Anne Billson can be contacted on Twitter, where her username is @AnneBillson, or on Facebook, where she’s the Anne Billson with the Cyrillic letters. (Note to Russian speakers – she doesn’t really live in Petropavlovskkamchatskiy. This is just a ploy to throw potential stalkers off the scent. Unless, of course, you’re a potential stalker, in which case she totally does live there.)
Or you could leave your message here. Please note that if you write things she considers unkind or unnecessary, she will remove the message, and you will not only be blocked, but also cursed with the Curse of Billson for the rest of your life, which after the Curse of Billson will be a very unpleasant one. And you don’t want that.
MULTIGLOM 
Hello – Very cool and amusing version/review of the Thing remake. Totally spot on. My goodness. How they walk you through stuff nowadays is beyond the pale. I was looking for the new Thing remake on the internet and saw your review and then I saw your “My Day by Jones” picture and I recognised it as I am a subscriber and big fan of The Irish Gothic Horror Journal. I have not read My Day by Jones yet but will do as soon as I get the chance. Anyway good luck to you and thanks for a cool read
Anne,
This is request not a reply. I’m not sure who to ask and you looked a great person. I’m preparing a poster exhibition for Amnesty International France on LGBTI rights. I’d love to have the photograph of Luana, Argentina, the first person in the world to be allowed to choose her gender. It appreared in the Telegraph on 27th September 2013 but I don’t know how to contact the right person on the paper to ask if we could possibly use it. I do apologise if this is the wrong forum,
Jenny (Commission OSIS Amnesty International France)
I’m afraid I have no idea who you would need to contact about that as I don’t live in the UK and don’t have a lot of contact with Telegraph staff myself.
Have you tried ringing the paper and asking for the picture desk, or maybe for the editor of the section the photo appeared in? (I’m assuming you’ve already tried google image) Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Just had a look at the article in question, and the photo appears to be from Reuters. Perhaps they’d be the people to ask?
all the best, and good luck
Anne
Anne, I found you doing the films-on-TV reviews in one of the Sunday supplements, and your comments always cracked me up. Your love for movies and knowledge of their history was evident, without being pretentious: reviews weren’t po-faced like so many critics, you weren’t afraid to take a knock at “well-loved classics”, and you liked your horror! Followed your column in the Guardian (more please, they are well thought out), and now I have found your blog. It’s 01:45, I’m in Afghanistan, should be getting sleep for the day ahead tomorrow, dammit!
And I’ve just realised that’s two Jameses in a row. Maybe that’s a thing?
Thank you James and James for your lovely comments. Great to hear from you both. Perhaps in future I should restrict these comments to people called James?
I have just changed the name of my blog and I think I may have broken your ‘follow’ connection. Apologies. Feel free to link again and I’ll try to stop tinkering with everything, losing all my Twitter followers and generally having to start over again and again rolling this boulder to the top of the hill. (sigh)
Dear Anne, I just happily stumbled across you on the internet, what a treat. I am currently curating rocks in Vancouver. Is twitting the best way to be in contact? Elsiexx
Hi Elsie! Lovely to hear from you. Vancouver!!!!! Yes, Twitter, or look me up on Facebook. xx
HI there,
looking for bloggers to write something about http://www.strugglingvampires.com 🙂
it is a new webisodes about Vampires in the style of `Trueblood` meets `The office`.
Hi Kristian, afraid I’m in the middle of a vampire-related project right now so trying to avoid outside influences which might broach similar territory, but I’ll put a tweet out there, if you like, see if anyone else is interested. All the best AB
Hi Anne, please could you tell me the best way to get in touch re book reviews? I’d like to send you a copy of FilmCraft Producing: http://www.ilex-press.com/books/filmcraft-producing/ and both the authors are in the UK next week for interview. Many thanks, Emily
Why hello, Emily. I am not Anne Billson. I am Greg Klymkiw. I am a producer and I also write about cinema. I’d be delighted to read this book and review it on my site which attracts (not bragging, it’s just a fact) a ridiculous number of readers internationally. I have a huge number of readers who are also burgeoning filmmakers, film students and alumni from Norman Jewison’s film school here in Canuckville called the Canadian Film Centre where I taught for a too-stupidly-many-number-of-years. Feel free to contact me on Twitter or Facebook.
Greg
Hi Emily, I can easily be reached via Facebook, but I’m not sure I can help you as I’m only a freelance journalist, so can’t choose which books I review – it’s up to the editors of the book pages to decide what they want to run. Have you tried contacting the books sections of Empire or Sight & Sound, which might be interested in books on film producing?
Also, I live in Belgium, not the UK, so I’m a bit useless, I’m afraid. All the best, Anne Billson.
Hi Anne
My friend and wonderful horror writer Lynda Rucker mentioned you last night as we were drinking some great red wine. We were talking about how we’re always on the look out for brilliant women of all ages who are living disgracefully gracefully.
