MIS
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Institute of
Horror Studies
Speakers
Speakers
Julia Echeverría
Dr. Julia Echeverría is an Associate Professor of English Studies at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. She is the author of Epidemic Cinema: The Rise of a Genre (Routledge, 2024) and has published academic articles and book chapters on the epidemic horror genre, transnational filmmakers such as Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro, and female prison television series from a cosmopolitan perspective. She is also co-editor of Cosmopolitan Aspirations in Contemporary Cinema (Routledge, 2025), alongside María del Mar Azcona and Pablo Gómez-Muñoz. Her current research focuses on the representation of spaces and places in the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos.
Biographic Note
Dr. Julia Echeverría is an Associate Professor of English Studies at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. She is the author of Epidemic Cinema: The Rise of a Genre (Routledge, 2024) and has published academic articles and book chapters on the epidemic horror genre, transnational filmmakers such as Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro, and female prison television series from a cosmopolitan perspective. She is also co-editor of Cosmopolitan Aspirations in Contemporary Cinema (Routledge, 2025), alongside María del Mar Azcona and Pablo Gómez-Muñoz. Her current research focuses on the representation of spaces and places in the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos.
Kate Egan
Kate Egan is Assistant Professor in Film and Media at Northumbria University. She is the author of Trash or Treasure? Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties (2007), Cultographies: The Evil Dead (2011), and (with Martin Barker, Tom Philips and Sarah Ralph) Alien Audiences (2016), as well as co-editor of Cult Film Stardom (2013), And Now for Something Completely Different (2020) and Researching Historical Screen Audiences (2022). She is also co-editor (with Shellie McMurdo and Laura Mee) of the Hidden Horror Histories book series (LUP), co-investigator (alongside Cat Lester) of the AHRC Youth and Horror Network, and is currently working on Remembering Ghostwatch: Horror, Childhood, Technology and the Home and (with James Rendell) Researching Horror Fans and Audiences in the Twenty-First Century.
Biographic Note
Kate Egan is Assistant Professor in Film and Media at Northumbria University. She is the author of Trash or Treasure? Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties (2007), Cultographies: The Evil Dead (2011), and (with Martin Barker, Tom Philips and Sarah Ralph) Alien Audiences (2016), as well as co-editor of Cult Film Stardom (2013), And Now for Something Completely Different (2020) and Researching Historical Screen Audiences (2022). She is also co-editor (with Shellie McMurdo and Laura Mee) of the Hidden Horror Histories book series (LUP), co-investigator (alongside Cat Lester) of the AHRC Youth and Horror Network, and is currently working on Remembering Ghostwatch: Horror, Childhood, Technology and the Home and (with James Rendell) Researching Horror Fans and Audiences in the Twenty-First Century.
Charlie Ellbé
Charlie is a recent graduate from the M. A. Film Studies program at Concordia University. She is now Coordinator of the Moving Image at the Concordia Visual Media Resources. In the summer of 2010, Charlie received a travel fund to go to the USC and Margaret Herrick Library archives to research her Master's thesis. With access to original documentation from the Hollywood studios and personal writings from art directors of the classical studio era, Charlie was able to complete her thesis on art direction in Universal Studios' horror films of the 1930s with original research. Last summer, she served on the jury of the Montreal Underground Film Festival. She is currently co-editing an anthology of essays on 1940s horror films with Kristopher Woofter and Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare.
Biographic Note
Charlie is a recent graduate from the M. A. Film Studies program at Concordia University. She is now Coordinator of the Moving Image at the Concordia Visual Media Resources. In the summer of 2010, Charlie received a travel fund to go to the USC and Margaret Herrick Library archives to research her Master's thesis. With access to original documentation from the Hollywood studios and personal writings from art directors of the classical studio era, Charlie was able to complete her thesis on art direction in Universal Studios' horror films of the 1930s with original research. Last summer, she served on the jury of the Montreal Underground Film Festival. She is currently co-editing an anthology of essays on 1940s horror films with Kristopher Woofter and Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare.
Éric Falardeau
Éric Falardeau is a writer and filmmaker. He has written and
directed short films, a music video, the horror feature Thanatomorphose
(2012) and the Adult Time film The Thing from the Lake (2019). He was
guest curator of the exhibition Secrets and Illusions, the Magic of Special
Effects at the Cinémathèque québécoise (2013-17). He is the author of Une
histoire des effets spéciaux au Québec (2017) and Le corps souillé :
Gore, pornographie et fluides corporels (2019). His latest short film Asmodeus
(2021) is currently screening at festivals around the world.
Biographic Note
Éric Falardeau is a writer and filmmaker. He has written and
directed short films, a music video, the horror feature Thanatomorphose
(2012) and the Adult Time film The Thing from the Lake (2019). He was
guest curator of the exhibition Secrets and Illusions, the Magic of Special
Effects at the Cinémathèque québécoise (2013-17). He is the author of Une
histoire des effets spéciaux au Québec (2017) and Le corps souillé :
Gore, pornographie et fluides corporels (2019). His latest short film Asmodeus
(2021) is currently screening at festivals around the world.
Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Sorcha Ni Fhlainn is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Studies, and a founding member of the Manchester centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has published widely on gothic and horror studies, including Clive Barker:Dark Imaginer(Manchester, 2017) and Postmodern Vampires: Film, Fiction, and Popular Culture (Palgrave, 2019). She is currently working on the long 1980s onscreen.
