Episode 81 · Film year 1977
The Haunting of Julia (1977)
- Special Guests
- Richard Loncraine, Peter Straub
Show notes
This creepy, overlooked horror movie stars Mia Farrow as a harrowed wife and mother who unravels the mystery behind her new house, haunted by what might be the spirit of her dead daughter.
Our special guest co-host this week, Kier-la Janisse, is the author of the memoir/film book, House of Psychotic Women.
Our special guest co-host this week, Kier-la Janisse, is the author of the memoir/film book, House of Psychotic Women.
Labels: Kier Dullea Kier-La Janisse Mia Farrow Peter Straub Richard Loncraine
Links & resources
- Buy The Haunting of Julia on Blu-ray (opens in a new tab)
- Visit the Fab Press website (opens in a new tab)
- Buy House of Psychotic Women (opens in a new tab)
- Visit Kier-la Janisse's official website (opens in a new tab)
- Buy Peter Straub's Full Circle (opens in a new tab)
- Visit Peter Straub's official website (opens in a new tab)
- Visit Richard Loncraine's software site (opens in a new tab)
- Join the Haunting of Julia Facebook Group (opens in a new tab)
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Comments (5)
Frank F Thanks - Great podcast! Loved the interview with Richard Loncraine. I'm a fan of Keir Dullea (got introduced to him through 'The Starlost' in '73), and 'Haunting of Julia' has been a hard film to find. Saw it once on TV in the eighties. Definitely a film of it's time. The pacing, the way it was shot. Thanks for the link to Youtube. I'm downloading it now, will burn to DVD, so I'll finally have my copy of this film. This is one of many UK/Canadian films that Dullea made during this period, from 'Black Christmas' and 'Leopard in the Snow' to 'Welcome to Blood City'. As He explained in the 'Black Christmas' DVD commentary, this was the time that Canada offered tax incentives to make films their, so there were many UK/Canadian releases in the '70s, usually with modest budgets and unrealized potential. Your podcast also touched on this. I have the DVD of "Welcome to Blood City", and the underlying concept fascinates me, but they didn't have the time or money to really get it right. It wasn't until the '90s, with 'The Matrix' and 'The Thirteenth Floor' that the Virtual Reality/Dreamworld concept got a proper representation. Also liked the recent podcast of Thirteenth Floor; Blood City has similarites and might make a good future podcast.Frank F In your podcast, you said that some parts of the film were hard to see, because the film had darkened/deteriorated. That comment jibes with the obervations of the New York Times, when "Haunting of Julia" ran in New York in 1981. The film stock for the print had begun to fade; whoever had the rights to this film apparently did very little to take care of the available prints. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/29/movies/haunting-of-julia-frazzles-mia-farrow.htmlRob St. Mary The thing that really made me sad about this podcast was that Richard Loncraine said that pieces (the original sound) is missing from "Richard III" so they might not be able to clean it up and re-release it. That's very sad! "Richard III" is one of my favorite Shakespeare adaptations. Plus, it's one that all the "Lord of the Rings" fans should watch because Ian McKellen is amazing in the title role. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qZd3eBfBxE Hopefully, that can be found and fixed as some point in the future because it's one of the great 1990s adaptations of Shakespeare. Rob St. Mary co-host of "The Projection Booth"Mike White You know, I've had the DVD-R of Blood City forever but I've never watched it. I definitely will check that out. Thanks for the kind words in feedback as always!Anonymous This one got a new lease on life when Kier-la Janisse programmed it at Fantasia a few years back to much acclaim from many seeing it for the first time. Sadly, I missed the screening and the only version I've ever seen is a beat up, VHS pan and scan from Suspect Video. Hopefully, I get to see a better version one of these days. I really enjoyed the chats with Loncraine and Straub but I do take exception to a comment from Loncraine at the top of the show. He directed the movie Flame in 1975 starring British rock band Slade. According to him, Slade are little more than a bunch of has-been rockers living on the proceeds of a Christmas jingle that might net them a few thousand pounds a year. I imagine there's some bad blood there because as I'm sure Loncraine fully knows, Slade were a hugely successful British rock band in the 70's (hence why they made a film!) They had six number ones between 1971 and 1973 and thirteen top ten hits in a five year span. Essentially, Slade ruled the pre-Punk glam seventies in the U.K. and I remember the reign well. My brother collected the 45's and we used to play them endlessly. It's true they didn't have much breakthrough success in America although Quiet Riot in the 1980's made a successful career out of covering some of Slade's most iconic tunes. Mama Weer All Crazee Now & Cum On Feel the Noize were both massive hits for Slade in the seventies. So speaking as a fan, it raised my hackles a bit to hear the director callously dismiss them. I wonder what happened? Definitely sounds like sour grapes and I'm sure if pressed, he would've indicated there were some tensions during the making of the flick. Other than that, I really enjoyed the interview, including the bonus bit. The clip with Sir Ian McKellen doing a rendition of Baby Got Back was mental! I had no idea such a thing existed. And for a good reason. It doesn't. It's an (admittedly bang-on) impersonator!