“War for the Planet of the Apes” Trailer
I’m an almost life-long Planet of the Apes franchise fan, with the exception of the Burton installment. Summer 2017 will see the final entry in the reboot wrapping up a trilogy.
“Beauty and the Beast” and Fairy Tales
From time to time TheoFantastique looks at the significance of fairy tale in contemporary culture, and with the continued box office success of Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, another opportunity presents itself. Readers may enjoy an essay in Jezebel.com titled “‘Beauty and the Beast’ Comes From a Long Line of Stories About […]
Call for Papers: Elder Horror on Screen
FINAL DAYS! Call for Contributors Elder Horror on Screen: Hermits, Harbingers, and Hags (4/1/17 Abstracts; 10/1/17 Essays) As the baby boom generation grays, representations of the elderly on screen are receiving significant scholarly attention. Cinematic depictions of aging as a degenerative process, the othering, marginalization, and victimization of the elderly, and fears of the finality […]
Titles of Interest – Divine Horror: Essays on the Cinematic Battle Between the Sacred and the Diabolical
Divine Horror: Essays on the Cinematic Battle Between the Sacred and the Diabolical Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper, eds. McFarland, 2017 From Rosemary’s Baby (1968) to The Witch (2015), horror films use religious entities to both inspire and combat fear and to call into question or affirm the moral order. Churches provide […]
Titles of Interest – Monsters in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching What Scares Us
Monsters in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching What Scares Us Edited by Adam Golub and Heather Richardson Hayton Foreword by W. Scott Poole; Afterword by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen McFarland, 2017 About the Book Exploring the pedagogical power of the monstrous, this collection of new essays describes innovative teaching strategies that use our cultural fascination with […]
Titles of Interest: Strangers, Gods and Monsters
Strangers, Gods and Monsters: Interpreting Otherness Richard Kearney Routledge, 2002 Strangers, Gods and Monsters is a fascinating look at how human identity is shaped by three powerful but enigmatic forces. Often overlooked in accounts of how we think about ourselves and others, Richard Kearney skillfully shows, with the help of vivid examples and illustrations, how […]
Titles of Interest – At Stake: Monsters and the Rhetoric of Fear in Public Culture
The fine blog, Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, had an interesting post on a volume worthy of inclusion in the Titles of Interest recommendations. It’s subject matter and approach are particularly relevant to our times. At Stake: Monsters and the Rhetoric of Fear in Public Culture Edward Ingebretsen University of Chicago Press, 2003 […]
DON’T BREATHE, God, and Morality
I was finally able to watch Don’t Breathe and it’s a good horror or suspense film. I was surprised to find a line touching on religion in it: “There is nothing a man cannot do once he accepts the fact that there is no god.” Whether God is needed as a transcendent ground for morality […]
Titles of Interest: The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas
The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and the Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil by Al Ridenour (Feral House, 2016) With the appearance of the demonic Christmas character Krampus in contemporary Hollywood movies, television shows, advertisements, and greeting cards, medieval folklore has now been revisited in American culture. Krampus-related events and parades occur both […]
Titles of Interest: The Psycho Records
The Psycho Records by Laurence A. Rickels (Columbia University Press, 2016) The Psycho Records follows the influence of the primal shower scene within subsequent slasher and splatter films. American soldiers returning from World War II were called “psychos” if they exhibited mental illness. Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock turned the term into a catch-all phrase […]