I’m in my 50’s living in Dublin and creating new adventures and quiet havoc – except when I’m lolling through the veil of fatigue that is all part of the magic menopause! I find sleep, chocolates, red wine, bubbles, good books and the company of riotess friends helps a lot.
Looking forward to reading your books over Christmas.
If you’re ever in Dublin give me a yell and I’d enjoy buying you a drink at the Odessa Club.
BTW – I’m neither a stalker nor Russian!
Have a great Xmas.
Liz
Hi Liz,
Pleased to meet you and thanks for your lovely message. Will definitely get in touch next time I’m in Dublin. Look me up if you ever find yourself in Brussels.
Have an excellent Christmas yourself, and please give my best to Lynda too.
AB
Hey, Anne, Jeff Harding here. We met years ago at Grace Carley’s…. I have been thoroughly enjoying your stuff on FB. . Couple of things…. Grace is back home again after six weeks In hospital, still undiagnosed, but steroids seem to be doing the trick. Had a great Sunday lunch with her yesterday…. Also, got a friend who is going to Brussels for a day from London, to see Cosi Fan Tutti, and wonders where to have lunch….any ideas?
Hi Jeff! Nice to hear from you. So pleased Grace is back home now.
Re Brussels. Maybe Le Cirio? A long time since I ate there (I think the food is decent brasserie fare, though maybe nothing special) but the decor is fabulous, and it’s bang in the centre, right next to the Bourse: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d2032109-Reviews-Le_Cirio-Brussels.html
Also, The Greenwich (again have drunk but not eaten there) is splendid; I think Magritte used to play chess there: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d3153409-Reviews-The_Greenwich-Brussels.html
The Arcadi – not so grand or special to look at, but I’ve had decent steak & frites here, and the waiters are lovely: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d740569-Reviews-Arcadi-Brussels.html
Your friend may know this already, but just in case – as in Paris, when you enter a bar or restaurant, serving/bar staff will like you more if you immediately make eye contact and greet them with a cheery Bonjour (or Bonsoir in the evening). Absence of this formality will make you seem boorish, which I suspect is why many British people complain about Parisians being rude – not surprising they’ve been treated coldly when they’ve ploughed straight in and demanded services without the polite preliminary. This goes for small shops and businesses too.
Hope they have fun. If they’re female, advise them to wear sensible shoes – the pavements here are cobbled/badly maintained/full of potholes and there’s a lot of dogshit. But it’s a delightful city, maybe takes a bit of getting to know but worth visiting more than once, and the bars, the beer, the frites and the people are great.
Brilliant. Thanks so much….
Hey, Anne–I want to talk to you about a possible writing assignment…you can DM me on Twitter if you see this….
Hello Anne…it was great to read about another person whom was smitten with Louise Brooks and the charming tale you told of your experiences about wanting a similar haircut to hers is quite common…for I was a hairstylist and barber and cut a perfect bob and the LB bob was my favourite but as you found out…not many stylists could cut one on their clients!
I am actually writing a drafted script for a novel about a young lady who has inherited her fathers antique business and cuts a dash through the English bourgeois set assisting them with their woes and she is the epitome of Louise Brooks…wish me luck if you will!
Best wishes…Robert Fordham
Thanks, Robert. Wish I’d known you back when I was looking for that haircut!
A strange postscript: about a year after I’d had my hair cut like that, a friend and I sneaked a look at our art college tutor’s student reports during a party on the premises (we were studying Graphic Design) and it was clear he had been unable to look beyond the haircut. His critique of me was that I had taken the Jazz Age too much to heart (I can’t remember the exact words, but this is the gist of it) and I needed to stop doing all my design work in the Art Deco style. Which was utter tosh – I don’t think I did a single piece of work that could have been seen as even remotely influenced by that era.
I remember being baffled. Now I realise that, from his point of view, the haircut defined me.
Ms. Billson,
I read your piece in The Telegraph in which you wrote that you stay at the end of a movie to watch the credits. Will you marry me?
Adam Schwartz
Bloomington, Indiana USA
P.S. At the end of the credits of the movie “Bean,” Mr. Bean comes back on screen out of the dark and says something to the effect, “That’s all right–I stay to the very end, too.”
Yeah, OK! Anne Schwartz sounds kind of cool, don’t you think?
I have French friends who sometimes call me “Mrs Bean”. I try to explain to them that in the UK (where I no longer live BTW) everyone prefers Blackadder. But they persist with the Bean thing.
Hello Annie,
I am a third year university student writing an investigative article on cinema etiquette, how it has changed and is it too late to rectify the problem. I would quickly like to say that I really admire your writing and would really appreciate it if you could give me a quote or two about the change in cinema etiquette due to the introduction of home movies and/or about the future of the cinematic experience: I loved your line, ‘If people want to eat, why not screen them in restaurants?’)
If you could get back to me that would be amazing.
