An exploration of terror and the fantastic from Northern Manhattan. “Dimensions of Darkness” is a four-part series exploring the horror, science fiction and the fantastic, with a focus on filmmakers, writers and performers from or associated with the northern Manhattan and surrounding areas. Curated and hosted by production and screening collective KHLOARIS and Inwood Art Works.
Director Tod Browning’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s famous novel, starring the iconic Bela Lugosi, is one the most famous horror movies ever made. It kick-started Universal Studio’s horror cycle, and helped turn Dracula into one of the most famous names in horror, cinema and pop culture. In the role of vampire hunter Van Helsing was one Edward Van Sloan. Van Sloan lived for a time on 215th Street and Seaman Avenue in Inwood, while performing on Broadway. He was one of the most prolific character actors in horror films from the golden age, also appearing in Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula’s Daughter, Behind the Mask, Before I Hang and others. Preceding Dracula will be the 1931 short horror-comedy “Boo,” made up of clips from Universal’s horror output and incredibly dated jokes. Directly following the feature will be an exclusive screening of the rare 1-minute epilogue to Dracula. Hosted by Van Sloan, censors objected to this epilogue’s playful assertion that vampires are indeed real. It was removed from the film and was, until recently, considered lost.
From Edgar Allan Poe’s explorations of undeveloped northern Manhattan wilderness to H.P. Lovecraft’s documented walking tours of then-Inwood Forest (which Lovecraft described as “…a forest primeval, with winding paths, gigantic trees, and not a mortal in sight.”), the northern Manhattan area has been home to countless famous and unusual imaginations. The beginnings of the film industry were right across the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, where luminaries like famed magician Harry Houdini hung from the Palisades cliffs in early film serials; the origin of the term “cliffhanger”.
(Doors at 7:00pm) The Stuff and Dust Devil are both R-rated, and not suitable for children. Dracula and Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park are either unrated or PG-rated. After each screening, we’ll hang out to connect and talk about the films.
