Category Archives: science fiction

Titles of Interest – Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema

I am on my way back home from a symposium at Baylor University in Waco, Texas on faith and film. I enjoyed many of the presentations and sessions, including one on science fiction. One of the presenters was Sylvie Magerstädt, Senior Lecturer in Media Cultures at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She presented a paper […]

Guest Post – “Re-embracing John Carpenter’s More Obscure Films”

This post is a guest essay from Brandon Engel. For the average baby boomer movie-goer, John Carpenter will always be the answer to the the trivia question, “who wrote and directed the horror classic Halloween (1978)?” For film aficionados of any generation, Carpenter will be know as a film artist who crafted some of the […]

Automata

The trailer for Automata looks intriguing. Hopefully it will be a thoughtful expression of science fiction. In a future where Earth’s ecosystem verges on collapse, man-made robots roam the cities to protect dwindling human life. When a robot overrides a key protocol put in place to protect human life, ROC Robotics insurance agent Jacq Vaucan […]

Titles of Interest – “The Vampire in Science Fiction Film and Literature”

Paul Meehan is a friend of TheoFantastique who has been interviewed and contributed guest essays here previously. I am currently reading his latest book for a review in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. The book is The Vampire in Science Fiction Film and Literature (McFarland, 2014). Vampires have been a popular subject […]

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Second Installment Surpasses First Film: Apes Serve as Mirror on Human Violence

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES appeared in theaters recently and the odds were against it. More generally, the summer months have seen poor box office returns and DAWN might have continued in this vein. Specifically, the second installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series had to demonstrate that lightning could strike twice […]

Guest post – Westworld: Robotic Cowboys Wreak Havoc in Michael Crichton’s Directorial Debut

From time to time a select few are given the opportunity to contribute guest posts here at TheoFantastique. This essay is by Brandon Engel, who looks back at one of the classic 1970s science fiction films. There’s something incredibly unnerving (uncanny, if you must) about non-human entities that are similar to humans in either form […]

Tablet: “What Science Fiction Tried To Teach Us About Jihad, and Why No One Listened”

There is an interesting item that appeared in Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life titled “What Science Fiction Tried To Teach Us About Jihad, and Why No One Listened.” The subtitle explains a little further: “How Alejandro Jodorowsky muddled sci-fi by turning Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ into a New Age manifesto.” In the piece by […]

Verhoeven: Robocop’s Theological Significance

The Real History of Science Fiction aired with its first installment last weekend on BBC America as it tackled the subject of robots. This series is narrated by Mark Gatiss who has done some great documentary work on horror featured here at TheoFantastique previously. It is difficult to tell from the series website whether Gatiss […]

TV spot for ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’

The first TV spot for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes broadcast recently, and although brief, it is amazing. The forthcoming film takes place ten years after Rise of the Planet of the Apes after a virus has destroyed vast segments of humanity. Meanwhile, the ape population has grown. Now the apes are on […]

‘Transcendence’ featurette on transhumanism and artificial intelligence

2014 could be a great year for serious science fiction films. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes premiers July 18 in theaters nationwide, and even sooner than that Spring will see the release of Transcendence. Transcendence addresses transhumanism and artificial intelligence. Below is the film’s synopsis. Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost […]

RSS for Posts RSS for Comments