Thank you for your time,
Karen McCann
Cinema Enthusiast
Hi Karen, thanks for your kind words. You are welcome to use any quote from my Telegraph piece: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10014703/Cinemas-are-too-full-of-yakking-texting-and-slurping.html
This too may interest you: https://multiglom.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/front-row-confidential/
These days I prefer my cinemas as empty as possible – which is a shame, because a good audience can really add to the experience of watching, say, a comedy or horror movie. Unfortunately, nowadays the audience often seems to be competing against the film rather than watching it. Maybe cinemas should ban fizzy drinks – clearly too many people appear to be suffering from ADD, and are seemingly unable to last 90 minutes without some form of multitasking – talking, texting, eating noisily etc.
all the best,
Anne Billson
Thank you so much for the great reply.
So happy to be able to quote such a wonderful journalist.
Ever grateful.
Karen McCann
Dear Anne Billson
Please check out http://www.lkff.co.uk
If you would like to attend our opening gala and UK premiere of Hisham Zaman’s latest film “Before Snowfall” please be our guest, it is honour to see you in London Kurdish Film Festival.
If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact with us.
Best Regards
Roza Shevin- Coordinator Assistant
07984166953
Thank you for your kind invitation. Unfortunately I must turn it down as I do not live in the UK. Wishing you the best of luck with the festival. AB
Dear Anne Bilson,
my name is Manuela and I am a master student at the University of Bonn (Germany) writing a paper about your novel Suckers. Would you mind commenting on a few questions?
Currently I am analysing your novel’s vampirism in terms of capitalism spreading like a disease, vampires splitting in brainless Suckers and highly adaptive and transnational vampires like Violet, the motif being used as a means to have the readers compare vampires and human beings, or rather: notice the other (vampire) inside themselves. So the doppelganger trope is the means by which Dora negotiates her fragmented subjectivity, her postmodern existence that is regulated by current discourses of ‘cultural governance’ politics promoted by John Major. Thus, the novel depicts the shift from Thatcher’s ‘greed is good’ 80s towards a ‘Cool Britannia’ with culture being located in-between destroying binary oppositions in terms of nations, geography and sexuality, race, identities, etc. This shift is denotet by Violet’s return and building up an empire, localizing power in the city, operating from the Multiglom tower that starkly reminds of the DNH (Department of National Heritage); transforming high art, avant-garde and counter movements into (un)dead, commercialized popular culture
Would you agree so far?
To me, your novel describes, reflects and problematizes the political and postmodern conditions and experiences of the time brilliantly so that I cannot understand why your work has not received any academic attention. Granta designated you as one of the best British novelists and your descriptions and predictions about British culture have turned out to be true, as we know nowadays. Nevertheless your novel had no longer been in print two years ago, when we discussed it at university, and often reviewed as ‘flat’, ‘unwitty’ and lacking ‘originality’.
What do you think? Why do not more people recognize the novel’s power?
I read that you are writing a sequel to Suckers: Vampire City. Is it meant to be a confirmation of the propositions in Suckers, expanding the ideas introduced and a statement about society after the Millenium? Have Suckers died out or developed into vampires who take over rulership?
What is your intention in writing these (vampire) novels, Suckers and Vampire city
I would be very grateful for your answer(s) and hope to appreciate your novel appropriately in my term-paper. Thank you for writing such an inspiring and shocking novel!!!
With kind regards,
Manuela Zehnter
Dear Manuela,
First of all, many thanks for your message and the very nice things you have to say about Suckers. I am flattered and very pleased that you have chosen to write a paper on it. I’ll try and answer your questions as best I can.
Suckers was conceived in the late 1980s, after a dream I had (not a nightmare – it was too interesting for that!) in which the world had been taken over by vampires, and I had disguised myself as a vampire to try and fit in. I didn’t deliberately set out to try and satirize the policies of Margaret Thatcher, but since I started writing the story at that time, I think it naturally reflects my surroundings and the mindset of that era. For example, everyone in London seemed to be wearing black, so I thought that fitted in quite nicely, as did the hedonistic behaviour of “yuppies” who worked in the City, around the time that banking regulations were relaxed. But I’m a slow writer, so by the time I finished, Thatcher was gone and John Major was in Number 10. Of course, when we look back at it now, the relaxation of banking regulations was the root of many (perhaps all) of today’s economic woes (and attendant sociological problems).
I think it’s probably a mistake (for me at any rate) to set out to write something to an agenda, or to try and peddle a message. I like my subtexts buried, for others to winkle out, and firmly believe that any ideas worth discussing will arise naturally from the story and characters, rather than trying to shape the story and characters to fit the agenda or message. I can now see many things in Suckers that I wasn’t aware of when I was writing it; some of this is a consequence of 20 years having passed, and now being able to look back at that era and see that my story picked up some of the trends that were only just emerging.
