Film Studies Resources: September 6, 2022

Ackerman, Bill, et al. "Stephen Sayadian." Director's Club #203 (August 15, 2022) ["Guest host Bill Ackerman invites film/culture writer Heather Drain and writer/programmer Justine Smith to discuss the films of Stephen Sayadian (aka Rinse Dream), the singular talent behind films like NIGHTDREAMS, CAFÉ FLESH and DR. CALIGARI. As an added bonus, Bill also includes a new interview with writer/historian/film preservationist Daniel Bird, who produced the 2021 4K restoration of DR. CALIGARI and is presently working on an upcoming restoration of CAFÉ FLESH."]

Acolytes of Horror. "The Green Knight: The Uncanny Horror of Masculinity." (Posted on Youtube: October 29, 2021) [Movie description: "WHEN HONOR WAS EVERYTHING. An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men."]

Arıkan, Yağız. "Get Out." Film Critique (2018) ["When we see a horror film, we usually have a faint idea on the style or the content. We expect to be scared or surprised by a creepy clown, a monster or a killer. In the horror film "Get Out" by Jordan Peele, we do get surprised, not by one of the mentioned above but with an unexpected message on racism, and on our society. In this video, I explain how this message is portrayed, and if he really stays true to the roots of the horror genre."]

Beyl, Cameron. "Christopher Nolan: Tenet." The Directors Series (August 22, 2022)

Blackard, Cat, et al. "The Lighthouse (2019)." Horror Queers (August 24, 2022) ["We know yer fond of our lobster because we're talking about Robert Eggers' 2019 treatise on homoeroticism and toxic masculinity, 'The Lighthouse.' Joining us to discuss yet another wet'n'wild island movie is The Call of Cthulhu Mystery Program's Cat Blackard. We discuss Eggers' trademark dedication to technical precision, shooting conditions in Nova Scotia, Androeroticism, defending Robert Pattison (and his accent), 'The Lighthouse' as rom com (with farts) and Cat’s own epic monologue around the 43:30 minute mark."]

Bushi, Ruth. "The Witch Explained (2015): The Horrors of True History." The Haughty Culturalist (March 23, 2022) ["Religious extremism, misogyny and madness stoke fears of the supernatural in The Witch, a folk tale rooted in horror and history."]

Kafalier, Utku. "Call Me By Your Name." FilmCritique #1 (ND) ["When one finishes watching Call Me by Your Name (Guadagnino, 2017), the image that is stuck with them is the main character Elio, crying in front of a fireplace as the credits roll and Sufjan Steven's song plays out. This is not surprising since it is the last image of the movie and it is stuck there for a long time. Naturally we are likely to remember it the most. What is interesting is why this is chosen as the image that the movie wanted to leave us with in this particular way. There may be several implications for this choice and in this essay I will go through it from the realist movie perspective by dissecting the nature of the long take and its placement within the movie. After that, I will talk about the scene with its archetypal implications with mythic theories and will try to understand why the movie specifically wanted this image to be representative of the film."]

Rosen, Ido. "Divine Smells: Odorama, Melodrama, and the Body in John Waters' Polyester." Open Screens 5.1 (2022)  ["The comedy Polyester (John Waters, 1981) introduced a new cinematic experience. The screenings were accompanied by the Odorama technique in the form of a ‘scratch and sniff’ card that was handed to viewers in the movie theater. There has yet to be a serious examination of Odorama, which is usually dismissed as nothing more than a gag. This essay shows that Odorama has sophisticated subversive qualities. It confirms scholars’ and critics’ view that Polyester was a turning point in the career of Waters, one of the most important queer filmmakers of all times. The film is frequently seen as his transition from the realm of anarchistic midnight movies to mainstream cinema. This shift was disappointing to many fans, some of whom even considered it betrayal. By contrast, it is argued here that although the film was made by a distinguished auteur, it is also a parody of classic Hollywood melodramas, and playfully adopts the genre’s conventions. Unlike Waters’ previous films, in Polyester the critical ideas are all beneath the surface. It criticizes social norms, middle class values, hypocritical and fraudulent images, ‘conventional’ families, and gender dichotomies in society and their representations in the cinema. However, this is disguised in a borrowed aesthetic, and expressed through a cunning tactic which some audiences and critics missed entirely."]

"The Wailing." Horror Vanguard #218 (August 9, 2022) [The Wailing description: "NEVER BE TEMPTED. A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter."]

"We're All Going to the World's Fair." Horror Vanguard #219 (August 16, 2019) ["We can't believe that we didn't get to this one sooner. Director Jane Schoenbrun absolutely kills it with a deeply jarring, but also deeply honest, exploration of the horrors lurking in contemporary online isolation."]