Based on real crimes including those of the notorious “Yorkshire Ripper” who was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking many more, English author David Peace’s Red Riding Quartet, a four volume set of novels about corruption at all levels of police and government in England were converted into a trilogy of movies broadcast on British TV in 2009 and then adapted for film release. NW Film Forum is screening each of the three movies sequentially, screening Nineteen Seventy-Four February 26 through March 1, Nineteen Eighty from February 26 though March 4 andNineteen Eighty-Three from February 27 through March 4.

Each film has a different director but they all share common themes of exploitation, degradationl, deceit, corruption, and betrayal. The story begins in 1974 when a newspaper correspondent begins investigating a missing persons case tied to the Ripper and becomes entangled with a real estate developer with his hands in a number of messy pies. The second film focuses on rampant corruption in the police force charged with investigating the Ripper cases and the possibility that at least one of the murders tied to the serial killer was done by an opportunistic copy-cat. The third segment rips a bandage off all of the festering wounds carried over from the first two, revealing the even uglier disease hiding beneath but offering at last some hope of redemption.

Excellent technical work is enhanced by fine performances from cast members including Sean Bean, David Morrissey, and Andrew Garfield. Each of the segments was helmed by a different director – Julian Jarold (1974), James Marsh (1980) and Anand Tucker (1983) influence their films with their own styles in a way that enhances each segment as a separate chapter of the ongoing story but still keep it a cohesive whole. Often gloomy but never dreary, the Red Riding Trilogy films tell an interesting and complex story; each film can stand alone but the best experience is to see all three.

SIFF continues its popular Cinema Supper Club with a Sunday melange of melodramatic magical realism in the form of Like Water for Chocolate and mouthwatering Mexican food at Bellevue’s Barrio with a menu that includes four courses of exquisite food and wine pairings. Reservations are required; see the event page for details.

Somewhat less extravagant but no less delicious: Central Cinema‘s pizza and beer menu paired with the misadventures of Jake and Elwood, The Blues Brothers, Friday through Wednesday.

Fifty million Americans are convinced that the world’s end has already been accurately predicted and are waiting for those predictions to come to fruition. Who are these people? Directors Kate Davis and David Heilbroner reveal them in Waiting for Armageddon, a chilling documentary starting Friday at the Grand Illusion.

Late night this weekend at the Grand Illusion: Gums, like Jaws only with a “fellatio-mad mermaid”, a “bungling sheriff”, a “weirdo virgin scientist” and a “crazed Nazi Captain” named Carl Clitoris.

Late night at the Egyptian: The Neverending Story, the well loved fantasy so sweet and charming that you won’t mind the often hokey special effects.