Fire Dance

Sirota returns to SF for the first time since 1994's The 22nd Gear with this atmospheric tale of horror in the American Southwest. In the late 19th century, Dr. Everett Cooke established the unconventional Concordia Sanitarium in California's Anza-Borrego desert. During a dance for an inmate's birthday, patient Bruno Leopold murders the doctor and another caretaker, and the other residents are trapped in a fire caused by another inmate. In the summer of 1994, single mother Tracy Russell moves to the retirement community of Smoke Tree with her son and encounters Bruno's newly awakened spirit, which possesses animals, hobos, and the dying elderly as it seeks a powerful new human form. Horror fans will enjoy this updated take on the western ghost town. (Feb.)