NJ Urban Explorer Will Host Free ‘Spooky Movie’ Screening In Essex County

NEWARK, NJ — Writer, artist and videographer Wheeler Antabanez will host an evening of unusual short films that explore some of the "macabre and hard-to-reach corners of Essex County" at an upcoming free screening at the Newark Public Library.

The screening event will take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20. A question-and-answer session will follow afterwards. Learn more here.

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Here's what to expect, the urban explorer said:

"The program opens with 'River of Death,' which begins as a film about the 2012 lower Passaic River cleanup at the Diamond Alkali site in Newark but quickly takes a dark turn when Wheeler and his wife notice police detectives on the work barge extracting a dead body from the river. The program then shifts from the polluted waters of the Passaic to a behind-the-scenes look at Antabanez's Polaroid adventures, photographing locations including the Livingston Mall, South Orange Pumping Station and Rosedale Cemetery, before descending into the wreckage of the abandoned Orange Memorial Hospital. From the depths of Orange Memorial Hospital, the program returns to Newark for the story of Proctor's Palace, the massive double-decker theater on Market Street that has stood abandoned since 1968. In the feature presentation, 'Fred Gall vs. the Phantom of the Opera,' Antabanez and professional skateboarder Fred Gall venture into the wreckage of Proctor's Palace Theater in search of unusual places to film skateboarding. Their exploration eventually leads them to the rooftop, where Gall discovers what may be one of Newark's most historic skate spots. Their adventure comes to an abrupt end when the pair encounters an angry 'Phantom' wielding a set of 24-inch bolt cutters."

Copies of Antabanez's new book, "WHEELEROIDZ Vol. 2," which features black and white Polaroid photos of some of the above settings, will be available at the event.

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