August 28, 1814 saw the birth of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, an Irish Protestant writer who (like Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and George Bernard Shaw) became a popular author in England as well as abroad. He, however, became best known for an enigmatic vampire tale which in effected created a subgenre–Carmilla, the first lesbian vampire. While…
Tag: joseph sheridan lefanu
Review: The Unwanted
Until the recent Curse of Styria, it had been literally decades since a major film adaptation of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s gothic classic Carmilla. Now, yet another film version is making the rounds of film festivals. For what it is worth, I recommend both! The Unwanted may be the least literal of the two. Or not.…
New Carmilla On The Way
Yet another live version of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s classic is on its way to the boards! We’ve covered other stage productions of Carmilla in the past, including that of Chicago’s Wildclaw Theatre and even a Canadian high school‘s version. Now another struggles its way to the stage in front of a live audience. The venue…
Sneak Peak: Styria
We’ve covered the upcoming motion picture Styria for over a year. This marks the first major film adaptation of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla since 1989 (the Nightmare Classics version)! This week I was invited to a private screening of the current edit of the film. A few things remained unfinished. One or two scenes haven’t…
Review: The Annotated Carmilla
When I was asked to review this book, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I confess that I haven’t read many annotated books, since my preference is to simply experience the story for myself and move on rather than to analyze and deconstruct. However, my other reservation came from the fact that Joseph Sheridan…
Vampires: The Nightmare Strangers
Someone asked why I thought vampires remained so popular and intriguing. My answer: Because the undead make such a fluid metaphor. Consider; when they first entered into the Western literature and art–with John Polidori’s “The Vampyre.” For much of the next century, vampires popped up in art and theatre as well as different stories. “Varney…
Ten Things You Don’t Know About Dracula
1. He never once hints that he himself is Vlad the Impaler (although there is the suggestion that maybe he is related to that figure). For that matter, the most current scholarship into the novel indicates Stoker himself hardly knew anything more about the historical Vlad Tepes (pronounced tseh-PESH) than the name. It sounded good,…
Adaptations of Carmilla
For fans of the undead, a favorite topic of debate remains comparing the various film versions of “Dracula.” Even limiting oneself to those explicitly based upon Stoker’s novel, over a dozen versions exist from “Nosferatu” (original and remake) to both Universal versions in 1930, both adaptations that starred Christopher Lee, all three BBC Draculas, the…