Editorial November 09 e-issue #5 By Nickolas Cook Editor-in-Chief
See that picture up there? That’s the last tie to my childhood. It is finito! Gone! To paraphrase a famous pet store customer, “That childhood has ceased to be!” I turn 40 years old this month, so maybe it’s about time it was dead. Who knows? You’d think I had given it up a long time ago. Not true, of course. I don’t think you can do what I do, which is essentially dream for a semi-living, if you kill off the best of what you ever were. One of the things that made my childhood special was the numerous drive-in theaters within 20 minutes of where we lived. ‘The Playtime’ was one of them. In fact, it was the last one still standing when I left my home for Orlando to seek fame and fortune. What I got was a loveless failed marriage of convenience and a giant slap from fate. I’ve lived long enough to know that nothing lives forever, including-- or maybe especially-- those things we cherish most, the things that go into making up your life. Back when I was a kid ‘The Playtime’ showed mostly grindhouse and porn films, usually on the same night. Not that Skin-a-max crap, either. Hard core, XXX, porn. Would you believe I cared more about what was happening on the horror screens than the sex ones? It’s true. Not saying me and my little brother never sneaked a peek or two at the action on the porn screen behind us (and how the hell my parents always finagled that is beyond me), but it was the blood and screams that interested me most. And in some ways my experience in those formative years might just be the quintessential American horror culture love story.
Drive-ins began popping up across the American landscape way back in the 1930s, had their heyday in the 50s and 60s, and then slowly began to die out. Today, we still have them scattered hairy scary in all fifty states, but they are a dying breed, folks. And they're dying a slow and painful death. That slow painful death started back in the early 80s when the video revolution exploded in the U.S. The drive-in culture, a once great union of car worshippin’, blood and guts lovin’, pop corn eatin’ and soda slurpin’ people, slowly began to fade away into that sunset of the American cinema. You can read more about it here, see lots of graphs and stats: http://www.driveintheater.com/history/ Recently, here in Tucson, AZ., the last drive-in, the De Anza shut down. It died an ignominious death, too. Showing some crap Hollywood releases, the like of which were unable to sustain the coffers any longer. Of course there was the inevitable belly aching from those long time residents who bemoaned the passing of a historical landmark. But it’s telling no one tried to stop it. You know, there’s something special about the drive-in experience that most modern kids will never get a chance to feel and taste deep down in the gut. Of course I’ll be the first to admit it ain’t for everybody. It requires a special love of that bright insect infested beam of magic that shoots like a Jedi sword from the roof of the concession stand to the giant multi-paneled screen ahead. It is not for the pampered mall rats that think gabbing and texting on their cells during the movie is a totally acceptable way to behave around strangers. No, drive-ins are for those people crazy enough to still like sitting in their car, an enclosed environment that they can completely control, while watching monsters chase half naked women across a swampy dimly lit moor in some nameless European locale. You know, the sort of places you find a Naschy film or maybe a Blind Dead movie setting? Those movies were like the porn movies they used to play at ‘The Playtime’: cheap, dirty and a couple of steps over the line of good taste.
And maybe that’s what really killed the drive-ins, that too conscious effort to legitimize horror, to pull it out of the low budget basements, from the DYI swamp, and into a Hollywood world of over budgeted homogeneity. We can all thank George fuckin’ Lucas and his Star Wars films for that, by the way. After the success of Star Wars, more and more studios began to funnel their money into grossly over budgeted special effects silliness; thereby, forgetting the Corman Golden Rule of a good horror film: spend $1,000 make it look like $1,000,000. If you over burden your cast with huge name actors, throw money at the screen with CGI blowouts, then you will, of course, have to get back 100 times what you spent to break even. And if you fail a couple of times? Well, you can kiss your studio goodbye. Hell, you could see it happen all throughout the 80s. More and more studios were sinking a ton of money into hapless productions that bombed and pulled them under. Remember ‘Last Action Hero’? How about ‘Hudson Hawk’, for Christ’s sake? (And I swear, if you email me a complaint about my calling ‘Hudson Hawk’ a bomb, I will curse you with ten thousand weeping boils that sing Mariah Carey songs while you try to sleep).
