Lilyann Loraye
Bio
I am a freelance writer and cinephile dedicated to film oddities and cult classics.
Stories (4/0)
Campy Movies to Watch if You Love Rocky Horror Picture Show
Halloween matinees and cult obsession has followed the film ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) for decades now. Groundbreaking in its depiction of sexuality and unforgettable acting, ROCKY HORROR is an unapologetically strange and at times devastatingly tragic tale. The film is a mod-podge of science fiction, catchy musical numbers, sexy drama, and quirky comedy riddled with jealous murderous rage. Whatever about ROCKY HORROR that keeps you crawling back to watch it time and time again, one of these movies should help satiate your cravings. So, come up to the lab and see what's on the slab.
By Lilyann Loraye3 years ago in Geeks
“I look up, I look down”: Vision and Seeing in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Rear Window, and Stranger on a Train
Initial Insights Hitchcock’s manipulation of suspense, cameo appearances, and pure cinema ideology have become famous elements of his films. These three generalizations of Hitchcock’s films have become identification markers that allow anyone to recognize one of his films without even viewing the credits. However, Hitchcock was not born a master manipulator of suspense and many aspects of his films attribute the heart pounding and blood rising that viewers of his films experience. Hitchcock’s lighting and mise-en-scène have often been argued as some of the main sources of suspense, but there is more than what meets the eye. Hitchcock has a tendency in his films to allow access to his audience to the direct visuals that the main characters of his films see. In other words, the audience sees through the eyes of Hitchcock’s characters allowing the audience to step themselves into Hitchcock’s films. The limited or sometimes expansive knowledge of these characters through the character’s vision or eyesight becomes the only access of knowledge to the audience. From this limited point of view, Hitchcock effectively creates suspense in his films. Hitchcock’s manipulation of vision as a technique in his films developed overtime. Stranger on a Train (1951) shows Hitchcock playing around with vision, but over time with the making of Rear Window (1954) and finally Vertigo (1958), Hitchcock emphasizes vision even more to create different varieties of suspense.
By Lilyann Loraye3 years ago in Geeks
Eighties Horror Movies to Binge if You’re Doubting Consumer Culture this Pandemic
With all the time everyone has been spending at home during the pandemic, many people have found themselves making extra online purchases, binging the hottest TV shows, or maybe trying out a new hip diet and exercise routine. With nothing better to look at than screens, it is easier than ever to fall into the latest trends. If your wallet has a little to much room to breathe these days, incorporate one of these films into your next movie night to help cure your consumer craze.
By Lilyann Loraye3 years ago in Geeks
“Is he a poet?”: Questions of British National Identity and Love in A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Postcolonialism and the world wars had a devastating impact on Britain in numerous ways. However, the national identity of Britain remained the most ambiguous and at risk as the weight of imperial sins began to sink in. Britain’s strength and independence as a nation was greatly tested during World War II, as attacks were made directly on British soil and Britain found itself unable to win the war without additional support and resources. This instability is explored in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death, which examines the strange romantic relationship between a British soldier, Peter (David Niven), and an American radio operator, June (Kim Hunter), that begins after Peter survived what should have been a deadly fall from his crashing plane. The film beckons the audience to not compare the event in the film to those in real life, however, the making of the film right at the end of World War II suggests that the war in the film itself is also World War II. Throughout the film, the mise-en-scène emphasizes a rich British history that reminds the audience of a British national identity that had been effectively forgotten during World War II. The film showcases a world of juxtapositions between the rational and irrational through the film’s emphasis of British literary traditions, spirituality, and law. The endless contradictory dichotomies are proven irrelevant when love is showcased as the one thing that is both rational and irrational by the end of the film. Peter and June’s relationship should not exist and yet their love is proved valid in the realms of the film. This ultimate relationship between an American woman and a British man renders the question of British national identity utterly superfluous in the name of love allowing for an entirely new identity to be made, while acknowledging the traditional British identity.
By Lilyann Loraye3 years ago in Geeks