Note: This class is on a Monday night, to accommodate Gary’s schedule in the UK In association with the Abertoir Film Festival, Miskatonic is proud to present an evening in conversation with renowned genre director Gary Sherman, bringing him back to where it all began – Russell Square. After cutting his teeth in advertising, Sherman’s ferocious debut Death Line (1972) announced the arrival of a major new directorial talent. Predating the higher profile The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) with its blend of visceral cannibal horror and social satire, Death Line is a major contribution to the new wave of 1970’s horror that has perhaps only recently started to receive the acclaim it deserves. He followed this with other such notable works as the darkly atmospheric Dead & Buried (1981), the gritty sleazefest Vice Squad (1982), old school 80’s actioner Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987), and the troubled production that was Poltergeist III (1988). Sherman’s work is notable for its visual inventiveness and political subtext, often displaying a keen affinity for the plight of the marginalised and oppressed. While many of his films were met with relative critical indifference upon their initial release, several have been warmly reappraised in recent years. Guillermo del Toro has consistently championed Death Line over the course of his career, calling it ‘one of the unsung masterpieces of the genre’, and the film’s recent restoration and blu-ray release earned it a whole new generation of admirers. Forthcoming restorations of Dead & Buried and Vice Squad seem set to do the same, and so Miskatonic is delighted to offer its audience this rare UK opportunity to hear the cult auteur discuss his work in depth. We’ll talk to Sherman about working with genre greats Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee, how it was an American expat nailed the thoroughly English class satire of Death Line, his struggles to maintain his voice and personality in the face of Hollywood interference, the trials and tribulations of Poltergeist III, his ‘lost’ film 39: A Film by Carroll McKane (2006) and why he considers it too disturbing to release, and much more besides. Moderated by filmmaker Sean Hogan

British “folk horror” was in many ways a phenomenon of the 1970s, but it has seen a massive revival of popularity in the last decade. What caused it to grow in the fields, forests and furrows of the 1970s and early 1980s? And why has it come back with such a vengeance? In Secret Powers of Attraction, Howard David Ingham gives a broad overview of British folk horror in its time and space, and how popular interest in the occult creates the conditions for it to become a force in our collective imagination. Howard’s overview of British folk horror is the starting point for an exploration into the cultural atmosphere of the 1970s and the present. If horror is a reaction to our culture, folk horror holds a mirror up to the concerns of the day. The politics and popular culture of both eras give ample space for folk horror to grow. Howard looks at period ephemera and cultural concerns of the time, drawing parallels with the present day. The Wicker Man and Ghost Stories for Christmas sprang from a world of TV astrologers and spiritualists in the national news, the National Front and the Three-Day Week; The Witch, Without Name and the films of Ben Wheatley come from the same milieu that brought us #witchesofinstagram, the return of the far right and Brexit. Secret Powers of Attraction explores how a world where the uncanny has become normal reflects itself in the horror genre, just as it did decades ago. Secret Powers of Attraction begins with a look at the central filmic texts of the Folk Horror movement: Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan’s Claw and The Wicker Man, explores folk horror in the British TV play (including classics such as Robin Redbreast, the Exorcism, and The Stone Tape) and examines how folk horror tropes invaded popular TV, from Doctor Who to Robin of Sherwood. Finally, bringing the story into the present, Howard will look at the folk horror renaissance, including the films of Ben Wheatley and Peter Strickland, the rise of independent folk horror and the unexpected places it appears in popular culture right now. Presented off-site as a special event at the Fractured Visions Film Festival – A genre film festival based in Cardiff, South Wales that is dedicated to bringing the finest in independent cinema to the BIG screen!

