Category Archives: Check it out

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Kim Newman and Sean Hogan on The Hallowe’en Sessions

The Hallowe’en Sessions poster

audio Acclaimed writer Kim Newman and director Sean Hogan (The Devil’s Business) talk to Virginie Sélavy about their exciting new project, the horror play The Hallowe’en Sessions. A group of mental patients gather for a therapy session to each recount the terrifying events that caused them to lose their minds. But is their mysterious therapist all she appears to be, and will her course of treatment prove to be kill or cure?

The Hallowe’en Sessions is presented by Cigarette Burns and an award-winning team of horror/fantasy creators. Writers Kim Newman (Anno Dracula, Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles), Stephen Volk (The Awakening, Ghostwatch), Anne Billson (Suckers, Stiff Lips) Paul Mcauley (Fairyland, The Quiet War Trilogy) snd Maura Mchugh (Jennifer Wilde, Roisin Dubh) take you on a head trip through the darkest recesses of the human psyche, where no one – least of all the audience – escapes with their nerves or sanity intact.

The Hallowe’en Sessions play at the Leicester Square Theatre from 29 October to 3 November. Tickets available from the Leicester Square Theatre website. Join the Facebook event.

First broadcast on Resonance FM 104.4 on Friday 19 October 2012. For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.

Watch the trailer:

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Jess Franco, King of Euro-trash

Vampyros Lesbos

I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, Friday 21 September, 5-5:30pm, Resonance 104.4 FM

Justin Harries of the FilmBar70 film club talks to Virginie Sélavy about king of Spanish exploitation Jess Franco. FilmBar70 will screen Franco’s hypnotic, stylish Vampyros Lesbos (1971), starring smouldering screen siren Soledad Miranda, as part of their Scala Beyond Eurotrash all-nighter on Saturday 22 September at the Roxy Bar and Screen.

Electric Sheep and Strange Attractor Press also celebrate Jess Franco as part of Scala Beyond with a screening of The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1972) accompanied by a talk with writer Stephen Thrower on Wednesday 19 September at the Horse Hospital.

Scala Beyond is a 6-week nationwide film season dedicated to all forms of cinema exhibition that runs from 8 August to 29 September 2012.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Philosophy, Murder and Forgotten TV series

Edgar Wallace Mysteries logo

audio Alex Fitch talks to film critic and historian Kim Newman about The Edgar Wallace Mysteries, a series of British B-movies made in the 1960s and subsequently rebranded as a TV series, based on novels by the co-creator of King Kong. Plus: in a Q&A recorded at the Raindance Film Festival, Alex talks to director M.A. Littler about his documentary The Kingdom of Survival, a road movie that explores the current state of scepticism and philosophy in modern America and features interviews with Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Kanaan and Joe Bageant.

The 20th Raindance Film Festival runs from 26 September to 7 October 2012.

For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.

Podcast produced by Alex Fitch

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Sean Hogan on The Devil’s Business

The Devil's Business

I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, Friday 17 August, 5-5:30pm, Resonance 104.4 FM

Director Sean Hogan talks to Virginie Sélavy about his feature The Devil’s Business, a tense, tightly scripted character-driven drama that starts like a crime thriller and ends in occult territory. Among other things, he will explain how he has managed to deliver fully rounded character, excellent performances (Billy Clarke as the hitman delivers a particularly spellbinding monologue while Jonathan Hansler is his chillingly evil victim) and skilfully maintained dramatic tension on a limited budget.

The Devil’s Business premiered at Film4 FrightFest last year and Hogan will also talk about the role of the festival for him and for horror cinema in general.

The Devil’s Business is released in the UK on 17 August 2012 by Metrodome.

Film4 FrightFest the 13th runs from 23 to 27 August at the Empire Cinema in London.

Sean Hogan will also be directing The Hallowe’en Sessions from 29 October to 3 November at the Leicester Square Theatre. A group of mental patients gather for a therapy session to each recount the terrifying events that caused them to lose their minds. But is their mysterious therapist all she appears to be, and will her course of treatment prove to be kill or cure? Cigarette Burns and an award-winning team of horror/fantasy creators join forces to bring you a nightmarish evening filled with primal screams. Writers Kim Newman (ANNO DRACULA, MORIARTY: THE HOUND OF THE D’URBERVILLES), Stephen Volk (THE AWAKENING, GHOSTWATCH), Anne Billson (SUCKERS, STIFF LIPS) Paul McAuley (FAIRYLAND, the QUIET WAR trilogy) and Maura McHugh (JENNIFER WILDE, ROISIN DUBH) take you on a head trip through the darkest recesses of the human psyche, where no one – least of all the audience – escapes with their nerves or sanity intact… Tickets available from the Leicester Square website.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Unreliable Images

Radio Free Albemuth

audio In a pair of Q&As recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, the London International Science Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to director John Simon about his adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Radio Free Albemuth and to director Berton Pierce and special effects expert Greg Aronowitz about the film Sense of Scale, a documentary on model making in the cinema.

