Oddball Films and guest
curator Landon Bates bring you Spooky Booky!, a program of spooktacular gothic
literary adaptations that will bring out the boo! in book. This Friday the 13th, take a break from
all your mid-summer sun-tanning and recede for an evening into the shadows,
with a program of live action short story adaptations, as well as animated
interpretations of several classically creepy poems. The selections include The Hangman (1964), a
semi-surrealistic animated rendering of Maurice Ogden's poem; a made-for-TV adaption of William Faulkner's cobweb-infested A Rose for Emily (1983),
starring Anjelica Huston in the title role; The Raven (1978), an experimental
take on Edgar Allen Poe's nightmarish verse, designed from the engravings of
Gustave Dore; The Boarded Window (1973), from a ghastly Ambrose Bierce tale;
and lastly, an animation of Samuel
Taylor Coleridge's spectral Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1967), powerfully
narrated by Sir Richard Burton.
These films will leave your skin crawling and your spine tingling!
Date: Friday, July
13th, 2012 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films,
275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00
Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
The Hangman (Color,
1964)
Paul Julian, previously
known as an animator for Warner Bros' Looney Tunes, directs this haunting
adaptation of Maurice Ogden's poem of the same name. A mysterious hangman comes to a small town, taking upon himself
the responsibilities of town judge, jury, and executioner, but rather than
questioning the stranger's arbitrary sentencing, the town's residents stay
satisfied with their own well being, and look idly on as their community
dwindles and their neighbors, one-by-one, face the noose-but might they too be
beckoned by the hangman? Surreal
in its visual style with long shadows and sharp color contrasts, and made all
the more unsettling by an eerie jazzy sort of score.
A Rose For Emily
(Color, 1983)
This compelling
made-for-tv dramatization of William Faulkner's short story is worth it for
Anjelica Huston's shyly sullen performance alone. Huston plays Emily Grierson, the last of the esteemed
southern aristocratic Grierson clan, who grows more and more reclusive and
fragile after the death of her father, clinging to the past so desperately that
living in the present is out of the question. After years of rejecting suitors
who would come calling, Emily takes a mediocre lover. But along with his abrupt disappearance and the resulting
deterioration of Emily's psychological state, the film smolders into delicious
delirium. Directed by Lyndon
Chubbuck, with John Carradine in a cameo role.
The Raven (Color, 1978)
Don't be deterred by
any negative associations you may have with the idea of a Raven adaptation
(after, I'd guess, the recent one with John Cusack). A look at this elegant, experimental animation, directed by
Lewis Jacobs, will breathe new life into Poe's classic deathful tale, editing
Gustave Dore's 19th century engravings to stunning effect, with brilliant
near-psychedelic coloring and an appropriately somber voice-over reading of the
poem.
The Boarded Window
(Color, 1973)
Ambrose Bierce, whose
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Kurt Vonnegut called the greatest of American
short stories, was a master of psychological terror. This short film version of his story The Boarded Window
packs a serious punch. The film begins with serene look at the daily routine of
a simple woodsman trapping in the Appalachian mountains, rife with chirping
birds and swaying pines, but as his dutiful wife becomes stricken with fever in
their isolated cabin, the story swiftly escalates to a screaming pitch that
will leave our woodsman sweeping up the splinters of his psyche.
The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner (B&W, 1967)
Sir Richard Burton
narrates this animated adaptation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's singular The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, directed by John Ryan. The animation consists of drawings intended to imitate
woodcuttings, and a vivid dreamlike effect is achieved with the movement of
cut-out drawings, the deep contrast shading, and camera movement.
Curator's Biography:
Curator
Landon Bates is a UC Berkeley graduate of English Literature, a projectionist
at the Elmwood Theatre in Berkeley, a drummer in the Oakland-based psych-rock
band Disappearing People, and a dedicated cinephile.