horror
Posted inEastern Iowa

‘At Halloween, I’m at the height of my powers’: An interview with writer Carmen Maria Machado, currently teaching ‘the art of haunting’ at UI

by Tai Caputo

Celebrated experimental writer Carmen Maria Machado is back in Iowa City this fall. The Allentown, Pennsylvania native earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2018, and is back as a visiting associate professor in the Workshop teaching a very October-friendly graduate course, “The Art of Haunting.” Machado has written three books, including the […]

Posted inArts & Entertainment

‘Come closer…’ 11 horror movies from 2001 to revisit this Halloween

by Emma McClatchey

2001. Wikipedia and BitTorrent launch. Apple introduces iTunes and the iPod. Rudy Giuliani is Time’s Person of the Year. Britney dons a python. The kids won’t shut up about Harry Potter, and your brother won’t shut up about Ocean’s 11. Movie tickets cost around $5.50. Hollywood’s horror producers are desperately trying to replicate the success […]

Posted inArts & Entertainment

Talking Movies: David Robert Mitchell’s ‘It Follows’

by Pat Brown

Writer/Director David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows hits many of the notes that are by now (beyond) familiar to horror aficionados — it is, in part, a good summary of the horror movie tropes of the last 25 years or so. The film includes a relentless stalker, the thematization of teenage sexuality, a handful of fake-out jump scares, unseen-but-material malevolent beings, scary children, heroes who make terrible decisions and a moment of shocking gore. But this rather typical assemblage of tropes and characters belies the film’s originality, which consists more in the effective and often unique way these elements are deployed.

Posted inArts & Entertainment

Talking Movies: O Mother, Where Art Thou?

by Scott Samuelson

Talking Movies: May 2010 – It’s always risky making generalizations involving gender. But what’s life without a little risk? Motherhood is the social role most likely to devour a person’s identity. It seems much easier for a father to take off the father hat. When a mother wakes up in the middle of the night, her first thought is usually, “Are the children safe?” In Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s new movie Mother, playing at the Bijou May 7-13, the main character is rarely named. She is all mother.

Posted inArts & Entertainment

Zombie-flections

by Melody Dworak

Seeing Zombieland last Friday was quite the treat. Jessie Eisenberg ‘s Michael Cera impression was spot on, so there were many moments to entertain my twenty-something female disposition. Regardless of that lovable effeminate geek-boy finding love theme that has been hot these past few years, zombies were still the star attraction of the film. They […]

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