spectral cinema

At Residual Noise, James Riley argues for A Field In England as a hauntological film

That makes two, then - with Berberian Sound Studio as the other. Not quite a movement, and one integer short of a trend according to the old journalistic rule. But significant.

The H-connection is clear because of Julian House's involvement in Berberian (doing the credit sequence to the film within the film, Il Vortice Equestre) and his making of an alternative trailer for A Field:

Riley points out where both Ben Wheatley's film and Julian's trailer overlap with a neo-psychedelic aesthetic but also how they differ and veer away into something darker and more unsettled:

"Here we have a similarly high contrast palette indicative of stereotypical psychedelic imagery. The trailer is shot through with the kind of mescalinized intensity described by Aldous Huxley in Heaven and Hell (1956). However, House adds a number of additional details. Unlike the smooth, HD black and white that embellishes the film, what’s emphasised in the trailer is the grain of decaying film-stock. House emphasises the degraded materiality of celluloid which seems to enhance the paranormality of the of the events in the filed as depicted in the film. The impression is created of spectral emanations momentarily captured on film with distorting results"

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Haven't yet seen A Field In England, really keen to. Recently, finally watched Berberian, having had the DVD sit around for ages, and thought it brilliant.

hauntology goes to the movies UPDATE

further to the previous post on Berberian Sound Studio: 

Sam Davies informs me that "Julian House didn't just do those posters by the way. He also made the only bit of the film-within-the-film (The Equestrian Vortex) that you actually see - the title sequence"

Presumably that must be this bit?

Sam also adds: "there's another sequence that's dropped in - it's an 'excerpt' from one of the films Toby Jones' character usually makes, and when I watched it I literally thought 'Ghost Box KLAXON'.

it's meant to be a kind of OU/local tourist board doc about the Box Hill area -- imperturbably placid RP narration, Lark Ascending, bucolic Surrey countryside in woozy BOC-cover tones... if I'd had to guess I would have said *that* was Julian House's contribution"

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And to think there were people who thought H-ology would never amount to jack shit...

Seven years on, it's still chugging along. The principals are still active, still make cool music. New recruits keep popping out of the woodwork, like the Ghosts of Bush House chap. The influence has filtered into other music zones (like left-field dance). As I note in Retromania there's been a couple of major art exhibitions of a H-y theme.  Now a movie. 

I never for a moment imagined that H-ology would take over the world, or even become "popular". But I am pleasantly surprised at its staying power...at the wide and insidious way its spores have dispersed and taken hold. 

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And for a post-prandial brandy, here's a track off the most recent Ghost Box release, Pye Corner Audio's  Sleep Games.

 and here's another

 

hauntology goes to the movies!

Broadcast soundtrack... Italo-horror flicks and their "beautifully bizarre soundtracks"... post-WW2 musique concrete ...  storyline  about a sound engineer with a "slowly deteriorating mental state"  ... when you tot it all up, Berberian Sound Studio pretty much is "screenplay by Jim Jupp, cinematography by Julian House, directed by Demdike Stare"

that owly faced actor Toby Jones who plays the sound engineer, he also plays Alfred Hitchock in The Girl, the movie about the latter's twisted relationship with Tippi Hedren

more info about the O/S/T for Berberian Sound Studio here

an interview with director Peter Strickland

with the other three parts on YouTube


wait a minute, wait a MINUTE... i bring up Ghost Box above, but i clean forgot: J House did the posters for the movie!

DJ Food posted about that a while ago (as did A Sound Awareness) and he/they also put up some un-used artwork that Julian did for the movie

lovely stuff

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and for dessert, some Goblin-pasticherie from the man like Umberto

and for coffee, some Cathy Berberian with Berio