We're taking out the Trash and taking off our gloves. Welcome to our new weird, wonderful pop-cult news, notes, and reviews column.

He is legend

IF THERE ARE any restless spirits lurking in the Castro Theatre, don't expect Russ Tamblyn to do any ghostbusting. The Hollywood veteran – in town this weekend for the Castro's "Shock It to Me!" series – had his fill of the supernatural while filming 1963's The Haunting.

"It was supposed to be a movie about a haunted house in New England. But [director Robert Wise] couldn't find a house that was haunted enough in the US. So he found the most haunted house in England, and it was the house that we used in the movie – it dated back to the 12th or 13th century," Tamblyn explains from his Los Angeles home. "I had an experience one night when I walked out behind the house, where there was a graveyard. And I just got this – it was like someone laid a bar of ice across my neck."

Thoroughly spooked, the actor raced back to the set. "Everybody says, 'Oh, I wouldn't mind seeing a ghost.' But when it happens, the fear comes into your mind and changes your mind for you. All I wanted to do was get out of there!" he recalls.

Talking with Tamblyn is like reading a fascinating book on showbiz history – if that book could personally answer your dorky fan questions. He made his big-screen debut in 1948 and has starred in a diverse array of films, including the original Father of the Bride, How the West Was Won, Peyton Place, the Japanese-monster cult fave War of the Gargantuas, Human Highway (costarring his former next-door neighbor Neil Young), and a canonical B movie he initially wanted nothing to do with: High School Confidential.

Of director Wise, who passed away in September at the age of 91 and who also directed Tamblyn in 1961's West Side Story, the actor says, "He was one of only a few giants of the industry who, if you'd call his office, he'd answer the phone himself. He was a very distinguished, quiet man – but when he was in the room, you knew you were in the presence of somebody who had something to say."

After working together on Story – the pinnacle of Tamblyn's career in musicals, which also included Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – the two bonded on The Haunting, a much smaller production. "That's when I really got to know him and we became friends," Tamblyn remembers, adding that he never saw the notoriously stinky Haunting remake, featuring a post-Armageddon Owen Wilson playing his role.

"In the original, you just felt the house was alive," Tamblyn says. "Wise made some really great films, but The Haunting was one of his favorites. He just loved that film, because of the way that he shot it. He shot it so suggestively."

No conversation with Tamblyn can omit Twin Peaks. Though it's been 15 years since David Lynch's surreal show first aired, Tamblyn, who played dead heroine Laura Palmer's loopy shrink, is still upset about its cancellation. Still, his Twin Peaks memories are mostly cherry-pie sweet.

"It was one of my favorite parts," he says. "When David Lynch told me about the character, this psychiatrist who's very eccentric, I thought, 'I'm going to get myself some crazy glasses.' " A trip to the nearby Venice Beach boardwalk netted the doc's signature eyewear: "I couldn't make up my mind, red or blue. Suddenly I looked and went, Oh my god – glasses with a red lens and a blue lens. Lynch said, 'I love 'em. Just wear 'em.' " (Cheryl Eddy) Russ Tamblyn hosts Sun/30 screenings of Curse of the Demon (7 p.m.) and The Haunting (9 p.m.), Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, SF. $5.50-$8.50. (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com.

The psycho next door

The cold-blooded classic Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer returns with a 20th-anniversary DVD – and if you think time has eased the unease, think again: Henry's raw horror endures.

The two-disc set is stuffed with extras that put the triumph of this true indie, shot for just $100,000, in perspective. Portrait: The Making of Henry, an hour-long doc featuring director John McNaughton, star Michael Rooker, and other key players, is unusually informative. Also worth a listen is McNaughton's sharp feature commentary, which touches on the film's gritty Chicago locations, its groundbreaking sound design, its X rating (apparently the Motion Picture Association of America had a problem with the "overall moral tone"), the household objects used to simulate the sound of "sinew tearing," and the film's real-life inspiration (whose story is further illuminated in a so-so companion doc, Henry Lee Lucas: The Confession Killer).

On the phone from Chicago, McNaughton (whose other films include Wild Things and Mad Dog and Glory) drops science on Henry's still-potent thrills.

Bay Guardian: Henry's creepiness is enhanced by its low-key, realistic tone. It's a rare trait for a horror film, and one that makes it so much more effective.

John McNaughton: Part of that was budgetary. We had a couple of special effects, but there was no money for monsters from outer space. When [cowriter] Richard Fire came into the project, we made an interesting pair because I come from the exploitation horror genre, whereas he was a man of the theater. Richard made sure we were dramatically on track – we had to have sympathy for these characters. We have to not look at them as monsters, or as anything other than human beings.

BG: Serial killers are everywhere these days, especially on crime drama television shows. Have audiences changed since Henry was released, in that they enjoy more realistic violence?

JM: Most of it goes back to positing good against evil – knowing that good is in existence in the world, and is going to eventually triumph against evil. Then you can take the vicarious thrill of seeing this violence, and knowing there is going to be punishment and that you're safe.

BG: Which is not the case in Henry!

JM: The film ends with no resolve – Henry gets away. At an early screening, I made the mistake of asking a friend what he thought. He just sort of stammered, "There were no police in that movie! They didn't get caught! You can't do that!" And I just looked at him. "Too late now." So, yeah, it was all intentional, to unsettle the audience. (Eddy)

For more information on Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, 20th Anniversary Special Edition, go to www.darkskyfilms.com.