Co-presented with the Philosophical Research Society, as part of Mitch Horowitz’ Lecturer-in-Residence events There exists a little-understood counter tradition in Western life that often goes under the easily misconstrued term Satanism. In this intellectually stimulating and probing evening, Mitch Horowitz (“solid gold” – David Lynch) explores the interplay between our primeval understandings of the Dark Side and how Satan is reflected back to us in myth, parable, legend, culture, horror, music, and fashion. Tracing the earliest origins of humanity’s conception of an opposing force in the Eastern and Western worlds, Mitch explores some of history’s most bracing and provocative interpretations of the Satanic—from the work of Milton and the Romantic poets (William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Lord Byron’s Cain) to more recent fiction and nonfiction literary efforts (Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s The Club Dumas; Anton LaVey’s The Satanic Bible; Michael Aquino’s The Diabolicon), and examines how even some of our most recognized supernatural films (Devil’s Advocate; Rosemary’s Baby; The Ninth Gate) enunciate Satanic themes with penetrating classical validity. In the process, Mitch strips away historical and cultural preconceptions, misunderstandings, and shibboleths to open an entirely fresh window on the intellectual and cultural idea of the Satanic in Western history and contemporary life. He shines a new light into ancient myths, canonical literature, legends, and pop culture to trace out an authentic outsider tradition of Satanic thought. Join us for a challenging and eye-opening evening. You will come away with an entirely new conception of a “familiar devil.”

This class investigates the role of the corridor in Gothic fiction and horror film from the late 18th century to the present day. It seeks to establish this transitional place as a crucial locus, by tracing the rise of the corridor as a distinct mode of architectural distribution in domestic and public buildings since the 18th century. The lecture tracks pivotal appearances of the corridor in fiction and film, and argues that it has become associated with a specific emotional tenor, less to do with amplified fear and horror and more to do with emotions of Angst or dread. This talk will explore how the corridor has become a modern place of unease and dread, from the hotel hallway of H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ via Kafka’s labyrinthine passages in ’The Trial’ to the contemporary horror film obsession with corridors, as evidenced in ’Stranger Things’ or Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’.  The talk will give a history of the origins of the corridor and its often utopian associations in the 18th and early 19th century, before it became associated with faceless institutions, bureaucracies and the mid-20th century office. By the end of class, Miskatonic students should be able to assess whether we have passed from a corridic to a profoundly anti-corridic era.

Hosted by Amy Searles in conjunction with the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies class “Wanted: More Viewers Like…” Depictions of Horror Fandom in Film and Television If Joe Dante and John Landis set the course of revisionist horror, then FRIGHT NIGHT drove it home. A reworking of Tod Browning’s DRACULA with more neon, sexual tension, and teen angst, this movie has everything that you could want out of a 1980s fun-grenade that features a theme song by the J. Geils Band. When total hunk Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) moves to the neighborhood, his next door neighbor Charlie suspects that something is wrong. Mostly because Charlie sees Dandrige turn into a vampire before having sex with a prostitute. Charlie and his friends enlist the help of TV horror host Roddy McDowall to take Dandrige down. BUT CAN THEY DO IT?! From McDowall’s slasher movie trash-talk to Stephen Geoffreys’s out-of-control performance as a vampire named Evil Ed, FRIGHT NIGHT is a meta-enhanced ode to the nostalgic spirit of golden age horror. Just with more melting faces and dance floor seductions. Plus Chris Sarandon, the only guy on the planet who can make a white turtleneck look cool. (Joseph A. Ziemba) ++++ Alamo Drafthouse LA is a state-of-the-art facility featuring twelve auditoriums, each with 4K laser projectors and one with 35mm film projection. Like the brand’s nearly forty other locations across the country, the downtown Los Angeles theater includes a full bar and kitchen, as well as the unique bar and video store Video Vortex, where Blu-Rays and DVDs will be available for free rental. Alamo Drafthouse LA is conveniently located at The Bloc, an open-air urban center in the heart of downtown Los Angeles where the Blue, Red, Purple, and Expo lines converge – making it easy to reach from Hollywood, North Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Santa Monica, South LA, and Long Beach. Easy-access validated parking is available on-site in the BLOC garage, and bike parking is readily available inside the theater. Alamo Drafthouse Los Angeles social media: Facebook: Alamo Drafthouse Los Angeles Twitter: @DrafthouseLA Instagram: @DrafthouseLA Website: Drafthouse.com/los-angeles 

