Santa Cruz County has been the backdrop for various horror movies, most famously Lost Boys, Killer Klowns from Outer Space and, more recently, Jordan Peele’s Us. But its deepest connection to Hollywood involves the ultimate master of the macabre.

Back in the 1940s, director Alfred Hitchcock bought a 200-acre estate in Scotts Valley. For 30 years it was his getaway from Hollywood. And three years ago, a group of film lovers started a local festival to honor Scotts Valley’s most famous resident. Now in its third year, the Alfred Hitchcock Festival takes place this week, exploring the work and celebrating the legacy of the legendary filmmaker whose career spanned six decades and more than 50 films.

Coming back to The Landing, the newly rebranded theater space located on the edge of Scotts Valley’s picturesque Skypark, the third annual Alfred Hitchcock Festival opens on March 14, two days after National Hitchcock Days.

The first event is a 7pm talk led by Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carrubba, local author Aaron Leventhal and historian Jay Topping about the legacy Hitchcock left behind.

“We’re excited this year that Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carrubba, will be talking about her grandfather at the beginning of the festival and what it was like to grow up visiting him in Scotts Valley,” event organizer Dave Hodgin.

At 8:15pm there will be a discussion about techniques employed for Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope, led by UCSC film and digital media faculty member Logan Walker and assistant professor Shelley Stamp, an expert on women in film. After the discussion, Rope will be shown.

An experimental psychological thriller, Rope was captured using long shots and a single set to create the illusion that it was filmed in one take, building on the suspense of the original 1929 stage play of the same name it is adapted from. The film, based on true events, follows two college students who strangle their friend to death in a philosophical exercise and hide him in a chest before a dinner party with his fiancé.

Day two of the Hitchcock Festival begins with a 1pm talk by Jason Isralowitz, author of Nothing to Fear: Alfred Hitchcock and the Wrong Men, where he will talk about his book, which follows the true-to-life story of Manny Baelstro, a Queens-based musician who was indicted for two robberies he did not commit. Hitchcock’s documentary-style retelling brought Baelstro’s story to the silver screen in The Wrong Man, a 1956 film starring Henry Fonda.

Evening programming features a 6:30pm reception and gala including local beers and wines before a showing of The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, with live accompaniment by pianist Kylan DeGhetaldi. The 1927 silent film, considered by many Hitchcockstorians to be “the first true Hitchcock film,” will be introduced by Bill Park, founder of the film studies program at Sarah Lawrence College.

“We’ll create the experience you would have seen when it came out 100 years ago,” Hodgin says.

Day 3 begins with a noon presentation by Australian filmmaker and “Hitchcock whisperer” Jeffery Michael Bays of The Hitchcock 20, a documentary series exploring Hitchcock’s television work.

A 1pm screening of episodes from Alfred Hitchcock Presents concludes the weekend. The 30-minute stories—“Bang You’re Dead,” “Breakdown” and “One More Mile to Go”—pulled from Hitchcock’s TV series will be accompanied by mimosas.

As with the previous two festivals, the event is a fundraiser for the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild. Tickets are available for single events or as a package deal that allows patrons to come and go as they please to catch the different speakers, galas, beverages and films throughout the festival.

“I think that many people will enjoy the festival, and I’m encouraging them to buy the three-day packet, which is $110,” Hodgin says. “Every day is packed with all kinds of interesting information and films they may not have seen before.”

The festival runs March 14–16; info at hitchcockfestival.com. In addition, CineLux Scotts Valley will screen The Birds on March 11–13; info at cineluxtheatres.com.

Read about The Landing, the Hitchcock Fest venue, in our related cover story.

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In March 2022, the first-ever Alfred Hitchcock Festival was held to great fanfare at a fledgling new theater space in the building that once was a roller rink. It seemed to go off without a hitch—that is, until the group was unable to collect $10,000 in ticket revenue from its ticketing agent, Brown Paper Tickets.

“That sure put a dent in our budget,” recalled Trish Melehan of the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild in a Jan. 16 email. “Well, after over two years, the company that purchased Brown Paper Tickets paid off their debts, and sure enough we got our much-needed money about four months ago.”

In the meantime, the Theater Guild held an ambitious second Hitchcock Festival nevertheless, and has been planning this third, taking place this week, since last June.

“We have planned an exciting weekend with presenters coming from across the country to participate,” Meehan said. “We will show some of Hitchcock’s most storied movies, including an afternoon with three of his television shows.”

The building that houses these festivities has been rechristened “The Landing,” with the tag line “A Performing Arts Center.”

Though the former name, “Scotts Valley Cultural & Performing Arts Center, may seem straightforward enough, the Theater Guild’s Ray Gorski explained in a press release that it actually created more confusion than one might think. Some found it a bit wordy, he noted, adding that people would mix it up with the CineLux movie theater complex right across the street.

So last month the Guild hosted an open house to show off renovations and officially introduce the new moniker.

The performing arts center has come a long way since it opened on Oct. 1, 2022. It has held around 100 events and welcomed more than 20,000 attendees into its auspices. That included dance events with performers of all ages, school plays, concerts, comedy and even a State of the City speech by Scotts Valley’s mayor.

Gorski hopes the new name will help the theater to stand out from Scotts Valley Performing Arts, the local community theater company.

The guild struggled for years to come up with the funds to renovate the building. But now, the facility is figuring heavily into plans for a new Town Center district that seeks to serve as a hub at the intersection of the Monterey Bay and Silicon Valley regions.

Designs presented to the Scotts Valley City Council revealed that planners see the arts as a way to successfully draw people into the commercial center, in contrast with other retail-heavy developments across the country that have failed.

Recently, Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz agreed to terms for a land deal that was a key missing piece of the process for upgrading the old airport site to a place that includes a variety of performance venues as well as plenty of affordable housing.

“After 40 years of planning, Scotts Valley may finally be able to build a town center on the Sky Park property,” said Gorski in the release, pointing to the fact that precise designs have yet to be selected. “We know that ‘The Landing’ Performing Arts Center will be an integral part of any Town Center.”

The stage is 40 feet by 28 feet, with 25 feet of wings on both sides. It has full theatrical lighting, sound and video capability—including a 22-foot retractable movie screen and two baby grand pianos.

However, the space can be rearranged into different configurations; for example, moving seats around to host a large banquet.

“The possible uses for ‘The Landing’ are endless,” Gorski added.

Here’s one possibility they probably never considered: lifting people’s spirits after a tornado.

In December, a twister passed by just minutes before a Frog and Toad matinee was scheduled to start. Meehan remembers how, even though the power went out, organizers decided the show must go on.

“So, resourceful techies utilized a couple of small generators and were able to put on the show, although without microphones and complete stage lighting,” she said. “For the evening show, they had gathered a few more generators and were able to do the show with even less modifications.”

The Landing is located at 251B Kings Village Road, across from the Scotts Valley Transit Center. Visit svctheaterguild.org for more information.