The Pulp (Issue 15, April 2015)

Issue 15, April 2015

Issue 15, April 2015

The People of the Hour! magazine Editor Talk Con season is upon us! We had a great time at the Calgary Expo last weekend and met plenty of local artists, creators, and cosplayers who we’re looking forward to showcasing in upcoming issues.

If you happened to miss it, the Northern Nerd Network did a great job covering the cosplayers and interviewing vendors for a video you can find on their YouTube channel. We’ve been partnered with the NNN for a while, so we also figured it was about time we sat down with them to chat (p. 19).

If you hate crowds and prefer getting your nerdy paraphernalia delivered straight to your home, there’s always the Four Five Club.

Russ went to a preview of the new store and wrote a piece about their subscription service (p. 9)—business-geek casual, anyone?

As always, we have some great film coverage in this issue, with Matt’s persuasive reasoning for why you should watch Phantom of the Paradise (p. 16) alongside Allan’s assurances that Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever didn’t quite make the same impact as its predecessor (p. 12).

Finally, I chatted with Edmonton author Axl Barnes to discuss his upcoming novel, Odin Rising, and the philosophical and psychological influences he turned to while writing his book (p. 4).

Enjoy this month’s issue of The Pulp!

Cheryl Editor-in-Chief thepulppress.com 2

Cover image: Five Four Club Suit by Russ Dobler Back cover image: Trina Shessel and Chip Zdarsky

Cheryl Cottrell-Smith, Editor-in-Chief Cosplayer, gamer, comic collector, anime lover, and bookworm. Enjoys all of these things more if there’s wine involved. @CottrellSmithC

Matt Bowes, Arts + Film Editor A self-proclaimed cultural commentator of good taste, Matt enjoys movies and books, and writes about them at thisnerdinglife.com. @matt_bowes

Russ Dobler, Game/Science Columnist Known as "Dog" to friends and weirdos, Russ is a wannabe scientist and beer lover. He can be found blogging at thoughtfulconduit.com/whatdoesthismean.

Allan Mott, Lit + Film Columnist Film enthusiast and blogger at vanityfear.com.

Allan can be found giving opinions on films and other cultural paraphernalia @HouseofGlib.

Issue 15, April 2015

CONTENTS 12 9

19 3

lit + film 4

An interview with local author Axl Barnes – Cheryl CottrellSmith

nerd culture 9

Five Four Club brings fandoms to the office – Russ Dobler

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One Too Many: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever (1991) – Allan Mott

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Meet the Northern Nerd Network – Cheryl CottrellSmith

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Why Haven’t You Watched This Yet? Phantom of the Paradise (1974) – Matt Bowes

Issue 15, April 2015

Written by / as told to Cheryl Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy of Axl Barnes

An interview with local author Axl Barnes 4

Issue 15, April 2015

Our generation loves gore.

Horror and the horrific. Sordid tales and psychological mindfucks. We address our need for the weird and spooky through video games, movies, and novels. The latter has been around for the longest, but there are writers putting a new spin on the traditional—taking the basics from Stephen King and making them relate more to our generation, how we respond to society, and how our worldview is warped by the way in which we live.

Axl Barnes,* a local author and philosopher, addresses all of these issues from the perspective of rebellious teenage youths in his upcoming novel, Odin Rising.

Author of the novella Ich Will, Barnes incorporates his impressive background with philosophy into fiction that attempts to deal with the oppression of social systems, youthful narcissism, existentialism, psychological horror, and more. Although difficult to categorize, Barnes’ writing tends to build on his own experiences as a teenager in Romania and the meaning of ethics, life, and death to those too young to fully understand.

We caught up with Barnes to ask him a few questions about his upcoming novel, his influences, and the difficulties of writing outside of one particular genre.

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What's your background? How did you get into writing fiction?

I'm a philosophy and fiction lover. I had my first attempts at writing fiction when in high-school in the late 90s. Afterwards, I only wrote sporadically while studying for my undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophy. Once I got my Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2011 from the University of Alberta, I started focusing exclusively on writing fiction and finally tackling some projects which have been shelved for too long.