Suckers received what are euphemistically called “mixed reviews”. Some people “got” it, others didn’t. I set out to write what I hoped would be a cracking yarn that would be a fun read, and because I had always liked horror stories, I incorporated elements of the horror genre. I was surprised when I was picked for the Granta list because I considered Suckers to be a “genre” novel, not a “literary” one, and I thought the list would consist of more literary novelists. A lot of people were confused at the time, I suspect – because Suckers was a genre novel, a VAMPIRE novel (and vampires weren’t even as popular then as they are now, because this was before Buffy and Twilight) and because most mainstream critics despised – and still despise – the horror genre, so thought a horror novelist had no right to be on that list.
Also, I had (deliberately) written Suckers in a style that prioritised pace and rhythm and storytelling, as opposed to the sort of “lyrical” language and elaborate metaphor (and, all too often, lack of story) that characterise the sort of literary fiction that critics usually like – as you say, somebody found my writing “flat”. But I have no desire to astonish my readers by the dazzling power of my writing and vocabulary; I don’t want them to keep pausing to admire my literary skills. What I want, above all, is for my readers to keep reading.
None of my three novels is currently in print in the traditional way as I do not currently have an agent or publisher, and live very much apart from that world (perhaps if I still lived in London and socialised more with writers and publishers, my books would still be in print!) But I have made them available in e-book form, so at least they are available. Perhaps one day I will finish the sequel to Suckers, which is currently called Vampire Island (which might change). All I can say, for now, is that it’s set in London and Paris, like A Tale of Two Cities. But, of course, with vampires.
I hope that has answered at least some of your questions. Please don’t hesitate to get back to me if you need something clarified. Thank you again for your very nice message; it’s encouraging to learn that Suckers has not been forgotten!
all the best
Anne Billson
I’m shocked SUCKERS is out of print. It was one of the best novels of the 1980s in my view. I also found it v well-written precisely because it wasn’t full of tiresome, flashy writing, and drove forward the plot. Please do write Vampire Island!
Dear Anne Billson,
thank you so much for your answers. I finished my term paper one week ago and received a great mark for it from my university. I just thought I should let you know because I have really enjoyed working on your novel Suckers. If you and/or others were interested in reading my analyses I would be happy to send you my work. Maybe it could win you more or new readers and responses to your novel.The paper is about 50 pages long…
Thank you once again for this informal interview, for me it was a wonderful experience to be that close to the author whose books I really adore. Thanks for writing them!!!!!!
Manuela Zehnter
Dear Manuela,
Congratulations on getting a good mark, and I’m happy to have been a part of it. I would love to read your analysis – though maybe not just yet, as it’s probably better for me to finish Vampire Island first… This will give me extra incentive to get cracking on it, as I am dying to see what you have written about Suckers.
And thank you so much for taking the trouble to write, and for all the kind words, which have been extremely encouraging. Please do keep in touch.
all the best
Anne
Bless you, Amanda – thank you! x
Hi,
I came across your beauty blog multiglom.wordpress.com and really love your posts – honest, personal, and SUPER useful makeup tips that I know many women love too!
I lead all PR efforts for The Salon Outlet, a new online retailer for salon and makeup tools and equipment. The Salon Outlet offers products to help you, the beauty specialist, makeup artist, hair stylist, salon or spa owner, with those professional touches at a very affordable price tag – so you can spend your hard earned money on the products that matter most. We give you the practical, you do the pretty.
For our big launch, we are partnering with the hottest beauty and makeup bloggers, so I’m reaching out to you to see if we could work together. Here are different ideas we have:
1) Sponsored Blog Post. We’d like to sponsor a blog post for you, in exchange for $20. I’ll send you an article with photos – which of course you can personalize as you like.
2) Product Review. We’d like to send you a product, and in exchange, ask you to write up a review, with a link back to TheSalonOutlet.com. Can also be done in video form if you prefer.
3) Product Giveaway. You can host a contest for your blog readers and we’ll send your winner a product. Our makeup brush sets would be great for this.
Check out the flyer for more details here: http://snapshackk.com/theSalonOutletGiveaway.jpg
4) Video Tutorial using our Products. If you are planning to do makeup tutorials in the near future, use our makeup tools and mention The Salon Outlet in the tutorial.
We’ve got limited spots as we have several bloggers interested already, but after I saw your tres chic blog I wanted to see if you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity. Check us out at http://www.thesalonoutlet.com. We’re making final decisions by 4/27, if you can, please do respond before then. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Dana Ariel
dana@thesalonoutlet.com
Director, Public Relations | The Salon Outlet
Hi, thanks for your message and offer. But much as I would love people to pay me for my blog-posts and send me free make-up to review, if you had looked at my blog, you would have seen that it’s not a “beauty blog” at all.
I think there’s one post about lipstick, and another about breast size, but it’s more about films, books, photography and travel. Or anything else that occurs to me.
all the best,
Anne Billson
Crazy Roomie from Gaku – says Hello- we had a great fun time – loved all your pics – just a memory away..How come you never visited us ? We must find a way.. .sorry I asked you to comment on my new art-please google me and I will reward you if you can critique my art–I want you to be an artsy critic too – its only images —also I will introduce you to some great electro beat music by my partner too
-wanna do some music like before?