Biographic Note
Sorcha Ni Fhlainn is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Studies, and a founding member of the Manchester centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has published widely on gothic and horror studies, including Clive Barker:Dark Imaginer(Manchester, 2017) and Postmodern Vampires: Film, Fiction, and Popular Culture (Palgrave, 2019). She is currently working on the long 1980s onscreen.
Austin Fisher
Austin Fisher is Principal Academic in Media Production at Bournemouth University. He is author of Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema (EUP, 2019) and Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western (I.B. Tauris, 2011), and editor of Spaghetti Westerns at the Crossroads (EUP, 2016). He is also co-editor (with Johnny Walker) of both Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Bloomsbury’s ‘Global Exploitation Cinemas’ book series.
Biographic Note
Austin Fisher is Principal Academic in Media Production at Bournemouth University. He is author of Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema (EUP, 2019) and Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western (I.B. Tauris, 2011), and editor of Spaghetti Westerns at the Crossroads (EUP, 2016). He is also co-editor (with Johnny Walker) of both Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Bloomsbury’s ‘Global Exploitation Cinemas’ book series.
Rodman Flender
Rodman Flender has worked in film, theater, documentary and television. His genre directing credits include Dimension TV’s Scream, the TV Series; HBO’s Tales From the Crypt; The Roger Corman-produced feature The Unborn; and Columbia Pictures’ Idle Hands. He recently wrapped shooting the horror-comedy Eat, Brains, Love for production company Gunpowder & Sky. He has lectured on television directing at USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program and film analysis at Harvard University.
Biographic Note
Rodman Flender has worked in film, theater, documentary and television. His genre directing credits include Dimension TV’s Scream, the TV Series; HBO’s Tales From the Crypt; The Roger Corman-produced feature The Unborn; and Columbia Pictures’ Idle Hands. He recently wrapped shooting the horror-comedy Eat, Brains, Love for production company Gunpowder & Sky. He has lectured on television directing at USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program and film analysis at Harvard University.
David Flint
DAVID FLINT is a freelance writer, sometime filmmaker and full time angry misanthrope who has edited Sheer Filth, Divinity and Headpress, authored Babylon Blue, Ten Years of Terror and Zombie Holocaust and written for publications ranging from Rapid Eye, Bizarre and Skin Two to Penthouse, Loaded and Mayfair.
Biographic Note
DAVID FLINT is a freelance writer, sometime filmmaker and full time angry misanthrope who has edited Sheer Filth, Divinity and Headpress, authored Babylon Blue, Ten Years of Terror and Zombie Holocaust and written for publications ranging from Rapid Eye, Bizarre and Skin Two to Penthouse, Loaded and Mayfair.
Abraham Castillo Flores
Abraham Castillo Flores has been Head Programmer at Mexico's Morbido Fest since 2010, where he curates and presents exotic and outrageous films to audiences hungry for intense emotions. A Mexican offspring of the 1970s obsessed with the power and paradoxical beauty of genre stories imprinted onto celluloid and pixels. Graduated with honors from the School of Visual Arts, NYC with more than 20 years experience in the film industry and academia. Abraham currently lives in Mexico City where he dedicates his every breath to the promotion, restructuring, study and presentation of genre films.
Biographic Note
Abraham Castillo Flores has been Head Programmer at Mexico's Morbido Fest since 2010, where he curates and presents exotic and outrageous films to audiences hungry for intense emotions. A Mexican offspring of the 1970s obsessed with the power and paradoxical beauty of genre stories imprinted onto celluloid and pixels. Graduated with honors from the School of Visual Arts, NYC with more than 20 years experience in the film industry and academia. Abraham currently lives in Mexico City where he dedicates his every breath to the promotion, restructuring, study and presentation of genre films.
Kieran Foster
Dr Kieran Foster is an Associate Lecturer at De Montfort University and Nottingham Trent University. His research centres on unmade films, with his PhD completed in 2019 presenting a chronological study of Hammer Films through their unmade projects. He was the producer of Vampirella: A Live Script Reading in 2019, and has written extensively on the topic of unmade Hammer Films. He is the co-editor of Bloomsbury’s Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films and is on the editorial board of Intellect’s Unmade Films and Television book series.
Biographic Note
Dr Kieran Foster is an Associate Lecturer at De Montfort University and Nottingham Trent University. His research centres on unmade films, with his PhD completed in 2019 presenting a chronological study of Hammer Films through their unmade projects. He was the producer of Vampirella: A Live Script Reading in 2019, and has written extensively on the topic of unmade Hammer Films. He is the co-editor of Bloomsbury’s Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films and is on the editorial board of Intellect’s Unmade Films and Television book series.
William Fowler
William Fowler is a writer, film historian and musician. He is Curator of Artists’ Moving Image, BFI National Archive and the co-founder and co-programmer of The Flipside at BFI Southbank. His seasons and restoration projects at the BFI have included GAZWRX: the films of Jeff Keen, Queer Pagan Punk: Derek Jarman and This Is Now: Film and Video After Punk, the latter of which is currently touring internationally through LUX. He has written for The Guardian, Sight and Sound and Frieze and appeared on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and also contributed chapters to Inside Out: Le Cinéma de Stephen Dwoskin and The Edge is Where the Centre: David Rudkin and Penda’s Fen (which he co-edited). He programmes the monthly BFI strand Essential Experiments and has since 2013 been the co-programmer of Experimenta in the London Film Festival. He regularly gives talks and presents films.
