Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies-Montréal Courses 2010 - April 201
California Screaming: West Coast Cult Horror
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Mar. 21, 2017 - Tue. Apr. 4, 2017 (3 weeks)
Joining us to wrap up our 7th year is our “Final Guy,” Mike Wood, with three weeks of "California Screaming: West Coast Cult Horror." Mike, a historian and archaeologist by profession—and expert on Indonesian culture, history and politics—has been devouring films like Psych-Out (1968), Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), and Mephisto Waltz (1971), since he was in his teens. In this course, he turns his youthful cinephilia into an exploration of the alternative religious movements and cults in 1960s and 1970s California—perhaps most notoriously represented by Charles Manson and Jim Jones, and their followers—that spawned a whole subgenre of films.
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Mar. 21, 2017 - Tue. Apr. 4, 2017 (3 weeks)
Joining us to wrap up our 7th year is our “Final Guy,” Mike Wood, with three weeks of "California Screaming: West Coast Cult Horror." Mike, a historian and archaeologist by profession—and expert on Indonesian culture, history and politics—has been devouring films like Psych-Out (1968), Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), and Mephisto Waltz (1971), since he was in his teens. In this course, he turns his youthful cinephilia into an exploration of the alternative religious movements and cults in 1960s and 1970s California—perhaps most notoriously represented by Charles Manson and Jim Jones, and their followers—that spawned a whole subgenre of films.
The Miskatonic Brood Presents ... a Forum for Former Students
Instructor: Ariel Esteban Cayer
Tue. Mar. 7, 2017 (1 week)
From the creator of the JU-ON series (2000, 2002, 2003), Marebito conceptualizes "fear" not so much as a negative affect, but rather as a positive one: an opening up, a potentiality, a force. When harnessed by capture technologies, fear becomes an event that opens up new worlds and new visions ... which may or may not lead to madness. Looking at the film through the writings of Brian Massumi, Cayer will help us to locate the film's importance in the influential J-horror cycle, as well as its function as a hypertext that brings together various mythologies and influences: the Japanese urban landscape, the scopophilia of films such as Peeping Tom, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Hollow Earth theories, the vampire mythos, and more.
Instructor: Ariel Esteban Cayer
Tue. Mar. 7, 2017 (1 week)
From the creator of the JU-ON series (2000, 2002, 2003), Marebito conceptualizes "fear" not so much as a negative affect, but rather as a positive one: an opening up, a potentiality, a force. When harnessed by capture technologies, fear becomes an event that opens up new worlds and new visions ... which may or may not lead to madness. Looking at the film through the writings of Brian Massumi, Cayer will help us to locate the film's importance in the influential J-horror cycle, as well as its function as a hypertext that brings together various mythologies and influences: the Japanese urban landscape, the scopophilia of films such as Peeping Tom, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Hollow Earth theories, the vampire mythos, and more.
Slasher Theory: Reassessing an Undervalued Subgenre
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Cory Legassic, Jay Shea, Anne Golden
Tue. Jan. 24, 2017 - Tue. Feb. 28, 2017 (6 weeks)
Kicking off our Winter 2017 semester, Miskatonic-Montréal goes back to “basics” with this six-week course taught by five different instructors. In the first class, all five instructors will weigh in on Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) as an urtext for the Slasher film, with an eye towards the later film they have selected. From there, each instructor will trace a Slasher genealogy extending from PSYCHO's monstrous feminine(s) through a host of the subgenre's most influential (or notorious) entries.
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Cory Legassic, Jay Shea, Anne Golden
Tue. Jan. 24, 2017 - Tue. Feb. 28, 2017 (6 weeks)
Kicking off our Winter 2017 semester, Miskatonic-Montréal goes back to “basics” with this six-week course taught by five different instructors. In the first class, all five instructors will weigh in on Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) as an urtext for the Slasher film, with an eye towards the later film they have selected. From there, each instructor will trace a Slasher genealogy extending from PSYCHO's monstrous feminine(s) through a host of the subgenre's most influential (or notorious) entries.
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24 January: Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock); Instrutor: All
31 January: Halloween (1978, John Carpenter); Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare 7 February: Friday the 13th (1980, Sean S. Cunningham); Instructor: Kristopher Woofter 14 February: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985, Jack Sholder); Instructor: Cory Legassic 21 February: Sleepaway Camp (1983, Robert Hiltzik); Instructor: Jay Shea 28 February: Eyes of Laura Mars (1978, Irvin Kershner); Instructor: Anne Golden |
Shirley Jackson's Weird
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Nov. 15, 2016 - Tue. Nov. 29, 2016 (3 weeks)
With “Shirley Jackson’s Weird," Miskatonic-Montréal celebrates the 100th birthday of Shirley Jackson, one of the grandmothers of literary horror. This three-week course is devoted to the work of the reclusive Vermont author whose brutal short story, “The Lottery,” still holds the record for the most letters of protest sent to The New Yorker for publishing it. Come along with instructor Kristopher Woofter as we walk through the haunted spaces of Jackson’s four major works: The Lottery and Other Stories (1949), and her “uncanny house trilogy,” The Sundial (1958), The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). A bestseller in her time, and a major influence on authors like Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, Jackson’s work has gone relatively unacknowledged by scholarship that relegates her to obscurity. Jackson's body of work varied from domestic satire in her darkly humorous memoirs Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages), to young-adult fiction (The Witchcraft of Salem Village), to uncanny psychological studies (The Road Through the Wall, The Bird's Nest), to her most popular work in the realm of horror and the weird. This course brings Jackson back to acknowledge her place as one of America’s—and without question one of horror’s—greatest writers. This course will feature a screening of Robert Wise's stunning Jackson adaptation, The Haunting (1963).
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Nov. 15, 2016 - Tue. Nov. 29, 2016 (3 weeks)
With “Shirley Jackson’s Weird," Miskatonic-Montréal celebrates the 100th birthday of Shirley Jackson, one of the grandmothers of literary horror. This three-week course is devoted to the work of the reclusive Vermont author whose brutal short story, “The Lottery,” still holds the record for the most letters of protest sent to The New Yorker for publishing it. Come along with instructor Kristopher Woofter as we walk through the haunted spaces of Jackson’s four major works: The Lottery and Other Stories (1949), and her “uncanny house trilogy,” The Sundial (1958), The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). A bestseller in her time, and a major influence on authors like Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, Jackson’s work has gone relatively unacknowledged by scholarship that relegates her to obscurity. Jackson's body of work varied from domestic satire in her darkly humorous memoirs Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages), to young-adult fiction (The Witchcraft of Salem Village), to uncanny psychological studies (The Road Through the Wall, The Bird's Nest), to her most popular work in the realm of horror and the weird. This course brings Jackson back to acknowledge her place as one of America’s—and without question one of horror’s—greatest writers. This course will feature a screening of Robert Wise's stunning Jackson adaptation, The Haunting (1963).
Women Horror Directors
Instructors: Maude Michaud, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Alanna Thain, Karen Herland, Annaëlle Winand
Tue. Sep. 27, 2016 - Tue. Nov. 1, 2016 (6 weeks)
Six weeks, six instructors. Week one features a screening and discussion of the Soska Sisters’ American Mary, followed by The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino, a pioneering woman director working in Hollywood (4 October). Week three of the course treats us to Amy Holden Jones’s feminist slasher film, Slumber Party Massacre (pictured), written by novelist Rita Mae Brown (11 October). Next up is Kathryn Bigelow’s cult favourite, Near Dark (18 October), followed by Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour’s acclaimed independent horror film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (25 October). Our final week of the course features a screening, Q&A and discussion with Montréal filmmaker Maude Michaud about her work, which includes the feature film, DYS-, and the short film, Snuff (1 November).
Instructors: Maude Michaud, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Alanna Thain, Karen Herland, Annaëlle Winand
Tue. Sep. 27, 2016 - Tue. Nov. 1, 2016 (6 weeks)
Six weeks, six instructors. Week one features a screening and discussion of the Soska Sisters’ American Mary, followed by The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino, a pioneering woman director working in Hollywood (4 October). Week three of the course treats us to Amy Holden Jones’s feminist slasher film, Slumber Party Massacre (pictured), written by novelist Rita Mae Brown (11 October). Next up is Kathryn Bigelow’s cult favourite, Near Dark (18 October), followed by Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour’s acclaimed independent horror film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (25 October). Our final week of the course features a screening, Q&A and discussion with Montréal filmmaker Maude Michaud about her work, which includes the feature film, DYS-, and the short film, Snuff (1 November).
True Crime and Punishment
Instructor: Karen Herland
Tue. Mar. 29, 2016 - Tue. Apr. 12, 2016 (3 weeks)
True Crime appeals to armchair detectives, voyeurs and conspiracy theorists. Each story offers the tantalizing possibility of resolving a mystery — though, often the most appealing works tend to instead multiply motives by pointing toward clues left uninvestigated. This three-week course will celebrate the genre by exploring how inspectors, authors, lawyers and viewers rely on the power of narrative to confirm their own path to an unreliable truth. Screenings may include: The Jinx (2015), The Thin Blue Line (1988), and In Cold Blood (1967).
Instructor: Karen Herland
Tue. Mar. 29, 2016 - Tue. Apr. 12, 2016 (3 weeks)
True Crime appeals to armchair detectives, voyeurs and conspiracy theorists. Each story offers the tantalizing possibility of resolving a mystery — though, often the most appealing works tend to instead multiply motives by pointing toward clues left uninvestigated. This three-week course will celebrate the genre by exploring how inspectors, authors, lawyers and viewers rely on the power of narrative to confirm their own path to an unreliable truth. Screenings may include: The Jinx (2015), The Thin Blue Line (1988), and In Cold Blood (1967).
DOCUMENTING HORROR
Instructors: Kristopher Woofter, Annaëlle Winand, Ned Schantz, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Shalon Noble, Papagena Robbins
Tue. 2 Feb., - Tue. 15 Mar., 2016 (7 weeks)
This seven-week course kicks off an entire Winter 2016 semester devoted to the horrors of the real. Seven instructors offer their unique scholarly approaches to the varied convergences of horror and documentary cinema. Topics include pseudo-documentary horror, fake found-footage horror, the French cinema of sensation, horror in experimental documentary and the essay film, archival horror, and horror film samples in industrial music. Screenings may include: The Act of Killing (2014), Leçons de ténèbres (1999), and The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971).
Instructors: Kristopher Woofter, Annaëlle Winand, Ned Schantz, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Shalon Noble, Papagena Robbins
Tue. 2 Feb., - Tue. 15 Mar., 2016 (7 weeks)
This seven-week course kicks off an entire Winter 2016 semester devoted to the horrors of the real. Seven instructors offer their unique scholarly approaches to the varied convergences of horror and documentary cinema. Topics include pseudo-documentary horror, fake found-footage horror, the French cinema of sensation, horror in experimental documentary and the essay film, archival horror, and horror film samples in industrial music. Screenings may include: The Act of Killing (2014), Leçons de ténèbres (1999), and The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971).
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WEEK 1: FROM HAXAN TO HELLSTROM: THE CRITICAL CONVERGENCE OF HORROR AND DOCUMENTARY CINEMAS
(Tuesday, 2 February) Screening: HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1922, Benjamin Christensen) WEEK 2: CARAVAGGIO'S LUMINOUS FLESH: SENSATION, CORPOREALITY, AND THE DOCUMENTARY (Tuesday, 9 February) Screening: LEÇONS DES TÉNÈBRES (1999, Vincent Dieutre) WEEK 3: THE MONSTROUS ARCHIVE(S): THE REDEPLOYMENT OF HORROR CINEMA BY FOUND FOOTAGE EXPERIMENTAL FILMMAKERS (Tuesday, 16 February) Screenings: Outer Space (2009, Peter Tscheserkassky) and other shorts WEEK 4: A BODY TOO FEW—HORROR REENACTMENT AND THE ACT OF KILLING (Tuesday, 23 February) Screening: The Act of Killing (2014, Joshua Oppenheimer) WEEK 5: HORROR DOCUDRAMA CINEMA MEETS THE AVANT-GARDE (Tuesday, 1 March) Screening: The War Game (1965, Peter Watkins) WEEK 6: "JESUS WEPT”: SAMPLING, SYMPATHY, AND THE ANIMAL IN INDUSTRIAL MUSIC (Tuesday, 8 March) Listening will include Skinny Puppy’s VIVIsectVI (1988) and RABIES (1989) and a possible screening WEEK 7: “WHAT IF?”: THE METAPHYSICAL HORROR OF THE CONDITIONAL TENSE DOCUMENTARY (Tuesday, 15 March) Screening: Dark Side of the Moon (Opération Lune) (2002, William Karel) |
Z'ISLE - Zombie Apocalypse in Montréal
Instructor: Lateef Martin
Tue. Dec. 1, 2015 (1 week)
Lateef Martin is the founder of transmedia company Miscellaneum Studios. He is also illustrator and co-writer of their first project: Seven years after a zombie apocalypse, Montréal must adapt to a world full of the undead. Welcome to the world of Z’ISLE. It is a comic-centered transmedia property that includes a comic book series and video game (under development). Each stand alone, but tell a greater story in combination. This format and the world itself welcomes the audience as co-creators of the locations, characters, and history. Z’ISLE is currently on issue four of nine of Volume one.
Instructor: Lateef Martin
Tue. Dec. 1, 2015 (1 week)
Lateef Martin is the founder of transmedia company Miscellaneum Studios. He is also illustrator and co-writer of their first project: Seven years after a zombie apocalypse, Montréal must adapt to a world full of the undead. Welcome to the world of Z’ISLE. It is a comic-centered transmedia property that includes a comic book series and video game (under development). Each stand alone, but tell a greater story in combination. This format and the world itself welcomes the audience as co-creators of the locations, characters, and history. Z’ISLE is currently on issue four of nine of Volume one.
“Daggers of the Mind”: Shakespeare’s Occult Influences and Japanese Horror
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tue. Nov. 17 + 24, 2015 (2 weeks)
This year’s edition of "Shakespeare and Horror" looks at Early Modern beliefs in witchcraft, magic, and especially mind-control. In addition to discussing Renaissance discourse on the “transitive” powers of vision and imagination—the notion that minds and matter can be influenced by another subject across the visual field—we’ll consider how Shakespeare’s allusions to proto-hypnosis, “fascination” by the evil eye, and demonic mental influences translate into the Japanese art-horror films of two (unrelated) Kurosawas. During our first session we’ll view Throne of Blood aka Spider Web Castle (1957), Akira Kurosawa’s gothic, Noh-influenced adaptation of Macbeth. In our second class we’ll watch Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure (1997), a cinematic initiation into a world mesmerism and contagious violence.
