Mary Shelley's iconic creation turns 200 in 2018, and to celebrate two centuries of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, author Christopher Frayling has written a new book (coming out this Halloween from Reel Art Press) exploring the rich history of Shelley's now legendary novel and the influences it has had on pop culture—on the screen, stage, and page. In today's Horror Highlights, we also have a look at Nerdist's short film The Mystic Museum, and details on the HelLA Horror Night charity event at the Los Angeles Theatre, Blackshaw's Scare Slam at the London Horror Festival, the Filipino folklore animated series Umbra, and the video game Guts.
Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years Book: Press Release: "It all began with a ghost-story contest, a parlour-game, a serious young woman of eighteen years old who had run away with her boyfriend, and some very stimulating company—and a thunderstorm which kept them indoors . . .
On New Year’s Day 1818, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was first published in an anonymous three- volume edition of 500 copies. Some thought the book was too radical in implication. A few found the central theme intriguing . . . no-one predicted its success.
Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years celebrates the two hundredth birthday of Shelley’s Frankenstein and traces, in colourful and engaging ways, its journey from limited edition literature to the bloodstream of contemporary culture.
This fascinating book by Christopher Frayling is the most comprehensive exploration of Frankenstein to date. It includes new, in-depth research on the novel’s origins and a facsimile reprint of the earliest-known manuscript version of the creation scene. Frankenstein’s legacy is to be seen all over the world—on small and large screens, in print and online, on stage and on hoardings, in graphic novels, comics and even on cereal packets. This volume includes a series of visual essays on many of the film versions and also visual material for stage adaptations, magazines, playbills, book publications and even political cartoons.
Arguably the first ever science-fiction story, Frankenstein, as Frayling observes, “was a new kind of literary fiction, one which fused serious philosophical musings with an exciting story.” The novel was borne of Mary Shelley’s interest in vitalism, galvanism, occultism and other scientific debates captivating London’s scientific community at that time. The doctor was likely named for the castle where alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel allegedly experimented with reanimation using stolen corpses. Godwin’s mother, renowned feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, had also been resuscitated against her will after a suicide attempt.
It was a dreary night in November that I beheld my man completed; [and] with an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected instruments of life around me, [and endeavoured] that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.
When it was first released, Shelley’s novel received largely favourable but mixed reviews—one contemporary described it as “perhaps, the foulest Toadstool that has yet sprung up from the reeking dunghill of the present time.” It was not until it was adapted for the stage that it began to capture the popular imagination, inspiring several stage plays, a popular reprint of the novel and eventually screen adaptations. Victor and his creature are up there with Sherlock Holmes and Dracula as the most-filmed literary characters: over ninety direct adaptations, between 1931 and 2016’s Victor Frankenstein, and literally hundreds of others involving mad scientists, creations and nasty consequences.
I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing . . . but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes . . . Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room . . .
James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) was a huge box-office hit, and it opened the floodgates. The ‘F’ word, the Franken-label, was from now on well and truly established as a badge to be attached by the press to any questionable scientific discovery. The ‘F’ word had become a brand, a name on the tin. From a Regency nightmare, Frankenstein has even become a cuddly childhood companion—thoroughly munstered, so to speak. The real creation myth of modern times—the era of genetic engineering, three- parent babies, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics and singularity, human/animal interfaces and secularism—is no longer Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The real creation myth is Frankenstein.
Christopher Frayling is a recognised authority on Gothic fiction and horror movies. His study of Vampyres (1978, 1990, 2016), and his classic four-part television series Nightmare: The Birth of Horror (1996) have helped to move Gothic horror from margin to mainstream. His interest was sparked by watching Hammer Films in the late 1950s, when he was far too young . . . a misspent youth. Christopher is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. He was Rector of London’s Royal College of Art from 1996 to 2009, the world’s only entirely postgraduate university of art and design, and was also Chairman of the Arts Council of England. He was Professor of Cultural History at the RCA for over 30 years and is now Professor Emeritus. Christopher was knighted in the year 2000 for ‘services to art and design education’.
Reel Art Press R|A|P stands for exceptional style and a unique curatorial eye. It stands for luxury and class, the highest production values, and a sensitivity to an eclectic selection of subject matter and material. It stands for rare, unpublished and unusual work including subjects with mass appeal and limited editions with unlimited potential. The company has made headlines around the world with its previous releases, which include: The 2001 File, Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs, Brigid Berlin Polaroids, Unseen McQueen and Billy Name: The Silver Age.
---------
Watch the Nerdist Short Film The Mystic Museum: "From the team that brought you “That Spidey Life” and “Belle and Bougee,” Nerdist Presents now enters The Mystic Museum - a supernatural comedy short where an ordinary paralegal comes face to face with the paranormal. Starring The Magicians' Olivia Taylor Dudley, Kristian Bruun from Orphan Black, and Kelsey Gunn as the proprietor of the titular metaphysical emporium, The Mystic Museum brings together a haunted, skeptical paralegal and the owner of a local curiosities shop to communicate with the dead."
