John Kenneth Muir (born 1969) is an American literary critic. He has written twenty-one reference books in the fields of film and television, with a particular accent on the horror and science fiction genres. He has been described as one of the horror genre's "most widely read critics", and as an "accomplished film journalist".
Muir has written a book about Kevin Smith, entitled An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith, a study of Sam Raimi entitled The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi and another on the works of comedian Christopher Guest and his repertory company, titled Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company. As of 2010, Muir's most recent film director study was Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair.
Born December 3, 1969, Muir began his full-time writing career in 1996, penning several books for the North Carolina-based publisher of scholarly reference books, McFarland & Company Inc., Publisher. Among John's titles for McFarland are award-winners The Encyclopedia of Superhero on Film and Television (2004), Horror Films of the 1970s (2002) and Terror Television (2001). Other John Kenneth Muir titles from McFarland include Eaten Alive At a Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper (2003), The Films of John Carpenter and Wes Craven: The Art of Horror.
In the field of television, John K. Muir has written several monographs about SF-TV, including Exploring 1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to Battlestar Galactica (1998), A Critical History of Dr. Who on TV (1999), A History and Critical Analysis of Blake's 7 (1999) and An Analytical Guide to TV's One Step Beyond (2001). Muir gained early prominence and recognition for treating these genre television series as art, using the language of film criticism to illuminate their unique qualities.
In an interview on this subject, Muir noted: "I viewed the [TV] books as being part of one big book series with a mission: to define these series as works of art, and to apply the tenets of film theory and criticism to prove that notion. This means looking at the choice of camera angles. This means looking at editing. This means looking at how form reflects content. This means analyzing the context and history of the program, since no work of art comes out of a vacuum...My goal was to return to these series and study their visuals, their themes, their ideas, and assemble texts that synthesize new theories about them, using my film background as a guide and underlying foundation."[1]
Muir was educated at the University of Richmond in Virginia from 1988 to 1992 [2], where he studied for two years under renowned Hudson Review film critic, Bert Cardullo (a student of The New Republic's film critic Stanley Kauffmann). Muir's first book, Exploring Space: 1999 was published five years after his graduation from University, in April 1997. Muir also counts Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert as important career influences.[3]
In 2008, Muir became a member of the horror-themed League of Tana Tea Drinkers. In 2009, Muir became a member of the artist collective, Tecamachalco Underground. In 2010, John was tapped to be a judge at the ACEFEST NYC2010 Film Festival, occurring August 20—28, 2010. [4]
Muir's first novel was published by Powys Media in 2003, an officially licensed continuation of the 1999 saga, entitled The Forsaken. This is the second in the Powys line of Space: 1999 books, following William Latham's Resurrection.
John's other fiction credits include two short-stories for The Official Farscape Magazine. In issue #6, for May 2002, his story "That Old Voodoo" was featured. In issue #8, for August 2002, his story "Make a Wish" was published.
Two of John's Space:1999 officially licensed short stories, "Futility" and "The Touch of Venus" appeared in the anthology Space:1999 Shepherd Moon in January 2010. [5]
The author of articles for magazines including Cinescape,Filmfax, and Collectors News, Muir has appeared on TV on The E! True Hollywood Story: "Curse of The Exorcist", TV Ontario's Saturday Night at the Movies, [6] and on the premiere episode of Sciography, seen on The Sci-Fi Channel.
On the radio, Muir has been a guest on The Voice of Science Fiction, NiteShiftGood Morning Charlotte, The Allan Handelman Show, and The Mitch Albom Show.
In 2007, Muir appeared as an expert commentator alongside Joe Dante, John Landis, and Dee Wallace in Decade of Darkness, MGM's 23-minute documentary concerning horror films of the 1980s released with the new "Collector's Edition" DVD of Return of the Living Dead (1985).[7] He also appeared with directors John Carpenter, George Romero, Larry Cohen, Mick Garris, and Tom McLoughlin in the independent documentary Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film.[8]
Muir maintains an Internet presence writing his blog, John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film/TV [9] which features posts on film, TV, pop-culture, collectibles and nostalgia. The blog began in April 2005 and is ongoing. In 2009, the blog was listed as one of the "Top 100 Film Studies Blogs" on the Net.[10]
In 2006, Muir wrote and directed an original science fiction series [11] entitled The House Between,[12] to be broadcast online. The House Between's first season episode, "Arrived", premiered at Fantasci V [13] in Chesapeake, VA, on July 29, 2006. The second season of the series premiered January 25, 2008 and ran through March 2008. A third season began airing online in January 2009.
