Romance, Gender, and Horror Icons
Vampires have had a long connection to sexuality and romance as they have been expressed through literary history. Dracula, the most famous, or infamous, of all vampires is well known for playing off a sense of eroticism, both in his encounters with women, and also at times forms of homoeroticism as well. This connection has […]
HBO’s True Blood: Viral Marketing and Fact-Fiction Reversals
A recent article in religion dispatches, “True Blood: When Marketing Goes For the Jugular,” by Joseph Laycock, author of Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampires (Praeger, 2009), describes an interesting scenario where the lines between horror fiction and popular culture were blurred, and for some, obliterated. Laycock discusses the hit HBO series True Blood, […]
Midnight Syndicate Films Releases THE DEAD MATTER
TheoFantastique is a supporter of independent film, particularly in the form of indie horror. Midnight Syndicate Films makes its contribution to this art form with The Dead Matter. The press release for the film reports that post-production was completed at the end of April. “‘I am absolutely thrilled with how the movie came out,” says […]
Rue Morgue Magazine Tribute to Ray Harryhausen
The new issue of Rue Morgue magazine, #90 (June 2009), recently hit newsstands. I knew when I received their weekly email announcement that I had to pick up a copy of this issue to add to my collection. The cover art drew my attention to the Ray Harryhausen tribute. Fans of fantasy films will be […]
Graeme Harper on Surrealism in Suspense and Horror Films
Professor Graeme Harper is Director of the National Institute for Excellence in the Creative Industries at University of Wales, Bangor. He is author of Swallowing Film (2000), and Comedy, Fantasy and Colonialism (2001), and the co-editor of Signs of Life: Medicine and Cinema (2005). He is also the co-editor of the journal Studies in European […]
Valley of the Dead: Kim Paffenroth Book Combines Classic Literature and Zombie Apocalypse
My friend and fellow LOTTD member, Kim Paffenroth, is about to release his latest contribution to zombie apocalyptic literature in pop culture through the book, Valley of the Dead. The synopsis is as follows: “For seventeen years of his life, the whereabouts of the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri is unknown to modern scholars. All we know […]
WIRED Interview with Guillermo del Toro: Fantasy, Horror and the Future of Film
A friend who is aware of my passion for the fantastic, and that Guillermo del Toro is one of my heroes in this field, passed along a link to a recent article and brief interview with the film director. The article appears in WIRED MAGAZINE 17.06 from May 22, 2009. The piece is by Scott Brown, […]
Terminator Salvation: Franchise Rebooted
Last night I had the opportunity to watch the latest installment in the Terminator film franchise, Terminator Salvation. The comments that follow represent some of my reflections on the film which touch on aspects of the storyline that those who have not yet seen the film may wish to avoid. First, my overall impression. At […]
Paul Meehan – SAUCER MOVIES: A UFOlogical History of the Cinema
For decades popular culture has experienced and enjoyed two related phenomena, that of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), along with alleged alien visitation, as well science fiction films that feature flying saucers and their occupants. Indeed, as author Paul Meehan has noted, “[s]aucer movies are a distinct subgenre of science fiction film, and perhaps should constitute a […]
Terminator Salvation: Apocalypse and Transhumanism
Will the new TERMINATOR explore apocalyptic anxiety regarding technology and nuclear annihilation in a new way? In my recent article for Cinefantastique Online I explore the changing face of apocalyptic myth and then suggest ways in which this might be explored in the soon-to-be-released TERMINATOR SALVATION. Below are excerpts from the article which can be read […]
