Oh, the horror! – The Salem News

Anyone who steps inside Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammetts West Coast home will find walls of horror horror movie paraphernalia, that is.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is a lifelong horror movie buff, and hes made it a point to surround himself with a wide-reaching collection of movie posters, props, costumes and more.

I feel very comforted in the presence of my collection, Hammett said. When I feel comfortable and inspired, I almost always want to grab my guitar and start playing whatever and however I feel. Having said that, in my house where all this stuff was on display, in the corner of just about every room, there was a guitar and amp just ready for me to pick up and start playing.

Theres an operative word there: was. This week, a huge part of Hammetts heart and soul went on public display at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

The exhibit is centered around one of heavy metals most legendary riff-masters. Its Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Movie Posters From the Kirk Hammett Collection runs through Nov. 26 and features 75 posters, along with movie props, statues and guitars.

This past Monday, the museum was closed as it is every week but recordings of Hammetts riffs echoed through one of the exhibit halls as Its Alive! curator Dan Finamore stood in the center of the vacant hall and looked over the work on display.

Kirk has been collecting this material for his entire adult life, and hes always felt that the artists arent given their due, that this material is much better than people give it credit for, Finamore said. Some of these are images that are burned into our brains and, for the rest of our life, well never forget that.

Walking through the display, the unforgettable face of Boris Karloff glares at the museum guest. At one point, the famed English actor depicts The Mummy (1932). He takes on one of horrors most recognizable monsters in 1931s Frankenstein. The actor later meets The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

In another area, the peering eyes of The Invisible Man (1933) watch the guest alongside the lifeless eyes of the robot featured in Metropolis (1927). The unforgettable Count Orlok, meanwhile, gazes out between brick-encased bars in a poster printed in 1931 for Nosferatu.

When I started this process, I went to Kirks house and started to go through the collections, went through the drawers and saw whats on the walls, Finamore said. I realized I had seen a lot of this stuff before. This image I remember, that image I remember. It stuck with me so that speaks to the effectiveness of some of the stuff.

This is a visual culture of what many people are raised on and what they live with on a daily basis, he said.

But for Hammett, these posters permeate his life.

Crafting a collection

Jet-lagged after a border-crossing flight to Vancouver and hours away from playing with Metallica on Monday night, Hammett told The Salem News what launched his collection.

Ive been into this stuff ever since I was 5 or 6 years old, Hammett said, and I collected it as a child.

As he entered his teenage years, Hammett discovered music. He picked up the guitar by age 15 and, over the next 10 years, put every dime he could into his craft.

When I started to see a little bit of money here and there with the band, I instantly put it right into picking up where I left off (with the collection), Hammett said. I pretty much went right down to the local comic store and started buying a bunch of old comics and whatnot, monster magazines. I started getting a lot of the things that, as a kid growing up in that part of town, I could never really afford.

Eventually, the posters started piling up. They started lining the walls of his home, accompanied by guitars and amps. Movie props popped up everywhere as fast as his band notched on Billboard hits.

Ive had this stuff around me so much, and Ive watched the movies countless times, so I kind of live and breathe this stuff, Hammett said. It courses through my veins. It inspires and informs ... just my life in general. So, of course, my music is going to be inspired by this, too.

Several of Hammetts favorite posters have been made into instruments that scream out the legendary riffs of Master of Puppets or spine-crushing melodies of Sad But True, all to the ringing ears of tens of thousands of metal-heads at a time.

Its just another cool facet of how I like to just intermingle my horror aesthetic with my everyday life, Hammett said. The movie posters I love the most and love staring at the most, I put them on my guitars because it gives me the opportunity to stare at the poster while playing guitar, the ultimate in multitasking.

Several of those guitars are on display at Peabody Essex Museum, with the posters they were inspired by hanging nearby.

When asked how he felt about the guitars being on public display, Hammett said, the guitars are the least of my worries.

The posters, meanwhile, are a different animal. Every print is a fragment of Hammetts soul, every lithograph a piece of his life.

But Hammett wants the posters to be seen, he said. Through them, visitors can see American history the introduction of aliens in cinema after World War II brought the introduction of atomic warfare; the growth of women in cinema as clear as the feminism movement rolling ahead of it.

Its always been my thing to raise awareness, you know? And kind of acknowledge how beautiful and not just how beautiful, but how important culturally these movies and movie posters still are in this modern day and age, Hammett said. When I got the initial call that the Peabody Essex Museum was interested, I thought, Oh, my God, this means I can finally do this thing on a scale thats a bit more respectable, a bit more accessible.

Its a narrative about cinema from the late 1920s and 30s that Finamore was ecstatic to tell.

Hammett said that he doesnt expect every piece of the collection to jibe with the viewer. But thats art, he said.

It all boils down to what really moves you as a human being, Hammett said. Some people are moved by something as simple as art, the simplest art. Some people are moved by cartoons or comics. Some people are moved by butterflies. For me, movie posters; its all within the eye of the beholder.

IF YOU GO

What:Its Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Movie Posters From the Kirk Hammett Collection

When: Through Sunday, Nov. 26. Open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on the third Thursday of every month until 9 p.m.

Where: Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

How much: Admission is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $12 for students, and free for youths 16 and under.

More information: 978-745-9500 or http://www.pem.org

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Oh, the horror! - The Salem News