protean depravity

Welcome to part two of Cult Classics! It seems like cults are everywhere right now; in the independent news, in conspiracy theories, in media we consume, in movies we watch... Whether an organized group of powerful extremists controlling our lives really exists, or it is the mere paranoid fear thereof mirroring into horror fiction, it is worth to take a look at this phenomenon and the way it is represented in recent horror movies. In this installment we'll study the cults in Son (2021), Midsommar (2019), Hereditary (2018), Mandy (2017) and The Ritual (2017). The titles are linked to their respective imdb pages for full film information and stills. I do presuppose that you watched the movies discussed here, so I will only give the shortest plot summary. It would make sense to watch the movies before reading my cult descriptions, as I SPOIL EVERYTHING.

Let us, for a brief moment, shift our focus to one of Berlin's most interesting film curators in the field of independent cinema: Eli Lewy. When she's not planning one of the many Final Girls Berlin events, she has her own thing going and is orchestrating numerous projects, all in Berlin. Here are two of her projects, two film series that might interest you guys, one ongoing and the other starting in December.

Hey everyone! Hope you survived October and Halloween just fine, and as we enter the dark and grisly part of the year, drinking tea and reading books sounds all the more appealing. And reading mysteries while the weather is raging outside is a comfy classic, so here are some recommendations for those days I hope you enjoy!

Probably everyone has some kind of story revolving around the first author they enjoyed reading, and for many people in my broader generation that author is Stephen King, since fear as he writes it moves children and younger people on a deeper level. I first read The Stand  in middle school and back then it was already all the hype to read Stephen King, it was even more impressive to read this particular book because it was so thick and the cover was so crazy. Still, then and now, it has never been my favorite King book. The reasons for that are many, but mainly because I see it more like a dark Fantasy book and it has many religious implications I personally don't very much enjoy. I can still acknowledge the importance of a book without necessarily loving it, though, and that's what I'll do in this case. So, ever since I heard about The End of the World As We Know It , this mammoth project of 35 short stories set in the The Stand universe by 35 contemporary horror authors ...

Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying the nice autumn weather and prepare for Halloween and the darkness that follows by reading great books! Here are some you might like, enjoy!

Cults! It seems like they are everywhere right now; in the independent news, in conspiracy theories, in media we consume, in movies we watch... Whether an organized group of powerful extremists controlling our lives really exists, or it is the mere paranoid fear thereof mirroring into horror fiction, it is worth to take a look at this fear and the way it is reflected in recent horror movies.  A cult is a group of people who have an unusual, even abnormal or extreme, socially deviant religious or spiritual, in any case a numinous belief, combining a set of particular elements such as  devotion to a particular person or object,  rituals and practices, a secret or forbidden  knowledge that they either covertly use to gain advantages in life, or are chasing the opportunity to put into use to reach their goal. And as is well known, knowledge is ultimately power . In  Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems,  Alexandra S...

Are you still hanging on to the dated (and frankly, creepy) Oktoberfest, the fest of the drunks doing drunk things? Well, there's so much better fests and events in Berlin, and you needn't be drunk to endure them - in October alone we have not one but two indie genre film fests going, plus Halloween screenings, plus an author's evening with Samanta Schweblin who will present her new book (And it's possible another author will be presenting her new book at the Otherland, but I'll announce that when it is certain!). Let's take a look at what's coming up!

For the first chapter of the second book in the series A Short Story Lover's Guide to Stephen King , I thought I'd do something quirky and combine it with my dormant column Based on Books since Skeleton Crew  opens with The Mist , a short story (or rather novella) as masterly written  by Stephen King  as legendarily adapted to film by director/writer/producer Frank Darabont. Straight up from the start, some useful multimedia links; a good audiobook narration , a ZBS radio drama , and  some fun fan art . There is a TV series somewhere too, but I'm personally not crazy about series/serializations, so you need to find where to stream it yourself. I WILL SPOIL EVERYTHING SO READ THE BOOK, WATCH THE MOVIE BEFORE READING AND DON'T BLAME ME!