Cinema Arts Centre's all-night event features five 1980s horror flicks, including 'Fright Night,' 'The Blob'

Charlie Sheen, Kevin Dillon, Chris Sarandon and other luminaries will appear on-screen in this summer’s All Night Horror-thon.

The annual event, which takes place Aug. 24 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, is a quintuple-feature of horror flicks — all shown on 35 mm — lasting roughly from dusk till dawn.

This year’s titles are all drawn from the 1980s — still a bottomless well of horror cinema. First billed is “The Wraith” (1986), an all-but-forgotten title from writer-director Mike Marvin that casts Nick Cassavetes as a small-town gang leader and Sheen as an avenging stranger. “The Blob” (1988) updates the 1958 classic with extra gore and replaces Steve McQueen with Dillon. “Fright Night,” about a teenager (William Ragsdale) and a television horror host (Roddy McDowell) who team up against a suburban vampire (Sarandon), earned strong reviews and made a healthy $24 million in the summer of 1985. “Dolls” (1987) centers on puppets with human souls; it’s a lesser-known title directed by Stuart Gordon (“Re-Animator”). And finally, there’s Italy's “Demons” (1985), a collaboration between director Lamberto Bava, screenwriter Dario Argento (“Suspiria”) and others.

The Horror-thon has for decades been a crowd pleaser that draws repeat customers, says Dylan Skolnick, co-director of the Cinema Arts Centre. (This year's lineup comes courtesy of local programmer Michael Ciani.) The whole event “has a party atmosphere,” Skolnick adds. “It’s a real communal group thing.”

The All Night Horror-thon starts at 8 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. Tickets are $60. For more information or to purchase tickets call 631-423-7610 or go to cinemaartscentre.org.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman