Peg and I went to see Practical Magic 2 at the Spectrum on Thursday. She had a professional obligation (her review here!) but we both knew well the original film and have read some of the novels Alice Hoffman wrote about the Owens family, though not the most recent — though I’m pretty sure a…
Tag: films
Haunted, Repeatedly: Vernon Sewell
While best known to genre fans for Curse of The Crimson Altar, Vernon Sewell had a persistent interest in hauntings that led him to remake the same play as four different films. The play is L’Angoisse by Celia de Vilyars and Pierre Mills, and seems to have been a late Grand Guignol piece but I’ve…
Swashbuckling Adventure
When I get fed up with what I’m working on — or if I actually finish something and need a break — a good old vintage film is often what I look for. The Wicked Lady (1945) is cracking fun. I regret not getting to it sooner. I used to have an aversion to Margaret…
Matinee: A Damsel in Distress
Sometimes you need to cheer yourself up with a little hoofin’ and laughing and ingenue romance. As I did the other day thanks to iPlayer. A Damsel in Distress was just what the day needed: Fred Astaire, George and Gracie in London where a most youthful Joan Fontaine has fallen for an American and of…
Witches, Devils & Theatre of Cruelty
I was talking with Chloë about keeping track of reading, which I do badly, my memory palace not being what it used to be when life was more regularly paced. I bought this novel by Jane Parkhurst (Nancy Smith?) back when I was first diving into Isobel Gowdie a few years ago, but this one…
Review: The Substance (2024)
There isn’t a woman alive who has not pasted a shiny smiling face on her monster body at some point. Spoilers, sweetie… Peg and I had the benefit of an empty theatre to ourselves so we could comment to one another with impunity in the midst of things — like that absolutely brilliant Vertigo music…
Pomegranate @NYSWI Albany Film Fest
This Saturday the Albany Film Festival runs most of the day with a big variety of screenings, speakers, and events. My film ‘Pomegranate’ will be screened during the Experimental Shorts slot 12:15-13:00 in the Campus Center West Boardroom (see map at link). Pomegranate is based on my six-sentence story of the same name and deals…
Pomegranate at Albany Film Fest
Wow, my first fest film! My experimental short Pomegranate will be part of the NYS Writers Institute Albany Film Festival on April 1st (yes, really — despite that date). This is exciting for me. Maybe I shouldn’t have turned down that filmmaking scholarship all those years ago (long story) but as with all things that…
Stepping Out of History
The new exhibition at CREATE Gallery opens this weekend celebrating Women’s History Month and including a broad variety of women and women-identifying artists and work in every format and medium. I have two pieces in it! A digital photo ‘She Dances’ — an impressionistic portrait of the moon — and my short film ‘A Fire…
Crime Fiction Studies: Cornell Woolrich Issue
Crime Fiction Studies v4n1 Cornell Woolrich and Transmedia Noir Thanks Rob King for editing the collection which puts together a variety of topics, My essay: Transforming Black Alibi‘s Jaguar into The Leopard Man K. A. Laity 4(1), pp. 62–77 Abstract | Full Text | References | PDF/EPUB If your library doesn’t have access, let me know and I can get a copy of my…