Events

Exploring the Fusion: Crash Games as Art in a Contemporary Gallery

Picture this: a gallery pulsating with the energy of F777 Fighter, the cosmic allure of Space XY, and the adrenaline rush of Need for X. Can crash games be more than just pixels on a screen? Can they transcend the digital realm and materialize as captivating art installations in a contemporary gallery space? Let’s dive into the exciting realm of possibilities.

Crash games, with their dynamic visuals and interactive nature, possess the potential to become immersive art experiences. Imagine F777 Fighter translated into a kinetic sculpture, where the crashes manifest as explosive bursts of color and sound, echoing the intensity of the digital game.

Space XY, with its cosmic theme, could transform a gallery into an otherworldly environment. Picture visitors navigating through a celestial landscape, interacting with installations that mirror the unpredictability of the crash game, creating an unforgettable sensory experience.

Need for X, known for its high-speed thrills, might find its material form as a multi-dimensional installation. Visitors could step into a space where the speed and crashes are tangible, blurring the lines between virtual and physical realities.

  • Interactive Exhibits: Allow gallery-goers to engage with the crash game experience physically, triggering crashes and exploring the consequences in real-time.
  • Visual Spectacle: Harness the vivid graphics and themes of these games to create visually stunning installations that captivate and challenge perceptions.
  • Soundscapes: Consider incorporating dynamic sound elements that respond to the crashes, enhancing the immersive quality of the installations.

In the fusion of crash games and contemporary art, the possibilities are as boundless as the digital landscapes they draw inspiration from. The challenge lies in translating the essence of these games into tangible, material forms that captivate and resonate with gallery visitors. Could crash games be the next frontier in pushing the boundaries of what we perceive as art? The journey into this uncharted territory is as thrilling as the crash itself.

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  • Thu
    08
    Jan
    2015

    SCHOOL OF SHOCK: PAIN AND PLEASURE IN THE CLASSROOM SAFETY FILM

    7:00 pmMiskatonic London, Horse Hospital, London UK

    FurCoatClub2

    The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies - London
    Thursday January 8th - 7pm-10pm
    at The Horse Hospital
    Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London UK

    Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/299642

    For many genre fans, a love affair with horror and the grotesque began early on, sometimes fueled by unlikely sources. One of these was the classroom safety film, which for many kids was their first time seeing other children threatened by true danger, being confronted with a combination of gore effects and actual accident footage, and being offered a pictorial glimpse at things their parents didn’t want to talk about. Thousands of these films were made in North America from the 1940s through the 1980s, when companies like Centron, McGraw-Hill, Coronet, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Avis Films, Crawley Films, Bell Labs, the NFB and others thrived on the burgeoning market for classroom or workplace educational films.

    Subjects ranged from safety in and around vehicles, to drug abuse and venereal disease, teaching children scary lessons about everything from dental hygiene to how to spot a pedophile. The most memorable of these films deliberately used horror visuals to entice and/or shock children into paying attention – such as those by prolific producer Sid Davis (1916-2006) – and some were even made by directors with genre film pedigrees, such as Carnival of Souls’ Herk Harvey, a key figure in the industrial film scene.

    This lecture and screening by Kier-La Janisse, founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, will present some of the most notorious educational films of the 40-year golden age of social hygiene onscreen. We’ll also briefly look at educational television PSAs, from the British Public Information Films through the incredibly grisly Australian drunk driving commercials of the 1990s.

    The classic era of classroom films may be over, but viewed from today’s perspective, some of these films offer up a fascinating survey of changing social mores and cultural preoccupations (not to mention fashions!). Being safe has never looked so grim.

    WARNING: This program contains graphic imagery, including real accident and casualty footage.

  • Sat
    24
    Jan
    2015

    Kid Power presents: BUGSY MALONE

    2:00 pmRoyal Cinema, Toronto Canada

    Bugsy poster

    Kid Power! presents
    BUGSY MALONE
    Alan Parker | UK 1976 | 93min.

    Saturday January 24th - 2pm
    at The Royal Cinema, 608 College St
    Toronto, Canada
    www.theroyal.to

    Ready to get splurged? The second screening in The Royal's new monthly series named after Spectacular Optical’s debut anthology book KID POWER! brings us an offbeat slapstick gangster musical that features ruthless mobsters, gin hall singers and hard-nosed cops… played exclusively by a cast of children. Alan Parker’s BUGSY MALONE showcases the talents of a pre-Chachi Scott Baio and 13-year-old Jodie Foster in perhaps the most elaborate playground game of cops and robbers ever attempted. In the film, Baio, playing the titular role, gets mixed up with one of the pint-sized gangs competing to take over the “sarsaparilla racket” by uncovering a cache of the ultimate weapon: tommy-gun like “splurge guns” that—instead of spraying bullets—shoot forth globs of custard that take their recipient out of commission. But what starts as a novelty soon gives way to a genuinely interesting story, supported ably by the pre-teen cast and a sprinkling of Broadway-style song and dance numbers written (and sometimes performed) by Paul Williams. Goofing on the clichés of prohibition-era set gangster pics like THE STING, DILLINGER and Robert Altman’s THIEVES LIKE US, the film plays off of the absurdity of miniature mobsters talking up dancers at speakeasies and chasing each other in Model T pedal cars. More importantly, BUGSY MALONE also exemplifies the idea of kid power, as the film’s small stars get the chance to resolve their own issues in a world without parents or adult authority—especially once the story explodes in delicious, creamy warfare. (Paul Corupe)

    Buy the KID POWER! book HERE

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  • Fri
    13
    Feb
    2015

    Kid Power Presents: ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN w/ KIM RICHARDS IN PERSON

    7:30 pmCineFamily - Los Angeles, CA

    wm

    Kid Power! presents
    ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN with KIM RICHARDS IN PERSON!!!

    PLUS! Ike Eisenmann in a 16mm print of THE AMAZING COSMIC AWARENESS OF DUFFY MOON!

    Friday, February 13, 2015
    CineFamily - 611 N. Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA
    www.cinefamily.org

    Tickets: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/kid-power/#escape-to-witch-mountain

    KID POWER books available at the show!

