The Horror Show is a popular exhibit at the Academy Museum and walking through it was topped off with a Ke Huy Quan book signing! This was on Thursday, September 24th. The Horror Show fills up the entire fourth floor of the Academy Museum. It began on September 26th and runs to July 25th of next year! There are six galleries that cover horror films with classic movies to the most recent fright flicks. In the Psychological Gallery, there is a Belgian poster of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).
Then a portrait of Sigmund Freud and a book with Josef Breuer, Studies on Hysteria (1895). Interesting to see an actual psychology book and not Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) written nine years earlier. The capper really is the “Mother” dummy used in Psycho (1960). It has a two way mirror so you can take a selfie of you on the other side and take a regular photo on the Psychological section! One of my favorite psychological horror film is Jacob’s Ladder (1990).
The Slasher section featured the teen level of horror flicks, but the movies have become clever and well written. It had Billy the puppet from Saw (2003), the costume of Art the Clown from Terrifer 3 (2024), and a bust of Pennywise from IT (2017). I prefer Tim Curry’s performance in the 1990 IT mini-series. He was more mocking, silly, clownish, rather than just all horror. Above Art is the television animatronic of Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). This is a favorite from the series, though Freddy in a tv set was silly.
Next, the Ghostface costume from Scream VI (2023) that featured Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, the Sherman Fields costume, arm and hook prostthetic from Candyman (2021) directed by Nia DaCosta. A case held the Chucky and Tiffany puppets from Seed of Chucky (2004) and next to them was the Michael Myers costume and mask made from the original mold who was in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998). The sequel brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode.
Finally, there is a wall of masks and weapons; There was the Sentinel Sphere prop from Phantasm (1979), a paper cutting blade from M3GAN (2023), The Grabber mask from The Black Phone (2021), and the most suprising item, the helmet worn by The Phantom in Phantom of the Paradise (1974)! The following room was Science which had some great movies. The largest display was the Xenomorph from Alien: Romulus (2021).
It was great to see in a display the prop cereal box, blank cover with the words “Work 8 Hours, Sleep 8 Hours, Play 8 Hours.” Also the sunglasses, and skin-free, skull-like alien mask from They Live (1988). Next to them was the Facehugger prop from Alien (1979), aged, it looks organish like a sea creature. My all-time favorite was a Gill-man mask worn by Ricou Browning from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)! The concept design was noted to be Milicent Patrick who didn’t get screen credit. There is prop amp and microphone and broken shuttle from A Quiet Place (2021).
A wall had concept art of the xenomorph egg by H.R. Giger for Alien and James Camerons art of LV-426, later called Acheron, for Aliens (1986). Plus the concept drawing of The Shape of Water (2017) poster by James Jean. Also there was Mentor Huebener’s concept drawing of the mutated, tentacled creature from The Thing (1982) as well as storyboards. From The Substance (2024), there was a special effects bust of Monstro Elisasue, props of the stabilizer syringe, vials, and medical equipment.
There was concept art of the makeup for Monster in Young Frankenstein (1974) by William Tuttle. A series of props took up the back wall including a reconstructed wig for The Bride, played by Elsa Lancaster, in the Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Next to it is the prop battery and bust of the re-animated corpse from Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025). Lastly, there was a prop ball and chain from Frankenstein (1931), and a first edition of Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. Some of the best props from Frankenstein films and of course the book that inspired all of them!
The center of the gallery is the Annabelle doll and case from Annabelle Comes Home (2010), spooky. A display has the music box with tiny clown head that pops up from The Conjuring (2013), the Conjuring 2 had the “Crooked Man” zoetrope prop, and the spirit board props. In the corner is the concept drawing of the evil clown and the clown toy prop from Poltergeist! A prop stickman was in The Blair Witch Project (1999) and there was a desk with a computer showing the promotional website from the film. In a glass display was the sitting and shrieking corpse prop crafted by Rick Baker for The Ring (2002).
I had skipped two of the galleries headed to the Ke Huy Quan signing that was on the fifth floor. The panel was moderated by Amy Homma, Director and President of the Academy Museum. Quan joined her on stage to applause. He answered Homma's question about others he shared his life's story "helped them through a difficult time." This is of course in his book, Never Say Die. Quan didn't think he had the courage to tell all of this story that is in the book. He mentioned, "I'm a big fan of Drew Struzan." The artist painted him in posters for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and The Goonies (1985).
The later film is where he made friends with the cast including Jeff Cohen who played Chunk. Cohen became an entertainment lawyer and is very supportive of Quan encouraged him to return to acting. He added at the end of the panel that he still hopes for a sequel to Goonies and Homma quoted, "Goonies never say die." He bonded with his Goonies cast members, but felt like an outsider. He didn't know what was Hot Wheels or the cartoons brought up. Homma asked about Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) red carpet. He said that he was headed closer and closer to the stage for the Academy Awards, he thought he was in row 20 or 30! Quan continued, "When we got to the front row, there was Jamie Lee Curtis, I was like `No way!' and then Jamie turns to me and says, `Ke, where are we?'
He answered that they were at the Academy Awards. Quan continued with Curtis asked again, `No Ke, where are we sitting' I said `in the front row!", `Damn right, we are." He was emotional discussing holding the award. Quan urged his fans to see his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is displayed at the museum. Really to inspire everyone to fulfill their dreams. The writing of the book was not easy for Quan and he said, "I ate so many bags of Doritos and I have the belly fat to prove it." The audience laughed at his comment. The signing was quick since there was a room full of fans, a signature, and then a photo with the audience. A memorable night with the impressive exhibit, The Horror Show, and a great conversation and signing with Ke Huy Quan!
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