Nova Religio Call for Papers: Paranormal, Religion, and Culture
Joseph Laycock has recently been given the privilege of guest editing a special issue of Nova Religio on the paranormal. In the last few years, several good books have appeared that consider so-called “paranormal” beliefs, discourses, and experiences as an object of inquiry for religion scholars. Like the category “religion,” the category “paranormal” is poorly […]
Scott Derrickson Seminar on “Transcendent Darkness”
Scott Derrickson is a film director and writer with a love for horror films. This has been demonstrated in his work on Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), as well as his work in science fiction with The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). Scott is leading […]
TheoFantastique Nominated for a Rondo Award
I received notification this morning that the ballot for the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards is now available online. The Rondo is going on ten years, and it was created for “recognizing the best in monster research, creativity and film preservation.” As I scrolled down the list through the various categories, I was very surprised […]
Help Our Kickstarter Project: THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY
We need your help to raise a small amount of funds to publish THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY through a Kickstarter Campaign. The project description: We need funding for the typesetting costs for the forthcoming book THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY (Wipf & Stock). The academy and pop culture alike recognize the great symbolic and teaching value […]
Super Bowl XLVI Commercials of the Fantastic
The intersection of the fantastic and popular culture was evident at the Super Bowl with the following commercials:
Wetmore on Romero Zombies as Markers of Their Times
Zombies are more than the monsters of the moment. While their popularity is at an all time high in popular culture, they have been with us decades, and their meaning changes as our cultural fears evolve. In the following interview, Kevin Wetmore discusses his exploration of the shifting meanings related to Romero’s zombies that he […]
Psychology Today: What is it That Fascinates Us About Exorcism and Demonic Possession?
A series of bad reviews by film critics, echoed by many rank and file moviegoers, didn’t stop The Devil Inside from doing extremely well at the box office. The film is but the latest in a string of films with the theme of demonic possession, forming a horror subgenre in their own right. This includes […]
Call for Papers – Religion and Dr. Who: Time, Space, and Faith
Doctor Who is a cultural phenomenon in both the UK and the United States, continuing to go from strength-to-strength as it approaches its 50th anniversary in 2013. Over the show’s long history on television—and in various spin-off TV shows, audio adventures, novels and comic books—religion and religious themes have consistently been a subject of interest. […]
Dead Meat Walking: A Zombie Walk Documentary
After revising my essay on the Zombie Walk phenomenon and Zombie Jesus for the forthcoming volume The Undead and Theology, I discovered Dead Meat Walking: A Documentary on Zombie Walks, currently in production and scheduled for release in the Fall of 2012. The web page has little other than the video and the following description. […]
Kevin Wetmore on Dawn of the Dead (2004) and the Zombie Terrorist
I am currently finishing up Kevin Wetmore’s fine volume, Back from the Dead: Remakes of the Romero Zombie Films as Markers of Their Time (McFarland and Company, 2011) with an eye toward an interview in the near future. This morning I read the chapter that discussed the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead. Wetmore […]