In 2012, I published a novella, Ich Will, which is about a poor, misanthropic philosophy student who's unable to pay for his undergraduate degree and whose hatred for society takes an unexpected, bloody turn. Since then, I've been working on my first full-length novel, Odin Rising.

What will Odin Rising be about?

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It's about a group of teenage metal-heads in a small Romanian town in the mid 90s. Alex and Tudor, the group's leaders, egg each other on to progressively more extreme, anti-social actions, from breaking windows and cutting car tires to desecrating graves and sacrificing animals to Satan. Their gruesome competition leads to killing an innocent older man, who just happened to challenge them at the wrong place at the wrong time. The death prompts a conflict between Alex and Tudor, a conflict between their views of what is extreme and the purpose of violence. While Alex is a Neo-Nazi who idolizes Hitler and the Aryan race, Tudor is a self-proclaimed nihilist who hates all races equally and only loves his knife, death-metal, and horror movies. Despite their differences, both youngsters think that they are possessed by Odin, the Norse god of storm and battle frenzy, and who's awakening in Europe after centuries of slumber. Which one of two will prove himself a hero and join Odin in Valhalla?

two will prove himself a hero and join Odin in Valhalla?

When do you aim to have the book finished?

By the end of the year. I hope to publish it sometime next year.

What were your influences in writing this book?

The book is rooted in personal experience and focused on two reallife events, both centered on the river that passes through my hometown. During summer in high school, my grandmother had asked me to take away a cat and drop it into someone's back yard, as far as possible from her house. She handed me the cat in a sack, stating it was lazy and wouldn't catch mice. I was with a few friends on that day and, youthful victims of boredom, we decided to take the cat to the nearby river and drown it. I'll spare the sordid details, but suffice it to say that it's true that cats have nine lives.

The second event occurred on another empty summer day: two friends, Vali and Lucian, and I got drunk and broke the windows of an abandoned service station. Then we went by the side of the river to drink some more and smoke cigarettes (that was the coolest thing, as we didn't know of weed or other drugs). An older guy chased us down on his bike to lecture us, threatening to tell Vali’s dad about his vandalism. I remember asking Lucian why we couldn’t just drown the stranger into the river just like we had done with the cat? Lucian didn't go for it, but what if he had? Or what if I had been drunk enough to just do it myself?

An additional impetus toward writing the book came from reading Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground , a journalistic account of the Norwegian 90s rash of crimes connected with the black-metal scene. Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count Grishnackh, a central figure, was involved in many church-burnings as well as the

Issue 15, April 2015

with the black-metal scene. Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count Grishnackh, a central figure, was involved in many church-burnings as well as the murder of another leader of the movement. In his interviews, Varg argues fervently that his arson wasn't part of a Satanic ritual, but part of reviving local Nordic pagan religion, and worshiping warrior gods like Odin and Thor, instead of the Jewish Jehovah. In my story, Alex and Tudor are aware and inspired by the events in Norway.

Hence also the name of the book, Odin Rising.

What other fiction would compare Odin Rising to and why?

you

Mainly Albert Camus' The Stranger.

Meursault, the main character of the novel, is a misfit who commits an apparently absurd crime. The deed puts him in jail, where he has a chance to reflect on the insurmountable gap between him and the rest of society, and to make explicit the meaning of his rebellion.

The first four chapters of Odin Rising are written in a realist, minimalist style, but in the last two chapters the boundary between reality and mythical dreams becomes blurred. In this respect, I was inspired by classic authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Franz Kafka, as well as contemporaries like Clive Barker.

My fiction is also very much indebted to popular horror writers like Stephen King, Richard Laymon, and Brian Keene.

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Are there any controversial themes in the book? If so, how and why did you approach them?

Are there any controversial themes in the book? If so, how and why did you approach them?

Teenage rebellion is the main theme of the book. It's such a widespread phenomenon, ranging from petty vandalism to more serious crimes like school shootings, arson, and suicide. This novel is an attempt to uncover the source of this violence. Why do teenagers think that the adult world is lame and disgusting? Why do they want to mock or destroy it? I tried to see things from their perspective, which also used to be my own perspective, and make explicit their brutal judgment of the adult world.