Biographic Note
William Fowler is a writer, film historian and musician. He is Curator of Artists’ Moving Image, BFI National Archive and the co-founder and co-programmer of The Flipside at BFI Southbank. His seasons and restoration projects at the BFI have included GAZWRX: the films of Jeff Keen, Queer Pagan Punk: Derek Jarman and This Is Now: Film and Video After Punk, the latter of which is currently touring internationally through LUX. He has written for The Guardian, Sight and Sound and Frieze and appeared on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and also contributed chapters to Inside Out: Le Cinéma de Stephen Dwoskin and The Edge is Where the Centre: David Rudkin and Penda’s Fen (which he co-edited). He programmes the monthly BFI strand Essential Experiments and has since 2013 been the co-programmer of Experimenta in the London Film Festival. He regularly gives talks and presents films.
Émilie von Garan
Émilie von Garan is a Toronto based critical writer and researcher exploring the intersection of gender, technologies and architecture in film and moving image art. She is a PhD in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto. Her interests include horror theory, art criticism, and the ways in which art and horror share aesthetic, structural, and conceptual strategies.
Biographic Note
Émilie von Garan is a Toronto based critical writer and researcher exploring the intersection of gender, technologies and architecture in film and moving image art. She is a PhD in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto. Her interests include horror theory, art criticism, and the ways in which art and horror share aesthetic, structural, and conceptual strategies.
Stella Marie Gaynor
Dr Stella Marie Gaynor is Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communication at Liverpool John Moores University. She is the author of Rethinking Horror in the New Economies of Television (2022, Palgrave MacMillan), and she has published journals and chapters in edited collections exploring the global reach of The Walking Dead, political commentary in Black Summer, and religious cults in The Returned. Her current research project explores murder and serial killer stories across media, with publications exploring nostalgia in Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, retelling the Bundy case from the perspective of women, and true crime podcasting and social media. Stella writes and hosts The Murder Media Podcast, which is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and iTunes.
Biographic Note
Dr Stella Marie Gaynor is Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communication at Liverpool John Moores University. She is the author of Rethinking Horror in the New Economies of Television (2022, Palgrave MacMillan), and she has published journals and chapters in edited collections exploring the global reach of The Walking Dead, political commentary in Black Summer, and religious cults in The Returned. Her current research project explores murder and serial killer stories across media, with publications exploring nostalgia in Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, retelling the Bundy case from the perspective of women, and true crime podcasting and social media. Stella writes and hosts The Murder Media Podcast, which is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and iTunes.
Jane Giles
Lecturer Jane Giles was programmer at the Scala from 1988-1992, and has since worked in film distribution and exhibition for the likes of Tartan Films, the ICA and the BFI. She teaches at the London Film School and the National Film & Television School, and is the author of four books including The Scala Cinema, 1978-1993, for publication in September 2018 by FAB Press.
Biographic Note
Lecturer Jane Giles was programmer at the Scala from 1988-1992, and has since worked in film distribution and exhibition for the likes of Tartan Films, the ICA and the BFI. She teaches at the London Film School and the National Film & Television School, and is the author of four books including The Scala Cinema, 1978-1993, for publication in September 2018 by FAB Press.
Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold has been covering the world of horror cinema since high school, when he started publishing the fanzine SCAREAPHANALIA. He spent 28 years as part of the staff of FANGORIA magazine and its website—beginning as a writer in 1988, and serving as associate editor, then managing editor and finally editor-in-chief. He is currently an editor and/or writer for RUE MORGUE, SCREAM, BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, DELIRIUM and Blumhouse.com. Michael has done liner notes for a number of Blu-ray and DVD releases, appeared in numerous documentaries and disc featurettes, and taken part in several DVD/Blu-ray audio commentaries. Among his screenplay credits are SHADOW: DEAD RIOT (Fever Dreams), LEECHES! (Rapid Heart Pictures) and the upcoming THE DOLL for director Dante Tomaselli. He currently hosts monthly Prints of Darkness screenings of classic horror films on 35mm at the Greater NY Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Biographic Note
Michael Gingold has been covering the world of horror cinema since high school, when he started publishing the fanzine SCAREAPHANALIA. He spent 28 years as part of the staff of FANGORIA magazine and its website—beginning as a writer in 1988, and serving as associate editor, then managing editor and finally editor-in-chief. He is currently an editor and/or writer for RUE MORGUE, SCREAM, BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, DELIRIUM and Blumhouse.com. Michael has done liner notes for a number of Blu-ray and DVD releases, appeared in numerous documentaries and disc featurettes, and taken part in several DVD/Blu-ray audio commentaries. Among his screenplay credits are SHADOW: DEAD RIOT (Fever Dreams), LEECHES! (Rapid Heart Pictures) and the upcoming THE DOLL for director Dante Tomaselli. He currently hosts monthly Prints of Darkness screenings of classic horror films on 35mm at the Greater NY Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Anne Golden
Anne Golden is on the Creative Arts faculty of John Abbott College, and is Artistic Director of Groupe Intervention Video, an artist-run distribution, exhibition and production centre for videos directed by women. She is an independent curator and writer whose programs include Horizontal Holds/Vertical Views: Recent Canadian Art Video (Musée National du Québec, 2001) and Seuils/Thresholds (Edges Festival, Victoria, 2006). She has also curated programs for Vtape (Toronto) and Centre for Art Tapes (Halifax). Golden has made 12 videos since 1991. Among these are FAT CHANCE (1994), BIG GIRL TOWN (1998), SOMME (2005) and FROM THE ARCHIVES OF VIDÉO POPULAIRE (2007).