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tue. Nov. 17 + 24, 2015 (2 weeks)
This year’s edition of "Shakespeare and Horror" looks at Early Modern beliefs in witchcraft, magic, and especially mind-control. In addition to discussing Renaissance discourse on the “transitive” powers of vision and imagination—the notion that minds and matter can be influenced by another subject across the visual field—we’ll consider how Shakespeare’s allusions to proto-hypnosis, “fascination” by the evil eye, and demonic mental influences translate into the Japanese art-horror films of two (unrelated) Kurosawas. During our first session we’ll view Throne of Blood aka Spider Web Castle (1957), Akira Kurosawa’s gothic, Noh-influenced adaptation of Macbeth. In our second class we’ll watch Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure (1997), a cinematic initiation into a world mesmerism and contagious violence.
British Occult Cinema
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Oct. 20, 2015 - Tue. Nov. 3, 2015 (3 weeks)
The occult loomed large in British horror films of the latter part of the 20th century. In the Night of the Demon (1957) ancient folklore, arcane writings, séances and a malevolent magician are subject to the skeptical inquiries of a team of international paranormal investigators lead by Dana Andrews. The Witches (1966) follows a school teacher (Joan Fontaine) recovering from a mental breakdown while working in Africa as she takes up a new post in a peaceful and rather conservative English village. She soon finds out that not all is what it seems as she encounters the evil forces and sinister rituals lurking below the surface of an otherwise tranquil rural setting. The Devil Rides Out (1968), based on the novel of Denis Wheatley, gives a glimpse into the occult experiments of the 1920’s British upper-class. A world of ecstatic rituals, esoteric texts, demonic conjurations and the figure of Mocata, a practitioner of the magical arts based on the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. These three films reflect contemporary realities of gender, class, race, colonialism and modernity as post-war Britain dealt with the end of empire and profound social changes. These films also reflect popular conceptions of and reactions to various aspects of the Western occult tradition such as spiritualism, ceremonial magic and Wicca, the set of neo-pagan beliefs that was becoming known to a wider public for the first time as these movies were first released.
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Oct. 20, 2015 - Tue. Nov. 3, 2015 (3 weeks)
The occult loomed large in British horror films of the latter part of the 20th century. In the Night of the Demon (1957) ancient folklore, arcane writings, séances and a malevolent magician are subject to the skeptical inquiries of a team of international paranormal investigators lead by Dana Andrews. The Witches (1966) follows a school teacher (Joan Fontaine) recovering from a mental breakdown while working in Africa as she takes up a new post in a peaceful and rather conservative English village. She soon finds out that not all is what it seems as she encounters the evil forces and sinister rituals lurking below the surface of an otherwise tranquil rural setting. The Devil Rides Out (1968), based on the novel of Denis Wheatley, gives a glimpse into the occult experiments of the 1920’s British upper-class. A world of ecstatic rituals, esoteric texts, demonic conjurations and the figure of Mocata, a practitioner of the magical arts based on the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. These three films reflect contemporary realities of gender, class, race, colonialism and modernity as post-war Britain dealt with the end of empire and profound social changes. These films also reflect popular conceptions of and reactions to various aspects of the Western occult tradition such as spiritualism, ceremonial magic and Wicca, the set of neo-pagan beliefs that was becoming known to a wider public for the first time as these movies were first released.
Mondo Realism and the Cinema of Joe D'Amato
Instructor: Mario GeGiglio-Bellemare
Tue. Sep. 29, 2015 - Tue. Oct. 13, 2015 (3 weeks)
This course will examine Joe D’Amato’s body-centred films within the context of Italian cinema, the paracinematic, and genre studies. We will focus on what I call D’Amato’s "Mondo Realist" films, made within a very short period between 1975-1979. D’Amato’s films bridge Neo Realism and the Mondo film, which continue to be understood in almost mutually exclusive terms in film theory. His films offer a way to open up these categories through the embodied and sensual experiences of the porn and horror genres. Films: Emanuelle and Françoise (1975); Emanuelle in America (1977); Buio Omega (1979).
Instructor: Mario GeGiglio-Bellemare
Tue. Sep. 29, 2015 - Tue. Oct. 13, 2015 (3 weeks)
This course will examine Joe D’Amato’s body-centred films within the context of Italian cinema, the paracinematic, and genre studies. We will focus on what I call D’Amato’s "Mondo Realist" films, made within a very short period between 1975-1979. D’Amato’s films bridge Neo Realism and the Mondo film, which continue to be understood in almost mutually exclusive terms in film theory. His films offer a way to open up these categories through the embodied and sensual experiences of the porn and horror genres. Films: Emanuelle and Françoise (1975); Emanuelle in America (1977); Buio Omega (1979).
Hitchcock and the Apocalypse
Instructor: Ned Schantz
Tue. Apr. 7, 2015 - Tue. Apr. 21, 2015 (3 weeks)
(3 weeks) This 3-week course will revisit The Birds (Hitchcock 1963) as an approach to two unique films on the edge of the apocalyptic tradition: Safe (Haynes 1995) and Take Shelter (Nichols 2011). Like The Birds, these are relatively quiet melodramas overtaken by an uncanny horror that scrambles space and subject, defying explanation and leaving cinematic representation up for grabs. Together, the three films will let us consider the boundaries of the horror genre as well as its capacity to intervene in other modes and complicate the project of realism.
Instructor: Ned Schantz
Tue. Apr. 7, 2015 - Tue. Apr. 21, 2015 (3 weeks)
(3 weeks) This 3-week course will revisit The Birds (Hitchcock 1963) as an approach to two unique films on the edge of the apocalyptic tradition: Safe (Haynes 1995) and Take Shelter (Nichols 2011). Like The Birds, these are relatively quiet melodramas overtaken by an uncanny horror that scrambles space and subject, defying explanation and leaving cinematic representation up for grabs. Together, the three films will let us consider the boundaries of the horror genre as well as its capacity to intervene in other modes and complicate the project of realism.
Theorizing Horror, Part 2: Horror and Sensation
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Ayanna Dozier, Alanna Thain, Papagena Robbins, Anne Golden
Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 - Tue. Mar. 24, 2015 (5 weeks)
(five weeks) Our second instalment of horror theory courses focuses on the synesthetic pleasures and sensual pains of horror with five classes devoted to the body and the senses. Course content will include the place of affect theory in horror studies, the revelatory tradition in cinema and photography, Deleuzian bodies without organs, the desire and dread conjured by the Gothic documentary (gothumentary), and a trip through the nightmarish world of Kenneth Anger. We will also screen a wide variety of films and moving-image works, including French cinema of sensation, body horror, B-horror, avant-garde horror, documentary horror, and more.
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Ayanna Dozier, Alanna Thain, Papagena Robbins, Anne Golden
Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 - Tue. Mar. 24, 2015 (5 weeks)
(five weeks) Our second instalment of horror theory courses focuses on the synesthetic pleasures and sensual pains of horror with five classes devoted to the body and the senses. Course content will include the place of affect theory in horror studies, the revelatory tradition in cinema and photography, Deleuzian bodies without organs, the desire and dread conjured by the Gothic documentary (gothumentary), and a trip through the nightmarish world of Kenneth Anger. We will also screen a wide variety of films and moving-image works, including French cinema of sensation, body horror, B-horror, avant-garde horror, documentary horror, and more.
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WEEK 1: FEBRUARY 17 - "AFFECT, SENSATION, AND HORROR STUDIES
Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
Kristopher Woofter
WEEK 3: MARCH 10 - INTENSITIES: DAVID LYNCH BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH Ayanna Dozier and Alanna Thain
Papagena Robbins
Anne Golden
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Gothic Science
Instructors: Pradeep Pilai, Ursula Misztal
Tue. Feb. 3, 2015 - Tue. Feb. 10, 2015 (2 weeks)
The anxiety unleashed by the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century helped propel a new Romantic sensibility regarding the natural sciences. The mixture of both fear and fascination that accompanied the discoveries of new, almost magic-like forces – particularly those in electromagnetism and electrochemistry, as made famous by Luigi’s Galvani’s demonstration of “animal electricity” – have become a persistent theme in the genre of both horror and science fiction from Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818) onward. This course will trace how our current notions of science, which first arose during this period, have served continuously as a cipher for both the anxieties and perceived horrors of modernity in literature and film. The Romantic period was also the beginning of what has been called the "Second Scientific Revolution", a revolution which began with the investigation of the so-called "imponderable fluids" -- that is, electricity, heat, and magnetism. This lecture will discuss how the study of what was regarded as semi-occult forces and 'fluids' provided critical impetus to the Romantic imagination's attempt to explain how matter could be animated to give rise to machines, both biological and mechanical, living and dead. The lecture will demonstrate how a new scientific metaphysics served as a source for the "fantastic" and "uncanny" in Gothic fiction and film, from Frankenstein through to the Gothic-Noir film Blade Runner, thus illustrating how the Gothic can be viewed as the shadow of scientific realism.
Instructors: Pradeep Pilai, Ursula Misztal
Tue. Feb. 3, 2015 - Tue. Feb. 10, 2015 (2 weeks)
The anxiety unleashed by the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century helped propel a new Romantic sensibility regarding the natural sciences. The mixture of both fear and fascination that accompanied the discoveries of new, almost magic-like forces – particularly those in electromagnetism and electrochemistry, as made famous by Luigi’s Galvani’s demonstration of “animal electricity” – have become a persistent theme in the genre of both horror and science fiction from Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818) onward. This course will trace how our current notions of science, which first arose during this period, have served continuously as a cipher for both the anxieties and perceived horrors of modernity in literature and film. The Romantic period was also the beginning of what has been called the "Second Scientific Revolution", a revolution which began with the investigation of the so-called "imponderable fluids" -- that is, electricity, heat, and magnetism. This lecture will discuss how the study of what was regarded as semi-occult forces and 'fluids' provided critical impetus to the Romantic imagination's attempt to explain how matter could be animated to give rise to machines, both biological and mechanical, living and dead. The lecture will demonstrate how a new scientific metaphysics served as a source for the "fantastic" and "uncanny" in Gothic fiction and film, from Frankenstein through to the Gothic-Noir film Blade Runner, thus illustrating how the Gothic can be viewed as the shadow of scientific realism.
Petite philosophie du zombie
Instructeur: Maxime Coulombe
Tue. Dec. 2, 2014 (1 semaine)
Présenté en français. Depuis un siècle, la figure du zombie a changé, s’est transformée, a évolué, s’est adaptée aux différentes cultures qui l’auront invoquée. Pour la culture haïtienne, le zombie aura été la figure cauchemardesque de l’esclavage, d’une servitude faisant de l’individu un simple pantin incapable même de s’arracher à sa condition par la pensée. Il aura aussi matérialisé cet étrange pouvoir, inspiré de la religion catholique, de ramener les morts à la vie. Il aura incarné, en Occident, la figure d’un châtiment divin et le retour des morts à la vie, la métaphore d’une inquiétude quant à un nouvel avatar de la mort – le sida – et la crainte des recherches sur la biotechnologie. Le zombie aura de même figuré l’inquiétude d’une époque, la nôtre, quant au sens de la mort. Le zombie, pour nous, aura été le monstre d’une certaine vacuité, voire d’une certaine fatigue de l’Occident. Le zombie est figure d’inquiétudes – il représente nos craintes, ce que nous préférerions taire. C’est bien en cela qu’il se fait symptôme de ce qui taraude la conscience de notre époque. L’image – le cinéma, le jeu vidéo – n’est pas uniquement une fiction, un divertissement, elle est aussi la marque d’une époque, et en cela le moyen d’une analyse. Voilà pourquoi à côté d’une analyse du zombie comme produit typiquement commercial de notre époque, il importe aussi de l’appréhender comme un produit psychique : on y découvre alors quelques-unes des principales raisons de sa prodigieuse popularité actuelle.
Instructeur: Maxime Coulombe
Tue. Dec. 2, 2014 (1 semaine)
Présenté en français. Depuis un siècle, la figure du zombie a changé, s’est transformée, a évolué, s’est adaptée aux différentes cultures qui l’auront invoquée. Pour la culture haïtienne, le zombie aura été la figure cauchemardesque de l’esclavage, d’une servitude faisant de l’individu un simple pantin incapable même de s’arracher à sa condition par la pensée. Il aura aussi matérialisé cet étrange pouvoir, inspiré de la religion catholique, de ramener les morts à la vie. Il aura incarné, en Occident, la figure d’un châtiment divin et le retour des morts à la vie, la métaphore d’une inquiétude quant à un nouvel avatar de la mort – le sida – et la crainte des recherches sur la biotechnologie. Le zombie aura de même figuré l’inquiétude d’une époque, la nôtre, quant au sens de la mort. Le zombie, pour nous, aura été le monstre d’une certaine vacuité, voire d’une certaine fatigue de l’Occident. Le zombie est figure d’inquiétudes – il représente nos craintes, ce que nous préférerions taire. C’est bien en cela qu’il se fait symptôme de ce qui taraude la conscience de notre époque. L’image – le cinéma, le jeu vidéo – n’est pas uniquement une fiction, un divertissement, elle est aussi la marque d’une époque, et en cela le moyen d’une analyse. Voilà pourquoi à côté d’une analyse du zombie comme produit typiquement commercial de notre époque, il importe aussi de l’appréhender comme un produit psychique : on y découvre alors quelques-unes des principales raisons de sa prodigieuse popularité actuelle.
Shakespeare and Horror
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tue. Nov. 18, 2014 - Tue. Nov. 25, 2014 (2 weeks)
OCCULTISM, MONSTERS, DISMEMBERMENT, CANNIBALISM—these are some of the spectacles that earned Shakespeare star power in his time and continue to secure his cultural authority and commercial worth today. This two-session course will explore Shakespeare’s ongoing relationship to “horror.” In it we will begin with a broad overview of Elizabethan contexts (revenge tragedies, demonological discourse, monster shows); move to a discussion of Shakespeare’s unusual place among 19th-century freak shows; and end by examining 20th- and 21st century “horror” films adapted from or inspired by Shakespeare’s most horrific mindbenders and gore-fests.
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tue. Nov. 18, 2014 - Tue. Nov. 25, 2014 (2 weeks)
OCCULTISM, MONSTERS, DISMEMBERMENT, CANNIBALISM—these are some of the spectacles that earned Shakespeare star power in his time and continue to secure his cultural authority and commercial worth today. This two-session course will explore Shakespeare’s ongoing relationship to “horror.” In it we will begin with a broad overview of Elizabethan contexts (revenge tragedies, demonological discourse, monster shows); move to a discussion of Shakespeare’s unusual place among 19th-century freak shows; and end by examining 20th- and 21st century “horror” films adapted from or inspired by Shakespeare’s most horrific mindbenders and gore-fests.