One thing about the teenage psyche that struck me was the fact that the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for decisionmaking, practical deliberation, and planning, isn't fully formed. So, while their intelligence, memory, creativity, and other brain functions are normal, teens don't care about the future. For an adolescent, everything is here and now—there's no tomorrow, no career, no insurance of this and that, no pension plans, no happily ever after. And that's partly why teens are so emotional and restless, because for them everything is at stake all the time. But this psychological condition allows them a deep insight into the nature of the world around them and the nature of society. I think expressing that insight has both artistic and philosophical value.

If you had to describe Odin Rising in an elevator pitch of 10 words or less, what would you say?

It's an artistic and philosophical exploration of teenage rebellion.

Issue 15, April 2015

If you had to describe Odin Rising in an elevator pitch of 10 words or less, what would you say?

It's an artistic and philosophical exploration of teenage rebellion.

What difficulties have you faced in writing and publishing Ich Will and in the upcoming publication of Odin Rising?

Marketing is the main challenge, especially since my fiction doesn't fit a specific genre. Both Ich Will and Odin Rising are close to psychological horror, in the sense that the horror is triggered by an abnormality of the main characters' psychology. However, this categorization misses something essential: my characters end up doing horrible things because they're in the grips of some philosophical ideas. And those ideas are critically discussed in the context of those stories. So, in a sense, my writing appeals to both readers who enjoy Socratic dialogues, but also to those who like graphic horror and violence. If I were forced to put a label on it, I'd call this genre philosophical horror or existentialist horror.

Paradigmatic examples of this are Clive Barker's chilling short story “Dread," and its movie adaptation, as well as Scott Bakker's horrific thriller Neuropath. Still, I hope that a consistent marketing effort through social media and websites like Goodreads will help my fiction reach the right audience.

Odin Rising may still be in progress, but do you have any plans for future work?

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I have developed ideas for two more novels. The first one has the working title This Town Must Burn! and features Canadian analogs of Tudor and Alex from Odin Rising. The action is set in a small Western Canadian town in the early 2000s. The youngsters are now in their early twenties and face the overwhelming pressures of adult life. Will they adapt and become domesticated, or will they continue to rebel and burn everything to the ground?

Canadian town in the early 2000s. The youngsters are now in their early twenties and face the overwhelming pressures of adult life. Will they adapt and become domesticated, or will they continue to rebel and burn everything to the ground?

The second novel has the tentative title Defective, and it's my take on zombies. Jack, the main character, is a young, obese warehouse worker who starts rotting alive: his mind stays fully functional while his body starts decomposing. The story is an account of Jack's actions, decisions, and psychology in his transition from life to bodily death. While still philosophical, this book will fit well into the genre of body horror.

Both these projected novels will feature one theme that I've approached in Ich Will: alienated labour in capitalism. One of the main weapons capitalist society uses to break down and dehumanize its members is meaningless work, or wage slavery. So, in the spirit of George A. Romero's zombie movies, this will be horror with a political edge.

Visit Axl Barnes’ Blog: http://axlbarnes.blogspot.ca/

*Please note that Axl Barnes is a pseudonym.

Issue 15, April 2015

Words and images by Russ Dobler

Five Four Club brings fandoms to the office 9

Issue 15, April 2015

Do you want to rep your inner comic book geek

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while still maintaining your secret identity as a mild-mannered, working adult? The Five Four Club may have your superhero solution.

The clothing monthly subscription service – think of a business casual Loot Crate – held a pop-up exhibition at Manhattan’s Openhouse Gallery on the weekend of March 28, and The Pulp was there to chat with Five Four executive assistant Quinn Mason about their new Marvel-inspired collection and to snap some exclusive photos.

“Everyone seems so excited about it because all the pieces are things you can wear to work or during the day,” Mason says. That even includes people who work in Marvel’s New York office, who Mason says stopped by on the 27th to preview the wares.

Available exclusively to club members in the month of April, David Appel’s Avengers-themed creations emphasize “design through discretion,” so you can blend in with the normals. Imagine a jacket with comic book panels in the lining, or a pocket with an image of Captain America’s shield inside.

“They’re pretty casual but there’s just little, subtle hints,” Mason says.

Many of the items are reversible, though, for when you want to let your freak flag fly, and there are enough secret pouches to make Deadpool proud.

