John Shelton

Writer/Podcast Host/Professor

Born and raised in the back of a video store, Shelton went beyond the hills and crossed the seven seas as BGH's foreign correspondent before settling into a tenure hosting Sophisticult Cinema. He enjoys the finer things in life, including but not limited to breakfast tacos, vintage paperbacks and retired racing greyhounds.

John Shelton's Latest Posts

The Brood

By John Shelton on March 02nd, 2015

When David Cronenberg made The Brood, he was in the midst of prolonged divorce proceedings which included a nasty custody battle for his daughter. The resulting film was a bitter attack on his ex-wife, a dark meditation on the cycle of familial abuse, and a boffo monster movie featuring pint-sized trolls in puffy jackets.

Borgman

By John Shelton on February 05th, 2015

Imagine showing a vampire movie to someone who has no pre-existing knowledge of vampires. They would probably be baffled trying to piece together all the rules that usually need no explanation. Sunlight burns them? They have to drink the blood of the living to survive? They can be hurt by a specific geometric shape? The concept of “vampire” is so familiar to anyone who has seen a movie, cartoon or Halloween costume in the last 50 years, that we don’t need an extended scene of Dr. Van Expositioning laying out the rules.

Proxy

By John Shelton on January 27th, 2015

Proxy opens with the kind of scene that lets more sensitive viewers know that this might not be the movie for them. After a visit to the OB/GYN, a pregnant woman named Esther is brutally attacked by a hooded assailant and repeatedly smashed in the belly with a brick. It’s a hard-to-watch scene that announces the movie’s intent to go to unexpected, often unsavory places. It should also serve as a warning, that if viewers are not willing to go for a long, twisty, sordid ride, they should probably get out now.

The Slumber Party Massacre

By John Shelton on January 14th, 2015

In many ways, the story behind The Slumber Party Massacre is more interesting that what ended up on screen. The script was originally written as a parody of the slasher genre by Rita Mae Brown, a prominent feminist and lesbian writer, who today is best known for writing a series of novels where a woman solves mysteries with the help of her cat. Producer Roger Corman decided to film the script as a straight-forward horror movie.

BGH Presents "Cardboard Skeletons": a Halloween Spotify Playlist

By John Shelton on October 31st, 2014

Halloween is here; the pumpkins are hung by the chimney with care, the werewolves are nestled all snug in their beds, and not a creature is stirring, not even a human centipede. If you need a last minute injection of some Halloween cheer, though, BGH has your back with another Spotify playlist.

90s Indie Rock Icons Unite to Steal Halloween Candy from Kids

By John Shelton on October 30th, 2014

Most people know the story of the Salem witch trials, but how many know the legend of Sweetapple the Warlock, who returns every Halloween to get his revenge on his false accusers by stealing their Tootsie Pops and Fun Size Krackels? On non-Halloween days, he also plays in a band with J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr, Robert Pollard from Guided by Voices and members of Cobra Verde. The band's called Sweet Apple. Here's a video with Halloween in it

And Now the Monster Mash Gets a Gory, Violent Reboot

By John Shelton on October 22nd, 2014

With the upcoming release of "The Town that Dreaded Sundown," the movie industry will have officially finished its 15 year performance art project of rebooting every horror movie made between 1976 and 1987.

Best of 2013 - Shelton's Take

By John Shelton on December 16th, 2013

Editor's note: all week we'll be bringing you the BGH crew's best of 2013. Each writer gets a ballot and a post. On Friday, find out the crew's final vote.

Hell Baby

By John Shelton on September 25th, 2013

When comedy meets horror, it’s never an even mix. How much do “A Haunted House” and “An American Werewolf in London” really have in common? Not much, but any list of horror-comedies would probably include both. Instead of the “one size fits all” approach we currently take, it might be more helpful to differentiate between “horror-comedies” and “comedy-horrors.” In other words, is this a horror movie with comedic elements or a comedy that takes place within the trapping of a horror movie?

Sound of My Voice

By John Shelton on August 28th, 2013

Making a film is a lot like leading a cult. It really doesn’t matter how plausible your story is, it’s how you tell it. With enough misdirection and slight of hand, plus a healthy dose of charisma, people who are willing to believe will line up to get on board. In the arthouse sci fi thriller “Sound of My Voice Brit Marling (who also wrote the film) plays Maggie, a cult leader who claims to

John Shelton

Writer/Podcast Host/Professor

John Shelton's Latest Posts

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