Take care and how chic and talented you are..its amazing to see how hard we work -thanks – Cheers Love NK…
Hi Nina, great to hear from you, and thanks for all your kind words. Next time I’m in the USA I shall definitely visit – though I try not to fly these days as I have a sinus problem and aeroplane travel hurts like hell. If you’re ever in Europe, be sure to drop in on Brussels. I would love to go back to Japan, but alas, finances are shakier than ever right now. I like looking at art, but not sure I could write about it… My field is more film. bisous AB x
pls lets do sound art soon – your voice is terrif
have lots time-cheerio
Hello Anne,
I’m just dropping you a line as there’s an event on at the Barbican you may be interested in,, Frizzi 2 Fulci, composer Fabio Frizzi’s tribute to his dear friend the giallo great Lucio Fulci.
It promises to be a fantastic event and there’s alive album of the only other UK performance of the concert being released around the same time. Is this something you would like to write about? Your Beginners Guide To Giallo for The Telegraph several months ago certainly helped me tentatively explore the genre beyond Dario Argento.
It’s on Halloween, please get in touch if you would like to know more.
Thanks for your time
Sagar
Dear Anne Billson
Danish educational publishing company Systime are in the process of relaunching our old publication “The Big Picture” in a new online format (iBook).
Once again we would like your permission to use your story “Sunshine” in the publication.
“The Big Picture” the iBook has a first print-run of 20.000 1-year licenses.
The story is not to be translated.
Is this something you would be interested in participating in?
Kind regards
Anders Christensen
Dear Anders Christensen,
Thank you for your message. Theoretically I am interested, but I can’t remember what our arrangement was last time. Was there payment involved? If not, perhaps we could work something out, for example, we could encourage readers to buy one of my novels, which I am in the process of reissuing in paper format.
Alternatively, perhaps you could point me in the direction of a Danish publisher who might be interested in publishing them (alas, they’re not educational, so obviously Systime won’t be interested). The rights for my first two novels used to be with Pan Macmillan, but they have now reverted to me.
Anyhow, do let me know what you had in mind; perhaps we could discuss it.
all the best
Anne Billson
Dear Anne,
Please write me on e-mail: ach@systime.dk
And we will discuss it in detail.
Kind regards
Anders Christensen
Dear Anne Billson
Danish educational publishing company Systime are in the process of relaunching our old publication “The Big Picture” in a new online format (iBook).
Once again we would like your permission to use your story “Sunshine” in the publication.
“The Big Picture” the iBook has a first print-run of 20.000 1-year licenses.
The story is not to be translated.
Is this something you would be interested in participating in?
Kind regards Anders Christensen
Just a fan letter really to express my appreciation of your film writing over so many years. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve felt you are spot on about what is good (or what is less so) in a film or about an actor. And always good humoured.
I recently bought (on iBooks – do you make anything at all out of them) your Film Database book – 4,000 thumbnail reviews. Terrifically entertaining, and informative. And, dare I say it, more enjoyable than Pauline Kael’s collection of New Yorker thumbnails (which is nevertheless very good and to which I have returned scores of times over the years).
Anyone who can start her review of The Road To Utopia with my favourite line in any “Rpad” movie – “I’ll have a lemonade …… in a dirty glass!” is really something! (Mind you, you have to hear Hope deliver the line, to get the full brilliance!)
Many thanks.
Thank you very much Steve, it’s great to get such heartening feedback, and encouraging to hear that the stuff I spend far too much time writing isn’t just vanishing into the ether, unnoticed and unread.
Also good to meet a fellow Bob Hope fan. Ever seen his tapdancing wars with James Cagney? (I guess tapdacning was just one of those things you learned in vaudeville) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28
Dear Ann ,, you might or might remember me ,i lived with Bruce Douglas and worked at The Screen on the Hill in 1980 im a yank!, I am ,,although havent seen Debs in years ,I live in brooklyn and have some photos that you took of my St Martins wedding dress ..just a hello ,,Im on FB too JoAnn Berman ,,turraaa xoxo
Hi JoAnn – did I take a photo of your fabulous tattoo, or am I mixing you up with someone else?
Either way, lovely to hear from you! x
Ms. Billson,
My name is Dave Robison and I’m writing to extend an invitation for you to write one (or more) essays for Vex Mosaic, a new digital publication launching in March 2015.
Vex Mosaic (http://www.vexmosaic.com) is a monthly review of essays, treatises, and explorations into the thematic pulse that drives contemporary speculative fiction. Our writers use today’s speculative media – film, graphic novels, fiction, etc. – as a flash point for commentary, exploring the nature of culture, society, and the human condition (your essay on Apocalypse Fatigue, for example, would be a perfect fit).
Given the scope and breadth of your commentary on contemporary and vintage cinema, I think you’re voice would be a powerful and eloquent addition to the Vex Mosaic feed.
