{"id":475651,"date":"2026-09-25T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T20:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475651\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T20:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T20:00:16","slug":"every-single-slasher-mask-you-can-think-of-is-on-display-at-the-academy-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475651\/","title":{"rendered":"Every single slasher mask you can think of is on display at the Academy Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think of all the images from scary movies that have haunted your nightmares over the years\u2014then picture them all in one place. That\u2019s what\u2019s in store for you at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures<\/a>\u2019 new exhibition, \u201cThe Horror Show<\/a>,\u201d which opens on Saturday, just in time for Halloween season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consisting of 396 objects, plus video scenes, and covering 167 film titles, the exhibition is a comprehensive look at horror movies and why they mean so much to so many people, according to senior curator Jessica Niebel. It\u2019s fun, illuminating, immersive\u2014and genuinely creepy.<\/p>\n

When Freddy Krueger himself, a.k.a. actor Robert Englund, kicked off the press preview on Thursday, he expressed approval that horror is finally getting some respect in the cinema world, taking the place of genres like Westerns or mafia films in\u00a0terms of prominence and popularity. His original costume from A Nightmare on Elm Street is just one of the nearly 400 treasures that had horror-movie lovers shrieking in delight during our visit.<\/p>\n

\"The
\nPhotograph: Emily Shur, \u00a9Academy Museum FoundationThe hallway in \u201cThe Horror Show.\u201d <\/p>\n

The exhibition is a comprehensive look at horror movies. It breaks the genre into six categories\u2014Gothic, Psychological, Science, Religion, Ghosts and Slashers\u2014each of which is filled with its own treasure trove of film props, costumes and clips. Upon entering, it\u2019s like you\u2019ve been dropped into a\u00a0scary screenplay\u2014a dark gallery sports stage directions projected on the walls,\u00a0set to\u00a0a soundscape of music, voices and sound effects to put you in the mood. You\u2019re deposited at the end of a long hallway, like one you would walk down with dread in a scary movie\u2014which is even more effective, thanks to some forced perspective.<\/p>\n

\"Bela
\nPhotograoh: Emily Shur, \u00a9Academy Museum FoundationBela Lugosi\u2019s cape from \u2018Dracula\u2019 (1931). <\/p>\n

The first stop on your right, the Gothic gallery focuses largely on the vampire and all of its filmic interpretations over the years (minus Twilight). Highlights include Bela Lugosi\u2019s recently restored and dramatically displayed cape from Dracula (1931), Gary Oldman\u2019s armadillo-like armor from Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt\u2019s costumes from Interview With the Vampire, Hailee Steinfeld\u2019s blood-stained dress from Sinners, a prop corpse from The Hunger lying in a coffin, and another (standing) coffin, where you can pose for your own undead photo.<\/p>\n

\"Jack
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutJack Torrance costume from \u2018The Shining\u2019 at \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d at the Academy Museum <\/p>\n

The Psychological gallery\u2014white and brightly lit, it calls to mind a sanatorium\u2014does a great job of presenting crowd-pleasing costumes and props while also connecting each film to the underlying mental disorder or struggle it portrays. Take a selfie with a\u00a0dummy of Mrs. Bates, then see storyboards from Psycho\u00a0and screen-used items including Jack Torrance\u2019s costume and ax (The Shining), the pop-up book from The Babadook, Kathy Bates\u2019s costume and special effects bust from Misery, Hannibal Lecter\u2019s costume from The Silence of the Lambs, and the chair from Get Out.<\/p>\n

The Ghosts gallery was the creepiest of the bunch. Expect a lot of Poltergeist, a corpse dummy from The Ring, the eponymous phone from The Black Phone and, front-and-center, the Annabelle doll in her glass case. It\u2019s also the most interactive\u2014there\u2019s a couch straight out of an \u201980s living room\u00a0where you can sit and watch\u00a0movie clips, and an old PC set up at a desk, where you can peruse the original Blair Witch Project website.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018The
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out\u2018The Blair Witch Project\u2019 at \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d at the Academy Museum <\/p>\n

The most popular room by far was the Slashers gallery. Horror fans could probably visit just that one\u00a0room and come away more than satisfied. Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Ghostface and Art the Clown all stand at the ready, while Saw\u2019s Billy the Puppet, Chucky and his bride, and Pennywise\u2019s head are all contained in glass cases. A wall of masks and weapons, and a montage of final-girl clips, complete the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Costumes
\nPhotograph: Emily Shur, \u00a9Academy Museum FoundationCostumes in the Religion gallery at \u201cThe Horror Show.\u201d <\/p>\n

And there\u2019s even more to see: Midsommar, The Conjuring 2, Weapons, Suspiria and Hellraiser costumes in the\u00a0sunny\u00a0Religion gallery, plus items from The Exorcist and Rosemary\u2019s Baby. The Science gallery draws you in with Xenomorph from Alien: Romulus in a huge glass case. Other highlights include the special effects mask from The Substance, the original mask from Creature From the Black Lagoon and an effective vignette dedicated to Frankenstein, periodically lit up by lightning.<\/p>\n

\"A
\nPhotograph: Emily Shur, \u00a9Academy Museum FoundationA display dedicated to \u2018Frankenstein\u2019 at \u201cThe Horror Show.\u201d <\/p>\n

After revisiting nearly every horror\u00a0title you can think of, there\u2019s only one way out of the exhibition\u2014and it\u00a0drops you into the middle of your own\u00a0scary movie. At the end of the hallway, you\u2019ll find the Blood Room, a disconcertingly realistic re-creation of a slasher\u2019s crime scene, with fake blood covering the walls and pooling onto the floor (don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s dried, so you don\u2019t be leaving a\u00a0trail when you leave).<\/p>\n

Something I particularly loved about the show is that it gives credit to the literature that inspired horror movies\u2014first editions of Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula (plus hand-written notes where he works out now-iconic details of vampires) are on display, as well as a 1825 edition of Grimms\u2019 Fairy Tales. And, of course, you\u2019ll see lots of film prop books, mostly in the Religion gallery, including the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from the Evil Dead series and a spell book from Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.<\/p>\n

The show is sure to be a huge hit with horror aficionados. And if you\u2019re a horror hater? Well, according to Academy Museum President Amy Homma, you just haven\u2019t found your horror yet. By splitting the genre into six wide-ranging categories, the exhibition shows that what qualifies as a horror movie isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all. So if you, say, can\u2019t handle anything with a ghost (guilty), you might be drawn to Stephen King adaptations, which fall into the \u201cpsychological\u201d category\u2014scary, yes, but less likely to make you leave the lights on. And if nothing else, the exhibition offers an educational way to get into the Halloween spirit\u2014without the threat of scare actors jumping out at you<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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