Beyond Conan: The Horror Literature of Robert E. Howard
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Nov. 4, 2014 - Tue. Nov. 11, 2014 (2 weeks)
Michael Wood returns fresh from his lecture on pseudo-archaeology for our course on H.P. Lovecraft to take on one of HPL’s contemporaries and most frequent correspondents, Robert E. Howard. Despite his enormous influence on popular culture, Howard's name is barely recognizable as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, and master of the sword and sorcery genre. But the troubled author also produced a significant body of work that was an inventive blend of dark fantasy and horror in tales like Red Nails (first serialized in 1936 in Weird Tales) and "Pigeons from Hell," the latter tale adapted for an episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted 60s horror TV series, Thriller. Howard also created horror-adventurer, Solomon Kane, in a series of tales that inspired a recent film adaptation, and he produced (upon Lovecraft's encouragement) numerous tales inspired by Lovecraft's fictional topography, which helped to generate an intertextual body of fiction that is now dubbed the "Cthulhu Mythos."
Instructor: Michael Wood
Tue. Nov. 4, 2014 - Tue. Nov. 11, 2014 (2 weeks)
Michael Wood returns fresh from his lecture on pseudo-archaeology for our course on H.P. Lovecraft to take on one of HPL’s contemporaries and most frequent correspondents, Robert E. Howard. Despite his enormous influence on popular culture, Howard's name is barely recognizable as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, and master of the sword and sorcery genre. But the troubled author also produced a significant body of work that was an inventive blend of dark fantasy and horror in tales like Red Nails (first serialized in 1936 in Weird Tales) and "Pigeons from Hell," the latter tale adapted for an episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted 60s horror TV series, Thriller. Howard also created horror-adventurer, Solomon Kane, in a series of tales that inspired a recent film adaptation, and he produced (upon Lovecraft's encouragement) numerous tales inspired by Lovecraft's fictional topography, which helped to generate an intertextual body of fiction that is now dubbed the "Cthulhu Mythos."
Blood Born: Invasion of the Body
Instructor: Karen Herland
Tue. Oct. 7, 2014 - Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 (3 weeks)
The advent of AIDS coalesced cultural fears around otherness, sexual danger and the tension between nature and science. Horror films often explore the body made unfamiliar through infection or mutation. Blood Born traces the spectre of infected bodies, and their cultural resonance with AIDS – in sexual, racial and border-defying terms. How much did early representations of AIDS borrow from classic horror texts? Do works as diverse as Cronenberg’s films and Charles Burns’ graphic classic BLACK HOLE inevitably demand rereading through the lens of HIV infection?
Instructor: Karen Herland
Tue. Oct. 7, 2014 - Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 (3 weeks)
The advent of AIDS coalesced cultural fears around otherness, sexual danger and the tension between nature and science. Horror films often explore the body made unfamiliar through infection or mutation. Blood Born traces the spectre of infected bodies, and their cultural resonance with AIDS – in sexual, racial and border-defying terms. How much did early representations of AIDS borrow from classic horror texts? Do works as diverse as Cronenberg’s films and Charles Burns’ graphic classic BLACK HOLE inevitably demand rereading through the lens of HIV infection?
“Pure Provocation”: Avant-Garde Horror Cinema(s)
Instructor: Anne Golden
Tue. Mar. 18, 2014 - Tue. Apr. 1, 2014 (3 weeks)
This course will investigate the locus of horror within avant-garde cinema(s). Beginning with canonical films which are examples of Dadaism and Surrealism, the course will progress through European and American avant-garde horror, including the work of Jean Cocteau, J.S. Watson and Melville Webber, Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, Sidney Peterson, Arthur Lipsett, Shirley Clarke and recent examples of Canadian independent media artworks. We will look briefly at manifestos written in the early period of film history. These manifestos were written by Dadaists, Futurists and Surrealists and called for cinema to be both ‘pure’ (Louis Aragon, Guillaume Apollinaire) and a ‘provocation’ (The Futurists).
Instructor: Anne Golden
Tue. Mar. 18, 2014 - Tue. Apr. 1, 2014 (3 weeks)
This course will investigate the locus of horror within avant-garde cinema(s). Beginning with canonical films which are examples of Dadaism and Surrealism, the course will progress through European and American avant-garde horror, including the work of Jean Cocteau, J.S. Watson and Melville Webber, Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, Sidney Peterson, Arthur Lipsett, Shirley Clarke and recent examples of Canadian independent media artworks. We will look briefly at manifestos written in the early period of film history. These manifestos were written by Dadaists, Futurists and Surrealists and called for cinema to be both ‘pure’ (Louis Aragon, Guillaume Apollinaire) and a ‘provocation’ (The Futurists).
H.P. Lovecraft – From Cosmic Horror to Heavy Metal
Instructors: Kristopher Woofter, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Carl Sederholm, Michael Wood
Tue. Feb. 4, 2014 - Tue. Mar. 4, 2014 (5 weeks)
Horror fiction writer, theorist, philosopher, and prolific epistolarian, H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most important American authors of the 20th century. Lovecraft was a mentor to major horror writers such as Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury. His work has inspired everything from film festivals, to board games, to the ancient alien theories popularized by TV shows like In Search of …. Over this five-week course, various instructors will lecture on key aspects of Lovecraft's work and influence, including his influence on heavy metal music, his connections to theology, his inspiration from and influence on pseudo-science, his importance to 20th century horror literature, television, cinema, music and gaming, and his influence on major authors of the "Weird," like Peter Straub, Stephen King, China Miéville, Thomas Ligotti, Joyce Carol Oates, Kathe Koja and Caitlín Kiernan. Individual Classes and Instructors Readings for all classes can be found at the H.P. Lovecraft Library page at H.P.Lovecraft.com: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/ 4 February: Shedding the Gothic, Theorizing the Weird: H.P. Lovecraft's Mid- to Late-Period Works (Instructor: Kristopher Woofter) Reading for the Class: "The Colour Out of Space" (1927) 11 February: Religious Awe and Otherness in the Early Works of H.P. Lovecraft (Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare) Reading for the Class: "Dagon" (1917) & "The Shunned House" (1924) 18 February: H.P. Lovecraft's Influence on Heavy Metal Music (Guest Instructor: Carl Sederholm, Brigham Young University) Reading for the Class: Edgar Allan Poe's "Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (1845) & H.P. Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter" (1920) and "The Dunwich Horror" (1929) 25 February: Pseudo-archaeology and the Lovecraftian Narrative (Guest Instructor: Michael Wood, with K. Woofter) Reading for the Class: "The Nameless City" (1921) 4 March: Screening and Discussion, film TBA
Instructors: Kristopher Woofter, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Carl Sederholm, Michael Wood
Tue. Feb. 4, 2014 - Tue. Mar. 4, 2014 (5 weeks)
Horror fiction writer, theorist, philosopher, and prolific epistolarian, H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most important American authors of the 20th century. Lovecraft was a mentor to major horror writers such as Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury. His work has inspired everything from film festivals, to board games, to the ancient alien theories popularized by TV shows like In Search of …. Over this five-week course, various instructors will lecture on key aspects of Lovecraft's work and influence, including his influence on heavy metal music, his connections to theology, his inspiration from and influence on pseudo-science, his importance to 20th century horror literature, television, cinema, music and gaming, and his influence on major authors of the "Weird," like Peter Straub, Stephen King, China Miéville, Thomas Ligotti, Joyce Carol Oates, Kathe Koja and Caitlín Kiernan. Individual Classes and Instructors Readings for all classes can be found at the H.P. Lovecraft Library page at H.P.Lovecraft.com: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/ 4 February: Shedding the Gothic, Theorizing the Weird: H.P. Lovecraft's Mid- to Late-Period Works (Instructor: Kristopher Woofter) Reading for the Class: "The Colour Out of Space" (1927) 11 February: Religious Awe and Otherness in the Early Works of H.P. Lovecraft (Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare) Reading for the Class: "Dagon" (1917) & "The Shunned House" (1924) 18 February: H.P. Lovecraft's Influence on Heavy Metal Music (Guest Instructor: Carl Sederholm, Brigham Young University) Reading for the Class: Edgar Allan Poe's "Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (1845) & H.P. Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter" (1920) and "The Dunwich Horror" (1929) 25 February: Pseudo-archaeology and the Lovecraftian Narrative (Guest Instructor: Michael Wood, with K. Woofter) Reading for the Class: "The Nameless City" (1921) 4 March: Screening and Discussion, film TBA
Queer Bites!
Instructor: Cory Legassic
Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 - Tue. Jan. 28, 2014 (2 weeks)
Come sink your teeth into a few queer questions about horror films that rub many queer fans the right way. Let’s take up Halberstam’s (1995) call to look for queer bodies in horror film that “present a monstrous arrangement of skin, flesh, social mores, pleasures, dangers and wounds.” We will take “queer forms of pleasure” in Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Bruce LaBruce’s Otto; or Up with Dead People(2008).
Instructor: Cory Legassic
Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 - Tue. Jan. 28, 2014 (2 weeks)
Come sink your teeth into a few queer questions about horror films that rub many queer fans the right way. Let’s take up Halberstam’s (1995) call to look for queer bodies in horror film that “present a monstrous arrangement of skin, flesh, social mores, pleasures, dangers and wounds.” We will take “queer forms of pleasure” in Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Bruce LaBruce’s Otto; or Up with Dead People(2008).
The Big, the Bad and the Impossible: The Physics of Movie Monsters
Instructor: Chris Whittaker
Tue. Dec. 10, 2013 (1 week)
Equal parts special-effects marvel and revelation of cultural anxieties, the colossal movie monster has fascinated audiences since perhaps its most famous incarnation in King Kong (1933). From gargantuan radioactive ants in the 1950's classic THEM! (1954) to the resurrected t-rex in Jurassic Park (1993), these giants seem unstoppable. But are they even possible? Nature has rules, after all. In this talk, movie monsters meet physics—and the news isn't very good for the monsters.
Instructor: Chris Whittaker
Tue. Dec. 10, 2013 (1 week)
Equal parts special-effects marvel and revelation of cultural anxieties, the colossal movie monster has fascinated audiences since perhaps its most famous incarnation in King Kong (1933). From gargantuan radioactive ants in the 1950's classic THEM! (1954) to the resurrected t-rex in Jurassic Park (1993), these giants seem unstoppable. But are they even possible? Nature has rules, after all. In this talk, movie monsters meet physics—and the news isn't very good for the monsters.
Transformations et métamorphoses: l’effet spécial et le cinéma d’horreur
Instructor: Éric Falardeau
Tue. Nov. 12, 2013 - Tue. Nov. 26, 2013 (3 semaines)
Présenté en français. L’effet spécial est indissociable du cinéma de genre et particulièrement du cinéma d’horreur qui, de par sa nature, ne peut pas ne pas montrer. Des trucs horrificos-comiques de Méliès (fondus, arrêts de manivelle, surimpressions, etc.) aux disparitions et autres transformations du cinéma actuel qui sont directement réalisées à l’intérieur du plan (les maquillages, maquettes, etc.) ou ajoutées par ordinateur (morphing, blue screen, etc.), les innovations techniques ont permis de sans cesse repousser les limites de ce qui est possible de montrer à l’écran. Les effets spéciaux ont également modifié l’esthétique cinématographique en imposant de nouveaux modes de filmage et de montage. L’art du montage d’une scène à effets consiste entre autre à trouver un équilibre entre le vrai et le faux permettant d’apprécier la virtuosité du metteur en scène ou de l’effet en lui-même. Tel un baron Frankenstein, le cinéaste morcelle l’action (plans et effets spéciaux) et la recoud par le montage (transitions, effets, mise en scène) afin soit de tromper le spectateur, soit de l’épater par les prouesses techniques accomplies. Pour qu’un effet soit réussi, il doit être filmé puis monté de la bonne manière. Comprendre la nature des effets spéciaux (son esthétique, sa technologie, son public), c’est donc par extension saisir un peu mieux le médium cinématographique, le genre horrifique et comment ce dernier (s’) est construit. Le cours se divisera en trois volets : historique, esthétique et théorique. Dans un premier temps, nous définirons ce qu’est un effet spécial puis nous inscrirons son existence et sa pratique à l’intérieur de l’histoire plus globale du cinéma et celle du cinéma de genre. Nous explorerons ensuite comment les techniques d’effets spéciaux ont transformé le genre horrifique aux niveaux esthétique, narratif et thématique. Finalement, nous aborderons les questionnements théoriques qui surgissent à propos ou en périphérie de l’effet spécial (qu’il s’agisse du cinéma des attractions ou de l’approche psychanalytique). Projections: Inferno (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1919, Italie), The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982, États-Unis), troisième titre à determiner.
Instructor: Éric Falardeau
Tue. Nov. 12, 2013 - Tue. Nov. 26, 2013 (3 semaines)
Présenté en français. L’effet spécial est indissociable du cinéma de genre et particulièrement du cinéma d’horreur qui, de par sa nature, ne peut pas ne pas montrer. Des trucs horrificos-comiques de Méliès (fondus, arrêts de manivelle, surimpressions, etc.) aux disparitions et autres transformations du cinéma actuel qui sont directement réalisées à l’intérieur du plan (les maquillages, maquettes, etc.) ou ajoutées par ordinateur (morphing, blue screen, etc.), les innovations techniques ont permis de sans cesse repousser les limites de ce qui est possible de montrer à l’écran. Les effets spéciaux ont également modifié l’esthétique cinématographique en imposant de nouveaux modes de filmage et de montage. L’art du montage d’une scène à effets consiste entre autre à trouver un équilibre entre le vrai et le faux permettant d’apprécier la virtuosité du metteur en scène ou de l’effet en lui-même. Tel un baron Frankenstein, le cinéaste morcelle l’action (plans et effets spéciaux) et la recoud par le montage (transitions, effets, mise en scène) afin soit de tromper le spectateur, soit de l’épater par les prouesses techniques accomplies. Pour qu’un effet soit réussi, il doit être filmé puis monté de la bonne manière. Comprendre la nature des effets spéciaux (son esthétique, sa technologie, son public), c’est donc par extension saisir un peu mieux le médium cinématographique, le genre horrifique et comment ce dernier (s’) est construit. Le cours se divisera en trois volets : historique, esthétique et théorique. Dans un premier temps, nous définirons ce qu’est un effet spécial puis nous inscrirons son existence et sa pratique à l’intérieur de l’histoire plus globale du cinéma et celle du cinéma de genre. Nous explorerons ensuite comment les techniques d’effets spéciaux ont transformé le genre horrifique aux niveaux esthétique, narratif et thématique. Finalement, nous aborderons les questionnements théoriques qui surgissent à propos ou en périphérie de l’effet spécial (qu’il s’agisse du cinéma des attractions ou de l’approche psychanalytique). Projections: Inferno (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1919, Italie), The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982, États-Unis), troisième titre à determiner.
