Halloween — at least our modern Halloween of sexy vampires and buff vampire slayers — may be a holiday of many hues. But for me, the true colors of movie horror and mystery will always be black and white.
The white of bones, the black of night. The spooky grays of 1930’s “Dracula” and 1931’s “Frankenstein.” The sharp contrasts of Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”
Others may disagree. Devotees of “Halloween,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream” may all argue that film horror needs an entire evil spectrum: sickly green (for the monster’s face), dreadful purple (for graveyard ghouls), deep dark blue (for twilight) and, most of all, gushing red (for the spilled blood.)
But our nightmares, psychiatrists tell us, are always in black and white. And that may be why vintage horror movies seem scarier and more suggestive, more nightmarish, and why monochrome works so well, from the great German Expressionist classic “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919), to that 1968 cinema verite zombiefest “Night of the Living Dead.”
Alfred Hitchcock, after all, shot 1960’s “Psycho” in black and white because he thought the color of blood was too overwhelming. He was right. And though the major big-screen Halloween release this year is John Carpenter’s colorful “Vampires,” there are still chances to see those old spooky shades at local revivals and in new video releases — including one 65-year-old French movie that is an all-time classic of terror.
Among the season’s big screen revivals is Rupert Julian’s 1925 “The Phantom of the Opera” ( (star) (star) (star)). The oft-remade tale of masked, disfigured, lovelorn fiend Erik, who lives and wreaks havoc in the Paris Opera House, is the role in which horror king Lon Chaney reached his career zenith. This silent classic, with live Wurlitzer organ accompaniment by Jay Warren, plays Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Park Ridge’s Pickwick Theater (5 S. Prospect St; 847-825-5800).
On Saturday at 8 p.m., the original 3-D version of the ’50s smash hit monster mash, Jack Arnold’s “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” ( (star) (star) (star)), will show at the LaSalle Theater in the LaSalle Bank, 4901 W. Irving Park Rd. (312-904-2507).
But it’s in a recent flood of black-and-white horror video releases that you can really sample classic shivers. One towers above the rest: French pioneer Louis Feuillade’s 1915 “Les Vampires” ( (star) (star) (star) (star)), a seven-hour, 10-part spectacular that was not only a smash hit cliffhanger serial in its day, but has continued to fascinate and inspire generations of serious filmmakers and artists, from Andre Breton to Luis Bunuel.
“Les Vampires,” shot in gorgeously spectral monochrome, is set in the streets and alleys of World War I era Paris, a city overrun by criminals and terrorists. At the top of the bad heap is the ruthless gang “The Vampires,” run by several masterminds, and by the black-clad temptress Irma Vep (an anagram of “vampire”), played by legendary French music-hall star Musidora.
Irma and her boys kill foes, loot Paris mansions and then flee over the rooftops — pursued by dogged hero/journalist Philippe Guerande — which makes “Les Vampires” the obvious ancestor of James Bond and the “X-Files.” But the film retains its hold on filmmakers like Bunuel and Alain Resnais because of something more: its genuine poetic intensity and Feuillade’s genius for shooting and improvising outdoors, in real-life Paris streets and Cannes waterfronts. I’ve seen the whole seven hours on screen, but Water Bearer’s video version is an event in itself. It’s digitally restored and retinted, with new titles and a full Bob Israel orchestral score.
Other recent vintage horror video releases include:
– “The Penalty” (star) (star) 1/2 (Wallace Worsley, 1920). Lon Chaney again, in a famous tour-de-force as Blizzard, the insane legless criminal czar of San Francisco’s brawling Barbary Coast. (In that pre-digital era, Chaney’s legs were bound painfully to create the illusion of amputation.) A creaky film, but a riveting performance. (Kino)
– “The Bells” (star) (star) 1/2 (James Young, 1926). From Erckmann-Chatrian’s play, Lionel Barrymore stars as a guilt-ridden burgomaster and Boris Karloff as the Caligari-like mesmerist who knows his secrets. (Kino)
– “The Cat and the Canary” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Paul Leni, 1927). The classic “old dark house” murder mystery about a stormy night and a mansion full of would-be heirs circling around naive heiress Laura La Plante. Directed in full, ripe expressionist style by German emigre Paul Leni. (Kino)
– “Alibi” (star) (star) (star) (Roland West, 1929, Kino) and “The Bat Whispers” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Roland West, 1930, Milestone). Two eerie, early sound thrillers by a neglected master of visual technique. “Alibi,” a moody, hypnotic gangster movie about a cop’s daughter who is infatuated with a suave hood (Chester Morris), was a multiple Oscar nominee. But the real discovery — beautifully restored — is “The Bat Whispers,” another “old dark house” mystery based on Mary Roberts Rinehart’s play, with another mansion full of frightened people bedeviled by the arch-criminal “The Bat.” The acting is campy, but the compositions in Magnifilm (a rare ’30s wide-screen process) are often breathtaking.
– “It Happened Tomorrow” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Rene Clair, 1944). A rare and terrific Twilight Zonish period fantasy-comedy, scripted by Clair and Dudley Nichols, about the ecstasy and agony of a rising young newspaper reporter (Dick Powell) who keeps getting copies of tomorrow’s paper and eventually reads his own death notice. An absolute delight. (Kino)
– “Lured” (star) (star) (star) (Douglas Sirk, 1947). Lucille Ball is a Yank dance-hall girl working with Scotland Yard to trap a Ripperish serial killer; the suspects include George Sanders, Boris Karloff and Cedric Hardwicke. Formula script, but drenched in London fog and Sirkian style. (Kino)
– “The Trial” (star) (star) (star) (star) (Orson Welles, 1962). Welles’ stunning film of the Franz Kafka comic nightmare, with Anthony Perkins as a feisty Joseph K. (Milestone)
– “Night Tide” (star) (star) (star) (Curtis Harrington, 1963). The 1942 Val Lewton horror classic “Cat People” refashioned for Santa Monica’s beach scene, with Dennis Hopper as a nervous sailor who falls for mermaid Linda Lawson. (Milestone)
– “Kingdom of Shadows” (Bret Wood, 1998). The perfect primer: the entire silent era of classic black-and-white horror, surveyed in a new documentary. (Kino)
