A Halloween Horrorthon!

Click here to listen to the episode

In a podcast first, the conversations of the past return...from the dead! To celebrate the end of Shocktober alongside Halloween, Peter returns to five different conversations exploring the horror genre in some way. First, Michael Koresky talks about the fear-inducing but plainly stylized The Seventh Victim, which turns classical continuity into a source of horror.  Then, Kim Morgan explores trauma in the highly underrated rape drama Something Wild with Carroll Baker. Then it's back to Classical Hollywood with Farran Smith-Nehme's choice of Three Strangers, a supernatural film noir where a promise from a Chinese goddess only leads to doom for Geraldine Fitzgerald, Sydney Greetstreet, and poor Peter Lorre. Then the line between horror, comedy, documentary, and general "WTF" is truly bent with Matt Singer's choice of The Buried Secret of M. Night Shaymalan, which (inadvertently?) explores the limits and literalism of auteurism. Finally, we go to the purest horror film of all time with Angela Catalano's choice of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a film that knows no boundaries when it comes to showing unadulterated malice. It's time to revisit our most frightening conversations!

0:00-3:52 Opening

5:16-19:03 The Seventh Victim with Michael Koresky

20:45-34:50 Something Wild with Kim Morgan

36:48-55:08 Three Strangers with Farran Smith-Nehme

56:11-59:13 Sponsorship Section
1:00:59-1:20:45 The Buried Secret of M. Night Shaymalan with Matt Singer
1:21:52-1:38:48 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with Angela Catalano
1:38:53-1:40:48 Close 

Episode #40 - Michael Koresky (The Seventh Victim)

Click here to listen to the episode

"We decided there should a publication for a younger generation of film writers."

It would probably take days to count the number of film publications that launched in the early years of the current millennium, but Reverse Shot, which Michael Koresky co-founded, has been a cornerstone of intelligent and dynamic film writing for over a decade now. Peter sits down with Michael to chart out the publication's origins, the voice the site created, Michael's own work with the Criterion Collection, and his upcoming book on British director Terrence Davies. Finally, the two examine the nothing-else-like-it horror film, The Seventh Victim, a Val Lewton produced existential drama that manages to bring chills down both their spines with one little phrase: "death is good."

0:00-1:36 Opening 

2:24-8:40 Establishing Shots - BAMCinemafest (Ellie Lumme and Something, Anything)

9:25-54:02 Deep Focus - Michael Koresky

56:48-1:11:49 Double Exposure - The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson)

1:11:53-1:13:32 Close

Read Michael Koresky at Reverse Shot and at The Criterion Collection. Pre-Order his book on Terence Davies.

Episode #33 - Kent Jones (Spawn of the North)

Click here to listen to the episode

"There's a general problem with film culture of actually confronting a movie head-on."

Kent Jones is truly one of the most essential voices for Peter. His writings are reflective, intelligent, and complex in a way few writers come close to, and his other work—A Letter To Elia, the World Cinema Project, and the New York Film Festival—are key to Peter's continuing exposure to cinema. So Kent sits down with Peter to discuss his first exposure to cinema, his mentorship under Manny Farber and Martin Scorsese, his complicated process of writing, working on making films and using images, and the auteurs that continue to inspire him. The two then end with a conversation on the rarely seen Spawn of the North, a Henry Hathaway film with Henry Fonda that finds something very physical  in its Alaskan set border town.

0:00-1:20 Opening 

2:47-8:47 Establishing Shots - John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln / Donations

9:32-1:16:20 Deep Focus - Kent Jones

1:17:28-1:36:48 Double Exposure - Spawn of the North (Henry Hathaway)

1:36:52-1:38:31 Close

Kent Jones's books include Physical Evidence: Selected Film Writings, L'Argent, and Olivier Assayas. His films include Val Lewton: The Man in Shadows and A Letter To Elia. You can often read him in Film Comment.