Leatherface Speaks!

I am honoured to have Gunnar Hansen (who played Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as my guest on Friday Night Frights this week. Gunnar also features in the latest retread of TCM (in 3D) and shares memories, thoughts and insights on the cultural phenomenon that is Chain Saw. Thank you, Gunnar.

Go here.

Starburst Magazine 383 - Texas Chain Saw Massacre Special

 

This month's Starburst Magazine is a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special. With articles galore on Chain Saw and its sequels/remakes/reboots, including a preview of the forthcoming Texas Chainsaw 3D (and a retrospective of the 1974 original, written by yours truly), no self-respecting Saw-head will want to be without it. It also includes an interview I conducted with the original Leatherface himself, Gunnar Hansen. We discuss his role in the new film and also look back at his part in the Tobe Hooper classic.

And there's something a little different this week over at my podcast, Friday Night Frights. Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend the Bram Stoker International Film Festival in Whitby, North Yorkshire. A great festival in the perfect setting (Whitby is, of course, the location of Stoker's original Dracula). The Bram Stoker Festival is now in its fourth year and going from strength to strength. To hear my report from this year's festival go here

Friday Night Frights - James Gracey on Dario Argento

James Gracey, as anyone who follows his blog Behind the Couch knows, is a gentleman and a scholar. So it was my absolute pleasure to invite him to discuss the films of Dario Argento for Friday Night Frights. James is highly qualified to discuss Argento as he has written an excellent book about him (available from Kamera Books). The depth of his knowledge on Argento is astounding, so this week's podcast is a bumper edition, and covers the entire Argento career from his early days as a scriptwriter, to the classic era of Deep Red and Suspiria, to the latest release of Dracula 3D. Thank you, James, for a fantastic podcast.

Go here.

An Abomination on the Silver Sheet

It's a widely held critical opinion that Tod Browning was unable to adapt to the coming of sound in the 1930s. It seems to me to be a fallacy that has unfortunately become general wisdom, and arose from the desire to denigrate Browning as a director after the scandal of Freaks. I have written in defence of Browning's skills as a sound-era director in the latest Bright Lights Film Journal. To read the article go here

Maniac plays at Mayhem Horror Festival

I'm at the Mayhem Horror Festival in Nottingham, UK. Looking forward to a great weekend's line up which includes Ben Wheatley's Sightseers, Joe Wright's Grabbers, The Casebook of Eddie Brewer, Guinea Pigs, Dead Sushi, Jennifer Chambers Lynch's Chained, Rabies, V/H/S, Manborg, American Mary and the premiere of Steven Sheil's second feature Dead Mine.

The festival got off to a great start last night with Frank Khalfoun's remake of the infamous 1980s sleazefest Maniac. I found it a formally quite brilliant and fascinating piece of work.

Check out my review of Maniac on the Starburst Website, where I'll also be posting updates on the festival.

Adieu.