The Five Four Club began as the label Five Four Clothing, before shifting focus to the now-trendy monthly subscription model in 2012.

“It’s $60 a month, and we’ll send you a package with, usually, two to three items,” Mason explains. “You pick your style profile – fill out a questionnaire – and you get matched with a stylist who picks your clothes each month.”

New members signing up before the end of April can still get in on the Avengers collection, but if you miss out, have no fear, True Believers – Five Four has a two-year licensing deal with Marvel, and a new batch of subversive super-duds will drop this fall. Mason says she’s actually more looking forward to that group, as it will have a greater focus on her personal favorite character, the Hulk.

The Five Four Club is open to membership in both Canada and the United States.

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Issue 15, April 2015

One Too Many:

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever (1991) 12

Written by Allan Mott | Images courtesy of Concorde Pictures

Issue 15, April 2015 In 1979, Allan Arkush had been working with Roger Corman for several years. He started with his friend, Joe Dante, editing trailers before moving on to direct Hollywood Boulevard in 1976 and the Death Race 2000 sequel (and inevitable future One Too Many subject) Deathsport in 1978. Following that last film, the famed B-movie producer proposed to Arkush that their next collaboration should be a teen movie with lots of soundtrack-ready music called Disco High.

Arkush blanched at the title. He hated disco. He convinced Corman that the then-popular music was a dying fad and that the movie would make a lot more money as Rock ‘n’ Roll High School instead. He pitched it as a return to films like A Hard Day’s Night, Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter and Catch Us If You Can, which were all crafted around the popularity of bands like The Beatles, Herman’s Hermits and The Dave Clark Five. And to fill the role of the film’s band he looked to his own record collection and proposed one of the greatest (and ugliest) of all time— The Ramones.

The result was an instant cult classic—an anarchic ode to the joy of youthful rebellion and the tyranny of adult cluelessness wrapped up in a gleefully cartoonish package that presented us with human-sized talking mice, Paul Bartel in a beret and—most bizarrely—the idea that someone as cute as P.J. Soles could honestly believe human scarecrow Joey Ramone was the most desirable man on the planet.

There’s no other film quite like it in cinema, much less Roger Corman’s production history, but that’s not for lack of effort. Twelve years after the release of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, the director of a slasher-musical hybrid so ahead of its time that it took decades for it to become a cult classic of its own decided she wanted to make a high school comedy and—knowing how Corman’s mind worked—pitched it to him as a sequel rather than an original work.

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In its way Deborah Brock’s Slumber Party Massacre II is as unique a beast as Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. It’s the first

him as a sequel rather than an original work.

In its way Deborah Brock’s Slumber Party Massacre II is as unique a beast as Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. It’s the first slasher film to ever be made with an explicitly female point of view (one can read the entire film as a fantasy occurring inside the mind of a young woman traumatized by the events of the first Slumber Party Massacre), and it literalizes many of the genre’s clichés in surreal and postmodern contexts, including a scene where the film’s killer— a rockabilly hoodlum with a drillequipped guitar—breaks out into a song and dance number in the middle of the movie. It’s a love it or hate it kind of film, and I’m firmly in the love it camp. To the point that (brag alert) an old online essay I wrote about the film ended up being mentioned in the liner notes of Shout Factory’s Slumber Party Massacre trilogy DVD set and Brock herself mentioned me in an interview as someone who caused her to realize how she had been subconsciously inspired by the surrealist masters while making the movie.

That is all to say, she was as good a pick as any to try and resurrect the special cinematic unicorn that is Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and even if she didn’t quite succeed, the result isn’t quite as easy to dismiss as one might assume. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever never hits the heights of its predecessor, but—once you get over the natural inclination to compare them—there’s no denying that it possesses its own unique charms that put it on the same guilty pleasure level of something like 1989’s Teen Witch (which stars Robyn Lively, whose brother, Jason, plays one of the bad guys in RnRHSF).

RnRHSF stars Corey Feldman, a couple of years after his infamous offscreen behaviour sent him from mainstream studio efforts like License to Drive, Dream a Little Dream and The ‘Burbs to the world of Corman pictures.

