Nocebo (Philippines / Ireland, 2022) is a blend of Gothic manor house horror, Southeast Asian witchcraft movies, and horror set in the world of fashion. Instead of focusing on connivances and cruelties within the world of haute couture fashion houses, like, say, Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace […]
Absolute Beginners first crossed my radar last week when a friend showed me a clip of David Bowie dancing on a typewriter. “Big deal,” scoffed I, a connoisseur of Indian cinema. “Merchant and Ivory did that with Hindi superstars ages ago.”* Discovering that David Bowie could tap dance […]
This month at The Cultural Gutter is Switcheroo Month. Traditionally the editors write something outside of their usual domains. This time, though, we are faced with a domainless Gutter. And so this Switcheroo Month, we write about reputable art. ~~~ “I shall ere long paint to you as […]
Nisi Shawl and Gerry Caravan discuss the work of Octavia Butler at the Library of America blog. “[M]uch of science fiction’s increasing inclusivity is due to Octavia’s presence. By modeling the creation of imaginary worlds in which she and those like her—and those unlike her yet also unlike […]
This month’s Guest Star Aditi Sen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Queen’s University, Canada. When she isn’t working or watching horror films, she likes to collect Bollywood cakes. ~~~ In 1830, Colonel William Sleeman reported that a fakir and his young son were […]
The Gutter’s own Keith shares from bonus content from his book Cocktails & Capers. It’s all about the Pastry War, Lucha Libre and Cinco de Mayo. “Alas, to keep the book to a reasonable length and not completely lose readers, I ended up cutting the pages about this […]