Writer. Editor. Film Scholar. Script Consultant
I had the pleasure of doing a commentary with the brilliant Lindsay Hallam for the Radiance Films 4K restoration of Harry Kumel's exquisite Daughters of Darkness (1971), out now. More information on the Blu-ray on the Radiance Films website.
In this episode of the Straight On Till Morning Show, I host a programme on the FrightFest festival, which took place from 21st to the 25th August 2025 in London. I talk to Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies and co-writer of Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema, and film critic Dr Anton Bitel, who guide... Continue Reading →
Honoured to have contributed a video essay, 'Material vampires and the defeat of science', to the limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray of Trouble Every Day, released by Eureka Entertainment. The essay was masterfully edited by Jonathan Zaurin, my thanks to him for doing such a wonderful job. More details on the Eureka website.
I contributed a video appreciation of Jean Rollin's The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) to Indicator/Powerhouse's beautiful 4K release. Available from the Powerhouse website.
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 →
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 contributed an essay on the castle in Jean Rollin, exploring the Gothic and surrealist origins of one of the director's preferred settings, the real locations used, and their subversive significance to LOST GIRLS: THE PHANTASMAGORICAL CINEMA OF JEAN ROLLIN, edited by Samm Deighan and written by all women critics, scholars and film historians, published... Continue Reading →
Amid the political upheaval of late 1960s France, Jean Rollin offered anachronistic visions of ruined castles and decaying cemeteries, steeped in the Gothic novel of the 18th and 19th century via his love for surrealism. But despite their seemingly archaic Gothic settings, Rollin’s films transgress genre expectations, and in particular, the conventional opposition between female... Continue Reading →
Virginie Sélavy 