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Appropriately subtitled "An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films," House Of Psychotic Women is half memoir, half analysis as Janisse superbly probes both her own life and a host of films, creating a both a riveting read and a compendium of pictures you'll be dying to see.

And many of them are playing Los Anegeles' Cinefamily throughout February! Robert Altman's surreal classic 3 Women, the underrated Mia Farrow vehicle Full Circle (aka The Haunting Of Julia), obscure German psychodrama Der Fan, Lynch's towering Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the stunning, wonderfully insane Carol Kane-starrer The Mafu Cage and more all screen this month, many in 16 or 35mm. Janisse will be in attendance for both the February 1 showing of 3 Women and February 5's Play Misty For Me. 

You can see a trailer for the series below and find the entire lineup at Cinefamily's House Of Psychotic Women page.

Appropriately subtitled "An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films," House Of Psychotic Women is half memoir, half analysis as Janisse superbly probes both her own life and a host of films, creating a both a riveting read and a compendium of pictures you'll be dying to see.

And many of them are playing Los Anegeles' Cinefamily throughout February! Robert Altman's surreal classic 3 Women, the underrated Mia Farrow vehicle Full Circle (aka The Haunting Of Julia), obscure German psychodrama Der Fan, Lynch's towering Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the stunning, wonderfully insane Carol Kane-starrer The Mafu Cage and more all screen this month, many in 16 or 35mm. Janisse will be in attendance for both the February 1 showing of 3 Women and February 5's Play Misty For Me. 

You can see a trailer for the series below and find the entire lineup at Cinefamily's House Of Psychotic Women page.

by Steve Dollar

Montreal-based film critic and programmer Kier-La Janisse explores how her own life as an adopted child with disruptive behavioral issues is intricately wired to a particular strain of cinephilia in "House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films" (Fab Press; $29.99). On one level, Janisse offers a spirited, incisive, and refreshingly plain-spoken analysis of movies that range from widely discussed auteurist psychodramas (3 Women, The Devils, Audition, Antichrist) to more furtive enthusiasms of the sort once tucked away in the back corner of the kind of video stores where she once worked: The Mafu Cage, with Carol Kane as the infantile, volatile half of a Sapphic sibling relationship with Lee Grant; or The Witch Who Came from the Sea, with Millie Perkins as a sexually abused child who grows up to be a serial-killing seductress with a mermaid tattooed across her belly.

At the end of this month, author and Fango contributor Kier-La Janisse is coming to town for a three-film series called “House of Psychotic Women,” tied to her excellent new book of the same title (available from Fab Press). Showing at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street) are Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage, starring Lee Grant and Carol Kane, on Friday, November 30 at 7:15 p.m.; Sidney J. Furie’s The Entity (pictured above), starring Barbara Hershey (Friday the 30th at 9:45 p.m.) and Matt Cimber’s The Witch Who Came From The Sea, starring Millie Perkins (Saturday, December 1 at 10 p.m.). Janisse will introduce the movies and sell her book at the screenings on the 30th; for more info and to order tickets, click here.

Also at the venue, a 35mm print of Gary Sherman’s underground cult fave Raw Meat (a.k.a. Death Line), starring Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee,...

At the end of this month, author and Fango contributor Kier-La Janisse is coming to town for a three-film series called “House of Psychotic Women,” tied to her excellent new book of the same title (available from Fab Press). Showing at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street) are Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage, starring Lee Grant and Carol Kane, on Friday, November 30 at 7:15 p.m.; Sidney J. Furie’s The Entity (pictured above), starring Barbara Hershey (Friday the 30th at 9:45 p.m.) and Matt Cimber’s The Witch Who Came From The Sea, starring Millie Perkins (Saturday, December 1 at 10 p.m.). Janisse will introduce the movies and sell her book at the screenings on the 30th; for more info and to order tickets, click here.

Also at the venue, a 35mm print of Gary Sherman’s underground cult fave Raw Meat (a.k.a. Death Line), starring Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee,...

At the end of this month, author and Fango contributor Kier-La Janisse is coming to town for a three-film series called “House of Psychotic Women,” tied to her excellent new book of the same title (available from Fab Press). Showing at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street) are Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage, starring Lee Grant and Carol Kane, on Friday, November 30 at 7:15 p.m.; Sidney J. Furie’s The Entity (pictured above), starring Barbara Hershey (Friday the 30th at 9:45 p.m.) and Matt Cimber’s The Witch Who Came From The Sea, starring Millie Perkins (Saturday, December 1 at 10 p.m.). Janisse will introduce the movies and sell her book at the screenings on the 30th; for more info and to order tickets, click here.

Also at the venue, a 35mm print of Gary Sherman’s underground cult fave Raw Meat (a.k.a. Death Line), starring Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee,...

