkel wrote, his work has built on those deep roots in horror, including Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995), 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 50th-anniversary film slated for release late 2024 or early 2025, as well as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre video game released this summer by Gun Media.
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“I’m just so thrilled at how the It Came From Texas Film Festival is coming together. Mr. Bozman told me he doesn’t think that he and Mr. Henkel have been together to talk about Chainsaw with an audience since the 1970s. Let’s welcome Mr. Bozman and Mr. Henkel to town with a full house of fans and Garland High School alumni!” says Kelly Kitchens, film festival director.
Both of those time blocks will also include a 15-minute series of short films made entirely by the Garland High School IB Film Program known as “Reel Owl Cinema.”
The 11-film It Came From Texas Film Festival begins screenings and activities on Saturday, October 28, and continues on Sunday, October 29, just two weeks after the reopening of the Downtown Square. The event, which is sponsored by the City of Garland and Garland Cultural Arts, is a first for the city. Rounding out the Festival will be live riffing by the comedy troupe Mocky Horror Picture Show annihilates The Giant Gila Monster (1959) on Sunday, October 29 at 7 p.m.
For tickets and info, visit the official website.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28
11 am – Double Feature ($10 individual tickets)
ZONTAR: THING FROM VENUS (1967)
Director: Larry Buchanan
Filmed in Dallas
A misguided scientist enables an alien from Venus named Zontar to come to Earth to help solve man’s problems. However, Zontar has other ideas. Stars John Agar.
MANOS: HANDS OF FATE (1966)
Director: Harold P. Warren
Filmed in El Paso and Ysleta
While on a desert excursion, a family encounters cultists who use human hands as sacrificial offerings to their god.
3 pm – RONDO AND BOB (2020) ($10 individual tickets)
Director: Joe O’Connell (in attendance)
Filmed in Austin, Taylor, Los Angeles, and Tampa, FL
Robert A. Burns, art director on the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was obsessed with actor Rondo Hatton (AKA The Creeper). Burns was average-looking but brimming with odd creativity. Hatton, who suffered from acromegaly, had a strangely unique appearance but was a regular guy. In Rondo and Bob, their two stories intersect.
There will be a post-screening Q&A with Rondo and Bob writer/director/producer Joe O’Connell. This block includes student films from Garland High School’s ‘Reel Owl Cinema.’
7 pm – THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) ($25 individual tickets)
Director: Tobe Hooper
Filmed in Bastrop, Round Rock, Watterson, and Leander
The 49th anniversary of this iconic horror film follows a group of friends who visit an old farmhouse where they are abducted and tortured by a family of cannibals. This block includes student films from Garland High School’s ‘Reel Owl Cinema.’
9:30 pm – Special Father and Son Double Feature ($10 individual tickets)
DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (1974)
Director: S.F. Brownrigg
Filmed in Tehuacana
This independent horror film follows a nurse hired to work in Stephens’ Sanatorium, a psychiatric asylum where the patients torment her.
DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT 2 (2015)
Director: Tony Brownrigg
Filmed in Tehuacana
Forty years after patients and doctors of the Stephens Sanitarium were murdered, the only survivor returns to discover that the ghosts of the past still haunt the building and its new inhabitants.
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29
11:30 am – Double Feature ($10 individual tickets)
BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER (1960)
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Filmed in Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth; Eagle Mountain Marine Corps Air Station; and Fair Park, Dallas
An experimental pilot testing a rocket-powered craft finds himself in the future, among a society devastated by a plague.
THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN (1960)
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Filmed in Fair Park, Dallas, and Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts
A notorious thief assists and eventually faces off with a former military officer who plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers.
3 pm – Double Feature ($10 individual tickets)
ATTACK OF THE EYE CREATURES (1967)
Director: Larry Buchanan
Filmed in Dallas
A flying saucer invades Earth and releases multi-eyed alien creatures that terrorize a teenage couple.
THE KILLER SHREWS (1959)
Director: Ray Kellogg
Filmed in Dallas and on Lake Dallas
When a ship lands on an isolated island, the crew discovers a mad scientist has been experimenting on shrews, which terrorize the researchers. Stars James Best, Ken Curtis, Ingrid Goude, and Gordon McLendon.
7:30 pm – Mocky Horror Picture Show live riffing of THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959) ($15 individual tickets)
Director: Ray Kellogg
Filmed in Dallas and on Lake Dallas
A live-riffing movie comedy show! Mocked by Danny Gallagher and his fellow mockers Liz Barksdale and Albie Robles, this campy classic follows a mechanic and street racer as they work to stop a giant lizard from destroying the town. This block also includes student films from Garland High School’s ‘Reel Owl Cinema’ and a costume contest.
For tickets and info, visit the official website.
