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Working the Blue Rose Case
I’m pleased to announce that I’m part of the autumn season of lectures organised by the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies in London. MIHS is a ‘community-based organisation that offers university-level history, theory and production-based workshops for people of all ages. The Miskatonic is a non-profit endeavour through which established horror writers, directors, scholars and programmers/curators celebrate horror history and culture with a unique blend of enthusiasm and critical perspective.’ Here’s the blurb for the autumn schedule: Mark Pilkington (Owner of Strange Attractor Press, writer/director of MIRAGE MEN) launches the season in September with his lecture “Rituals in the Dark: Evoking Magic on Film”. From the grit of medieval grimoires and…
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picture palace
Here’s a photo I took on Saturday in Galway of the newly-constructed Picture Palace in the city centre. It’s a three-screen art cinema, that will also have a café, bar, film/art book and dvd shop, and an online film archive facility. This has been a long, much-anticipated project, and is the perfect fit for a bohemian city that has a university and a technical institute that both teach a variety of film courses. Of course, as a film buff I’m delighted at the prospect of getting a better variety of screenings of foreign and indie films in Galway. I don’t know when the cinema will open this year, but I…
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troll hunter
On Friday I went to the showing of the Norwegian monster movie TrollHunter (Trolljegeren, 2010), as part of the Galway Film Fleadh. It’s written by André Øvredal and Håvard S. Johansen, and directed by Øvredal. This film follows a well-worn path of supposedly being the raw footage from a documentary that three college students were shooting – all of this is explained up front in stark lettering before the film starts. I must confess to releasing a sigh upon reading this, as this is a particular trope of horror films that can grate upon my nerves. However, TrollHunter is a fine of example of how you can pull off this…
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sunset, then the lesbian aliens
I snapped this image late this evening down by the River Corrib in Galway city. The Film Fleadh kicked off tonight, so I passed a long line of people, some dressed up smartly, waiting to get into the Rowing Club. That’s the official after-movie venue for the Fleadh, and it has a lovely section at the back that overlooks the River. It’s a splendid spot to quaff a few drinks and take cinema if the weather is good. Those were the film buffs who’d been in to see the opening film, Parked (written by Ciaran Creagh and directed by Darragh Byrne). I was on my way to watch a black…
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Galway Junior Film Fleadh 2010
Last year I was one of the judges for the Galway Junior Film Fleadh pitching competition, and it was a brilliant experience. First off I was delighted that all four of the finalists were girls, and each of them had a great story idea. I was also impressed with how they dealt with having to be on stage and pitch their story to the jury and the audience. That’s a daunting prospect no matter your age! This year’s Junior Film Fleadh will take place from the 3 – 6 of November, and once again it’s running the script competition. Here are the details: The Junior Galway Film Fleadh, in association…
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FrightFest 2008 Roundup
Another year, another FrightFest. Here are a number of horror movie clichés I could do without in the future: A blood-covered girl being chased in the woods as a hook to start a film A woman being captured, locked up, and tortured Stating at the beginning “Based on actual events” Yuppies being menaced by psycho assailants Creepy mirror scenes that aren’t scary enough Comedy horror flicks that have more gore and rubbery intestines than story or funny lines Oh gosh, the bad guys are kids! The countryside is occupied only by crazies – even if you escape, you can be guaranteed you’ll fall back into their clutches just as you…
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interludes and elder gods
The holiday season is such a distraction. It’s nice to meet up with friends and family, exchange gifts, share a meal, and over-indulge a little, but there’s a limit to my ability to dodge my internal taskmistress. She’s strict, and has no tolerance for excuses. Yet, even though I haven’t written much in the last week I’m currently growing a bunch of stories in my mind. The Novel Idea is simmering. A new short story is taking shape. It’s weird, set in a strange place, and the main character is flitting in and out of my periphery imagination all the time. I’m hesitant to write anything down. It feels too…
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dialogue is not uncinematic
Last night our screenwriting group watched the black and white classic 12 Angry Men (1957)–which was directed by Sidney Lumet, and written by Reginald Rose. Afterwards we had a great discussion about a variety of subjects, including what makes one project work for television but not for cinema, and vice versa. What’s lovely about our group is that when we don’t have material to assess we like to mix things up. So we can watch a film, or examine a topic of interest, or, as in the case of our next meeting, go to the theatre to see a play. As I’ve said before, being able to spend time in…
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respect the early masters of the genre
Yesterday, much to my delight, I got delivery of The Val Lewton Horror Collection (region 1 only). For those of you unfamiliar with the man, Val Lewton was appointed head of the Horror unit in RKO in 1942. He proceeded to commission a series of films that only had to conform to three rules: 1. The budget had to be under $150,000. 2. The film could not run more than 75 minutes (each film was shown as half of a double feature). 3. The title of the film was supplied by Lewton’s supervisors. The obvious 4th rule that is not normally mentioned is that it had to be scary. Horror…
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inspiration
There were a number of programmes on TV during the run-up to the death of 2005 that detailed lists of movies that people rated very highly. Around Halloween I assembled a list of horror films I admired. Today I’m delineating the non-genre (not sf/fantasy/horror/action/thriller) films that burn brightly in my imagination. When I mull over the choices there are many criteria I could use, such as excellent acting, innovative direction, and intelligent writing. In this case I have chosen films that left an undeniable emotional impact upon me after watching them. Of course it’s deeply personal. After viewing each of these films I came away with the thought “This is…