  • Sat
    21
    Feb
    2015

    Kid Power presents: THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION

    2:00 pmRoyal Cinema, Toronto Canada

    pbs

    KID POWER! presents:
    THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION
    (Michael Rubbo, Canada 1985, 94mins. 35mm)

    Saturday February 21, 2015 - 2pm
    Royal Theatre - 608 College Ave., Toronto
    www.theroyal.to

    One of the seminal Canadian cult films, and the most well-known of Montreal-based producer Rock Demers’ “Tales for All” series, THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION is a strange adventure about a young boy named Michael who goes bald from fright when he witnesses something horrible inside a decrepit old house. With the help of two ghosts and their ‘peanut butter solution’, Michael’s hair starts to grow back at a rapid rate – and is soon out of control! But with the help of his sister and best friend Connie (Siluk Saysanasy, otherwise known as Yick Yu from Degrassi) Michael’s unusually flowing mane will soon lead him to discover the sinister secret of the old house.

    Presented in an original 35mm print direct from producer Rock Demers, THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION is an essential component of the KID POWER! canon; as the Canuxploitation website has pointed out, if Rock Demers’ company La Fete is the “Disney of the North”, then The Peanut Butter Solution is undoubtedly our Freaky Friday.

    “With its tumbling succession of body horror symbolism, The Peanut Butter Solution was one film from my formative years that escaped a concrete understanding on my part, full of impressionistic streaks that clung desperately to my brain like dense oatmeal. This phantasmagorical Eraserhead-meets-Bradbury-meets-Goonies concoction enjoyed the benefit of stateside HBO play on what seemed like an endless loop in the late 1980s. I would only catch a few minutes at a time here and there, a handful of wispy, ephemeral fragments lodged themselves permanently—a kid’s hair traumatically falls out, a slo-mo scene of soccer field taunting, an elderly ghost couple, a kid rubbing a foul goo on his bald head, hair growing back tenfold, pubes overflowing from down the leg of a kid’s shorts, a man with glasses terrorizing a classroom, magically walking into a giant canvas painted with brushes made from kids’ hair. Did this thing actually exist, or did we collectively dream it?” – Bret Berg, from the book KID POWER!

    Buy the KID POWER book at the event, or online HERE: http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/store/

  • Sun
    15
    Mar
    2015

    KID POWER: THE WAVE, THE UGLY LITTLE BOY & DEGRASSI on 16mm!

    6:30 pmCinema JA De Seve., Montreal, Canada

    UglyLittleBoyweb

    Le Cineclub/ The Film Society presents:
    An Evening of KID POWER!
    Sunday March 15th, 6:30pm
    Concordia Cinema J.A. DeSeve - 1400 deMaisonneuve W. (Guy-Concordia and Lucien l'Allier metros)  
    Details: http://www.cineclubfilmsociety.com/program/

    Put on your vintage high-top sneakers and kick back for an evening of short films from the 1970s and 1980s that were made for a youth audience whose parents were content to plop them in front of a TV set for their education. Often falling into the category of ‘‘After School Special’’, most were made with a love and a genuine caring for their young sensitive audience. Many were released onto 16mm film for classroom use.

    As Kier-la Janisse, co-editor of the newly released book Kid Power!, puts it; ‘‘The weird binaries of the 80s separated everything GI Joe-style into simple good and bad, creating a climate that saw a Satanic and/or gay conspiracy around every corner… But the 70s were a more fragile and evolving time, when all the big changes the 60s brought about were actually being put into effect. All of us- parents, adults, teens, kids- had to fend for ourselves as we figured it out.’’

    Revisit those pre-youtube/facebook/texting times with a 16mm projection of such after school classics as The Wave (1981) Isaac Asimov’s The Ugly Little Boy (1977) and even an episode of Degrassi Junior high(1987).

    Besides introducing the screening, Ms. Janisse will be offering for purchase, signed copies of Kid Power! the first book to be released by her small-press publishing company, Spectacular Optical www.spectacularoptical.ca

  • Sat
    21
    Mar
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amMayfair Theatre, Ottawa Canada

    Popeye In Goonland 06

    Saturday March 21, 2015 - 10:00am
    The Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa Canada
    Tickets HERE: http://mayfairtheatre.ca/movies/Saturday-Morning-AllYouCanEatCereal-Cartoon-Party/?is_archive=0#Cinemon_MovieDescription

    Program curated by Kier-La Janisse


    Remember when Saturday mornings were a wonderland of animated adventures, toy commercials and diabetes-inducing breakfast foods?

    On March 21, the Mayfair Theatre will tune back in those fuzzy UHF memories of childhood as we present the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party!

    The program features THREE HOURS of classic cartoons (including some retro commercial breaks!), PLUS a BOTTOMLESS BOWL OF CEREAL for everyone who attends. Pajamas encouraged!

    Admission is value-priced at just $7 children | $8 members  | $12 non-members | $9 seniors.

  • Sat
    21
    Mar
    2015

    KID POWER Presents: MELODY (1971)

    2:00 pmThe Royal Cinema, Toronto Canada

    BEE-GEES_MELODY

    Rare British Cult Classic! Early Bee Gees score! The inspiration for Moonrise Kingdom!

    Saturday March 21, 2:00PMat The Royal Cinema, Toronto
    www.theroyal.to

    Maurice and Barry Gibb were commissioned to provide the soundtrack for this long-lost gem -- scripted by Alan Parker (BUGSY MALONE; PINK FLOYD:THE WALL) -- that re-united young actors Mark Lester and Jack Wild (co-stars of OLIVER!) in a story about pre-teen pals at a British school. In South London, two lonely classmates of opposite backgrounds - the well-bred, shy Daniel (Lester) and the Cockney cynic Ornshaw (Wild) - become good friends and start to get up to all kinds of fun-loving trouble together. But their friendship is affected when Daniel falls in love with fellow classmate Melody Perkins (Tracy Hyde) and the two children decide to run away and get married.

    Along with Ken Loach's BLACK JACK (stay tuned for an appearance by that one in the series!), MELODY was named by Wes Anderson as one of the primary inspirations for his puppy love hit film MOONRISE KINGDOM, but unlike Anderson's over-determined, hyper stylized productions, Melody is realistic and painfully sincere. Not only is the Odessa-era Bee Gees music incredibly affecting, and the performances adorable and heartbreaking, but the amazing Jack Wild – best known to U.S. audiences as Jimmy from the Krofft TV show HR PUFNSTUF - is worth the price of admission all on his own. – Kier-La Janisse, KID POWER! series curator

    Buy Spectacular Optical's KID POWER! book at the event or online HERE: http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/store/

     

  • Sat
    04
    Apr
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amMetro Cinema, Edmonton, AB
    Popeye In Goonland 06
     
    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!
    Saturday April 4, 2015 - 10:00am
    Metro Cinema at the Garneau
    Edmonton, AB
    Tix: http://www.metrocinema.org/film_view/5262/

    Curated by Kier-La Janisse

    Spring has sprung! Celebrate the end of the winter deep-freeze with another super-fun sugar-frosted cartoon event! Put on your best PJs and experience it all over again on the big screen! Programmed for all ages, the cereal will be all-you-can-eat and the cartoons (hand-picked from cartoons’ heyday) will last over 2 hours. You’d better not miss the snap-crackle-fun!

