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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 11h

Say what you must about the movie itself, but the theme song is an undeniable bop. The blu ray disc menu is playing this on a loop right now. I'm having a great time.

youtu.be

Friday the 13th Part III (1982) Theme

YouTube video by Killing Moon

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 13h

Time to watch a very stupid movie that makes me unreasonably happy.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 20h

Slow rollout zine launch. I can handle a few orders right now. If anyone would like to buy Cartoon Chronology, a new zine on 1930-31 animation, now, DM me. With shipping, it comes to $14CAD for Canadians and approximately $17.50USD for Americans. Sticking to CAN/USA only right now.

My zine opened up, its text partially obscured by the cover of another zine copy on top of it.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 20h

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

That era of Godzilla movies has incredible poster art. I didn't seek this one out, I was blessed to stumble upon it.

Me pointing to my framed poster of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

KERMIT KERMIT KERMIT KERMIT KERMIT KERMIT

This is Kermit, god's favorite orange tuxedo cat as he crushes a duck plush while laying on top of a table

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For my essay on HALLOWEEN, I looked at Carpenter's form, and how it does so much of the heavy lifting in cementing the legacy of Michael Myers as a cultural boogeyman. www.patreon.com/willowcately... Sample paragraph below:

Carpenter and co-screenwriter Debra Hill are more interested in the primal qualities of monstrosity—the ghost story, the campfire tale, the boogeyman—but it is more than a little ironic that Halloween begins with an homage to Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960). Powell’s film was one of the very first slasher films to consider the psychological ramifications of a murderer, and he used the camera as a vessel to evoke the voyeuristic impulses of an audience who had a growing desire for blood and guts. In the early 1960s, mainstream English-speaking horror films were still usually taking place inside of the castles and the crypts, but with stronger implications of dissection and desecration in the form of Hammer’s pseudo-blood-soaked re-imaginings of Dracula and Frankenstein. Powell had been a director of great class, and respect in England, but was blackballed for Peeping Tom, and it’s numerous P.O.V. shots that put the gaze of the camera directly behind the eyes of a serial killer. Carpenter does the same thing to open Halloween. On a quiet, fall night, Michael Myers walks around the perimeter of the family home, ventures inside, dons a clown mask, selects a kitchen knife, walks up the stairs, and promptly stabs his sister again and again and again. Through the purview of the camera, we can see that he doesn’t focus on the anguish of his sibling, but of the repeated gesture of the knife going up and down. His upper-class parents arrive home that evening, and find that their son has undergone a transformation into a monster. A crane shot follows that pulls away from the home, with mother, father and child, all frozen in position. Rob Zombie’s Halloween opens with an inversion of this same shot, but instead of moving away from the home, he ventures inside. His vision was granular, heavily detailed with psychological and emotional foundations and imbued with realism. Carpenter’s is no less detailed, but the gesture of the camera moving away from the home suggests a ...

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I am kicking off a series this month on the HALLOWEEN films. I am going to write about most of these over the next few weeks. I want to try to answer the following question: Why has Michael Myers sustained in the cultural imagination? www.patreon.com/willowcately...

patreon.com

Monster of the Week: "Halloween" (John Carpenter, 1978) | Willow Catelyn Maclay

I’ve decided to write about most of the Halloween films this month in the spirit of the season, because a question keeps plaguing me: “Why d

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just listened to @thejoshl.bsky.social and Jamie go long on Friday the 13th Parts 1 and 2 on the first installment of their month-long Jason Voorhees @sleazoidspod.bsky.social podcasting extravaganza. Time to rewatch a personal canon film. Had I been on the pod, this would get the 5-stars from me.

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Neely O'Horror @feminaridens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

STAY TUNED our October episode of 'The Power of '73 Compels Us! A Year in Film Pod' will be two exploratory horror films completely free of genre trappings, each isolating us with a man and woman -- The Iron Rose by Jean Rollin and Ganja & Hess by Bill Gunn <3

poster for the film the iron rose, directed by jean rollin

poster for the film ganja & hess, directed by bill gunn

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Amy Steel is an icon. Earlier this year I hosted a Friday the 13th Part 2/April Fools Day double feature with a bunch of friends.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The video is also available over on youtube if that's more your speed. Sorry for spamming this. I worked on it a very long time & I just want to get it out there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wDU...

youtube.com

Video Essay: "Loving the Monster" | CAMP MIASMA | MUBI

YouTube video by MUBI

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

My Bloody Valentine is one of the realest movies ever made about rural Canadians. It's also one of the realest movies ever made about the working class. It's simply one of the realest movies.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The wine glasses have been refilled. Impromptu slasher double feature.

