Jonathan Melville: Movies that go bump for the fright

WE all enjoy a good fright once in a while, whether that’s finding out your route to work has been changed thanks to the tram works or watching a scary movie at your local cinema at Hallowe’en.

The Usher Hall presents a special screening of 1920’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari this Sunday, complete with live music on the venue’s historic organ. It may be an old film but it still has the power to chill an audience on a cold October night.

From tomorrow, the Filmhouse is showing a fascinating new documentary on the conspiracy theories surrounding Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), Room 237. Is it a film about the Holocaust, the struggle of American Indians or Kubrick’s way of admitting he helped fake the moon landings?

There’s also a chance to watch The Shining itself on Hallowe’en at Filmhouse and Cineworld in a special extended cut of the film. Jack Nicholson is terrifying as Jack Torrance, a man slowly going mad as he and his family head to the Overlook Hotel and encounter strange goings-on.

Meanwhile, at the Cameo on Hallowe’en you can watch another horror classic in the shape of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Robert Englund is still a chilling sight as the evil Freddy in a film that’s superior in every way to the 2010 remake.

Finally, for the younger horror fans out there, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is showing around the city, a perfect introduction to Hallowe’en films if the above suggestions are a bit on the gory side.

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