The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has scared up quite the treat with its latest exhibition ‘The Horror Show,’ just in time for Halloween season.
Starting this Saturday, movie lovers will be invited to explore 396 objects from 167 scary movies broken into six subgenre chambers: Gothic, Psychological, Science, Religion, Slasher and Ghost, along with a spooky soundscape and a blood room exit.
“This exhibition honors all of that within horror, and elevates it beyond genre,” Academy Museum director and president Amy Homma said at Thursday’s press preview event. “Horror has its own filmic history, its own origins through literature, culture and art, and its own lineage. I hope people walk away fully realizing that the influence and inspiration over its 100-plus-year history is beyond measure.”
The Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery installation comes from an advisory team of Willem Dafoe, Osgood Perkins, Ariel Baska, Howard Berger, Tananarive Due and Angela Marie Smith, curated by senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel, assistant curator Nicholas Barlow and curatorial assistant Alexandra James Salichs.
“The Horror Show revolved around a very simple question: Why do horror films mean so much to so many people? As we developed the exhibition, we had countless conversations with horror fans, filmmakers and scholars,” Niebel told the media. “People shared their favorite films, their most terrifying moments and, often, very personal stories about what horror means to them. What struck me again and again was just how personal horror is. People don’t just watch horror movies, they carry them. They remember the first film that truly scared them. They recognize something of themselves in a monster, a survivor, a villain or even in the sensation of fear itself.”
“But horror is also about much more than being scared; horror transgresses, it goes where other films won’t go and it looks where other films don’t look. And that it one of the reasons I think it has remained so powerful and so relevant for more than a century,” she added. “Ever since the first moving images flickered across the screen, horror has continued to reinvent itself. It reflects the anxieties of its time, but it also gives us a safe space to confront those anxieties, to look at the things that frighten us and that we desire, and perhaps understand them a little differently.”
The Thursday morning walkthrough began with an introduction from “A Nightmare on Elm Street” icon Robert Englund, who celebrated his role as Freddy Krueger with the enthusiastic crowd.
“Wes Craven taught me how to respect the fans and the essence of the horror film, which I believe, in fact, now probably has taken the place of the western and the gangster film in the cycle of film genres that we see released all the time. I know practically every other week there’s a horror film or horror/sci-fi/fantasy film in the Top 10 films. So, I think that we’ve finally arrived,” he shared. “I remember, back when I started, we would sort of get the lousy table in the commissary by the kitchen door, and now horror films have saved a couple of studios … so I think we’re getting some respect. I’m so grateful — so humbled and grateful — to be here, but I’m especially grateful to the Academy for honoring the horror film with this show.”
Additional programming through the exhibit’s run will include a monthlong ‘John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness’ retrospective, a Monster Mash SFX makeup day on Oct. 24, a Museum After Dark after-hours party on Oct. 31, a “Carrie” 5oth anniversary screening with Sissy Spacek on Nov. 19 and a Hammer Films celebration in January 2027.
‘The Horror Show’ invites you in starting Sept. 26 at the Academy Museum.
The post The Academy Museum Gathers 396 Pieces From 167 Scary Movies for ‘The Horror Show’ Exhibition appeared first on TheWrap.