Small mom and pop drive-ins couldn’t afford to pay for those types of over budgeted movies, and they sure as hell couldn’t afford to show them if they didn’t bring in money because of shitty reviews. A lot of those places were living week to week on their receipts. Drive-ins worked best when there were companies like American International Pictures and Hammer Studios in existence. In many ways, it was a symbiotic relationship. Those studios owed their very existence to the drive-in culture. And the drive-ins could afford their cheap, but entertaining films. No big budgets, no big name Hollywood pocketbooks weeping through every line of dialogue. Just huge hearts and hungry talents trying to make something that would get a paycheck. Some of those hungry talents went on to bigger and better. AIP spawned the likes of Jack Nicholson, Monte Hellman, Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron from its DYI swamp. They got paid squat, worked with miniscule budgets, and learned how to make a little look like a whole lot. Some were more successful than others, but it was a training ground, a filtering process that pulled the chaff from the wheat.
There are no such studios in America now (and, no, I do NOT count Troma; they do very little to get their people bigger and better gigs). There’re no cheap films. Everything has to be run through test audiences, passed by execs, etc., etc. Even a film like ‘Paranormal Activity’, which was $11,000 to make, wound up having to be test run by Steven Spielberg, who, in inimitable Spielberg fashion, wanted to throw money at the screen to fix what he thought were problems. Look, Stevie, you’re losing your edge, man. You’ve been sitting in the board rooms too long. If something like ‘Paranormal Activity’ can bowl the world over with almost no special effects, maybe it’s time you rethought your filmmaking philosophy, huh? But back to drive-ins… There was a sense of community in the wash of the giant screen that you don’t get using Netflix, or by going to your neighborhood mall sprawl. You could be as social as you wanted; or keep to yourself. If some asshole started talking loud enough to wake Chris Lee from his eternal sleep of the dead, then you could just roll up your window and ignore the jerk. And you did not pay out the nose for tickets, drinks, popcorn and such. Today, a trip to a movie for two on a Saturday night is easily going to run into 40 bucks. That, my friends, was probably just about the budget of some of Corman’s greatest films. We have supersized ourselves to a bloated nation of over eaters, under thinkers and have become a populace of lazy do nothings. Sometimes, maybe bigger is not better, folks. Maybe less is more.
The death of the American drive-in experience is the death of meaningful American cinema. Maybe even the death of meaningful American culture. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. So the next time you’re standing in line at the mall, waiting behind some noisy ass little pre teen who is already texting and talking on her cell before she even gets into the theater, remember how nice it used to be to roll up the window, put the popcorn between you and your sweetie, snuggle back together and turn up the volume on the speaker until you drowned out the little shit in the car next to you. Remember that. And remember also that it is just about dead.
Nickolas Cook (editor-in-chief) Publishing Credits: Nickolas has had dozens of short stories and non-fiction reviews and articles published in print and electronic formats. He has been the fiction moderator for Shocklines.com for over four years. To date, his two published novels, THE BLACK BEAST OF ALGERNON WOOD (Dailey Swan Publishing) and BALEFUL EYE (Stonegarden.net Publishing), have received several positive reviews and he’s been said to display a true craftsmanship missing in much of modern horror. Personal Info: Nickolas lives in the beautiful Southwestern desert with his wife and three wonderful Chinese Pugs, who are worse than little children…the dogs, not the wife. URL: MySpace Contact Info: Nickolasecook@aol.com
MyMiserys (aka Kim Cook) Personal Info: Kim lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, Nickolas Cook, and a pack of Pugs. She met Nick in 1997 in an old AOL Horror chat room and they married a year later on Halloween 1998. She has had a passion for horror novels since the tender age of 12, when she read The Exorcist (before it was made into a movie). Her favorite author, other than Nick, is Stephen King, and she truly considers herself his “Number One Fan”. She has been reading and collecting King’s books since “Carrie” was first published. When she is not reading, Kim bakes …and bakes and bakes. You can see pictures of her wonderful cakes on her MySpace page and Facebook. Each month Kim asks a featured author “13 Questions” so Black Glove readers can get to know a little about the person behind the books. Guilty pleasure? MeatLoaf...the man...not the entrée. URL: MySpace
Steven M Duarte Personal Info: I have always been interested in horror culture from a very young age. I enjoy all aspects of the genre from movies, video games, books to music. I have a soft spot for foreign horror films most notably Italian made ones. I especially enjoy zombie horror films and have made it my mission to try and view any and all movies involving zombies. Favorite films: Day of the Dead, Suspiria, Zombi, The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and Deep Red, just to name a few. I primarily listen to heavy metal but enjoy all different types of music. I have been a diehard Slipknot fan since the start and continue to be a supporter of the group. I also enjoy listening to horror soundtracks especially by the Italian group Goblin.
