Episode 71. Violent Visage: Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Andrea and Alex unmask Georges Franju’s 1960 masterpiece Eyes Without a Face and peer into the damaged landscape of a post-World War II France, body modification and why sometimes, father doesn’t know best.

REQUIRED READING

Eyes Without a Face. Dir. Georges Franju, 1960.

EXTRA CREDIT

Blood of the Beasts (1949) Franju’s short documentary about the slaughterhouses on the outskirts of Paris. EXTREME CONTENT WARNING for this one: animal cruelty.

 

Fast Cars, Clean Bodies. Kristen Ross’ seminal book about the French desire to rid themselves of their past.

Mystery and Melodrama: A Conversation with Georges Franju. An interview with Franju about his career at the 1980 London Festival.

Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor by Doug Bradley.

Terrible Buildings The world of GEORGES FRANJU. Robin Wood’s article about Franju and the notion of institutions within his films.

Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery by Virginia L. Blum.

Class of 2019 T-shirts are available now at Twisted Ts!

 Salem Horror Fest – Tickets to our live show on October 5th are on sale now!

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Episode 70. Man Eater: Ravenous (1999)

Andrea and Alex head West to explore the notions of Manifest Destiny and the Frontier Myth in Antonia Bird’s Ravenous. Combining historical context through a modern gaze, Ravenous proves you are who you eat.

REQUIRED READING

Ravenous. Dir. Antonia Bird, 1999.

EXTRA CREDIT

Manifest Destiny – An overview of the philosophical American mandate to head West.

Cannibal (2006) – a German film based on the true story of Armin Meiwes, who ate a man he met online.

“You Are Who You Eat” – Bitch Flicks’ essay on Ravenous, with a discussion on how it handles “manpain.”

Frontier Violence – NYT 1974 article on Richard Slotkin’s recontextualization of the American Frontier Myth.

Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, by Margaret Atwood.

A Tribe Called Red – Canadian Indigenous rap group.

Tanya Tagaq – Canadian Inuk throat singer.

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Episode 69: The Fack Lives!: 2018 Year in Review

Andrea and Alex return for their annual year in review episode. From their favourite films of 2018 to FAQs and bloopers, few stones are left unturned… and those are probably haunted anyway.

EXTRA CREDIT

Alex’s Favourite Films of 2018:
Suspiria
Pyewacket
Annihilation
Assassination Nation
Cam

 

Andrea’s Favourite Films of 2018:
Suspiria
Hereditary
Assassination Nation
Tigers are Not Afraid
Summer of ’84

 

Alex’s Horror-Adjacent Film Faves:
Border
Sorry to Bother You
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

 

Books mentions:
Be sure to check out the Faculty of Horror Reading List!
Different Seasons by Stephen King
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
The Troop by Nick Cutter
Bird Box by Josh Malerman

 

Other sources mentioned:
In Conversation with Paul Schrader – An interview from New York Magazine’s Vulture about the state of the film industry and how players like Netflix and Hulu are mining our algorithms.

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Episode 68. House Proud: Mother! (2017)

Andrea and Alex break down the foundational elements of Darren Aronofsky’s divisive mother! From authorship to ecofeminism to sink instillation, few stones are left unturned or unexamined.

REQUIRED READING

mother! Dir. Darren Aronofsky, 2017.

EXTRA CREDIT

What is Ecofeminism? An overview of the term that rose to prominence in the 1970s.

 

The Death of the Author by Roland Barthes. Barthes’ influential piece on the declining importance of God-like authorship.

 

The Directors Cut Podcast, episode 90. Aronofsky interviewed by William Friedkin about mother!

 

IndieWire Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, episode 47. Aronofsky on the process and ideology behind mother! 

 

“The Yellow Wall-Paper.” Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s scandalous novella from 1892.

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