Heathers (dir: Michael Lehmann, 1988, cert 18)
Homicidal high school shenanigans as Winona Ryder and Christian Slater fire up a storm of revenge and score settling in Michael Lehmann’s mean and moody black comedy. Rife with a razer sharp wit that manages to garner laughs from suicide and homosexuality, Heathers is a relentlessly satisfying walk on the wild side. Westerburg High School is not a good place to be a jock or cheerleader, the teenage suicide capital of America. As the tag line goes, ‘best friends, social trends and occasional murder.’
Mon 13 Aug to Wed 15 Aug at The Mockingbird, Custard factory, Birmingham B9 4AA £5 veezi.com

Vertigo (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1958, cert PG)
Never pass up the opportunity to see Hitchcock on the big screen, the master of suspense’ incredible oeuvre demands the cinema experience and if that film is Vertigo we’ll have front row seats please. Famously replacing Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made, in a 2012 BFI poll of world critics, it is a sublimely exquisite and psychologically undermining joy from start to finish. Contains our favourite MacGuffin in the never seen Carlotta Valdes and look out for a bugle case carrying Hitch cameoing about ten minutes into the film.
Tue 14 Aug to Thu 16 Aug at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

The Birds (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1963, cert 15)
Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor come under relentless Avarian attack in Bodega Bay as Hitchcock ratchets up the tension unbearably in the genuinely terrifying The Birds. No explanation for the sudden winged viciousness is given beyond the sinister playground nursery rhymes that can be heard as school children play, its into this jaw dropping vagueness the master of suspense pours his biggest frights. Look out for Hitch leading his own Sealyham terriers out of a pet shop early on.
Wed 15 Aug 6pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Strangers on a Train (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1951, cert PG)
A horrifyingly simple premise that in the hands of a lesser director could have easily drifted off into silly B-Movie schlock, instead Hitchcock pulls together a garotte tight film noir that leaves the viewer breathless. Still a powerful influence on cinema today, see Fargo, and one of the most critically analysed movies ever. The criss cross murder swap between psychopath Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) and hapless tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) makes for a relentlessly unsettling thriller. The third Hitch screening in the city this week and we wouldn’t want you to miss a cameo, so keep your peepers peeled for the great man struggling to board the train with a double bass about ten minutes in.
Sat 18 Aug to Sun 19 Aug at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (dir: Lotte Reiniger, 1926, cert U) + live score
The oldest surviving animated feature film comes to the mac courtesy of the excellent Anim18 festival that is promoting events nationwide. Reiniger’s beautiful fantasy took three years to make in card with every scene cut entirely by hand. It’s an astonishing work that is being screened with a new score composed and performed by Chris Davies.
Sun 19 Aug 2pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

Singin’ in the Rain (dir: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly 1952, cert U) + cream tea
Join old twinkle toes himself, Gene Kelly, in the timeless classic Singin’ in the Rain. The iconic song and dance routine with Kelly happily splashing through a storm is one of cinema’s enduring sequences, did you know it took three days to film? The movie itself is a fascinating, if slight, study of the transition in cinema from silents to talkies.
Sun 19 Aug 2pm at The Lighthouse, The Chubb Buildings, Fryer St, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT £7.20 light-house.co.uk

Boys Don’t Cry (dir: Kimberly Peirce, 1999, cert 18)
If it were fiction Kimberly Peirce’s Oscar winning film would be moving enough but that the story of Brandon Teena is true lends it a deeply felt prescience that resonates loudly, but sadly in Trump’s America not loudly enough it seems. Hilary Swank’s unforgettable performance as Teena earned her an Academy award whilst Chloe Sevigny earned a nomination as Teena’s girlfriend Lana. It’s a harrowing journey towards a horribly inevitable nadir as trans man Teena experiences a brick wall of intolerance.
Sun 19 Aug 7pm at Centrala, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RT £5 www.meetup.com