From the 1930s through to the early 1980s, double-bills were a central part of the cinemagoing experience. The mainstream cinema circuit squeezed extra value out of past hits by bringing them together to give regular movie goers more bang for their buck - and no doubt benefiting from increased sales of Kia-Ora drinks and Walls’ ice-creams.
The tradition was upheld on TV (most notably BBC2’s legendary Saturday Night Horror doubles) and on repertory screens, but even these areas of adventurous programming receded as VHS took hold in the 1980s.
However, a good double-bill is still a real cinematic treat – giving you two sides of a story, playing variations on a theme, or simply finding a fun link between a pair of films to enhance the enjoyment of both. Classics of the form include the ubiquitous Taxi Driver with Midnight Express; The Italian Job plus Monte Carlo or Bust; 1983’s wonky yet personally formative Campsite Massacre and Hellcat Mud Wrestlers; and the best-known of them all – Don’t Look Now and The Wicker Man.
Horror has always been the perfect fit for the format, so this year FilmFear curates its own homage to a much-missed simple pleasure: One dark night. Two scary movies. Scream… and scream again!!
David Cox, Film4 Channel Editor