Biographic Note
Anne Golden is on the Creative Arts faculty of John Abbott College, and is Artistic Director of Groupe Intervention Video, an artist-run distribution, exhibition and production centre for videos directed by women. She is an independent curator and writer whose programs include Horizontal Holds/Vertical Views: Recent Canadian Art Video (Musée National du Québec, 2001) and Seuils/Thresholds (Edges Festival, Victoria, 2006). She has also curated programs for Vtape (Toronto) and Centre for Art Tapes (Halifax). Golden has made 12 videos since 1991. Among these are FAT CHANCE (1994), BIG GIRL TOWN (1998), SOMME (2005) and FROM THE ARCHIVES OF VIDÉO POPULAIRE (2007).
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith is Visiting Assistant Professor of Culture and Media at Eugene Lang College, The New School. He is the author of a forthcoming book on the filmmaker Peter Watkins (Verso), a frequent contributor to 4Columns, and an advisor to the programming team of the New York Film Festival.
Biographic Note
Leo Goldsmith is Visiting Assistant Professor of Culture and Media at Eugene Lang College, The New School. He is the author of a forthcoming book on the filmmaker Peter Watkins (Verso), a frequent contributor to 4Columns, and an advisor to the programming team of the New York Film Festival.
David J. Goodwin
David J. Goodwin is the Assistant Director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University and was a Frederick Lewis Allen Room scholar at the New York Public Library from 2020 to 2023. He is a past commissioner and chairperson of the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission and a former Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy board member. His first book, Left Bank of the Hudson: Jersey City and the Artists of 111 1st Street, received the J. Owen Grundy History Award in 2018.
Biographic Note
David J. Goodwin is the Assistant Director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University and was a Frederick Lewis Allen Room scholar at the New York Public Library from 2020 to 2023. He is a past commissioner and chairperson of the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission and a former Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy board member. His first book, Left Bank of the Hudson: Jersey City and the Artists of 111 1st Street, received the J. Owen Grundy History Award in 2018.
Matt Green
Matt passionately believes that literature and related arts make considerable contributions to our communities and he is especially interested in the ways in which the works and ideas of the past not only underpin much of what we do and think, but also can yield fresh insight regarding contemporary issues. His research thus considers the intersection of literature, art and critical theory from the eighteenth century through to the present day, with a particular emphasis on the works Gothic writers and artists working across a range of media. He has published widely on Alan Moore and the Gothic, with a particular emphasis on Moore’s engagement with HP Lovecraft.
Biographic Note
Matt passionately believes that literature and related arts make considerable contributions to our communities and he is especially interested in the ways in which the works and ideas of the past not only underpin much of what we do and think, but also can yield fresh insight regarding contemporary issues. His research thus considers the intersection of literature, art and critical theory from the eighteenth century through to the present day, with a particular emphasis on the works Gothic writers and artists working across a range of media. He has published widely on Alan Moore and the Gothic, with a particular emphasis on Moore’s engagement with HP Lovecraft.
Patricia Grisafi
Patricia Grisafi, PhD is a New York City based freelance writer and educator. She received her doctorate in English from Fordham University, where she also taught courses on horror, the gothic, and representations of mental illness in film and literature. She is the author of Breaking Down Plath (Jossey-Bass), an introduction to Sylvia Plath for middle and high school students. Her cultural criticism has been featured in NBCThink, Salon, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vice, The Mary Sue, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.
Biographic Note
Patricia Grisafi, PhD is a New York City based freelance writer and educator. She received her doctorate in English from Fordham University, where she also taught courses on horror, the gothic, and representations of mental illness in film and literature. She is the author of Breaking Down Plath (Jossey-Bass), an introduction to Sylvia Plath for middle and high school students. Her cultural criticism has been featured in NBCThink, Salon, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vice, The Mary Sue, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.
Lindsay Hallam
Dr. Lindsay Hallam is a Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of East London. She is the author of Screening the Marquis de Sade: Pleasure, Pain and the Transgressive Body in Film (2012), Devil’s Advocates – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (2018) and is currently researching a monograph on revenge in Australian horror cinema.
Biographic Note
Dr. Lindsay Hallam is a Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of East London. She is the author of Screening the Marquis de Sade: Pleasure, Pain and the Transgressive Body in Film (2012), Devil’s Advocates – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (2018) and is currently researching a monograph on revenge in Australian horror cinema.
