When Suzanne Owens came up with the idea to show films at Elmwood Cemetery last year, she was certain that there’d be an audience.
“I love cemeteries in general, so it just kind of made sense to me,” Owens said with a laugh. “It's a very niche thing, but I know that there are enough like-minded people in Kansas City that would think that a movie in a cemetery is — if they think it's creepy, it's a good creepy.”
She thought Elmwood Cemetery, off Truman Road and Van Brunt Boulevard, would be the perfect setting, with its old, native trees and Victorian-era monuments.
“It's just very peaceful and serene to me,” Owens said. “You can come in and walk your dog, hang out, look at the history and admire the beautiful mausoleums.”
Owens thought it would also be a chance to introduce more people to a historic cemetery that is a little off the beaten path.
“So many people know about Union Cemetery, over by Liberty Memorial,” she said, “but if I bring up Elmwood, they're kind of like, ‘Where is that?’”
Once Owens assured Elmwood’s Board of Trustees that everyone would be respectful, they gave the green light. And she had big ideas about what kinds of movies she wanted to see there.
“My first pick was ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon,’” Owens said, noting the film’s screening rights made that unworkable. “Universal wanted $500 and 50% of our profits, so that was a ‘no.’”
Her next step was getting Adam Roberts on board.
Roberts has owned and operated the Screenland Armour independent movie theatre in North Kansas City since 2013, and he specializes in finding new ways to engage moviegoers. It didn’t take much convincing for Roberts to be all in.
“I think a lot of what we're all chasing these days is an experience,” Roberts said.
To enhance the one offered at his theater, Roberts installed 70mm film projectors there so he could show recent releases like “The Odyssey” in the same format they were filmed in. At the cemetery, he was intrigued by another possibility.
“Being able to have a history lesson in a way by going to a cemetery and then watching an older film is quite the experience and is quite the adventure.”
Last fall, with Owens’ help, Roberts screened the 1958 film “House on Haunted Hill,” starring Vincent Price. And a showing in October of “The Wolf Man,” a classic, 1941 monster movie, played to a sold-out crowd of 180 people — the unpredictable Midwestern weather was included in the $15 price of admission.
“We can sweat through heat or bundle up if it's chilly but, for the screen itself, the worst thing that can happen is a windstorm, because it’s an inflatable big screen,” Roberts said.
History ‘big and small’
Elmwood Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 30,000 people, including Jacob Loose, founder of the Sunshine Biscuit Company; William F. Davis, Kansas City’s first Black police officer; and 12 Kansas City mayors.
Brad Finch is vice president and trustee of the nonprofit Elmwood Cemetery Society, which owns, operates and maintains the grounds. They contain history both big and small, he explained.
“We've got Kirkland B. Armour from Armour Hot Dogs,” Finch said. “And then we have the small names with the wild stories, like the guy that cremated himself in his own grave — yeah! There's just wacky stuff.”
The landscaped grounds, dotted with vaults, mausoleums, and monuments, were designed by architect George Kessler, the creator of Kansas City’s parks and boulevard system. The site has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983.
Finch said events like this help get the word out about how the society preserves the cemetery grounds.
“It's fun and it brings people into the cemetery who may not have ever been here before,” he said. “And we're all about that because we run on donations and volunteers.”
While there may be nothing to fear from the graveyard’s permanent residents, Finch has one idea for making the night a little more frightening.
“I believe there's a scene in this movie where the wolf-man is running through a cemetery, and I just want to put on a mask and run through the cemetery when that happens,” Finch said with a laugh. “But I’d probably get shot — somebody's got a silver bullet chambered in a gun here.”
Cody Gaines was among the clusters of cinephiles who arrived at the cemetery and began to unfold lawn chairs, and spread out blankets. He’d arrived from Olathe with his wife, Mariah Fields, and 8-year-old daughter, Devlin.
“I have probably seen ‘The Wolf Man’ at least 35 times,” Gains said, settling in with a bag of popcorn.
In the film, a man played by Lon Chaney Jr. returns to his family estate only to be bitten by a werewolf. Soon, he begins to transform into a monster under the moonlight and, tragically, becomes a danger to those around him — and to himself.
“My wife will often walk into the room and say, ‘Oh, not that again,’ and make me turn it to something else,” Gains said.
The novelty of watching one of his favorite films out here in a historic cemetery was a big part of why he made the trip.
“Seeing movies outside is great, especially during the fall,” he said. “It’s a little hot today, but it’s nice and pastoral to be sitting amongst the graves.”
Screenland Armour will present “Double Indemnity” at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Elmwood Cemetery, 4900 E. Truman Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64127. More information is at Screenland.com.
