Behind the Couch

Situated on a long, sloping hill between Church Road and Saintfield Road in south Belfast, Knockbreda Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the city. I lived quite close to this cemetery for five or six years and, naturally, found myself wandering through it fairly frequently as, rain or shine, day or night, it not only offered peace and quiet, but pretty views of Belfast city, Black Mountain and Cave Hill. The cemetery is built around the little parish church nestled on the pinnacle of the hill, which was consecrated in 1737. It was designed by Richard Cassels, a lauded Palladian architect, and built by Lady Middleton, mother of the first Viscount Dungannon, Arthur Hill-Trevor. According to a nearby information board, Knockbreda Cemetery was a ‘fashionable place to spend eternity’ as it became renowned for its funerary monuments and exquisite mausolea which were erected by some of the wealthiest, most influential families in Ulster at that time.  Amongst those buried he...

So the new Halloween trailer was officially released today, and you can check it out here . From what we know of this new instalment of the Halloween series, it’s set 40 years after the original, ignores events depicted in all the subsequent sequels (which essentially creates a cool sort of ‘ choose your own adventure ’ of the series as a whole, with at least three distinct narratives/timelines), features the much-loved character of Laurie Strode, now a mother and grandmother, and is being scored (and executive-produced) by John Carpenter himself. Sadly however, he will not be joined by Debra Hill, who produced and co-wrote the original Halloween back in 1978, and whose vital contributions to the film are so often overlooked, as she passed away in 2005. Carpenter and Hill had no involvement with the series past the third film , so his involvement here is hopefully an indication of the film’s quality. He noted: ‘Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween , I'm going to he...