From silent cinema and live orchestras to zombies, vampires, giant monsters, Batman and Michael Myers, Halloween is taking over downtown Fayetteville's Cameo Art House Theatre. Something strange is happening at the Cameo this October. The lights are getting darker. The shadows are getting longer. And some unusual visitors are making their way to downtown Fayetteville.
Devilish ghouls are coming. The dead are rising. Count Orlok is emerging from the shadows. King Kong and Godzilla are preparing for battle. Vampires are gathering. A Corpse Bride is waiting. Batman is becoming a ninja? And before Halloween night is over, Michael Myers is coming home.
From Oct. 18 through Oct. 31, the Cameo will celebrate the season with classic films, live music, special events and community collaborations spanning more than 100 years of cinema.
It Begins with FAUST.
The celebration begins Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1:30 p.m. with the 100th Anniversary of F.W. Murnau's Faust (1926), accompanied by a live original score from Ten Thousand Lakes. The classic story centers on a wager between an angel and a demon over the soul of an honorable man as a plague descends upon everything he loves. Considered a pinnacle of German Expressionist cinema, Murnau's haunting imagery and innovative special effects were far ahead of their time. A century later, visiting music group Ten Thousand Lakes has created an original score to accompany those images live.
The Dead Rise on Fourth Friday
On Friday, Oct. 23 at 9:30 p.m., Fourth Friday Fright Night presented by Sinister Cuts brings George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) back to the big screen. What begins with a frightening encounter in a cemetery becomes a desperate fight for survival when a group of strangers barricade themselves inside a farmhouse as the dead begin walking.
Romero's low-budget independent film became one of the most influential horror movies ever made and helped define the modern zombie.

NOSFERATU Meets the Symphony
On Saturday, Oct. 24, something ancient waits in the shadows. The Cameo presents F.W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu with a live orchestral score performed by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Few images in horror are as recognizable as the silhouette of Count Orlok creeping across a wall. More than a century after its release, Nosferatu remains one of cinema's defining horror films.
For one unforgettable evening, the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra will accompany the film live, allowing Murnau's flickering shadows and Gothic imagery to fill the screen while the power of a live orchestra fills the Cameo auditorium. It is part movie, part concert and part journey back to the earliest days of cinematic horror.
The Monsters Take Over
The next afternoon, things get bigger. On Sunday, Oct. 25 at 4:30 p.m., the Cameo presents King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963). A United Nations reporter investigates the appearance of a prehistoric monster emerging from hibernation while a pharmaceutical company searches for publicity with an enormous monster of its own. Eventually, two icons collide. Kong versus Godzilla. Directed by Ishir Honda and starring Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara and Y Fujiki, the unrated classic monster showdown runs 1 hour and 31 minutes.
The Vampires Are Gathering
On Friday, Oct. 30, the Cameo hosts its VAMPIRE SOCIAL with Interview with the Vampire (1994). Doors open at 9 p.m. and the movie begins at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $15 and includes the movie, a Vampire Blood Punch and desserts. Cameo popcorn, wine and beer will also be available for purchase. Guests can arrive in their best vampire or victim attire for a chance to win a costume contest.
Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas, Interview with the Vampire follows Louis and Lestat through a seductive and tragic world of immortality, desire, loneliness and the struggle between humanity and bloodlust. The film is Rated R and runs 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Halloween Day at the Cameo
Halloween begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, with Tim Burton and Mike Johnson's Corpse Bride (2005). Victor is preparing for an arranged marriage to Victoria when he accidentally places his wedding ring on what he believes is a tree branch. It isn't. Victor is pulled into the Land of the Dead by Emily, the Corpse Bride, who believes Victor has married her. Featuring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Emily Watson, the PG-rated stop-motion favorite runs 1 hour and 17 minutes.
At 7 p.m., with doors at 6:30 p.m., FanQuest Day × 3 Chambers Fest presents CAN I KICK IT? with Shaolin Jazz, featuring Batman Ninja.
Admission is $15. Shaolin Jazz celebrates the connections between Hip-Hop, Jazz and Martial Arts culture. The CAN I KICK IT? experience reimagines action films by pairing them with a live Hip-Hop soundtrack curated and mixed by DJ 2-Tone Jones while the movie plays. Batman. Ninjas. Hip-Hop. Kung-Fu. Cinema. Culture. This isn't simply a screening; this is an experience. Come see what happens when Gotham meets the Wu-Tang spirit. CAN YOU KICK IT?
At 9:30 p.m., the Cameo ends the night with Halloween II (1981).
Picking up immediately after the original Halloween, Laurie Strode is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital after surviving Michael Myers. But Michael isn't finished. Directed by Rick Rosenthal, written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence and Charles Cyphers, Halloween II is Rated R and runs 1 hour and 32 minutes.
For Cameo Artistic Director Brian Adam Kline, the October lineup represents an effort to continue expanding what audiences can experience at the theater.
“Over the last year, James Throssel, our Programming Director, and I have been doing our very best to provide our community with the best in arts and entertainment,” said Kline. “October is no exception. In fact, we have elevated our programming even more. We are incredibly thankful to the Arts Council of Fayetteville, Sinister Cuts, the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, Cool Spring Downtown District and Breathless Arts Tattoos for their support. Partnerships like these allow us to create experiences that go beyond simply showing a movie. We are more than movies.”