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TCM Website
October 9, 1999
TCM Celebrates Halloween with 41 Movies, LES VAMPIRES and the
Documentary Universal Horror October 24-29
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Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has scares in store for All Hallows Eve, with 41 frightful films, the classic silent serial LES VAMPIRES and the acclaimed documentary Universal Horror. Beginning Oct. 24 through Halloween, TCM will present the best in classic film horror. The chills run through October 31, which features a full day of horror classics.
TCM kicks off its Halloween festival on Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. with all eight episodes of the influential serial LES VAMPIRES, in which a criminal band sucks blood from the coffers of the rich. Director Louis Feuillade's early serial had a tremendous influence on future horror films. TCM continues the theme with "The Dead Walk," a night of zombie and vampire films starting at 8 p.m. on October 25 with the recently restored print of WHITE ZOMBIE (1932), starring Bela Lugosi as a Caribbean plantation owner with some sinister talents. Also rising from the grave are Boris Karloff, as a criminal resurrected by science in THE WALKING DEAD (1936, 9:30 p.m.), and Jonathan Frid as the Collins family vampire in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970, 12:30 a.m.)
"Evil Animals" rule the roost October 26 as THE BIRDS (1963, 8 p.m.) turn on society under the influence of Alfred Hitchcock. Producer Val Lewton adds a psychological edge to the horror genre with the movies CAT PEOPLE (1942, 10: 15 p.m.), THE LEOPARD MAN (1943, 11:30 p.m.) and THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944, 3:15 a.m.). Then, it's time for an attack of the "Space Invaders," with James Arness as THE THING (1951, October 27, 8 p.m.) and the junior inhabitants of the VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960, 9:30 p.m.), eerie children fathered by aliens.
On October 28, lock the doors for a night of "Serial Killers," including Robert Mitchum as the murderous minister in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955, 8 p.m.) and Peter Lorre as the screen's first mass murderer, in M (1931, 10 p.m.). "Deranged Doctors" take over on October 29, as Lionel Barrymore uses a shrinking serum to create killers in THE DEVIL DOLL (1936, 8 p.m.) and Boris Karloff turns his enemies into madmen in BEDLAM (1946, 9:30 p.m.). Following a special encore of TCM's original documentary Universal Horror (1998, October 30, 7 p.m.), narrated by Kenneth Brannagh, enter the "Haunts of Horror" with a night of ghost stories kicked off by the original version of THE HAUNTING (1963, 9 p.m.), starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom and Russ Tamblyn.
The chills run all day on Halloween, October 31. In the morning, murderer Joan Crawford goes on the rampage in STRAIT-JACKET (1964, 11:15 a.m.). The afternoon features two versions of the story of a fiendish artist who turns humans into wax figures-THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933, 2:30 p.m.), starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, and HOUSE OF WAX (1953, 4 p.m.), starring Vincent Price and Phyllis Kirk. The "Horror All-Stars" shine Halloween night, starting with FREAKS (1932, 8 p.m.), from director Todd Browning. The picture about sideshow performers was so frightening it was banned for years. Peter Lorre goes looking for MAD LOVE (1935, 9:15 p.m.), then gets locked up with a murderous hand in THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946, 10:30 p.m.). Lon Chaney shows what made him the screen's first and greatest horror star as THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925, 12 a.m.) and THE MONSTER (1925, 2 a.m.).
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