Halloween at KNH: What happened to Baby Jane?

Halloween without ghosts, demons and serial killers? Why not.

This year for Halloween we propose a horror of a slightly different kind. No jump scares, monsters and hectoliters of artificial blood. Two sisters, one house, past resentments and definitely too much time spent together are enough.

What happened to Baby Jane? Robert Aldrich is one of psychological cinema's most perverse classics — dark, grotesque, funny and truly disturbing at the same time. And at the center of it all: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in an acting duel, this is a class in itself.

Jane Hudson used to be a star. As “Baby Jane”, she delighted the audience with her performances on stage, while her sister Blanche remained in the shadows. Over time, the roles were reversed: Blanche became a big Hollywood star, and Jane's career was irrevocably extinguished. However, the mysterious accident also ended Blanche's career and tied her to a wheelchair.

Years later, the sisters live together in a run-down Hollywood mansion. Blanche is completely dependent on Jane, and Jane is increasingly immersed in memories of her own fame, alcohol and obsession with returning to the stage. A closed house is slowly becoming a space for a cruel game between two women that has much more in common than sisterly love.

Robert Aldrich turns the story of family conflict into a sultry psychological thriller, a gothic melodrama and a bitter tale about Hollywood, which loves its stars only as long as they remain young and needed. Bette Davis as the grotesque, terrifying and at the same time tragic Jane and Joan Crawford as Blanche created one of the most memorable screen duos in the history of cinema.