Friday Happenings

Creepy Movies

Elia Kazan turns all of the creepiest screws with Baby Doll (1956), a psychosexual film about a thumb-sucking sexpot, her rich southern husband and his Sicilian enemy who exacts revenge by getting sexy with Baby Doll. When it was released, Time magazine called it the "dirtiest American-made motion picture that had ever been legally exhibited." Screening with Boomerang! (1949) Kazan's engrossing police procedural. Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge. More information.

Weird Music

We understand that Slavoj Žižek is about as funny as philosophers come, but do you really want to listen to a band named after him? Zizek Club (sic) comes straight from Argentina, where its members mastered a frenetic, mashed up dance music that's as goofy as the band's name is pretentious. Performing with Fauna, Uproot Andy and Oro11. Institute of Contemporary Art, South Boston, 7:30 p.m. $25/$20. More information.

Funny Movies

If you were a kid the last time you saw Ghostbusters (1984), we assure you that it's funnier than you remember it being. The timing's the key as Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Dan Ackroyd deliver one of the best slapstick comedies of the 80s. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., 9:30 p.m. $10/$8.

Birthdays

Irish-American writer Frank McCourt might have been a New Yorker, but he's always had an expansive spot on Boston bookshelves. The Brookline Booksmith commemorates his recent passing with a posthumous birthday party, featuring readings of his work by local writer Alex Newman, who studied under McCourt. Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline, 7 p.m. Free.

Improvisation

Local weird music group Bummer & Lazarus has a thing about improvising along with films. The band has played along with classic silent features in the past, and today it turns its attention to seven shorts, "including animations & experimental films from various eras." The Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge, 8 p.m., also performing Saturday. $7/$10. More information.