He plays Jessie Davis, the lead singer of The Eradicators—a nominally talented band, whose biggest weakness is they’re fronted by the same dude who gave us this.

He plays Jessie Davis, the lead singer of The Eradicators—a nominally talented band, whose biggest weakness is they’re fronted by the same dude who gave us this.

Beyond music, though, the group is mostly dedicated to (fairly) harmless mischief. In one scene, they go to a woman’s house and convince her they’re a religious cult willing to pay her to worship the old refrigerator in her basement. In another they flush all the school’s toilets at once in celebration of “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Day”, which honours the date in the first film where the students blew up Vince Lombardi High.

Though the film establishes that their school is the one rebuilt in its place, the new building apparently also came with a new name, since it’s now Ronald Reagan High (a joke that might have felt more pointed three years after the end of his administration, but that now falls flat when you can easily imagine dozens of such schools actually existing in each state across the U.S.). But this change makes sense in the context of the film, which embraces the slobs vs. snobs model that the original film eschewed, but which became a standard trope in the teen films of the period.

In this case, The Eradicators’ enemies come in the shape of young Christian Republican students (dubbed the “yuppies”, although their status as such is clearly honorary at this point) and Dr. Vader, played by a returning Mary Woronov. Though Vader is apparently a different person than Miss Togar (the character Woronov played in the first film), her M.O. of enforcing strict discipline with the aid of two moronic assistants is virtually identical.

On Jessie’s side is the mostly ineffectual Principal McGee (M*A*S*H’s Larry Linville apparently taking over the character Paul Bartel played in the first film—a connection I was only able to make thanks to IMDb, since the film fails to spell it out) and the school’s behindthe-scenes puppetmaster, Eaglebauer (Michael Cerveris, who is about as physically different as the original’s Curt Howard as two performers could be), as well as the very young and pretty substitute teacher played by Sarah

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the-scenes puppetmaster, Eaglebauer (Michael Cerveris, who is about as physically different as the original’s Curt Howard as two performers could be), as well as the very young and pretty substitute teacher played by Sarah Buxton (given an “introducing” credit, even though this was at least her seventh film), who serves as Feldman’s love interest in a subplot that would very much prove controversial if the film were made today.

Like the original, RnRHSF largely avoids plot in favour of antics, giving it an episodic feeling whose success ebbs and flows scene by scene. Brock populates the film with appealing performers who manage to make you want to keep watching even when they’re not given a lot to do (in particular Liane Curtis, as The Eradicators’ crushworthy guitarist and Brynne Horracks as a cute, but deeply eccentric girl who may or may not be a witch). Some scenes feel truly inventive, while other moments seem shamelessly borrowed from other sources (I couldn’t help but notice a Troma influence in the use of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”—à la the transformation scene in The Toxic Avenger—and the foaming Alka-Seltzer in the mouth trick that Lloyd Kaufman famously employed throughout his work).

In place of The Ramones, the film gives a half-hearted effort to play up The Pursuit of Happiness, the Canadian band who recorded the film’s title theme (giving it an unexpected #yeg connection via TPoH’s frontman/songwriter Moe Berg). But despite being given a “special appearance by” credit at the end of the film, their actual screen time is limited to us seeing the first low-budget music video for “I’m An Adult Now” playing on a TV screen. That said, it is fun to think about an alternate universe where Berg’s band apparently had a greater cultural impact than Nirvana.

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever is the kind of sequel that never really had a chance. Its budget was too low. The original was too unique to be successfully copied (the only film to ever come close being Arkush’s Get Crazy from 1983, which has never been

the kind of sequel that never really had a chance. Its budget was too low. The original was too unique to be successfully copied (the only film to ever come close being Arkush’s Get Crazy from 1983, which has never been digitally released because apparently the original sound elements have been lost). And it stars a heroin-era Corey Feldman in a performance in which he not only sings, but also delivers many of his lines like he’s imitating Christian Slater in Heathers imitating Jack Nicholson.

(Feldman’s thoughts regarding the film somehow didn’t make it into the finished version of Coreyography, his memoir, which I have in fact read.)

But despite this it almost works. While nowhere near as polished as the Hughes films of the era, its shaggy dog charm easily makes it as watchable as License to Drive. At its best it’s actually more reminiscent of the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off TV rip off “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” (that was famously superior in all ways to the short-lived “Ferris Bueller” sitcom), than Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.

