For me, this year at FANTASIA is really about one thing: meeting Ken Russell and seeing THE DEVILS on the big screen. Do you know THE DEVILS? Are you familiar with it? I’d normally say if you’re not, that you must be semi-soft in the skull, but really, I do not blame you. Because THE DEVILS is a tough one to dig up these days.
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I am a huge admirer of European—specifically Italian—horror films. I love them for their decadence, for their wide-eyed, saturated melodrama, exaggerated violence and glorious music and sound design. And when I say “huge admirer,” what I’m really trying to articulate in a more respectable and somber manner is that I f**king worship Eurohorror so much that a great deal of my outlook on life is creatively informed by them. Pay attention to current and upcoming features in FANGORIA, and you’ll see me always carving out space for some of the greatest works and filmmakers behind them. Self-indulgent? You bet, but I know I’m not alone in my passions…
It has been a long time since I’ve been an active presence at a horror convention. When I worked for that “other magazine,” I immersed myself in all manner of geek-out goings-on, from moderating Q&As with legends like Dario Argento, Elvira and Jeffrey Combs to performing a duet of “The South’s Gonna Rise Again” with H.G. Lewis. It was a blast being able to do these James Lipton-esque riffs with my horror heroes in front of a captive audience. I loved it. And you know what? I’ve missed it…
U.S. filmgoers know all about the MPAA, and if you’re a scholar of American horror, you understand the long, tortured history of the battles between the ratings board and that most explicit and provocative of genres. But here in Canada, our film ratings system is radically different, and varies from province to province.
