Guest Post: Writing the Monster by Scott Oden
When Thomas Hobbes called the life of a man “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, he could easily have been referring to the life of an Orc. Since their humble beginnings as song-croaking goblins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, these dim-witted, often Cockney-speaking brutes have grown well beyond the Professor’s intent; they have seized a […]
The Disquieting Guest — Universal Monsters and the Passing of the Gothic
Another week, another story on the attempt by Universal Studios to create a “Monsterverse,” leading to another bit of fretting on my part. I agree with the points in this piece, and I’ve already written about why I think the approach is misguided (at best), but after some online conversation with some friends, I am […]
Next Month’s Film (and Where to Watch It): Jurassic Park (1993)
In our recent episode on The Swimmer (1968), we announced that to honor the upcoming release of Jurassic World (2015), our next movie would be Jurassic Park (1993)! Since this film is pretty darn popular, it will be airing on a number of TV and Cable stations over the next few weeks; it is also available in various digital formats! […]
The Disquieting Guest — Ib Melchior: Tivoli Nights and Rat-Bat-Spider-Crabs
Ib Melchior passed away on March 13, at the age of 97. His death was rather overshadowed in genre circles by those of two far more famous figures in the field, so I’m going to take a few moments now to remember the contributions of the novelist, screenwriter and director. While his most notable contributions […]
