CULTURE DIGEST 05: Happy haunts, new old stories and is TV afraid of its past?
Monthly recommendations from the team behind the TV Foundation and Edinburgh TV Festival.
An autumnal chill has set in, and this month’s Culture Digest brings everything we’ve been enjoying this October. We’ve done the classic Stacey Solomon, Sort Your Life Out— making room for the autumn sweaters and coats — and are ready to settle in with the season.
Chills and Charms
Happy Halloween! Everyone has seasonal favourites, so we’ve asked around the office. One Cut of the Dead is a fresh take on a classic genre. It’s an independent zombie-comedy with a twist you’ll never see coming, so we’ll just give the basics: what happens when your zombie movie gets crashed by real zombies?
The Mist is a science fiction horror film directed by Frank Darabont. With Lovecraftian creatures lurking, the movie explores how ordinary people react to fear and paranoia. What We Do in the Shadows (in series or film format) is a hilarious mockumentary about vampire roommates in New York.
Not feeling a creature feature? Tim Burton brings the classics. Frankenweenie and The Nightmare Before Christmas are stop-motion masterpieces. There’s still time to watch Beetlejuice, and then catch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in theatres. And, if you’ve watched all the Tim Burton you can, read his gothic tales in The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy.
Plus, Abney Park Cemetery and Highgate Cemetery have insightful tours about their history, or just enjoy the walk in a crisp drizzle.
Cultural Conversations
We’re people who love art. Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer grapples with the thorny question of what we should do with, and how we should feel about, great art by bad people. It’s part memoir, part cultural criticism that uses Roman Polanski and Woody Allen as its jumping off point.
As its own art form, television can often treat itself as film’s embarrassing little brother — or at least that’s what this YouTube essayist argues. In two video essays, “Short Seasons Are Killing TV,” and “HD TVs Ruined Sitcoms,” pop culture creator captain midnight explores the strengths of two historical aspects of television we’ve been ditching: long-running seasons and past programmes’ original resolutions and ratios.
Here’s a quick run down of some television we’ve been enjoying: Daddy Issues, Alma’s Not Normal, and Bad Monkey.
London’s Live Theatre
There’s only a week left to catch White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, currently showing at sohoplace theatre. This experimental theatre piece invites a new actor to join an adventure with the audience each night. No rehearsals. No director. Just a script waiting in a sealed envelope.
Old stories become new as Sophocles' Athenian tragedies are transformed in London. Oedipus at the Wyndham Theatre brings us a modern reimagining of Oedipus Rex, and The Other Place at the National Theatre bills itself as “after Antigone.” If you prefer to enjoy a reimagining of Greek mythology on your couch instead, Kaos was recommended by a team member particularly fond of its casting.
Before You Go
Here’s a podcast for your commute. Normal Gossip is back for its seventh season bringing you funny stories about strangers you’ll never know and never meet.
That’s all for October! So, what’s your favourite scary movie (we say doing our best Ghostface impression)?