“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 Curb

Rarely 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.

Arkadin does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. However, we encourage researching titles to determine if a screening may contain content that could be upsetting to you. Please feel free to contact us for guidance on specific films. Information about content can also be found on Common Sense Media, IMDB and DoesTheDogDie.com, as well as through general internet searches.