Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies Expands to the UK with London Branch Opening in January
Scott Hallam
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If you’re reading this site, you’re probably like most of us and consider yourself a student of horror. And indeed we all are. If you’d like to make it official, the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies can make that happen. And the faculty is to die for.
The Miskatonic is expanding to the UK starting January 8, 2015. It is, of course, named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos and is a non-profit, community-based organization that started in Montreal, Canada. Founded by Kier-La Janisse in March of 2010, Miskatonic Montreal now operates under the leadership of co-directors Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare and Kristopher Woofter. Miskatonic London will operate under the co-direction of Kier-La Janisse and Virginie Sélavy.
Check out some additional information below, and be sure to visit the official Miskatonic London website and “like” Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – London on Facebook.
From the Press Release
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is pleased to announce the opening of its London branch on January 8, 2015, which will be based at the heart of the city’s underground culture, the Horse Hospital.
In its pilot semester, running from January to June 2015, the Miskatonic Institute will offer monthly lectures exploring the more obscure corners of horror and fantastical cinema, which will be taught by established writers, directors, scholars and programmers. It aims to be a nurturing environment for horror fans and scholars that will inspire intellectual curiosity and critical debate in a friendly atmosphere, as well as build a community around shared enthusiasm for the genre.
Among the topics to be discussed are Jesus Franco, landscapes in horror, classroom safety films and sado-masochism. Instructors include prominent horror expert Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies and Cat People; horror and exploitation writer Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA and Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco; Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women and founder of Spectacular Optical Publications; Mark Pilkington, author of Mirage Men and director of Strange Attractor Press; Jasper Sharp, author of Behind the Pink Curtain and director of the documentary The Creeping Garden; Virginie Sélavy, founder of Electric Sheep and editor of The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology.
These classes will introduce participants to less well-known aspects of the horror and fantastical realm and equip them with a more sophisticated critical apparatus as well as provide historical perspective. It will explore how this vital area of cinema delves into the sources of our fears and desires, and dramatizes the most unsettling aspects of our relationship to the natural and social world, as well as to others. It will also examine how the genre has created some of the most wildly inventive sonic and visual forms in cinema.
Class Information
Monthly classes running January to June 2015
Second Thursday of the month, 8 January, 12 February, 12 March, 9 April, 14 May, 11 June
Time: 7-10pm (film and lecture)
Venue: Horse Hospital
Address: Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1JD
Prices: £10 advance / £11 on the door / £8 concs / £55 full season registration
Categorized:News
