Behind the Couch

Head over to Paracinema.net to check out the latest instalment of Audiodrome: Music in Film . This month I look at/listen to Alain Goraguer's prog-tastic score for Fantastic Planet ; a visually stunning and psychedelic French-language animated feature directed by René Laloux. Combining elements of funk, jazz and prog-rock, Goraguer's music provides a suitably trippy mood for one of the most unique and provocative films you'll ever see. Why not pick up the latest issue of Paracinema while you’re there? Amongst its lurid delights are articles such as Panic in Detroit: RoboCop and Reagan’s America by Andreas Stoehr; Blood on the Rubber Chicken: Horror Parodies of the Early ’80s by Mike White; and Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures from Hell by Todd Garbarini. All great stuff, written by hardcore fans of genre films for hardcore fans of genre films. The following article was published on Paracinema.net on 30th December 2011 Fantastic Planet – Alain Goraguer Unique...

I recently conducted an interview with artist Ryan Case for Fangoria . Case's striking paintings of the enduring icons of fright cinema have gained him comparisons with the likes of Basil Gogos, an artist renowned for capturing the underlying melancholy of the classic Universal Monsters. Head over to Fangoria.com to check it out. The following interview was posted to Fangoria.com in December 2011 INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST RYAN CASE Posted by James Gracey 30 year old self-taught artist Ryan Case was born and raised in Maysville, Kentucky. An avid fan of horror since childhood, Case is rapidly gaining recognition for his fervent paintings of the enduring icons of horror cinema. Drawing favorable comparisons to the likes of Basil Gogos, his work – usually exhibiting an experimental mixture of mediums including acrylic, watercolors, and spray paints - incorporates livid colors, striking compositions and a punkish, graffiti-like aesthetic. FANGO recently caught up with Case to disc...

Paracinema? I'd buy that for a dollar! Well, $7 actually. Issue 14 of Paracinema is now available to pre-order! Hard to believe that the magazine has been going for 14 issues. It has been independently published since 2007 and, as clichéd as it might sound, has got better with every issue. It’s also recently widened its net and is available in various independent retailers right across the length and breadth of the States. Cool stuff, eh? Issue 14 contains a number of exciting features on various genre classics and obscure gems. Articles include Panic in Detroit: RoboCop and Reagan's America by Andreas Stoehr; Blood on the Rubber Chicken: Horror Parodies of the Early ’80s by Mike White; Christ Stopped at San Miguel: Italy’s Economic Miracle and A Fistful of Dollars by Jef Burnham; Catching the Bus: Jump Scares in the Horror Film by C. Rachel Katz; Slavery in 70's Cinema: Mandingo and Drum by Paul Talbot; and (personally speaking, the one I’m most looking forwar...

'Snow, Glass, Apples' by Julie Dillon With Hardwicke trailblazing modernised fairytales for teen horror audiences, it is safe to assume that more will soon follow suit – think of what Twilight did for romanticising vampires and making them appealing to maudlin teenagers. Love it or loathe it, its influence on popular culture is undeniable. Fans of Twilight no doubt flocked to Hardwicke’s latest offering. A number of Hollywood horror-tinged adaptations of fairytales are actually already in the works. Amongst them is the Julia Roberts starring Mirror Mirror , with Roberts tipped to play the Evil Queen. Directed by Tarsem Singh ( The Cell ), the film is a dark twist on the classic fairytale, in which Snow White and the seven dwarfs look to reclaim their destroyed kingdom. Another film that refigures the tale of Snow White, with Snow White leading the charge into battle, is Snow White and the Huntsman , starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White, and Chris Hemsworth as the hunt...

With this central image of a young woman being stalked and menaced through dark and foreboding forests by a snarling, sly and slathering beast, Red Riding Hood has also always had its roots firmly planted in horror. Later adaptations of the folk story, by the likes of Charles Perrault, demonstrate a harsh conservative morality akin to many horror films (particularly certain 80s slasher films) warning of what happens to young people who ‘stray from the path’ and indulge their ‘primal instincts’. It is essentially a dark tale about sexual awakening. The forest, a place used time and again in literature and cinema to represent a place of hidden danger, primal fear and dark threat (but also, interestingly, freedom from the restraint and pressures of conservative society) serves as the suitable backdrop; a place that is as far removed from civilisation as possible. What further embeds the tale in horror is the fact that the Big Bad Wolf can be seen as a werewolf – another handy metapho...

Behind the Couch turns 3 years old today! Thanks so much to everyone who has swung by over the last year. There were quite a few great films watched and reviewed, the usual plethora of bad films , and of course, absolutely fucking ridiculous films . Natch. This year I also rejoiced (sort of) at the return of John Carpenter to our screens, pondered the sickening excesses of the films of Lucio Fulci and celebrated the centenary of none other than the patron saint of Behind the Couch , Mr Vincent Price . Huzzah! There was also a Halloween movie marathon and the usual contemplation of all things gialli and trashy . Fun times. Away from the blog, I’ve continued to contribute to the likes of the really rather awesome Paracinema - including a new monthly feature on their website looking at music in cult cinema – and the brand-spanking new indie publication Exquisite Terror . Also! Earlier this year an excerpt from an article I wrote about Sergio Martino was used as the title of a...

Throughout the years many filmmakers have adapted various versions of Little Red Riding Hood for cinema, most to investigate or exploit its coming of age subtext. In the early Eighties Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan collaborated with English writer and novelist Angela Carter on an adaptation of her book 'The Bloody Chamber.' 'The Bloody Chamber' is a collection of fairytales, including Little Red Riding Hood, which Carter had reworked, reinterpreted and filtered through a 20th Century feminist viewpoint to give them a fresh and provocative perspective. Their resulting collaboration was 1984’s strikingly beautiful and dreamlike The Company of Wolves , a film that unfurls as the fever-dream of a young woman experiencing menstruation for the first time. Boasting a narrative of stories within stories and dreams within dreams, The Company of Wolves retains its power even now, and in terms of stylisation and mood, even manages to ‘out-Burton’ Tim Burton, with its rich and in...

When Aaron Duenas of The Death Rattle infamy asked me to choose a few favourite heroines from horror cinema for his Women in Horror month, I was hardly going to say no, was I?  As much as I love Laurie, Ripley, Alice, and Nancy et al, I thought it might be more interesting to take a look at a few other characters who perhaps broaden the (generally held) concept of what it is to be a 'Final Girl'.  The various characters I’ve chosen might not necessarily fit the conventional definition of ‘Final Girl’, but they still represent the strong spirit she is renowned for. Of course, many of the characters Aaron and I have cited obviously owe a huge debt to Laurie, Ripley, Alice, Nancy and co – whose essences pervade this month over at The Death Rattle . 

"The Company of Wolves II" by Olukemi With Snow White and the Huntsman galloping onto screens in the wake of, and from the same gothic fairytale stable as Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood , and Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror to follow soon after, it looks like fairytale adaptations are ‘trending’ at the moment. They’re certainly not a new thing; fairytales have often provided the basis for films throughout cinema history – either directly or loosely. I thought it might be interesting throughout the course of December to have a look at one of the most recognisable and enduring of these tales – Little Red Riding Hood. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood is centuries old. Most people will be familiar with it thanks to growing up with the likes of the slightly diluted version by the Brothers Grimm, in which a young girl and her grandmother are rescued from the belly of a ravenous wolf by a chivalrous woodsman. Earlier versions of the tale were much darker, and bleaker....