Hail the party animal

The American Cinematheque’s fourth annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science Fiction features something for everybody -- classic films such as “King Kong” and “War of the Worlds”; new horror movies such as “Cabin Fever”; the latest Godzilla movies from Japan; tributes to producer George Pal and director Paul Verhoeven; a cast and crew reunion of a short-lived cult TV series; an ambitious program of Czech fantasy, horror and suspense; an early Las Von Trier thriller; and the director’s cut of an obscure Flemish thriller starring Orson Welles.

The Cinematheque’s three-week festival is loosely based on a popular New York City horror, fantasy and sci-fi retrospective that program manager Dennis Bartok used to attend, though the New York festival, he recalls, “tended to focus more on classic American and really rare horror and sci-fi anywhere from the ‘20s to the ‘50s and the ‘60s.

“We wanted to do a slightly different mixture where we could show a lot of new films both from the U.S. and worldwide. We wanted to do something that would combine new films from around the world, classic movies and really things that have kind of slipped between the cracks.”

One of those films being featured that definitely fell through the cracks -- it’s being advertised as an “ultra-rare screening” -- is the 1971 Flemish thriller “Malpertius: History of a Cursed House,” which stars Welles, Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Halliday. Directed by Harry Kumel, the film premiered at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and had limited release in a hacked-up English-language version. The Cinematheque is presenting a newly restored director’s cut.

Bartok is also excited that included in the Czech package are two features he’s wanted to screen for many years, “The Fifth Horseman Is Fear,” which Bartok describes as “brilliant kind of Kafka-esque, nightmarish drama set during World War II,” and “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.”

“I don’t think they are going to pack the theater,” he says, “but if we get 150 or 200 people for those Czech films, I’ll be dancing in the aisles. They are definitely films that should be seen and rediscovered because they are so beautifully done.”

And not all of the films fall into the sci-fi, horror or fantasy genre, among them Stuart Gordon’s (“Re-Animator”) intense thriller, “King of the Ants,” starring George Wendt, Daniel Baldwin and Ron Livingston.

Gordon’s horror films have been popular at the Cinematheque, and when he finished his latest film, he called Bartok about screening it at the festival. The director enjoys attending film festivals. “The really fun thing is that all of these new fans show up. These kids are coming up to me, they have tattoos everywhere and are wearing black T-shirts saying, ‘I want to shake your hands. You made me what I am today.’ It’s really fun to meet the fans in all the countries. There is something similar about them all. The more you scare them, the more they like you.”

The festival kicks off Thursday at the Egyptian Theatre with the 50th anniversary screening of “The War of the Worlds,” George Pal’s inventive Technicolor production based on H.G. Wells’ novel about Martians invading Earth. One of the scenes in the film, which won an Oscar for its special effects, is the destruction of Los Angeles City Hall by the Martians’ deadly rays. After the screening there were will be a discussion with several of the actors, including Ann Robinson and Gene Barry.

Robinson approached the Cinematheque 18 months ago about the 50th anniversary of “The War of the Worlds,” Bartok recalls. She and Barry had reunited for a screening at the Egyptian a few years earlier. “Ann called and said, ‘I would really love to do something with you guys.’ We got in touch with her a few months ago and through an act of insane generosity, Paramount Pictures is striking a new print.”

The actress, who was a contract player when she was cast in “War,” believes the film has endured because it is about survival. “It is like Superman, truth and justice and the American way and the right way,” she says. “We won over all obstacles because we all pulled together. It is a heroic movie.”

Released during the Cold War, the film, some historians have speculated, is an anti-communist allegory with the Martians standing in for the Russians. “I think there were a lot of undercurrents that people were not sophisticated enough at the time to see,” says Robinson. “It does a make a lot of of sense, but I don’t have one of those minds that searches for the undercurrent. I just see the overall and I like it and it’s fun.”

‘Battlestar’ is reborn

It may seem odd that the Cinematheque is paying tribute to the 25th anniversary of the ABC series “Battlestar Galactica,” complete with a cast and crew reunion and a showing of the two-hour movie version that had an international theatrical release.

Richard Hatch, who played Apollo on the series, says there is a huge fan base for the show which also starred Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict. Not only is Universal releasing the entire 24 hours of the show on DVD this October, the Sci Fi Channel is presenting a new miniseries version later this year. Hatch has written “Battlestar” comic books and novels and put together a “Battlestar” Web site.

Hatch got a sense of the show’s appeal a few years back when he was invited to a “Star Trek” convention. “I hadn’t been to a convention in about 20 years and I thought, ‘Why are they inviting me here?’ I went and I saw all of these people lined up for ‘Voyager’ and ‘Deep Space Nine’ and thought, who is going to come over and want my autograph? All of a sudden, there was a huge line and I had people coming up to me with tears in their eyes telling me how much this story and show has meant to them.

“That is what started me thinking, this isn’t just a few fans, there is a huge fan base. It was a first-year series that had a lot of flaws and imperfections, but it still had a story and characters and a family feeling. It wasn’t just a sci-fi show.”

And “King Kong,” which has its 70th anniversary screening Aug. 16, is more than just a monster movie. Starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack and featuring the brilliant special effects of Willis O’Brien, “King Kong’ is actually a love story wrapped up in an adventure tale.

“It is a film that is simply timeless,” says Bartok. “It’s a movie about the conflict between the ancient world and the modern world because Kong belongs to the ancient, prehistoric world where he is the king of all that he surveys, and when he is brought to civilization in New York, suddenly he is beset by subway trains and skyscrapers.”

Though the 96-year-old Wray will be in New York at the time of the reunion screening, she recently shared her memories of making the film during a visit to L.A. “I think it’s quite fascinating that ‘King Kong’ has an energy all of its own,” she says, adding, “he was fond of [my character]. He loved me. I never had anything against King Kong. It was ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ ”

A brunet at the time, Wray says she decided that her character of a young, struggling actress should have platinum blond hair, a la Jean Harlow.

“I felt that was more appropriate for the role,” she says. “So I went to Max Factor on Highland Avenue to be sure they made me a nice wig. It was right, for the part, wasn’t it.”

Wray says that the famous ear-piercing scream she lets out when she first sees Kong in the jungle “just came because it was honest. That’s all. It was needed at the moment, anyway.”

After making “King Kong” and the Warner Bros. horror-thriller, “Mystery of the Wax Museum” in 1933, Wray says she left Hollywood for a while. But it was hard to escape the impact of “King Kong.”

“I felt that I would never get out of doing these sort of horror pictures,” says Wray. “So I went on a boat to England, and when I got off the boat, there was a nice person who met me and he said, ‘Would you please come up to our offices and scream for us?’ ”

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Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science Fiction

Where: Grauman’s Hollywood Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.

When: Thursday-Aug. 27

Price: $9

Contact: (323) 466-FILM and www.americancinematheque.com and https://egyptiantheatre.com/archive 1999/2003/scififantasyhorror.htm