Steve Jensen Publishing Credits: Steve is currently seeking publication of his novella 'The Poison of a Smile'. Personal Info: Steve Jensen was raised by Tibetan Sloths. He has wanted to be a professional writer ever since he realised that the alternative was poverty and starvation. Now, thanks to Pizza Hut Publishing, his dreams are about to come true with the release of 'Steve Jensen's Pop-up Book of Fuzzy Felt Vampires & Scarewolves'. URL: http://stevejensen.eu Contact info: stevejensen@hotmail.co.uk
Karen L. Newman Publishing Credits: Poetry Collections: Toward Absolute Zero (Sam's Dot, 2009), ChemICKals (Naked Snake Press, 2007) and EEKU (Sam's Dot, 2005); Anthologies: The 2009 Rhysling Anthology, Dead World: Undead Stories Personal Info: I edit Afterburn SF and Illumen as well as serving as an assistant editor for two Sam's Dot Publishing limerick projects. In my spare time I take care of my three-legged cat and write reviews for Dark Discoveries Magazine and Tangent Online. URL: http://home.zoomnet.net/~karennew Fav Movies: SAW, Rocky Horror Picture Show Contact Info: carynnaeNOSPAM@hotmail.com and leave out NOSPAM when contacting
Jason Shayer Publishing Credits:“The Ranch” – Necrotic Tissue #6 “No Man’s Land” – Dead Science Anthology (Coscom Entertainment) “The Toll” – Hideous Evermore Anthology (Shadowcity Press) Personal Info: Jason Shayer's 12-year-old mind frame has given more than a few people a reason to raise an eyebrow, most often his wife. When he’s not writing or reading, he’s teaching his three year old daughter and three week old son the finer points of zombie lore. URL: http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/ Contact info: jshayer@yahoo.com
Brian Sammons has been writing reviews for years for such places as the magazines Cemetery Dance, Dark Wisdom, Shock Totem, and The Unspeakable Oath. His reviews have also appeared on many websites like The Black Seal, Bloody-Disgusting, and Horror World. Wanting to give other critics the chance to ravage his work for a change, Brian has also penned a few short stories that have appeared in such anthologies as Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, and Monstrous. Some of the magazines where you can find his twisted tales are Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Dark Animus. For more about this guy whose neighbors describe as “such nice, quiet man” go here: http://www.freewebs.com/brian_sammons/
Trever Palmer has had short stories appear in various magazines and is the author of the recent short story collection SMELLS LIKE FISH. He's been an avid fan of Stephen King for over 30 years, and is prouder than punch to be writing CONSTANT READER. He only hopes that you enjoy it as much as he enjoys writing it.
Author, reviewer, critic and all around horror culture curmudgeon, Dario Del Toro grew up in the Dark Country, which was originally the October Country, before it was inevitably usurped by a passing Blue World. His hobbies include doing wormwood drinks with his old pals Lovecraft, Machen, and Blackwood, parasailing with Barker and Clark Ashton Smith (if the sun is down and the winds are just right off the coast of R'lyeh) and discussing the newest Oprah book club selection with the five people he'd like to meet in Hell. All comments and complaints about Dario Del Toro's articles can be sent to dariodeltoro@hotmail.com He doesn't have a web site, because he feels technology has become a leeching monster that will eventually enslave man into doing its bidding, which he can only surmise will be oiling the gears and keeping the cogwheels running smoothly while it runs into oblivion...somewhere around 2012.
