Collection on Screen:
Halloween Horror
October 29 to 31, 2025
The tradition of Halloween, the evening before All Hallows' Day, actually originated in Ireland, yet it first became an important celebration in the United States. The Halloween tradition, which also includes watching horror movies together, has returned to Europe over the past decades. Last year, we also adopted Halloween Horror in the Film Museum after the Invisible Cinema had long been used on October 31 by the Viennale.
This year, for the second time, we celebrate Halloween with a selection of horror classics from our collection, preceded by an advance guest performance in our Jean Epstein retrospective: a repeat screening of his groundbreaking silent film La chute de la maison Usher (1928). This atmospheric adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher provides the perfect transition to The Masque of Red Death (1965), a masterpiece starring Vincent Price from Roger Corman's Poe cycle, which we will show every year on Halloween as long as possible – our rare IB Technicolor print is threatened by shrinkage. The next day, another essential work, The Revenge of Frankenstein (1959) – this time from Terence Fisher's Hammer horror cycle – will be screened, also in Technicolor.
The evening program stands under the sign of animal horror: In the dark comic book adaptation The Crow (1994), an avenger returns from the realm of the dead with the help of a supernatural crow, and in Alligator (1980), a giant reptile emerges from Chicago's sewers – with equally horrifying and hilarious results. Enjoy the scares! (Christoph Huber / Translation: Ted Fendt)
In collaboratioin with SLASH Filmfestival
The tradition of Halloween, the evening before All Hallows' Day, actually originated in Ireland, yet it first became an important celebration in the United States. The Halloween tradition, which also includes watching horror movies together, has returned to Europe over the past decades. Last year, we also adopted Halloween Horror in the Film Museum after the Invisible Cinema had long been used on October 31 by the Viennale.
This year, for the second time, we celebrate Halloween with a selection of horror classics from our collection, preceded by an advance guest performance in our Jean Epstein retrospective: a repeat screening of his groundbreaking silent film La chute de la maison Usher (1928). This atmospheric adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher provides the perfect transition to The Masque of Red Death (1965), a masterpiece starring Vincent Price from Roger Corman's Poe cycle, which we will show every year on Halloween as long as possible – our rare IB Technicolor print is threatened by shrinkage. The next day, another essential work, The Revenge of Frankenstein (1959) – this time from Terence Fisher's Hammer horror cycle – will be screened, also in Technicolor.
The evening program stands under the sign of animal horror: In the dark comic book adaptation The Crow (1994), an avenger returns from the realm of the dead with the help of a supernatural crow, and in Alligator (1980), a giant reptile emerges from Chicago's sewers – with equally horrifying and hilarious results. Enjoy the scares! (Christoph Huber / Translation: Ted Fendt)
In collaboratioin with SLASH Filmfestival
Related materials
Program Jean Epstein - Oct / Nov 2025