Heather Greene Guest Essay: The Conjuring and Horror Depictions of “Evil Witches”
The Conjuring has been the focus of a lot of discussion recently from a variety of perspectives: It surprisingly broke box office records in its debut weekend, beating out much bigger budget movies; Salon.com claimed it was a “right-wing, woman-hating film; two individuals responsible for producing the film stated that they hoped the film, with […]
Midnight Syndicate’s Latest Album Available – “MONSTERS OF LEGEND”
I just received the latest CD from Midnight Syndicate and it’s great. The title is Monsters of Legend, and it represents something of a homage to the classic Universal Studios and Hammer Films monsters from the past. One of the tracks, “It Lives!,” can be previewed from their YouTube page. This album will have great […]
Encounter Radio Program on Sacred Horror
I will be one of the guests on the Encounter radio program out of Australia on the subject of “Sacred Horror: Zombie Resurrections and Vampire Souls.” The website description: From the legends of Frankenstein and Dracula to films about zombies, witches and vampires, supernatural horror has always captured the popular imagination. Fictional horror scares us […]
FANTASM: A Convention Documentary Promotional Poster
Previously I interviewed Kuchta on his forthcoming documentary, FANTASM, that looks at the fandom at horror conventions. They have now released a poster for the film, and this comes by way of the press release: Director Kyle Kuchta is excited to reveal the official theatrical poster for his forthcoming horror convention documentary, Fantasm. The film […]
Interview with David Hufford on “the Old Hag” in Paranthropology
The new issue of Paranthropology officially launches tomorrow, but is available now in Vol. 4, No. 3. I am pleased to have a contribution in the form of “From Sleep Paralysis to Spiritual Experience: An Interview With David Hufford.” The essay can be found on pages 21-28, and the whole issue can be downloaded here. […]
Zombie Nation: From Folklore to Modern Frenzy
Corvis Nocturnum made a copy of his new book available to me, Zombie Nation: From Folklore to Modern Frenzy (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2013). I am featured in an interview in the first part of the book where I discuss the religious aspects of zombies. From the publisher’s website: Go on a hunt for the facts, […]
TV Horror: Investigating the Dark Side of the Small Screen
I have just become aware of an interesting looking book by Lorna Jowett and Stacey Abbott titled TV Horror: Investigating the Dark Side of the Small Screen (I.B. Tauris, 2013). From the description at Amazon.com: Horror is a universally popular, pervasive TV genre, with shows like True Blood, Being Human, The Walking Dead and American […]
RIP Richard Matheson
The legend of horror and science fiction writing, Richard Matheson, has passed away. Matheson’s work included I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Hell House, and several of the most memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone. Arlen Schumer provided his own eulogy on the TheoFantastique Facebook page: R.I.P. RICHARD MATHESON–the Lou Gherig of The Twilight Zone […]
Why Does the West Love Science Fiction?: Sci-Fi, Culture, and Disenchantment
Given the immense popularity and box office success of science fiction and fantasy films in the West it might be natural to assume that these genres are also very popular in non-Western cultures. But that is not the case. A recent essay by Christine Folch in The Atlantic titled “Why the West Loves Sci-Fi and […]
Kelly J. Baker: The Zombies Are Coming!
For a while now I have been following the work of my friend and colleague, Kelly J. Baker, and she recently shared a copy of her new ebook with me on zombies and apocalyptisism. The book is titled The Zombies Are Coming!: The Realities of the Zombie Apocalypse in American Culture (Bondfire Books, 2013), and […]
