Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “You see, Jason was my son, and today is his birthday…” – Mrs. Voorhees Sunday the 1st. I begin watching Friday 13th for the first time in decades. Twenty minutes in it occurs to me that this film might be best experienced in daily chunks. I’d never
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “Are we not both the living dead?” – Hjalmar Poelzig It’s not Karloff’s real hair, of course; it’s a wig he is wearing for his character, the murderous Satanist Hjalmar Poelzig. But, man, what a wig! It’s a widow’s peak, but not a
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “There's no need to be alone, you know. Poor little girl. All by herself. All shaking like a little frightened animal.” – Landlord When that doorbell rings, Carol curls up into a ball, retreating into her internal space. The doorbell is the sound of intrusion into
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “Oh, no. Capricorn's ruled by Saturn.” – Pam I always thought ‘chainsaw’ was one word, and that all the chainsaws came from Texas. I don’t think I ever witnessed one in the wilds of England till I watched a guy from the Forestry Commission cut
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “Just one more day...” - Reiko Asakawa If you watch the disturbing, unlabelled video tape, your phone will ring… and when you answer, an evil ghost woman will tell you that you are going to die. Within a week you’re dead—terrified to such a degree
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “I see why you like this video camera so much… It’s not quite reality. It’s like a totally filtered reality… it’s like you can pretend everything’s not quite the way it is.” – Josh If made today, The Blair Witch Project would end with
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “You see, everybody in this room is part of my dream. Everybody.” – Walter Craig Walter wakes up. Dr Van Straaten breaks his spectacles. July 1969: The Beatles are working on their final album. Paul McCartney is sat at a piano in Abbey Road Studio 2 picking out
A Personal History of Horror Films in 101 Quirky Objects
by Vince Stadon “I'd rather see you dead than meddling with Black Magic!” – Duc de Richleau It’s England in 1929. George V sits on the throne. Stern-jawed, stiff-upper-lip Englishmen are racing fast cars—and single-handedly flying light aircraft—around the leafy, sun-kissed countryside, speeding from one impressive
A Personal History of Horror Films in 101 Quirky Objects
by Vince Stadon I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson back-to-back with The Shining by Stephen King. I was fourteen. In both cases, I wondered how filmmakers had made Hill House and the Overlook Hotel as scary and unnerving and as alive as they are depicted so
A Personal History of Horror Films in 101 Quirky Objects
by Vince Stadon “Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous?” – Henry Frankenstein Henry Frankenstein is an asshole. He’s not the worst asshole in Frankenstein, a film populated by assholes, but he’s up there near the top. Before we look at this gallery of jerks, I’
A Personal History of Horror Films in 101 Quirky Objects
by Vince Stadon “Remember, I'll be watching for you on the big screen.” – Irene I don’t know what Mulholland Dr. is about. I’ve watched it dozens of times—always thrilled by it, always seduced by it, always perplexed by it. Sometimes I wonder if the next
Vince Stadon
by Vince Stadon “Suzy, do you know anything about... witches?” – Sara Simms I’ve always found it a bit odd that, given it’s a medium of moving images, cinema—particularly Western cinema—favours storytelling above all else. Weird films with little regard to narrative are the preserve of the