Horror film city summit

VAMPIRES, zombies and some eminent academics will descend on Manchester as the city hosts Britain’s first academic conference on cult British and European horror films.

Film experts from Australia, Italy, Canada, Malta and across the UK will take part in discussions at Manchester Metropolitan University over June 1 and 2.

Academics who claim the gory classics have been overlooked by critics will use the films to discuss changing moral attitudes and censorship, ethnicity and politics and will also look at the similarities and differences between the different European traditions, including Dracula, the most famous European monster.

The conference is organised by Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (Miriad) in conjunction with the Cornerhouse cinema – which screens Fabrice du Welz’s Calvaire (2004) on June 1 at 7pm and hosts a discussion with horror writer Ramsay Campbell.

European tradition

Organiser Dr Patricia Allmer, MMU film lecturer, said: “There is a much longer tradition of horror in Europe than in America but European horror too often is overshadowed by Hollywood.

“The history of Europe is the history of war and conflict and different peoples cohabiting often with horrific consequences. This history is reflected by the earliest folkstories and myths and is continued by Victorian novelists and 20th century film-makers.”

The conference European Nightmares – An International Conference on European Horror Cinema is held at Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester, and was organised by Patricia Allmer and Paul Booth of Miriad’s Images, Narratives and Cultures group.

Keynote speakers are:

Dr Peter Hutchings (Northumbria University) – Resident Evil? The Limits of European Horror
Professor Mark Jancovich (University of East Anglia) – Hollywood, Europe and 1940s Horror

Selected speakers:

Dr Linnie Blake (MMU) – New Labour, New Horror: The Postmodernization of British Horror Cinema and Tony Blair’s Third Way
Paul Booth (MMU) – State of Trance: Representations of Post Rave Culture in 28 Days Later
Lindsay Hallam (Curtin University, Perth, Australia) – Kiss Me, Monster! The Female Vampire as Sadean Woman
Dr David Huxley (MMU) For Sadists Only: Horror Film and Moral Panic in the British Media 1954-65
Professor Barry Jordan (De Montfort University) –Alejandro Amenábar and Contemporary Spanish Horror

For more information, contact Dr Patricia Allmer on 0161 247 1712 or go to www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/visualculture/inc/nightmares for a full programme.