Theme: Classic creepy chillers. There's something inherently creepy and unsettling about old black and white movies - whether it's the grainy monochrome footage, the disjointed frame rate or the crackling audio, they have a naturally discombobulating quality that modern films shot in crisp HD are lacking. Picking two of the very best early horror movies isn't easy since there's plenty to choose from, but The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Freaks are certainly a great place to start. The German silent Expressionist horror The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari opens up our first double bill with a creepy tale of a sinister doctor who uses his powers of hypnotism to command a ghoulish sombambulist killer to carry out his dirty work. With nightmarish angular sets and exceptional performances, it's also a film with a deliciously subversive twist. Tod Browning's Freaks takes an altogether different look at the dark side of humanity. Here, a travelling freak show in which real life "freaks" play the roles of the deformed members of the troupe is the setting for a story of greed and betrayal. Browning's crowning achievement for this controversial - and long banned - spectacle is in his depiction of the "normal" strongman and ballerina as the truly ugly and manipulative characters. It's an atmospheric, quite unique film likely to have you chanting "One of us!" before the credits roll.
