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jpate.bsky.social

@jpate.bsky.social
110 followers 141 following 30 posts

Writer who likes cult films, noir and Gothic novels. He/him.

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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Watched Sudden Fear (1952). I'm a fan of Gothic-influenced noir and this is very much in that mode. Joan Crawford is great as the successful playwright attracted to a struggling actor (Jack Palance). The last third of the film, where Crawford's character seeks revenge/escape, is especially good.
Movie poster of Sudden Fear
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Recently finished Patrick McGrath's The Grotesque (1989). Really enjoyed it. The novel walks a fine line between being incredibly bleak and disturbingly funny. Feels influenced by both Joe Orton and Edward Gorey. I definitely plan to read my by McGrath.
Cover of The Grotesque by Patrick McGrath
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Also from AWP this weekend: a copy of Brillo, by @p-cunning.bsky.social. Paul Thek, Warhol--really looking forward to reading this book too.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Had a good time at AWP in Baltimore this weekend. Really looking forward to reading the books I picked up there from @actionbooks.bsky.social. I'm a big fan of Jaime Saenz's poetry (his The Night is fantastic) so I was especially excited to see Two Poems, trans. by Ted Dodson and Kit Schluter.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Last week I saw Humoresque (1946) at the AFI Silver Theater, a movie I've been wanting to see for a while. A great film about artistic obsession and simmering class tensions. It's bleak but also surprisingly funny (mainly due to Oscar Levant's performance). Highly recommended.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Watched The Occupant of the Room and really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Christmas season ghost stories, and this one does a great job invoking an eerie, late-night, wintery atmosphere. Written and directed by @kierlajanisse.bsky.social and based on an Algernon Blackwood story.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Recently watched The Honeymoon Killers (1970). It's a tense, claustrophobic character study of two truly twisted individuals, based (very loosely) on the "lonely hearts killers" case. It's riveting and deeply unsettling. Scorsese was the original director before he was fired from the project.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Recently read One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This, by Omar El Akkad, about the the horrors being carried out against Gaza. An incredibly powerful book filled with passages like this one.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Currently reading Dorothea Lasky's The Shinning. This is one of my favorite poems from the collection--"High Ceilings."
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Recently rewatched Morgiana (1972), a Gothic/Decadent psychological melodrama directed by Juraj Herz and starring Iva Janzurova in the dual role of two sisters. It's visually stunning, as if Aubrey Beardsley had been in charge of the set design, and has overtones of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Watched The Loveless (1981), a laconic, highly stylized mood piece about a group of bikers visiting a small town in the 50s, and Kathryn Bigelow's directorial debut. There's definitely a Scorpio Rising influence here, and William Dafoe is great as the charming but psychotic lead. Really recommended.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Recently watched The Bitter Stems, an Argentinian noir film from 1956. It's one of the best crime movies I've seen in a while, exploring a man driven by political/familial demons to maybe (or maybe not) become of the villain of his own story.
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
In the mail recently. I'm really looking forward to reading this--includes some of my favorite writers on film (Samm Deighan, Andrew Nette, Kimberly Lindbergs).
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jpate.bsky.social @jpate.bsky.social · 23/08/2023
Recently finished Weird Woods: Tales From the Haunted Forests of Britain. It was pretty good overall. My favorites were a story about haunted statuary ("Man-Size in Marble" by Edith Nesbit), and one about someone who takes his Pan-worship too far ("The Man Who Went Too Far," by E.F. Benson).
Weird woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain
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