Richard J. Hand
Richard J. Hand is Professor of Media Practice and Director of Drama at the University of East Anglia (UK). He is the author of numerous studies of popular horror culture including two books on horror radio drama and is the co-author (with Michael Wilson) of three books on Grand-Guignol horror theatre. He has written and directed numerous radio and stage plays, including commissioned works for the Science Fiction Theatre Festival; the Frankenstein Bicentenary in Edinburgh; Abertoir Horror Festival; and (with Geraint D’Arcy) a recreation of the Victorian stage illusion ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ in the original venue in London where the illusion was first presented in 1862. For several years, he produced the annual public Halloween performance for Cardiff city council in Wales. He is artistic advisor for Molotov Theatre Group and his media appearances include Heston Blumenthal’s Great British Food and the special edition DVD of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd. Richard is the lead scriptwriter for the US-based National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air, a podcast drama series which has won several awards including, most recently, two Gold Awards at the 2021 Hear Now Festival. In 2020, the entire repertoire of the series was acquired by the Library of Congress for preservation in recognition of ‘its cultural and historical importance’.
Biographic Note
Richard J. Hand is Professor of Media Practice and Director of Drama at the University of East Anglia (UK). He is the author of numerous studies of popular horror culture including two books on horror radio drama and is the co-author (with Michael Wilson) of three books on Grand-Guignol horror theatre. He has written and directed numerous radio and stage plays, including commissioned works for the Science Fiction Theatre Festival; the Frankenstein Bicentenary in Edinburgh; Abertoir Horror Festival; and (with Geraint D’Arcy) a recreation of the Victorian stage illusion ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ in the original venue in London where the illusion was first presented in 1862. For several years, he produced the annual public Halloween performance for Cardiff city council in Wales. He is artistic advisor for Molotov Theatre Group and his media appearances include Heston Blumenthal’s Great British Food and the special edition DVD of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd. Richard is the lead scriptwriter for the US-based National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air, a podcast drama series which has won several awards including, most recently, two Gold Awards at the 2021 Hear Now Festival. In 2020, the entire repertoire of the series was acquired by the Library of Congress for preservation in recognition of ‘its cultural and historical importance’.
Jim Harper
JIM HARPER is a writer and film critic specializing in cult cinema from around the globe. He is the author of Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies (Headpress, 2004) and Flowers from Hell: The Modern Japanese Horror Film (Noir, 2008). His work has appeared in many publications and websites, including Midnight Eye, MYM, Electric Sheep, Necronomicon, V-Cinema, Deranged, Alternative and Scream, and he has contributed to Intellect’s ground-breaking Directory of World Cinema series, writing for the Spanish and Japanese volumes. Currently Harper is working on a revised and updated edition of Flowers from Hell, and preparing the first English-language book about the German Edgar Wallace films of the 1960s.
Biographic Note
JIM HARPER is a writer and film critic specializing in cult cinema from around the globe. He is the author of Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies (Headpress, 2004) and Flowers from Hell: The Modern Japanese Horror Film (Noir, 2008). His work has appeared in many publications and websites, including Midnight Eye, MYM, Electric Sheep, Necronomicon, V-Cinema, Deranged, Alternative and Scream, and he has contributed to Intellect’s ground-breaking Directory of World Cinema series, writing for the Spanish and Japanese volumes. Currently Harper is working on a revised and updated edition of Flowers from Hell, and preparing the first English-language book about the German Edgar Wallace films of the 1960s.
Justin Harries
Justin Harries is the co-creator and curator of Filmbar70, a London based film-club that specialises in screening anomalies drawn from the last gasp of European genre cinema, and has contributed visual and written essays to a number of DVD releases – especially those that lean toward the more glamourous side of the giallo genre. He also makes up approximately 50% of ‘The Carpenters’ (a John Carpenter tribute band) and is a member of ‘The Begotten’, a collective providing improvised sonics to E. Elias Merhige’s avant-splatter flick.
Biographic Note
Justin Harries is the co-creator and curator of Filmbar70, a London based film-club that specialises in screening anomalies drawn from the last gasp of European genre cinema, and has contributed visual and written essays to a number of DVD releases – especially those that lean toward the more glamourous side of the giallo genre. He also makes up approximately 50% of ‘The Carpenters’ (a John Carpenter tribute band) and is a member of ‘The Begotten’, a collective providing improvised sonics to E. Elias Merhige’s avant-splatter flick.
Andi Harriman
Andi Harriman is a writer and DJ living in New York City with an emphasis on all things dark and Eighties-centric. She is the author of the book Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: The Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s and her writing has appeared in Red Bull Music Academy, Dazed, Noisey, Bandcamp Daily, Electronic Beats and LA Weekly, to name a few, while acting as contributing editor to Post-Punk.com. Harriman was published in Leipzig in Schwarz: 25 Jahre Wave-Gotik-Treffen and wrote the foreword for the book Gothic Romandie 1985-1995: La Décennie Noire. She lectures regularly about the goth subculture and has appeared at Morbid Anatomy Museum, New York University and Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. Her endeavors have been featured in Time Out New York, the Village Voice, Refinery 29, and Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Additionally, she runs the dark electronic party and label Synthicide.
Biographic Note
Andi Harriman is a writer and DJ living in New York City with an emphasis on all things dark and Eighties-centric. She is the author of the book Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: The Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s and her writing has appeared in Red Bull Music Academy, Dazed, Noisey, Bandcamp Daily, Electronic Beats and LA Weekly, to name a few, while acting as contributing editor to Post-Punk.com. Harriman was published in Leipzig in Schwarz: 25 Jahre Wave-Gotik-Treffen and wrote the foreword for the book Gothic Romandie 1985-1995: La Décennie Noire. She lectures regularly about the goth subculture and has appeared at Morbid Anatomy Museum, New York University and Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. Her endeavors have been featured in Time Out New York, the Village Voice, Refinery 29, and Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Additionally, she runs the dark electronic party and label Synthicide.
