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The Haunting of Hollywood is centered around James Donovan who is deeply influenced by the tragic life of his mother, Olivia, and her love for movies. While he used to help Olivia with her audition tapes with his Super 8 camera, now he embarks on a journey through Los Angeles with his GoPros and digital cameras to see if the trip to the iconic Hollywood sign holds the key to solving the mystery around his mother’s death. James’ friends Skyler and Casey accompany him on this odyssey under the assumption that they’re merely entertaining his whims, but the closer they get to their destination, the more they realize that something actually supernatural is at play. I sat down for a virtual chat with director Lilia Doytchinova to unpack what’s going on in this surreal film, what are her biggest cinematic influences, and more.

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These last few years the Criterion Channel have made October viewing much easier to prioritize, and in the spirit of their ’70s and ’80s horror series we’ve graduated to––you guessed it––”’90s Horror.” A couple of obvious classics stand with cult favorites and more unknown entities (When a Stranger Calls Back and Def By Temptation are new to me). Three more series continue the trend: “Technothrillers” does what it says on the tin, courtesy the likes of eXistenZ and Demonlover; “Art-House Horror” is precisely the kind of place to host Cure, Suspiria, Onibaba; and “Pre-Code Horror” is a black-and-white dream. Phantom of the Paradise, Unfriended, and John Brahm’s The Lodger are added elsewhere.

James Gray is the latest with an “Adventures in Moviegoing” series populated by deep cuts and straight classics. Stonewalling and restorations of Trouble Every Day and The Devil, Probably make streaming debuts, while Flesh for Frankenstein,...

The Hollywood sign is an American landmark that’s come to symbolize glamour and the larger-than-life entertainment business. While it was erected in 1923, it’s seen many changes over the years, including a facelift championed by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

While the sign symbolizes hope for many, it’s also seen its share of tragedy over the years, including a suicide from an up-and-coming starlet.

The history of the Hollywood sign The Hollywood sign in 1932 | Bettmann/Contributor

The original sign, built by the Crescent Sign Company, sat high in the hills and read “Hollywoodland.” Around 1922, real estate developers commissioned the company to assemble the structure to help advertise their new development.

The 13 wooden letters were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high and featured 4,000 lightbulbs to help illuminate the sign until it became too expensive. According to the Sherman Library, the entire project cost $23,000 and soon became the main attraction of the entertainment world.

Netflix's glam alt-history Hollywood centers on the making of a movie, first called Peg, and later, Meg. While some parts of the series are based on real Hollywood stories, this one isn't: there was no movie called Peg or Meg in real life. That being said, there are a few parts of the story that do have roots in screen history.

The part of Peg's production that's most obviously based on reality is that there was, in fact, a woman called Peg Entwistle who infamously died by suicide at the Hollywoodland sign. She was a stage actress who attempted to make the transition to the big screen in the early 1930s, but only managed to land a small part in a flop movie, Thirteen Women. In September 1932, her body was found in a ravine beneath the Hollywood sign, along with a brief suicide note, and police were able to...

Peg Entwistle, the British actress at the center of Ryan Murphy's latest show, Hollywood, has a tragically true story that goes beyond what's mentioned in the Netflix hit. While the British actress who jumped to her death from the Hollywoodland sign is the main character in Archie's (Jeremy Pope) screenplay, aptly titled Peg, we never quite learn exactly what happened to this actress in real life.

Millicent Lillian Entwistle was born on Feb. 5, 1908. After her parents split up when she was little, Entwistle and her father moved to New York City, where she fell in love with Broadway. After seeing Peg o' My Heart, she renamed herself Peg. Her father was killed in an accident shortly after that, and Entwistle and her half brothers relocated to Ohio and then Los Angeles with family. However, Entwistle ended up back on the East Coast, in Boston and New York, shortly after...