A young writer (Ayo Edebiri) is invited to the remote compound of a legendary pop star (John Malkovich) who mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. Surrounded by the star's cult of sycophants and intoxicated journalists, she finds herself in the middle of his twisted plan.

Ask anyone who caught it bringing the house down at the 2024 Knoxville Horror Film Fest: RATS! is one of the strangest, crowd-pleasingest comedies of the decade, and a guaranteed cult classic in the making. We're thrilled to be bringing it back to Central Cinema for its official theatrical run, and cannot overstate how important it is to see it with a crowd... bring your friends!

Director Amy Heckerling (FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH) made her triumphant return to the upper echelons of the teen movie canon with this posh riff on Jane Austen's "Emma", including star-making turns from Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd (in his big screen debut) and erstwhile Aerosmith video vixen Alicia Silverstone. You'd be buggin' to miss this one on the big screen!

Join us for a one-off screening of Brad Bird's beloved sci-fi fable, sponsored by Big Slate Media and benefiting the fine folks at CASA of East Tennessee.

Mike Judge's long-awaited followup to comedy classic OFFICE SPACE was unceremoniously dumped into a handful of theaters a full year after its completion, so there's a good chance this is your only opportunity to see the ballad of Not Sure unfold on the big screen! (That's definitely the main reason we're showing this, can't think of any other topical reasons as to why we'd be showing this.)

Our Skate Video Night series presents a monthly program of top-shelf skate videos, presented on VHS and DVD curated by our friend Chris Albiston.

Join us for our FREE monthly live standup engagement, showcasing the best comics from Knoxville and elsewhere, courtesy of our friends at Tiny Stage Comedy!

Join us for our second annual Mag Comic Expo afterparty event as Nirvana Comics presents 1990's original indie comic book blockbuster TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! Spend your afternoon at the convention (10am-6pm April 5 at Pelissippi State's Magnolia Ave campus) then head over to Central Cinema for this cowabunga classic plus trivia & prizes, classic TMNT toons & ephemera, and (of course) copious amounts of pizza.

Join us for this unique and enlightening Oscar-nominated documentary, which highlights the tumultuous history of Congo-Belgian-US relations during the Cold War era. The film will be preceded by a brief introduction from UT associate professor of history and Congo specialist Nicole Eggers, contextualizing the film within Congo's current political crisis. It will be followed by a Q&A with Eggers joined by UT assistant professors of Francophone Studies Moussa Seck and Brittany Murray, specialists in African/Migrant Literature and Film.

Knoxville Poetry Slam is a $5 semi-monthly live poetry open mic presented by Lane Shuler and Jonathan "Courageous" Clark, who travel the country performing as I.N.K. Spoken Word.

Get ready for a night of laughs and lies as a panel of degenerate comedians submit a few secret stories or facts from their life, to be read aloud in random order by the host. The panel will engage in a few minutes of hilarious debate, insults, and baseless accusations — in an attempt to discover who the story came from. Audience members will then place votes, using their phones, on who they think is lying — and compete on a leaderboard for $80 in prizes!

Central Cinema's year-long tribute to David Lynch takes a suitably elegiac detour as we present this new feature documentary about his friend and career-long collaborator Catherine E. Coulson. (Screening in an optional double feature Tuesday April 15 with Lynch's debut ERASERHEAD, on which Coulson filled a range of key behind-the-scenes roles.)

Join us for Central Cinema's fourth annual Up All Night cult movie marathon event as we gorge ourselves on twelve hours of big screen insanity! This year's celebration features six audience-slaying features, shorts, commercials and other striking miscellany, anchored by David Lynch's mother-of-all-midnight-movies ERASERHEAD. (All the other ingredients are closely-held secrets, because it's more fun that way.) The fun starts at 6pm Saturday and ends bright and early at 6am Sunday morning... so pack a blanket, get all jacked up on whatever and see if you've got what it takes to stay UP! ALL! NIGHT!

Central Cinema is pleased to team up with the Knox County Public Library's Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for a free monthly screening event, alternating between regionally-relevant feature films and dispatches from their extensive archive of audiovisual treasures.

Joe Pickett (The Onion) and Nick Prueher (Late Show) have over 14,000 VHS tapes in their collection and have been taking viewers on a guided tour through their latest and greatest finds since 2004. To celebrate two decades of this VHS nonsense, Joe & Nick will serve up their all-time greatest finds including the dumbest exercise videos, the craziest public access shows and updates with the most wonderful weirdos they’ve met along the way.

Childhood friends turned professional comedians Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett book their gag-strongman routine on unsuspecting morning news shows. When their pranks go viral, they land in federal court with a vengeful media conglomerate. The stress of the lawsuit and pressure to continue their pranks threaten their livelihood and tests their lifelong friendship.