Halloween dawns only one day in October, but it makes for an occasion to see a scary movie (or two) almost every night of the month.
The Cinefamily is celebrating this month with its “3rd Annual Horror Film Fest” at The Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood. The horror-film-themed month features a variety of screenings, ranging from foreign, old school and cult to classic horror films and programs.
Bret Berg, one of the organizers of the festival, said his fondness for horror films began when he was a kid, having cable television and parents who didn’t pay much attention to what he watched.
“There’s just something visceral, exciting, goofy about monster movies,” Berg said. “It’s just a fascinating fantasy world that we get to live vicariously through.”
In the late 1950s, film producer and director William Castle discovered that there was an audience for horror films. After making mainly low-budget film noir, Castle realized that he could get the most bang for his buck by making horror movies.
He devised a gimmick in each of his films that made audience participation compulsory. In “The Tingler,” each time the Tingler appeared on screen, the audience members would feel a tingle from devices strapped to their seats.
“The Tingler” will be screened on Halloween night as a double-feature with “House on Haunted Hill,” complete with the gimmick recreated in the theater. The Cinefamily is also showing five other Castle films on Saturdays, recreating a different gimmick for each one.
On Sundays in October, the Cinefamily will present the “Mistresses of Horror” series, a tribute to female horror filmmakers, co-presented by FanGirlTastic.com, a site dedicated to celebrating women in horror, science-fiction and fantasy literature and art.
According to Berg, female horror fans are making their presence more known, and the Cinefamily is responding by highlighting notable female horror directors.
“We’re giving them the love because so rarely are they highlighted in their contribution,” Berg said.
The classic film “American Psycho” and writer Guinevere Turner kicked off the series at the beginning of the month.
The series concludes with a double-feature night of “Stripped to Kill,” which follows a tomboy-ish cop who goes undercover as a stripper to catch a killer, and “Poison Ivy,” the 1992 thriller starring Drew Barrymore.
Director Katt Shea, who studied at UCLA and has taught at UCLA Extension, will participate in a Q&A session about the two films at the screening on Oct. 24.
Before directing her 1987 debut, “Stripped to Kill,” and while taking directing courses at UCLA, Shea once brought in real strippers to class to perform scenes she had written.
“It was memorable ““ everybody remembered me,” Shea said with a laugh.
Shea said she wanted to show strippers in a way they have never been seen before, as artists, not for exploitation and titillation.
“I never want to make a movie that scares people or terrifies them,” Shea said. “I really want to make a contribution, that’s the reason why I made “˜Stripped to Kill.'”
Shea’s films don’t fit neatly into the horror genre for the very reason that they attempt to do more than provide gratuitous violence and fright.
“I liked a thriller kind of arena, but having a lot of depth to it,” Shea said. “It’s not just slasher for slasher’s sake, but there was really a point to the movie … and that’s what motivated me and kept me passionate and wanting to do it.”
Some students prefer horror films with more than just visceral effect.
Willis Chan, a fifth-year mathematics/accounting student and avid movie-goer, said he does not consider himself a horror film fan because many horror films lack depth.
“The better (horror films) ““ they’re the movies that try to make it more interesting by giving more meaning to it,” Chan said.
On the flip side, the Cinefamily’s “Japanese Gore Night” on Oct. 8 was described by Berg as willfully stupid and all about the fun.
“They’re just ultra gory, ultra-exploitive, and isn’t that what horror fans want in the end?” Berg said.
It all culminates in a heavy metal-themed Halloween bash on Halloween eve. The party will open with what’s called Cinefamily’s 100 Most Outrageous Kills, a jam-packed hour-long montage of movie death scenes conceptually edited together.
“It’s just a big video mix of our favorite wild, weird and crazy death scenes from not just horror movies but movies in general,” Berg said. “Anything we can find that’s totally bonkers, we’re going to throw in there.”