Dominick Moll's adaptation of M.G. Lewis's classic Gothic romance, The Monk, starring Vincent Cassel in the title role, is due for release in the UK on 27 April, 2012.  Catch a glimpse of the trailer for the film below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANiDOVDmbp8&feature=player_embedded

Artemis Productions, in collaboration with the Strawberry Hill Trust, are currently running a production of a Gothic drama by Dianne Cutlack entitled Sign of the Strawberry, performed within the various rooms of Horace Walpole's historic Gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham, London.   Enticingly, the performance culminates in a ghostly ball within the grand interior of the Gallery at Strawberry Hill.   The script is based not only upon Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, but also upon the insights into Walpole himself gleaned from his voluminous correspondence.  For further details,

The Gothic reading group will meet  on Wednesday  28th March, from 4:30-6:00 pm, in Pathfoot, B2, to discuss Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus.   All are welcome.   Please join us for an informal chat about the book over a glass of wine.

Ann Radcliffe's apparent disappearance from the literary scene after the publication of The Italian in 1797 is something that has long fascinated Gothic scholars.  Jacqueline Howard, author of Reading Gothic Fiction: A Bakhtinian Approach, has recently published an article in the online journal Romantic Textualities, in which she raises the intriguing suggestion that Radcliffe, far from ceasing to write, penned at least two anonymously published romances in the early nineteenth century.  The article is entitled  ‘Merely an Imitator? The Preponderance of ‘Radcliffe’ in Lusignan or th

In a 2006 issue of The Velvet Light Trap, scholar Matt Becker pointed out that horror filmmakers like George A. Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, and Sean S. Cunningham were directors making films that Becker identified as "hippie horror." As with most scholarship, Becker is thorough in his research and provides intriguing details about the various directors' personal lives. (For example, who knew Craven smoked pot with his students and dropped his career as a college professor to live in a communal setting in New York City?) Becker's main argument, however, is that these

What do you think of the recently released trailer for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows?

A new book from Gothic Press is an anthology of essays on twentieth century British ghost story writer Robert Aickman, titled Insufficient Answers: Essays on Robert Aickman. Also from Gothic Press is the latest issue, May 2012, of the free online journal Le Fanu Studies. The websites are www.gwcgothicpress.com and www.lefanustudies.com.

http://runforyourlives.com/ We've all got a zombie survival plan, and if you feel fit enough you can test yours out at a Run For Your Life zombie assault course. Jumping on the bandwagon of the recent vogue in recreational assault courses (tough mudder etc), RunForYourLife introduces the ravening undead into the mix. Sadly these events are only happening in the US right now but finger crossed the 'virus' may also go global. This is an interesting addition to the ever-expanding zombie culture. The mob-scene that is an essential aspect of the zombie figure makes it particularly approp

I had not realized the sort of existing prejudices against horror as a genre until I began to consider what precisely it was that I wanted to study in literature and film as a graduate student. Obviously, I was well aware of horror's reputation in the mainstream, but I had little idea of how far that reputation carried over into academia. I was astonished when one professor refused to even watch a horror film that was the topic of a discussion panel he was serving on. His grievance was that he had been informed that the film's subgenre was morally vapid and ethically disturbing, so he boyco

Horror fans can now download the 'ScreamBoard' application for iphones that enables users to watch a selection of classic horror films on their phones at a minimal charge.  Further details may be found here.