Scary Cinema

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 25, 2007 2:15PM

Luis Buñuel once wrote, "A film is like an involuntary imitation of a dream; as in dreams, images appear and disappear through dissolves and shadows, time and space become flexible, shrinking and expanding at will." A film is like a dream ... or a nightmare. Why do we, as viewers, sitting in the dark, voluntarily subject ourselves to disturbing images and sounds? Do the horrors of the real world help to explain the popularity of horror movies?

All we know is that when a classic horror movie like Village of the Damned is firing on all cylinders, there's not another movie in any other genre that can touch it. Some terrifying (and just plain terrible) exercises in the style are being shown in a movie marathon beginning Saturday at noon as part of Bike-In Cinema's "Fright Fest." It runs for 24 hours and a $5 admission allows you to come and go as you please. Other titles being shown include Phantasm, The Lost Boys, Fright Night and The Devil's Backbone. It's at 1464 N. Milwaukee; full details here.

Chicago Cinema Forum, with the help of your correspondent, is getting into the act as well with the Halloween Eve program of shorts and clips "A Night of the Macabre." There'll be stuff by David Lynch, Buster Keaton, Georges Méliès, and even Walt Disney. We will personally introduce one of our personal favorites, the Medusa sequence from Clash of the Titans. The show is $5 and starts at 8. Seating is very limited so get there early!