    Adults: $14, Students/Seniors: $12, Children 12 & Under: $10

    Admission includes cereal. Advance tickets available online at metrocinema.org No Metro passes – Only Silver Screen Passes Accepted.

  • Sat
    18
    Apr
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amCalgary Underground Film Festival

    Popeye In Goonland 06

     

    THE SATURDAY MORNING ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT CEREAL CARTOON PARTY!

    Saturday April 18th 2015 - 10:00am
    Calgary Underground Film Festival
    The Globe Cinema, Calgary

    Tix: https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/2015/saturday-morning-cartoons

    Remember Saturday mornings? Kids today may not realize the significance of the Saturday morning ritual, but once upon a time, we had to wait a whole week to get our cartoon fix, and when we got it, we tended to binge. In that gleefully gluttonous spirit, the Calgary Underground Film Festival presents a 3-hour trip down memory lane with a tribute to the eye-popping, brain-addling Saturday morning cartoons of yore, complete with a smorgasbord of delicious sugary cereals (and yes, we have soy too!) You’ll see both faves and obscurities spanning the 60s through the 80s, all punctuated with
    vintage commercials and PSAs! The lineup is always a secret, but there will be sci-fi , monsters, crime-solving, hot dogs, kid power, bubblegum bands and general nonsense galore! So get ready for a sugar rush and an explosion of nostalgia all wrapped up in one candy-coated package.

    DUE TO THE POPULARITY OF THIS EVENT WE HAVE EXPANDED TO TWO THEATRES!!
    NOW DOUBLE THE FUN! Jammies Encouraged!

    ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT CEREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    (Punch passes can not be accepted for this show)


    About the Guest Curator

    Kier-La Janisse is a film writer and programmer, Editor-in-Chief of Spectacular Optical Publications and founding director of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. She has been a programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, co-founded Montreal microcinema Blue Sunshine, founded the CineMuerte Horror Film Festival (1999-2005) in Vancouver and was the subject of the documentary Celluloid Horror (2005). She has written for Filmmaker, Offscreen, Shindig!, Rue Morgue and Fangoria magazines, has contributed to Destroy All Movies!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film (Fantagraphics, 2011), and is the author of A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (FAB Press, 2007) and House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films (FAB Press, 2012). She recently co-edited and published the anthology book KID POWER! (Spectacular Optical, 2014) about kids in cult film and television.

  • Sat
    18
    Apr
    2015

    Kid Power: THE POINT (1971) & REALLY ROSIE (1975) 16mm Double Bill!

    2:00 pmThe Royal Cinema, Toronto Canada

    the-point-fred-wolf-1

    Kid Power presents
    THE POINT
    (Fred Wolf, USA 1971, 74mins, 16mm)

    A rare 16mm print featuring the Original Dustin Hoffman narration!

    Saturday April 18, 2015 - 2:00pm
    at The Royal Cinema
    608 College St., Toronto

    Dustin Hoffman narrates the famed animated made-for-television feature dreamt up, written and produced by the late Harry Nilsson, based on his album of the same name and featuring the hit song “Me and My Arrow.” In a land where everyone and everything has a point, the birth of a pointless child throws the kingdom into an existential crisis that is temporarily resolved by banishing the youngster Oblio to the Pointless Forest with his pet (and accomplice) Arrow. On their journey, Oblio and Arrow meet a bizarre stable of characters, and discover that sometimes the most seemingly pointless things are the most integral to human existence. A treat for Nilsson aficionados and ’70s animation fans alike.

    PLUS! Plays with
    REALLY ROSIE
    (Maurice Sendak, USA 1975, 27mins, 16mm)

    Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) himself directs this animated CBS TV adaptation of several of his books (Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny and The Sign on Rosie’s Door) all rolled into one story about the imaginative kids of Brooklyn’s Avenue P, with Carole King penning and performing the special’s many amazing songs. Really Rosie follows a normal summer day in the lives of The Nutshell Kids, who are neighbourhood friends. Rosie is the self-proclaimed ‘star’ of the block and decides to cast the kids of Avenue P in an imaginary Oscar-winning musical movie of her life.

    Buy Spectacular Optical’s KID POWER! book at the event or online HERE: http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/store/

     

  • Thu
    23
    Apr
    2015
    Sun
    03
    May
    2015

    Spectacular Optical at HOT DOCS INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL

    Various locations, Toronto, Canada

    HotDocs2015

    Spectacular Optical will be on hand at the 22nd edition of North America's biggest documentary festival. If you're repping any docs related to cult cinema, weird pop culture, animated or experimental film, get in touch for coverage!

  • Thu
    14
    May
    2015

    Miskatonic Institute: ENGULFED BY NATURE: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SUPERNATURAL LANDSCAPES

    7:00 pmThe Horse Hospital, London UK

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    The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies presents
    ENGULFED BY NATURE:
    PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SUPERNATURAL LANDSCAPES
    Instructor: Jasper Sharp

    The Horse Hospital
    Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London UK
    www.thehorsehospital.com

    TICKETS: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/315971

    ‘There is magic all around us’, Udo Kier famously states at a key point in Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977), a sentiment reiterated by one of the characters in Richard Stanley’s Dust Devil (1992), which sees its protagonists drawn out of their mundane suburban environment in small-town South Africa into the heart of the Namib desert to be confronted by their darkest demons.

    Stanley’s film in particular presents a sublime example of how landscape and elemental conditions can be evoked to express dangerous forces existing beyond man’s perceptual and belief systems, but also, in contrast, how heightened psychological states can be given visual form through use of such timeless spaces, taking the viewer out of their comfort zones and back into nature at its most wild, mysterious and untamed.

    In an ever-urbanising world, the textures, rhythms and sounds of nature can be made to seem increasingly alien and alienating on film, making us realize we are but a small part of a wider world beyond our control. Works ranging from Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba (1964) through José Larraz’s Symptoms (1974) and Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout (1978) reframe our perceptions, interrogating the boundaries between the physiological and the supernatural, as interior worlds collapse beneath the weight of exterior ones.

