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| The Craft |
If you’ve ever owned a velvet choker, dressed like someone from The Addams Family, or insisted The Cure sold out with “Friday I’m in Love,” then chances are you’re super into gothic cinema. At the very least, one of your favorite films—whether it’s The Craft, Lost Highway or Near Dark—belongs to the gothic tradition.
But what counts as gothic cinema? Even though the genre’s gloomy, shadow aesthetic originates from the 19th century fiction of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe, the cultural movement has survived in film form by persistently seeking out fresh blood for itself. Thus Bram Stoker could put pen to paper with Dracula in 1887 and inadvertently shape how Robert Pattinson would sink his incisors into Kristen Stewart for the Twilight movies. (Which is surely what Stoker intended.)
Moreover, gothic cinema is about drawing the curtains and identifying with outsiders. Sure, there’s the giddy thrill of tiptoeing past coffins in creaky castles, or the allure of uncovering ghostly family secrets (like why your uncle has so many anecdotes about the 14th century). But these films are also for anyone who’s ever looked into a mirror and felt more like Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice than Cher Horowitz in Clueless. And if you don’t see your reflection at all? Then these movies might even be about you.
From December 1 onwards, New York’s Metrograph will be screening a Goth(ic) series, a celebration of 32 films that trace the history of gothic cinema and goth subcultures. These include landmarks of the 1930s (F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein), genre-defining suspense thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca, Robert Wise’s The Haunting), right up to more recent popcorn fare (Alex Proyas’ The Crow, Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire). Mostly on 35mm, of course.
See more here