For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.

Podcast produced by Alex Fitch

Check it out, Events and Screenings

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein + guest Stephen Thrower

4 Comments
The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein + talk

Date: Wednesday 19 September 2012

Doors: 7pm

Venue: Horse Hospital

Address: Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1JD

Price: £7 / £5 concs

Horse Hospital website

WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets concession tickets

As part of Scala Beyond, Electric Sheep and Strange Attractor present Jess Franco’s The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (La Maldici&#243n de Frankenstein, 1972) + guest Stephen Thrower.

Bizarre even by the exotic standards of Spanish exploitation maestro Jess Franco, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein is a lurid high point in his monumental filmography. Attempting to summarise the plot will only scramble your mind, but this rich, wild, cross-genre cocktail features a tortured, silver Frankenstein’s monster, the mesmeric Count Cagliostro and his screeching feather-covered birdwoman lover, hordes of undead sadomasochistic zombies, mind control, torture dungeons, beautiful women, beefcake men, gorgeous locations, and a storming soundtrack of free jazz, library music and synth-burble. Bring a spare brain in case yours burns out after this one.

We’re also thrilled to have Stephen Thrower in the house – the author of Beyond Terror, Eyeball and Nightmare USA will talk to Virginie Sélavy and Mark Pilkington about Jess Franco’s life and films as a taster for his new book on the filmmaker, forthcoming from FAB Press.

Scala Beyond is a 6-week nationwide film season dedicated to all forms of cinema exhibition that will run from 8 August to 29 September 2012. Check their Scala Beyond website for the full programme and Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Buy advance tickets from WeGotTickets.

Buy advance concession tickets from WeGotTickets.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Scala Beyond: The unstoppable rise of fringe cinema

Scala Beyond logo

Scala Beyond

18 August – 29 September 2012, London

Scala Beyond website

audio After the success of Scala Forever last year, a season of events programmed by film clubs and independent film exhibitors to pay homage to the legendary London cinema, and the Ken Russell Forever tribute in March, season producer Michael Pierce and director Phil Wood return with the even bigger Scala Beyond, which, as its name indicates, intends to widen the scope beyond nostalgic celebration. They talk to Virginie Sélavy about the aims of the season, the unique filmic delights it will offer and the growth of alternative film screenings around the UK.

Scala Beyond is a 6-week nationwide film season dedicated to all forms of cinema exhibition that will run from 8 August to 29 September 2012. The full programme – including the details of the Electric Sheep/Strange Attractor event – will be revealed on 26 July. For more details, please go to the Scala Beyond website. Check their Facebook and Twitter for updates or subscribe to the mailing list by leaving your email in the box on the Scala Beyond website.

First broadcast on Resonance FM 104.4 on Friday 20 July 2012. For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

East End Film Festival: All Eyes East

Kotoko

audio East End Film Festival programmer Andrew Simpson joins Virginie Sélavy to talk about what the festival has on offer. Among the programme highlights are the Sundance-nominated The Last Elvis, about a delusional Elvis impersonator in Buenos Aires, a Tetsuo double bill + the premiere of Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s new film Kotoko, a series of events mixing cinema with live music, including a screening of Murnau’s Nosferatu with a live soundtrack by Minima and a day of free cinematic events across East London.

The East End Film Festival runs from 3 to 8 July 2012 across London’s East End. For full details of the programme, please go to the EEFF website.

First broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday 15 June 2012. For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

Modern Hauntings

Lovely Molly

audio Alex Fitch talks to a pair of directors who made their first films on very low budgets and deal with subjects of hauntings that are to do as much with memory as anything supernatural. Eduardo S&#225nchez discusses his debut film The Blair Witch Project and his latest movie, Lovely Molly, which follows the mental breakdown of a young woman tormented by the ghosts of her past. Also, in an interview recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, Shawn Holmes talks about his micro-budget feature Memory Lane, which sees an Afghanistan veteran cheating death repeatedly to revisit his memories of a dead girlfriend and solve the riddle of her death.

Visit www.archive.org for more info and formats you can stream/download.

Lovely Molly is released in the UK on 29 June 2012 by Metrodome.

Podcast produced by Alex Fitch.

Check it out, Radio and Podcasts

True Love: Interview with Fabio Guaglione and Enrico Clerico Nasino

True Love

audio In an interview recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, Virginie Sélavy talks to the makers of sci-fi drama True Love, about a young married couple who find themselves locked in separate sealed rooms and forced to answer questions about how much they trust each other. Writer-producer Fabio Guaglione and director Enrico Clerico Nasino discuss trust and betrayal, using genre to analyse a romantic relationship, and other ‘locked room’ films, including Vincenzo Natali’s Cube (1997).

First broadcast on Resonance FM 104.4 on Friday 18 May 2012. For more info and formats to stream/download, visit www.archive.org.