In conjunction with MoMA’s career retrospective of artist and filmmaker Tim Burton, the Department of Film presents Tim Burton and the Lurid Beauty of Monsters, a series of films that have influenced, inspired, and intrigued Burton, and which reflect the motifs, themes, and sensibilities of his work. Taking as its starting point horror-movie screenings that Burton organized in his youth, the series spans five decades and includes landmark films of stop-motion animation, German Expressionism, Grand Guignol horror, Universal monsters, and B-grade science-fiction. Burton has said of watching these movies while growing up, “I loved the lurid beauty of these monster movies. They spoke to me. I didn’t understand the world, and these films were somehow symbolic of the way I felt.”
Organized by Jenny He, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film. Special thanks to Wayne Titus, Alice Remsnyder, Elizabeth Quilter, and Charlie Achuff.