Nearly one hundred years ago Universal Pictures got into the monster business, and created a legacy that has not been matched. The Mummy; Dracula; Frankenstein; and The Wolf Man were four characters that cemented Universal as the studio where monster movies were made, and audiences thrilled.

Dracula
Frankenstein
The Mummy
The Wolf Man

Universal also added The Invisible Man; and The Creature from The Black Lagoon.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will talk about these early horror films, and more recent ones.

We will also do our recent either/or segment.

Our special guest is Michael Rowe. See author photo and bio below.

Michael Rowe is the Shirley Jackson Award-finalist author of three novels, Enter, Night, Wild Fell, and October, all available from Open Road Media, as well as an essayist and former journalist.

A 17-year veteran of Fangoria magazine, he is also a National Magazine Award finalist, a GLAAD Media Award co-finalist, and the winner of the Randy Shilts Award for Nonfiction from the New York Publishing Triangle.

His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous venues in Canada and the United States including the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Canadian Notes and Queries, and the Boston Globe.  Born in Ottawa, he has lived in Beirut, Havana, Geneva, and Paris. He currently resides in Toronto. 

This is the second episode of our two-part Exorcist episode.

We will continue our look at The Exorcist (the book by William Peter Blatty and the film by William Friedkin).

We will do our Dream Cast and Schrödinger’s Cast for the 1973 film. We will look at six key characters in the movie, and pick the actor/actress that would have best fit that role, and also an outside-the-box cast:

Regan MacNeil | Linda Blair
Chris MacNeil | Ellen Burstyn
Father Damien Karras | Jason Miller
Father Lankester Merrin | Max von Sydow
Lt. William Kinderman | Lee J. Cobb
Burke Dennings | Jack Macgowran

Troy Harkin and David Clink will continue to look at the book and the movie, and talk about the impact that they have had.

Our special guest, from episode 1, is back for episode 2. Valentino Assenza will have a lot to add about the 1973 film. See author photo and bio below.

Valentino Assenza has been a published poet and performing spoken word artist for over the last two decades.

In that time he has released four chapbooks and performed all over Canada and the US.

Valentino has been a co-host and co-producer of HOWL on CIUT 89.5FM, where he has interviewed names such as George Elliott Clarke, Anne Michaels, Denise Donlon, Ron Sexsmith, and Margaret Atwood.

The Exorcist is a book by William Peter Blatty, a film by William Friedkin, and there were sequels. The novel (1971) and movie (1973) tell the story of demonic possession. An actress’s daughter is the victim, and after exhausting all medical and psychological possibilities, they are left with a Catholic ritual to “exorcise” the demon from the child.

The book received a lot of praise, and the movie was a hit. Not since Psycho and Rosemary’s Baby has a film gripped the public’s imagination.

Here are six key characters in the novel and movie, and the actor/actress that played the role in the 1973 film:

Regan MacNeil | Linda Blair
Chris MacNeil | Ellen Burstyn
Father Damien Karras | Jason Miller
Father Lankester Merrin | Max von Sydow
Lt. William Kinderman | Lee J. Cobb
Burke Dennings | Jack Macgowran

Troy Harkin and David Clink will look at the book and the movie, and talk about the impact that they have had.

Our special guest is Valentino Assenza. He will also be our guest for part 2. Valentino will have a lot to add about the 1973 film. See author photo and bio below.

Valentino Assenza has been a published poet and performing spoken word artist for over the last two decades.

In that time he has released four chapbooks and performed all over Canada and the US.

Valentino has been a co-host and co-producer of HOWL on CIUT 89.5FM, where he has interviewed names such as George Elliott Clarke, Anne Michaels, Denise Donlon, Ron Sexsmith, and Margaret Atwood.

     “The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.”

Chapter 9, page 40, Something Wicked This Way Comes,
this selection is from ISBN 0-380-97727-3. Avon Books, Hardcover, June 1999.
copyright (c) 1962, 1997 by Ray Bradbury.

This episode of Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi is part two of our “Something Wicked This Way Comes” episode.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a novel by Ray Bradbury, one of the great writers of speculative fiction of the 20th century. Bradbury was (and is) an influence on a generation of writers, including Stephen King.

The story idea began in Bradbury’s head, and found its way out via a short story, a comic, a screenplay, a novel, and a movie.

Troy Harkin and David Clink continue to look at the pivotal novel, in all its iterations.

We will also do our Dream Casting, and our Outside-The-Box Casting, which David has referred to as “Scream Casting,” but, going forward, may be called “Schrödinger’s Cast.”

Our special guest continues to be Sandra Kasturi. She was our special guest for pt. 1 (Episode 13). See author photo (a different one, this time) and a bio (same one from episode 13) below.

Sandra Kasturi is an award-winning poet, writer, and editor, with work appearing in many places including ON SPEC, several Tesseracts anthologies, and 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin.

Her two poetry collections are: The Animal Bridegroom (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman) and Come Late to the Love of Birds (both from Tightrope Books).

Sandra recently won second prize in The New Quarterly’s Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest. She is also the winner of the Sunburst Award for her story “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” and ARC Magazine‘s Poem of the Year Award for “Old Men, Smoking.”

     “They peered in at the merry-go-round which lay under a dry rattle and roar of wind-tumbled oak trees. Its horses, goats, antelopes, zebras, speared through their spines with brass javelins, hung contorted as in a death rictus, asking mercy with their fright-colored eyes, seeking revenge with their panic-colored teeth.”

Chapter 18, page 73, Something Wicked This Way Comes,
this selection is from ISBN 0-380-97727-3. Avon Books, Hardcover, June 1999.
copyright (c) 1962, 1997 by Ray Bradbury.

Why do so many people who have read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury consider it a classic, and one of their favorite novels? What is it about this tale of good vs. evil, carnivals and side shows, that stays with us?

This is the story of two children, Will Halloway, and Jim Nightshade. They are both thirteen years old, born minutes apart, living across the street from each other, best friends. This is their adventure, an adventure that will take them to a carnival with a Ferris wheel, a mirror maze, an illustrated man, and the most beautiful woman in the world, an adventure that will forever change them and the town they live in.

The cast of characters include:
A lightning-rod salesman.
A dust witch.
A father working as a janitor working in a library who feels that he failed his son when he needed him most.
And the two men who run the carnival, Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger.

Some characters in the novel long for the past.
Others have an eye to the future.
And the ever-pressing present rolling forward that no one can avoid.

And wishes do come with a price.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will look at the novel, the movie, the comic book, the short story it was all based on, and try to provide the answers.

We are introducing a new segment with this episode:
“These are a few of our favorite words”
This is where Troy, David and their special guest will read short excerpts from their favorite passages in the novel.

Our special guest is Sandra Kasturi. See author photo and bio below..

Sandra Kasturi is an award-winning poet, writer, and editor, with work appearing in many places including ON SPEC, several Tesseracts anthologies, and 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin.

Her two poetry collections are: The Animal Bridegroom (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman) and Come Late to the Love of Birds (both from Tightrope Books).

Sandra recently won second prize in The New Quarterly’s Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest. She is also the winner of the Sunburst Award for her story “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” and ARC Magazine‘s Poem of the Year Award for “Old Men, Smoking.”

Season 1
Episode 3
“Recent, Current, and Upcoming Sci-Fi”

Troy Harkin and David Clink discuss recent and current speculative (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, …) movies and TV. They will also provide info on what is upcoming. There is no special guest for this episode.

Spoiler alert: specific plot points may be discussed.