I have a brief that describes the project in more detail. May I send it to you?
Regardless, I hope 2015 continues to shape up fabulously for you!
The very best,
David Robison
Editorial Director
Vex Mosaic
Hello David,
Thanks for your message. I’m afraid I have too much on my plate to write for Vex Mosaic right now. Maybe in future, when things calm down a bit? But it sounds interesting and I wish you all the best with it.
all the best
Anne Billson
Anne,
I appreciate your consideration and the need to prioritize. That’s going to be the ongoing challenge for this project, I think… the people with intriguing perceptions acquiring those perceptions DOING intriguing things. Lots of intriguing things. 🙂
Please consider my invitation an open one… there will always be room for you in Vex Mosaic’s digital pages.
I wish you every success and will look forward to the intriguements that arise from your efforts.
Best regards,
Dave
Good morning Anne,
I love the direction you take your writing of film, and I wondered what your thoughts were on this quiz: http://www.gbposters.com/film-posters-that-defined-the-90s
My team created it for a website client, and only afterwards did I notice and underlying theme. Why do men get all the best lines!? As a Drama and literature graduate I’d love to hear your thoughts…or maybe it will inspire an article for your website?
Kind regards,
Izzy
Hi Lizzy, thanks for this. Afraid I can’t look at it for a couple of weeks as am not currently within reach of reasonably fast internet connection. But will check it out when I can. Best regards, Anne.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for getting back to me! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 🙂
Izzy
Please write to NinaK from Gaku- we chatted and I wanna send a llink to music and pics-Thanks -You sound great, busy and adorable- as always- domo – search for me- cheers- Love the web site
lets go Asia
Hi Nina! Great to hear from you. I’m on the same email address as before. x
Hi, I come asking for your help because I want to know the name of a 90s European horror film that I’ve been searching for almost three years and that nobody seems to know about. I believe that this movie was from someplace in Eastern or Central Europe, as it wasn’t spoken in English or in Spanish (my first language). I also believe that it was filmed by the end of the 90s, and I watched it in 2000 or 2001. The film seemed to be of high budget, unlike most of the 90s horror films with cheap special effects and photography (“Full Moon Features” movies-like), in general it seemed grim and with faint/dim light.
The story took place in some European city in the present day –or should I say the past, in the 90s– and the plot was about witchery and demonic beings. One of the main characters was a Caucasian man with knowledge of such kind, and he was a good guy.
There are only two scenes that I can recall from the film; I saw neither the beginning nor the ending of the whole movie. The first scene that I remember consisted of two situations taking place at the same time: In the first situation there was a woman with blonde and short hair, who was likely the protagonist’s girlfriend, resting in a room and taking a shower in a white tub; then, some kind of black mist started surrounding her very slowly, without her noticing this. After that, the camera changed to show us the main male character (the guy with knowledge of witches and demons), who was in the library doing some kind of research about Demonology. Then, he walked to the librarian –an unkempt and grim old man– to ask him for his phone so he could call a friend, but the librarian answered him in a rude way that he would not lend him his phone. However, because the good guy insists, the librarian has to agree angrily. Then, as the good guy spoke on the phone with his friend, there was a book about demons open on the table near the librarian, and he told his friend about an old lithograph about misty and dark demons covering the body of a woman, just exactly as it was happening with the girl from the other situation/scene. Also, while he was telling all this to his friend, the librarian looked at him in a mockingly way and started smiling grimly but without making any noise (maybe he had something to do with the antagonists of the film).
In the other scene that I can remember the protagonist and his friend (the guy to whom he spoke in the phone) were in a car going to a scary building in ruins where the demons and witches lived, who looked like young white women with dark hair and who were also wearing old black clothes. After that I don’t remember exactly what happened but the protagonist’s friend stayed in the car, whereas the main guy decided to get into the house, but not before standing in front of a tall black gate with pentagrams on it; he had to rub with his hands those pentagrams in order to open the gate. Meanwhile, the other guy was still in the car trying to put a small crucifix inside a jar of holy water, which he managed to get stuck into the same jar. Then, as he tried to put the crucifix out without success, some kind of demon with the looks of a robust black haired pale man and white eyes appeared behind the car, walking slowly towards it; nevertheless, the guy with the crucifix didn’t notice him.
And that’s basically what I remember.
It is also worth mentioning that this movie is not any of the following:
•Constantine (2005)
•The Craft (1996)
•The Order (2003)
•The Ninth Gate (1999)
•End of Days (1999)
•Superstition (1982)
•Warlock (1989)
• I, Madman (1989)
•Listopad (1992)
•Necronomicon (1993)
•Subspecies (I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a movie about vampires, and like i say before, it
wasn´t spoken in english)
•La Setta (1991)
Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for your time and (hopefully) your answer!
Hi René, I don’t know what this is, but now I REALLY want to see it! I’ll throw it open on Twitter & see if anyone can come up with any suggestions.
