Video Shop Horrors Exhibition

"Video Shop Horrors" was a multimedia exhibition held at Northumbria University's Gallery North, 26th October to 11th November 2023.

"Video Shop Horrors" captured the nascent video shop experience. In the 1980s, horror videos always seemed to be more effectively promoted than those of other genres. The artwork tended to be bombastic, awash with contorted faces, flashing blades, ghouls and gore. 

The so-called ‘video nasties’ moral panic came and went, but its legacy, the types of film it encompassed, and the promotional strategies of the first video distribution companies, live on. This exhibition captured the dynamism of this hugely significant technological moment, pooling from original archival materials, to showcase the promotional strategies employed by video companies to attract consumers and, in some cases, to whip up controversy. The significance of video to the development and enduring popularity of horror films cannot be understated. 

"Video Shop Horrors" recreated the 1980s/90s video shop experience whilst celebrating the aesthetic and the wealth of films that helped define and redefine the horror film genre.

The "Video Shop Horrors" exhibition was led by Dr Johnny Walker drawing on his extensive archive of video-related paraphernalia. The exhibition featured video and music by Dr Steve Jones. The exhibition represents the interests of staff working within the University’s new Horror Studies Research Group.

Below are some videos documenting the exhibition:

An interview with me and Johnny about the exhibition:

The soundtrack I composed for the exhibition:

Horror Studies Research Group at Northumbria

Northumbria has a long-standing international reputation as the home of horror scholarship. I am now leading our newly formalised Horror Studies Research Group.

We've been busy since we launched in October 2023. Aside from running our reading group, I set up our website, Twitter/X feed, and YouTube channel. The YouTube channel features playlists of various talks, podcasts and events our members have been involved in.

We organised a multimedia exhibition - "Video Shop Horrors" - at Northumbria University's Gallery North, 26th October to 11th November 2023. Read more about that here.

We hosted a workshop for the AHRC funded Youth and Horror Network, organised by Kate Egan (Northumbria Univeristy) and Cat Lester (Birmingham University) on 7th November. 

We also won funding to host our annual Horror Studies Now conference: more details and the Call for Papers is available here.

There are lots of developments to follow, but if you want to get in touch, contact us at horrorstudies@northumbria.ac.uk

Talk and interviews at Kurja Polt Film Festival

I recently attended Kurja Polt Film festival (Slovenia) to give a talk based on my forthcoming book The Metamodern Slasher Film (which should hopefully be out with Edinburgh University Press later this year).

My talk was titled "Subtraction and Compression in Contemporary Indie Horror" (or, as Google translate put it, "Countdown and The Thickening"). The abstract is available here. A recording of the talk is available below

While I was there, I was interviewed for RTV's Osmi Dan and for the radio programme Gremo v Kino. I was also interviewed by Ana Jurc for MMC about my broader research profile.

It was fantastic to be back in Ljubljana, to be speaking alongside Alexia Kannas again, and to meet the other guests at this year's festival

Slasher Studies Conference Keynote and Roundtable

I recently had the pleasure of delivering a Keynote talk about my current book project - The Metamodern Slasher Film - at the Slasher Studies Summer Camp conference (on Friday the 13th August, no less!)

Here is a recording of the keynote:

I also participated in a roundtable discussion about Slasher Studies alongside Wickham Clayton, Joan Hawkins and Murray Leeder. Here is a link to that discussion:

https://youtu.be/rZ25xWFDq9E?t=3693

My thanks to the organisers - Wickham Clayton and Daniel Sheppard  - for inviting me to contribute to this event

The Metamodern Slasher Film [video]

My talk on the Metamodern Slasher for Kurja Polt Festival is now live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9L3Fn6U0P4

The paper is based on my forthcoming book about the Metamodern Slasher film

The virtual other talks are available here: 

Dr Shellie Mcmurdo and Dr Laura Mee - "Ghosts in the (VCR) Machine: Video, the Horror Genre, and Dead Media"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No31WOHGQEs

Dr Alexia Kannas - "The Dead Can Dance: Cinematic Ghosts of Post-Punk Melbourne"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y0WNIg2Dgc

The final paper will be available tomorrow:

Dr Johnny Walker - "Activist Horror Film: The Genre as Tool for Change"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLeMxpVb1os

New Chapter Out Now

I have a chapter in the edited collection New Blood: Critical Approaches to Contemporary Horror. My chapter is titled "Hardcore Horror: Challenging the Discourses of Extremity".

