Being a fan of a movie star can be a tricky thing. Everyone’s career has to start somewhere, and sometimes they make a movie for non-artistic reasons — unless you’re Winona Ryder, in which case a Winona Ryder movie marathon is pretty much just a guaranteed good time.
Breaking out at age 17, Ryder’s third-ever film credit was the iconic role of the spiritual goth Lydia in Beetlejuice. Since then, she’s made being the odd girl look cool with every performance, from a high school clique leader whose conscience catches up to her in Heathers to the only girl in suburbia not afraid of Edward Scissorhands, and the moody but brainy sister among the Little Women. For a generation of kids, if Winona Ryder could make it, there was hope for the rest of us.
All of which is to say, it’s safe to assume Alamo Drafthouse’s Winona Forever: A Winona Ryder Mystery Marathon will be a good time no matter what they choose.
Taking place Saturday, Aug. 25 starting at noon, Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn will hold “a day of worship,” in their words, screening four of Ryder’s most iconic movies that won’t be revealed until each film begins. (If you absolutely must know and don’t mind risking tickets being sold out, additional screenings of Winona Forever are set for San Francisco on Aug. 5 and Austin on Aug. 19.) Will it be 20s angst with Reality Bites? Trippy times in the psych ward in Girl Interrupted? Or the artful horrors of Black Swan?
Whatever the movies, it’s not a Winona Ryder movie marathon without sharing a few of our own stories of obsession, so come prepared with your best on-brand ‘90s kid material. There will be themed drink specials and other surprises — think of it like a daytime sleepover where everyone is just as obsessed as you.
And note, Alamo Drafthouse, if there isn’t a dance break for The Banana Boat Song, you’re not invited to our next birthday party. Because really, “What is your damage, Heather?”