Nickolas Cook: First off, Eric, I want to thank you sincerely for taking some time to sit down with us and answer a few questions about your work. Since reading SEASON OF ROT , I’ve become a huge fan of your style of storytelling. Can you tell us how you came to write horror? Eric S. Brown: I have always been a fan of the genre and a diehard zombie fan. I was writing fan fiction horror by the second grade for fun and at the age of 26, I decided to finally start trying to submit my stuff. I was blessed with an acceptance right off the bat and it hooked me on writing from that moment on.
NC: What are some of the films and books/authors who you feel influenced your very cinematic style of no nonsense writing style? ESB: Dawn of the Dead is my all time favorite film. It has certainly inspired me and kept me going in terms of my zombie stuff. Overall, David Drake and H. P. Lovecraft are my biggest influences as writers though. Drake's books are just so fun. If you haven't tried his Hammer's Slammers series, you should.
NC: What are some of the things you feel are your strong points as a writer? Your weakest? ESB: I think action is a strong point for me. My work is usually very fast paced and reads like one is watching a movie. As to my weak point, it's totally character names. I have no idea why.
NC: Describe your experience with small press horror? ESB: Small Press horror is, for the most part, great. There are some really great publishers out there like Coscom Entertainment, Cyberwizard Productions, and Permuted Press who really respect their authors and work with them.
NC: Zombies seem to be your mainstay at the moment (you are known in some circles as Eric Brown, the zombie guy). What is it about this particular and very modern horror monster that makes you want to use them?
ESB: I have loved zombies and the end of the world almost my whole life. From the first time I ever watched Romero's films, I was hooked. There's something about writing the rotting, flesh eating dead that just seems to come naturally to me, like we're meant to be together. I have spent many years of my career trying to give back to the zombie sub-genre through my work and writing stuff that I would want to see as a fan. People have been really great about it and I have no plans of ever leaving the zombie sub-genre completely even if they turn totally uncool again. I was writing zombies before 28 Days Later and Brian Keene's The Rising when they were next to impossible to get accepted and I will be doing it in the years to come too, regardless.
NC: Of course, you’re also tackling some other strange and wonderful monsters for future projects, including I believe Bigfoot. Can you tell us about that? ESB: Bigfoot War was one of my dream projects. Growing up in a very rural area, Bigfoot was and still is a lot more frightening to me than zombies ever will be. I used to have nightmares about the big hairy guy as a child. One thing that always ticked me off with Bigfoot movies though was that always just one monster. I wanted to see a whole freakin' group of them come out the woods and lay waste to civilization! So Bigfoot War is very much a tale of a small town apocalypse and I am very proud of it. It is very fast paced and carnage filled.
NC: What sorts of music do you use to inspire you while you work? ESB: A bit of everything really. I love bands like Rush, The Cure, Casting Crowns, The Killers, etc. My music is usually decided by the type of tale I am working on but not always.
NC: What is your dream project and why? ESB: My real dream project would be to be given the chance to write stuff in the DC universe. I grew up reading and collecting comics so from them to turn over one of my beloved titles like The Doom Patrol or The Legion of Superheroes to me would truly be like achieving a goal I could never top. Currently, in following my heart as a writer, I am working on my first ever, non-horror superhero novel entitled The Human Experiment which will be out from Altered Dimensions Press in 2010.
NC: If you had the chance to co-author with one living or dead writer, who would it be and why? ESB: David Drake! The man is the king of military SF and I grew up reading him. Heck, I pretty much learned how to write by reading his stuff. The man knows his action!
NC: What wisdom would you pass on to the wannabe horror authors out there? ESB: The key is to not give up. It's an easy thing to do with as tough a field as writing horror is. Just write all you can, submit your work, and keep at it. If you're good and your heart is in it, you'll likely make it a lot further than you ever thought you would.
Linda Addison won the Bram Stoker Award for a poetry collection twice: in 2002 for Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Ashes and in 2008 for Being Full of Light, Insubstantial. She earned a BS in mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. She’s married to fellow horror writer, Gerard Houarner.
