Lexmax Spooky Town Village 2010 Announced
For those collectors and fans of the Lemax Spooky Town Village, the company announced their new 2010 line of items this week. As an example, the Transylvania Zoo is pictured with this post where classic monster fans will see the influence of Universal horror film characters, including the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, and the […]
Matt Cardin – “Gods and Monsters, Worms and Fire: A Horrific Reading of Isaiah”
Regular readers of TheoFantastique might recall my previous interview with my friend Matt Cardin of The Teeming Brain blog, and author of Divinations of the Deep (2002) and Dark Awakenings (2010). Matt and I follow similar pathways in our explorations of horror and religious studies, and in this interview Matt shares his thoughts on the […]
W. Scott Poole: Legion and “Mauled by an Angel”
My friend and colleague W. Scott Poole, author of Satan in America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), and the focus of a previous interview here, has a commentary posted in Religion Dispatches titled “Mauled by an Angel: Why Do Americans Need ‘God’s Secret Agents’?”. In this article Scott looks at the action-horror film Legion as a […]
Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon?
For a while now I’ve been composing an essay on a religion that finds metaphorical inspiration from pop culture, in particular The Matrix trilogy of films, a religion called, appropriately enough, Matrixism. In my exploration of this hyper-real spirituality, I considered a number of interesting research threads, including myth, science fiction narratives as sacred stories, […]
TheoFantastique Expands Relationship with Amazon.com
In an effort to expand readership, and to generate funding to help maintain this blog, TheoFantastique has expanded its relationship with Amazon.com. Readers may have noticed that for some time now links have been included that connect to the TheoFantastique Store in concert with Amazon.com. In posted commentary and interviews readers can click on links […]
Mark Dawidziak and Reflections on Kolchack: The Night Stalker
One of the enjoyable memories of frights for monster kids of the 1970s was Carl Kolchak who filled the role of The Night Stalker. Each week he used his journalistic skills and savvy to research the paranormal and the monstrous. I was privileged to learn more about this great series through an interview with Mark […]
Na’vi Religion and the Damanhurians
A lot of commentary has been offered on the religious aspects of Avatar. I have offered my own thoughts on this in a previous post. But with this entry I draw the attention of readers to the suggestion of Massimo Introvigne of the Center for Studies on New Religions that James Cameron may have been […]
Sleep Paralysis Documentary: Your Worst Nightmare
In my research on sleep paralysis or the Old Hag phenomenon discussed in a previous post, I came across a documentary on the topic called Your Worst Nightmare: Supernatural Assault. The film is the brainchild of Paul Taitt and Andrew Barnes of Soul Smack Live. Paul discusses this film and sleep paralysis in the following […]
Michael Karol: The ABC Movie of the Week
In my research on the fantastic I have come across a lot of good materials, and the individuals who bring these materials into being. Last year I came across Michael Karol and his book The ABC Movie of the Week Companion: A Loving Tribute to the Classic Series (IUniverse, 2008). Michael is an award-winning writer […]
Avatar’s Success: Romantic Narratives and Dark Green Religion
Earlier this week various news outlets reported that Avatar has surpassed Titanic as the highest grossing film in history. (For a different take on its place in cinema box office see this article.) This tremendous response by viewing audiences might have gone the other direction. With all the pre-release hype coming from James Cameron, and […]
