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Hollywood Gothique
LA Cinema Gothique

CineFamily Halloween Horror

Steve Biodrowski , 2 min read

There can be no doubt about it: CineFamily’s Silent Movie Theatre absolutely owns Halloween this year. Sure, there will be two or three horror film festivals in Hollywood, and lots of other theatres and venues are scheduling special events for the season, but the Silent Movie Theatre is so loaded with horror titles that you could spend nearly the entire month of October there – if your endurance can stand it.

There are literally dozens of titles listed on their October schedule, divided into some pretty cool programs:

  • Silent Wednesdays offers The Man of 1,000 Faces: Lon Chaney. The silent actor, known for his use of makeup to create deformed characters, was the world’s first horror star. Titles include PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
  • On Thursdays it’s Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!Everything from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD to TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD, culminating in an awesome Lucio Fulci triple-header: ZOMBIE, GATES OF HELL, and THE BEYOND
  • Early Fridays offers a series Japanese ghost stories, including the classics UGETSU and KURONEKO., plus the more recent RETRIBUTION from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (PULSE).
  • Notice something missing from the Thursday night zombiefest – namely NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD? That’s because on Late Fridays there will be a George Romero fest, including his 1968 classic, plus DAY OF THE DEAD (1985), and several others.
  • Early Saturdays gives classic horror fans a chance to enjoy the subtle atmosphere of fine 1940s black-and-white horror, thanks to a series of films from producer Val Lewton.
  • Late Saturdays will be loaded with Evil Children.

But wait – there’s more! Scattered throughout the month will be screenings of FREAKS (the 1932 Tod Browning production with real circus freaks), Roger Corman’s masterpiece MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, Spooky animated shorts, THE BLOB (1988), THE HIDDEN, TV Halloween specials, a Wes Craven double bill, and the whole thing culminates on Halloween night with a screening of THE TINGLER, followed by a dance party in the theatre. (Appropriately, a subplot of William Castle’s gimmicky 1959 thriller, starring Vincent Price, involves the Silent Movie Theatre.)

All I can say is, the CineFamily should offer a contest – the winner being anyone who can sit through every item on this marathon agenda.

NOTE: For those of you wondering about the name “Silent Movie Theatre,” it is a bit of a vestige from the theatre’s previous incarnation. Silent films are still programmed on Wednesdays, but the rest of the week is given over to cult and classic titls of various shapes and sizes.