Welcome to Movie Nights @ The Scratching Post
Film Fanatic Movie Nights is a series of communal film experiences designed to stimulate the senses, feed the mind, and dazzle the eyes. Each film is presented by a film fanatic curator who introduces the film, sets the stage with background and insight, and leads an informal discussion afterward. Whether you come as a viewer, a movie buff, or a full-on fanatic — you're among friends here.
This screening is part of Champaign-Urbana's annual month-long celebration of horror films — one of cinema's most inventive, subversive, and enduring forms. This October, explore a carefully curated selection of the genre's greatest achievements on the big screen. Full festival schedule: shocktober-fright.com
The Black Cat
USA 1934 • 69 min (1.37:1) • Not Rated
Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer
Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop, Egbert Van Alstyne
RSVP on Facebook • Download poster
Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 6:30pm
Venue: The Scratching Post (114 E University Ave, Champaign)
Advance tickets: $10 (available online until 5pm on October 7)
Regular admission: $12 (at the door)
Special offer: Join Film-Fanatic.Club today and get one FREE admission plus one drink ticket (more info)
Note: Upon purchase, your name will be added to our door list (no tickets will be issued). Simply check in at the door at least 10 minutes before the screening starts on the night of the event. Your email receipt is your proof of purchase.
The Scratching Post is an ADA accessible venue with designated spaces that can accommodate anyone, including guests who use wheelchairs. Please email ada@film-fanatic.club for more information.
About the film
A delirious pre-Code horror classic, this 1930s nightmare is less a traditional monster movie than a collision of German Expressionism, Art Deco modernism, and pure cinematic weirdness. Its bold imagery, sinister eroticism, and gleefully macabre tone make it one of the strangest and most visually distinctive horror films of the classical Hollywood era. For fans of cult cinema, pre-Code Hollywood, and movies that seem to have escaped from another dimension, this is an essential big-screen discovery. The real attraction of this rarely seen gem is the legendary pairing of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, reunited after The Mummy and given characters that allow their contrasting screen personas to collide spectacularly. But the film belongs just as much to Edgar G. Ulmer, whose strikingly economical direction wastes no time plunging audiences into an atmosphere of ominous architecture, occult obsession, sexual tension, and escalating madness.
Content Warnings: Horror violence, murder, occult imagery, Satanic themes, torture, nudity, and disturbing imagery.
#BorisKarloff #BelaLugosi #ClassicHorror #PreCodeHollywood #HorrorCinema #CultCinema #GermanExpressionism #ArtDeco #UniversalHorror #ClassicCinema
Film-Fanatic.Club • The Scratching Post • 114 E University Ave, Champaign
