Saturday, October 29, 2011

Procession of the Ghouls

Ok, I tried emailing my family this, but it didn't work, thus a blog was created...
Here was the original email...

Ok, so I was invited by some church people to a viewing of the 1925 version of Phantom of the Opera. Not only was there going to be a viewing of a silent horror film, which as Brooke and mom can attest, I LOVE, but this viewing was to be in a cathedral. I knew when I was invited, that come hell or high water, I was going to this. It was $20 for my ticket, but oh my gosh it was worth every cent, who am I kidding?!! $20 was a STEAL.

Allow me now to take you through my night in heaven... (Kylie's version of heaven that is...)
So, here is a picture of the cathedral. I had to give you an image to go off of, because as some of you know, you cannot really describe what it is like to be inside of a building like that. Being in a cathedral is enough to make me giddy, but last night, it was not like how it is in this picture. When I walked in the main lobby area, it was very very dark, with a very faint glow of orange going up the sides of the walls. In the background a live organ was playing that one song...you know which one, the classic halloween organ song. I was seriously bobbing up and down on my feet I was so excited. I walked up the long aisle way and sat with my friends; luckily they got seats towards the front! The screen for the movie was suspended high up in that middle area.


So here is a picture from the movie. This is probably the most iconic shot from the film. It's when, after capturing Christine, she wakes up to find him playing the organ. This is the shot of how it is filmed, she is behind him and he is facing us, when she sneaks up on him and rips off the mask, the audience see's his face here as he turns directly to the camera in horror. It was seriously horrifying! This is one of few silent films I actually haven't seen, and it was such a joy to see! Back when these silent films first played, as many of you know, because there was no sound, a live pianist accompanied the film for a score. Phantom of the Opera was the first movie to use an organ score instead of piano. And last night, we got to watch it with a live organ and as you can imagine with the acoustics of a cathedral was AMAZING!!!
Alrighty, now for perhaps the best part of the night. After the movie ended, the audience clapped, and then suddenly, it was dark. Pitch black. A couple people in the audience screamed. I'm sure if you could've seen my face in that darkness I would have had the goofiest grin on my face. Then up in the front, below the screen, this eerie glow started to grow brighter. And then I could see there was a bunch of mist and smoke up front. Then you could see this large monster mouth that was actually copied from the film. In the film there is a ballet at the beginning and the ballerina's run out through the large monster mouth.


And then...ghouls started pouring out. Check out these pic's I found online. Just google, "procession of the ghouls".


This is a pope guy who got up onto the thing where the priest stands during mass. He stood there all creepy and directed the procession.


SO, basically best night of my life. And, not gonna lie, coolest thing I've seen so far in NY. yeah, I know I'm WEIRD!!!

Love, Kylie

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!