Programme

As well as the film and television work, Stephen has written numerous novels, novellas and short stories including contributing to last year’s excellent Studio Of Screams which was a portmanteau novel in the vein of the Amicus films of the 1960s and 1970s. His latest book “Under A Raven’s Wing” explores the early life of Sherlock Holmes and his meeting with C. Auguste Dupin (Edgar Allan Poe’s legendary detective).

Join us for a Q&A with Stephen followed by a 35th Anniversary screening of Gothic.

Gothic (18)
UK 1986 87 mins
Dir: Ken Russell

In 1816 the poets Byron and Shelley, Byron’s doctor Polidori and Shelley’s mistress Mary Godwin (later to become his wife) gathered in a villa on Lake Geneva and dared each other to write ghost stories. The results were Polidori’s ‘The Vampire’ and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. In Ken Russell’s recreation of that fateful night, the young Romantics hold a demonic seance and descend into a sex and opium-fuelled nightmare world.

He is the co-writer/director of The Hallowe’en Sessions and The Ghost Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore – two anthology horror plays devised alongside Kim Newman. Featuring writers like Anne Billson, Paul McAuley and fellow Paracinema guest Stephen Volk.

Shorts Line-Up

Bag Your Face – Dir: Keith Eyrich

Takes the format of an after school special and supercharges it with rocket fuel made from 90s VHS/Video Games/Nickelodeon trash imagery. Pure Nuclear Nostalgia!

Cold Blooded – Dir: Kidd Tommy

This is the titillating tale of a scorned amateur herpetologist who enacts a twisted revenge on her deadbeat guitarist ex. Despite worst intentions, the plan backfires and instead leads to the rise of Rex Komodo, a reptilian rock god with big hair and an even bigger appetite for blood.

3 Keys – Dir: Josh Funk

In the office of psychiatrist (Robert Donnelly), a patient (Brigette Funk) explains her reoccurring nightmares that always begin with a mysterious door and three different skeleton keys. Accompanied by stop-motion puppets, marionettes, and miniatures, each nightmare is packed with practical effects.

The Dark Odyssey – Dir: Michael Lavine

A brave captain and his faithful mate transport a captive warrior, who holds ‘The Inventory Of The Mind’, across the interstellar line. When their ship is forced to navigate an asteroid field, their mission is jeopardised.

Vampire Foxes… from Space! – Dir: Kyle Murphy

Vampire foxes from space come to Earth in an effort to replenish a dwindling blood supply on their home planet.