Interview with Eric Falardeau - director of Thanatomorphose

Rotting never felt this good! So says the publicity for Monster Pictures’ Thantomorphose, the feature debut of French-Canadian director Èric Falardeau. Reminiscent of New French Extremity films such as Inside (2007) and In My Skin (2002), Thanatomorphose is ‘body horror’ with an existential twist. Read my interview with the director here.

Subversive Horror Cinema - Now Available to Preorder!

My book, Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to The Present (McFarland & Company) is out in July and now available to preorder!

Gunnar Hansen on Chainsaw Confidential

Gunnar Hansen took time out from his book tour to talk to me about his new book Chainsaw Confidential

Read the interview here.

The Cloth (2013)

"Somebody slap me in the face with the Devil's nutsack!" If you thought it was impossible for exorcism movies to get any worse than The Devil Inside, then ye have little faith. The Cloth is rapidly shaping up in terms of public opinion (check the movie forums) as not just the worst exorcism movie ever made, but perhaps the worst film ever made per se.

To read my review go here.

Evil Dead (2013)

Another redundant remake.

That's all I have to say about that!

Thanatomorphose (2012)

 

Rotting never felt this good! So says the publicity for this jaw-dropping (literally) body horror feature debut from French-Canadian director Eric Felardeau. Reminiscent of New French Extremity films like Inside and In My Skin, Thanatomorphose takes its title from the French term for 'the visible signs of an organism's decomposition caused by death'. That pretty much sums up the plot: alienated young sculptress, Laura (Kayden Rose) moves into a Montreal apartment where she spends her time suffering in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Antoine (Davyd Tousignant), and feeling equally rejected by the artistic establishment who refuse her an arts grant. She is dying inside (literally). One morning she wakes up to find her body slowly and inexorably starting to decay...

Read the full review here.

 

 

Space Monsters - Issue 2

 

The amazing Cyberschizoid AKA Richard Gladman has just sent me news that issue two of his fanzine Space Monsters is now available to preorder. Das is good, ja? I loved the first issue and issue two, with its theme of Space Vampires, looks every bit as scrummylicious (especially as Emily Booth and Billy Chainsaw have both joined an already stellar writing team).

To preorder Space Monsters go here

To read my review of issue one go here

Digital FilmMaker Magazine Issue 8

New and emerging film makers may want to check out the new  issue of Digital Filmmaker Magazine. It has lots of hints and tips on everything from screenwriting software, to shooting in RAW.

And if you're an independent horror director you might want to check out my article, WHY FILMMAKERS LOVE TO SHOOT HORROR, with contributions from the filmmakers themselves.

You can buy/ subscribe to Digital FilmMaker Magazine here.  You can buy the digital version here. Or buy it in person at your local W. H. SMITHS.

Book Update!

I am guilty of having neglected this blog. It's been over three months since my last post, but I have an excuse. I've been working solidly on the book for which this blog is 'companion', and am pleased to say that it's now finished and sent to the publishers.

It's been quite a journey these last few months; hard work for sure, but very fulfilling. It's the culmination of five years' research and writing, and now the words are on the page I feel sad that it is in some ways over, although the work is not finished yet. There's proofing and indexing and marketing and promotion to come. Exciting stuff!

One of the joys of working on the book these past few months has been finding the movie stills to illustrate it. I've been incredibly fortunate to have received the help of the legendary Ronald V. Borst, who has delved into his own private collection of movie memorabilia to provide some rare stills from movies like Cat People (1942), House of Whipcord (1974), Shivers (1975), Witchfinder General (1968) and countless others. Ron wrote the book Graven Images, which features hundreds of amazing movie posters from his collection, and he also provided movie stills from Kevin Brownlow's excellent documentary, Universal Horror (2000). I met him in his shop, Hollywood Movie Posters on Hollywood Boulevard, and I am grateful to him and his wife, Margaret for all their help. Harvey Fenton at Fab Press also provided me with difficult-to-find stills from Frightmare (1974), while Joyce Pierpoline, producer of Teeth (2008), graciously provided me with stills from her film, and Greg Chick at Blue Underground helped me out with images from Deathdream (1972).

And still more exciting news: the foreword has been written by none other than Jeff Lieberman, the director of Squirm (1976) and Blue Sunshine (1977). He has written a fantastic piece about the subversive qualities of his films, adding an extra layer to the book whilst supporting its arguments at the same time. I really couldn't have asked for more. Thank you, Mr Lieberman!

Publication is set for Spring 2014, and I'll provide updates over the coming months. In the meantime I'm looking forward to getting back to regular posting and catching up with other people's blogs.

Brian Yuzna in Brighton!

Over at Starburst Magazine my buddy Martin Unsworth reports on the exciting news of Brian Yuzna's attendence at this year's Cine Excess in Brighton.

"Readers in the Brighton area who are fans of satirical '80s body horror classic SOCIETY may wish to get down to the Komedia where on 23rd of May CINE EXCESS will be hosting a special screening of the film, with director/producer BRIAN YUZNA providing a Q&A afterwards! Don't miss this rare chance to meet the man who produced the RE-ANIMATOR series and FROM BEYOND!

Here's the full press release for the event:

CINE EXCESS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON PRESENTS
A SPECIALLY REMASTERED SCREENING OF CULT HORROR CLASSIC
SOCIETY FOLLOWED BY Q&A WITH DIRECTOR/PRODUCER BRIAN YUZNA

DATE: THURSDAY 23rd MAY  TIME: 9.15pm

VENUE: DUKE’S at KOMEDIA, BRIGHTON
The Cine Excess International Film Festival and the University of Brighton’s Faculty of Arts are delighted to welcome myth-making director/producer Brian Yuzna to the region, where he will present a special screening of his cult film classic Society, as well as to give a career talk to film students studying at the University’s Hastings Campus the following day. He will be interviewed on stage by Cine Excess Director, Dr. Xavier Mendik, Lecturer in film studies at University of Brighton and author of BFI’s 100 Cult Films.

Society (1989) is a deliciously dark satire on the darker underbelly of modern life.Billy (Billy Warlock) is feels he’s different to the rest of his family. They seem to relish an upper class life of social parties whilst he prefers to be more down-to-earth.His suspicions extend to his own girlfriend but when David (Tim Bartell) his sister’s boyfriend, dies mysteriously after showing him a tape, he returns home to find a bizarre party in full swing which reveals the true horrors of his upbringing, a heritage he’s now expected to embrace.

Brian Yuzna has been producing cult exploitation films for quarter of a century in the spirit of Roger Corman. His directorial debut Society (1989) mixed horror and satire, and his passion for HP Lovecraft led to him also making Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Re-Animator 2 (1989) and Necromicon (1993). He also co-produced and co-wrote the Disney hit comedy Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1990), as well as working with Christophe Gans on the manga inspired Crying Freeman (1995). Having later set up The Fantastic Factory production company in Spain, Yuzna went onto produce a series of small budget fantasy titles such as Arachnid (2001), Dagon (2001), Darkness (2002) Beyond Re-Animator (2003) and The Nun (2005), before returning to directing with Amphibious 3-D (2010).

Brian Yuzna’s visit is one of a number of new initiatives linked to the recent relocation of the Cine-Excess festival to the University of Brighton’s Faculty of Arts. These also include the launch of the new industry meets academia Cine-Excess E-Journal, which is released is May 2013, and a new Digital Film BA (Hons) degree which is currently enrolling for September 2013.

Tickets are available from Duke’s at Komedia box office tel: 0871 902 5728 or online."