Where do we draw the line between the terrifying and the titillating? Scary films aren’t supposed to be sexy, and yet, there is a very thin line between the titillating and the terrifying. Romantic love stories rooted in the macabre, the vampire used as a metaphor for sex, and the beast for uncontrollable desires. In this playful panel discussion chaired by season co-programmer Anna Bogutskaya, we ask a simple question: are monsters hot?
Anna Bogutskaya is a freelance writer, film programmer and broadcaster. She was the Film and Events Programmer at the BFI, where she curated many seasons and created the Woman with a Movie Camera Summit. Currently is a programmer at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest. She contributes to The Guardian, BBC, Little White Lies,
The Face and more, and is the host of The Final Girls podcast.
Clarisse Loughrey is the Chief Film Critic at The Independent. She also co-hosts the Fade to Black podcast with Hanna Flint and Amon Warmann and the Big Screen Book Club podcast with Joseph Kime. Clarisse has previously appeared as a regular guest on Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review and Prime Video’s The Screen Test, and has worked with BAFTA, the BFI, Curzon Journal, the BBC, Picturehouse, The Final Girls, and Second Sight Films. Having stumbled into film writing after an abortive attempt at comedy and accidentally fallen in love with the craft, Clarisse now likes to annoy friends, acquaintances, and strangers with her fervent love of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. And, no, she doesn’t understand what her accent is meant to be, either.
Sophie Monks Kaufman is a writer and creative who uses art to make sense of experiences like sex, death and all the turmoil in between. She has worked as an arts journalist for a decade, contributing to outlets like Little White Lies, IndieWire, Hazlitt, BBC Culture and Sight and Sound. She collaborates frequently with the BFI and programmed a film season, The Original Sin of Claire Denis, at the BFI Southbank in 2019. Her first trade book, Wes Anderson (Close–Ups, Book 1), was published by HarperCollins in 2018 and was the highest seller of the series. She wrote and directed a short film about grief_, I Do Not Sleep_, in 2017 and produced and co–hosted a bulimia podcast, Spill Your Guts, in 2016. Sophie is working on her biggest passion project to-date, a book about impossible love.
IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS
Nosferatu (Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens)
Mon 17 Oct 20:50; Sun 13 Nov 15:50 (+ intro by Silent Film Curator Bryony Dixon); Sat 19 Nov 14:10
Frankenstein
Tue 18 Oct 20:50; Fri 28 Oct 18:20; Tue 8 Nov 18:20; Sun 27 Nov 13:00
The Skeleton Key
Wed 19 Oct 18:00; Mon 14 Nov 20:45
Meet the Monsters: A Season Introduction
Thu 20 Oct 19:30 BFI YouTube
I Walked With a Zombie
Thu 20 Oct 20:40; Tue 1 Nov 18:10
Creature from the Black Lagoon (3D)
Sat 22 Oct 18:15 (+ pre-recorded intro by Mallory O’Meara, award winning and bestselling author of ‘The Lady from the Black Lagoon’); Sat 29 Oct 11:40; Tue 1 Nov 20:50
In Dreams Are Monsters Quiz
Sun 23 Oct 19:00-22:00 Blue Room
Kuroneko (Yabu no naka no kuroneko)
Tue 25 Oct 20:45; Mon 31 Oct 21:00; Fri 18 Nov 18:15
The Fly
Wed 26 Oct 21:00
La Llorona
Thu 27 Oct 20:30; Mon 7 Nov 21:00
Celluloid Screams and Live Cinema UK presents: Ghostwatch + Q&A
Fri 28 Oct 20:20
Viy
Fri 28 Oct 20:45; Tue 8 Nov 20:50
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Sat 29 Oct 18:30; Wed 30 Nov 20:50
Candyman
Sat 29 Oct 20:45; Thu 17 Nov 20:50 (+ intro)
Nightbreed – Director’s Cut
Sun 30 Oct 15:10 (+ intro); Sat 12 Nov 20:35
28 Days Later
Mon 31 Oct 18:00 (+ Q&A with director Danny Boyle); Sat 26 Nov 20:45
Us
Tue 1 Nov 20:40; Sat 19 Nov 15:10; Tue 29 Nov 20:40
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Wed 2 Nov 18:10; Sat 26 Nov 20:40
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
Wed 2 Nov 20:45; Sat 19 Nov 20:45
Blacula
Thu 3 Nov 20:55; Sat 26 Nov 13:00
Cronos
Fri 4 Nov 18:30; Sat 19 Nov 12:10; Sun 20 Nov 18:30
Fright Night
Fri 4 Nov 20:50; Tue 22 Nov 20:40 (+ intro)
Possession
Sat 5 Nov 20:20 (+ intro by author Kier-La Janisse); Sun 27 Nov 15:30
Ganja & Hess
Mon 7 Nov 18:00; Sat 26 Nov 15:20
Inferno
Wed 9 Nov 20:40; Sat 26 Nov 18:20
The Entity
Fri 11 Nov 17:55; Tue 15 Nov 20:30
Def by Temptation
Wed 16 Nov 18:10 (+ intro); Sat 26 Nov 18:10
Jennifer’s Body
Sun 20 Nov 15:15; Mon 21 Nov 18:00; Fri 25 Nov 20:45
Pontypool
Mon 21 Nov 20:30; Sun 27 Nov 12:20
Under the Shadow
Wed 23 Nov 20:40; Tue 29 Nov 18:10
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Thu 24 Nov 20:40; Mon 28 Nov 18:10
Pet Sematary
Fri 25 Nov 18:15; Mon 28 Nov 20:40
Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras)
Sun 27 Nov 18:10; Wed 30 Nov 20:25
IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS EVENTS
City Lit at BFI: Screen Horrors – Screen Monsters
Thu 20 Oct – Thu 15 Dec 18:30-20:30
Beyond Nollywood World Premiere: Inside Life + Q&A with director Clarence A Peters
Sat 29 Oct 14:00
Matchbox Cine presents House of Psychotic Women
Sat 5 Nov 17:50
Son of Ingagi + Panel Discussion
Wed 9 Nov 18:10
Live Commentary with Evolution of Horror, Brain Rot and The Final Girls
Sat 19 Nov 18:00
Big Monster Energy
Tue 22 Nov 18:30
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Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
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