The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, in association with The Fantasia International Film Festival and the Frontières International Co-Production Market, will present a live masterclass with movie legend Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Visiting Hours, Scanners). Titled Michael Ironside: Live in Conversation, the event will be moderated by producer, make-up artist and all-around horror aficionado Heather Buckley (The Ranger, We Are Still Here). It will be held at the York Amphitheatre at Concordia University in Montreal on Friday July 20 at 5:15pm with free admission for all. In recognition of Fantasia’s screening of Knuckleball, a project birthed from its Frontières International Co-Production Market, The Miskatonic Institute is proud to present a career talk with one of the most iconic character actors of our time, and a true legend of the genre film world. Over the course of an hour-long illustrated discussion of key films, directors, and collaborators in his life, Ironside will discuss his many film roles – which include work with David Cronenberg, Claude Jutra, Jean-Claude Lord, Tony Scott, Walter Hill, James Glickenhaus, Paul Verhoeven, RKSS, and more – his origins and approach to acting, how he captures his characters, and his command of voice and physicality.

There had been mass murderers before, and there have been since, but Manson is an enduring symbol of unfathomable evil. He transformed seemingly peaceful hippies—sons and daughters of the middle class—into heartless killers. Then he set them loose in Los Angeles’s most privileged neighborhoods – LA Weekly (2009) You honestly have to wonder – what would low-rent exploitation producers have done in the early 70s without Charles Manson? – Trash Film Guru (2013) This class will examine the rise of alternative religious movements/cults in California in the 1960s and 70s which spawned an ongoing sub-genre of the horror film. The focus will be on the Manson Family, not only the most notorious of these groups but also the one with the greatest cultural impact. This is due to a number of factors including the nightmarish, random violence, the involvement of a number of high-profile artists and celebrities, from Roman Polanski and Dennis Wilson through to Dennis Hopper and Angela Lansbury and the dark glamor of Manson himself, quotable, photogenic and always willing to play up for the cameras. The Family story has been reworked in a dizzying variety of contexts, from true crime mini-series (Helter Skelter [1976]) to Claymation satire (Like Freaky, Die Freaky [2006]) and even as hardcore porn (Manson XXX [2015]) while Charlie himself has been variously cast as revolutionary, white supremacist, Satanist and vampire. The Manson story contains a number of highly-exploitable elements, from sexual and chemical excess through to horrific and inexplicable violence and it can also be slanted in a variety of ways, a warning against false prophets, an indictment of the counter-culture, a slice of anti-drug propaganda or simply gruesome spectacle. As well as a focus on the first wave of Mansonsploitation, low-budget independents such as The Other Side of Madness (1971) and Sweet Savior (1971), there will be a consideration of the Family references in an eclectic collection of films including the work of John Waters (Multiple Maniacs [1970] and Russ Meyer (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls [1970]), the British period gothic tradition (Blood on Satan´s Claw [1970]), no-budget labours of love such as Manson Family Movies (1984) and Jim Van Bebber´s The Manson Family (2003). This will lead on to an examination of other cults including The People´s Temple and the mass suicide at Jonestown, an event reworked as glossy TV mini-series (Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones [1980), low-budget exploitation (Guyana: Crime of the Century [1979]) and found-footage horror (The Sacrament [2013]). There will also be a consideration of the renewed fascination with cults in the 21st century. The events of 9/11, like the Tate/LaBianca murders served as a reminder that terrifying violence can strike without warning and internet-inspired ´lone wolf`terror attacks have ensured that fears of brainwashing and mind control are again part of the zeitgeist. This fascination is reflected in films such as The Strangers (2008) and The Invitation (2015) and TV shows such as Aquarius (2015 – 16) and American Horror Story:Cult (2017).

This class will discuss the basic issues and challenges associated with film preservation, with a specific focus on issues most common to genre films. Topics shall include film decay and restorative processes, format specific preservation techniques, the role of home video (and specifically Vinegar Syndrome) in the preservation of genre films, viewer expectations in the digital age, as well as a general overview of the methodologies by which Vinegar Syndrome selects films for restoration and release. The first 2/3 of the class will be primarily taken up by lecture, with the final third reserved for discussion as well as any questions. NOTE: prior to the course date, if anyone had specific questions or topics of interest related to genre film preservation or Vinegar Syndrome itself, please submit them for potential inclusion in the general lecture.