At the end of this month, author and Fango contributor Kier-La Janisse is coming to town for a three-film series called “House of Psychotic Women,” tied to her excellent new book of the same title (available from Fab Press). Showing at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street) are Karen Arthur’s The Mafu Cage, starring Lee Grant and Carol Kane, on Friday, November 30 at 7:15 p.m.; Sidney J. Furie’s The Entity (pictured above), starring Barbara Hershey (Friday the 30th at 9:45 p.m.) and Matt Cimber’s The Witch Who Came From The Sea, starring Millie Perkins (Saturday, December 1 at 10 p.m.). Janisse will introduce the movies and sell her book at the screenings on the 30th; for more info and to order tickets, click here.

Also at the venue, a 35mm print of Gary Sherman’s underground cult fave Raw Meat (a.k.a. Death Line), starring Donald Pleasence and Christopher Lee,...

Let's face it, Kier-La Janisse is a force to be reckoned with.

Over the past 15 years, she has created the CineMuerte Horror Film Festival (Vancouver, BC, 1999–2005); founded the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies as well as the Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Center, Montreal's coolest micro-cinema (2010–2012); and programmed for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Austin, TX, 2003–2007). That's in addition to working for the Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal, QC), being the subject of the documentary Celluloid Horror (Ashley Fester, 2004), writing A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (published by Fab Press) and contributing articles for Filmmaker magazine, Fangoria and Rue Morgue, among others. And this extensive list is only the tip of the iceberg that is this woman's achievements.

I first met Kier-La in 2009 when she generously agreed to contribute to my Bloody Breasts documentary webseries by letting me interview her amid the craziness that is the Fantasia Film Festival – she...

It's been such a busy week for Austin film that we needed a second news roundup. Here are the highlights:

Fantastic Fest announced the first films in its lineup on Monday. The headline news is a red-carpet premiere of Dredd 3D, although no news yet who will be on the red carpet. The film's star, Karl Urban, was at Fantastic Fest in 2010 for the movie Red (my best photo here). Will he return? In addition, 17 other films were announced, including Wrong, the latest film from Rubber director Quentin Dupieux. No Austin or Texas films yet, but I've got my fingers crossed (coughBoneboyscough).The part of the Fantastic Fest announcement that pleased me most is a sidebar series programmed by Kier-La Janisse, one of the original Fantastic Fest programmers before she returned to Canada to program genre fests there. The "House of Psychotic Women" films tie into Janisse's new book of the same name,...

Judgment is coming to Fantastic Fest with the red carpet premiere of Dredd 3D and the festival's initial lineup of incredible genre films. Fantastic Fest will take place September 20-27 in Austin, Texas, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

Below is the initial lineup of films at this year's festival (as previously announced, Frankenweenie will have its world premiere on September 20 as the opening night film for the 2012 festival).

From the Press Release:

The future America is an irradiated wasteland. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington, DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge...

We are just under two months out from Fantastic Fest 2012 being unleashed upon genre fans making their pilgrimage of the weird, wild and bizarre to Austin, Texas. The final art for Fantastic Fest 2012 from artist Mike Saputo (as seen above) was recently revealed to the world, but now the first wave of film programming for this year’s event has surfaced. As always, there proves to be a wide array of films in genre, style and national origin available to film enthusiasts, listed below.

Cockneys Vs. Zombies (2011)

Us Premiere

Director – Matthias Hoene, 87min

When a badly planned bank robbery and a zombie outbreak collide, hilarity ensues in this balls-out, irreverent British comedy.

Dead Sushi (2012)

Us Premiere

Director – Noboru Iguchi, 91min

Japanese splatter action comedy is on the menu when director Noboru Iguchi & karate girl Rina Takeda join forces to take on flying killer sushi monsters in Dead Sushi!

Dredd 3D (2012)

Gala Premiere

Director: Pete Travis,...

Friday came & went and there was no Fantastic Fest 2012 announcement. We published a list of films we thought would play and so far, we got one hit on that (Dead Sushi). Fantastic Fest has officially announced their first wave of programming for this years festival. This is just the first wave and there will be plenty more films to announce between now and September along with the amazing events that are put on by the festival.

From the Press Release:

Judgment is coming to Fantastic Fest with the red carpet premiere of Dredd 3D and the festival’s initial lineup of incredible genre films. Fantastic Fest will take place September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One – a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets.

October 25th, 2010

Alien Anthology (Blu-Ray) – Fox Home Entertainment

Brace yourself for a whole new breed of Blu-ray: Four powerful films…eight thrilling versions…in dazzling, terrifying, high-def clarity with the purest digital sound on the planet. Two bonus disc and over 65 hours of archival and never-before-seen content, including the totally immersive Mu-th-ur mode feature, makes this definitive Alien collection!

Altitude (Blu-Ray/DVD) – Anchor Bay

Lost in a mysterious cloudbank, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends must contend with a freak mechanical failure that first sends their small plane climbing to an impossible height, and then plummeting through endless mist. After regaining control, the survivors are confronted with a horrifying realization – the very ground beneath them has vanished and a malevolent force lurking in the clouds wants them dead.

The Bisbee Cannibal Club – Chemical Burn Entertainment

Vegetarians are disappearing from the little town of Bisbee, Az. When a group...