Writer. Film Scholar. Journalist. Editor.
ORCHESTRATOR OF STORMS : THE FANTASTIQUE WORLD OF JEAN ROLLIN will have its European premiere at ArrowFrightFest on Friday 26 August 2022 at 3:50pm. There will be a Q&A after the film with the formidable Brigitte Lahaie and me. Directed by Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin, produced by Kier-and Jonathan Zaurin. Book tickets: http://frightfest.nuwebgroup.com/events/21472
I had the great pleasure to contribute to the unprecedented documentary on Jean Rollin directed by Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin, which will premiere at the Fantasia Festival on Saturday 16th July. Here's the Fantasia Festival's description of the film by Mitch Davis: Has there been a genre artist more fundamentally misunderstood and inappropriately discussed... Continue Reading →
I reviewed Mark Jenkin's follow-up to Bait for Sight&Sound. An oblique take on 1970s folk horror, Enys Men creates a genuinely haunting experience rooted in the Cornish landscape.A middle-aged woman (Mary Woodvine) lives alone on an island dominated by an ancient stone. Every day, she goes through the same mysterious ritual, checking unusual flowers on... Continue Reading →
I will be speaking at the Suspirias symposium on Saturday 11th June at Queen Mary University. Tickets are free, registration essential. This symposium considers Dario Argento’s 1977 giallo horror Suspiria alongside Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 film of the same name. The 2018 film has been positioned in a cycle of ‘serious’ horror films, an arthouse spin... Continue Reading →
As part of Monstrum Society's autumn 2021 'Gothic Excursions, Disrupted Histories' series, I will be delivering an online lecture on how Jean Rollin's virgins and vampires, under the influence of Georges Bataille, revitalised the subversive potential of the Gothic heroine in the 1970s. Lecture available from Monday 18th October on the Monstrum Society website. Other... Continue Reading →
I have written about Jean Rollin's virgins and vampires for The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies (Issue 18, Autumn 2020), looking at the way in which they develop the subversive aspects of the persecuted maidens and fatal women of 18th- and 19th-century Anglo-Irish Gothic novels into the 1960s-70s. Pic credit: Le viol du... Continue Reading →
I have written about the enduring influence of 1970s cinema on horror film of the past decade for the November 2020 issue of Sight & Sound. Pic credit: Color Out of Space (2020)
I contributed an essay on Fando y Lis and surrealism to the new monumental Alejandro Jodorowsky box set from Arrow. Jodorowsky's first feature Fando y Lis (1968), an infernal adaptation of Fernando Arrabal's Panic play, psychedelic Western El Topo (1970) and delirious spiritual initiation The Holy Mountain (1973) are presented in new 4K restorations, and... Continue Reading →
Due to popular demand, I will be running my 4-week course on Surrealism in cinema again in November at Close-Up. I have been running this course once or twice a year in London since 2017. Surrealism is one of the art movements that has had the strongest influence on cinema and its impact has lasted to... Continue Reading →
Pavel Juráček was a key figure of the 1960s Czech New Wave whose work has been steadily re-evaluated in recent years. Although he directed only two features, he co-scripted some major films of the period, notably Karel Zeman’s A Jester’s Tale (1964) and Jindřich Polák’s Ikarie XB 1 (1963), and supported the work of Vera... Continue Reading →
Virginie Sélavy 