SF/F Editor Keith Allison is engaged in a top secret mission abroad, so this month we’ll be sharing his meditation on folk horror and Penda’s Fen. ~~~ Mentally unpacking Penda’s Fen, a 1974 entry in the BBC’s “Plays for Today” series of television movies tackling controversial subjects often […]
The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a beacon in a grittily realistic, grimdark pop culture landscape, one guiding lost souls to fun, charm and adventure. And I’m glad to see The Thrilling Adventure Hour adapted from podcast radio play into graphic novel because I like what it portends for […]
This Japanese Life provides some historical context for Kinji Fukasaku’s film, Battle Royale–including an incident from Fukasaku‘s own life as a student drafted into a munitions factory, writer Yukio Mishima and the Hagakure: “Since the film deliberately omits much of the novel’s WW2-inspired alternative reality, I look at Kitano […]
“The only reason that we cannot make genre movies is the barrier that censorship sets.” Jia Zhangke says more here. Meanwhile a leaked diplomatic document gives some insight as to whose taste is being served in recent Chinese historical epics. Xi Jinping admires American World War II dramas: “Some […]
Wildgrounds breaks down their most anticipated films of 2011.