Stuff and Moonshine

Confusing with many segues. Began as a low-budget 1950s SF/horror film, in which a widower and his young son stop in a small town progressively taken over by some kind of possession. I remember thinking that though the production values were rock-bottom (in several allegedly outdoor scenes, you could hear the actors' voices echoing around the soundstage) and the cast were all unknowns, their performances were actually pretty good. The son was way better than a lot of more famous child actors, with a very natural delivery. Anyway, this somehow transitioned to a video game/app store/knickknack shop full of odd things -- the main one being a life-sized wall plaque of Sir John A. MacDonald with bat wings. Somehow this then moved on to a university setting and a 19th-century discussion of colour theory in which the word "lambent" was tossed around a lot.