Monthly Archives: January 2011

Wayne Kinsey on Hammer Films: The Unsung Heroes

The horror of Hammer has been extremely influential in my life, starting as a child and later as a teenager as I watched the Technicolor blood drip on screen as the stories of monsters like Frankenstein’s creature, Dracula, and the mummy played out in front of me on the television screen. In fact, it was […]

News of the Fantastic – January 29, 1011

Here are various news items related to the fantastic in popular culture for the preceding couple of weeks. News items of significance are shared daily as they become available via my Facebook profile and Twitter account. The right-wing agenda of the exorcism movie “The Rite” is the latest film in a genre with a surprisingly […]

Steven Moffat’s Jekyll: Cinefantastique Podcast Online

The Cinefantastique Podcast discussing the 2007 BBC production of Jekyll by Steven Moffat is now available. From CFQ’s website: And the dream comes true for one young, idealistic podcast host. After months of campaigning, Dan finally gets a chance to bring Steven Moffat’s (DOCTOR WHO) BBC series, JEKYLL, to the table for an extended discussion. […]

Bader, Mencken and Baker: Paranormal America

A visit to most bookstores, particularly large chain bookstores, will reveal a large collection of books that explore various facets of the paranormal. These phenomena and experiences are found throughout popular culture, and are frequently depicted in popular television programs and films. Recently, three scholars conducted sociological research that looked at those involved in the […]

Cinefantastique Podcast Discussion: BBC’s “Jekyll”

I have been invited back as a guest for the Cinefantastique Podcast that will be recorded this Sunday and uploaded for listening at some point next week. The focus for our discussion is the interesting BBC television program Jekyll from 2007. As will inferred from the title of the program, it takes its inspiration from […]

Matthew R. Bradley: Richard Matheson on Screen

Richard Matheson is one of the most influential writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy in our time. Many of his works have been translated to the silver and small screens, and Matthew R. Bradley describes this process in his great book Richard Matheson on Screen: A History of the Filmed Works (McFarland, 2010). Bradley […]

PBS Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction, Airs January 18

PBS is beginning the second season of Pioneers of Television with four episodes. The first will look at science fiction, including Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and those who helped create them and make them pioneering. It’s no wonder that Gene Rodenberry, creator of “Star Trek,” turned to science fiction when he […]

Joseph Laycock: The Omega Man and Sociophobics of Cults

Joseph Laycock, an up and coming scholar of religion and popular culture, has an article in the International Journal for the Study of New Religions Volume 1, No. 2 (2010), titled “Conversion by Infection: The Sociophobic of Cults in the Omega Man.” The abstract: The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston, is a film adaptation […]

Black Death: Promising Medieval Horror

Recently I interviewed Peg Aloi who shared her thoughts on how the film Season of the Witch might depict the witch and how this characterization might relate to witches and Wiccans in the real world. Since our discussion this film has debuted in theaters, and many reviews have not been positive. By contrast, there has […]

Paul Meehan: Close Encounters and Remote Viewing

I am pleased to present another guest essay by Paul Meehan, author of Saucer Movies: A UFOlogical History of the Cinema (The Scarecrow Press, 1998), Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir (2008), Cinema of the Psychic Realm: A Critical Survey (McFarland, 2009), and most recently, Horror Noir: Where Cinema’s Dark Sisters Meet […]

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