For those looking for something different this Halloween, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, in Shawnee, offers a night at the movies. But the movie they will be showing on Sun., Oct. 30, at 7 pm, is 100 years old and silent.
According to an article on www.bbc. com, “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” premiered in Berlin in March 1922. It features Count Orlok - the first movie vampire, who was played by Max Schreck - with his beaver- like teeth, pointy ears and long fingers.
Father Tom Dahlman said he chose a vampire movie this year in part because of a yearly lecture by his theology professor in seminary.
“He had a lecture he would do once a year about the history of vampires, where that story came from, and how they’re essentially ... they’re the opposite of a Christian,” said Dahlman. “A vampire’s body lives forever, but their soul is dead. A Christian’s body is still dying, but their soul is being renewed.”
“The Christian is, traditionally we believe that by the Eucharist, whereas a vampire, the last thing they want to come into contact (with) is consecrated bread or wine, you know.”
“So, when you start thinking about it, as an antonym for Christian, I don’t know, it started making me think about those stories in a different way.”
This is the third year for the church to show a silent movie for Halloween, after skipping two years for the pandemic. The movies shown in 2018 and 2019 were “Phantom of the Opera” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” respectively.
Dahlman said he was inspired to bring silent movies to Shawnee after seeing similar events held at “Trinity Episcopal Church” on Wall St. in New York City.
“I don’t know if they still do, but they used to do this every year,” he said. “And I thought about how there aren’t many places that have an installed organ, and so really, it’s kind of a mix of entertainment, art and, tradition. It felt like something that would be a niche, kind of a niche.”
As was the tradition with silent movies, the church organist, Dr. Ron Lewis, will add some interest and suspense to the scenes.
“I think the big attraction for a lot of people is Ron, our organist, basically just invents the score for it,” said Dahlman. “It combines pieces, and he watches, and he just plays along with the movie.”
Besides finding their niche, Dahlman also thought the event would bring people into the church and make them familiar with it. He said they had about 150 people attend the first year and 180 attend the second year.
“We have filled up the church both times,” he said. “We can’t hold much more than that.”
Ronny Jones, the owner of Jones Theatres and a long-time member of the parish, “was a big part of starting this,” said Dahlman, and he sponsors the audio- visual equipment rental, which consists of a screen, a projector and a bluray disc.
The price of admission will be a package of diapers or baby wipes, which will be donated to Legacy Parenting Center, Inc. in Shawnee. In addition to one of their members being on the staff of Legacy Parenting, Dahlman said they wanted to help the community.
“We wanted to do more to connect it with a mission of helping our town be a better place, you know, be a more compassionate place,” he said.