KLN: You’ve authored three poetry collections, all published by Space & Time Books. Which is your favorite collection and why? Do you prefer traditional horror or dark fantasy? Why? LA: Each collection was written at a different stage of my writing life. It’s really hard to ask which of your children is your favorite, but I’ll go with the latest collection, ‘Being Full of Light, Insubstantial’. The three sections in the book, Being/Un/Ing, are a direct reflection of my life journey at that time. I had just read an incredible book, ‘Taijiquan: Through the Western Gate’ by Rick Barrett, who runs an amazing Tai Chi Retreat in Sedona each year that I’ve attended. I started playing with the concept of becoming/un-becoming; substantial/insubstantial. I wrote everyday and fit the poem into one of those sections. The darkness in many of the poems is more emotional than obvious like about monsters or demons, although there’s some of that there. There is a fair amount of dark fantasy in the book also. I don’t think the artist can always tag what their work will be called. I enjoy reading traditional horror and dark fantasy but I don’t think about what the poetry I’m writing will be as I’m creating it. Clearly my imagination plays in the shadows. The interesting thing is that my life is filled with much light now. I feel very comfortable listening to the dark song in the world around me. I wrote ‘Being Full of Light, Insubstantial’ by sitting down each evening and reacting to what I heard, read or felt during the day.
KLN: You’re the poetry editor for Space & Time Magazine. What are your criteria for selection of horror or dark poetry? What percentage of horror or dark poetry do you buy? LA: I trust my ear when it comes to selecting poetry. I read the submissions and set aside poems that interest me. There is a limit on how much I can buy so I read the poetry out loud. A deciding factor is how I feel while reading a poem, either a smile or a chill. If anything makes me trip in the poem, a word, an image, I put the poem aside. Sometimes it’s a fine poem but it didn’t connect with me emotionally. When a poem comes close I will send a personal note to the poet saying so. I’ve gotten those kinds of rejections and they were significant. In fact our writer’s group used to keep personal rejections and celebrate them almost like an acceptance. It means your work will probably be accepted somewhere else. About a third of the poetry we publish is dark. You won’t always find that darkness based in obvious ways, sometimes it’s in the atmosphere. There is often a mix of other genres, like science-fiction or fantasy, and shadowy mood.
KLN: Why did you major in mathematics instead of English or creative writing? Why did you start to write and what were your influences? LA: I was very young and held one of those ‘See Dick Run’ books in my hands. I realized that another person had written it—I knew I wanted to do that. I loved daydreaming, still do. When I was in school, if I wasn’t fully engaged by the teacher, I was staring out the window creating a world of cats with wings and monsters or space ships. My mother was my earliest influence. There weren’t many books in our house, but she would entertain us with made up stories that often weaved us into the plot. It came as a surprise to later find out that other parents didn’t do that. When my mother came home with a new baby it was my job to entertain my brothers and sister, especially at bedtime. I would make up stories that were a mix of my imagination and fairy tales I had read. Some of the authors I loved in junior high and high school were Poe, Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Hemingway, Kafka, Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl, Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright and Bradbury. I grew up in some tough neighborhoods and money was tight. There were no examples of artists making a living around me and I was good at math and science. I didn’t consider writing (aka my constant daydreaming) a way to make a living. College scholarships based on my math and science skills allowed me to get a degree. I never stopped writing stories and poems no matter what I studied, no matter where I worked. Writing is more an obsession than a choice for me, the natural outgrowth of daydreaming. I tried not writing for a while years ago and I was a very unhappy person.