Edwin Harris
Edwin Harris is a PhD candidate in Horticulture with a concentration in Entomology at Oregon State University (OSU). His dissertation research focuses on sensory systems and communication in stink bugs. Combining his interests in the world of insects and the world of the macabre, he published an article titled “Are Entomologists Mad Scientists (According to Horror Movies)?” in the Winter 2025 issue of The American Entomologist, which provided a basis for this lecture. Edwin promotes public engagement with entomology through research extension work and development of informal educational events as a member and former officer of the Bug Club at OSU.
Biographic Note
Edwin Harris is a PhD candidate in Horticulture with a concentration in Entomology at Oregon State University (OSU). His dissertation research focuses on sensory systems and communication in stink bugs. Combining his interests in the world of insects and the world of the macabre, he published an article titled “Are Entomologists Mad Scientists (According to Horror Movies)?” in the Winter 2025 issue of The American Entomologist, which provided a basis for this lecture. Edwin promotes public engagement with entomology through research extension work and development of informal educational events as a member and former officer of the Bug Club at OSU.
Nedim Hassan
Dr Nedim Hassan is a Senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Humanities and Social Science. He is the author of Metal on Merseyside: Music Scenes, Community and Locality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), which is the first book-length study of the Liverpool city region’s hard rock and metal scenes. In addition to his ongoing ethnographic and historical research into metal music scenes in Merseyside, Nedim has also published work that examines the representation of metal music culture on film, with a particular emphasis on heavy metal horror films of the 1980s. Since January 2025 Nedim has been the Chief Editor for Metal Music Studies journal, which is published by Intellect. Metal Music Studies is the main intellectual hub for the International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS).
Biographic Note
Dr Nedim Hassan is a Senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Humanities and Social Science. He is the author of Metal on Merseyside: Music Scenes, Community and Locality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), which is the first book-length study of the Liverpool city region’s hard rock and metal scenes. In addition to his ongoing ethnographic and historical research into metal music scenes in Merseyside, Nedim has also published work that examines the representation of metal music culture on film, with a particular emphasis on heavy metal horror films of the 1980s. Since January 2025 Nedim has been the Chief Editor for Metal Music Studies journal, which is published by Intellect. Metal Music Studies is the main intellectual hub for the International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS).
Sophie Haywood
Sophie Haywood is a WRoCAH Funded PhD student at the University of Sheffield working on eighteenth century Gothic women's writing. She is co-organiser of the Sheffield Gothic Reading Group, and edited a special edition on Transgression for the journal Oxford Research in English. Alongside her thesis she enjoys working on women in horror, and has presented her work at Fear 2000 for the past few years. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary symposium for WRoCAH students that considers embodied spaces across genres and mediums.
Biographic Note
Sophie Haywood is a WRoCAH Funded PhD student at the University of Sheffield working on eighteenth century Gothic women's writing. She is co-organiser of the Sheffield Gothic Reading Group, and edited a special edition on Transgression for the journal Oxford Research in English. Alongside her thesis she enjoys working on women in horror, and has presented her work at Fear 2000 for the past few years. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary symposium for WRoCAH students that considers embodied spaces across genres and mediums.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an Australian film critic, author, academic and festival programmer who has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with a particular focus on gender politics. Her books include Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (McFarland, 2011), 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 (BearManor, 2020), the Bram Stoker Award nominated Masks in Horror Cinema: Eyes Without Faces (University of Wales Press, 2019), and monographs on Dario Argento’s Suspiria for Auteur’s Devil’s Advocates series, Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 for Columbia University Press, and Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher, published by Arrow Books. Alexandra has co-edited books on Elaine May, Peter Strickland, Alice in Wonderland in film, and Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. She holds a PhD in Screen Studies and is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University and a Research Fellow at RMIT University, as well as a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Alexandra is also a proud member of the advisory board for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies.
Biographic Note
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an Australian film critic, author, academic and festival programmer who has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with a particular focus on gender politics. Her books include Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (McFarland, 2011), 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 (BearManor, 2020), the Bram Stoker Award nominated Masks in Horror Cinema: Eyes Without Faces (University of Wales Press, 2019), and monographs on Dario Argento’s Suspiria for Auteur’s Devil’s Advocates series, Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 for Columbia University Press, and Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher, published by Arrow Books. Alexandra has co-edited books on Elaine May, Peter Strickland, Alice in Wonderland in film, and Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. She holds a PhD in Screen Studies and is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University and a Research Fellow at RMIT University, as well as a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Alexandra is also a proud member of the advisory board for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies.
Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix has written about the confederate flag for Playboy magazine, terrible movie novelizations for Film Comment, and Jean-Claude Van Damme for Slate. He’s covered machine gun collector conventions, written award shows for Chinese television, and answered the phone for a parapsychological research organization. His novel, Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, has been translated into 14 languages and is currently being developed into a television series. His latest novel is My Best Friend’s Exorcism, now out in paperback, and he’s the screenwriter for Mohawk, a War of 1812 horror movie that recently premiered at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival. His next book is Paperbacks from Hell, a non-fiction history of horror paperbacks in the Seventies and Eighties, out on September 19.
