Central to the tradition of cosmic horror is the suggestion that the ultimate truth about our universe is at once knowable and unthinkable, such that one learns it only at the cost of one's sanity and soul. John Carpenter is one of a handful of horror directors to have successfully ported this idea from literature to cinema. This episode is an attempt to unearth some of the eldritch symbols buried in a selection of Carpenter's apocalyptic works, including Escape from New York, The Thing, They Live,_ In the Mouth of Madness, and the little known _Cigarette Burns.
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REFERENCES
John Carpenter films discussed:
The Thing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/)
Cigarette Burns (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0643109/)
In the Mouth of Madness (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113409/)
Prince of Darkness (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093777/)
Halloween (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/)
They Live (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/)
Escape from New York (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082340/)
Escape from L.A. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116225/)
Big Trouble in Little China (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090728/)
Other References:
Pascal Laugier (dir.), Martyrs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029234/)
Srdjan Spasojevic (dir.), A Serbian Film (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1273235/)
Weird Studies, Episode 90 on The Owl in Daylight (https://www.weirdstudies.com/90)
Roger Corman, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Corman) American director
Northrup Frye, Words with Power (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780156983655)
J. R. R. Tolkien, forward to The Fellowship of the Ring
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri, “Percept, Affect, and Concept” in What is Philosophy (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780231079891)
Weird Studies, Episode 72 on the Castrati (https://www.weirdstudies.com/72)
Weird Studies, Episode 46, Thomas Ligotti’s Angel (https://www.weirdstudies.com/46)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm)
China Mieville, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Mi%C3%A9ville) British author
Karlheinz Stockhausen, comments on 9/11 (https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/arts/music-the-devil-made-him-do-it.html)
H. P. Lovecraft, Nyarlothotep (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9798200625857)
H. P. Lovecraft, “The Haunter of the Dark” (https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hd.aspx)
Nick Land, Fanged Noumena (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780955308789)
Zack Snyder, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_Snyder) American director
Haeccaity and Quiddity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haecceity), philosophical concepts
Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780375706684)
Weird Studies, Episode 98 on Exotica (https://www.weirdstudies.com/98)
Quentin Meillasoux, After Finitude (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780826496744)
Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies (https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Rilke.php)