Abstract: 
This chapter explores the relationship between ‘hardcore’ horror films, and the discursive context in which mainstream horror releases are being dubbed ‘extreme’. This chapter compares ‘mainstream’ and ‘hardcore’ horror with the aim of investigating what ‘extremity’ means. I will begin by outlining what ‘hardcore’ horror is, and how it differs from mainstream horror (both in terms of content and distribution). I will then dissect what ‘extremity’ means in this context, delineating problems with established critical discourses about ‘extreme’ horror. Print press reviewers focus on theatrically released horror films, ignoring microbudget direct-to-video horror. As such, their adjudications about ‘extremity’ in horror begin from a limited base that misrepresents the genre. Moreover, ‘extremity’ is not a universally shared value, yet it is predominantly presented as if referring to an objective, universally agreed-upon standard. Such judgements change over time. Moreover, in contrast to marketers’ uses of ‘extreme’, press critics predominantly use the term as a pejorative. Although academics have sought to defend and contextualise particular maligned films and directors, scholars have focused on a handful of infamous examples. As I will explain, academic publishers implicitly support that narrow focus. As such, the cumulative body of scholarly work on ‘extreme’ horror inadvertently replicates print press critics’ mischaracterisation of the genre. These discursive factors limit our collective understandings of ‘horror’, its ostensible ‘extremity’. and of ‘extremity’ qua concept. Given that the discourse of ‘extremity’ is so commonly employed when censuring representations that challenge established genre conventions, it is imperative that horror studies academics attend to peripheral hardcore horror texts, and seek to develop more robust conceptual understandings of extremity.

The editors - Eddie Falvey, Joe Hickinbottom and Jon Wroot - hosted a book launch event featuring some of the contributors (including me). The video of that event is available here: https://youtu.be/8HACL-xhdTM

 

Moving Image, Popular Media and Culture Seminar Series 2020

 

Kurja Polt 2019

I have just returned from Kurja Polt Festival where I presented a research paper about the slasher film alongside my fellow presenters Jamie Sexton and Alison Peirse. The event was organised and chaired by Russ Hunter. My thanks as always to Masa Pece and the Kurja Polt team for having me back. It was my third time at the festival, and it is always fantastic.

Here is a video of the complete talk (I was feeling really pretty ill during this, so probably not my finest hour):


A full gallery of photos from the event is available here. Some highlights below

Here is the summary of my talk, taken from the Kurja Polt zine:

[I think "dobra brada" is a compliment about my beard]

Here is a snap of me talking about slasher films on Slovenian National TV (on Osmi Dan)

Offscreen 2019

On 23rd March I returned to Offscreen Festival in Brussels for the fourth time. This year, I participated in a conference based on Offscreen’s Death on Film theme. I interviewed David Kerekes about his groundbreaking book Killing for Culture, I delivered a paper entitled “La Petite Mort: Sex and Death in Hardcore Horror”, and I participated in a panel discussion with David, Dr Tina Kendall (Anglia Ruskin University), Dr Russ Hunter (Northumbria University), and festival guest of honour Jörg Buttgereit (director of Necromantik, Schramm, and Der Todesking). Thank you to the festival team for having me back, and to everyone who came to the event

CFP: Horror Cult and Exploitation Media ECR Event 3rd May 2019

Publications in Slovenian

I am part of a REF impact case study focusing on film festivals, which is led by my Northumbria colleague Dr Russ Hunter. The project entails delivering our research in public spaces. In 2019, I will return to Offscreen Festival in Brussels and Kurja Polt Festival in Ljubljana to deliver public lectures.