    This lecture and screening by Jasper Sharp will look at how such mysterious invisible forces of nature are given vent in a number of films depicting the rupture between these rational and irrational domains. It will explore how pantheistic belief systems that hold that spirits reside in everything, such as Japan’s Shinto religion, overlap with a British folk tradition of supernatural writers such as Arthur Machen and William Hope Hodgson, and how foreign directors often have a keener, more nuanced eye for the expressive potential of the English landscape to portray characters off-kilter with their environment.

    About the Instructor:
    Jasper Sharp is a writer, curator and filmmaker. He is the co-founder of Midnight Eye.com, since 2001 the premier online resource in the English-language about Japanese cinema. His book publications include The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (Stone Bridge, 2003), joint-written with Tom Mes, Behind the Pink Curtain (FAB Press, 2008) and The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Film (Scarecrow 2011). His writing has appeared in publications all over the world, including Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Variety, The Japan Times, Kateigaho and Film International, and he has contributed liner essays, commentaries and interviews to numerous DVD releases. He has curated high profile seasons and retrospectives with organisations including the British Film Institute, Deutches Filmmuseum, Austin Fantastic Fest, Cinematheque Quebecois and Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Between 2010-14, he was the director of Zipangu Fest, established to showcase Japanese independent film in the United Kingdom, and is currently the programme director of Asia House Pan-Asian Film Festival. He is the co-director, with Tim Grabham, of The Creeping Garden (2014), a documentary about slime moulds and the people who study and work with them, which won the Best Documentary Filmmakers Award at Fantastic Fest in Austin. A book of the film, The Creeping Garden: Irrational Encounters with Plasmodial Slime Moulds, is due for publication by Alchimia in the Spring of 2015.

  • Sat
    23
    May
    2015

    Kid Power: MY BODYGUARD

    2:00 pmThe Royal Cinema, Toronto Canada

    my bodyguard_photo

    Kid Power! presents:
    MY BODYGUARD

    Saturday May 23 - 2:00pm
    at The Royal Cinema - 608 College St., Toronto
    www.theroyal.to

    "One of those late '70s/early '80s gems where teenagers are treated with real honesty onscreen, and the Alan Ormsby script is the best thing he ever wrote." (Drew McWeeny, Hitfix)

    Tony Bill's first film as director is an essential underdog tale starring onetime it-kid Chris Makepeace (Meatballs) as Clifford Peache, a private school kid living in a posh hotel managed by his father (Martin Mull). When he gets transferred to public school (and shows up the first day in a limousine), he immediately runs afoul of the school bully, Moody (Matt Dillon) who demands protection money to ward off the daily hallway horrors Moody promises to deliver. The only person in the school Moody seems to be afraid of is the tall, weird, silent hulk Ricky Linderman (Adam Baldwin), about whom terrible rumours of a violent past abound in hushed tones. While Clifford makes some new friends in the form of fellow misfits Carson and Shelley (the great, stone-faced Paul Quandt and Joan Cusack in her first major role), the shadow of the inevitable after-school fight looms large. But then he gets an idea - he offers Ricky Linderman money and homework duty in exchange for one thing: being his bodyguard.

    "Soon everyone will have one!" claimed the film's advertisements. Well, maybe the personal bodyguard thing didn't exactly catch on in real-life playgrounds but it sure makes a heck of a hook for this fantastic film about not judging a book by its cover and finding that courage comes in all sizes. Written by Bob Clark cohort Alan Ormsby (also the creator of the much beloved/feared 70s toy HUGO: MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES), and full of soon-to-be famous 80s stars, including an uncredited Jennifer Beals!

    Buy Spectacular Optical's KID POWER! book at the event or online HERE

     

  • Sat
    30
    May
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amRegistry Theatre, Kitchener ON

    Popeye In Goonland 06

    Saturday May 30 - 10:00am
    Registry Theatre - 122 Frederick St.
    Kitchener, Ontario
    Tickets HERE: http://www.registrytheatre.com/saturday-morning-cartoon-party-4/

    A tribute to the eye-popping, brain-addling Saturday morning cartoons of yore, complete with a smorgasbord of delicious sugary cereals. Jammies are encouraged!

  • Sat
    27
    Jun
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amMayfair Theatre, Ottawa Canada

    inspector

    Saturday June 27, 2015 - 10:00am
    The Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa Canada
    Tickets HERE: http://mayfairtheatre.ca/movies/Saturday-Morning-AllYouCanEatCereal-Cartoon-Party/

    Program curated by Kier-La Janisse


    Remember when Saturday mornings were a wonderland of animated adventures, toy commercials and diabetes-inducing breakfast foods?

    On June 27, the Mayfair Theatre will tune back in those fuzzy UHF memories of childhood as we present the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party!

    The program features THREE HOURS of classic cartoons (including some retro commercial breaks!), PLUS a BOTTOMLESS BOWL OF CEREAL for everyone who attends. Pajamas encouraged!

    Admission is value-priced at just $7 children | $8 members  | $12 non-members | $9 seniors.

  • Wed
    01
    Jul
    2015

    TAKING SHELTER - World Premiere!

    8:00 pmCinecycle, Toronto Canada

    taking shelter

    Canuxploitation, Spectacular Optical and Unpopular Arts present

    TAKING SHELTER
    A Movie By Jonathan Culp
    8 pm
    Wednesday, July 1
    Cinecycle, 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto
    $10

    We are proud to present the world premiere screening of Jonathan Culp's groundbreaking feature-length collage narrative, seven years in the making.

    And what better day than Canada Day to experience this outrageous re-imagining of Canadian film history?

    “PREPARE TO FACE THE POWER OF THE ULTIMATE DIMENSION!”

    Breaking out of their imaginary purgatory and into temporal space, a disagreeable crew of aliens invade Canada, subjecting everyday life to the rules of cinema as a strategy for colonial domination.

    Fragments of 434 Canadian feature films from 1970-1989 are folded into this found-footage feature, many of them scandalously rare, dominated by the much-maligned phenomenon of the ‘tax shelter’ or Capital Cost Allowance production. Under this policy, staid social realist traditions were assimilated and/or displaced by tentative, “commercial” stabs at genre, kinesis and effect. "Taking Shelter" is an overdue overview of a transformative moment in our national cinema.

