Beware of…..Mant!
Matinee (1993) by Joe Dante, is a marvelous yet neglected comedy film tribute to 1950s science fiction/horror. It brings together a number of elements, from 1950s science fiction to the showmanship of William Castle to the cultural tensions and fears of doomsday associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis. A facet of Matinee is the film [...]
The Horror! The Horror!: Controversial Horror Comics of the 1950s
“THIS BOOK CONTAINS: MURDER! MAYHEM! ROBBERY! RAPE! CANNIBALISM! CARNAGE! NECROPHILIA! SEX! SADISM! MASOCHISM … and virtually every other form of crime, degeneracy, bestiality, and horror!” The words above appear in a report from the mid-1950s titled “Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency” from the Committee on the Judiciary’s investigation of juvenile delinquency in the United States. [...]
Kevin McCarthy Passes Away at 96
Various media outlets are reporting that Kevin McCarthy, the actor who starred in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) has passed away at the age of 96. As fans of the history of science fiction cinema know, Invasion of the Body Snatchers stands out as one of the classics of 1950s science fiction/horror. McCarthy’s work [...]
Documentary: Monsters from the Id
As regular readers of this blog are aware, I am a huge fan of 1950s science fiction/horror, those films that had an early formative influence on my love for the fantastic. In reading through a science fiction magazine today I came across a documentary that makes interesting use of these films as it argues for [...]
Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties: The 21st Century Edition
Over time I have built up my Amazon.com wish list of various items knowing that I will never be able to afford or have room for most of what I’ve listed. Even so, there are several items that are a priority for me in adding to my collection, and for some time I have been [...]
1950s Horror and Rational Fears
One of the highlights of reading academic treatments of the fantastic is reviewing the bibliographies that they include. Several works almost always look intriguing, and many times a handful of titles seem to be included in each bibliography making them “must read” for those looking to probe the fantastic a little deeper. For some time [...]
Weekend Nostalgia: The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet
Last weekend I took a stroll down memory lane courtesy of a couple of special edition DVDs from my local library. I picked up copies of The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Forbidden Planet, two films that are presently in my library, but the two in my collection do not include the extra features [...]
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008): Potential and Peril
I was a young child when I first discovered the fantastic through television broadcasts of science fiction films. These became sources that fueled my fears and fed my imagination. My fears took shape through films like Invaders From Mars (1953) with the images of aliens burrowing underground and mind control devices drilled into the base of human [...]
Celebrating 50 Years of The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling Conference at Ithica College
The discussion list for the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations included an item recently of interest to TheoFantastique. Ithica College is hosting a Rod Serling conference in October 2009. As the college event’s website describes the event: Picture, if you will, a place where communication students can study the creative work of one of [...]
