On planning the vintage spook season, new cinema programmer at Pálás, William Fitzgerald said, “These are the originals, or at least the quintessential versions of these characters – the movies that inspired so many others and had such a lasting impact on popular culture. These iconic portrayals by Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein and The Mummy, Lon Chaney as The Wolfman and Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein, are the ones still immortalised every Halloween in costumes, in imagery, and in our imaginations.”
The season also features another black and white classic, Cat People, from the competing studio RKO Pictures, which, like Bride of Frankenstein, was one of the few monster movies to feature a woman monster in the leading role. Fitzgerald added, “These early monster movies were pioneering for their practical effects and filmmaking craft. Cat People is often credited with the first ‘jump scare’ in cinema. But for all that, these films weren’t as transgressive as later horror films and can be enjoyed by horror aficionados and more faint-hearted film fans alike.” The season even includes the comedy classic, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankentein, in which the famous comedic duo encounter Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. Said Fitzgerald, “It’s a classic that perfected the horror-comedy formula you see throughout later pop culture, like in Scooby Doo for example.”
Book your tickets here: https://www.palas.ie/