    Merging the innovations of found-footage pioneers like Conner and Lipsett with the omnivorousness of modern mashup culture, Jonathan Culp’s Taking Shelter is a groundbreaking experiment in freestanding collage cinema - no voiceover or titling, no non-diagetic commentary, just repurposed image and sound. It jolts the formative years of Canadian feature filmmaking into the present with all the trimmings of the Hollywood productions these films yearned to emulate - funny, thrilling and affecting.

    100 minutes. Director in attendance. Tickets at the door.

    Taking Shelter - trailer from Jonathan Culp on Vimeo.

  • Sat
    04
    Jul
    2015

    Miskatonic London Graduation at the Masonic Temple

    1:00 pmMasonic Temple, Liverpool Street, London UK

    Temple-new-high-res1

    Congratulations to the graduates of the first Miskatonic London semester!

    Antony Caiger
    Ralph Dorey
    John Etherington
    Brian Graham
    Duncan Hopper
    Graham Humphreys
    Justin Merritt
    Tom Oldham
    Anthony Page
    Bradie Poole
    Mat Rowlands
    Stephanie Scaife
    Matthew Tilt
    Justin Woodman

    For your graduation ceremony you are invited to the screening of The Dead Eyes of London at the fantastic Masonic Temple in Liverpool Street on Saturday 4 July at 1pm (part of the East End Film Festival). This will be followed by a panel discussion on krimi films with Kim Newman, Jim Harper and Alex Fitch, after which you will receive your Miskatonic diploma from the hands of Kim Newman.

    IMPORTANT: Please email us at miskatonic.london[at]gmail.com to reserve your place. It is essential that you reserve your place by FRIDAY 26 JUNE.

  • Sat
    11
    Jul
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!

    10:00 amMetro Cinema, Edmonton, AB
    CBS_Saturday_Valley_of_the_Dinosaurs_1975
     
    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party!
    World-Wide, 150 min,
    Curator: Kier-La Janisse
     

    Remember Saturday mornings? Kids today may not realize the significance of the Saturday morning ritual, but once upon a time, we had to wait a whole week to get our cartoon fix, and when we got it, we tended to binge. In that gleefully gluttonous spirit, curator Kier-La Janisse presents a 3-hour trip down memory lane with a tribute to the eye-popping, brain-addling Saturday morning cartoons of yore, complete with a smorgasbord of delicious sugary cereals (and yes, we have soy too!)! You’ll see both faves and obscurities spanning the 60s through the 80s (and sometimes even earlier), all punctuated with vintage commercials and PSAs! The lineup is always a secret, but there will be sci-fi, sleuths, superheroes and all kinds of 2D silliness, so get ready for a sugar rush and an explosion of nostalgia all wrapped up in one candy-coated package.

    Adults: $14 | Students/Seniors: $12 | Children 12 & Under: $10 

    Admission includes cereal. 

    Metro Passes – Only Silver Screen Passes Accepted.

    Appropriate for All Ages!

  • Sat
    18
    Jul
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch at Fantasia!

    5:00pm - 7:00pmKafein - 1429 Bishop, Montreal Canada

    SP cover Front&BackWEB

    Fantasia is proud to host the world premiere launch of the new book from Spectacular Optical, SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s. From heavy metal to He-Man toys, Dungeons & Dragons to daycare scandals, the hysteria known as the “Satanic Panic” made its way through every pop-culture pathway in the ‘80s, and this fully-illustrated, 370-page book revisits the era with 20 insightful new essays and a foreword by APOCALYPSE CULTURE writer/editor Adam Parfrey. 

    The launch accompanies the Canadian Premiere of Jason Lei Howden’s heavy metal splatter comedy DEATHGASM, preceded by a 5-7 cocktail in the basement lounge of Kafein at 1429 Bishop - complete with a Satanic Panic-era playlist of hair metal and creepy christian music courtesy of DJs David Bertrand and Frank Fingers (my former cohorts in Blue Sunshine!)

  • Thu
    30
    Jul
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch at Librarie Drawn & Quarterly!

    7:00pm-9:00pmLibrarie Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard St. W., Montreal Canada

    SP cover Front&BackWEB

    Join us on Thursday, July 30th at 7:00 p.m. for the launch of the second Spectacular Optical book,  Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s. Co-editors Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe (and possibly some special guest contributing authors) will host the evening.  There will be a talk and video presentation on this infamous era, and books will be for sale at the event.

    In the 1980s, everywhere you turned there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons and TV talk shows —and created its own fascinating cultural legacy of Satan-battling VHS tapes, music and literature. From con artists to pranksters and moralists to martyrs, Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s aims to capture the untold story of the how the Satanic Panic was fought on the pop culture frontlines and the serious consequences it had for many involved.

  • Thu
    20
    Aug
    2015

    LOVECRAFT RE-ANIMATED + SATANIC PANIC Book Launch

    9:30 pmCarlton Cinema, 20 Carlton St., Toronto Canada

     

    Lovecraft Final poster

    Poster illustration by Alisdair Wood

    Spectacular Optical, Rue Morgue & Unstable Ground present
    a LITTLE TERRORS Special Presentation
    LOVECRAFT RE-ANIMATED
    An evening of Lovecraftian animated short films to celebrate HPL's 125th birthday!

    Although LITTLE TERRORS does not officially return until September 30th, we have teamed up with the excellent people at Spectacular Optical (www.spectacularoptical.ca) to deliver a program of Lovecraftian animated oddities well-worth the trip to the theatre.

    In addition, this event will be the Toronto book-launch for Kier-La Janisse & Paul Corupe's SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s:

    http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/2015/03/satanic-panic-pop-cultural-paranoia-in-the-1980s/

    Get a copy of the SATANIC PANIC book at the screening for only $20 with your ticket!

    ----------------------------------------------------------

     Here's our great lineup:

    The Mill at Calder's End (14 minutes, premiere)
    DIR: Kevin McTurk

    LT-alumnus director McTurk returns (The Narrative of Victor Karloch)! A young man returns home to unearth the dark secret of the Mill at Calder's End. Utilizing incredibly-impressive puppetry, this short has atmosphere to burn!