Biographic Note
Grady Hendrix has written about the confederate flag for Playboy magazine, terrible movie novelizations for Film Comment, and Jean-Claude Van Damme for Slate. He’s covered machine gun collector conventions, written award shows for Chinese television, and answered the phone for a parapsychological research organization. His novel, Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, has been translated into 14 languages and is currently being developed into a television series. His latest novel is My Best Friend’s Exorcism, now out in paperback, and he’s the screenwriter for Mohawk, a War of 1812 horror movie that recently premiered at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival. His next book is Paperbacks from Hell, a non-fiction history of horror paperbacks in the Seventies and Eighties, out on September 19.
Karen Herland
Karen Herland fell in with a bad crowd with a taste for horror at a young age. Currently, her research focuses on the social and cultural construction and marginalization of bodies considered threatening or challenging to traditional norms. She is a Co-Director of Montreal’s Monstrum Society and sits on the Monstrum Journal’s editorial board. She has taught at the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies since 2012. Amongst her recent publications are “ ‘Always Hearing Voices, Never Hearing Mine’: Sound and Fury in The Snake Pit” in Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema (2014) and "Horror and the Last Frontier: Monstrous Borders and Bodies” in Firefly and Westworld." Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition: The Production of Genre in Buffy and Beyond.(2019), A lecturer in popular/visual culture and sexuality studies at Concordia University, she has been involved in teaching their interdisciplinary course on HIV/AIDS for more than a decade and has served as the Director of the university’s HIV/AIDS Community Lecture Series.
Biographic Note
Karen Herland fell in with a bad crowd with a taste for horror at a young age. Currently, her research focuses on the social and cultural construction and marginalization of bodies considered threatening or challenging to traditional norms. She is a Co-Director of Montreal’s Monstrum Society and sits on the Monstrum Journal’s editorial board. She has taught at the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies since 2012. Amongst her recent publications are “ ‘Always Hearing Voices, Never Hearing Mine’: Sound and Fury in The Snake Pit” in Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema (2014) and "Horror and the Last Frontier: Monstrous Borders and Bodies” in Firefly and Westworld." Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition: The Production of Genre in Buffy and Beyond.(2019), A lecturer in popular/visual culture and sexuality studies at Concordia University, she has been involved in teaching their interdisciplinary course on HIV/AIDS for more than a decade and has served as the Director of the university’s HIV/AIDS Community Lecture Series.
Sean Hogan
Sean Hogan is a writer and filmmaker. His directorial credits include Lie Still and The Devil's Business; he also produced the feature documentary Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD and has worked on the screenplays for a number of other films, most notably The Borderlands. In collaboration with Kim Newman, he was responsible for devising two multi-author anthology plays, The Hallowe'en Sessions and The Ghost Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, both of which he directed. Most recently, he wrote a metafictional book on the cult 70's horror film Death Line, and wrote and directed a short film homage to the BBC Christmas Ghost Story tradition entitled We Always Find Ourselves in the Sea.
Biographic Note
Sean Hogan is a writer and filmmaker. His directorial credits include Lie Still and The Devil's Business; he also produced the feature documentary Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD and has worked on the screenplays for a number of other films, most notably The Borderlands. In collaboration with Kim Newman, he was responsible for devising two multi-author anthology plays, The Hallowe'en Sessions and The Ghost Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, both of which he directed. Most recently, he wrote a metafictional book on the cult 70's horror film Death Line, and wrote and directed a short film homage to the BBC Christmas Ghost Story tradition entitled We Always Find Ourselves in the Sea.
Ken Hollings
Ken Hollings is a writer, lecturer and performer. His work has appeared in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies, and he has written and presented critically acclaimed features for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Resonance 104.4 FM. He teaches regularly at the Royal College of Art and Central St Martins. Ken’s books include Destroy All Monsters, Welcome to Mars, The Bright Labyrinth, The Space Oracle and his three-volume ‘Trash Project’: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. His next book is The Ken Hollings Reader: Digitally Restored and Remastered, coming from Strange Attractor Press in autumn 2026.
Biographic Note
Ken Hollings is a writer, lecturer and performer. His work has appeared in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies, and he has written and presented critically acclaimed features for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Resonance 104.4 FM. He teaches regularly at the Royal College of Art and Central St Martins. Ken’s books include Destroy All Monsters, Welcome to Mars, The Bright Labyrinth, The Space Oracle and his three-volume ‘Trash Project’: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. His next book is The Ken Hollings Reader: Digitally Restored and Remastered, coming from Strange Attractor Press in autumn 2026.
Heidi Honeycutt
A film curator, historian and critic, Los Angeles author Heidi Honeycutt co-founded the Etheria film Festival and has written for a number of books, magazines and websites, from Filmmaker, Moviemaker and Indiewire to Bloody Disgusting, Rue Morgue and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Currently, you can see her commentaries on Joe Dante's TRAILERS FROM HELL and hear her discuss horror movies on Shudder/AMC+ docuseries such as Eli Roth's History of Horror, The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time, and Horror's Greatest.
