<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Gothic opens (1986). Director Ken Russell (Altered States, The Lair of the White Worm) concocted this stylish, hallucinatory fantasy set on the night in 1816 when Frankenstein scribe Mary Shelley and "The Vampyre" author Dr. Polidori were inspired to write their gruesome literary masterpieces. The movie is an amalgamation of drug-induced imagery, bizarre ghost stories, and psychosexual subtext—in other words, pure Ken Russell. The cast includes Gabriel Byrne (Stigmata, Cool World) and Julian Sands (Warlock).

---

House of Wax opens (1953). Touted by Warner Bros. as the first big-studio 3-D movie, Vincent Price's 34th picture is his first horror film. Ironically, director Andre de Toth couldn't appreciate the 3-D effects—he had only one working eye.

---

Dawn of the Dead opens (1978). The second part of George A. Romero's Dead trilogy involves a small group of survivors who seek refuge in a suburban shopping mall—and the blood and guts are in vivid color. Romero scores another cult hit.

---

Get more info on today's date at SCIFIpedia's Timeline.