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3991054/

    https://vimeo.com/103773552

     

    Pickman's Model (10 minutes, Mexico, premiere)
    DIR: Pablo Angeles Zuman

    In a quest to obtain a picture by his favourite macabre painter Richard Pickman, a collector discovers the secret behind the artist's work.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3635608/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mXhZGimJlk

     

    Heritance (6 minutes, premiere)
    DIR: Monsieur Soeur

    This twisted slice of HPL was made in only 48 hours! Impressive feat!

    http://monsieursoeur.net/

     

    The Horror Most Unreal (13 minutes, premiere)
    DIR: Max Minor

    'Skinner' animates this head-trip into a Lovecraftian nightmare. Silent animated horror to keep you awake at night!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYWWjY4DkOA

     

    The Night Ocean (12 minutes, Spain, premiere)
    DIR: Maria Lorenzo Hernandez

    An adaption of Robert H. Barlow and H.P. Lovecraft's homonym tale. A painter spends his holidays in a cabin by the sea, eventually noticing strange events that lead to an encounter with the unknown.

    http://cthulhucon.com/films/night-ocean

     

    Static Aeons (6 minutes)
    DIR: Gib Patterson

    Three HPL stories are combined to create a new narrative, during an exploratory journey through a city left to decay in humanity's absence. Creepy and ethereal!

     

    The Old Man and The Goblins (5 minutes)
    DIR: Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh

    An homage to silent films and puppet animation. A hermit is visited by playful goblins! Classic short from 1998.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276373/

     

    Our Selves Unknown (3 minutes, UK)
    DIR: Edwin Rostron

    An experimental animation dripping with existential dread!

    http://www.4wfilm.org/2014/07/our-selves-unknown-edwin-rostron/

     

    PLUS: A SPECIAL SECRET PRESENTATION!!!

    --------------------------------------

    Homepage:

    http://www.littleterrorsfestival.com/

     

    Fanpage for future events:

    https://www.facebook.com/littleterrorstoronto

     

    Co-presented by RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE:

    http://www.rue-morgue.com/

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rue-Morgue/163691139525

     

    and UNSTABLE GROUND:

    http://www.unstableground.net/

    https://www.facebook.com/unstableground

     

    MAGIC LANTERN CARLTON CINEMA:

    http://www.rainbowcinemas.ca/A/?theatre=Carlton&

     

    Official YouTube playlist (catch up on what you're missing!):

    http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBEB80A4EC425BFEB

     

    Filmmakers, submit your shorts here:

    http://www.littleterrorsfestival.com/submissions.html

     

     

  • Fri
    04
    Sep
    2015
    Fri
    25
    Sep
    2015

    HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN: An Art Exhibit by Charleine Boieiro, S. de Matos & Gwendolen Dupré

    Adamastor Studiios, Lisbon, Portugal

    HOPW art show

    Drawings, Prints, Mural Paintings and Writings
    by Charleine Boieiro, S. de Matos & Gwendolen Dupré

    Special Guests:
    Simon Philippe (video), Nuno Samora (lighting design), Laura Scott (prints) & João P. Nunes

    Guest of Honour:
    Kier-La Janisse

    4 - 25 SEPTEMBER 2015
    www.adamastorstudios.com
    www.motelx.org/eventos/house-of-psychotic-women

    The exhibition took as its starting point the book "House of Psychotic Women - An autobiographical topography of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films" (FAB Press, 2012), by Canadian author, Kier-La Janisse.

    The work of the artists is primarily inspired by several films selected from the vast canon of psychotic women in cinema; the female protagonists and their impaired contact with reality becoming the main focus of the drawings, prints, writings and murals on show.

    The author Kier-La Janisse will be present at the opening and for the event "An evening with Kier-La Janisse", as a special guest of the Adamastor Studios, in partnership with the MOTELx festival.

    HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN from Adamastor Studios on Vimeo.

  • Wed
    30
    Sep
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch at Fantastic Fest

    8:30 pmAlamo Drafthouse South Lamar, Austin TX

    SPBackCoverCollage

    Tix: http://fantasticfest.com/films/satanic-panic-book-launch-screening-of-evilspeak-in-35mm/

    In the 1980s, everywhere you turned there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons and TV talk shows —and created its own fascinating cultural legacy of Satan-battling video tapes, music and literature.

    After debuting with the anthology book KID POWER!, micro-press publisher Spectacular Optical is back with book two: SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s. And to celebrate it, we’ll be screening one of the films featured prominently in the book for its integration of Satanic ritual and 80s-era technophobia: Eric Weston’s cult favorite EVILSPEAK, starring Clint Howard as bullied teen Stanley Coopersmith, who calls on Satan through his new Apple II computer to get revenge.

    The film will be preceded by a presentation and clip show of some of the era’s most notorious news segments and an introduction by SATANIC PANIC co-editor Kier-La Janisse with several of the contributing authors, including local one-man band John Schooley, who wrote the book’s afterword only days after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the convictions of Austin-area daycare owners Dan and Fran Keller. Also, Dave Canfield and Forrest Jackson who will tell personal anecdotes about their interactions with controversial celebrity evangelists Mike Warnke and Bob Larson.

    From con artists to pranksters and moralists to martyrs, SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s aims to capture the untold story of the how the Satanic Panic was fought on the pop culture frontlines and the serious consequences it had for many involved. (Kier-la Janisse)

  • Sun
    04
    Oct
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch at PhilaMOCA

    7:30 pmPhilaMOCA, Philadelphia PA

    satanic-panic-poster-philamoca

    On Sunday, October 4, PhilaMOCA and Spectacular Optical will invoke the presence of the Dark Lord himself when they present SATANIC PANIC!, a multimedia seance intent on conjuring the spirits of a previous era's moral panic. Philadelphia-based writer and "Satanic Panic" contributor Samm Deighan will be on-hand to act as tour guide through a visual history of a time when Old Scratch himself nearly stole the hearts of unsuspecting children...

    The 1980s were strange times to be a teenager, not in the least because your very soul was at stake when it came to the music you listened to, the movies you watched, and the clothes you wore. Beginning with the release of the fabricated autobiography "Michelle Remembers" in 1980, the decade became the battleground for a culture war between Christian moralists and young rebels trying to assert their identities. Proving ample material for pop culture analysts, the moral hysteria that resulted forms the basis of Spectacular Optical's recently released "Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s." The book recounts in harrowing detail the escalating insanity of Christian paranoia, covering a diverse range of subjects like true crime, court cases, role playing games, heavy metal, and horror films.

