Halloween Horrors: In this month’s Halloween themed episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show, Virginie Sélavy talks to Kim Newman about his new collection of reviews and essays, Video Dungeon, published by Titan Books, and to cinema programmer Anna Bogutskaya about co–curating a tour of short horror films directed by women: ‘The Final Girls – We Are the Weirdos’.
Tag Archives: Kim Newman
Video Dungeon: How to Talk about Psychotronic Cinema
In his introduction to the important collection of film essays King of the Bs, Todd McCarthy quotes Andrew Sarris’s dictum ‘eventually we must speak of everything if there is enough time and space and printer’s ink’. Sarris was working up to an assessment of Edgar G. Ulmer’s Daughter of Dr Jekyll (1958).
Continue reading Video Dungeon: How to Talk about Psychotronic Cinema
East End Film Festival 2015 Preview
Running from 1 to 12 July, this year’s edition of the East End Film Festival presents an eclectic mix of new films from global and local independent filmmakers as well as industry masterclasses, free pop-up cinema screenings and music-focused events. With a special focus on showcasing home-grown talent , it’s also a great place for late and new discoveries of all kinds and one of the most exciting events this year is the screening of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s neo-giallo The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, now presented with a brand new original score by Edinburgh-based musician Ben Power (Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons). The result is a fascinating score that enthralls, seduces and terrifies in equal measure and that is also available on double vinyl, released by Death Waltz Originals, presented in a 425gsm reverse board gatefold sleeve pressed on an exclusive screening event colour ltd to 500 units.
We are also delighted to be taking part again in a special day of screenings in the opulent and ornate surroundings of the Masonic Lodge Temple on Saturday 4 July, the perfect venue for a krimi classic such as The Dead Eyes of London, which screens at 1pm, followed by a special talk on krimi cinema hosted by Electric Sheep’s Alex Fitch, who will be joined by author and critic Kim Newman, and author Jim Harper. The afternoon screenings are then followed by a masquerade ball, in homage to George Franju’s 1963 production of Judex.
Among other highlights we are looking forward to an afternoon of radical film from contemporary Greece at the Whitechapel Galley, Marielle Heller’s celebrated Sundance hit Diary of a Teenage Girl and a special gala screening of Volker Schaner’s enlightening docu-portrait Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Vision of Paradise, with the reggae and dub legend himself in attendance.
Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – London unveils full Jan-June line-up
THE MISKATONIC INSTITUTE OF HORROR STUDIES – LONDON UNVEILS FULL JANUARY-JUNE LINEUP
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies has revealed the full curriculum for the pilot season of its branch in London, which opens on January 8th, with intensive film classes on a wide range of topics from safety films to cannibals by some of the horror world’s most renowned critical luminaries.
Canadian founder Kier-La Janisse will make a brief UK appearance to launch the season with a lecture on classic classroom safety films and the shocks they deliver. She will be followed in February by Mark Pilkington, who will explore the exotic horrors of cannibal films. In March, Virginie Sélavy will look at 1960s-70s sado-masochistic erotica and the meanings of the various power games represented. The following month, Stephen Thrower will talk about Jesús Franco’s unique style of art, erotic and commercial filmmaking, marking the publication of his new book on the director. In May, Jasper Sharp will investigate the psychological and supernatural significance of landscapes, from Onibaba to Dust Devil. Closing the season, Kim Newman will discuss Gary Sherman’s 1972 Death Line the and the film’s use of cannibalism and political subtext.
Named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is a non-profit, community-based organisation that started in Winnipeg and Montreal, Canada, founded by Kier-La Janisse in March of 2010. Miskatonic London operates under the co-direction of Kier-La Janisse and Virginie Sélavy.
All classes take place at the historic Horse Hospital, the heart of the city’s underground culture. Registration for the full season is £50. Individual class tickets are £10 advance / £11 on the door / £8 concessions and will be available 30 days in advance of each class.
For the full details of the courses please check the Miskatonic website. For all enquiries, please email Miskatonic.london@gmail.com.
Kim Newman on Johnny Alucard
Author and film critic Kim Newman talks to Virginie Sélavy about Johnny Alucard, the latest and fourth instalment in his Anno Dracula series, which charts an alternative history of Dracula from 1888 to 1991, weaving in historical and fictional characters from Queen Victoria to Francis Ford Coppola.
Anno Dracula was set in a Victorian England ruled by vampires after Dracula successfully invaded Britain and married Queen Victoria. Its sequel, The Bloody Red Baron, took place during World War I. In the third volume, Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Dracula got married in 1950s Rome while the latest episode, Johnny Alucard, sees the story move from Transylvania to America between 1976 and 1991.
In the podcast, Kim Newman discusses the rules behind the Anno Dracula series, the vampire as dominant cultural icon, Dracula and Heart of Darkness, vampirism and celebrity, Andy Warhol and Orson Welles.