My Bloody Valentine (1981) Unrated Cut disc menu on the TV

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It truly is. I'm really taken with it.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm always watching Friday the 13th movies.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The next 90 minutes will be good.

An open bottle of wine, two glasses full, and Friday the 13th (1980) menu screen on the TV.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Poe is wonderful material for film because of the imagination it pulls out of the artist. Poe's stories on the page are so brief, mere set-piece finales, that filmmakers get to craft original narratives out of that build up to and revolve around the iconography.

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Mike @jacobeantragedy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

An incredible essay. Need the hour long cut.

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

CAMP MIASMA is now available on VOD if you somehow haven't already seen it. I'm happy with how my video essay turned out and I am also encouraged that people seem to like it. Thanks <3

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A filmography that has a million little moments like that. He never probably scripted a single film. He used rough guidelines that he would rewrite or scrap on a whim, and just vibed with the actors (usually family and friends) to see what they wanted to contribute.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Lemon Grove Kids is transcendent. Rat Pfink a Boo Boo is probably the other film that comes closest to hitting those highs.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I adore Ray Dennis Steckler's movies. Each one a broken object, but there's something so sublime about the jagged edges of his work. And while undoubtedly unpolished, he has an unexpected charisma as an actor. Could have maybe been a notable character actor if he didn't pursue directing.

Ray Dennis Steckler himself in Wild Guitar

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It Slays Podcast @itslayspodcast.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

We want to hear your opinions on SPOOKIES (1986) Would you give it a NAY, OKAY, YAY or SLAY? There is 2 ways to do it: 1) Comment 2) Send a voice note to itslayspodcast@gmail.com

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If you liked this video essay then you'd probably also like my book CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF TRANSNESS IN CINEMA. There's a substantial portion dedicated to the movies covered in the opening section of this video essay. bookshop.org/p/books/corp...

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My 15th Bugs Bunny piece is up. There's some great stuff in this short revolving around Bugs using hypnosis to turn Elmer Fudd into a doppelganger of himself, breaking the fabric of accepted Bugs Bunny cartoon reality. A pretty good early Freleng/Maltese Bugs short.

strawberrypenguin.ca

The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942)

Premiering in cinemas on October 31st, The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) isn’t soaked in Universal Monster or German Expressionist gothic imagery like future Bugs Bunny scare-fests Hair-Raising Har…

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Earlier this year, I stated that I was working on something comprehensive about CAMP MIASMA. This is a video essay on the history of trans psycho killers and how CAMP MIASMA uses that history for subversion and reclamation. I hope you enjoy it. mubi.com/en/program-n...

mubi.com

Loving the Monster

Watch truly great cinema. Wherever you are. From iconic, award-winning directors to emerging auteurs. Transformative films from all over the world. Stream Now. Download to watch Offline. Start your fr...

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Rob Dunson, Collateral Beautician @wormsgreenrealm.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Made this last year and thought about making a brand new one for 2026 but I haven't really seen THAT much new stuff that would merit inclusion so I'm just sharing again. So once again: Rob's Spooky List for October Viewing. Mostly short work, mostly work you can watch easily for free online.

letterboxd.com

rob's spooky list

a vibes-based list for those looking for rob-core spooky season viewings, prioritizing short work links to ones available online in the notes

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

May the spirits treat us well this month.

Betty Boop with open-mouthed ghostly apparitions behind her.

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Death Riders forever Pac forever

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wrestling is special. Only a community like this can band together in moments of absolute darkness, put on a show that illustrates why you love this artform so much, and make you see the light.

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I believe that Mabel Cheung's AN AUTUMN'S TALE is currently available on the Criterion Channel. It is a fantastic film and a great place to start with Cheung. A sample of this essay can also be read over here: letterboxd.com/catelyn/film...

letterboxd.com

A review of Eight Taels of Gold (1989)

Some films feel as if they hold the entire world in the frame, because they are so lovingly detailed that our emotions feel as though they emanate from the characters. We’re right there with them. Che...

