“I have to figure out how I’m going to get a ghost to come down on a line … without getting stuck on something.”

On a dark, chilly October night, as the fog curls in from Ocean Beach around its luminous neon frontage, the Balboa Theater feels like the movie theater at the end of the earth — or a portal to another era.

And through its doors, Kai Wada Roath is looking up at the ceiling of its main auditorium, plotting how to give theatergoers a good fright this weekend.

Wada Roath is the curator of Ghost Fest, a two-day film festival at the Balboa, running Oct. 18 and 19 with immersive screenings of ghostly classics spanning over 70 years.

“I really want to show the classics that the ghost hunters and investigators really enjoy,” he said.

Kai Wada Roath, the curator of Ghost Fest, in

See Full Page