The last piece in the series (read it here, why not?) covered something of a classic so for this installement it seems appropriate to go for a more contemporary director who is clearly indebted to the form and aesthetics of older horror film. Who better than Ti West? However, I have to start with something … Continue reading The Haunted House on Film Part Three
Over the next few months I’ve decided to spend some time exploring the haunted house in horror film. Given the simplicity of the plots, and the general structure which has become so well established as to be cliche, these films are a useful way of exploring both the historical and ideological constructions of housing, and … Continue reading The Haunted House On Film Part One
‘Your Karl Marx still believes in letting natural forces take their course. No politics, no conspiracies, am I right? Everything out in the open, and nothing to fight for but wage rises ... To hell with you and your gradual evolution! Set fire to every town and city, cut the populace to shreds, raze everything … Continue reading Zola As Horror Writer
The apparent delight with which we dwell upon objects of pure terror, where our moral feelings are not in the least concerned and no passion seems to be excited but the depressing one of fear, is a paradox of the heart… difficult of solution. John and Anna Laetitia Aikin, “On the Pleasure Derived from Objects … Continue reading Hungry For Something
A couple of years back, I went to a conference on Utopian Studies. For the most part, it was, to be blunt, rather disappointing. Papers were presented wherein the limit of utopian thought was a liberal beneficence -- less the great shock of the revolutionary New, but a more capitalist sense of “new and improved!” … Continue reading Raise Them Up From The Poison Swamp: Rupture and Heresy in The Books of Jacob
I was, for better or worse, raised in the Methodist Church. To try and explain precisely just what that means is difficult, as in many ways that iteration of the Methodist Church is no longer existent, or is found mostly in memories, kept alive by dwindling, gray haired congregations. The Methodism of the North of … Continue reading Re-enchanting Zion: On Sarah Perry’s Enlightenment
I’ve been doing a series of events for A Primer on Utopian Philosophy (available now, order it here etc etc). What has been perhaps somewhat surprising is the extent to which Bloch’s philosophical project seems to resonate with people. In the midst of the bleak nightmare of modernity, Bloch’s unabashed philosophy of hope could easily … Continue reading Blessed Are They That Mourn, For They Shall Be Haunted
From a situation in which nothing is possible, suddenly anything is possible againMark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, Is There No Alternative Today marks the publication of my new book, A Primer on Utopian Philosophy: An Introduction to the Work of Ernst Bloch, out with Zer0 Books. The book -- more of a pamphlet really -- is … Continue reading Feeling Bloched
Some Notes on 2666 And after it there came so long a train Of people, that I ne’er would have believed That ever Death so many had undone. Over on Twitter, Erik Hane asked why everyone seems to be reading Bolano’s final novel, 2666, and this seemed like a good chance to try and offer … Continue reading 2666 Again
How often we ask for genuine experience when all we really want is emotion. Over on Twitter, there was some discussion on the role of Catholicism in horror, and whether or not there is such a thing as Protestant horror. Catholicism, with it's sacrements, rites of exorcism and coherent iconography offer a compelling cinematic language. … Continue reading Towards A Theory of Protestant Horror
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