“The merit of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, then – or its offence, depending where you stood – was not that it was authentic, but that it was credible. The bad dream turned out to be one that a lot of people in the world were sharing, since it asked the same [...]
A collection of Orson Welles’ appearances on the old time radio show, Suspense, including “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Hitchhiker.”
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.”
“In a good heist film, the heist always goes wrong.” Andrew Nette shares his favorites.
Friend of The Gutter, Robert Mitchell interviews Birdemic director, James Nguyen. They discuss film-making, Birdemic: Shock and Terror, Birdemic 2 and what people can do to reduce their negative impact on the environment.
The ultimate in amnesiac pregnancy romances, Pregnesia! (Thanks, Tars Tarkas!)
Kill List director and suspected Pirate Captain Ben Wheatley has been secretly making commercial videos for years. Siân Elizabeth-Anne just happens to have gathered all Wheatley’s booty in one place, The Vanguard programme blog. Or most of it. Meanwhile, at the Midnight Madness blog, Chad Eberle has collected evidence of Rob Zombie’s secret life as [...]
This year’s Vanguard program at the Toronto International Film Festival also looks pretty sweet with Soi Cheang’s Motorway, starring Anthony Wong Chau-Sang; 90 Minutes; Berberian Sound Effects; Blondie; I Declare War; iLL Manors; Painless; Pusher; Sightseers; Thale; and Michel Gondry’s The We And The I. I haven’t found trailers for Beijing Flickers; Here Comes The [...]
Recently, I’ve been thinking about danger. Specifically, the kind of danger that runs through a certain subsection of Romance, often called ‘romantic suspense’. These are the stories that drop the hero and heroine into physical jeopardy in addition to exposing them to all the emotional risks of falling in love. When done well, they share [...]
Publishing powerhouse Jackie Collins explains her decision to self-publish and the business of books.
Fascinating article on thriller writer Dennis Wheatley’s role as a planner of deceptions for WWII British Intelligence and his influence on Ian Fleming and James Bond. (via @driveinmob)
Black Hole Reviews runs down the possible sources for the Drive soundtrack, track by track.
Grady Hendrix reads London Free Press editor William C. Heine’s The Last Canadian, a plague-driven, apocalyptic pulp set in Montreal. Unfortunately, the protagonist’s citizenship papers haven’t come through before the plague hits. For Canadian pulp fiction featuring full Canadian citizens, check out Tales from the Vault, curated by own own Screen Editor Emeritus, Ian Driscoll.
Kyla Ward looks back on the work of writer and horror icon, as author of “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, in an issue of Tabula Rasa from 1995. “To say Shirley Jackson is a psychological novelist, and that the horror in her stories comes from the increasingly skewed perceptions of [...]
It’s the beginning of January, cold and dark where I am. The critics are all putting out their best of year lists, and maybe you’re looking for something to read. So here’s my entry into annual lists: 10 comics I liked in 2011 that I haven’t written about. Well 9 comics I haven’t written about [...]
Monika Bartyzel writes about “softening and sexualizing Lisbeth Salander” in David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the pre-release posters and Stieg Larsson and his novel. “There seems to be a relief that Mara’s Salander is a more relatable person, that classic ‘female’ tropes like softness and vulnerability are visible. It speaks [...]
On the anniversary of Shirley Jackson’s birthday, here are a piece on The Haunting of Hill House at DarkEcho and a 1951 radio play of her “The Lottery” on NBC Short Story.
Filmmaker Ken Russell has died at the age of 84. The extremely prolific Russell’s films include: Tommy; The Harry Palmer film, Billion Dollar Brain; Women in Love; The Music Lovers; The Devils; Altered States; Crimes of Passion; and Lair of the White Worm. The Guardian has an obituary and Mubi has a collection of articles [...]
Hangul Cellulloid interviews director, writer and actor, Ryoo Seung-Wan about his earlier films, including Die Bad; his current film, The Unjust; his upcoming, The Berlin File; and whether Korean films are inherently violent.
The Internet Archive has a collection of the old time radio show, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, sure to spookify any All Hallow’s Eve.
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