The result is a completely inessential sequel, but one that’s still worth checking out. Just make sure to fast forward whenever Corey starts singing.

But despite this it almost works. While nowhere near as polished as the Hughes films of the era, its shaggy dog charm easily makes it as watchable as License to Drive. At its best it’s actually more reminiscent of the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off TV rip off “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” (that was famously superior in all ways to the short-lived “Ferris Bueller” sitcom), than Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.

The result is a completely inessential sequel, but one that’s still worth checking out. Just make sure to fast forward whenever Corey starts singing.

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issuu.com/thepulp

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Issue 15, April 2015

Why Haven’t You Watched This Yet?

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Written by Matt Bowes | Images courtesy of Harbor Productions 16

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It was recently announced that Fox plans to remake the cult musical film The Rocky Horror Picture Show this year as a TV special, as part of a 40th anniversary celebration. Rocky Horror is a beloved classic among theatre nerds, Tim Curry fans and corset enthusiasts (in addition to being the bane of many a theatre employee’s existence), this is true. But what’s also true is that another film has always existed in Rocky Horror’s shadow, plotting away while it struts around in what has admittedly always been a somewhat diminished spotlight. I’m talking of course about my favourite gender-bending, revolutionary, violent, youth-oriented musical extravaganza from the mid-Seventies, Brian de Palma’s first work of genius, Phantom of the Paradise.

If like most people you probably haven’t seen it, Phantom of the Paradise is a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera story, which was originally written by Gaston Leroux at the turn of the century. Seeing as how it was made in the mid-Seventies, the story has been updated (some might say improved—like me, I say improved) with the addition of glam rock and disco trappings, in addition to myriad literary references to Oscar Wilde, Goethe and Christopher Marlowe.

The story opens with a description of Swan (Paul Williams), the coolest man in this morally bankrupt world.

He’s a Svengali, a genius musician, producer and ladies’ man, whose next step is going to be big: the opening of The Paradise, the ultimate rock palace and final testament to his image. One of the mere mortals who vies for his attention is his ultimate foe, Winslow Leach, played by William Finley (and with songs sung by Williams). We meet Winslow after a concert by Swan’s latest find, a ‘50s revival outfit known as the Juicy Fruits, who the forward-thinking mogul knows are already on the way out even before they’ve really begun. When the nerdy, overly-earnest Winslow plays his “cantata”, his life’s work, the vampiric Swan knows he must have it. What follows is a twisted rivalry/partnership between Swan and Winslow, as the weedy folk singer finds himself set up, sent to jail, disfigured, and ultimately transformed into the Phantom, the auto-tuned instrument of justice and revenge. Adding further complication to the mix is Phoenix (Jessica Harper), a beautiful young singer who immediately steals Winslow’s heart upon meeting. She too falls prey to the machinations of Swan, and the twisted love triangle that results ends in tragedy for all involved.

Right away, you can start to see Phantom pulling ahead of Rocky Horror, with the casting of Paul Williams. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the songs in Rocky Horror, but the combination of Paul Williams’ undeniable talent as a

Right away, you can start to see Phantom pulling ahead of Rocky Horror, with the casting of Paul Williams. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the songs in Rocky Horror, but the combination of Paul Williams’ undeniable talent as a songwriter and singer with his unusual presence as an actor really makes this movie special. In crafting the songs for Phantom, Williams takes the viewers on a tour of the world of rock music over the last twenty years, which he effortlessly imitates via the Grease-esque Juicy Fruits, the Sixties surfer pastiche Beach Bums, and the forward-looking combo of Beef (Gerrit Graham, singing voice by Raymond Louis Kennedy) and the Undeads, the eventual inheritors of Winslow’s cantata. The Undeads recall shock rocker Alice Cooper, KISS and even The Misfits, at least visually, and their Cabinet of Dr. Caligari-themed stage show, which involves putting together Beef’s body from component parts before bringing him to life Frankenstein-style, is one of the film’s highlights.

Phantom of the Paradise also benefits from being the passion project of a young director just coming into his own.