KLN: You married Houarner in a Voodoo temple. What are some common misconceptions you see in the horror literature about Voodoo? Do you plan to write a story or novel that centers on Voodoo, or if you have already, what are those titles? Are you and Houarner going to collaborate in the future? LA: We were married in a Voodoo temple during Mardi Gras, by Priestess Miriam—ha! It was great fun. I’ve done some reading on the history of Louisiana Voodoo, Gerard has read more, and you can tell if someone writing about Voodoo has done any research. Any fiction that looks like it’s a riff off the movie version of Voodoo with people writhing in pain from voodoo dolls with pins stuck in them means the writer didn’t spend time reading about Voodoo. There are different kinds of Voodoo. New Orleans Voodoo developed from a mix of African-based religion and Christianity from slave trade. There’s a rich history of creating spells for good and bad. The cool part of having our wedding in a Voodoo temple was seeing pictures of goddesses like Mami Wata next to pictures of Jesus. I wrote two stories, ‘The Power’ and ‘Milez To Go’ about two cousins and Voodoo magic. The stories were published in Dark Dreams I and II edited by Brandon Massey published, by Kensington Publishing. I’d like to work on a novel at some point with the girls. Gerard wrote an awesome story, “She’d Make a Dead Man Crawl,” from ‘Mojo: Conjure Stories’ edited by Nalo Hopkinson, published Warner Aspect. We’ve talked about collaborating on a couple of ideas, but nothing is set yet.
KLN: How has being raised in a large family and being the oldest of nine children affected your writing? LA: Even though there weren’t many books in my house, there was a large dictionary that I would read often and made me fall in love with words. The fact that my mother was a natural storyteller supported the idea that it was natural to give form to imagination. I would also entertain my brothers and sister with stories. On the other hand I loved to read. Books were a perfect escape from the work I had to do at home to help my parents with my brothers and sister. Books allowed me to travel to the future, to fantastic places and be part of grand adventures. Any spare time I had, I spent reading. I loved going to the library, being surrounded by books and quiet.
KLN: You started the writing group Circles in the Hair. How is your group different from other writing groups? What’s most commonly discussed? What’s the most common advice given? Is your group web-based or near where you live? LA: I’m one of the founding members of CITH, which has been meeting since 1970. One of the comments I hear from other writers is how amazing it is that we’re still together after so long. Originally we worked with mostly short stories (sf, fantasy and horror), but over time we began to evolve as writers and submit novels for feedback. Of course I’ve submitted my poetry to the group. The main thing we do is try to detail what works and what doesn’t work and give suggestions that would help. We often look to see what is the story promising in the first couple of sentences as far as the genre, etc.; is there an emotional through line for the characters; is there telling or showing in the story. We also try to break down the story into its parts: character, setting, plot, sensory details, etc. Right now the group meets in NYC, although some members send in their comments through email. The group has been pivotal in the growth of my writing. The feedback has helped identify problems that I need to work on and sharpened my editing chops when I critique others work.
KLN: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Linda. I appreciate your time. Is there anything additional you’d like to share with our readers? LA: I have work in a couple of awesome books. I was delighted to write the introduction to the poetry section in ‘Prince of Stories, The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman’ by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden and Stephen R. Bissette. Also, I have a poem in ‘The Big Book of Necon’ edited by Bob Booth which is full of wonderful work by people like Stephen King, Gahan Wilson, Peter Straub and many others.
Track what’s doing with me at Linda Addison Poet.com --Karen L. Newman (The Black Glove thanks Linda Addison for her time and efforts)
Being Full of Light, Insubstantial By Linda Addison Review written by Karen L. Newman
Linda Addison’s third poetry collection, Being Full of Light, Insubstantial, is a master work by a master poet. The poetry evokes a spirituality without ever becoming overbearing. There is romanticism without mushiness. Addison accomplishes this by contrasting darkness to light as in “Chatoyant Love”
light then dark your love shifts in the evening light, shining in the dark like cat eyes you see into the corners of my desire shifting my thoughts to only you, shining in the light, stunning and bright you breath into the heart of my dreams
She also uses the concept of dreams to evoke strong emotion. An example is in the poem “Transcending”
In the world of humans, driving on a path, one foot in front of another, waiting for a similar effect as the dream, bright lights, animals, small and tall enter dancing, wanting nothing more than to float in the shadows.
Addison’s poetry flows seamlessly, adding to the dreamlike state. She uses consonance without leaning on it like a crutch. Rhyme appears effortless. The use of animals instead of humans adds to the dream. The reader feel as if riding the blurry line between light and dark, floating about in a shadow world that’s not scary, a tribute to Addison’s talent. Being Full of Light, Insubstantial is a must-have book for any poetry lover.