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I wrote about EIGHT TAELS OF GOLD, and Mabel Cheung's extraordinary abilities to tell romantic stories. She's an unbelievable director and I hope she will be widely rediscovered someday. www.patreon.com/willowcately...

The organic quality seen in her pauses, her integration of characters within the space, and the accumulation of little moments building to a whole is also emblematic of the strengths in her romantic film Eight Taels of Gold. Some films feel as if they hold the entire world in the frame, because they are so lovingly detailed that our emotions feel as though they emanate from the characters. We’re right there with them. Cheung’s characters in these two films encounter the great swell of meaning that can be achieved through romance, and her characters grasp its greatest possibilities of fulfillment and heartbreak. This sometimes even occurs in the same scene. The great David Bordwell called the temperament of Hong Kong cinema, “an unabashed appeal to emotion.”, and I think about this movie when I read that phrase. Romantic films are usually prone to contrivances of separation and reintegration—those operas of want—and while Cheung’s films may seem like they contain those devices of conflict, she makes them seem quotidian. It is a very hard trick to pull off, but she does so with the elegance of a David Lean, whose Brief Encounter (1945), remains the model for all romantic films.

a still image from EIGHT TAELS OF GOLD of a young couple (a man and a woman) approaching an older man who is sitting by a tree.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I enjoy some of the mindlessly violent Scrappys that weirdly sorta anticipate the violent gags of character vs character cartoons of the '40s and '50s (though obviously lacking the comic timing of those), but the series is in such a rough patch when the animators keep repeating caricature spots.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I may have found the most disturbing pre-code cartoon. Caricatures of Hollywood icons in animation were common place by 1933, and the Scrappy series riffs on it in a horrifying manner and asks: What if these Hollywood personalities also had infant bodies? This is "Hollywood Babies" (1933).

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

More movie titles should look like the direct Japanese-to-English translations of Dragon Ball Z episode titles.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Movie titles have become such a bore. A movie about a man trapped inside of a whale's belly is called Whalefall? Cowardice. That movie should be titled "Swallowed By Whale: Must Escape!". I'd buy 10 tickets.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've upgraded my printing-at-home game, which gives me power. I fear I may become annoying in my zine projects in 2027. Stay tuned.

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Justine Peres Smith @redroomrantings.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For those who missed it, I've launched a newsletter on Substack to write about movies and other stray thoughts. If you like my writing, I'd love if you could subscribe! afilmdiary.substack.com

afilmdiary.substack.com

Red Room Rantings | Substack

Justine Smith is a writer who has been published in Little White Lies, Roger Ebert and Ultra Dogma. She programs the Underground Section at the Fantasia International Film Frstival. Click to read Red ...

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Last December I began mapping out an approach to a gestating idea I had, to watch every early 1930s cartoon and chronicle the experience, a visual journal via a zine. By January the work had begun, and it became my new years resolution to construct and finish this zine, which I did after 8 months.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've been getting satisfaction out of the creative process of constructing a zine, it might just be what I've needed to approach these other back-burner arts and media project ideas I've had and done nothing with. Cartoon Chronology is likely only the beginning of what I'll do with this medium.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This month I had a decent little batch printed up and I circulated them among friends, hosted a zine-launch classic pre-code cartoons night with friends featuring an evening of entertainment I curated, and sold some across a couple local micro businesses. I've now begun printing for online shipping.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

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Alex Kittle @alexxkittle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The first four illustrations of my 2027 Cinematic Cats calendar! Eight more to go! Now available for pre-order from both my etsy and ko-fi shops! www.etsy.com/listing/4583... ko-fi.com/s/1ae08cade0

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night illustration.

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Neely O'Horror @feminaridens.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

hard to really get across if you don't watch wrestling, but these ppl become part of the rhythms in your day-to-day life. watching aew, you are seeing a performer, live, on television up to twice a week for every week of the year. the wrestling world exists alongside you, and so do the ppl in it

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ooh, I like that. The one downside to my playlist is when the Scream Factory logo screams at you before the trailers. And playlists are only tolerable for Premium users lol.

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T. J. Dobbin @tjamesdobbin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Fun thing about mine is that it's roughly chronological, so it's fun to have on and observe the fashion shifts lol

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