Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this holiday edition of Parallax Views, Youtuber, voice actor, and filmmaker Dave McRae joins the show this Christmas season to discuss the holiday (or is it anti-holiday?) horror classic Black Christmas, his and Bruce Dale's Black Christmas fan film, and his upcoming appearance as Freddy Krueger in the Wes Craven's New Nightmare fan sequel Dylan's New Nightmare starring Miko Hughes (Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Pet Sematary). First though, we begin the conversation by discussing how Dave got involved in voice acting and his career in that field.
From there we delve into the 1974 Canadian cult classic Black Christmas. Directed by Bob Clark, years before he directed A Christmas Story and Porky's) Black Christmas boasts stellar cast headed up by Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet), Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey), John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Margot Kidder (Superman), Art Hindle (David Cronenberg's The Brood), Andrea Martin (of the cult Canadian comedy TV series SCTV) and previous Parallax Views guest Lynne Griffin (Strange Brew, Curtains). Set in a sorority house around the holidays, this 70s chiller tells the story of a group of young women menaced by an deranged obscene phone caller, "The Moaner", who begins picking them off one by one. It's the classic urban legend of the "Caller Is in the House" a good number of years before the Carol Kane-starring thriller When a Stranger Calls terrified audiences. It's also a rather strange feature in that it mixes dark comedy and raunchy humor with horror approached through a slow-burn pacing that takes its time building suspense and an eerie atmosphere. In the course of our conversation we discuss this cult classic's creep factor, legacy, the two remakes/reimaginings that have been spawned in it's wake, the film's subversive subplot involving abortion, and more.
Then we move on to discussing It's Me, Billy. Set 50 years after the original story, the movie follows Sam (Victoria Mero), the granddaughter of Black Christmas final girl Jess, and her friends (Shelby Handley, Malaika Hennie-Hamadi) as they come face-to-face with the same horror that her grandmother experienced all those decades ago. Dave and I discuss the making of the short film, the professional nature and slick look of fan films like It's Me, Billy and Vincent DiSanti's Never Hike Alone (and how these types of fan films are changing perceptions of what a fan film can be), how they recreated the iconic creepy eyeball scene from the original film, adding the mythology of Black Christmas, actress Victoria Mero's stunning resemblance to Olivia Hussey, the possible sequel to It's Me, Billy, and more.
In the home stretch of this episode, Dave and I discuss Wes Craven's New Nightmare and the fact the Dave is starring in the fan sequel Dylan's New Nightmare as the dream demon Freddy Krueger. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.
The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance (On Zionism, Israel, Anti-Zionism, Jewish Identity, and More) w/ Shaul Magid
The Curious Case of the Attack on Jerusalem’s Armenian Community (+ Discussion of the Occupation, the Two-State Solution, One-State Reality, and More) w/ Daniel Seidemann
The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto w/ Prof. Daniel Boyarin
The Gaza War, Israel & the 1948 Expulsion of Palestinians, the Suppression of the Tantura Massacre, and More w/ Ilan Pappe
The Transformation of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Erosion of the Two-State Paradigm w/ Amb. Karim Haggag
The Israeli Bombardment of Gaza and Genocide w/ Raz Segal
Israel/Palestine from a DSA Perspective w/ Yaseen Al-Sheikh/Further Thoughts on Gaza w/ Filmmaker and Activist Frank Barat
Israel’s Bombing of Gaza, Henry Kissinger’s Booger-gate Moment, Alexander Cockburn Vs. the Israel Lobby Revisited, & Sen. Bob Menendez Skullduggery w/ Ken Silverstein
Israel’s Failed Bombing Campaign in Gaza and the Logic of Terrorism w/ Prof. Robert A. Pape
Networked Tribal Warfare, Israel, and the Gaza War w/ John Robb
Two Perspectives on Henry Kissinger w/ Michael Desch and Tim Shorrock
The ADL’s Forgotten Spy Ring Scandal and the South African Apartheid Regime w/ Mark Ames
Gaza and the Hundred Years’ War on Palestine w/ Rashid Khalidi
Gaza, War Crimes, and International Law w/ Kenneth Roth
Bombshell Reporting on Israeli Intelligence Failure & Bombing of Gaza w/ Dave DeCamp/Israel’s War Against Hamas w/ David C. Hendrickson/Iran’s Response to the Gaza War w/ Muhammad Sahimi
The Occupation of the West Bank w/ Dana El Kurd and Diana B. Greenwald
Netanyahu’s Doctrine, Attacks on the Press, and Embrace of Elon Musk + Israeli Left vs. International Left w/ Haaretz Contributor Etan Nechin
Israel-Hamas Hostage/Prisoner Swap, Israel Administrative Detention for Palestinian Prisoners, From the River to the Sea Debate, and Related Issues w/ Louis Fishman
Terror in the Mind of God, Or: Religious Violence from Hamas to the Messianic Israeli Settler Movement w/ Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer
Armenians Under Threat in Jerusalem + Spyware and the Lebanese Security State w/ Anas Ambri
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