Discover the Horror Podcast – Episode 51: Universal Mummies

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New Volumes for Your Horror Reference Library!

So I just finished reading the last book in my library… okay, that might not be entirely true. Or even close. But I do know that I have plenty of wonderous volumes just waiting for me to dig into when I do have the time. Plus, these numerous tomes all there when I need to do a little research, so just like they say, you can actually learn things from them!

Anyway, I was scrolling through McFarland’s website and came across several new book titles that are (hopefully) coming out this year that immediately got my interests. None of these have any release dates, and some don’t have a lot of information about the actual book, such as page count, but I think you’ll be able to get an idea of what the book is about.

The first one is Global Horror Cinema Today by Jon Towlson, which according to the cover, it represents 28 films from 17 different countries, with each chapter focusing on a particular country, looking into what frightens the native people there, and how it can cross over to an international audience. Some of the films covered are It Follows (2014), Grave aka Raw (2016), Busanhaeng aka Train to Busan (2016), and Get Out (2016), as well as discussing another 100 titles.

The thing that I really love about the concept of this book is to show horror fans how big the genre is and that to limit oneself to only films from our own country, or in your own language, makes you missing out on some amazing cinema. Especially with all the films available online in different streaming outlets, it gives fans even more opportunity to see some incredible cinema. So I really look forward to this title to maybe show me some titles I have missed, as well as hearing what Towlson has to say about these films and the countries where they are from.

It is priced at $39.95 and is in softcover format. Continue reading

Horror History: Karl Freund

freundKarl Freund
Born Jan. 16th, 1890 – Died May 3rd, 1969

Karl Freund was a German cinematographer that worked with some other top names in the business: Robert Wiene, F.W. Murnau, and Fritz Lang. When he finally made his way over to the states, Universal quickly put him under contract, where he would photograph several of their films, including a few horror films like Dracula (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932). He would eventually direct a few films, two of them being horror, and both of which have become classics. The first one was The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff, the second one was Mad Love (1935), starring Peter Lorre. This would be his last film as a director.

Freund went back to being a cameraman, because that is what he knew best. He won an Oscar for Best Cinematography for The Good Earth (1937), nominated again for Blossoms in the Dust (1941), and was given an Oscar in 1955 in the Technical Achievement department for the design and development of a direct reading brightness meter. He eventually went to work in television, specifically on the I Love Lucy show, and helped developed the 3-camera system for filming TV shows, which is still being used today. He also developed a new way of lighting the sitcoms, making them look a lot better than what they had been.

So while he was obviously a very talented cameraman, and gave the industry some amazing technical advances, he also gave us horror fans some great movies to watch, which we still continue to do today!