From wrestlers to rideshares, cosmonauts and A.I., this showcase of striking genre cinema has your Friday nights covered.

With parallels to Ridley Scott’s Alien (but with a Soviet-era twist), Russian sci-fi horror film Sputnik follows a controversial young doctor as he examines a cosmonaut who returned to Earth with an alien parasite inside of him.

Two recently-restored Mexican wrestling – or luchador – films screen as part of the series, giving Australian audiences a unique opportunity to indulge in these rarely-seen cult classic capers. In The Batwoman (1968), a sexy, masked crime-fighter battles a mad scientist who’s harvesting the glands of wrestlers. A wild mash-up of wrestling, gore, dubious monster makeup, and mad scientist fun, lo-fi favourite Night of the Bloody Apes follows a surgeon who transplants the heart of an ape into his ailing son… with terrifying results.

Premiering earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, Austrian drama The Trouble With Being Born is a thought-provoking film that depicts the relationship between a human-like android child and its owner. Described by the director and writer Sandra Wollner as an “antithesis to Pinocchio”, the film stars a young actress in the role of the android, who is created by the father figure to appear like a human child. During production, the actress’s identity was protected with a silicone mask, a wig, and CGI, and she is credited with a stage name (Lena Watson).

A bloody gonzo-style satire that was executive produced by Drake, Spree follows a social media obsessed rideshare driver (played by Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) who’ll stop at nothing to get his five minutes of fame.

Fantastic Fridays screens at Ritz Cinemas, Randwick every Friday in October.

Sputnik Fri 2 Oct, 8:30pm 
The Batwoman (1968) Fri 9 Oct, 9pm
Night of the Bloody Apes (1969) Fri 16 Oct, 9pm
The Trouble With Being Born Fri 23 Oct, 8:30pm
Spree Fri 30 Oct, 9pm

Tickets are now on sale at ritzcinemas.com.au