Serial killers, black cats, severed limbs and zombies; could this possibly be the making of a truly horrifying haunted house? Not exactly, but these characters can all be found in the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s most recent series, “Tales From The Vault: Classic Horror of the ’30s and ’40s.”
The event, which runs through Sunday, will begin tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater, screening a total of six classic American horror films from Hollywood’s Golden Era. Admission is $8 for students and $9 for the general public. The series begins with 1932’s “The Most Dangerous Game” followed by “White Zombie.”
The screenings will continue Saturday evening beginning at 7:30 p.m. with 1934’s “The Black Cat” followed by “The Seventh Victim,” and will conclude Sunday evening beginning at 7 p.m. with 1946’s “The Beast With Five Fingers” and “The Spiral Staircase.”
“With Halloween coming up, we decided to focus on the classic era of Hollywood horror,” said Paul Malcolm, film programmer for the UCLA Film and Television Archive. “These (films) are a little weird and a little offbeat, which was exactly what we were looking for.”
The series intentionally strives to move away from the more popular horror films of early 20th century cinema, and introduce some of the lesser known films from the early horror genre.
“There are the classics; there’s the “˜Dracula’, there’s the “˜Frankenstein’, there’s “˜The Mummy’,” said Malcolm, “and as much as we like the classics, we like to bring in films that people might not have seen before, older films to a newer audience.”
The films selected for the series illustrate the development of the horror genre both in story and film technique.
“”˜White Zombie’ was the first zombie film ever made and it’s just spectacularly creepy and weird,” said Malcolm, “and “˜The Beast with Five Fingers’ was actually the first haunted severed hand, the first of the severed limb genre.”
The limited financial resources of horror filmmakers at the time resulted in the very distinctive dark characteristics that are associated with the genre today.
“Even though the films were often low-budget, they really looked good on the screen and were a lot of fun,” said Jonathan Kuntz, film professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. “The films were often beautifully photographed, and were very atmospheric… (with) stylistic characteristics straight out of German Expressionism, and a lot of heavy use of night and shadows.”
Viewers should expect to see many of these early special effects within the film series.
“In a film like “˜The Spiral Staircase’ you can see a lot of point of view shots from the killer, which was fairly new at that time,” said Malcolm. “And because (the killer) fixates on a woman who is mute (there is) a special effect where her mouth has been erased visually from the image, which was also new.”
In addition to these films’ classic horror characteristics, viewers will also recognize several of the actors, such as Peter Lorre (“Casablanca”) in “The Beast With Five Fingers” and Fay Wray (“King Kong”) in “The Most Dangerous Game.”
“In these (films), it’s not just a pretty guy kissing a pretty girl,” said Kuntz. “The horror film brought in a whole different kind of movie star… one that was popular not because he is handsome, but because he has a powerful intellect that transforms himself and often those around him.”
With such a variety of characters and stories, the series aims to appeal to a wide audience with something for everyone this Halloween weekend.
“These are straight-up come-and-have-some-fun screenings, and enjoy some really fantastic off-the-beaten-path horror films,” said Malcolm. “(Viewers) should expect thrills, chills, and spills: that’s what it’s all about.”