This show-and-tell lecture will illustrate many of the issues encountered and (with varying degrees of success) resolved in a digital restoration of Murnau’s NOSFERATU. We will begin with a description of the original production and the technology used to make the film. The film’s own troubled history complicated the film’s physical reconstruction, and that impacted the digital restoration. The reconstructed master print was made from many disparate elements, as a single negative was simply not available. We will examine many scenes and shots in a side-by-side comparison of the unrestored reconstructed print and the digitally restored version of the same material. As we do, this talk will investigate many of the problems faced by any restoration team when not all the original elements are available. We will examine the use of VFX tools, grain management, tinting processes and photo-chemical to digital translation issues when restoring motion pictures. This talk will primarily explore the complex and subjective issues currently floating around in many analog-versus-digital discussions of film and how those opinions can influence the determination of what the restored version should look like if the goal is to replicate the original projected image at the time of first release. Can digital restorations generate valid preservation copies of photo-chemical materials? Let’s find out.

Expected to Attend: Directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman This screening is co-presented by IFC Midnight and The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, which will kick off the screening with an expert speaker! ++++ NYC PREMIERE Already lauded as one of the best British horror films ever, writer-directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s spooky, entertaining GHOST STORIES was adapted from a major stage hit into a seriously cinematic creep-out. Professor Phillip Goodman (Nyman) is a lecturer, TV celebrity and paranormal debunker, an atheist and a rationalist who’s ready to expose hoaxes and frauds at any time of the day.  His skepticism is partially due to his mentor, a famous TV host from the 70s, who stuns Philip when he turns up to tell him that the supernatural might be real after all. He urges Philip to reopen three of his cases that were never resolved by a rational explanation: a night watchman (Paul Whitehouse) who experienced a horrible vision; a schoolboy (Alex Lawther) terrified on his drive home; and a retired trader (Martin Freeman) who encountered a poltergeist. Philip seeks all of them out, but as he buries himself in the cases of these three strangers, he begins to sense that they may have some terrible, collective significance for him personally. GHOST STORIES’ eerie atmosphere and strange happenings crawl under your skin without asking permission–one of the traits of a truly fine horror movie. Add in the hair-raising moments that make you anxiously search for the exit sign so you won’t have to run into any of Goodman’s discoveries, and you have a truly terrifying delight of a film! – Maria Reinup Co-presented by The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, the Official Educational Partner of What The Fest!?  What The Fest!? is a four day event taking place March 29 – April 1, 2018 at the IFC Center, bringing cerebral genre films to the big screen in the heart of Manhattan. Showcasing a small range of carefully selected films from the wild side of cinema with guests and special events to highlight the films in a new way, it is the weekend not to miss for cinema lovers who are looking for the next cool thing. GENRES: DRAMA | HORROR Official Site: http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/ghost-stories On Twitter: @IFCMidnight On Instagram: @ifcmidnight On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IFCMidnight/ Director: Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman Producer: Peter Balm, Will Clarke, Graham Begg, Hugo Heppell, Andy Mayson, Mike Runagall, Barry Ryan, Niall Shamma, Charlotte Walls, Claire Jones, Robin Gutch Cinematographer: Ole Bratt Birkeland Editor: Billy Sneddon Music: Haim Frank Ilfman Running Time: 98 min. Language: English Country: U.K. Year: 2018

This event is co-presented by Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies and will kick off with an expert speaker!  Samm Deighan will introduce the film with a discussion of female adolescence as a source of horror and the uncanny, from its origins in fairy tales and eighteenth century gothic literature to films about the terror of female sexual awakening like Cat People (1942), The White Reindeer (1952), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), and Company of the Wolves (1984). Read Mashable‘s article connected to Samm’s talk HERE >> NYC PREMIERE When Mia (Luna Wedler) moves with her parents to a new town, she is forced to adapt to a new home and school midway through the year. Though she’s desperate to make new friends, she doesn’t let herself be intimidated by the cool kids at her new school. Soon enough she becomes a part of their world, bonding with their leader, Gianna (Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen), and their rulebreaking ways   shoplifting, older boys, smoking, drinking and drugs. But Gianna’s more than just a rebel. She’s magnetic and fearless and seems to have no boundaries. And one sunny afternoon, while they’re playing a game, she chokes Mia so hard that the new girl passes out. Something mysterious starts to form, and nothing will ever be the same again. We’ve searched the world for films for What The Fest!?, seeking out movies from daring filmmakers who go beyond genre to add another layer to their films – movies that have some kind of wtf element, and BLUE MY MIND is a perfectly fitting fantastic tale. What might sound like a familiar set up for a coming of age film turns into something seriously surprising, executed with power and love for the subjects and theme of the film: a wild friendship between two girls in the most unexpected circumstances. Even more exciting is the fact that this confident, full-bodied portrayal of adolescence is not just director Lisa Brühlmann’s debut, it’s her  film school thesis. She leads both of her stars to exceptional performances, and the result is stunning – a stark, emotive, beautiful tale that will leave no one cold. – Maria Reinup GENRE: DRAMA | FANTASY Director: Lisa Brühlmann Producer: Stefan Jäger; Katrin Renz Cinematographer: Gabriel Lobos Editor: Noemi Katharina Preiswerk Music: Thomas Kuratli Running Time: 97 min. Language: Swiss German Country: Switzerland Year: 2017 What The Fest!? is a four day event taking place March 29 – April 1, 2018 at the IFC Center, bringing cerebral genre films to the big screen in the heart of Manhattan. Showcasing a small range of carefully selected films from the wild side of cinema with guests and special events to highlight the films in a new way, it is the weekend not to miss for cinema lovers who are looking for the next cool thing.

Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend (1954) is a recognized classic of  science fiction and horror. It has been adapted many times in films such as  The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007). In 1958, Matheson wrote a script adapting  the novel for Hammer Studios, but it was never filmed. The script was rejected by both the MPAA and the BBFC. In 1968, George Romero directed Night of the Living Dead, a film he admitted was inspired by Matheson’s novel, and this was the film that Matheson felt was most faithful to the themes of his book. Through an analysis of a selection of official and unofficial adaptations of the novel, including Matheson’s own script, this lecture by Stacey Abbott considers how this text marks a key transformative moment within the evolution of the horror genre on film. It will consider how the novel reimagined the vampire film through the lens of science fiction and how Matheson’s adaptation for Hammer offered a new, more brutal and modern approach to horror than the studio’s Gothic adaptations of The Cure of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). Abbott will discuss how the script confounded the censors in its approach to horror, signaling a cultural resistance to the modernization of the genre and a growing tension between filmmakers and arbiters of cinematic taste.  Finally, in this lecture Abbott will demonstrate not only how I Am Legend influenced Romero’s work, representing a key bridge between classic and new horror, but also continues to influence twenty-first century filmmakers, particularly in the development of the vampire and zombie genres.   MISKATONIC LONDON “I AM LEGEND” TRAILER March 2018 from Miskatonic Institute on Vimeo.

This class is devoted to the work of the reclusive Vermont author whose brutal short story, “The Lottery,” still holds the record for the most letters of protest sent to The New Yorker for publishing it. Come along with instructor Kristopher Woofter as we walk through the haunted spaces of Jackson’s four major works: THE LOTTERY AND OTHER STORIES (1949), and her “uncanny house trilogy,” THE SUNDIAL (1958), THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (1959), and WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE (1962). A bestseller in her time, and a major influence on authors like Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, Jackson’s work has gone relatively unacknowledged by scholarship that relegates her to obscurity. Jackson’s body of work varied from domestic satire in her darkly humorous memoirs RAISING DEMONS and LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES), to young-adult fiction (THE WITCHCRAFT OF SALEM VILLAGE), to uncanny psychological studies (THE ROAD THROUGH THE WALL, THE BIRD’S NEST), to her most popular work in the realm of horror and the weird.  This class brings Jackson back to acknowledge her place as one of America’s—and without question one of horror’s—greatest writers.

The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes RAMSEY CAMPBELL as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. An author, editor and critic, he has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association and the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild, while in 2015 he was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by John Moores University, Liverpool, for “outstanding services to literature”. Initially influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, he published his first short story in 1962 and his first collection two years later, both with August Derleth’s famed Arkham House imprint. Since then he has published literally hundreds of short stories and novellas, and more than thirty-five novels, from The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Face That Must Die and The Hungry Moon, to more recent titles such as Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach, The Searching Dead and Born to the Dark. Campbell has also novelised such movies as Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s Daughter, The Wolf Man and Solomon Kane, and PS Publishing recently issued Ramsey Campbell’s Limericks of the Alarming and Phantasmal, which was illustrated by Pete Von Sholly and covered the entire history of horror fiction. For this exclusive event, Ramsey Campbell will discuss his life, his career and his ideology with his friend and colleague, award-winning editor and writer STEPHEN JONES, as well as giving advice to would-be writers on the current state of horror publishing. The evening will end with a Q&A session with the audience. This is an opportunity no horror fan can afford to miss—an informal discussion with one of the giants of the genre, with more than half-a-century of writing experience to draw upon, about the state of modern fiction and film. Don’t miss it! Image: Les Edwards’ cover artwork from Ramsey Campbell’s The Searching Dead, PS Publishing 2016.