The Elephant Man in the Room
Instructor: Cory Legassic
Tuesdays, October 15th to October 29th, 2013 (3 weeks)
From “freaks” to “creepers,” Hollywood horror has capitalized on the “crip” body for decades. From disability as metaphor, plot device, or the manifestation of monstrosity itself, we’ll explore “freakshows” and “abnormal” bodies in films, and ask what bodies on screen can suggest about broader ideological shifts in American culture in the 1930s-40s. In this course, Cory Legassic draws links between Browning’s Freaks (1932) and Universal’s “Creeper” films, and the fall of the studio system with the 1949 Hollywood Anti-Trust Act.
Instructor: Cory Legassic
Tuesdays, October 15th to October 29th, 2013 (3 weeks)
From “freaks” to “creepers,” Hollywood horror has capitalized on the “crip” body for decades. From disability as metaphor, plot device, or the manifestation of monstrosity itself, we’ll explore “freakshows” and “abnormal” bodies in films, and ask what bodies on screen can suggest about broader ideological shifts in American culture in the 1930s-40s. In this course, Cory Legassic draws links between Browning’s Freaks (1932) and Universal’s “Creeper” films, and the fall of the studio system with the 1949 Hollywood Anti-Trust Act.
Shock and Draw: Horror Comics
Instructor: Dru Jeffries
Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 (1 week)
In the post-WWII comics industry, superheroes were on the decline and horror stories, particularly those published by William Gaines’ EC Comics, were on the rise. These graphic morality tales — including such familiar titles as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear – inspired a rabid readership, but they also attracted the attention of social interest groups that accused these books of corrupting young minds. Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, who led the public crusade against comics, argued not just that horror comics had a negative influence on their readers, but that comics as a medium was fundamentally degenerative. This lecture will historicize the rise and fall of the horror genre in post-war comics and interrogate, using specific examples from the comics, the arguments made against the medium. When possible, we will look specifically at comics that would later be adapted cinematically and/or televisually in order to compare and contrast different modes of representation. Screenings may include clips from Tales from the Crypt (dir. Freddie Francis, 1972), The Vault of Horror (dir. Roy Ward Baker, 1973), Creepshow (dir. George Romero, 1982), and Tales from the Crypt (HBO, 1989-1996).
Instructor: Dru Jeffries
Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 (1 week)
In the post-WWII comics industry, superheroes were on the decline and horror stories, particularly those published by William Gaines’ EC Comics, were on the rise. These graphic morality tales — including such familiar titles as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear – inspired a rabid readership, but they also attracted the attention of social interest groups that accused these books of corrupting young minds. Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, who led the public crusade against comics, argued not just that horror comics had a negative influence on their readers, but that comics as a medium was fundamentally degenerative. This lecture will historicize the rise and fall of the horror genre in post-war comics and interrogate, using specific examples from the comics, the arguments made against the medium. When possible, we will look specifically at comics that would later be adapted cinematically and/or televisually in order to compare and contrast different modes of representation. Screenings may include clips from Tales from the Crypt (dir. Freddie Francis, 1972), The Vault of Horror (dir. Roy Ward Baker, 1973), Creepshow (dir. George Romero, 1982), and Tales from the Crypt (HBO, 1989-1996).
Homesick Horror
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tuesdays, September 17th and 24th, 2013 (2 weeks)
Starting with ideas from Sigmund Freud and Anthony Vidler, this class considers homesickness as a cornerstone of the uncanny and as the imaginative center of what we will loosely call haunted house films from German Expressionism to the slasher and beyond. We will feel our way through sick, seeing, and beckoning homes: diseased structures shaped by troubled perspectives and characterized by irrational angles and impossible relations between interior and exterior. Simultaneously we will think about homesickness in the more conventional sense of the word, as we examine the narrative importance of nostalgia and the compulsion to return to safe spaces and slaughterhouses alike. Films and shows for discussion include Robert Wise’s The Haunting, the X-Files episode “Home” (1996) and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
Instructor: Jay Shea
Tuesdays, September 17th and 24th, 2013 (2 weeks)
Starting with ideas from Sigmund Freud and Anthony Vidler, this class considers homesickness as a cornerstone of the uncanny and as the imaginative center of what we will loosely call haunted house films from German Expressionism to the slasher and beyond. We will feel our way through sick, seeing, and beckoning homes: diseased structures shaped by troubled perspectives and characterized by irrational angles and impossible relations between interior and exterior. Simultaneously we will think about homesickness in the more conventional sense of the word, as we examine the narrative importance of nostalgia and the compulsion to return to safe spaces and slaughterhouses alike. Films and shows for discussion include Robert Wise’s The Haunting, the X-Files episode “Home” (1996) and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
"Basha" Film Poster Exhibit and Talk
Curator: Daniel Bird
Fri. Jul. 26, 2013 - Sun. Aug. 4, 2013 - 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
J.A. de Seve Cinema, Concordia University
BASHA: FILM POSTERS Rare North American Exhibit as part of the Fantasia Film Festival Co-presented by The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies and Spectacular Optical Friday July 26-Sunday August 4, 2013 J.A. de Seve Cinema Foyer Talk by Daniel Bird: Friday July 26, 3:30pm-4:30-pm Barbara ‘Basia’ Baranowska - best known in North America for her poster for Andrzej Zulawski's POSSESSION - is the unsung hero of Polish poster art. Whereas the likes of Jan Lenica developed a distinct, often instantly recognizable style, Barbara Baranowska was a chameleon (as reflected in her alternating use of 'Basia', 'Basha' and 'Bacha' as her professional name). She donned a variety of graphic personae – from the sometimes brutal cut outs of her early Polish book jackets to voluptuous, almost psychedelic surrealism of her French film posters. -Text by Curator Daniel Bird
Curator: Daniel Bird
Fri. Jul. 26, 2013 - Sun. Aug. 4, 2013 - 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
J.A. de Seve Cinema, Concordia University
BASHA: FILM POSTERS Rare North American Exhibit as part of the Fantasia Film Festival Co-presented by The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies and Spectacular Optical Friday July 26-Sunday August 4, 2013 J.A. de Seve Cinema Foyer Talk by Daniel Bird: Friday July 26, 3:30pm-4:30-pm Barbara ‘Basia’ Baranowska - best known in North America for her poster for Andrzej Zulawski's POSSESSION - is the unsung hero of Polish poster art. Whereas the likes of Jan Lenica developed a distinct, often instantly recognizable style, Barbara Baranowska was a chameleon (as reflected in her alternating use of 'Basia', 'Basha' and 'Bacha' as her professional name). She donned a variety of graphic personae – from the sometimes brutal cut outs of her early Polish book jackets to voluptuous, almost psychedelic surrealism of her French film posters. -Text by Curator Daniel Bird
Dreaming Revolt: Jean Rollin, the French Fantastique, and Beyond
Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
Tuesdays, April 16-30, 2013 (3 weeks)
A filmmaker ridiculed by film critics and genre fans alike, Jean Rollin (1938-2010) has only recently begun to find acceptance in his native France. Rollin was first discussed in a positive light in the Anglo-Saxon world by British author David Pirie, who championed him as a pioneer of the sex-vampire movie in his book The Vampire Cinema (1977). However, genre fans in North America only began to see Rollin’s films in earnest when a mail-order company called Video Search of Miami released “special edition” VHS tapes of his films in 1995. Rollin’s films have been described in often paradoxical ways, from poetic and literary, to absurdist and oneiric, to technically inept and narratively impenetrable. Hence, Rollin films occupy a liminal space in film history – where art-house horror mixes with sexual taboo, where the fantastique tradition mixes with the “serial film,” and where lyricism mixes with the macabre – resulting in a disarmingly unique and personal cinematic vision. This three-week course will examine the career of Jean Rollin (aka Michel Gentil) within the specific trajectories that inform his oeuvres as a French genre filmmaker: the history of the French fantastique, the impact of the surrealist movement, the historical (and political) context of sexploitation and pornography in the 1970s and 1980s, and finally, an aspect rarely discussed about his work, the influence of the Parisian Grand-Guignol theatre (1897-1962).
Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
Tuesdays, April 16-30, 2013 (3 weeks)
A filmmaker ridiculed by film critics and genre fans alike, Jean Rollin (1938-2010) has only recently begun to find acceptance in his native France. Rollin was first discussed in a positive light in the Anglo-Saxon world by British author David Pirie, who championed him as a pioneer of the sex-vampire movie in his book The Vampire Cinema (1977). However, genre fans in North America only began to see Rollin’s films in earnest when a mail-order company called Video Search of Miami released “special edition” VHS tapes of his films in 1995. Rollin’s films have been described in often paradoxical ways, from poetic and literary, to absurdist and oneiric, to technically inept and narratively impenetrable. Hence, Rollin films occupy a liminal space in film history – where art-house horror mixes with sexual taboo, where the fantastique tradition mixes with the “serial film,” and where lyricism mixes with the macabre – resulting in a disarmingly unique and personal cinematic vision. This three-week course will examine the career of Jean Rollin (aka Michel Gentil) within the specific trajectories that inform his oeuvres as a French genre filmmaker: the history of the French fantastique, the impact of the surrealist movement, the historical (and political) context of sexploitation and pornography in the 1970s and 1980s, and finally, an aspect rarely discussed about his work, the influence of the Parisian Grand-Guignol theatre (1897-1962).
Stepping Through Time: The Science of Time Travel
Instructor: Chris Whittaker
Tuesdays, March 19 + 26, 2013 (2 weeks)
“The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, but it is queerer than we can imagine.”
— J. B. S. Haldane
Can we travel through time? Can we slow the ticking of a clock? Could we watch our sun age a billion years and turn to dust, all between lunch and dinner? The answer to each of these questions, surprisingly, is ‘yes’ (mostly). Of course, movies love to play with time, but are they playing fair? This two-class course punctuated by a dazzling arrray of film and TV clips will explore time in science-fiction and in science-fact. To understand time we will dive into physics by exploring the basics of theories like Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, but we won’t dive too deep. No background in science or mathematics is required, but there will be select readings.
Instructor: Chris Whittaker
Tuesdays, March 19 + 26, 2013 (2 weeks)
“The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, but it is queerer than we can imagine.”
— J. B. S. Haldane
Can we travel through time? Can we slow the ticking of a clock? Could we watch our sun age a billion years and turn to dust, all between lunch and dinner? The answer to each of these questions, surprisingly, is ‘yes’ (mostly). Of course, movies love to play with time, but are they playing fair? This two-class course punctuated by a dazzling arrray of film and TV clips will explore time in science-fiction and in science-fact. To understand time we will dive into physics by exploring the basics of theories like Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, but we won’t dive too deep. No background in science or mathematics is required, but there will be select readings.
Small Screens, Big Chills: Classic American TV Horror
Instructors: Karen Herland, Kristopher Woofter, Philip L. Simpson, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Kier-La Janisse
Tuesdays, January 22 – February 26, 2013 (6 weeks)
As we reflect upon the recent popularity of horror melodramas such as True Blood, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, it becomes essential to explore the influence of earlier examples of TV horror (aka Gothic TV, or what television scholar Helen Wheatley has referred to as ‘telefantasy’). In his book The Pleasures of Horror, Matt Hills has argued that TV horror should be seen not as a “para-site” of the genre, but as a major influence on the development of horror. This course takes up this issue with reference to representative horror TV series and made-for-TV horror films, and the horror conventions, themes and issues they both borrowed from, and helped to establish in, cinematic and literary horror. We will cover three of the most influential horror-themed television shows of the “classic” period of horror TV, from roughly 1950 to 1980: writer-producer Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), writer-producer Joseph Stephano’s The Outer Limits (1963-1965), and Dan Curtis’s unique daytime Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966-1971). In addition to these “key” series, the course will also look at less popular and more short-lived horror TV series such as One Step Beyond (1959-61), something of a prototype for later shows like Unsolved Mysteries, and the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series, The Veil (1958) and Thriller (1960-1962). The final two classes will address feature-length made-for-TV horror films that proliferated throughout the 1970s (Crowhaven Farm, Duel, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Bad Ronald), as well as iconic horror hosts such as Vampira, Ghoulardi, Zacherley and Elvira, who helped to bring horror films into TV viewers’ homes.
Instructors: Karen Herland, Kristopher Woofter, Philip L. Simpson, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Anne Golden, Kier-La Janisse
Tuesdays, January 22 – February 26, 2013 (6 weeks)
As we reflect upon the recent popularity of horror melodramas such as True Blood, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, it becomes essential to explore the influence of earlier examples of TV horror (aka Gothic TV, or what television scholar Helen Wheatley has referred to as ‘telefantasy’). In his book The Pleasures of Horror, Matt Hills has argued that TV horror should be seen not as a “para-site” of the genre, but as a major influence on the development of horror. This course takes up this issue with reference to representative horror TV series and made-for-TV horror films, and the horror conventions, themes and issues they both borrowed from, and helped to establish in, cinematic and literary horror. We will cover three of the most influential horror-themed television shows of the “classic” period of horror TV, from roughly 1950 to 1980: writer-producer Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), writer-producer Joseph Stephano’s The Outer Limits (1963-1965), and Dan Curtis’s unique daytime Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966-1971). In addition to these “key” series, the course will also look at less popular and more short-lived horror TV series such as One Step Beyond (1959-61), something of a prototype for later shows like Unsolved Mysteries, and the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series, The Veil (1958) and Thriller (1960-1962). The final two classes will address feature-length made-for-TV horror films that proliferated throughout the 1970s (Crowhaven Farm, Duel, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Bad Ronald), as well as iconic horror hosts such as Vampira, Ghoulardi, Zacherley and Elvira, who helped to bring horror films into TV viewers’ homes.
