Like many young people of a certain era, Jaime Duquette was happily obsessed with horror movies as a kid. Growing up in Dudley, Mass., he was a regular attendee at the local cinema’s Saturday “creature features,” where Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein perpetrated grisly damage on the big screen.

But Godzilla resonated most with Duquette.

“All the Dracula and mummy movies are great,” Duquette says, “but I like a 300-foot monster.”

Duquette, 50, is seated in his New London home at a dining room table, and essentially everything he needs is within easy reach. There’s Murray, a large and genial cat. He sprawls magnificently in a bed next to a laptop primarily used in support of Duquette’s 21-year job as a mechanical engineer at Electric Boat. In the living room are electric bass guitars on stands and a standup bass resting on the floor. A virtuoso musician, Duquette is a mainstay on the local music scene in the jazz group CBYD, the Americana amalgam Sweet Mercy and the lonesome folk act Brian Gore & the Tender Fritters.

Oh — and silently flickering on a giant flatscreen is the 1974 film “Shriek of the Mutilated.” Given Duquette’s early and ongoing fascination with such fare, it’s not surprising he owns a copy.

But it’s also true he procured the film as part of a larger venture into cinema in a bigger context — not as a director, writer or actor, but rather an enthusiastic purveyor of B movies tending towards cult weirdness and horror films. Starting several months ago in a figure-it-out-as-you-go fashion, Duquette curates a monthly film series called Cult Film New London. Screenings take place in the Dewart Building on State Street using the CBYD rehearsal room.

So far, Cult Film New London has presented — yes — “Shriek of the Mutilated,” “Lets Scare Jessica to Death,” “Robowar,” “Driller Killer,” “Dolemite,” “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” “Zazie dans le metro” and — yes, again — “Godzilla” (the original 1954 version) and “Godzilla v. Destoroyah.”

Tonight, the series continues with a viewing of “In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50,” the 2022 documentary about the iconic progressive rock band, which happens to be one of Duquette’s favorite acts.

What’s in a name?

Only recently has the film series even had a name.

“I finally decided on Cult Film New London,” Duquette says. “lt had reached the point where we needed to call it something. All along, it’s been totally underground and unofficial — something I wanted to do for fun. These are the sort of movies that are fun to watch in a group, so I reached out to friends and folks I knew would like this sort of thing. Then I started just putting up posters around town.”

The series is a self-funded labor of love, and to enhance the experience, Duquette has purchased 40 chairs, a projector and large screen. He sets the equipment up himself before each screening. Can popcorn and candy be far behind?

“No food yet,” Duquette laughs, “but I do bring a cooler full or beer, soft drinks and water.” A discussion follows on whether Boston Baked Beans or Hot Tamales are the best forgotten movie concession, which leads to a question as to how Duquette transitioned from watching films on the couch with Murray to undertaking a whole series for public consumption.

Never throw anything away

A few years ago, he explains, he discovered a cache of films he’d recorded from television while a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“I was really obsessed with cult movies in college,” Duquette says. “In fact, watching them, I didn’t get any sleep my sophomore year. I’d discovered a local cable channel that showed these awful late-night B movies. I recorded them and watched them incessantly.”

Duquette rewatched the old recordings and was delighted.

“Are they dumb? Yes,” he says. “But very fun. There’s a lot of variety that makes them entertain in different ways. Some of it’s tongue in cheek and some of it’s because they’re doing the best they can with what they have to work with. Anyway, I thought a lot of the people I know here would enjoy seeing them the way I do.”

In 2019, inspired by Turner Classics Movies’ “Underground” programming series, Duquette decided to move forward with his own series. He approached the Garde Arts Center, which agreed to co-host a screening of “Godzilla” on the monster’s anniversary. On the evening of the screening, Garde executive director Steve Sigel introduced Duquette, who discussed the film and genre. Sarge’s Comics and the Telegraph Record Store were also on hand, respectively selling Godzilla merch and film soundtracks.

“It was a success and gave me a lot of ideas,” Duquette says. “It was cool to have the opportunity to do something like that in place like the Garde.”

“It was a great event and we loved working with Jamie,” says Jeanne Sigel, marketing and development director at the Garde. “He approached us, which isn’t unusual — but we aren’t always able to accommodate requests like that. In this case, we glad to be able to work with him and show the film on our giant screen.”

The C-word

It’s possible an ongoing series could have evolved between Duquette and the Garde, but COVID hit. Two years later, when things began to return to normal, Duquette had fleshed out his concept for a series and decided to go it alone on a small scale. During the shutdown, Duquette started watching online seminars and taking note of how things were changing in the business.

“One thing stood out,” Duquette says. “Because of COVID, we have to reimagine what cinema is. There’s been a rise of organizations like the American Genre Film Archive and Vinegar Syndrome, a Bridgeport home video company that specializes in the preservation of genre films. There are chains like the Alamo Draft House that serve drinks and dinner while you watch films. Stuff like that got me going.”

With modest expectations and optimism, Duquette learned how to license films, started putting up posters, booked some prime B-movie fare, bought his one-man-theater gear, and, last April, started screening his Cult Film New London movies.

“At first, it was was slow going and I asked myself why I was bothering,” Duquette says. “But, by the fall, people were really responding. Post-screening discussion naturally evolved. We’ll go to a bar and talk about what we’ve seen. I’m getting suggestions for future films and I’m even getting a bit of a reputation. At work, we’ll be talking about a movie and someone will say, ‘It’s gotten a Rotten Tomatoes score of over 25 — so Jaime won’t watch it!”

“The one word that most describes Jaime’s cult film series is FUN,” says regular attendee Marko Fontaine. “Whether he’s showing a French farce, a so-bad-it’s-good horror film or the original ‘Godzilla,’ it’s going to be a fun experience.”

And series fan and bandmate Gore adds, “Something I’ve learned about Jaime over the years is that, whether cartoons, movies or music, he loves the ones that are experimental, that are weird, creative and challenged ordinary and mainstream aesthetics. Jaime genuinely appreciates the challenges overcome by people who lack big studio budgets, and he finds the stories more interesting when they don’t lean on major funding.”

Duquette says, “This low-key thing is exactly what I wanted. I think I knew it would work when I showed ‘Shriek of the Mutilated.’ It’s horror with Bigfoot and a twist, and it’s very poorly done. At the end of the film, I turned on the lights and people were like, ‘Oh, my god!’ And I thought, ‘THIS is why I do this.’”

IF YOU GO

What: Cult Film New London presents “In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50”

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Stairwell A, Suite 300, Dewart Building, 300 State St., New London

How much: Free, donations accepted

For more information: Go to Jaime Duquette’s Facebook page