This post is a little late, but if you’re still looking for something to do tonight, go check out the animated feature Fear(s) of the Dark, which will premiere tonight at the Embarcadero Center Cinema at 7:30 (general admission $12.50; discounts available). Check out the description of the film by Mike Plante of the Sundance Film Festival:

Spiders’ legs brushing against naked skin. Unexplained noises in the dark. A hypodermic needle getting closer and closer. A dead thing trapped in a bottle of formaldehyde. A growling dog running and on the hunt. A big empty house creaking . . . . Six amazing graphic artists and cartoonists lend their distinctive hands to stylize these dark nightmares with no color, only black, white and gray. With ultrarealistic techniques now possible, it is important to remember that animation is first and foremost art. Whether slick or rough, paint or pencil, or even originating from a computer, an image is carefully hand-designed for every single frame of film. It is the ultimate work of a creator, personally using the drawn frame, chiaroscuro contrast, the angle of the light and the line movement to tell a story. But it is also the duration of a shot, and what is and isn’t heard. It is the style of the art and the art of the storytelling that make Fear(s) of the Dark so wonderful. Since they come from the artists’ own phobias, you can trust a loving exploration into the surreal atmosphere of your creepiest dreams. As your emotions get worked over, you won’t jump up; you will sink in.

The animated shorts are by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire.

At tonight’s show, Charles Burns himself will be on hand to do a Q&A session after the film.

If you can’t make it out tonight, don’t worry: it will be back on screen at one or more of the Landmark Theatres (they haven’t determined the venue yet) starting October 31st, Halloween. Appropriately enough!