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Week 1: Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Space of Subversion: Limited Perspective and Liminal Horror in Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959-64) Instructors: Karen Herland and Kristopher Woofter “Now the fear is no longer vague. The terror isn’t formless; it has a form.” — from The Twilight Zone episode, “The Hitch-hiker,” aired 22 January 1960 The brainchild of writer-producer Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone was an oasis of the fantastic in a desert of quotidian American TV shows that perpetuated the stifling patriarchal ideals of the American domestic sphere, from Father Knows Best,to Leave it to Beaver, to My Three Sons. Serling’s magnum opus was diverse enough to include horror, fantasy, satire and even dark comedy, and proved to be one of the most successful and influential series ever on American television. Serling wrote 99 of the show’s 156 aired episodes; others were written by literary horror giants such as Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Classic episodes of the show include the William Shatner-starring “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the science-fiction tinged classic, “Where Is Everybody?,” and the speculative moral tale, “Time Enough at Last.” Our entry point will be with the show’s specific engagement with the discourses and conventions of horror and the fantastic, dredging up the terror of the mundane and the everyday as a way to open up spaces for analyses of culture and politics. We will show three representative episodes of the series, each of which responds to one of three key Twilight Zone themes: Fragmented Subjectivity and Limited Perspective, Suburban Paranoia, and Cosmic Paradigmatic Shifts. Week 2: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 TV Horror’s “Others” and the (Pulp) Anthology Series: Lights Out! (1946, 1949-52), The Veil (1958), One Step Beyond (1959-61), Thriller (1960-62) and Night Gallery (1969-73) Instructor: Kristopher Woofter “What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it, we cannot. Disprove it, we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown—to take that One Step … Beyond.” — from John Newland’s Introduction to numerous episodes of One Step Beyond Horror has had a pervasive presence on television since the late 1940s, a fact that may have been overshadowed by the enormous influence of two canonical 1960s horror series, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. This class surveys five series that for various reasons now speak to a more limited, select audience than their monolithic counterparts. The earliest of these shows, Lights Out!, has its origins in the 1940s horror radio work of Arch Oboler. The short-lived, Boris Karloff-hosted The Veil predates Serling’s Twilight Zone and is a prototype for the later, more popular Karloff-fronted show, Thriller, which Stephen King called the best of all TV horror programs.The under-seen and equally underappreciated One Step Beyond, is prototypical of pseudo-scientific shows popular in the 1970s and 1980s focusing on the paranormal and the unexplained, such as In Search of … and Unsolved Mysteries. Finally, Night Gallery, Rod Serling’s pulp-inspired follow-up series to The Twilight Zone, will leave us on the verge of the contemporary period of horror on television, suggesting the anthology format attempted with fleeting success by 1980s horror series such as Darkroom (1979) and Cliffhanger (1981). Television’s half-hour to one-hour formats were an ideal space to adapt the sustained atmosphere of intense gloom and dread of the short horror tale. This class focuses on select episodes that are either adaptations or extrapolations of horror short stories and radio scripts. We also will look into the aesthetics of the horror anthology series within the tradition of the pulps. Screenings will include representative clips from three of the series, as well as two complete episodes, one 25-minutes in length, and the other 50-minutes. Week 3: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 A ‘Bear’ of a Series: The ‘Wonder’ and ‘Tolerable Terror’ of The Outer Limits Instructor: Philip L. Simpson (*visiting instructor!) First airing in 1963, the ABC-TV network’s black-and-white anthology series The Outer Limits was created by Leslie Stevens as a vehicle for exploring his ideas about human frailties within a science fiction setting. Its blend of insightful character study, Gothic mood, intelligent themes, expressionistic visuals, and science fiction with a decidedly dark edge showed The Outer Limits daring to confront some of the most difficult political and humanistic questions of the times. Series co-producer and writer Joseph Stefano (of Hitchcock’s Psycho fame) both capitulated to the network’s commercially driven desire for “more monsters” and subverted this desire by referring to the show’s “monster of the week” as a “bear.” While seemingly lampooning the network’s incessant clamoring for monsters, Stefano is also making a serious point, in that the Gothic borderlands of the human psyche that the “bears” represent grip or even prey upon the subconscious or pre-conscious, leaving a sense of unsettlement or unease within the viewer long after the episode itself has ended. Reading: Worland, Rick. Sign-Posts Up Ahead :The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and TV Political Fantasy 1959-1965. Week 4: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 The Gothic As Soap Opera: Dark Shadows and Uncanny Domesticity Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Anne Golden From 1966-1971, ABC-TV broadcast a 30 minute daytime Gothic soap opera called Dark Shadows. Produced by an “auteur” of television horror, Dan Curtis, the show began as a brooding gothic tale in the style of Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), and quickly established itself as a vehicle for ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein-like creatures. Dark Shadows brought into the living rooms of millions of Americans elements that have come to be associated with the 18th century Gothic, such as supernatural beings, malevolent aristocrats, orphaned daughters, family dishonour, old castles, craggy rocks, stormy weather, hidden passageways, persecuted romance, wanderers and uncanny doubles, and above all, an excess of tragic romance that only a soap opera could deliver. As Richard Davenport-Hines argues, the Gothic and the soap opera have much in common: “confused paternities, improbable coincidences, melodrama, sudden death, cheap ideas, trivially stereotypical characters, [the] television soap opera provides the twentieth century equivalent of the gothic novels.” But more importantly, the Gothic and the soap opera have traditionally been associated with women and the domesticity. This section of the course will trace the evolution of Dark Shadows as a show that was radically uncanny (unheimlich), precisely because it fuelled anxieties around domestic space, where the boundaries between the public and private collapse. In this uncanny ambiguity arises subversions to the patriarchal family: powerful matriarchs, hysterical males, “queer” characters, youth with agency, powerful witches, parodic portrayals of the gothic ingenue, a reluctant vampire, etc. Because it was a daytime soap opera, the Gothic was not only presented in simply temporal categories (a return to the past), but as an invasion of domestic quotidian space. Tuesday, February 19, 2013 The Golden Age of TV Terror: The Made-for-Television Horror Boom of the 1970s Instructor: Kier-La Janisse Back before we had hundreds of cable channels to create custom-packages from, there were only three networks – CBS, NBC and ABC – that had the monopoly on home viewing, and they utilized this captive audience as a means of testing out some bold new programming. The Made-for-Television film – where genre directors like John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, John Badham, Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven got to play out some of their earliest ideas – was a unique experiment that – although its golden age runs through the decade 1969-1979 – would have lingering impact on how TV would be programmed going forward to this day. when NBC introduced the Project 120 series in 1964 and its follow-up series World Premiere in 1966 – both platforms for original 2-hour films – it was a pioneering move. But it was Barry Diller and Leonard Goldberg over at ABC who really upped the ante with the groundbreaking Movie of the Week series, launched in 1969 with an ambitious mandate: “25 original 90-minute Movies Made Especially for ABC-TV Comprise the Most Costly Series in Network History,” the trades loudly proclaimed. This broadstroke of programming momentum coincided with the emerging counterculture, and many of the risks being taken by the major studios with feature films following the success of Easy Rider were mirrored on the small screen. The original horror films being pumped out by the networks were no less critical of their turbulent social context. Television provided us with some of the most lingering, affecting horror films that anyone reared in the 70s can remember witnessing: Duel, Bad Ronald, The Legend of Lizzie Borden, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Brotherhood of the Bell, Crowhaven Farm, Salem’s Lot, Frankenstein the True Story, not to mention the numerous productions of television titan Dan Curtis (The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror). We’ll see clips from all these films and more, looking at the people who made them, the society that fuelled them, and tracing the history of a very special moment in time for genre fans everywhere. Week 6: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 “Ooh, That’s Scary!” A History of TV Horror Hosts Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter and Kier-La Janisse |
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Instructors: Kier-La Janisse, Kristopher Woofter
Mon. Dec. 10, 2012 (1 week)
To kick off the holiday break, we’ll say farewell to the Fall 2012 semester with a one-off class celebrating the British holiday horror tradition of the BBC’s seminal A Ghost Story for Christmas series that ran from 1971 to 1978. While the confluence of Christmas and horror has folkloric beginnings (in such things as Europe’s alpine Krampus monster) and a literary tradition that stretches back to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it was the success of the stark but scary M.R. James adaptation Whistle and I’ll Come to You by the BBC’s Omnibus series in 1968 that prompted the BBC to tap James’ writing for a holiday-season horror series that would hearken back to the oral tradition of terror tales by the fireside (Author and medieval scholar M.R. James – widely held as Britain’s greatest ghost story writer – was known for reading his terrifying tales aloud to guests over the holidays).
We’ll look at this series in particular but will also extend discussion to its influence over British holiday horror programming in general (such as Nigel Kneale’s The Stone Tape), and the series’ revival in the 2000s. We’ll also discuss the English ghost story—with its ritual emphasis on specters, revenants and impossible beings returning as resurrected figures of redemption—as a form particularly apt for expressing the spirit of the holiday season in the popular Christian tradition.
Instructors: Kier-La Janisse, Kristopher Woofter
Mon. Dec. 10, 2012 (1 week)
To kick off the holiday break, we’ll say farewell to the Fall 2012 semester with a one-off class celebrating the British holiday horror tradition of the BBC’s seminal A Ghost Story for Christmas series that ran from 1971 to 1978. While the confluence of Christmas and horror has folkloric beginnings (in such things as Europe’s alpine Krampus monster) and a literary tradition that stretches back to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it was the success of the stark but scary M.R. James adaptation Whistle and I’ll Come to You by the BBC’s Omnibus series in 1968 that prompted the BBC to tap James’ writing for a holiday-season horror series that would hearken back to the oral tradition of terror tales by the fireside (Author and medieval scholar M.R. James – widely held as Britain’s greatest ghost story writer – was known for reading his terrifying tales aloud to guests over the holidays).
We’ll look at this series in particular but will also extend discussion to its influence over British holiday horror programming in general (such as Nigel Kneale’s The Stone Tape), and the series’ revival in the 2000s. We’ll also discuss the English ghost story—with its ritual emphasis on specters, revenants and impossible beings returning as resurrected figures of redemption—as a form particularly apt for expressing the spirit of the holiday season in the popular Christian tradition.
Fragments of the Monster: Recovering Forties Horror
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Anne Golden, Karen Herland, Charlie EllBé, Kier-La Janisse
Mondays, October 29-December 3, 2012 (6 weeks)
This six-week course will attempt to revise and reframe persistent claims in scholarly discourse that 1940s horror is somehow inferior to a “classical” or “canonical” mode of horror in the 1930s, especially as represented by Universal Studios horror. Aside from their valorization of a handful of films, such as The Wolf Man (1941), The Uninvited (1944), and Val Lewton’s RKO films (1942-46), early scholarly views on the horror genre rendered the 1940s as a fragmented and lost decade. Within this framework, the creepers, chillers and thrillers of the 1940s become lost—the result of favoring monolithic binaries, or strict divisions within genre classifications, between high art and low art, auteurs and craftsman, and major studios and poverty row. Expect to see films you may not have ever heard of before in this class! Every session will be taught by a different instructor. A film screening will accompany each session.
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter, Anne Golden, Karen Herland, Charlie EllBé, Kier-La Janisse
Mondays, October 29-December 3, 2012 (6 weeks)
This six-week course will attempt to revise and reframe persistent claims in scholarly discourse that 1940s horror is somehow inferior to a “classical” or “canonical” mode of horror in the 1930s, especially as represented by Universal Studios horror. Aside from their valorization of a handful of films, such as The Wolf Man (1941), The Uninvited (1944), and Val Lewton’s RKO films (1942-46), early scholarly views on the horror genre rendered the 1940s as a fragmented and lost decade. Within this framework, the creepers, chillers and thrillers of the 1940s become lost—the result of favoring monolithic binaries, or strict divisions within genre classifications, between high art and low art, auteurs and craftsman, and major studios and poverty row. Expect to see films you may not have ever heard of before in this class! Every session will be taught by a different instructor. A film screening will accompany each session.
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October 29 - Rethinking 40s Canons: Lewton and the Grand-Guignol
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School of Shock: Pain and Pleasure in the Classroom Film
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Mondays, October 15 + 22, 2012 (2 weeks)
For many genre fans, a love affair with horror and the grotesque began early on, sometimes fuelled by unlikely sources. One of these was the classroom safety film, which for many kids was their first time seeing other children threatened by true danger, being confronted with a combination of gore effects and actual accident footage, and being offered a pictorial glimpse at things their parents didn’t want to talk about. Thousands of these films were made from the 1940s through the 1980s, when companies like Centron, McGraw-Hill, Coronet, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Avis Films, Crawley Films, Bell Labs, the NFB and others thrived on the burgeoning market for classroom or workplace educational films.
Subjects ranged from safety in and around vehicles, to drug abuse and venereal disease, teaching children scary lessons about everything from dental hygiene to how to spot a pedophile. The most memorable of these films deliberately used horror visuals to entice and/or shock children into paying attention – such as those by prolific producer Sid Davis (1916-2006) – and some were even made by directors with genre film pedigrees, such as Herk Harvey of Carnival of Souls, William Crain of Blacula and Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, and cinematographer Douglas Knapp, who later shot John Carpenter’s Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13.
Each week we’ll have lecture and discussion, punctuated by viewings of some of the most notorious educational films of the 40-year golden age of social hygiene onscreen. We’ll also briefly look at educational television PSAs, from the British Public Information Films through the 1980s Partnership for a Drug Free America and Latter Day Saints commercials, and up to the incredibly grisly Australian drunk driving commercials of the 1990s.
The classic ‘era’ of classroom films may be over, but viewed from today’s perspective, some of these films – many of which were not made by people with a professional background in education – are horribly misguided (and unintentionally hilarious), but offer up a fascinating survey of changing social mores and cultural preoccupations (not to mention fashions!). Being safe has never looked so grim.
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Mondays, October 15 + 22, 2012 (2 weeks)
For many genre fans, a love affair with horror and the grotesque began early on, sometimes fuelled by unlikely sources. One of these was the classroom safety film, which for many kids was their first time seeing other children threatened by true danger, being confronted with a combination of gore effects and actual accident footage, and being offered a pictorial glimpse at things their parents didn’t want to talk about. Thousands of these films were made from the 1940s through the 1980s, when companies like Centron, McGraw-Hill, Coronet, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Avis Films, Crawley Films, Bell Labs, the NFB and others thrived on the burgeoning market for classroom or workplace educational films.
Subjects ranged from safety in and around vehicles, to drug abuse and venereal disease, teaching children scary lessons about everything from dental hygiene to how to spot a pedophile. The most memorable of these films deliberately used horror visuals to entice and/or shock children into paying attention – such as those by prolific producer Sid Davis (1916-2006) – and some were even made by directors with genre film pedigrees, such as Herk Harvey of Carnival of Souls, William Crain of Blacula and Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, and cinematographer Douglas Knapp, who later shot John Carpenter’s Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13.
Each week we’ll have lecture and discussion, punctuated by viewings of some of the most notorious educational films of the 40-year golden age of social hygiene onscreen. We’ll also briefly look at educational television PSAs, from the British Public Information Films through the 1980s Partnership for a Drug Free America and Latter Day Saints commercials, and up to the incredibly grisly Australian drunk driving commercials of the 1990s.
