Sean Collier (left) and Allie-Lampman Sims (right) of Steel City Horror Show Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Sean Collier

Live reptiles, burlesque performers, paranormal investigators, and even Pittsburgh

documentarian Rick Sebak have added immersive elements to The Steel City Horror Show. That the screening series is celebrating its first anniversary speaks to the enthusiasm of horror fans willing to attend an event where the featured film and guests are, mostly, kept under wraps.

“I think the element of surprise is essential,” organizer Sean Collier tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “You don’t know what you’re going to see, but you know we think it’ll be a good time. It puts a little risk into the evening.”

Collier says audiences can look forward to more big things coming down the pike. On Sun., April 27, Steel City Horror Show marks its first big milestone at the Harris Theater with a warm-up stretch by the Allentown gym Death Comes Lifting, “some serious audience participation, and more surprises.”

“This’ll be our 13th show, and we’re getting a lot of returning audience members,” says Collier.

Previous shows highlighted a variety of monster movies, cult classics, and defining films from the horror genre, each one accompanied by thematic entertainment. A showing of the 1985 horror comedy Fright Night included a vampire burlesque performance by Delilah Du Mort, while the 1997 sci-fi thriller Cube came with a speed Rubik’s Cube demonstration. Other screening events featured drag and sideshow performances, wrestling matches, and live music.

The Steel City Horror Show also pays tribute to late-night horror shows like Chiller Theater, a local program hosted by William “Chilly Billy” Cardille that ran from 1963 to 1984. To that end, Allie-Lampman Sims plays Dr. Gielgud and a “rotating cast of learned yet offbeat family members” as a way to mimic the outrageous performance elements of Chiller Theater, Elvira’s Movie Macabre, and others.

Allie-Lampman Sims of Steel City Horror Show Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Sean Collier

Collier expands on this, adding, “We’re taking the horror-host style of shows like The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and Svengoolie and combining that with the lively, theatrical experience that filmmakers like William Castle brought to horror movie showings in the ’50s and ’60s. We want to show you a movie that you know and love — or one you’ve never seen, but will love — and turn it into an event, not just a screening.”

Sims tells City Paper that one of the more remarkable aspects of the show is the “in-house scares” that recall the antics of Castle, a B-movie director famous for terrifying audiences with flying skeletons, hidden seat buzzers, and other elements.

“You don’t really go to a movie theater and have things happen in the theater with you,” says Sims. “This is not a typical moviegoing experience.”

One year in, Sims is encouraged by the turn-out each screening receives.

“It’s nice to see new, fresh faces every time,” she says. “It’s nice to see the theater get a little more full. It’s nice to have recurring patrons who tell us they love the show.”