    Copies of "Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s" will be available for purchase at the event.
    http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/

    Sunday, October 4, 2015
    Doors 7:00, Program 7:30
    $10 admission

    http://www.philamoca.org/

  • Sun
    04
    Oct
    2015

    OCCULT OFFERINGS: SATANIC PANIC BOOK LAUNCH & SCREENING

    8:00 pmKITSCH, Toronto, Canada

    11960137_1054036631275074_9063571605019115350_n

    The Black Museum and Rue Morgue Magazine are pleased to present a Satanic social for Spectacular Optical's latest book, Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s, featuring a never-before-seen video compilation of some of the most outlandish (and hilarious) Christian '80s VHS releases. Covering the cultural hysteria over supposed demonic influence of role playing games, heavy metal and horror films from the 1980s, the video was curated by Black Museum co-founder Paul Corupe, who co-edited the Satanic Panic book with Kier-La Janisse, and provides the perfect companion to the book's in-depth look at the decade's fears of Satanic forces hiding in our TVs, radios and bookshelves. Join some of the book's local contributors for this free event and premiere screening on October 4, 2015 at KITCH (229 Geary Ave, Toronto)

  • Sun
    04
    Oct
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch w/ "THE BURBS'"

    9:00 pmBrattle Theatre, Cambridge MA

    the-burbs-11

    Tix: http://www.brattlefilm.org/2015/10/04/satanic-panic-book-launch/

    Our friend Kier-la Janisse (author of the acclaimed House of Psychotic Women and editor of Kid Power) returns to the Brattle to celebrate the launch of the next book from her Spectacular Optical imprint – SATANIC PANIC: POP CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980S. Accompanying the book launch will be a screening of the Reagan-era classic THE ‘BURBS (which enjoys an entire chapter all to itself in the book) in which Tom Hanks’ bored suburbanite is convinced by his paranoid neighbor that the new family in town just might be a cannibalistic cult.

  • Thu
    08
    Oct
    2015

    Miskatonic London: SATANIC PANIC Lecture + Book Launch

    7:00 pmThe Horse Hospital, London UK

    SPBackCoverCollage

    Instructors: Gavin Baddeley, David Flint and Kier-La Janisse
    £10 advance / £11 on the door / £8 concs
    GET TICKETS

    www.miskatonic-london.com

    In 1980s North America, everywhere you turned there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons and TV talk shows —and created its own fascinating cultural legacy of Satan-battling VHS tapes, music and literature. As the hysteria moved overseas to the UK, Australia and South Africa, its life extended into the 1990s – and some say it never went away. From con artists to pranksters and moralists to martyrs, this lecture – based on the instructors’ book of the same name, which will be available at the screening – aims to capture the untold story of the how the Satanic Panic was fought on the pop culture frontlines and the serious consequences it had for many involved.

    Read more about the SATANIC PANIC book HERE.

  • Wed
    14
    Oct
    2015

    Muff Society presents GINGER SNAPS

    6:00 pmCarlton Cinema, 20 Carlton St., Toronto Canada

    12106839_1629757070625759_1919819965907631033_n

    Toronto's MUFF Society presents
    GINGER SNAPS
    Weds Oct 14th, 2015
    Doors + Lobby Fun: 6:00 PM!
    Film Start: 7:00 PM!
    Tickets: $10!

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1633718566878821/

    co-presented by Spectacular Optical, who have provided a copy of SATANIC PANIC as a giveaway!

    With Halloween just around the corner we are far too excited to function, so book us into the rubber motel because we are officially all *white noise*-ed up. This month at the Carlton Cinema we’ll be screening writer Karen Walton’s GINGER SNAPS, which is the story of two anti-establishment and death-obsessed sisters named Ginger and Brigitte, and all of the trials and tribulations that comes with being normal teenage girls… except when Ginger is attacked by a mysterious, hairy beast which has been killing all of the dogs in the town. After the attack, Ginger starts to experience back pain, mood swings, and most of all, hair-where-there-wasn’t-hair-before, which really brings us back to our glory days of being but young little lycanthropes ourselves… (I mean…what?!)

    This month's Mini MUFF selection is the incredible local short film NOT TIL WE'RE MARRIED. We will have director Shannon Hanmer in attendance!

    This screening will be co-presented by our good friends CINEFILLES (because we’re together forever, duh) and they have a very special guest coming along with them (!!! We can't wait to tell you!). And we're going all out for our photobooth this month with a makeup artist who will be providing some gore-tastic makeup effects to our attendees. BLOODY AMAZING! (Get it?)

    Basically, if you don’t come, we have to know… are you on drugs, like, right now?

    A big thank you to our MUFF Friends & sponsors of this event: Carlton Cinema, The Beguiling, The Candy Bar, Cinefilles, Coal Miner's Daughter, Elyse Marion, Horror Block, MoRoCo Chocolat, Netflix, Rue Morgue, Spectacular Optical, and the TIFF Beyond Badass: Female Action Heroes series.

  • Fri
    16
    Oct
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch at Sitges Film Festival

    6:00 pmSitges, Spain

    SPBackCoverCollage

    Book Launch: SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s
    (FNAC Area, Sitges Film Festival, Free Admission)

    In the 1980s, everywhere you turned there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons and TV talk shows. Relive the era with co-editor Kier-La Janisse, who will present a talk and clip show based on Spectacular Optical’s new book SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s.

  • Fri
    30
    Oct
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Book Launch + screening of TRICK OR TREAT

    8:00 pmBacklot Studios, Melbourne Australia

    SPBackCoverCollage

    BOOK LAUNCH - OCTOBER 30TH, 2015
    SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980S
    Backlot Studios, Melbourne, Australia
    65 Haig Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3006
    http://www.thebacklotstudios.com/melbourne/

    Tickets here: http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=155739

    The fabulous Kier-La Janisse is about to unleash her brand new book all about 80s Satanic Panic and she is coming to our town of Melbourne and is joining forces with Cinemaniacs Film Society on Friday the 30th of October!! She is introducing the heavy metal horror classic TRICK OR TREAT and launching her awesome book on Satanic Panic - so you HAVE TO BOOK and come along!!!! 

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/136452020031038/

  • Thu
    12
    Nov
    2015

    Miskatonic London: SHADOWS AND FOG: THE FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF THE GERMAN EDGAR WALLACE KRIMI

    7:00 pmThe Horse Hospital, London UK

    kinski dead eyes

    Between 1959 and the early 1970s, German film companies released more than fifty low-budget crime thrillers inspired by the works of British writer Edgar Wallace. Featuring some of Europe’s most well-known cult and horror actors (including Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski and Gert Fröbe) the Edgar Wallace krimi combined fast-paced action, surprising violence and zany humour. Sold en masse to US television and shown in an edited and badly dubbed form, these films have rarely received the attention they deserve. Jim Harper explores the background and history of the Wallace krimi, from their beginnings to their long-term influence in Germany and beyond, discussing the charm and appeal of these quintessential European cult favourites.

