Curtis Harrington is a strange and shadowy figure on the American film scene, a pioneer of the American “Underground” film of the Forties who went to Hollywood in the Fifties to become the director of some of the most inventive and intelligent horror-thrillers ever to emanate from the low-budget sphere. Many of the themes and visual motifs of Harrington's avant-garde works appear in these horror features--themes of desire and fate, of haunted realities, of poetic, anguished quests--and their literary qualities only benefit from the humor and sense of the fantastic Harrington brings to the genre. Harrington--who in 1952 wrote what is probably the first serious analysis of the horror genre--began his “horror” career intending to make films in the Val Lewton (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie) tradition: horror based on the power of suggestion, emphasizing atmosphere and psychology rather than make-up and special effects. He has succeeded admirably.
Note: We will introduce Curtis Harrington in person this evening if work on his newest film does not preclude his visit; as we go to press, Mr. Harrington is only able to give us a tentative (but hopeful) commitment.