Brian de Palma fills the screen with the visual flair that would go on to define his subsequent projects, like Carrie, The Fury and Dressed to Kill. Two scenes are especially interesting in this respect: the Phantom’s split-screen assassination attempt on the Beach Bums (which also does some interesting stuff with audio as two separate soundtracks rise and recede against one another, a theme he returned to later on in Blow Out), and the film’s finale, which uses a handheld camera and an orgiastic, uncaring room full of revelers for what is still a pretty unsettling effect.

The film was a box office failure, which only received awards attention for its score, which admittedly is awesome.

I think the reasons for this are two-fold. First, the trailer, found here.

Okay, so for someone who watches a lot of trailers, like myself, this is an excellent example of something I like to call Seventies Syndrome (another great example of this is the exceedingly weird trailer for Rollerball, which you’ll remember from my highly informative article about sports from a few months back). This kind of trailer, while attempting to make sense of what, when you come down to it, is not a very complicated story, adds untold complication of its own by being way too indulgent. The film’s called a Gothic horror story, a beautiful love story, and a “cinematic odyssey through the rock universe”. This isn’t wrong, per se, but it’s maybe a bit much to start off with. So then it moves on to sort of introducing all the characters in the movie, complete with

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horror story, a beautiful love story, and a “cinematic odyssey through the rock universe”. This isn’t wrong, per se, but it’s maybe a bit much to start off with. So then it moves on to sort of introducing all the characters in the movie, complete with title cards and a shout-out to Paul Williams in particular. He’s probably the most well-known person in the movie, apart from maybe de Palma himself, which as you’d expect didn’t do the box office any favours and is probably the second aspect of its failure.

While Phantom tanked almost everywhere, there were two unlikely enclaves that accepted it in all its weird glory.

Paris, where it was beloved by two young men who eventually became masked musicians themselves as Daft Punk, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the movie played continuously for four months, and off and on for the following two years.

The Canadian Phantom fan page has a great examination of why this weird little movie captured the hearts of one of our most eccentric cities, but the short version is that it probably appealed to most children, who were on winter break when it started, and became hooked on the weird intersection of pop music, celebrity and over-the-top love story at the film’s core.

most eccentric cities, but the short version is that it probably appealed to most children, who were on winter break when it started, and became hooked on the weird intersection of pop music, celebrity and over-the-top love story at the film’s core.

So why haven’t you watched Phantom of the Paradise yet? Well, it never really reached anything other than cult status, and even then nothing near to that held

by Rocky Horror, unless you lived in Winnipeg. I think Brian de Palma’s star has somewhat fallen in recent years, and apart from attracting Paul Williams fans, there wasn’t really much in the way of star power in the film to hold onto peoples’ hearts. But the cult yet lives. When the Metro Cinema programmed Phantom of the Paradise as the second film in its Metro Bizarro series in 2012, there was a very healthy crowd of fans, old and new. The movie has just been released in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD combo set, so there’s nothing else standing in your way.

Issue 15, April 2015

Written by / as told to Cheryl Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy of Dan and Trina Shessel

Meet the Northern Nerd Network 19

Issue 15, April 2015

The Northern Nerd Network. You may have seen the logo before. Come across the husband-and-wife duo at one of our local cons. Watched their podcast videos on The Pulp. But who are they, exactly, and what do they do?

As one of The Pulp’s partners, we’re huge fans of the NNN. Dan and Trina Shessel are the driving force behind the Northern Nerd Network YouTube channel, which showcases videos that cover nerd/geek culture-related events in and around Edmonton. They also run a frequent podcast filled with topical discussion on the pop culture industry—you can find that on their website.

The Pulp magazine had the pleasure of sharing a booth with the Northern Nerd Network at last year’s inaugural Eek Fest (which is coming up soon, by the way) and we figured it was about time we chatted with them to see what’s coming up next for NNN and what they’re into these days.

--What is the Northern Nerd Network?

Trina: It’s a YouTube channel that showcases the nerdy/geeky people, places and events in and around the Edmonton area. Our goal is to bring the geek/nerd community in Edmonton closer together.

