The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – NYC Re-launching in September with Paperbacks from Hell

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The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is a non-profit, community-based curriculum through which established horror writers, directors, scholars, and programmers/curators celebrate horror history and culture with a unique blend of enthusiasm and critical perspective. It was founded by film writer/programmer Kier-La Janisse (author of House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films) in Canada in March of 2010 and now has branches in Montreal, London, and New York.

After a successful pilot season in the fall of 2016 at the now-defunct Morbid Anatomy Museum, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – NYC will re-launch in fall 2017 at its new home, The Film Noir Cinema, in the heart of Greenpoint (a short walk from the Nassau Ave. stop on the G). Miskatonic NYC operates under the co-direction of Kier-La Janisse and film journalist/festival coordinator Joe Yanick.

The acclaimed lecture series will kick off September 19th with Grady Hendrix, the author of Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, presenting a live performance and launch for his new book about the lurid world of 70s horror pulps, PAPERBACKS FROM HELL. (Coincidentally, we recently attended Hendrix’s one-man show at the Fantasia International Film Fest last month, highlighting some of the craziest examples of horror novel shlock; check out Drew’s report if you missed it.)

Here’s a bit more about the course:

Event Details:
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies: PAPERBACKS FROM HELL
Tuesday, September 19, 2017 – 7:00 pm-9:30 pm
Film Noir Cinema – 122 Meserole Ave., Brooklyn, NY
Admission $12 advance / $15 door
www.miskatonic-nyc.com

In the early 1970s, three books changed horror forever: Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Other. The first horror novels to hit bestseller lists since 1940, they opened the floodgates for an avalanche of horror paperbacks to flood supermarket and drugstore shelves throughout the ’70s and ’80s, before Silence of the Lambs slit the genre’s throat in the early ’90s.

Fresh off last year’s one-man show, Summerland Lost, Grady Hendrix delivers a mind-melting oral history of this wild and woolly world of Nazi leprechauns, skeleton doctors, killer crabs, killer jellyfish, and killer fetuses, featuring hair-raising readings, a William W. Johnstone quote-off, and more tales of terrifying tots, tricycles, clowns, puppets, and heavy metal bands than should be strictly legal. Prepare yourself for a tour of this long-lost universe of terror that lurked behind the lurid, foil-embossed, die-cut covers of… the Paperbacks from Hell!

PLUS! Following Grady’s illustrated presentation will be a live roundtable discussion and Q&A with several artists who painted the book covers under discussion, including:

  • Jill Bauman – if you’ve seen a doll on a horror paperback cover, it was probably painted by Jill Bauman. A longtime fan favorite, she has illustrated covers for everyone from Harlan Ellison to Ramsey Campbell to Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Peter Straub.
  • Lisa Falkenstern – award-winning artist Lisa Falkenstern has painted some of the most memorable horror covers in the business, and she was the regular VC Andrews cover artist for 15 years.
  • Thomas Hallman – still painting book covers today, Tom Hallman’s distinctive style has graced everything from forgotten creature horror novels like Gila! to popular paperbacks like Stephen King’s The Green Mile.

There will be books available for sale at the event.

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