A gleefully gothic classic film lineup
Gothic Cinema: Darkness and Desire: As we find out in a new Yerba Buena Center for the Arts series, “gothic” is less about actual architecture — pointed arches and flying buttresses — than an architecture of the mind: a synergy of horror, romance, dread and death. In that vein, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” Clint Eastwood’s Civil War film “The Beguiled” and “Near Dark,” a modern- day vampire flick that was Kathryn Bigelow’s first solo effort as director, are all considered gothic, a genre that has become as undefinable as the term “noir.” The series begins with “Rebecca” ( 7: 30 p. m. Thursday, Feb. 11; 2 p. m. Sunday, Feb. 14), which is about as gothic as they come, with Joan Fontaine trying to help her husband ( Laurence Olivier) shake the ghost of his first wife; and 1935’ s “The Bride of Frankenstein” ( 7: 30 p. m. Saturday, Feb. 13; 4: 45 p. m. Sunday, Feb. 14). The series contains some neat surprises along the way, including the Tim Burton-Johnny Depp collaboration “Edward Scissorhands” ( Feb. 18, 21); Jack Clayton’s adaptation of Henry James’ “Turn of the Screw” (“The Innocents,” starring Deborah Kerr, Feb. 25, 28); an Ingmar Bergman (“Hour of the Wolf,” Feb. 27- 28); “The Beguiled” ( March 5- 6), in which Eastwood’s wounded Union soldier is shielded by a group of schoolgirls who have the upper hand; and the gorgeous and weird “Black Sunday” ( April 7, 10), by Italian horror maestro Mario Bava. Through April 10 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., S. F. ( 415) 978- 2787. www. ybca. org. Valentine’s Day movies and a meal: What an awesome idea: going to dinner and a movie on Valentine’s Day — at the same time. Screenings begin at 5 p. m. Sunday, Feb. 14, with “My Fair Lady” plus food, and a 6 p. m. screening of the Audrey Hepburn- Rex Harrison classic with a dessert package. Or see “Titanic” at 7: 20 p. m. with a pasta dinner. Or just a screening of “The Notebook” at 9: 45 p. m. without any gastronomic offerings. The New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St., Oakland. ( 510) 658- 7900. www.thenewparkway.com. “The American Dreamer”: What did Dennis Hopper do after directing and starring in the box office smash and Hollywood game- changer “Easy Rider”? Well, Columbia Pictures basically told him to make whatever movie he wanted to make, so he went off to Mexico with lots of drugs and a bottomless checkbook and took full advantage of both. The result was the box office disaster “The Last Movie” and this documentary about an artist on the razor’s edge. Long available only as a bootleg, “The American Dreamer” has been restored, and this is its San Francisco premiere. 6: 20 and 9: 20 p. m. Thursday, Feb. 11. Alamo Drafthouse New Mission, 2550 Mission St., S. F. ( 415) 5495959. www. drafthouse. com/ sf.