OCTOBER SCREENINGS
October, traditionally, is the month for all things horrific and spooooky. But it's 2020. The entire year is a horror movie. This month's schedule reflects my general anxieties, fears, and dread as we count down to November:
September 30
Dark Victory (1939)
1 hour 44 mins
Directed by Edmund Goulding; Starring Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart
Our transitional movie is Betty Davis in Dark Victory, where she plays a wealthy, hedonistic heiress, who gets diagnosed with brain cancer and falls for her doctor. It also is famous for featuring a supporting role by the devil himself, Ronald Reagan. I can’t think of anything more horrific.
October 03
The Haunting (1962)
1 hr 54 minutes
Directed by Robert Wise; Starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom
Based on Shirley Jackson's classic horror story about a haunted house, and repressed lesbians, this is my favorite horror movie. "Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted."
October 07
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
1 hr 55 minutes
Directed by Peter Weir; Starring Rachael Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray
Peter Weir's adaptation of Joan Lindsay's novel of the same name; "during a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind." A rare horror movie shot in the light, this film mixes elements of supernatural and horror to a chilling effect.
October 10
Gaslight (1944)
1 hr 54 mins
Directed by George Cukor; Starring Ingrid Bergman
A woman's husband manipulates her into thinking she's insane. I mean:
October 14
Tod Browning Double Feature
Freaks (1932) / The Devil-Doll (1936)
1 hour 6 mins / 1 hr 20 minutes
Tod Browning is an early silent and sound filmmaker, best known for directing Dracula. But some of his best work are these two short "horror" movies. Freaks tells the story of a trapeze artist who agrees to marry a fellow circus performer, but his friends discover she only wants him for his inheritance. The film -- only clocking in at an hour -- lost a reel after MGM saw the film and hated it; it's since taken on a cult classic feel. The Devil-Doll is just, look, it's straight up the most bizarre film I've ever seen. It's got a revenge plot from Count of Monte Cristo mixed with Mad Scientists and early movie special effects. Lionel Barrymore spends half the film in drag. It's a trip.
October 17
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
2 hrs 6 mins
Directed by John Frankenheimer; Starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury
You've probably heard the term, and seen the Denzel version. Here is the original, classic political horror show thriller: "A former POW is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy."
October 21
Double Feature
The Pit and The Pendulum (1961)
1 hr 25 mins
Directed by Roger Corman; Starring Vincent Price
Really can't beat a film directed by the Pope of Pop Cinema, staring the iconic Vincent Price. This is based on Edgar Allan's Poe's short story, in this version: "In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the song of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor." The film's written by Richard Matheson, who wrote sixteen episodes of what we have next:
It's A Good Life (1961)
25 minutes
Directed by James Sheldon; Written by Rod Sterling
Both of the films this week are only an hour and a half, so I decided to sneak on two episodes of Rod Sterling's The Twilight Zone. We think of the Twilight Zone for its brilliant social commentary and sci-fiction stories, but Rod Sterling could write a horror story, and this week we have two. The first is It's A Good Life. "On an isolated family farm, a young boy with vast mental powers, but lacking emotional development, holds his terrified family in thrall to his every juvenile wish."
October 24
Double Feature
The Blob (1958)
1 hr 26 mins
Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr; Starring Steve McQueen
Yes! That Steve McQueen! In this 1950's B-Horror Movie classic, a too old to play a High Schooler Steve McQueen fights off a mindless, all-consuming Blob trying to devour his small town.
The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street (1960)
25 mins
Directed by Ronald Winston; Written by Rod Sterling
From Season 1 from The Twilight Zone, this episode centers "on a peaceful suburban street where paranoia reigns supreme." Often ranked as the #1 or #2 greatest episode of the series. If you haven't seen either of these Twilight Zone episodes, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you go in blind. Do NOT look into them before you watch them.
October 28
Ace In The Hole (1951)
1 hour 52 mins
Directed by Billy Wilder; Starring Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling
Next, we follow the unwritten rule of this entire endeavor: if there is a Billy Wilder movie available, show the Billy Wilder movie. Considered one of his finest, though a commercial flop during its initial release, Ace In The Hole is about "Chuck Tatum (Douglas), an ambitious newspaperman more concerned with his own glory and profits than with reporting the truth."
October 31
Singin' In The Rain (1952)
1 hr 42 mins
Directed By Gene Kelly and Stanley Doren; Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor
And finally, after all of that dread, and fear, and horror, we're going to let everything go and watch my Ultimate Comfort Movie. I want nothing more than to have two hours of peace and share in the glory of Gene Kelly's ass magna opus. (Also: I'm working the polls for my town. We actually might be counting ballots, depending on the volume we receive and what the Clerk says, that weekend. So I want something I can easily cancel if I have to.)
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Some rejected actress leaked the sides they used for auditioning. I have SUCH Kamala feels. 🥺
