The Trouble With Ghosts at the Hammer's Billy Wilder

Halloween weekend usually means costumes and haunted houses. This one offers something quieter and a little more thoughtful: a free film series about ghosts, programmed by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and shown at the Billy Wilder Theater inside the Hammer Museum in Westwood. If you are lining up things to do in Los Angeles for October 31, it is an easy way to spend a spooky evening without paying a cent.

When: Saturday, October 31 through Sunday, November 1, 2026, evening screenings (listed 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM) Where: Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles Cost: Free

What is playing

The series pulls together four films: "La Llorona" (2019), "Pulse (Kaïro)" (2001), "How to Save a Dead Friend" (2022) and "A Ghost Story" (2017). They span folklore horror, J-horror about the internet, a documentary-style grief story and a slow, strange haunting built around a figure in a white sheet. The listing does not say which film plays on which night, so check the Discover Los Angeles page before you head out.

Who is in the room

The archive says two guests will appear in person: UCLA Cinema and Media Studies professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Martine Beugnet, a Visual Studies professor at Université Paris Cité. They programmed the series with Nicole Ucedo of the archive.

Their framing is the draw here. The series asks what is so unsettling about the ghost and the media that carry it: photographs, film, television and digital noise. It treats ghosts as a way to think about who gets seen and who gets left out of the archive. Expect the conversation to be as much about image-making and memory as about scares.

Planning your visit

The Billy Wilder Theater sits at the Hammer Museum on Wilshire Boulevard, near the corner of Westwood Boulevard. Museum parking is typically a paid garage, and Halloween night in Westwood can be busy, so give yourself extra time. Free screenings can fill up, and the listing does not describe a ticket or reservation process, so arrive early and check the Hammer and UCLA archive pages for any entry details.

Note that the clocks fall back overnight on Saturday, which is why the Sunday end time carries a different UTC offset. Your phone will sort it out, but it is worth remembering if you are heading to a late Sunday show.

If you are scanning LA events this weekend for something other than a party, this is a good pick for film fans, students and anyone who likes their Halloween with a lecture on the side. For more ideas, browse the full arts and culture listings.