Lady Hellbat

The Faculty of Horror: Episode 4. Do You Like Scary Movies?

Necromandrea — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:55:52 +0000

In this episode, Andrea, Alex and friends tackle the age-old question, which horror films scare you the most? Using different analytical frameworks we discuss a variety of scary films and scenes while grappling with our own traumas.

The Black Museum Presents – Killer Portraits: Iconography of the Horror Film Poster

Necromandrea — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:19:45 +0000

Horror film posters have provide viewers with some of the most iconic images of the genre to date and, over the years, many have become collectible art pieces in their own right. But since the earliest entries in the Universal horror cycle, the primary purpose of the film poster has been to sell a film to the public. Herein lies the paradox of the film poster: marketing for the sake of selling versus marketing material as art. While a new insurgence of contemporary artists are renegotiating the purpose of the film poster with reimagined artwork for special screenings and festivals, moviegoers are always kept in mind during the poster’s creation, suggesting a greater connection between audience and poster than between poster and film. Through an examination of poster art from some of horror’s most revered, and not so revered films, a more complete portrait of horror, madness, and violence is born, one that is inextricably linked to the rise and fall of the Hollywood star system, the dissolution of the Hays Code in the late 1960s, and the rise of the Hollywood independent filmmakers of the 1970s and ’80s.

Films and posters to be discussed include early works like Frankenstein, Cat People, and Psycho to later offerings such as Kingdom of the Spiders, Don’t Go in the Woods Alone, Carrie, and Maniac. Posters for horror films from contemporary artists such as Ken Taylor, Jason Edmiston, Olly Moss, Gary Pullin, Justin Erickson, and Daniel Danger will be discussed, alongside the film’s original key art and its international counterparts.

May 16, 2013 at 8pm
Big Picture, 1035 Gerrard Steet East, Toronto
Cost: $12 advance, $15 at the door

The Black Museum Presents – Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils

Necromandrea — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:13:34 +0000

Based on historical fact, Ken Russell’s beautifully blasphemous film The Devils (1971) is about an oversexed priest and a group of sexually repressed nuns in 17th-century France and the ensuing trials and exorcisms that followed. Detailing the production and the personalities of two of cinema’s great eccentrics, director Ken Russell and star Oliver Reed, film critic Richard Crouse delves deeper to explore the aftermath of The Devils, based on his recent book about the film. This lecture will ask how can a movie by one of the most famous filmmakers in the world end up banned, edited, and ignored by the company that owns it?

May 2, 2013 at 8pm
Big Picture, 1035 Gerrard Steet East, Toronto
Cost: $12 advance, $15 at the door

The Black Museum Presents – Ghosts in the Machine: The Evolution of Found Footage Horror

Necromandrea — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:07:07 +0000

From literary beginnings to its current status as a pop culture mainstay, found footage horror continues to make money and gain fans while bewildered critics look on. After an initial burst of popularity in 1999, it would be the influence of the Asian horror film boom of the early 2000s that helped the fledgling genre find a voice and purpose. By examining Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, REC, Paranormal Activity and The Last Exorcism, journalist and playwright Alexandra West will discuss how found footage horror grew from its grassroots origins to become a defining horror trope of a young millennium.

April 18, 2013 at 8pm Big Picture
1035 Gerrard Steet East, Toronto
Cost: $12 advance, $15 at the door

The Black Museum Presents – Tourism in the 4th Dimension: Parallel Realities and Time Loops in Cinema

Necromandrea — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:59:42 +0000

The concept of time travel has been a staple in literary Science Fiction since H.G. Wells, and naturally this interest has carried over to cinema. For this lecture, different theories of time travel will be presented and we will discuss two seminal papers on time travel – namely, David Lewis’ The Paradoxes of Time Travel and Theodore Sider’s Time Travel, Coincidences and Counterfactuals. Using these theories of time travel, we will analyze its use in films like Back to The Future (1985, Robert Zemeckis), 12 Monkeys (1995, Terry Gilliam), Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly), Primer (2004, Shane Carruth), La Jetée (1962, Chris Marker) and, most recently, Looper (2012, Rian Johnson). In addition, we will discuss film and photography as a metaphor for time travel.

April 4, 2013 at 8pm
Big Picture, 1035 Gerrard Steet East, Toronto
Cost: $12 Advance, $15 at the door

The Black Museum Presents – Primate Panic: Bigfoot on Film 1967 – 1980

Necromandrea — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:39:13 +0000

Rumours about a giant, hairy wild beast living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and Canada have captured the imaginations of locals since the 1850s. However, it wasn’t until two outdoorsmen, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, made an infamous 16mm short film of a strange, shaggy creature in 1967 that Bigfoot became a familiar face of fear across North America. Though experts and eyewitnesses continue to dispute the existence of such a creature, no one can deny that it has left its oversized footprints on pop culture and the history of horror film. This lecture will look at Bigfoot’s evolution on screen throughout the 1970s as a creature of both mystery and fright in films including The Mysterious Monsters, Legend of Boggy Creek, The Capture of Bigfoot and Night of the Demon. This lecture accompanies a screening of creepy cryptozoological classic Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot (1977).

March 21, 2013 at 8pm
Big Picture, 1035 Gerrard Steet East, Toronto
Cost: $12 Advance, $15 at the door

The Faculty of Horror: Episode 3. Jennifer’s Body

Necromandrea — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:14:01 +0000

In this episode, your hosts Alex and Andrea aim their smart-bombs squarely at Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body (2009) and how there’s much more to the film than meets the eye.

The Faculty of Horror: Episode 2. Valentine’s Day

Necromandrea — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 20:41:03 +0000

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we bring you a conversation about Fatal Attraction (1987), Fear (1996) and the kind of love that takes a lot to die.

The Faculty of Horror: Episode 1. Halloween vs Black Xmas

Necromandrea — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:44:04 +0000

Tackling all things horror with a slash of analysis and research, horror journalists and occasional academics Andrea Subissati and Alexandra West are your hosts for brain plumping discussions. Produced independently in Toronto Ontario The Faculty of Horror is your best source for classic and contemporary horror film discussions that will haunt the libraries of your mind.
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Rue Morgue Magazine’s 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need To See

Necromandrea — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:20:28 +0000

You’ve seen The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, The Blob. But are you familiar with The Exorcist III, Amityville II: The Possession or The Blobremake? Or minor masterpieces like Incubus, The Black Pit of Dr. Mor Ichi The Killer? Fright film fans need look no further that this indispensible guide from the experts at Rue Morgue, the world’s leading horror in culture and entertainment magazine.

Concisely written with a view to expanding the horror film lover’s palette, Rue Morgue Magazine’s 200 ALTERNATIVE HORROR FILMS YOU NEED TO SEE outlines those cinematic gems you ay have missed – classic and contemporary, mainstream and obscure, home-made and foreign… and those films that simply need to make your viewing list.

Featuring interviews with Guillermo del Toro, Tobe Hooper, Gaspar Noe, Roger Corman, Fred Dekker, Larry Cohen, Stuart Gordon, Ed Sanchez and more. Plus the top gore films, slashers, vampire flicks, foreign zombie movies, family fright fests and tons more!