What is it about murder and mystery movies that compel and unnerve us?The Ohio State Photography and Cinema Alumni Society will give students, faculty, and friends the opportunity to study and enjoy classic films of this genre and share their thoughts during their free Autumn film series at the Columbus Museum of Art, 490 E. Broad St.Starting Tonight with Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes,” the society invites people to watch a murder-mystery movie on every Thursday, save Thanksgiving, until December 18. Following each film, members of the World Film Classics Educable TV 25 television program as well as members of the OSU Photography and Cinema Alumni Society will lead an audience discussion period in order to examine the intriguing elements of the film, said Holly Longfellow, president of the society.”Films are such a powerful medium that there’s a lot more going on than just watching them,” Longfellow said. “Attendants are free to say whatever comes to their minds.”Titled “Movies That Go Bump in the Night,” the series features movies that echo this theme in that they can clearly be unnerving, Longfellow said. “The Lady Vanishes” from 1938 entails a group of people on a European train bound for England. The film’s plot takes a strange turn when one of the passengers, seemingly, disappears. The series, also, includes 1955’s “Diabolique” (November 20), 1959’s “Anatomy of a Murder” (December 4), 1962’s “Cape Fear,” starring Gregory Peck and the late Robert Mitchum (December 11), and Errol Morris’ 1988 documentary about the murder of a Texas police officer, “The Thin Blue Line” (December 18).These types of films have existed throughout most of the 20th century and have always drawn a consistent following, said Walter Burbach, member of the Alumni Board of the OSU Photography and Cinema Alumni Society. The mission of the society is to provide a chance for people to get together and talk about how movies affect their lives, Longfellow said.”The Lady Vanishes” begins at 7 p.m.