As a result of our work with Kurja Polt, some of my research work has been translated into Slovenian and published in Kino! journal

“‘Tvoja zgodba je resnična in ljudje to čutijo’: mučenje v kontekstu” (Kino! 31/32), which is a translation of a chapter from my monograph Torture Porn Popular Horror after Saw (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2013).

“Kartezijanstvo in intersubjektivnost v filmski seriji Paranormalno ter v filozofiji duha” (Kino! 36), which is a translation of the article “Cartesianism and Intersubjectivity in Paranormal Activity and the Philosophy of Mind”, which was originally published in Film-Philosophy (21:1, 2017).

Abertoir 2018

In November, I was invited back to Abertoir film festival where I delivered a public lecture on the slasher film. It was a pleasure to return to Aberystwyth. Thanks to Gaz, Nia and the Abertoir crew for having me back.

A review of the festival (including some very kind words about my talk) is available on Love Horror here

Kurja Polt 2018

Last week I was at the fabulous Kurja Polt Film Festival (Slovenia) for the second year running with my Northumbria colleague Russ Hunter. and Alexia Kannas (RMIT, Melbourne). It is a great festival; I can't recommend it enough.

During our time there, I hosted a Masterclass with writer/director Fabrice du Welz. Here is a video of the interview

We also presented at the festival's public Cult Film conference, this year entitled "Contamination, Ruination and Damnation!: Cult Cinema and the Nation". 

My paper was entitled "Wild Justice: Revenge in Contemporary American Film"

Here is the abstract:

Frequently, fictional heroes are violent, angry characters. Nowhere is that clearer than in revenge films. However, revenge is typically presented in several very different ways in fiction. In some revenge films, violent action is presented as a way of upholding justice. If that is the case, revenge is morally virtuous. Sometimes revenge is associated with retaliation; a kind of unthinking, angry “lashing out”. If that is the case, revenge is a sign that when it really matters, we are not moral creatures; we cannot control our animal natures. Elsewhere, revenge is presented as an intricately planned activity. Where that is the case, revenge is a sign that humans are rational creatures who don’t simply lash out; however, we use intelligence in malicious immoral ways. This talk will explore these different ways of thinking about revenge by focusing on contemporary American revenge films such as Reservation Road (2007), I Spit on Your Grave (2010), and I Am Wrath (2016). America is supposedly founded on moral values; leading the “free world” towards betterment by upholding “liberty and justice for all”. Those values do not seem to fit well the sheer volume of revenge films coming out of the US. This talk will ask what the cultural obsession with revenge suggests about the nation and its values.

Here is a video of the full talk:

Russ and Alexia's papers are also available via Kurja Polt's YouTube channel

We were also interviewed for Slovenian national news (television and radio)

My deepest thanks to Festival Director Masa Pece and the festival team for inviting us, and for their warm hospitality, and to Russ for organising the conference. I hope to return to Ljubljana again next year.

Kurja Polt 2017

I recently returned from Kurja Polt festival (Slovenia), where I had the opportunity to present on my research (as part of their Cult Film conference), introduce two films (Addio Zio Tom [1971] and Thriller: a Cruel Picture [1973]), and conduct a masterclass with Christina Lindberg. Information about the festival is available here, photographs are available here, and Kurja Polt Facebook page is available here.

A full video of my talk is posted below:

A video of my discussion with Christina Lindberg is here:

Thanks so much to Maša Peče and the Kurja Polt team. 

Offscreen 2017: Stephen Sayadian

I have just returned from Offscreen (Brussels) where I had the opportunity to speak with Stephen Sayadian about his career in film-making (Cafe Flesh, Dr Caligari, Nightdreams) and as Art Director for Hustler.

