Movies to see in the Twin Cities this week: Twin Cities Film Fest, Elvira, Freddy's Back

In addition to the heavy dose of horror films expected in October, the Twin Cities Film Fest arrives this week , ensuring that Minnesota has an embarrassment of riches on the big screen this week.

Beyond the Twin Cities Film Fest pick in the recommendations below, the fest includes the papal thriller Conclave, Magpie starring Daisy Ridley (who will be at the fest), Steve McQueen's Blitz, Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain starring Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, Nightbitch, Unstoppable, and a lot more. Some of the highlights are included in the list below, but the full schedule can be found on the Twin Cities Film Fest website .

Here are the repertory screenings and film festival appearances that shouldn't be missed this week.

Related: Twin Cities Film Fest lineup includes Daisy Ridley, Josh Duhamel and more

Joel Hodgson presents: A Thousand Clowns (1965)

Saturday, Oct. 19 at West End Cinema, part of Twin Cities Film Fest

Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson will host a screening of "his most favorite film of all time." He's long championed the strange film. "I think I saw it when I was in fourth grade, and it was just so witty and brilliant, and I just love it and I still love it," he said of the film. Find out what he's talking about on Saturday. 1625 West End Blvd., St Louis Park ($13)

The Brood (1979)

Monday, Oct. 21 at Alamo Drafthouse

David Cronenberg isn't known for going halfway with a grotesque conceit. The Brood, a deeply haunting movie about birth and motherhood, will be a disconcerting movie to watch in the company of strangers. A woman (Samantha Eggar) gets committed by her husband into the care of a possibly depraved psychologist. After some mysterious marks appear on their daughter, the husband attempts to keep their daughter away, but deformed children — a whole brood of them — begin to appear and they might be connected to the strange psychologist. 9060 Hudson Rd., Woodbury ($10)

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

Sunday, Oct. 20–Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Trylon Cinema

Henry James' The Turn of the Screw meets early aughts J-horror in Kim Jee-woon's delirious psychological horror. Su-Mi (Lim Soo-jung) returns to her family after psychosis treatment and finds something haunting in their country home. As the mystery seems to solidify, Su-mi decides she'll do anything to protect her sister. It's a stylish film that gives a hint toward the kinds of films the South Korean director would subsequently make like The Good, The Bad, The Weird and I Saw the Devil. 2820 E 33rd St., Minneapolis ($8)

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Friday, Oct. 18 at Litt Pinball Bar

The pinball bar isn't the usual spot you might head for a film, but it's where Trash Film Debauchery is celebrating its 21st anniversary. It's a fitting place since Litt can put the Elvira pinball machine on free play throughout the night.

Free pinball isn't the only reason to swing through, though. Elvira's big screen debut, where she becomes the centerpiece of the B-movie instead of the ridiculing host, is worth the trip as well. It's a gratuitous trip with completely unnecessary explosions, breaking the fourth wall, and mustard-drenched hot dogs dropped in cleavage. You're getting an hour of comedy and then a hard turn into the supernatural, as well as a very absurd rap. Trash Film will also host an Elvira costume contest.

On Wednesday, Trash Film is hosting a screening of Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter at the Trylon. Come for the old cellphone technology, stay for the mohawked punk priests, vampire teens kicking sand in Jesus' eyes, and that rare combination of musicals, religion, vampires, and karate. 2021 Hennepin Ave. S, Minneapolis (free)

The Monster Squad (1987)

Monday, Oct. 21 at Emagine Willow Creek

It's a fully absurd concept that is executed with the required absurdity. A group of kids who are part of the Universal Monsters fan club — The Monster Squad — have to join forces against the forces of evil that they cherished on-screen when Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and other creatures from Universal's horror films show up in their small town. 9900 Shelard Pkwy., Plymouth ($6)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Tuesday, Oct. 22 at Alamo Drafthouse

It's arguably one of the series' best films, and it's certainly one of the best straight sequels. (The original and the fourth-wall-breaking New Nightmare are hard to beat.) The scares aren't quite as big as other installments, but the creativity of the dream world is top-notch with a litany of dream terrors that includes syringe fingers, a dream-walking puppet sequence where the dreamer's tendons are the strings, and a TV that grows hands to pull a teen through the screen. The set-up is solid, too. Kids who dream of Freddy are gathered together in a psychiatric ward, giving it almost a trapped-in-a-house feel. 9060 Hudson Rd., Woodbury ($7)

More movies screening this week: