It’s that Halloween time of year, and to get you fully in the mood for the spooky season we’re dusting off these two brilliantly atmospheric chillers from producer Val Lewton’s celebrated run of horror films at RKO studios in the 1940s.

In ‘The Seventh Victim’ a young woman (Kim Hunter in her screen debut) comes to New York to find her sister who has recently gone missing. Her investigations draw her into the confidence of psychiatrist Dr Judd with whose help she uncovers a mysterious underworld of secret societies and satanists in Greenwich Village. Sombre and surreal by turns, ‘The Seventh Victim’ is rife with powerful dream-like imagery, and you will likely come away with the impression that David Lynch must have seen this on cable as a child and continually came back to mine it for imagery throughout his career.

In ‘Cat People’, Serbian fashion designer Irina meets architect Oliver while she is sketching big cats at the zoo. Their impulsive marriage causes problems for both of them when her superstitious belief that she belongs to a race of cat people makes it impossible to consummate their union.  While Oliver turns to sleazy shrink Dr Judd (from The Seventh Victim) for help, Irina’s psycho-sexual hang-ups and growing marital jealousies erupt through possible supernatural forces.  A masterpiece of tension and ambiguity, the gorgeous noiresque photography makes ‘Cat People’ one the most beautiful black-and-white horror films of all time, as well as boasting cinema’s first great jump scare.

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‘Seventh Victim’ - start 19:30 end 20:41

’Cat People’ - start 21:00 end 22:13