Film Flicks Frighten at UCSD's Horrible Imaginings Film Fest

Monday's hot and sunny weather will be followed by two dark, foggy and scary nights on UC San Diego's campus. The university is hosting the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival on Monday and Tuesday.

The two-day film festival of horror films, both short and feature length, will showcase a different set of films each night at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for each night or $8 for UCSD alumni and $5 for UCSD students. Tickets are available online

The Horrible Imaginings Film Festival will be held at the Price Center Theatre. For a map of the campus, including parking garages, click here.

Monday night's films:

The Haunted House (La Maison Ensorcelée)
Director Segundo de Chomón shocked and terrified audiences with this early and surprisingly apt example of stop motion animation. [Segundo de Chomón, 1908, France, 6 min]

Un Chien Andalou 
The short film was also the focus of the early 20th century art movement, Surrealism. Here, visual artist Salvador Dali teams with the Spanish film director Luis Buñuel, the effect being a startlingly disturbing collection of images. Some of the imagery has lost no potency to shock, even today. [Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, 1929, France, 16 min]

Skeleton Frolics 

Skeleton Frolics is instantly recognizable, and features the mainstreaming of horrific elements and death symbols. [Ub Iwerks, 1937, USA, 7 min]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 
Steeped in what is now known as McCarthyism, America found itself paranoid of what it saw as the threat of Communist invaders who wanted to change our way of life. This fear was palpable, and it plays out on-screen with stark clarity. [Don Siegal, 1956, USA, 80 min]

Tuesday night's films:

Katasumi
Atmospheric Japanese horror gave new life to the genre at the turn of the millennium. These spawned countless lackluster American remakes, particularly after the success of Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, a remake of Hideo Nakata’s Ringu. [Takashi Shimizu, 1998, Japan, 5 min]

Treevenge
Modern technology and media outreach has made filmmaking more accessible than ever. Treevenge is an example of horror and twisted humor taken to an extreme. This type of homage is not just limited to low budget short films–it has practically built the careers of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. [Jason Eisener, 2008, Canada, 16 min]

Martin 
Director George A. Romero has become an exemplar of directors who use genre to comment on socio-political concerns. His seminal Night of the Living Dead presented class and race relations, and his Dawn of the Deadpresented the implications of mass consumerism—all in the guise of the zombie movie. In Martin, often cited as one of his favorite of his films, Romero focuses on the vampire myth. [George Romero 1976, USA, 95 min]

Watch the flip clips to the right at your own risk!