Event Date

2015-10-13

Location

BRAHM

Admission

Suggested donation $5

Terror in the Hills: Appalachia in Horror Films and Ghost Shows in the High Country Tuesday 13 October, 7 p.m. Join us for a spooky evening of haints, horrors, thrills, terrifying treats, and repulsive refreshments! When many people think of horror movies that deal with Appalachia, the notorious film Deliverance often comes to mind. Though not marketed as horror, the sadistic violence in that film has influenced other more overt horror film scenarios set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Toney Frazier will discuss some examples of both supernatural horror and “just plain meanness” that are central to the representative scary movies from Appalachia in recent decades. Craig Fischer will discuss ghost shows, live events that would take over theaters and stage a kitschy yet atmospheric combination of horror movies, magic tricks, and in-person shocks during the 1950s and 60s. Fischer will survey the history of ghost shows (particularly the career of entrepreneur, magician, and Charlotte native Philip “Dr. Evil” Morris), and talk about the ads and experiences when ghost shows came to Boone’s Appalachian Theatre. Craig Fischer is a Professor of English at Appalachian State University. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, the editorial board of Cinema Journal, and the Executive Committee of the International Comic Arts Forum at the Library of Congress. He reads too many comic books and watches too many B-movies. Toney Frazier teaches in the English Department at Appalachian State University. In recent years he has developed courses titled “Appalachia in Film” and “Horror in Media, Culture and Art.”

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