The Cultural Gutter

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"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -- Oscar Wilde

Interview with Takashi Miike

The Hollywood Reporter interviews director Takashi Miike about his new film, Shield of Straw: ” In Japan now, films are very safe. When I was young and went to old cinemas, they had a distinctive feel, an adult smell about them. As you got in your seat and the lights went down, there was a [...]

“Enter A Monster”

The Atlantic profiles Spectral Motion, creators of monsters, “effects, and other mechanical grotesqueries that have since become household nightmares, if not names.”

Ray Harryhausen and Me: A Life of High Adventure and Escapism

Mr. Harryhausen with his creations brought down to size.

Ray Harryhausen passed away last week. This has been noted by people more qualified than I to discuss the master of stop-motion magic—Rick Baker, Adam Savage, Todd Masters, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and more. The superhuman talent and perseverance evident in a Harryhausen effects sequence can easily be seen in countless visual effects artists since [...]

RIP, Ray Harryhausen

Special effects master, Ray Harryhausen has died. Ray Bradbury pays tribute to Harryhausen.  All of Harryhausen’s creatures in 4 and a half minutes. Harryhausen talks about King Kong, Willis O’Brien, George Pal and his own career in 1991. John Landis interviews Harryhausen for the Bradford Animation Festival 2010. TCM remembers Harryhausen. And Leslie Hardcastle interviews [...]

“The Bullying of Chatelaine Harris and the Wisdom of Neil Gaiman”

“So Charlaine Harris’ last Southern Vampires book, Dead Ever After, is out May 7.  Except it’s kind of out now, which is why the interwebs are exploding.  Some random asshat got their claws on an early copy, which is sneaky enough, but then posted the ending online, which is borderline sociopathic.” Mary Janice Davidson has [...]

Phase IV Alternate Ending

“Programmers at Los Angeles’ The Cinefamily unveiled a never-before-seen ending to [Phase IV] after a screening of the theatrical cut if Bass’ film debut.” More here.

“Where Have All The Midnight Movies Gone?”

Midnight Madness Programmer and Gutter Friend, Colin Geddes, is interviewed (along with many others) about the history of midnight movies from El Topo and Eraserhead till now.

New Manborg Trailer!

New HD trailer for the most excellent, Manborg!

“Think The Walking Dead has a Woman Problem? Here’s the Source”

At The Village Voice, Simon Abrams writes about The Walking Dead and its female characters.

Id Critics and Conspiracy Theories

“Room 237 is like an act of revenge from a filmmaker upon the critics,” writes Robert Greene in his review. And The Verge’s Adi Robinson interviews Room 237 director Rodney Ascher on The Shining, interpretation and conspiracy theories. “[Room 237 is] about what happens when the movie leaves the filmmaker’s hands, and the audience is [...]

RIP, James Herbert

Author James Herbert has died. Herbert was the author of horror classics such as The Rats and The Fog. The BBC and The Guardian have obituaries. David Barnett has an overview of Herbert’s work.

The Words Got Stuck In My Throat

WOG0 thumb

“If I had a hidden microphone inside of my heart/I would turn the power on/It would amplify my love for you and swear to always love you/and you’d never be gone.” I love when old movies–that are not musicals per se–spotlight the performance of a song, because it’s symptomatic of a sincere desire to entertain [...]

“Classical Filmmaking: The Theme that Drives all of Sam Raimi’s Movies”

Matt Singer explores two elements that recur in all of Sam Raimi’s films, Pandora’s box and, “The Classic,” a 1973 Delta 88. “Using The Classic to play Uncle Ben’s car may have just been a fortuitous way for Raimi to shoehorn in his beloved trademark, but in the larger context of his career, it imbues [...]

Orson Welles On Suspense

A collection of Orson Welles’ appearances on the old time radio show, Suspense, including “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Hitchhiker.”

The Walking Dead, 1995

The opening credits for The Walking Dead, if the show were made in 1995. (via @ChastityBites)

Women In Horror Month: “Celebrating Shirley Jackson”

Erin Horakova looks at author Shirley Jackson’s masterful, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived In The Castle.  “Haunting is stunning, and while it’s a must-read for anyone interested in ghost stories, haunted houses, or psychological horror, it also stretches beyond its demographic.”

Nancy A. Collins’ Swamp Thing

Author Nancy A. Collins talks about writing Swamp Thing at Hasslein Blog.  The Den of Geek writes a paean to Nancy Collins’ al-too-brief run. “As the run progressed, it became evermore enchanting, tense, witty and imaginative (not to mention the fact that it produced the first ever comic to be released under DC’s mature Vertigo [...]

Horror Talk interviews Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe Lansdale

“Writing and reading are not all of me, but it’s an important part of me. I am thinking about slowing down a little, but we’ll see if that happens. I’ve thought about that for years, and sometimes I do slow a bit, but then I start right back.” Joe R. Lansdale talks more about ebooks, [...]

Terrifying Tales of Diminuitive Doom!

Monster Island Resort Podcast and Deadly Doll’s House of Horror Nonsense join forces to discuss the terror of the tiny in, “Evil Dolls, Trolls, Children and Other Short Villains!” Both Miguel and Emily are fellow members of The Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit.

Ann Radcliffe and The Supernatural in Poetry

Monster Island Resort Podcast celebrates Women In Horror Month with a reading of horror forerunner, Romantic and Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe’s “The Supernatural in Poetry.” Terror vs. Horror. Gore vs. No Gore. Realism vs. Atmosphere. It’s all discussed.

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  • Of Note Elsewhere

    This tumblr collects many bad jokes kids have invented.

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    “It’s easier to tell the same stories everyone else does. There’s no particular shame in it.

    It’s just that it’s lazy, which is just about the worst possible thing a spec fic writer can be.

    Oh, and it’s not true.”

    Kameron Hurley writes about lazy writing, cannibal llamas, female soldiers, and women here. (Thanks, James!)

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    Patton Oswalt’s multi-franchise super-movie described in his Star Wars filibuster from Parks and Recreation, animated.

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    Corrigan Vaughan writes an open letter to “Fans of Geek Things“: “I appreciate that you think I have a nice rack and that some of you even find my friends and I to be pretty. That’s very kind. I’m not, however, super in love with the fact that having a rack at all seems to preclude me from being considered a ‘real’ fan.”

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    The Black Girl Nerds Podcast discusses Black girls and women in the Heavy Metal industry with author and journalist Laina Dawes and Ursula “She-Wolf” Parson from Hear Evil News.

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    The Hollywood Reporter interviews director Takashi Miike about his new film, Shield of Straw: ” In Japan now, films are very safe. When I was young and went to old cinemas, they had a distinctive feel, an adult smell about them. As you got in your seat and the lights went down, there was a feeling of excitement: What if the film is scarier than I thought it’s going to be? You’re taken into that world. Nowadays, you can sit in the theater and know it’s going to be safe. That’s good for business, but not for filmmaking.”

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