1791

Machine in the ghost 

Can a robot pray? Does an AI have a soul? Advances in automata raise theological debates that will shape the secular world (read on aeon)

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“… With some exceptions, this conception of automata and biotechne preceded the actual construction of robots, with legends about artificial life existing centuries before the accomplishments of a Renaissance engineer such as Turriano. Still, automata and artificial intelligence couldn’t help but have certain religious implications, whereby the ‘magical and mechanical often overlap in stories of artificial life that were expressed in mythic language’.

Even while simple mechanical beings were constructed in Ancient Greece (and the Islamic and Chinese worlds as well), legends about artificial life proliferated across cultures and centuries, and inevitably had a theological gloss to them. Kevin LaGrandeur, a professor of technology and culture, has written that ‘modern cybernetics is at least partially the product of a very old archetypal drive that pits human ingenuity against nature via artificial proxies.’ Witness medieval legends about constructed men, such as homunculi or the golem. In such stories, the emergence of an artificial intelligence allows for the exploration of creation more generally, where we can ask how unique the human mind is and in what way our cleverness can act as a surrogate for the divine.”

<<< 0173-Doomsday Book-2012/

1780 – Willy’s Wonderland (2021)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s remote Hayesville, Nevada

Willy’s Wonderland is a 2021 American action comedy horror film directed by Kevin Lewis from a screenplay written by G. O. Parsons. The film stars Nicolas Cage, who also serves as producer, along with Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Christian Del Grosso, Caylee Cowan, Terayle Hill, Jonathan Mercedes, David Sheftell, and Beth Grant. It follows a quiet drifter who is tricked into cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment center haunted by eight murderous animatronic characters. (wiki)

“At this point, Cage’s movies don’t have to be reviewed, but rather stamped with official certificates of weirdness.” Frank Scheck

imdb   /   rottentomatoes   /   Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)   /   The Banana Splits Movie (2019)

1774 – Gray Dawn (2018 video game)

timespace coordinates: Christmas Eve, 1920 London / 1910’s Romania

Gray Dawn is a first-person horror game from Romanian independent game studio Interactive Stone.

Embark on a terrifying adventure of a priest accused of murdering an altar boy. Gray Dawn is a psychological thriller infused with religious elements and combines story-driven quests with an artistic experience.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): – OS: Windows 64-bit, Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320, Memory: 8 GB RAM, Graphics: GeForce GTX 770 / Radeon R9 280X, Storage: 6 GB available space

steam   /   gray-dawn.com

1724 – Anything for Jackson (2020)

Anything for Jackson is a 2020 horror film written by Keith Cooper and directed by Justin G. Dyck. The film stars Sheila McCarthy, Julian Richings, Konstantina Mantelos and Josh Cruddas. The entire movie was made for $250,000. 

“There’s something deliciously subversive about the backstory to this offbeat horror film, which was made in Canada. Director Justin G Dyck and screenwriter Keith Cooper have collaborated on a long list of treacly, holiday-themed, made-for-TV movies with titles such as A Very Country Christmas, Christmas With a View and A Christmas Village. Anything for Jackson, however, is a riotously gory, impish inversion of all things yuletide, in that it stars sweet-featured elderly character actors Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings as grieving grandparents Audrey and Henry Walsh, who kidnap pregnant Shannon Becker (Konstantina Mantelos) in order to perform a satanic ritual on her. It’s as if Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer, the little old couple who lived next door in Rosemary’s Baby, got to be the stars of their own movie.” (Leslie Felperin review / theguardian)

With blood-soaked gore leaking onto the pristine snow and a unique spin on satanic rituals, Anything For Jackson will appease anti-Yuletide viewers looking to immerse themselves in icy depths of unsettling horror. (Rachel West)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1716

🎧

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Angel Heart (1987)

timespace coordinates: 1955 New York City > New Orleans

Angel Heart is a 1987 American neo-noir psychological horror film and an adaptation of William Hjortsberg‘s 1978 novel Falling Angel. The film was written and directed by Alan Parker, and stars Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling. Harry Angel (Rourke), a New York City private investigator, is hired to solve the disappearance of a man known as Johnny Favorite. His investigation takes him to New Orleans, where he becomes embroiled in a series of brutal murders. (wiki)

imdb

1593 – GET DUKED! / Boyz in the Wood (2019)

timespace coordinates: 2019 Scottish Highlands

Dean, Duncan and DJ Beatroot are teenage pals from Glasgow who embark on the character-building camping trip — based on a real-life program — known as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, where foraging, teamwork and orienteering are the order of the day. Eager to cut loose and smoke weed in the Scottish Highlands, the trio finds themselves paired with straight-laced Ian, a fellow camper determined to play by the rules. After veering off-path into remote farmland that’s worlds away from their urban comfort zone, the boys find themselves hunted down by a shadowy force hell-bent on extinguishing their futures. From writer-director Ninian Doff — making his feature debut after a slew of award-winning music videos and short films for artists including Run the Jewels, Miike Snow, Migos, and Mykki Blanco — comes an anarchic satire of generational politics, hip-hop loving farmers and hallucinogenic rabbit droppings that pits the youth of tomorrow against the status quo of yesterday. (rottentomatoes)

imdb   /   618 – Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

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Filmed in The Scottish Borders. In and around the Mennock Pass and Wanlockhead.

1525 – Gretel & Hansel (2020)

Gretel & Hansel (also known as Gretel & Hansel: A Grim Fairy Tale) is a 2020 horror film based on the German folklore tale “Hansel and Gretel” by the Brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Oz Perkins. Sophia Lillis and Sam Leakey portray the title characters, alongside Charles Babalola, Jessica De Gouw, and Alice Krige. The story follows Gretel and Hansel as they enter a dark wood in order to find work and food, and then stumble upon the home of a witch. (wiki)

imdb   /   rt