The House Between's second season premiere ("Returned") was nominated for a Sy Fy Genre Award in 2008 under the category "Best Web Production." Sy Fy Radio on August 13, 2008 announced that The House Between placed second out of five productions, behind the bigger-budgeted Star Trek: Of Gods and Men by a margin of less than 100 votes. The third season of the series was nominated for "Best Web Production" at Airlock Alpha, but did not win. Altogether twenty-one episodes of The House Between were produced over three seasons.
Muir's various literary works have been noted for their exhaustive research [14], [15]); and informative yet informal tone. Or, as one reviewer describes his style: "Muir is able to construct a book that shows off an amazing research effort without coming off as too academic."[16]
From Reference and Service Users Quarterly's review of Muir's Horror Films of the 1970s (Volume 42, Number 3, Spring 2003): "The title of this book says it all and fans of the genre have reason to rejoice. Muir, an authority on horror and science fiction cinema, has finally turned his attention to the decade when the modern horror film genre came into its own...The film descriptions communicate well to the reader, even when the film itself is unfamiliar. Each synopsis gives an overview that makes clear the subject and scope of the film; and his commentary is serious, thought-provoking, and helpful in understanding the meaning and importance of the film...I am aware of no similar reference that covers the same territory as Muir does in this work. It merits consideration on that basis alone, but academic libraries and larger public libraries will no doubt find it to be a useful - and much-used addition to their reference collections."
Muir is also frequently noted for an unbridled enthusiasm for his subject matter, which often leads to a positive-skewing critical approach. Of his reviews in The Films of John Carpenter it has been written: "To call these observations reviews would be a grave disservice to the author. I found most of them worthy of the word dissertations. They're elegantly written, incredibly insightful, and simply a real blast to read. Muir clearly loves and appreciates his subject matter, and the enthusiasm is infectious. For me, one of the signs that a piece of film criticism is well written is when it makes me interested in re-evaluating a film that I didn't particularly care for upon initial viewing. Muir does that on numerous occasions here particularly with the films Escape From LA and Prince of Darkness. The Prince of Darkness chapter, in particular, certainly sheds some new light on this much-maligned and misunderstood film. However, even when covering the classics Halloween and The Thing, Muir brings new observations to the table. No small feat considering that anyone who writes about the genre seriously has already dissected these two films." [17]
Music on Film: This is Spinal Tap (Limelight Editions; 2010)
Space:1999 Shepherd Moon ("The Touch of Venus," "Futility") (Powys Media, 2010)
Ken Russell: Re-Viewing England's Last Mannerist ("As the (White) Worm Turns: Ken Russell as God and Devil of Rubber-Reality Horror Cinema") (Scarecrow Press, 2009)
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy ("SALTed Popcorn") (Open Court, 2008)
TV Year Volume 1: The Complete 2005-2006 Prime Time Season (Applause Theater and Cinema Books, 2007)
The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia" (Applause Theater and Cinema Books, 2007)
Horror Films of the 1980s (McFarland, 2007)
Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2006)
Singing a New Tune: The Re-Birth of the Modern Film Musical, from Evita to De-Lovely and Beyond (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2005)
Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest & Company (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2004)
The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2004)
The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television [McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 2004)
Space: 1999 - The Forsaken (Powys Media, 2003)
Eaten Alive At A Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 2003)
An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2002)
Horror Films of the 1970s (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 2002)
An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959-1961 (McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2001)
Terror Television: American Series, 1970-1999 (McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2001)
The Films of John Carpenter (McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2000)
A History and Critical Analysis of Blake's 7, the 1978-1981 British Television Space Adventure (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 1999)
A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 1999)
An Analytical Guide to Television's Battlestar Galactica (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 1999)
Wes Craven: The Art of Horror (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 1998)
Exploring Space:1999 - An Episode Guide and Complete History of the Mid-1970s Science Fiction Television Series (McFarland and Company Inc., Publishers, 1997)
The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television: A New York Public Library's "Best of Reference" Selection, 2005.
Horror Films of the 1970s: A Booklist Editor's Choice for 2002; An Outstanding Reference Source for 2003 by RUSA (Reference Users Service Association), and a "Best of the Best" Reference Book for 2002 by the ALA (American Library Association).
Terror Television: A Booklist Editor's Choice for 2001.
