The February edition of the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series featured readings by Laird Barron, a relative newcomer, and James Morrow, one of the field’s most-revered fantasists. First, Laird—whose dark fantasy collection The Imago Sequence & Other Stories just came out in trade paperback—graced us with a real-live work in progress, a story called “At the Hatch,” which is being raffled off as we speak in the fundraising lottery for the Shirley Jackson Awards. After the break, Jim fought through waves of uproarious laughter to read the first chapters of his two newest publications: the trade paperback release of The Philosopher’s Apprentice and the standalone historical novella, Shambling Towards Hiroshima.
Elsewhere in space, some of us are gearing up for Academy Award festivities on Sunday, while others are stewing about the Academy’s continuing lack of love for genre films (no, the animation ghetto doesn’t count). Consequently, for this month’s Ridiculous Survey, I decided to give KGBgoers the chance to talk up one of their favorite speculative fiction films that never got enough love, be it from the Academy, mainstream audiences, or even from genre watchers. Or, more succinctly:
What’s your favorite underappreciated genre film?
Check below the cut to see what everyone chose, vociferously agree (or disagree) with their choices, and add your own.
- Alaya Dawn Johnson: Serenity
- David G.: the 1993 Super Mario Brothers movie
- Devin J. Poore: Serenity
- Douglas Cohen: Pitch Black
- Dustin Kurtz: From Beyond
- Ellen Datlow: The Fifth Element. Ellen cites its “gorgeous colors,” which made it one of the first films to counter the visual effect of Blade Runner
- Eugene Myers: Dark City
- Genevive Valentine: Whale Rider
- Gordon Van Gelder: The Quiet Earth
- James Morrow: Man Made Monster, the 1940s Lon Cheney film
- Jim Freund: The Last Days of Man on Earth
- John Joseph Adams: Pi
- Jordan Hamessley: The Tingler
- Josh Jasper: Outland
- Josh Starr: Pitch Black
- Justin Howe: The Man Who Would Be King
- Laird Barron: The Audition the J-Horror film by Takashi Miike
- Livia Llewellyn: Solaris (the original)
- Liz Gorinsky: Gormenghast
- Mary Robinette Kowal: Strings
- Matt Kressel: the pilot of Red Dwarf
- Megan Messinger: Young Sherlock Holmes
- Mercurio D. Rivera: Dark City
- Navah Wolfe: Ladyhawke
- Nick Kaufman: Near Dark
- Nina Lourie: The Return to the Forbidden Planet (though it’s a musical, not a film)
- Nora Jemisin: Dark City
- Rick Bowes: Colussus: The Forbin Project
- Rob Bland: Back to the Future
- Rose Fox: eXistenZ
If I mistranscribed your answer—or if you’d rather I linked to a different webpage or didn’t use your full name—please let me know via my shoutbox. And if I missed you this time, please come find me at the next event!
[Image by Flickr user Anosmia, CC licensed for commercial use.]