Biographic Note
A film curator, historian and critic, Los Angeles author Heidi Honeycutt co-founded the Etheria film Festival and has written for a number of books, magazines and websites, from Filmmaker, Moviemaker and Indiewire to Bloody Disgusting, Rue Morgue and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Currently, you can see her commentaries on Joe Dante's TRAILERS FROM HELL and hear her discuss horror movies on Shudder/AMC+ docuseries such as Eli Roth's History of Horror, The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time, and Horror's Greatest.
Mitch Horowitz
A widely known voice of esoteric ideas, Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America and The Miracle Club. He has written on alternative spirituality for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Politico, and other national media. The Washington Post says Mitch “treats esoteric ideas and movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness that is too often lost in today’s raised-voice discussions.” Mitch’s work has been censored in China, in school districts, and at New Age centers.
Biographic Note
A widely known voice of esoteric ideas, Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America and The Miracle Club. He has written on alternative spirituality for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Politico, and other national media. The Washington Post says Mitch “treats esoteric ideas and movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness that is too often lost in today’s raised-voice discussions.” Mitch’s work has been censored in China, in school districts, and at New Age centers.
Gillian Wallace Horvat
Gillian Wallace Horvat is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer and film programmer.
Her first short film, GUNPLAY, was a 2007 Wasserman Semi-Finalist and the only film to ever receive a disclaimer for graphic content at Tisch's First Run Film Festival. KISS KISS FINGERBANG, starring Anton Yelchin, Kate Lyn Sheil and Buck Henry was awarded the Jury Prize in its short category at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival, premiering online as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Miriam Bale wrote in Indiewire that Gillian was one of “the most exciting American indie filmmakers I can think of.” Her films have screened in festivals around the world including SXSW, Fantasia, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, Beyond Fest, Maryland Film Festival, Yale University, and many others.
Gillian also produced A FULLER LIFE, a documentary on the life and films of director Samuel Fuller that premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. For the past five years she has been producing documentary shorts for Arrow Films, Kino Lorber and Olive Films, working on projects ranging from an AMERICAN NINJA box set to Orson Welles' MACBETH. She is also a guest columnist for Filmmaker magazine and her writing has appeared in Sight & Sound.
Biographic Note
Gillian Wallace Horvat is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer and film programmer.
Her first short film, GUNPLAY, was a 2007 Wasserman Semi-Finalist and the only film to ever receive a disclaimer for graphic content at Tisch's First Run Film Festival. KISS KISS FINGERBANG, starring Anton Yelchin, Kate Lyn Sheil and Buck Henry was awarded the Jury Prize in its short category at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival, premiering online as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Miriam Bale wrote in Indiewire that Gillian was one of “the most exciting American indie filmmakers I can think of.” Her films have screened in festivals around the world including SXSW, Fantasia, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, Beyond Fest, Maryland Film Festival, Yale University, and many others.
Gillian also produced A FULLER LIFE, a documentary on the life and films of director Samuel Fuller that premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. For the past five years she has been producing documentary shorts for Arrow Films, Kino Lorber and Olive Films, working on projects ranging from an AMERICAN NINJA box set to Orson Welles' MACBETH. She is also a guest columnist for Filmmaker magazine and her writing has appeared in Sight & Sound.
Cerise Howard
Cerise Howard is a New Zealand-born co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque who co-founded the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia and was its Artistic Director from 2013-2018. A regular commentator on intersections of film, gender, sexuality and other matters, her recent writing on film can be found in Senses of Cinema, on the byNWR website, in the 2017 KVIFF Festival Daily, in a new monograph on Peter Strickland and in a forthcoming one on Bride of Frankenstein. She is a Studio Leader at RMIT University, specializing in incubating film festivals and contesting the canon. Away from film she plays bass for Queen Kong and The HOMOsapiens, a Melbourne-based punk, performance art, queer rock band.
Biographic Note
Cerise Howard is a New Zealand-born co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque who co-founded the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia and was its Artistic Director from 2013-2018. A regular commentator on intersections of film, gender, sexuality and other matters, her recent writing on film can be found in Senses of Cinema, on the byNWR website, in the 2017 KVIFF Festival Daily, in a new monograph on Peter Strickland and in a forthcoming one on Bride of Frankenstein. She is a Studio Leader at RMIT University, specializing in incubating film festivals and contesting the canon. Away from film she plays bass for Queen Kong and The HOMOsapiens, a Melbourne-based punk, performance art, queer rock band.
Dean Hurley
Dean Hurley is an American sound designer, re-recording mixer and composer. Hurley exclusively operated director David Lynch’s Asymmetrical Studio from 2005 - 2018, where he collaborated extensively on the sound and music for an array of Lynch’s film projects, commercial work and albums. In 2017, Hurley served as supervising sound editor and music supervisor for Lynch’s third season of the ground-breaking television series Twin Peaks (Showtime), contributing original ambient compositions later released under the Anthology Resource series moniker.
Biographic Note
Dean Hurley is an American sound designer, re-recording mixer and composer. Hurley exclusively operated director David Lynch’s Asymmetrical Studio from 2005 - 2018, where he collaborated extensively on the sound and music for an array of Lynch’s film projects, commercial work and albums. In 2017, Hurley served as supervising sound editor and music supervisor for Lynch’s third season of the ground-breaking television series Twin Peaks (Showtime), contributing original ambient compositions later released under the Anthology Resource series moniker.
