We just got in the details on the premiere of the independent-horror documentary UNDER THE SCARES, which we first told you about here. Read on for the info on this and a bunch of other frightful screenings taking place across the U.S.

UNDER THE SCARES, in which Canadian filmmakers Steve Villeneuve, Hugo Bissonnet, Simon Geraghty and William Dio chat up a number of indie-genre stalwarts, will have its debut at New York City’s Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street) on Saturday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. The docu’s creators and a number of folks from the East Coast fear scene will be attending, so seats are limited; to reserve tickets, click here. “We went to New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago, just to name a few—all things considered, we’ve traveled more than 18,000 miles in order to make this film,” Villeneuve says. “And we hope the finished movie will now travel just as much or more.” You can see UNDER THE SCARES’ official website here.

• New York-area fans of insane Japanese fare like MACHINE GIRL and TOKYO GORE POLICE have a treat in store on Tuesday, May 18 when the Japan Society (333 East 47th Street) hosts a special screening of ROBOGEISHA at 7:30 p.m. Directed by GIRL’s Noboru Iguchi with special FX by POLICE’s Yoshihiro Nishimura, it’s the story of a rivalry between two sisters that gets taken to outrageous heights when they are abducted into training for the RoboGeisha! It’s an orgy of sexy action, ultraviolence and bizarre bodily weapons, and will be accompanied by two short films: Iguchi’s SCARY GEISHA ARMY: WELCOME TO HELL and Nishimura’s VAMPIRE FRANKENSTEIN GIRL, a companion piece to his feature VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL. If that was enough, there’s a good chance there will be a live on-line Q&A with the filmmakers! Tickets are just $12/$8 for Japan Society members, students and seniors; you can buy them here or call the box office at (212) 715-1258. This event is co-presented by FUNimation (which releases ROBOGEISHA on DVD this fall), Subway Cinema (partnered with the Society to present the New York Asian Film Festival—more info on that soon) and Giant Robot.

• Tomorrow, Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m., Los Angeles’ Vista theater (4473 Sunset Drive) will present a special screening of THE SHARK IS STILL WORKING in a freshly re-edited version as part of the Los Angeles United Film Festival. Directed by Erik Hollander and narrated by Roy Scheider, this documentary explores the impact of Steven Spielberg’s classic JAWS on its makers and pop culture in general; the show also includes the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to JAWS screenwriter Carl Gottlieb. See the United Film Festival site for ticket and other info, and view THE SHARK IS STILL WORKING’s official site here.

• Across town at the American Cinematheque at Los Angeles’ Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard) is offering a rare opportunity to see 1980’s EFFECTS on the big screen tomorrow at 7:30 as part of a Criminally Unknown double feature. Created by several of the George A. Romero team and directed by Dusty Nelson, the flick concerns a horror-film director who might be taking the violence he’s shooting into the realm of reality. Also on the bill is Gerald Seth Sindell’s similarly themed 1974 movie TEENAGER, in which an unbalanced filmmaker encourages the cast of his biker movie to really get into their parts, with fatal results. EFFECTS’ Nelson, John Harrison, Joseph Pilato, Pasquale Buba and Charles Hoyes and TEENAGER’s Sindell and Sue Bernard will be on hand for a Q&A between films, hosted by A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE screenwriter Josh Olson.

The Cinematheque is also showing Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO this Saturday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. (followed by SPELLBOUND) as part of a retrospective on the master of suspense. And Jim Wynorski fans will want to be there on Thursday, May 27, when the Cinematheque presents a double bill of POPATOPOLIS, Clay Westervelt’s 2009 documentary that follows Wynorski as he tries to shoot his softcore spoof THE WITCHES OF BREASTWICK in three days, and THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING, the 1989 sequel that probably gave Wynorski his longest shooting schedule ever. There’ll be a discussion between films with Wynorski, Westervelt, Monique Parent, Brooks Larson and Lee Sanders.

• If there’s a current fright feature perfect for midnight viewing, it’s SOMEONE’S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, Chad Ferrin’s surreal and shocking study of a group of drug-dropping medical students who uncover the facts behind the decades-old rampage of a couple of serial murderers—and then start dying in depraved, disturbing ways. And Hollywood’s New Beverly Cinema (7165 Beverly Boulevard) is obliging, screening the movie this Friday, May 7 at midnight with cast and crew in attendance. Check out the video below for a non-work-safe taste of what to expect, see SOMEONE’S KNOCKING’s Facebook page here and see our feature story on the movie in Fango #294, on sale later this month. Click here for details of the DVD/Blu-ray release of SOMEONE’S KNOCKING via Vicious Circle May 25.

• Pennsylvania-area zombies and the humans who love them are all invited to take part in Zombie Awareness Night, presented by Horror Realm and Oakmont, PA’s Oaks Theater, which takes place this Saturday, May 8. The centerpiece is a rare 35mm screening of the Bob Clark/Alan Ormsby cult favorite CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS at 10 p.m. at the Oaks Theater (310 Allegheny River Boulevard), accompanied by a Best Hippie Zombie Contest and prize drawings; tickets are $7 and can be purchased via the Oaks website. Prior to that at 9:15 p.m., there will be a mini-zombie crawl starting at Steve’s Inn, across from the theater.

• Connecticut-based filmmaker Nathan Wrann’s second feature BURNING INSIDE will have its world premiere this Saturday the 8th in Danbury, CT as part of the Connecticut Film Festival. The show takes place at 10 p.m. at the Danbury Music Center (256 Main Street); click here for more info on the screening. Michael Wrann stars in BURNING INSIDE as an amnesiac compelled to take bloody revenge for events he can’t remember; the movie hits DVD next week via the new Channel Midnight distribution company (see details here).

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