The classic ‘era’ of classroom films may be over, but viewed from today’s perspective, some of these films – many of which were not made by people with a professional background in education – are horribly misguided (and unintentionally hilarious), but offer up a fascinating survey of changing social mores and cultural preoccupations (not to mention fashions!). Being safe has never looked so grim.
Watchers in the Woods: Reflexivity in Horror Cinema
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Monday, October 8, 2012 (1 week)
The critical frenzy around the recent postmodern horror film, The Cabin in the Woods (2012), as a game-changer or reinvention of the horror genre, suggests that journalists (and even fans) have forgotten that horror is always-already a reflexive genre. Horror films show a formal awareness of the constraints and conditions within which horror genre artists work, regarding the expectations of a knowledgeable fan-base, the production realities of a limited budget, having to work within and against traditional horror themes and conventions, and with other genres and other media (e.g., television, gaming), and even with existing horror scholarship. This introductory class will give students a pathway into the critical study and discussion of horror through healthy debate around the way popular (and sometimes scholarly) discourse problematically frames horror as constantly in crisis and in need of rejuvenation. In addition to clips from The Cabin in the Woods, we will screen in its entirety Tod Browning’s 1935 film Mark of the Vampire.
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Monday, October 8, 2012 (1 week)
The critical frenzy around the recent postmodern horror film, The Cabin in the Woods (2012), as a game-changer or reinvention of the horror genre, suggests that journalists (and even fans) have forgotten that horror is always-already a reflexive genre. Horror films show a formal awareness of the constraints and conditions within which horror genre artists work, regarding the expectations of a knowledgeable fan-base, the production realities of a limited budget, having to work within and against traditional horror themes and conventions, and with other genres and other media (e.g., television, gaming), and even with existing horror scholarship. This introductory class will give students a pathway into the critical study and discussion of horror through healthy debate around the way popular (and sometimes scholarly) discourse problematically frames horror as constantly in crisis and in need of rejuvenation. In addition to clips from The Cabin in the Woods, we will screen in its entirety Tod Browning’s 1935 film Mark of the Vampire.
Written in Blood: Scoring Horror Cinema
Instructor: Chris Alexander
Saturday, September 22, 2012 (1 week)
Since the early days of tent-bound magic lantern shows, music has accompanied the grand illusion of motion pictures. This lecture will not only discuss the history of musical composition in the horror film, it will specifically illustrate some of the finest examples of how music can radically accentuate and dictate an audience’s sensory and emotional connection to imagery. From the employ of “Swan Lake” in Tod Browning’s Dracula to the thundering symphonies in the British Gothics; from the romantic leanings of early 60’s European pictures to the brash post-mod rock in the Italian horrors; pop music, sparse electronics and note-heavy orchestras; we’ll speed through decades of sound, led by Fangoria Magazine editor and composer/filmmaker Chris Alexander.
Instructor: Chris Alexander
Saturday, September 22, 2012 (1 week)
Since the early days of tent-bound magic lantern shows, music has accompanied the grand illusion of motion pictures. This lecture will not only discuss the history of musical composition in the horror film, it will specifically illustrate some of the finest examples of how music can radically accentuate and dictate an audience’s sensory and emotional connection to imagery. From the employ of “Swan Lake” in Tod Browning’s Dracula to the thundering symphonies in the British Gothics; from the romantic leanings of early 60’s European pictures to the brash post-mod rock in the Italian horrors; pop music, sparse electronics and note-heavy orchestras; we’ll speed through decades of sound, led by Fangoria Magazine editor and composer/filmmaker Chris Alexander.
Terror at Margins: The Prostitute as Other
Instructor: Karen Herland
Wednesdays, April 4, 11, 18 + 25, 2012 (4 weeks)
The Monster in horror films carries the representational burden of its location’s social and cultural . The broadly drawn, corrupt and irredeemable Monster becomes the screen upon which socio-cultural fears are projected. To make such a figure sexual, attractive, vulnerable or relatable is to pervert the role of the Monster, rendering it more dangerous, less easily contained. (Think about vampires such as Lestat, Angel and Spike—No, I’m not putting a Twilight reference here).
These same principles operate in the construction of stereotypes. For instance, the figure of the prostitute has long been depicted (and understood) to be unfeminine, irredeemable and polluting – a source of corruption and contagion. Thus, she becomes a monster — both in terms of fears about women’s sexuality and assumptions about ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ gendered behaviour. This course will parallel the extreme treatment of, and presentation of, the Monster in films with the representation of prostitutes and sex workers. This juxtaposition makes the underlying cultural constructions and fears at play in both contexts both more complicated, and compelling. Ultimately, the construction of the Other – both in how it serves to articulate the unacceptable, and how it is deployed to govern appropriate behaviour, will be discussed.
Instructor: Karen Herland
Wednesdays, April 4, 11, 18 + 25, 2012 (4 weeks)
The Monster in horror films carries the representational burden of its location’s social and cultural . The broadly drawn, corrupt and irredeemable Monster becomes the screen upon which socio-cultural fears are projected. To make such a figure sexual, attractive, vulnerable or relatable is to pervert the role of the Monster, rendering it more dangerous, less easily contained. (Think about vampires such as Lestat, Angel and Spike—No, I’m not putting a Twilight reference here).
These same principles operate in the construction of stereotypes. For instance, the figure of the prostitute has long been depicted (and understood) to be unfeminine, irredeemable and polluting – a source of corruption and contagion. Thus, she becomes a monster — both in terms of fears about women’s sexuality and assumptions about ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ gendered behaviour. This course will parallel the extreme treatment of, and presentation of, the Monster in films with the representation of prostitutes and sex workers. This juxtaposition makes the underlying cultural constructions and fears at play in both contexts both more complicated, and compelling. Ultimately, the construction of the Other – both in how it serves to articulate the unacceptable, and how it is deployed to govern appropriate behaviour, will be discussed.
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Week 1 – Wednesday, April 4th – Film: A FOOL THERE WAS
Jeffery Jerome Cohen, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” Week 2 – Wednesday, April 11th – Film: FROM HELL Elyssa Warkentin, “Jack the Ripper Strikes Again – The ‘Ipswich Ripper’ and the Vice Girls he Killed” Week 3 – Wednesday, April 18th – Film: KLUTE Christine Gledhill, “Feminism and Klute“ Week 4 – Wednesday, April 25th – Film: MONSTER Kyra Pearson, “The Trouble with Aileen Wuornos, Feminism’s ‘First Serial Killer” |
Scaring the Daylights Out of You: The Films of William Castle
Instructor: Maude Michaud
Wednesdays, Feb 29, March 7 + 14, 2012 (2 weeks)
An icon of B-movies and master of marketing stunts, William Castle has left a lasting impact on the horror film industry. Despite less than stellar reviews, Castle’s films often proved successful commercially, thanks to his many gimmicks which attracted curious movie goers, and his constant quest to scare the daylights out of audiences. First spanning a variety of genres – including film noir, westerns and thrillers – before focusing on his trademark “gimmicky horror”, his body of work still continues to influence modern filmmakers, including John Waters who cites him as an inspiration for his “Odorama” cards created for the release of Polyester. This course will examine Castle’s legacy by first situating him within the historical context of the early-40s Hollywood, when he began his career, before focusing on his ‘horror cycle’ which began in the late-50s. In addition to a close analysis of some of his key films that will help highlight recurring themes, parallels will be drawn between his work and other horror films of the era. The second part of the course will offer an in-depth study of his various gimmicks; how they worked, how they were timed to the films and how audiences reacted. Screening of excerpts will help students get a better feel of what the experience was like for spectators. Lastly, the third part of the class will be devoted to the later part of his career working mostly as a producer and how his legacy inspired countless filmmakers and marketing stunts. Films and excerpts include The Tingler (1959) and Bugs (1975) (16mm copy).
Instructor: Maude Michaud
Wednesdays, Feb 29, March 7 + 14, 2012 (2 weeks)
An icon of B-movies and master of marketing stunts, William Castle has left a lasting impact on the horror film industry. Despite less than stellar reviews, Castle’s films often proved successful commercially, thanks to his many gimmicks which attracted curious movie goers, and his constant quest to scare the daylights out of audiences. First spanning a variety of genres – including film noir, westerns and thrillers – before focusing on his trademark “gimmicky horror”, his body of work still continues to influence modern filmmakers, including John Waters who cites him as an inspiration for his “Odorama” cards created for the release of Polyester. This course will examine Castle’s legacy by first situating him within the historical context of the early-40s Hollywood, when he began his career, before focusing on his ‘horror cycle’ which began in the late-50s. In addition to a close analysis of some of his key films that will help highlight recurring themes, parallels will be drawn between his work and other horror films of the era. The second part of the course will offer an in-depth study of his various gimmicks; how they worked, how they were timed to the films and how audiences reacted. Screening of excerpts will help students get a better feel of what the experience was like for spectators. Lastly, the third part of the class will be devoted to the later part of his career working mostly as a producer and how his legacy inspired countless filmmakers and marketing stunts. Films and excerpts include The Tingler (1959) and Bugs (1975) (16mm copy).
Theorizing Horror
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé, Anne Golden, Alanna Thain, Kristopher Woofter
Wednesdays, 18 + 25 January, 1, 8, 15 + 22, February, 2012
(6 weeks)
Up until the 1970s, the horror genre was perceived as either encouraging sadistic behaviour or endorsing adolescent escapism. With the publication of Robin Wood and Richard Lippe’s American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film in 1979, and with the development of cultural studies more generally, horror genre theorists began to break out from “media effect” theories that often underscored earlier discussions about the genre by film critics and scholars. This six week course will examine the recent history of horror theorizing starting in the early-1980s through some of the most influential writings on the genre. From Linda Williams’ essay on women and looking, Barbara Creed’s monstrous-feminine, Tania Modleski’s terror of pleasure, Carol Clover’s final girl, Steven Shaviro’s cinematic bodies, through to Cynthia Freeland’s dread-centred experience of horror, this course will discuss these genre theorists in conjunction with the “major” thinkers that influenced them, such as Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Karl Marx, Laura Mulvey, Gilles Deleuze, and Nöel Carroll. Every session will be taught by a different instructor. A film screening will accompany each session.
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé, Anne Golden, Alanna Thain, Kristopher Woofter
Wednesdays, 18 + 25 January, 1, 8, 15 + 22, February, 2012
(6 weeks)
Up until the 1970s, the horror genre was perceived as either encouraging sadistic behaviour or endorsing adolescent escapism. With the publication of Robin Wood and Richard Lippe’s American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film in 1979, and with the development of cultural studies more generally, horror genre theorists began to break out from “media effect” theories that often underscored earlier discussions about the genre by film critics and scholars. This six week course will examine the recent history of horror theorizing starting in the early-1980s through some of the most influential writings on the genre. From Linda Williams’ essay on women and looking, Barbara Creed’s monstrous-feminine, Tania Modleski’s terror of pleasure, Carol Clover’s final girl, Steven Shaviro’s cinematic bodies, through to Cynthia Freeland’s dread-centred experience of horror, this course will discuss these genre theorists in conjunction with the “major” thinkers that influenced them, such as Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Karl Marx, Laura Mulvey, Gilles Deleuze, and Nöel Carroll. Every session will be taught by a different instructor. A film screening will accompany each session.
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Jan 18: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare: Marcuse/Wood (1979) – Deathdream (Bob Clark, 1974) – 88 minutes
Jan 25: Charlie Ellbé: Kristeva/Creed (1986) – Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981) – 127 minutes Feb 1: Anne Golden: Freud/Williams (1983) – Ju-on (Takashi Shimizu, 2002) – 92 minutes Feb 8: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare: Mulvey/Clover (1987-1992) – Hell Night (Tom DeSimone, 1981) – 101 minutes Feb 15: Alanna Thain: Deleuze/Shaviro (1993) – Rabid (David Cronenberg, 1977) – 91 minutes Feb 22: Kristopher Woofter: Carroll/Freeland (2004) – Cropsey (Barabara Brancaccio & Joshua Zeman, 2009) – 84 minutes |
The "Terror" Films of Val Lewton
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter
Wednesdays Nov 23 + 30, Dec 7 & 14, 2011 (3 weeks)
With the popularization of “auteur theories” very few producers get to carry the mantle of auteur, which is usually reserved for directors. Val Lewton is an exception. The nine horror films that Val Lewton produced for RKO studios between 1942 and 1946—including Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943), and Isle of the Dead (1945)—are traditionally described as indicative of a decidedly non-sensationalist, even poetic approach to the horror film. The more subtle style and independent, collaborative spirit evidenced in Lewton’s productions is in part the result of Lewton’s reaction to a show-all horror tradition established by Universal’s larger-budget monster movies in the 1930s that Lewton knew well and disliked. There is, in the Lewton horror film, an emphasis on dread and terror rather than shock and horror. Monstrous presences are suggested and ambiguously revealed. The Lewton films’ visual and aural characteristics—chiaroscuro lighting effects, deep shadows and silences, a baroque mise-en-scène, and distinctive music such as lullabies and folk songs—give the films a dream-like, meditative quality.
A successful author of politically-engaged potboilers such as No Bed of Her Own (1932), Lewton drew upon classic and folk literature as source material, and often took a sophisticated critical approach to his subject matter, such as the anti-colonial exploration of deeply-embedded racist and patriarchal structures in operation in I Walked with a Zombie, and the treatment of childhood longing for power through fantasy in the anti-sequel, Curse of the Cat People (also 1943). Lewton worked under strict budgetary and production constraints, forced to use RKO’s sensational pre-tested titles, to film on existing sets from other RKO productions, and to produce films (often simultaneously) on three-week shooting schedules. Lewton collaborated with a number of important figures in cinema, among them Jacques Tourneur (who would later direct the 1947 film noir classic Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum), Curt Siodmack (writer of Universal’s The Wolf Man [1941]) and Robert Wise (whose 1963 The Haunting emulates the Lewton style). But the Lewton chiaroscuro/baroque aesthetic and his subversive ideological themes remain distinctive across all nine films, becoming highly influential within the “monstrous unseen” tradition of horror films, which includes such films as The Blair Witch Project (1999).
It is the visionary quality of the films under Lewton’s collaborative guidance that we will explore in this course. We will also look at Lewton’s output in the context of film noir and the “woman’s film” immensely popular at the time, and influential on Lewton’s brand of 40s horror. Furthermore, the course will highlight aspects of Lewton’s cinema through the lens of postcolonial theory, examining the notion of the unknown and unruly “wilderness,” such as the Balkans and the Caribbean, as a site of political transgression. At least three of the Lewton-produced films will be screened in their entirety: Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), and The Seventh Victim (1943).
