National Evening of Science on Screen
Discussion Topic: Fear Analysis: It’s All in Your Head
Speaker: Sam Cooper, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
Your muscles tense, you cover your eyes, and a shiver runs down your spine… but why? What is the feeling of fear, and what are its triggers? Are they cultural or chemical, and why do so many of us seek it out in the thrills and chills of the horror movie genre? Join our expert as they answer these questions and more in an educational evening of terror.
An initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
All work and no play makes Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson—the caretaker of an isolated resort—go way off the deep end, terrorizing his young son and wife (Shelley Duvall).
Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, who's come to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker. Torrance has never been there before—or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.
Master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's visually haunting chiller, based on the bestseller by master-of-suspense Stephen King, is an undeniable contemporary classic. Newsweek called The Shining "the first epic horror film," full of indelible images, and a signature role for Nicholson whose character was recently selected by AFI as one of their 50 Greatest Villains.
SCIENCE ON SCREEN
Experts reveal the science behind cinematic standouts and cult classics in paired screenings and lectures. The series is made possible through a grant by the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.