Hi René – no luck, I’m afraid. I’ve asked some of the best brains in the business – people who have written entire volumes on obscure European horror movies – and no-one can identify the film from the scenes you describe.
What everyone is agreed on, though, is that whatever it is, it sounds GREAT, and we are all dying to see it. So I’ll keep asking around, and if you ever find out what it is, please pop back here and let me know so I can pass it on.
Someone even suggested that you might have dreamt it, in which case you should write it up into a screenplay immediately!
all the best
Anne
Hi Anne,
Many years ago I read a very enjoyable review you wrote of “Dangerous Liaisons”. I just wondered if you could possible put up on your blog your magnificent take-down of that horribly overrated film.
Best wishes,
James
PS. Big fan of your book on Michael Caine
Hi James,
Thanks for the kind words. I’ll try and post that review soon – it’s currently available in one of my e-book compilations (Spoilers Part 1) but I’m thinking of abolishing those soon & posting their contents on the blog, as they make no money, and the blog is always hungry.
Thank you.
Hello Anne! I’m putting together a poll of the best film scores from critics and industry folk and I wondered if you’d be interested in contributing a list?
Yes please. How long a list?
Ten please.
When do you need them by?
February if OK.
Oh, that’s ages! No problem.
Re Cats on film :
Hi I dont remember the movie very well but in the 1970’s thriller movie Scorpio, with B. Lancaster and A. Delon, I do remember the last scene where Delon makes himself the perfect target for the killers by taking his time to pet a cat on the sidewalk…Long life to your blog
Thank you for this – always happy to watch Delon (one of my Top Ten Most Beautiful Male Stars on the multiglom.com). A scene featuring him with a cat sounds like the motherlode. I shall check it out.
Since you were quoting Bonzo Dog lyrics recently on twitter, you may be interested in this retrospective BBC radio documentary on the band that was broadcast a couple of weeks ago. It even features a couple of soundbites from Diane Morgan (aka Philomena Cunk).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b072zn42
And to complement it the BBC have dug up Viv Stanshall’s Radio Flashes from the early 1970s.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04cfgn1
Fantastic! Thank you.
Hello Anne, I am searching for My Day by Jones with no luck, all amazon/smash/etc links are no longer active, will you help? I really want to read this. Thanks, Brian
Hi Brian, I’ve received several inquiries about My Day By Jones recently. I’m afraid it’s no longer available online, but it will be included in a book I’m preparing (print AND ebook, I hope) called Cats on Film, which I hope will be published before the end of the year.
If you’re still interested: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cats-Film-Anne-Billson-ebook/dp/B075QLC11W/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Hi,
First of all congratulations for your works (articles and pictures It’s great)
To be honest I didn’t know you but I’m a huge fan of aliens and I learn you write a short story about jones It’s an excellent idea 🙂
I was a little bit disapointed that I can’t read it because It’s not available anymore what a shame
I read on your blog that you will release it anytime do you Have a date ?
I didn’t know you remove this story and I wanted To tell you a lot of website use your story To make money
Unfortunately I paid (goodreads for example but a lot more got the same principle) to Have access To your book (you Have To pay first and after you can access ebooks) and after It’s said that It’s not available, It’s very bad To make money on your name that’s why I wanted To tell you.
You are working hard and some bad web site use your name (I don’t know If they are very bad but they can’t be good that’s for sure)
You are not responsible of course I just wanted To inform you
Anyway It’s My fault never trust the internet
The shame is that I can’t read your beautiful story god people got Lucky a few years ago To read it 🙂
I hope I will read it someday
By the way sorry for My english I’m french
Continue your great work
I wish you all the Best
Take care
Yours sincerely
Best regards
Didier from Paris
Merci de votre message, Didier. Votre anglais est impressionant; je vais essayer de répondre en mon français maladroit. Je suis au courant pour les sites web qui pretendent d’offrir les livres électroniques pour lesquels ils n’ont meme pas les droits. Chaque fois j’en trouve un, j’essaie de le marquer comme mauvais sur WOT (Web of Trust) car c’est tout à fait probable qu’ils essayent aussi d’infecter vos ordinateurs avec le malware ou les viruses, de toute façon ils sont les arnaqueurs et les lecteurs doivent les éviter. Si c’est possible, j’essaie de les obliger d’enlever mes livres, mais pour la plupart ils opèrent hors de la loi, en Russie ou quelquepart comme ça. Je suis désolée si vous étiez arnaqué comme ça.