    Date/Time
    Date(s) - Thu. Nov. 12, 2015
    7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

    Location
    The Horse Hospital

    Instructor
    Jim Harper

    Admission
    £10 advance / £11 on the door / £8 concs GET TICKETS

  • Tue
    01
    Dec
    2015

    SATANIC PANIC Clip Show and Talk

    8:00 pmPop-Up Theatre No. 5, Hobart, Tasmania

    SPBackCoverCollage

    Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival
    and Loud Mouth Theatre Company's Dark Nights
    presents

    Talk and Clip Show with Kier-La Janisse
    SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s

    In the 1980s, everywhere you turned there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons and TV talk shows.

    Relive the era with the book's co-editor Kier-La Janisse, who will present a talk and clip show based on Spectacular Optical’s new book Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s. The event also doubles as the Hobart launch of the book and a limited number of copies will be available to purchase.

    Date: 1 December 2015

    Time: 8 pm – 9.30 pm (doors open at 7.30)

    Cost: $10, pre-book http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/talk-and-clip-show-satanic-panic-pop-cultural-paranoia-in-the-1980s-tickets-19233642342 or at the door

    Venue: Pop-Up Theatre No. 5, Macquarie Point

  • Thu
    10
    Dec
    2015

    Live From Miskatonic: NIGEL KNEALE'S "THE ROAD"

    7:00 pmThe Horse Hospital, London UK

    watm-booklayout

    In 1950 Thomas Nigel Kneale won the Somerset Maugham Award for his prose collection TOMATO CAIN & OTHER STORIES.

    In 1953 he changed the face of British Television with THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT. Public houses across the country emptied as each installment of this thrilling new story went out live to the nation. Never before had a television drama become a national event, and few enough have had such an impact since.

    His adaptation of NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR would raise questions in Parliament, such was its power, while original dramas like THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS accurately predicted, and indicted, the sensationalism of ‘Reality TV’ and the passivity of the society that produced it.

    In the years that followed QUATERMASS & THE PIT, THE STONE TAPE, MURRAIN, BEASTS, THE WOMAN IN BLACK and more, would influence successive generations of authors, film makers and screenwriters. From Russell T. Davies to The League Of Gentlemen, John Carpenter to Stephen King, Chris Carter, Peter Strickland, Ramsey Campbell, China Mieville and more…

    Jacques Derrida may have coined the term, but it is Kneale – in his style, themes, and the unique tone of his work – who provides a touchstone for the Hauntological movement which has pervaded our culture in recent years.

    To mark the launch of WE ARE THE MARTIANS, a new book of essays about Kneale and his work from Spectral Press, The Miskatonic Institute presents a unique celebration of the work of Nigel Kneale.

    A rehearsed reading of Kneale’s lost drama THE ROAD (featuring Jonathan Rigby and others), will be followed by an in depth discussion of Kneale’s work and influence by some of the book’s authors, including screenwriter Stephen Volk (GHOST WATCH, AFTERLIFE, THE AWAKENING), author and critic Kim Newman (ANNO DRACULA, NIGHTMARE MOVIES), editor Neil Snowdon and others to be confirmed.

    Date/Time
    Date(s) - Thu. Dec. 10, 2015
    7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

    Location
    The Horse Hospital

    Instructor
    Jonathan Rigby, Kim Newman, Stephen Volk and more TBC

    Admission
    £10 advance / £11 on the door / £8 concs GET TICKETS

  • Sat
    19
    Dec
    2015

    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party - Xmas Edition!

    10:00 amMetro Cinema, Edmonton, AB
    cartoonpartyweb
     
    The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party!
    World - Wide, 150 min, Dir: Various
    Curator: Kier-La Janisse
     
    Saturday December 19, 2015
    Metro Cinema at the Garneau - Edmonton, AB

    Adults: $14, Students/Seniors: $12, Children 12 & Under: $10
    Admission includes cereal. Metro Passes: Only Silver Screen Passes Accepted.
    Tickets: http://www.metrocinema.org/film_view/5565/

    Join us for the Xmas Holiday edition of the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party! Curated by film programmer, writer and pop culture connoisseur Kier-la Janisse, this 2 1/2-hour trip down memory lane is a tribute to the eye-popping, brain-addling Saturday morning and Christmas season cartoons of yore, complete with a smorgasbord of delicious sugary cereals (and yes, we have non-dairy & gluten-free options too)! The lineup is always a secret, but you’ll see holiday episodes of Saturday morning faves as well as long-lost prime time specials and vintage animated short films – and an all-new lineup of retro commercials and PSAs in between!

  • Sat
    19
    Dec
    2015

    THE CHRISTMAS TRASH TV MARATHON

    3:00pm-9:00pmLOOP - Melbourne, Australia

    Christmas-TV-Trash-Marathon---POSTER

    Cinemaniacs and Spectacular Optical present:

    THE CHRISTMAS TRASH TV MARATHON
    Where you don’t pay to get in…you pay to get OUT!

    Saturday Dec. 19th 2015, 3pm-9pm
    at LOOP - 23 Meyers Place,  Melbourne. 3000
    www.looponline.com.au

    It's free to get in - but ESCAPE starts at $15 and goes down $1 for every hour you stay! Or stay for the whole 6 hours and it’s only $5! Arrive anytime during the show!

    Six brain-numbing, butt-numbing hours of TV Christmas trash at its finest! It’s a top-secret lineup of retro Christmas TV Specials, with vintage commercials, music videos, PSAs, mashups and other random holiday stupidity! Come hear Dorothy make a herpes joke in the GOLDEN GIRLS Christmas Special! Cover your ears as the Dallas Cowboys try to sing a Christmas song! Discover Seattle public access hero Vern Fonk! 

    Xmas Comedy! Xmas Weepies! Xmas Musicals! Xmas Horror! Xmas cartoons! Xmas Sci-fi! All this and more ONLY at the Christmas Trash TV Marathon, curated by visiting programmer Kier-La Janisse!

    !!!

    +++++

    THE RULES:
    - You can come in at any time through the marathon
    - Your time of entry will be written on your hand when you come in, and the hours you stay will be counted down from that.
    - This event is all-ages, although the venue might not be!
    - Bathroom breaks are allowed - but to go outside for any reason you must either pay up, or be handcuffed by one of our Cinemaniacs deputies who will accompany you!