One of the more chilling beasts in Ravishing Beasts at MOV

MOV (Museum of Vancouver) has created the perfect Halloween social for adults this Friday, October 30: MOV Goes Psycho, an evening of drinks (there’s a cash bar), music (live DJ), tours of their latest, eerie exhibition, Ravishing Beasts, and a screening of Hitchcock’s masterpiece of horror cinema, Psycho.

Pairing Psycho with Ravishing Beasts—MOV’s exploration of taxidermy—is perfect, since not only can taxidermy be creepy in and of itself, it also plays a significant role in the film.

According to mystery writer/film critic Alan Vanneman, Hitchcock was fixated on “inanimate objects that suggest life,” particularly fetishisms of death like taxidermy, and routinely used taxidermy suggestively in his mise en scene. That Norman Bates is a taxidermist by “hobby” who likes “stuffing things” is pretty apt foreshadowing for the other dead things he’s keeping, and seeing the film along with the exhibit will no doubt add nuances of meaning to both.

All of which means you’ll have plenty of cocktail conversation to break the ice at the bar….

Tickets to MOV Goes Psycho are $15. Doors open at 7pm; screening is at 9pm.