Dan: I used to find all these amazing things that happened all around the city and I would sometimes get a chance to talk to some of my friends who might be interested in it. More often than not no one would care, but I would tell them anyways. Now we get a chance to find the different people around this city who have similar passions as we do and we get to share it with them. To me, that's super exciting!

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What is the Northern Nerd Network?

Trina: It’s a YouTube channel that showcases the nerdy/geeky people, places and events in and around the Edmonton area. Our goal is to bring the geek/nerd community in Edmonton closer together.

Dan: I used to find all these amazing things that happened all around the city and I would sometimes get a chance to talk to some of my friends who might be interested in it. More often than not no one would care, but I would tell them anyways. Now we get a chance to find the different people around this city who have similar passions as we do and we get to share it with them. To me, that's super exciting!

How do you select events for coverage?

Trina: We find events that we're interested in going to. [We have some] people contacting us and inviting us to their events and we also try to find events that appeal to a variety of geeks/nerds.

Dan: If it interests me, I'll reach out try to open a dialog with them. More often than not, people love to talk about their projects. There have been a few times when someone comes out and wants to talk with us and as long as it fits within [our overall theme], we're usually more than willing to go and talk with them.

Why do you think it’s important to cover these events?

Dan: There are so many talented, passionate, amazing people in this city and so many exciting things to see and do that we feel that we just want to share that with as many people as we can. I love attending these events and seeing the various people who come up with some amazingly creative stuff around the city. The more we promote the things we like, the more we will see these types of events. I want to see all these events and various projects that people work on succeed simply because I want to see more.

Trina: We like to find events that are less known as well because we feel it's important to get the word out and support locally run events in the Edmonton area.

Issue 15, April 2015

it fits within [our overall theme], we're usually more than willing to go and talk with them.

game cafes because I like board games, or at one of the many events around the city.

Why do you think it’s important to cover these events?

Dan: There are so many talented, passionate, amazing people in this city and so many exciting things to see and do that we feel that we just want to share that with as many people as we can. I love attending these events and seeing the various people who come up with some amazingly creative stuff around the city. The more we promote the things we like, the more we will see these types of events. I want to see all these events and various projects that people work on succeed simply because I want to see more.

Trina: We like to find events that are less known as well because we feel it's important to get the word out and support locally run events in the Edmonton area.

What three events do you look forward to the most every year?

Dan: Every year I always look forward to Free Comic Book Day because I get free comics. How can you say no to free comics? Of course, I love attending the Calgary and Edmonton Expos--mostly for the environment. There’s something about all the cosplayers and the various panels. It's such a celebration of all things geek and it's such an accepting environment.

Trina: Edmonton Expo, GOBFest, and Table Top Day.

How has the Northern Nerd Network given you insight into the other side (artists/vendors) of cons?

Trina: I think it's allowed us to see just how much work and planning goes into the events that happen. It's given me a greater appreciation for all the people that work and volunteer behind the scenes at various events that we attend.

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What are your top three recommendations for great nerdy hangouts in the city?

Trina: Hexagon Cafe, Table Top Cafe, and the Lightsaber Class in Churchill Square.

Dan: When I get a chance, I enjoy hanging out at Mission Fun and Games on Saturday afternoons for X-Wing. Another place would be at one of the board game cafes because I like board games, or at one of the many events around the city.

What’s your favourite tabletop game right now?

Trina: My favourite game right now would be Pandemic, although I did have fun playing life-sized Dutch Blitz at GOBFest.

Dan: Number one is Star Wars X-Wing. I love Star Wars and the miniatures are amazing. Number two is Dicemasters, mostly because I love superheroes and I love custom dice, so that's just a given.

What are your three favourite video games right now?

Dan: I guess at the moment, I still play a ton of Destiny (please don't ask me why, because I'm not really sure why). I’m still making my way through Dragon Age, which is such an amazing game, and Lego Batman is a ton of fun. If you were to ask what my favourite game of all time was, then that's easy—the Mass Effect series. But if you were to narrow it down a bit more, Mass Effect 2 is the best from the series, in my opinion. Other classic favourites include Maniac Mansion and Metal Gear Solid.

Trina: Does Candy Crush count? I don't have a lot of time for video games lately, but when I do, I enjoy playing the Lego games and old school Mario.

Issue 15, April 2015

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