Instructors: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter
Wednesdays Nov 23 + 30, Dec 7 & 14, 2011 (3 weeks)
With the popularization of “auteur theories” very few producers get to carry the mantle of auteur, which is usually reserved for directors. Val Lewton is an exception. The nine horror films that Val Lewton produced for RKO studios between 1942 and 1946—including Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943), and Isle of the Dead (1945)—are traditionally described as indicative of a decidedly non-sensationalist, even poetic approach to the horror film. The more subtle style and independent, collaborative spirit evidenced in Lewton’s productions is in part the result of Lewton’s reaction to a show-all horror tradition established by Universal’s larger-budget monster movies in the 1930s that Lewton knew well and disliked. There is, in the Lewton horror film, an emphasis on dread and terror rather than shock and horror. Monstrous presences are suggested and ambiguously revealed. The Lewton films’ visual and aural characteristics—chiaroscuro lighting effects, deep shadows and silences, a baroque mise-en-scène, and distinctive music such as lullabies and folk songs—give the films a dream-like, meditative quality.
A successful author of politically-engaged potboilers such as No Bed of Her Own (1932), Lewton drew upon classic and folk literature as source material, and often took a sophisticated critical approach to his subject matter, such as the anti-colonial exploration of deeply-embedded racist and patriarchal structures in operation in I Walked with a Zombie, and the treatment of childhood longing for power through fantasy in the anti-sequel, Curse of the Cat People (also 1943). Lewton worked under strict budgetary and production constraints, forced to use RKO’s sensational pre-tested titles, to film on existing sets from other RKO productions, and to produce films (often simultaneously) on three-week shooting schedules. Lewton collaborated with a number of important figures in cinema, among them Jacques Tourneur (who would later direct the 1947 film noir classic Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum), Curt Siodmack (writer of Universal’s The Wolf Man [1941]) and Robert Wise (whose 1963 The Haunting emulates the Lewton style). But the Lewton chiaroscuro/baroque aesthetic and his subversive ideological themes remain distinctive across all nine films, becoming highly influential within the “monstrous unseen” tradition of horror films, which includes such films as The Blair Witch Project (1999).
It is the visionary quality of the films under Lewton’s collaborative guidance that we will explore in this course. We will also look at Lewton’s output in the context of film noir and the “woman’s film” immensely popular at the time, and influential on Lewton’s brand of 40s horror. Furthermore, the course will highlight aspects of Lewton’s cinema through the lens of postcolonial theory, examining the notion of the unknown and unruly “wilderness,” such as the Balkans and the Caribbean, as a site of political transgression. At least three of the Lewton-produced films will be screened in their entirety: Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), and The Seventh Victim (1943).
Creepy Kids
Instructor: Candis Steenbergen
Wednesdays, October 26th & November 2nd, 9th, and 16th, 2011
(4 weeks)
“…the “otherness” of children… is that which is repressed within ourselves, its expression therefore hated in others…” (Robin Wood, 1985: 200)
“Insatiability for blood is almost too perfect a metaphor for the amorphous tyrants children can be” (John Calhoun, 2009: 27).
This course interrogates the figure of the child that, as Robin Wood (1985) reminds us, has “figured prominently in horror film as the monster or its medium (202).” This figure—embodied as “innocent” baby, child, or teenager somehow gone wrong—operates as much more than simply an inspirer of terror in this context; it exposes collective anxieties about ourselves: our beliefs, our environment, our desires, and our futures. Rather than following a chronological path, the trajectory of “Creepy Kids” follows the stages of age and development of our contemporary understandings of “normal” infancy, childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, and will explore the cultural significance of the child in horror films through readings, lectures, screenings and (most importantly) discussion. While Calhoun (2009) tells us that “there’s nothing like a little monster to inspire terror among grown-ups,” creepy kids will investigate the complexities of that dread (27). Issues related to gender, race, class, sexuality and (of course) age are crucial here, and we’ll discuss the interconnectedness of all of them—and more—each week we meet.
Instructor: Candis Steenbergen
Wednesdays, October 26th & November 2nd, 9th, and 16th, 2011
(4 weeks)
“…the “otherness” of children… is that which is repressed within ourselves, its expression therefore hated in others…” (Robin Wood, 1985: 200)
“Insatiability for blood is almost too perfect a metaphor for the amorphous tyrants children can be” (John Calhoun, 2009: 27).
This course interrogates the figure of the child that, as Robin Wood (1985) reminds us, has “figured prominently in horror film as the monster or its medium (202).” This figure—embodied as “innocent” baby, child, or teenager somehow gone wrong—operates as much more than simply an inspirer of terror in this context; it exposes collective anxieties about ourselves: our beliefs, our environment, our desires, and our futures. Rather than following a chronological path, the trajectory of “Creepy Kids” follows the stages of age and development of our contemporary understandings of “normal” infancy, childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, and will explore the cultural significance of the child in horror films through readings, lectures, screenings and (most importantly) discussion. While Calhoun (2009) tells us that “there’s nothing like a little monster to inspire terror among grown-ups,” creepy kids will investigate the complexities of that dread (27). Issues related to gender, race, class, sexuality and (of course) age are crucial here, and we’ll discuss the interconnectedness of all of them—and more—each week we meet.
Universal Horrors
Instructor: Charlie Ellbé
Wed. Oct. 5, 12 & 19, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course will examine the main themes and stylistic characteristics of the horror films produced by Universal Studios during the 1930s. In order to offer an efficient analysis of the themes and stylistics of Universal horrors, each of the three classes will be specifically devoted to the study of one film from the first horror cycle.
Instructor: Charlie Ellbé
Wed. Oct. 5, 12 & 19, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course will examine the main themes and stylistic characteristics of the horror films produced by Universal Studios during the 1930s. In order to offer an efficient analysis of the themes and stylistics of Universal horrors, each of the three classes will be specifically devoted to the study of one film from the first horror cycle.
Getting Even: A History of the Rape-Revenge Film
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Monday June 6 + Monday June 13, 2011 (2 weeks)
No genre gets a worse rap that the rape-revenge film. Cited as unrelentingly misogynistic, and viewed as perpetuating real-life violence against women, rape-revenge films are considered the bottom-of-the-barrel even among exploitation fans. Alternately (and often facetiously) referred to as the “women’s revenge picture”, I maintain that rape-revenge is just that: a cathartic and empowering vehicle for female cinematic rage. A rape scene is the single greatest justification for anything else in the film that follows – no matter how illogical, unbelievable, sadistic, misanthropic, graphic or tortuous. Rape-revenge films, like horror films in general, prize vigilante justice, and the audience will accept any direction the story takes because culturally, rape is worse than death. This course traces the history of the rape-revenge genre from its roots in the 4th century Swedish folk tale that inspired Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring through the genre’s peak period in the 70s + 80s, to contemporary rape-revenge films such as Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible and the remakes of Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave. Utilizing numerous clips from rare films and a complete screening of Abel Ferrara’s seminal rape-revenge film, Ms. 45, this course will examine the evolution of the woman’s revenge picture, assessing its tragic character trajectory, its common narrative and tonal structure, and its controversial place in pop culture.
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Monday June 6 + Monday June 13, 2011 (2 weeks)
No genre gets a worse rap that the rape-revenge film. Cited as unrelentingly misogynistic, and viewed as perpetuating real-life violence against women, rape-revenge films are considered the bottom-of-the-barrel even among exploitation fans. Alternately (and often facetiously) referred to as the “women’s revenge picture”, I maintain that rape-revenge is just that: a cathartic and empowering vehicle for female cinematic rage. A rape scene is the single greatest justification for anything else in the film that follows – no matter how illogical, unbelievable, sadistic, misanthropic, graphic or tortuous. Rape-revenge films, like horror films in general, prize vigilante justice, and the audience will accept any direction the story takes because culturally, rape is worse than death. This course traces the history of the rape-revenge genre from its roots in the 4th century Swedish folk tale that inspired Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring through the genre’s peak period in the 70s + 80s, to contemporary rape-revenge films such as Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible and the remakes of Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave. Utilizing numerous clips from rare films and a complete screening of Abel Ferrara’s seminal rape-revenge film, Ms. 45, this course will examine the evolution of the woman’s revenge picture, assessing its tragic character trajectory, its common narrative and tonal structure, and its controversial place in pop culture.
The Japanese Horror Film
Instructor: Donato Totaro
Mondays May 16, 23 + 30, 2011 (3 weeks)
The Japanese horror film burst onto the International scene in the late 1990s with a series of suspenseful, nerve-wracking chillers that brought mood, subtlety and terror back into a genre that was growing weary and stale. By the early 2000s the Japanese horror film became so popular, and its aesthetic approach so widespread and copied that it became a virtual cottage industry, spawning numerous American remakes, television series, comics, and a rekindling of other Asian horror cinemas. To the jaded horror fan J-horror felt alive and fresh, but the seminal figures such as Hideo Nakata, producer extraordinaire Taka Ichise, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shimizu, and Takashi Miike were clearly drawing from a rich historical tradition of supernatural and ghost stories that go back to pre-Modern Japanese literature, theatre, and painting. The course will trace the importance of the pre-modern tradition (pre-1900), as seen in Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatre, literature and painting, on the first flowering of great Japanese horror in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Kenji Mizoguchi, Nobuo Nakagawa, Kaneto Shindo, Masaki Kobayashi), and then examine how the current new wave of J-horror drew from this older tradition of ghost/supernatural film and art and added a modern, technologically concerned sensibility. Films and extracts include Ugetsu (1954), Jigoku (1960), Kwaidan (1964), Onibaba (1964), Ringu (1998), Uzumaki (2000), Kaïro (2001), Ju-on: The Grudge (2004), and Exte: Hair Extensions (2007).
Instructor: Donato Totaro
Mondays May 16, 23 + 30, 2011 (3 weeks)
The Japanese horror film burst onto the International scene in the late 1990s with a series of suspenseful, nerve-wracking chillers that brought mood, subtlety and terror back into a genre that was growing weary and stale. By the early 2000s the Japanese horror film became so popular, and its aesthetic approach so widespread and copied that it became a virtual cottage industry, spawning numerous American remakes, television series, comics, and a rekindling of other Asian horror cinemas. To the jaded horror fan J-horror felt alive and fresh, but the seminal figures such as Hideo Nakata, producer extraordinaire Taka Ichise, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shimizu, and Takashi Miike were clearly drawing from a rich historical tradition of supernatural and ghost stories that go back to pre-Modern Japanese literature, theatre, and painting. The course will trace the importance of the pre-modern tradition (pre-1900), as seen in Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatre, literature and painting, on the first flowering of great Japanese horror in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Kenji Mizoguchi, Nobuo Nakagawa, Kaneto Shindo, Masaki Kobayashi), and then examine how the current new wave of J-horror drew from this older tradition of ghost/supernatural film and art and added a modern, technologically concerned sensibility. Films and extracts include Ugetsu (1954), Jigoku (1960), Kwaidan (1964), Onibaba (1964), Ringu (1998), Uzumaki (2000), Kaïro (2001), Ju-on: The Grudge (2004), and Exte: Hair Extensions (2007).
Revisionist Monsters
Instructor: Anna Phelan
Tuesdays, April 19, 26 + May 3, 2011 (3 weeks)
From monsters under the bed to Monsters Inc., generations of our collective imagination have been preoccupied with boogie men and their various incarnations. Classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein or the Werewolf unite our fears as well as cultural reference points; meaning, today, ‘traditional’ monster narratives are so universal that old and young alike can easily identify historical, aesthetic and plot clichés inherent to each classic baddie. But with the recent, frightening pervasiveness of the teenie-bopper Twilight franchise, it’s clear that the vampire story, for one, has come a long way from ‘I vant to suck your blooood.’ Under the shadow of Twilight’s seemingly superficial re-imagining of the Dracula tale, this is an excellent time to re-examine more complex and interesting forays into revisionist monster movies. With clips, selected readings and screenings, this course will look at the implications, questions and cultural concerns raised when filmmakers transpose classic monster tales onto contemporary milieus. Screenings include The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan, 1984) and Nadja (Michael Almereyda, 1994).
Instructor: Anna Phelan
Tuesdays, April 19, 26 + May 3, 2011 (3 weeks)
From monsters under the bed to Monsters Inc., generations of our collective imagination have been preoccupied with boogie men and their various incarnations. Classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein or the Werewolf unite our fears as well as cultural reference points; meaning, today, ‘traditional’ monster narratives are so universal that old and young alike can easily identify historical, aesthetic and plot clichés inherent to each classic baddie. But with the recent, frightening pervasiveness of the teenie-bopper Twilight franchise, it’s clear that the vampire story, for one, has come a long way from ‘I vant to suck your blooood.’ Under the shadow of Twilight’s seemingly superficial re-imagining of the Dracula tale, this is an excellent time to re-examine more complex and interesting forays into revisionist monster movies. With clips, selected readings and screenings, this course will look at the implications, questions and cultural concerns raised when filmmakers transpose classic monster tales onto contemporary milieus. Screenings include The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan, 1984) and Nadja (Michael Almereyda, 1994).
Regard sur la Nanarophilien: Histoire et théorie de la lecture au deuxième degré
Instructor: Simon Laperrière
Mercredi 9,16 + 23 Mars, 2011 (3 weeks)
Présenté en français. La nanarophilie consiste à regarder un film au deuxième degré dans le but d’en rire. Au lieu de se laisser porter par l’œuvre, le spectateur adopte une position particulière dans laquelle il tire son plaisir des erreurs de production et des intentions manquées du réalisateur. Cette pratique connaît aujourd’hui une certaine popularité auprès d’un public grandissant. Plusieurs amateurs se rassemblent régulièrement dans des bars pour visionner un nanar, un nombre important de sites Web sont consacrés à ce que le cinéma a de pire à offrir et il est désormais courant de trouver au sein de la programmation d’un festival généraliste une projection dite psychotronique. Comme son titre l’indique, le présent séminaire se penchera sur ce phénomène d’un point de vue historique et théorique. En premier lieu, nous tenterons de déterminer le lieu probable de naissance de la nanarophilie et nous suivrons son évolution jusqu’à sa forme actuelle sur Internet. Lors de la deuxième séance, nous aborderons la nanarophilie comme un phénomène de lecture où le spectateur confronte un mauvais film avec sa propre conception d’une œuvre de qualité. Finalement, lors de la dernière séance, nous nous pencherons sur le travail qu’opère Doug Walker, le proclamé «Nostalgia Critic», sur sa mémoire et son rapport personnel avec les films vus lors de son enfance. Nous mènerons également une enquête sur le cas de Birdemic de James Nguyen, une production américaine qui pourrait bien être un intrus. Plusieurs extraits seront présentés dans le cadre des trois séances qui seront toutes suivies d’une projection d’un film à déterminer.
