Hollywood Gothique

You are browsing the archives of 2009 August.

[ October 28, 2009; ] It’s a double bill of classic Universal monster movies from the 1930s. DRACULA is the 1931 film that started it all, launching the first great wave of on-screen horror, with Bela Lugosi starring as the immortal vampire count. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is the apex – a lavish classic that mixes horror and black comedy to [...]

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Who ya’ gonna call when it comes to ghosts? Ivan Reitman of course! The producer-director is scheduled to appear between screenings of GHOSTBUSTERS and GHOSTBUSTERS II for a discussion about the making of the films. Even if you have seen the original, or own it on DVD, this is a great chance to [...]

A double bill of 1980s thrillers from director John Carpenter. Neither was a huge hit, but THE THING has developed a cult following over the years, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS is truly an overlooked gem.
Location: NEW BEVERLY CINEMA – 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 938-4038
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Start Date: September 27
End Date: [...]

[ September 14, 2009; ] The classic 1981 horror comedy screens on a double bill with a new documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew: writer-director John Landis, actors Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, David Naughton, and many more.

Location: NEW BEVERLY CINEMA – 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 938-4038
Link out: Click here
Date: Monday, September 14

It’s a rare opportunity to see all three EVIL DEAD films together on the big screen – an extravagance that fans of gore, mayhem – and outrageous humor – should not want to miss. One can only imagine the psychic whiplash resulting from experiencing the trilogy one after the other. Back when it came out [...]

[ September 27, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] Star Trek’s much maligned big screen debut – which is actually pretty spectacular and imaginative, despite a lethargic pace – gets the big screen tretment from the American Cinematheque. The original TREK cast is back, led by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Deforest Kelly, in a story written by Gene Roddenberry. The great Robert Wise [...]

[ October 18, 2009; ] A double bill of comedy horror films. The first pits comedians But Abbott and Lou Costello agains the classic movie monsters: Dracula (Bela Lugosi), Frankenstein (Glenn Strange), and the Wolfman (Lon Chaney Jr). The second stars Don Knotts in a tale of a haunted house.

Location: NEW BEVERLY CINEMA – 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA [...]

[ August 31, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] The American Film Institute presents a screening of Roman Polanski’s classic chiller, based on Ira Levin’s novel, which ranked #9 on the AFI’s 100 Years – 100 Thrills list.

 Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into a new apartment building where they are instantly befriended by its aggressively affable elderly denizens, [...]

[ September 13, 2009; ] It’s a double bill of juvenile but fun fantasy films, based on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Both star Doug McClure; Caroline Munro and Peter Cushing co-star in CORE.

Location: New Beverly Cinema – 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (323) 938-4038
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Date: Sunday, September 13

The haunted house comedy screens with THE LOVE GOD, for a double bill of zaniness starring Don Knotts.
Location: AERO THEATRE – 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403 (323) 634-4878
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Date: September 13 at 7:30pm

[ September 23, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] It’s a double bill of Japanese horror, a 1977 haunted house movie and a 1968 opus about invading aliens. HOUSE is a bizarre mix of traditional Japanese Kaidan and colorful cartoony special effects (watch out for the piano death1). GOKE, likewise, is a strange mix of science fiction and vampirism.

Location: THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE – 6712 [...]

Benjamin Christensen’s astounding 1922 silent docu-drama on the subject of witchcraft is one of the great achievements in horror cinema. Despite its higher aspirations, the film is not afraid to go all-out in depicting the myths and legends of Satanism in ways that remain startling to this day. HAXAN plays on a double bill with [...]

[ September 22, 2009; 8:00 pm; ] Joseph Zito presents a double bill of exploitation horror thrillers he directed back in the 1980s. FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER is the first film to “kill” off Jason supposedly for good, but we all know that didn’t last long.

Location: SILENT MOVIE THEATRE – 611 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036, (323) 655-2510
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[ September 12, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] Director Don Coscarelli joins actors Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Kat Lester, and Bill Thornbury for a discussion in between screenings of PHANTASM and PHANTASM II, which will be followed by PHANTASM III: LORD OF THE DEAD. Is it more PHANTASM than you can take in one sitting? Be there to find out! (Personally, I have [...]

The American Cinematheque invites you to join them Grand Master: The Films of Stanley Kubrick – a three-day tribute, presenting some Kubrick’s best films the way they were meant to be seen – “on a big screen that does full justice to his stunning images and large-scale vision of humanity.” Titles include the science-fiction masterpiece 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, the horror film THE SHINING, and a double-bill of two sci-fi themed nightmares, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB. The series runs from Thursday, September 17 through Sunday, September 20.

The New Beverly Cinema gets into the Halloween spirit early with this deluge of on-screen horror. The marathon titles are to be announced later. THE BURNING is a forgotten entry in the 1980s slasher movie cycle, distinguished mostly by an intriguing score from Rick Wakeman (keyboardist of Yes). It is also of some note in [...]

 Hitchcock’s third film, which made his reputation as English cinema’s “Boy Wonder,” is the Master’s first tango with the legend of Jack the Ripper. A retired couple having trouble making ends meet rent their upstairs room to a creepy toff (matinee idol Ivor Novello) who keeps to himself but likes to go out at night. [...]

Cinespia presents another cemetery screening, this one of the 1981 comedy-horror film written and directed by John Landis.

[ September 6, 2009; ] Two animated fantasy films directed by Don Bluth. AMERICAN TALE is a bit of a misguided attempt to portray the plight of Jewish immigrants by casting them as animated mice. SECRET OF NIMH is a bit uneven story-wise, but its science fiction and fantasy elements are enhanced by some beautiful animation.

Location: NEW BEVERLY CINEMA – [...]

Director Ivan Reitman will appear for a discussion in between screenings of GHOSTBUSTERS and GHOSTBUSTERS II.

[ September 3, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] The over-rated 1982 supernatural thriller, produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, screens on a double bill with the superior LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, scripted by the great Richard Matheson and starring Roddy McDowell. Besides a great script and fine performances, the later haunted house thriller features some of the most eerie sound design [...]

It’s a brave, new world of information soundbites in which we live. Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood has been twittering updates to rabid fans for weeks, regarding this year’s Halloween Horror Nights in October. Delivered in bits and pieces, this fragmentary information is little better than a box of unassembled jig-saw puzzle pieces, but gradually a picture of the 2009 haunt is emerging, and the picture is not pretty. Basically, the studio seems to have little confidence in its own classic horror legacy, so it continues to sub-contract other horror franchises in order to appeal to today’s audiences. The result sounds like a hodge-podge of gore and camp with little genuine Halloween flavor

[ October 31, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] Spend a spooky Halloween evening at the Billy Wilder Theater with films from the vaults to chill and thrill! Founded by two Americans, Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg, in 1964, Amicus Productions was Britain’s other horror studio for almost two decades. Tonight’s program presents two classics produced by Subotsky and Rosenberg and featuring two of [...]