Decades before Robert Pattinson's portrayal of brooding vampire Edward Cullen turned him into an international heartthrob, Jonathan Frid was inspiring a similar kind of ardor with his turn as the charismatic, enigmatic Barnabas Collins on ABC's gothic daytime drama "Dark Shadows," which ran from 1966 to 1971.
This weekend, the Dark Shadows of the Sun convention will take place at the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel. And at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the vintage Vista Theatre in Los Feliz, Frid will put his footprints in cement in the theater's courtyard. A screening of a new print of the 1970 film "House of Dark Shadows," one of the two features made while the series was on the air, will follow the ceremony. http://www.darkshadowsfestival.com
The annual Don't Knock the Rock documentary festival continues Thursday evening at the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre with a screening of a restored print of Richard Lowenstein's 1986 Australian post-punk cult favorite, "Dogs in Space," followed by Lowenstein's 2009 documentary, "We're Livin' on Dog Food," about the film and the scene that inspired it. http://www.cinefamily.org
German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau made his U.S. film debut with the haunting 1927 melodrama "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans," which is opening Friday in a restored print at the Nuart Theatre for a one-week engagement. Janet Gaynor won an Oscar for her performance as a married woman who realizes her husband has fallen for someone else. The exquisitely wrought drama also won Oscars for its cinematography as well as for its "unique and artistic production." http://www.landmarktheatres.com