Instructor: Simon Laperrière
Mercredi 9,16 + 23 Mars, 2011 (3 weeks)
Présenté en français. La nanarophilie consiste à regarder un film au deuxième degré dans le but d’en rire. Au lieu de se laisser porter par l’œuvre, le spectateur adopte une position particulière dans laquelle il tire son plaisir des erreurs de production et des intentions manquées du réalisateur. Cette pratique connaît aujourd’hui une certaine popularité auprès d’un public grandissant. Plusieurs amateurs se rassemblent régulièrement dans des bars pour visionner un nanar, un nombre important de sites Web sont consacrés à ce que le cinéma a de pire à offrir et il est désormais courant de trouver au sein de la programmation d’un festival généraliste une projection dite psychotronique. Comme son titre l’indique, le présent séminaire se penchera sur ce phénomène d’un point de vue historique et théorique. En premier lieu, nous tenterons de déterminer le lieu probable de naissance de la nanarophilie et nous suivrons son évolution jusqu’à sa forme actuelle sur Internet. Lors de la deuxième séance, nous aborderons la nanarophilie comme un phénomène de lecture où le spectateur confronte un mauvais film avec sa propre conception d’une œuvre de qualité. Finalement, lors de la dernière séance, nous nous pencherons sur le travail qu’opère Doug Walker, le proclamé «Nostalgia Critic», sur sa mémoire et son rapport personnel avec les films vus lors de son enfance. Nous mènerons également une enquête sur le cas de Birdemic de James Nguyen, une production américaine qui pourrait bien être un intrus. Plusieurs extraits seront présentés dans le cadre des trois séances qui seront toutes suivies d’une projection d’un film à déterminer.
Dead Celluloid: A Brief History of Zombies in Cinema
Instructor: Stuart "Feedback" Andrews
Sat. Mar. 12, 2011 - Sun. Mar. 13, 2011 (weekend course)
The dead are among us, and always have been, since the dawn of cinema. From the parasitic, hollow eyed drones of the expressionist era to the monsters of Monogram studios, up through the atomic 1950's and fully kicking into gear with the the cannibal corpses of George A. Romero; international pop culture's fascination with zombies has resulted in some of the most relevant and defining works that horror genre has to offer. Rue Morgue Radio head honcho Stuart 'Feedback' Andrews takes you on a two day journey into the black, putrifying heart of darkness with this exciting, lively and shuddery history of the living dead on-screen.
Instructor: Stuart "Feedback" Andrews
Sat. Mar. 12, 2011 - Sun. Mar. 13, 2011 (weekend course)
The dead are among us, and always have been, since the dawn of cinema. From the parasitic, hollow eyed drones of the expressionist era to the monsters of Monogram studios, up through the atomic 1950's and fully kicking into gear with the the cannibal corpses of George A. Romero; international pop culture's fascination with zombies has resulted in some of the most relevant and defining works that horror genre has to offer. Rue Morgue Radio head honcho Stuart 'Feedback' Andrews takes you on a two day journey into the black, putrifying heart of darkness with this exciting, lively and shuddery history of the living dead on-screen.
All the Colours of the Dark: The Italian Giallo Film
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Tue. Feb. 15, 2011 - Tue. Mar. 1, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course looks at the peak period of the Italian giallo film (1963 - 1982) and discusses the historical development of the genre as well as its predominant themes and motifs, placing it contextually within the changing landscape of Italian and European popular cinema. Issues covered include misogyny, paranoia, xenophobia, the sexual revolution, alcoholism and self-medication, and the giallo’s fantasy microcosm of leisure and independent wealth. Key giallo figures whose work will be discussed include Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Luciano Ercoli, Umberto Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Massimo Dallamano, Ernesto Gastaldi and others. The course will also look at the giallo’s influence on contemporary cinema, pop culture, and the curious legacy of J&B Whiskey.
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Tue. Feb. 15, 2011 - Tue. Mar. 1, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course looks at the peak period of the Italian giallo film (1963 - 1982) and discusses the historical development of the genre as well as its predominant themes and motifs, placing it contextually within the changing landscape of Italian and European popular cinema. Issues covered include misogyny, paranoia, xenophobia, the sexual revolution, alcoholism and self-medication, and the giallo’s fantasy microcosm of leisure and independent wealth. Key giallo figures whose work will be discussed include Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Luciano Ercoli, Umberto Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Massimo Dallamano, Ernesto Gastaldi and others. The course will also look at the giallo’s influence on contemporary cinema, pop culture, and the curious legacy of J&B Whiskey.
The Haunted "House"
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Jan. 25, 2011 - Tue. Feb. 8, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course explores the characteristic styles, themes and conventions of the 'haunted house' film, from early cinema to recent films and television. Films featuring haunted structures express the need for anxieties around the past and future to be given embodiment in objects and structures. These films typically play upon fears of the unknown in nature and the psyche, and evidence a mistrust in the objectivity of modern perceptions of reality. We discuss conceptualizations of haunting as a righting of past wrongs, as a means of ritualizing national and cultural guilt, and as a way to explore anxieties around family and the American Dream.
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Jan. 25, 2011 - Tue. Feb. 8, 2011 (3 weeks)
This course explores the characteristic styles, themes and conventions of the 'haunted house' film, from early cinema to recent films and television. Films featuring haunted structures express the need for anxieties around the past and future to be given embodiment in objects and structures. These films typically play upon fears of the unknown in nature and the psyche, and evidence a mistrust in the objectivity of modern perceptions of reality. We discuss conceptualizations of haunting as a righting of past wrongs, as a means of ritualizing national and cultural guilt, and as a way to explore anxieties around family and the American Dream.
Misogyny in Horror
Instructor: Candis Steenbergen
Tue. Jan. 4, 2011 - Tue. Jan. 18, 2011 (3 weeks)
Beginning with the assumption that representations of “the feminine” and the female body illuminate broader, historical fascinations with and anxieties over gender, sexuality and the body, this course sets its sights (and sites) on misogyny, sexism, patriarchy and power as naturalized tropes in horror worthy of investigation. Women’s bodies––as slashed, maimed, mutilated and murdered, as sexually deviant and devious, as monstrous and horrifying, and even as the victim-hero––scream for interrogation, particularly by those who consume her time and time again.
Instructor: Candis Steenbergen
Tue. Jan. 4, 2011 - Tue. Jan. 18, 2011 (3 weeks)
Beginning with the assumption that representations of “the feminine” and the female body illuminate broader, historical fascinations with and anxieties over gender, sexuality and the body, this course sets its sights (and sites) on misogyny, sexism, patriarchy and power as naturalized tropes in horror worthy of investigation. Women’s bodies––as slashed, maimed, mutilated and murdered, as sexually deviant and devious, as monstrous and horrifying, and even as the victim-hero––scream for interrogation, particularly by those who consume her time and time again.
The Films of Mario Bava
Instructor: Donato Totaro
Tue. Nov. 30, 2010 - Tue. Dec. 14, 2010 (3 weeks)
Over the past 30 years Italian director Mario Bava has gone from relative obscurity to being acknowledged as perhaps the most significant and influential Post World War 2 European horror director. This course will examine Bava’s enduring legacy by first situating him within the Post WW2 Italian film industry, where the dominant genre changed according to popular trend (peplum, giallo, spaghetti western, gothic horror, crime film, etc.), and then with close analysis of some of his key films to arrive at an understanding of his unique stylistic and thematic contributions to the horror genre.
Instructor: Donato Totaro
Tue. Nov. 30, 2010 - Tue. Dec. 14, 2010 (3 weeks)
Over the past 30 years Italian director Mario Bava has gone from relative obscurity to being acknowledged as perhaps the most significant and influential Post World War 2 European horror director. This course will examine Bava’s enduring legacy by first situating him within the Post WW2 Italian film industry, where the dominant genre changed according to popular trend (peplum, giallo, spaghetti western, gothic horror, crime film, etc.), and then with close analysis of some of his key films to arrive at an understanding of his unique stylistic and thematic contributions to the horror genre.
The Monsters of Hammer Horror
Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
Tue. Nov. 9, 2010 - Tue. Nov. 23, 2010 (3 weeks)
This course will examine Hammer horror films through their most distinctive feature: the centrality of the monster. From the Italian monstrare (to show), the monster exists to be read: it warns and reveals. This course will read Hammer films through a look at its monsters - such as the Frankenstein monster, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, devil worshippers, and of course, the Baron and Count – as an essential ingredient in the studio’s massive success in the 1950s through to its ultimate decline in the 1970s.
Instructor: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
Tue. Nov. 9, 2010 - Tue. Nov. 23, 2010 (3 weeks)
This course will examine Hammer horror films through their most distinctive feature: the centrality of the monster. From the Italian monstrare (to show), the monster exists to be read: it warns and reveals. This course will read Hammer films through a look at its monsters - such as the Frankenstein monster, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, devil worshippers, and of course, the Baron and Count – as an essential ingredient in the studio’s massive success in the 1950s through to its ultimate decline in the 1970s.
Reality Horror
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Oct. 19, 2010 - Tue. Nov. 2, 2010 (3 weeks)
This course looks at a popular sub-genre of horror films that blend a documentary aesthetic with traditional horror conventions to produce a hybrid form of horror cinema. Characterized by such films as The Blair Witch Project (1999), George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (2007), Cloverfield (2008) and Paranormal Activity (2009), 'reality horror' films seem particularly suited to expressing millennial and/or post-9/11 anxieties regarding not only individual and social security, but also ambivalent attitudes towards technology, new media and online databases such as YouTube and Google Video.
Instructor: Kristopher Woofter
Tue. Oct. 19, 2010 - Tue. Nov. 2, 2010 (3 weeks)
This course looks at a popular sub-genre of horror films that blend a documentary aesthetic with traditional horror conventions to produce a hybrid form of horror cinema. Characterized by such films as The Blair Witch Project (1999), George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (2007), Cloverfield (2008) and Paranormal Activity (2009), 'reality horror' films seem particularly suited to expressing millennial and/or post-9/11 anxieties regarding not only individual and social security, but also ambivalent attitudes towards technology, new media and online databases such as YouTube and Google Video.
Introduction to Horror Film Criticism for Teens
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Tue. Oct. 5, 2010 - Tue. Oct. 12, 2010 (2 weeks)
Miskatonic director and longtime horror writer/film programmer Kier-La Janisse kicks off the Miskatonic season with this 2-evening course on horror film criticism for teens aged 14+. The course will focus on developing an aptitude for critical interpretation, using Jack Smight’s 1973 Frankenstein: The True Story as a focal point. Examples of various historical schools of writing and interpretation will accompany open discussion in class, as well as individual review assignments.
Instructor: Kier-La Janisse
Tue. Oct. 5, 2010 - Tue. Oct. 12, 2010 (2 weeks)
Miskatonic director and longtime horror writer/film programmer Kier-La Janisse kicks off the Miskatonic season with this 2-evening course on horror film criticism for teens aged 14+. The course will focus on developing an aptitude for critical interpretation, using Jack Smight’s 1973 Frankenstein: The True Story as a focal point. Examples of various historical schools of writing and interpretation will accompany open discussion in class, as well as individual review assignments.
Adapting Lovecraft for the Screen: A Master Class with Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli
Sun. Jul. 18, 2010 - 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon) will be the inaugural instructors at Miskatonic’s new home, and will be delivering a two-hour masterclass on adapting Lovecraft to the screen – the challenges, the techniques and some insight as to why their films stand out amidst a sea of historically troubled counterparts.
Sun. Jul. 18, 2010 - 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon) will be the inaugural instructors at Miskatonic’s new home, and will be delivering a two-hour masterclass on adapting Lovecraft to the screen – the challenges, the techniques and some insight as to why their films stand out amidst a sea of historically troubled counterparts.
Xmas Events
Starting with the most recent.
Starting with the most recent.
A Very Monstrum Xmas!
Tue. 12 Dec. 2017
Trivia! Prizes! Horror! Mayhem! ... Sounds like a Very Monstrum Xmas. Join us!
Hosted by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter
Admission is free. BYOB.
Tue. 12 Dec. 2017
Trivia! Prizes! Horror! Mayhem! ... Sounds like a Very Monstrum Xmas. Join us!
Hosted by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter
Admission is free. BYOB.
Xmas-katonic
Tue. 6 Dec. 2016
Join hosts Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter for our annual Xmas party, with trivia, prizes and other surprises! Admission is free. BYOB.
Screening: Christmas Evil (Lewis Jackson, 1980)
Tue. 6 Dec. 2016
Join hosts Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter for our annual Xmas party, with trivia, prizes and other surprises! Admission is free. BYOB.
Screening: Christmas Evil (Lewis Jackson, 1980)
- Xmas Evil, Annual Holiday Party
Join hosts Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter for our annual holiday party, where we treat you with refreshments, a ghost story reading, a little Twilight Zone, and horror-themed trivia, treats and prizes. Admission is free.
Xmas Dread: Ghost Story Party
Tue. Dec. 9, 2014
Hosts: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter. Join us as we turn down the lights – even further – for some ghost-story telling and some ghost-film viewing to kick off the Yule Tide season. All guests will be entered into a (free) raffle for various sundry horror gifts. This event is free! BYOB. “Two ingredients most valuable in the concocting of a ghost story are the atmosphere and the nicely managed crescendo … . Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage. M.R. James, “A Warning to the Curious” (1925). Admission is free.
Tue. Dec. 9, 2014
Hosts: Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Kristopher Woofter. Join us as we turn down the lights – even further – for some ghost-story telling and some ghost-film viewing to kick off the Yule Tide season. All guests will be entered into a (free) raffle for various sundry horror gifts. This event is free! BYOB. “Two ingredients most valuable in the concocting of a ghost story are the atmosphere and the nicely managed crescendo … . Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage. M.R. James, “A Warning to the Curious” (1925). Admission is free.
Yuletide Terror!: Trivia Party
Tue. Dec. 17, 2013
Join us for a night of Christmas Horror Trivia! Your hosts, Kristopher Woofter and Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, have devised a ghastly trivia game that will test your knowledge of this darkly festive subgenre. Yuletide drinks and snacks to be had, and horrific prizes to be won! Admission is free.
Tue. Dec. 17, 2013
Join us for a night of Christmas Horror Trivia! Your hosts, Kristopher Woofter and Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, have devised a ghastly trivia game that will test your knowledge of this darkly festive subgenre. Yuletide drinks and snacks to be had, and horrific prizes to be won! Admission is free.
