Jul 29 2018
5 Comments
Episodes, Uncategorized

Episode 64. Tour de Farce: Young Frankenstein (1974) and What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Horror can be horrifying, but it can also be hilarious. Whether it’s mad science or vampires living together, the comedy in these films heightens the absurd as well as our notions of “typical” behavior. At its best, comedy and horror function as a subversion of our day to day lives and expectations enlightening us to the strange elements that we’ve accepted as “normal.”

REQUIRED READING

Young Frankenstein. Dir. Mel Brooks, 1974.
What We Do in the Shadows. Dir  Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, 2014.

EXTRA CREDIT

Class of 2018 t-shirts. Limited edition Faculty of Horror t-shirts are available until September from Twisted Ts through the end of September! Order yours today.

Salem Horror Fest. We’ll be back October 12-14! Get your tickets now.

The Sunday Conversation: Mel Brooks on his ‘Young Frankenstein’ musical Brooks on the inception of Young Frankenstein and its afterlife.

What We Do In The Shadows Interview: Taika Waititi And Jemaine Clement An interview with the filmmakers about their process and reception of the film.

Faculty of Horror subreddit. Keep the conversation going on our subreddit page.

LISTEN

Right click or option-click here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the mp3.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tagged , , , , ,
Jun 18 2018
10 Comments
Episodes, Uncategorized

Episode 63. Play Dead: Funny Games (1997)

What constitutes a film? What constitutes a podcast episode description? Andrea and Alex ask these questions (okay, maybe not that last one) and more in this month’s episode. By plundering the depths of filmic conventions, audience expectations and interpersonal contracts, Michael Haneke’s Funny Games asks the hard questions for which there are many answers.

REQUIRED READING

Funny Games. Dir. Michael Haneke, 1997.

EXTRA CREDIT

Class of 2018 t-shirts. Limited edition Faculty of Horror t-shirts are available until September from Twisted Ts through the end of September! Order yours today.

Salem Horror Fest. We’ll be back October 12-14! Get your tickets now.

Faculty of Horror subreddit. Keep the conversation going on our subreddit page.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman. Symbolic interactionism and dramaturgical analysis.

Bertolt Brecht. Avant-garde theatre practioner who believed in distancing an audience to encourage rational thought over emotional engagement.

Anne Dufourmantelle. The Philosophy of Hospitality. An exploration of the people involved in the dynamics of hospitality.

Jacques Derrida on Hospitality. The French philosopher’s take on the conditional and unconditional concepts of hospitality.

The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle. Alex’s new book is available now through McFarland Books!

LISTEN

Right click or option-click here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the mp3.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tagged ,
May 22 2018
2 Comments
Episodes, Uncategorized

Episode 62. Surveilled: Peeping Tom (1960) and Psycho (1960)

 
In this episode, Alex and Andrea look through an illicit peephole into the world of the mad and macabre.  Both Peeping Tom and Psycho caused sensations when they were released in the same year, causing Western audiences to question the nature of evil, our proximity to one another and how many women we can watch die on screen.

REQUIRED READING

Peeping Tom. Dir. Michael Powell, 1960.
Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960.

EXTRA CREDIT

Class of 2018 T-shirts – Get ’em while their hot!

 

Salem Horror Fest – We’ll be back October 12-14! Get your tickets now.

 

Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema. Laura Mulvey’s groundbreaking essay on the cinematic gaze

 

Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Carol Clover’s genre-defining book from 1992.

“Have You Ever Seen the inside of One of Those Places?”: Psycho, Foucault, and the Postwar Context of Madness. Cynthia Erb’s essay on institutionalization and Psycho.

Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’: the film that killed a career. An overview of the release and reaction to Peeping Tom.

The Misogyny of the Modern Slasher Film. Anna Biller’s blog post about the slasher sub-genre.

LISTEN

Right click or option-click here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the mp3.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tagged , , ,
Apr 26 2018
3 Comments
Episodes, Uncategorized

Episode 61. Stardust: Event Horizon (1997) and Sunshine (2007)

Andrea and Alex reach for the heavens and find the furthest reaches of hell with two films about space exploration and the darkness therein. Event Horizon and Sunshine explore the different reasons humankind would dare try to conquer space and the horrors that might await us there.

REQUIRED READING

Event Horizon. Dir Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997.
Sunshine. Dir Danny Boyle, 2007.

EXTRA CREDIT

Class of 2018 t-shirts! Available until September 2018 – get ’em at Twisted Ts!

Death Count: All of the Deaths in the Friday the 13th Film Series, Illustrated by Stacie Ponder.

The Making of Event Horizon. Check out all the behind the scenes stories and detailed production history.

Event Horizon‘s shooting draft of the script.

The Myth of Oedipus. The Greek myth and the importance of sight.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientist and the Cinema by Christopher Frayling. A book that specifically looks at the personalities of on-screen scientists.

 

Reasons Behind Cult Suicide. A look at the reasons and psychology behind mass suicide and why most of the “suicide cults” also involve a fair amount of homicide. 

 

Kermode Uncut Film Club: Sunshine. British critic Mark Kermode talks about appreciating Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.

LISTEN

Right click or option-click here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the mp3.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tagged , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →