Twice the thrills

Thanks to my good friend Bryce at Things That Don’t Suck for tipping me off to a terrific feature being hosted by Cole at Vitagraph, American. It’s called Twice The Thrills and, as with all great ideas, the remit is beautifully simple. Program your own double feature.

I repeat: beautifully simple.

Bryce adds: “It’s a fine line the theoretical programmer must walk. One doesn’t want to be too obvious (‘Trick R’ Treat’ and ‘Creepshow’? How long did that one take you to dream up? Probably just as long as your ‘Howling’/ ‘American Werewolf in London’ double feature). But sacrifice how well two movies complement each other simply for the sake of unpredictability (‘Abbot And Costello Meet Frankenstein’ and ‘Funny Games’) and you hurt no one but yourself.”

Bryce’s choice is excellent and features one of my all-time personal faves: read all about it here.

Being the awkward bugger I am, I couldn’t help wondering if I could find a pair of movies that both complement each other the way Bryce’s pair do (or, as in the quoted example, ‘Trick R’ Treat’ and ‘Creepshow’) and yet remain stunningly ill-matched on other levels. In other words, thematic connection vs. aesthetic difference.

I’m not going to write about either of these films in this post. I’ve already reviewed one here and I’m saving the other for the fear-fest fortnight I’m planning in the lead-up to Hallowe’en (hence the current mad rush to clear the decks of Operation 101010). I’m just going to give you the titles and the posters.

Opening film: ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. Short break. Second feature: ‘Martyrs’.