Quant à la nouvelle sur Jones le chat de Alien, je vais essayer de l’inclure dans un livre CATS ON FILM avant la fin de l’année. Mais c’est difficile être écrivain actuellement – depuis les années 80s j’ai écrit pleins de livres – c’était mon métier – mais il y a très peu de gens maintenant qui veulent les lire. Une demi-douzaine, peut-être. Donc c’est beaucoup de travail pour seulement la satisfaction personelle mais aucune récompense ni revenu. J’aurai du devenir plombier ou éléctricien, pas un ecrivain. Mais trop tard maintenant!
amicalement
Anne de Bruxelles
Merci pour votre petit mot vous parlez très bien le français 🙂
Oui je comprends c’est pas évident mais comme vous faites de l’excellent travail ça va payer et vous serez récompensée pour vos efforts et j’ai hâte de lire votre livre sur les chats 🙂
Encore merci et pleins de bonnes choses pour la suite
Amicalement
Didier
et voilà! C’est fait! https://www.amazon.fr/Cats-Film-English-Anne-Billson-ebook/dp/B075QLC11W/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1510265092&sr=1-1
Please writ eback – we like your comments and are making 3D video too – see us there- Meguro gal
Remarkable that while The Guardian ran something like three different obituaries of Anton Yelchin, none mentioned that he was Jewish – despite the fact that it was critically important to his life (his family may never have moved to the U.S. otherwise), he wore a Star of David in some interviews, he played several Jewish characters (maybe as many as Eisenberg, actually), and he talked about being Jewish a fair bit.
Yet in the Guardian’s latest Jesse Eisenberg article, of course we are reminded that he’s Jewish, yet again, yet again, yet again (just as in something like 3 previous Guardian articles).
This is not exclusive to the Guardian, of course – something like seven articles about Jesse Eisenberg this week mentioned that he’s Jewish, including in another British paper, The Independent.
So: this week: British paper mentions of Jesse Eisenberg being Jewish: 2. British paper mentions of Anton Yelchin being Jewish: I think 1 (The Telegraph).
Like the Guardian, most other obituaries didn’t mention he was Jewish, either, with just a handful of exceptions and Jewish papers like the JC.
Back when JD Salinger died, The Guardian also listed a bunch of actors who could play the lead in Catcher in the Rye – and dismissed them all with a “Too” something. Jesse Eisenberg was “too Jewfro” (that’s a witty way of saying too Jewish, so laugh) and Anton Yelchin was “too Russian” (what the fuck?). There were some others Jews on the list who didn’t get the Jewish mention Eisenberg got either, of course.
Not fair how the media just “decides” some people are Jewish and some are not.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/23/anton-yelchin-cannot-be-replaced-there-is-no-one-as-normal-left-in-hollywood
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jun/19/anton-yelchin-star-trek-actor-dies-car-crash
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/19/anton-yelchin-cherubic-charm-star-trek-like-crazy-green-room
and of course
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/25/jesse-eisenberg-interview-film-social-network-superman-tom-lamont
I can’t speak for other writers, but would have mentioned it in my piece on Anton Yelchin if I’d thought it relevant. But I wasn’t writing about his family or upbringing or personal stuff. Whether or not an actor is Jewish isn’t something that really impinges on my consciousness unless I’m writing something biographical, or about a specifically Jewish story, such as the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man, or if Jewishness forms an integral part of a plot or character, such as Mamet’s Homicide.
I’m not on twitter so I thought I’d share this 1964 Esquire magazine article on the filming of Roger Corman’s “The Raven” with interviews of Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre which may be a relief from the incessant horrors abounding daily:
Anne
What camera(s) did you use for your Belgian indoor/ outdoor pics? Also, really liked your piece on Vampires for the BFI compendium Book and other related critiques which I use in teaching Gothic. Thanks for the wit & insights.
Mark, Dorset
Hi Mark, thanks for your kind words. This last couple of years I’ve been taking pics mostly with my iPhone – out of sheer laziness. It’s quite a good camera app, though I should really get back into the habit of using my Panasonic Lumix, which results in much better quality, especially if you blow them up large.
The nice thing about iPhone, though, is that it’s very discreet. No-one notices you taking photos with a smartphone, partly because everyone else is using them all over the place. But when you’re taking photos with a proper camera everyone tends to notice!
Hello Anne, I am working on a documentary film project about Fiorucci and we would like to feature one of your photographs in the film. Would you kindly email me directly so I can send you more information about the project? Thank you, Lilian
Hi Lilian, If you would like to DM me your email address on Twitter or Facebook, I’ll send you mine.
Dearest Anne !!! It’s Joann Berman from london Circa 1982. I still have your photograph hanging in my bathroom !!! It’s the only photo I have from the time in london. I remember you fondly am in touch with debs Weinreb on FB. My facebook is Joann Berman and my email isjoannberman77@gmail.com I’d love to hear from you so much. How are you. And where do you live. I’m married 14 years and live in brooklyn ny. I make fashion screen print and make furniture. I have a wonderful happy life I’m very glad to say. Please if you get a chance shoot me an email and I’ll
Find you on FB. Lots of love best always joann xoxo
Hi Anne, may I contact you about my project based on The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes? We discussed the film briefly on Twitter many moons ago. The website I’ve provided will give you some idea about the thing I’m doing. I’m @patrickkincaid on Twitter. All the best, Patrick