In partnership with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Miskatonic is proud to present this panel on the Universal Monsters as part of a all-day special event. What truly created the classic Universal Monsters? The iconic figures of the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon were the not only the results of great performance, make-up and filmmaking skill, but a response to the events of the world around them. From the movie monsters birthed by the Great Depression to the creatures who emerged from the atomic age of the 1950s, director Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), author Mallory O’Meara (author, The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick) and special guest Sara Karloff will discuss these origins and more on a panel moderated by author and screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner and curated/presented by the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. This panel is part of the Natural History Museum’s annual “Haunted Museum” event, in conjunction with their Natural History of Horror exhibit, running through October 2019. Your $25 ticket includes activities at the Museum from 4pm-8pm – including complimentary appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments, a ghostly scavenger hunt, access to the spider pavilion, a taxidermy demonstration and the panel discussion hosted by the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies from 7-8 pm.  There is free parking on site and a cash bar will be available. Note: Tickets are VERY limited so get yours before they run out! Images of the Universal Monsters courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC.

Tickets on sale when Brooklyn Horror announces! In collaboration with the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival  (which runs Oct 17-24), Miskatonic is proud to present a conversation with the pioneering director and producer Karen Arthur who paved the way for women in genre filmmaking with her transgressive and socially challenging body of work. Arthur began her professional artistic career at the age of 15 dancing as a soloist with the Palm Beach Ballet company which took her to London, New York, and Los Angeles where she performed as an actor on Broadway and in a slew of films in Hollywood. Her time in Hollywood in the 1970s marked a turning point in her trajectory as an artist when she enlisted in a UCLA filmmaking course where she was encouraged by then-teaching assistant Penelope Spheeris (The Decline of Western Civilization, Suburbia, Wayne’s World). Arthur’s 1975 directorial feature film debut Legacy, adapted from Joan Hotchkis’ one-woman play deconstructing the unraveling neurotic psyche of an affluent middle aged woman trapped in a loveless marriage, was a landmark entry in the feminist filmmaking canon in its unflinching depiction of the interior life of its protagonist viewed though a female lens. Legacy set the stage for Arthur’s next film, the darkly bizarre tale of sisterly psychosis The Mafu Cage (1977), starring Carol Kane and Lee Grant as the siblings Sissy and Ellen who inhabit a fantastically bizarre world of their own making complete with caged primates brutalized by the mentally unstable Sissy. The Mafu Cage is an exercise in exploding taboos, with themes of incest, bestiality, murder and colonialism tackled with such extreme eccentricity that, although celebrated on the art house film festival circuit, the film was doomed to be buried in obscurity and marketed as lowbrow exploitation prior to becoming the cult psychological horror classic that it is recognized as today. Arthur’s next film project titled Lady Beware about a young woman plagued by a dangerously fixated stalker (which would eventually be made into a feature in 1987 with Diane Lane) was stuck in development purgatory, leading her to turn to television directing for work. In the heavily male-dominated world of TV in the late 1970s Arthur would become the first woman to work in episodic television, directing the show Rich Man, Poor Man for Universal Studios, making her the first woman to direct for the iconic studio since Ida Lupino’s Playhouse Series in the early 1950s. In 1983 she would direct the successful three-part Australian miniseries Return To Eden about an heiress who is the victim of foul play involving a crocodile attack, and in 1985 she would become the first woman in history to win a directing Emmy award for her work in the hit drama television series Cagney & Lacey. Arthur’s prolific output in directing made-for-television movies began with Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story (1984) starring actress Theresa Saldana (of Raging Bull fame) as herself in the harrowing true story of the brutal near fatal stabbing attack she suffered at the hands of an obsessed fan. Arthur’s other notable made-for-television movies include the controversial story of the rape of a male police detective The Rape of Richard Beck (1985), Evil in Clear Water (1988) starring Randy Quaid, Fall From Grace (1990) – the biographical story of televangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker, played by Kevin Spacey and Bernadette Peters – and Against Their Will (1994), a drama of corruption in a women’s prison starring Judith Light. Arthur’s early film work challenged the codes that dominated the lexicon of American cinema and defined the “woman’s picture”; a sexist classification assigned to movies concerning the lives of women, which were often relegated to the domestic, sappily romantic, or melodramatic. Arthur’s genre-defying work was both psychologically complex and artfully subversive, pushing the boundaries of cinema with a human rawness rarely seen at the time from a female auteur, redefining perceptions of what types of movies women were interested in making and consuming. When Legacy was released in 1975, Molly Haskell in her Village Voice review called it “a high-water mark in the exploration of women’s sexuality,” and Ed Pechulick of Film International wrote that the film “rivals the esteemed works of Bergman and Cassavetes.” Such accolades eventually helped persuade reticent male producers to give Arthur a shot in the world of professional television directing, where she continued to explore themes of female sexuality, violence and destructive male aggression towards women within the narrative trappings of the TV movie genre. In this talk we will discuss the formative experiences that shaped Arthur’s journey in becoming a filmmaker, her artistic process in the creation of Legacy and The Mafu Cage, the inner workings and personal reflections on breaking the glass ceiling in the male dominated industry of television, and her films in the 1980s that deal with the complexities of sexual assault and toxic masculinity within a culture of often dangerous male supremacy. Moderated by filmmaker and writer Remy Bennett

