The Little Death

A documentary on the life and career of actor Lon Chaney, with clips from his films and interviews with people who knew him.

"About the Restoration" provides an overview of the recovery effort, hosted by Bret Wood. Also of interest are examples of movie making mistakes that remain in the pictures, with disc producers resisting the urge to correct these admittedly humorous issues.

An illegitimate child of the slums comes to faith. Later, she chooses to labor in a canning factory in order to investigate its poor conditions, not realizing she has a significant connection to the cold-hearted factory owner.

Narrated by Rod Steiger, this documentary examines the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, featuring clips from classics like Dante's Inferno and Leaves from Satan's Book.

This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.

A troubled veteran returns home to resume his life, but first he must fulfill a dreadful family obligation.

Multi-narrative adaptation of Richard v. Krafft-Ebing's notorious medico-forensic study of sexual perversity.

Carmilla comes to a rural town where her mother mysteriously disappeared years earlier. She is aided in her quest by an emotionally troubled local girl, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Their relationship ignites the wrath of the girl's father, who holds the key to the dreadful truth Carmilla is seeking. Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's famed Gothic novella.

An exploration of La Oroya, an Andean smelting town caught in the tides of pollution and capital drain. The film charts U.S.-led industrialization and Peruvian social history in the 20th and 21st centuries.

A young woman masquerades as a census taker in order to gain entry into her mother's home.

Documentary about the making of Buster Keaton's silent comedy classic, Sherlock Jr. (1924).

Four visual essays by Silent Echoes author John Bengtson identifying Buster Keaton's shooting locations for his many short films produced between 1920-1923, many in the streets surrounding his former Hollywood studio, the same studio where, a few years earlier, Charlie Chaplin had made his brilliant series of Mutual shorts.

This visual essay by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton, reveals the locations where Keaton's 1924 comedy feature Sherlock Jr. was filmed in Hollywood and Orange County.