During the Q&A/Masterclass session with Stephen, I got the opportunity to ask him a question that I have been wondering about since 2004 (when I was researching about HIV, sex, and horror fiction in the early stages of my PhD...which ended up having nothing to do with HIV). Cafe Flesh is based within a post-apocalyptic landscape where half of the populace becomes deathly ill if they engage in sex. Given that the movie was shot in 1981/released in 1982, and (what would eventually become known as) AIDS was first clinically observed in 1981, I have always wondered whether Cafe Flesh was an immediate response to the medical context, or whether the film's language of 'sex positives', 'sex negatives', and sickness was coincidental. For anyone who is curious, Stephen confirmed that the former is the case. It was also interesting to hear Stephen refer to Cafe Flesh as 'anti-erotic'; I have always described it as one of the least titillating "porn" films I have seen (which is one of the reasons I was initially intrigued by it). Stephen told me that the film was originally supposed to depict a castration and was meant to end with Max being hanged. Those additions would have further augmented the horror embedded in the film's tone.  

I was also unaware that many of the images from Hustler magazine (particularly the parody adverts), which I have used countless times in lectures about porn, were created by Stephen. Given how thematically dark some of that material is, I am now considering writing a piece about the coalescence of sex and horror in his work. 

The Offscreen festival continues until 26th March. For more information, please visit http://www.offscreen.be/en/offscreen-film-festival-2017

Abertoir 2016

I've just returned from the Abertoir Film Festival where I was presenting a paper on Times Square entitled 'Remembering the Deuce". The festival was great; Stephen Thrower presented a talk on Lucio Fulci, Fabio Frizzi's band played a new live score to The Beyond, and there were tons of great films on the schedule (and loads of other events happening - check out the website here). Sadly I missed Dearest Sister, as it screened before I arrived.

My personal highlight, however, was eating a KFC with Frizzi, both because he is a really nice guy, and also because it was so strange to be eating fast food with a legendary Italian composer in the middle of Wales. 

Here are some photos from the 42nd Street themed event. Thanks to Gaz, Nia, Rhys and everyone else involved in organising and running the festival.

Talk at Abertoir Horror Festival (15-20th November 2016)

I'll be talking about grindhouse at this year's Abertoir Horror Festival Fest, which is being held in Aberystwyth (15-20th November 2016). I'll update when I know the exact date/time, but it will be on the closing weekend

Here is the abstract:

Remembering The Deuce

Now that the original American grindhouse cinemas have closed and 42nd Street has been sanitized, all we have left of “the grindhouse experience” are photos, film clips, memorabilia, and a handful of accounts written by those who were there. For anyone who didn’t have the chance to visit a New York grindhouse it is probably hard to imagine what the grindhouses were like, but that background is partially what makes the idea of grindhouse cinema so alluring. One of the main problems with trying to capture “the grindhouse experience” now it that the first-hand descriptions that remain sound like their authors are spinning tall-tales about these allegedly sleazy, dangerous locations. This frank talk will explore what we can know about the grindhouse, and how 42nd Street’s sordid reputation helps us to understand grindhouse movies today.

For more information please visit:
http://www.abertoir.co.uk/whats-on/events/item/213-remembering-the-deuce

Sion Sono's Whispering Star Exhibition

While I was in Japan, I got chance to visit Sion Sono's first solo art exhibition at the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art (for info, follow this link). The exhibition is designed as an accompaniment to his film Hiso hiso boshi (The Whispering Star, 2015). I love Sono's films, so I'm really glad I got to see it (the exhibition finishes tomorrow). 

Here are some photos of the exhibition:

Hachiko is a National symbol of loyalty (for anyone unfamiliar with Hachiko's story, here is a video - be warned, it is a sad tale). The statue is modeled leaving its stand, which is particularly powerful in context (the Watari-um is in Shibuya):

Concept work and screenplays:

The exhibit included every storyboard from the film (555 in total), which Sono sketched 25 years ago. Sections of the film were playing in the room, serving to demonstrate how gifted Sono is in terms of bringing his vision to the screen:

The yellow boxes are parcels that are being delivered by the film's lead protagonist. Each box was sealed and contained a mystery object.

Here is the trailer for The Whispering Star. I cannot wait to see the full film. The sections I have seen are really intriguing