In the comparatively nascent academic field of fan studies, very little scholarship has been devoted to horror fandom. Yet, for a branch of study invested in an audience’s passionate participation, horror fans have much to offer. Weaned on a steady diet of horror hosted syndicated shockers, EC Comics contraband, and dog-eared copies of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the dedicated “Monster Kids” of the 1950s and 1960s became the vaunted creators for the next generation. Similarly, enterprising “Gorehounds” of the 1980s, inspired by their use-worn pages of Fangoria and liquid latex-flecked copies of Dick Smith’s Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook went on to become the notable effects wizards for the ensuing generation. And the slithering ouroboros that is horror fandom continues to both feed and eat itself into the present day. As an insular community oftentimes found at the fringe of popular culture, it comes as no surprise that the vast majority of media representation of horror fans is generated by horror fans. However, this is not exclusively the case, which accounts for the spectrum of stereotypes from resilient artist (Tommy Jarvis in Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter), to misunderstood outcast (“Evil” Ed in Fright Night), to amoral puppet (Michael Brower in Brainscan), to desensitized sociopath (Eric Binford in Fade to Black). Happily, there are also numerous examples to explore that defy such preconceptions. Using fan studies as a springboard, this interdisciplinary lecture will chart the historical events, technological advancements, and cultural anxieties toward media effects that have influenced both the horror fan and the portrayal of the horror fan in film and television over the years. Please note actor Dean Cameron (Summer School) was originally scheduled to participate but no longer can attend due to work commitments.

Come join us for our second collaboration with Austin’s Fantastic Fest! For decades, Mexican fantasy and horror cinema hid in the shadows; wearing a luchador mask, surviving budgets tainted by economic gloom, holding vampires with a nylon thread, receiving the scorn of near-sighted critics and consumption by audiences sunk into tongue-in-cheek appreciation. But things have changed. Over the past two decades there has been a clear rise in the amount, quality and risk found in Mexican horror and fantasy cinema. It is not by chance that today, in the midst of a horrifying reality, Mexican genre films enjoy popularity, freedom and sometimes, profitability.  As if that were not enough, our beloved national genre warrior – Guillermo del Toro – has recently been knighted by Hollywood. Join us for a scenic tour of Mexican genre cinema guided by Morbido Fest’s head programmer, Abraham Castillo Flores. Delving beyond luchadores and psychotronica, Abraham unearths the monsters that fomented a distinctive but barely acknowledged corner of our cinematic consciousness. We will revisit the origins of Mexican fantasy and horror cinema and examine its development through the 20th Century and the start of the 21st.  Along the way we will meet the filmmakers and performers responsible for these celluloid nightmares. Some of these films can be questioned but rest assured, anything they lack is compensated by their sheer honesty and passion. In parallel we will dissect national legends and traumas that have been continuously reinterpreted by our national filmmakers that stand as a reaction to the tragic reality that Mexico is now experiencing. Who would have thought that stories filled with wailing legends from our pre-Hispanic past, starved female vampires, Aztec mummies, monk ghosts, child practitioners of the dark arts and tropicalized sci-fi Queens, would become part of our cultural heritage? Photo courtesy of the Collection of Fundación Televisa