An annual three-month series recreating the old-fashioned weekend matinee. Each week, see a cliffhanger episode of a movie serial (shown complete and in order), plus a secret classic feature ̵ all on 16mm film.

Our 12th annual Secret Matinee series proved special indeed, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the cancellation of the final three programs.

In the serial The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938, 12 episodes), two Marines battle the psychotic masked villain known as The Lightning (an inspiration for Darth Vader). From secret bases around the world, The Lightning and his henchmen deploy electrical super weapons in a campaign of mass murder and world conquest! Can he be stopped?! With tight plotting and a breakneck pace, directors William Witney and John English craft what is “firmly among Republic’s greatest serials!”

Bi-weekly themes for the feature films were: Jan. 11 & 18: Classic Creatures (unforgettable '50s movie monsters). Jan. 25 & Feb. 1: B-Western Heroes (classic low-budget westerns from the 1930s). Feb. 8 & 15: German Silent Cinema (wildly different films by German masters). Feb. 22 & 29: Weird Early Musicals (bizarre musicals from the dawn of sound). Mar. 7 & 14 (cancelled): Journeys to the Beyond (lesser-known otherworldly sci-fi). Mar. 21 & 28 (both cancelled): Totally High! (star-studded hippie craziness from the Sixties).

It would be two year until the series returned. When it did, we showed all of the serial episodes and features that had been cancelled.