---------
HelLA Horror Night Charity Event: Taking place Tuesday, October 31st at the Los Angeles Theatre, the first annual HelLA Horror Night Charity Event will feature special guests and screenings of John Carpenter's Halloween, Rob Zombie's Halloween, and 2009's Halloween II. To learn more visit the charity event's official website.
"This event is an official Halloween Franchise collaboration for charity - The Rock Against MS Foundation (Multiple Sclerosis), sCare Foundation - started by Malek Akkad (Childrens Hospital) and Fur & Feather Animal Sanctuary (Negelcted/homeless animals)."
---------
Blackshaw's Scare Slam at the London Horror Festival 2017: Press Release: "A night of chilling storytelling
Produced by Blackshaw Theatre Company
Lovers of scary stories, unite. Adding the fear factor to increasingly popular spoken word nights, storytellers from across the Horrorfest and beyond will share their worst (or should that be best?) nightmares at Blackshaw’s third annual Scare Slam.
Chris Lincé - The Scratch
A woman suffering from workplace bullying, discovers a mysterious scratch on her arm.
Reece Connolly - The Fatberg of Whitechapel
Comedy-horror spoken word told from the perspective of the 130 tonne, 250 m long ‘fatberg’ discovered in a sewer in East London.
Stack 10 Theatre/Ed Hartland - Murder of Crows
A crow is kicked to death. Crows remember faces, crows hold grudges, and one night a murder of them come for a reckoning.
Dan Weatherer - The Watching Eye
When Tom and Angela buy Wayside Cottage, they're hoping for an escape from the rat-race, a slower pace of life in the countryside. They might get more than they bargained for...
Joseph Willis - The Watcher
When a man discovers a pale figure stood watching his house and a mysterious doll in his child’s possession, his sanity and family’s safety will come into question; as he tries to work out what it wants, and more terrifyingly, what it’s going to do next.
Liam Steward-George - Big Eyes
Modern look at Little Red Riding Hood set in the context of a club and taxi
Date: Monday 23rd October 2017
Time: 7pm (1hr)
Venue: Old Red Lion, 418 St John Street, London, EC1V 4NJ
Tickets: £10/8 – 0844 4124307 – www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk"
---------
New Animated Horror Series Umbra: Press Release: "(LOS ANGELES – October 11, 2017) Myx TV, the Asian American entertainment network, is kicking off October by airing “Umbra,” a first-of-its-kind animated horror series chronicling Filipino folklore. The 13-episode series premiered Wednesday, October 11, and new back-to-back episodes of “Umbra” will air every Wednesday at 8/7c on Myx TV. Patterned after programs like “Twilight Zone” and “Monsters,” this hair-raising animated show features different creatures from Filipino mythology and explores the horrific side of the country's supernatural lore and modern urban legends, or “sabi-sabi.”
“’Umbra’ is different from the usual Halloween frights, spotlighting spooky Filipino folklore that has been carried on for generations,” said Miguel Santos, general manager of Myx TV. "The Philippines and Asia are rich with stories like these that deserve to be shared with American audiences.”
The eerie series retells age-old myths of encounters with the supernatural, like the story of the White Lady from Mindoro known as “Lugay,” who is said to creep around cemeteries, leaving with her victims’; the “Mangangatok” who comes knocking on the door to bring bad luck, or worse, death; shape-shifting and flesh-hungry monsters; “Tiyanak,” a vampiric creature in that imitates the form of a child, murderous mermaids, and more.
“Umbra” is executive produced by Anna Rodriguez dela Cruz, illustrated by Take One Animation Center and animated by Digibox Audiovisual Productions. Episodes will be available on www.myxtv.com beginning Thursday, October 19.
Episode 101-108 airing schedule:
October 11 at 8/7c
October 18 at 8/7c
October 25 at 8/7c
November 1 at 8/7c
ABOUT Myx TV: Launched in 2007, Myx TV is the only English-language multicultural Asian American entertainment network in the United States, broadcast in more than 15 million households on cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Bright House and DIRECTV. The network is also available on digital platforms, offering on-demand content online and on OTT platforms such as Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Blu-ray and Sony Bravia. Myx TV's award-winning programming includes reality shows, music videos, movies, and digital programming. To find Myx TV in your area and for exclusive content online, visit http://myxtv.com/."
---------
Guts Demo Now Available to Download: "GUTS is a radical fighting game that introduces original fighting game mechanics, and eliminates health bars and timers. Instead, players must dismember their opponents by using deadly GUTS Moves to chop off their opponent's arms and legs. Even while missing a limb or two, the brawl continues until one fighter emerges victorious. You must also be wary of the fatal environments that can sever limbs or hasten mortality. Players can face both enemies and hazards in either online and local multiplayer, as well as in a single-player story mode.
DOWNLOAD GUTS DEMO NOW: http://store.steampowered.com/app/682...
GUTS demo is out! Download it now for free on Steam, Gamejolt or Itch.io!
GUTS demo features 3 characters, 2 scenarios and some exclusive content.
The game launches on PC on Halloween!"
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