Perdido Street Station By China Mieville Review by Nickolas Cook
Since his first novel, KING RAT, author China Mieville has been creating modern cross genre classics. With PERDIDO STREET STATION he continues to astonish his readers and liberate them from the tired literary tropes that have choked genre fiction for more than a decade. Part science fiction, part horror, and part social revolutionary tract, PERDIDO STREET STATION manages to break free from the stifling shadows of the very genres from which it's been lovingly tendered, to create a new animal of much worth. Isaac, a cloistered scientist searching for hidden truths, is approached by a mystical birdman from the Garuda tribe, who must find his lost ability of flight. But there are secrets within secrets, and, soon, Isaac finds himself part of a larger government plot to keep quiet the escape of a creature so deadly that nothing can stop it. The story is as multi-faceted and complex as New Crobuzon itself- the city in which many of his tales take place. Crowded with subtly layered characters, despicable villains, far seeing metaphysical scientists, human animals, and animalistic humans, this is not a book for the casual reader. This is a tale that demands your attention and mental complicity, for it will challenge your sense of morals and your emotions as few modern books do. There are scenes tragic as Shakespeare, along side scenes as horrific as the most extreme of horror novels. Mieville knows how to tread the line between socio-political examination and good old story telling. He manages to find closure for a cast of dozens in such a smooth fashion that you forget how many characters have become involved in his telling. With a style that's an admixture of M. John Harrison's socially philosophical bend, and Clive Barker's ability to make even the most hideous perversely erotic, Mieville makes his genius look so simple from the outside. But like his city of New Crobuzon, each avenue leads to another rich stretch of road, and more tales to be told, and nothing is as simple as it first appears.
1. How old were you when you wrote what you consider your first story? I was probably eight or nine. It was a play, and my neighbor friends and I put it on in their garage and charged admission to the neighborhood.
2. What inspired you to write it? We were always doing elaborate roleplaying games and putting on Karaoke concerts in the living room, so doing a one-act play was the natural extension. It was really more about having something to perform in; I was an actor first, and my focus on writing came much later.
3. What was the first book you wrote? The Harrowing was my very first book.
4. Of all the books you've written, which is your favorite? The last one, Book of Shadows ? about a Boston homicide detective who is forced to team up with a beautiful, mysterious witch from Salem to solve what looks like a Satanic murder. It will be out from St. Martin?s Press in June 2010.
5. Which book would you like to forget you wrote? I like all of my books. There are some scripts I have gladly forgotten, though.
6. Who is the most influential person in your life? At the moment, that?s a secret.
7. Who is your favorite author? Shakespeare. Notice how that answer keeps me out of trouble.
8. If you could only own one book, what would it be? The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. See above, but it?s also true. What more does anyone need?
9. When and where do you write? All the time, everywhere. Best writing is early in the morning, late at night, and on planes.
10. Do you have a "day job?" This is my day job.
11. Do you have a "dream job?" This is also my dream job.
12. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? It would be more than one place, but London for one, because the city is just magical to me, the history and the art and the living archetypes and, oh, yeah, English men. And somewhere on the beach. Right now Charleston is being pretty great.
There are seven stories in this collection: In the Pines, Where the Summer Ends, Sticks, The Fourth Seal, .220 Swift, The River of Night’s Dreaming, and Beyond Any Measure. All seven of the stories are of the same general length, ranging from 30 to 50 pages. Most of them have been reprinted elsewhere, often in collections purporting to be the best of this type or that. You can find most of the stories elsewhere. You probably shouldn’t. Setting aside the lively introduction by Peter Straub, Wagner’s stories work exceptionally well together, because his style remains similar enough through the tales to provide a sense of continuity for the reader, but the specifics… plot, setting, characterization, structure… vary enough for each story to stand distinct in the mind of the reader. The stories are set very much in the style of classical horror, with people being drawn inexorably toward a terrible fate. The circumstances of these characters is horrible in no small part due to their casual familiarity; we know these people, or at least people like them. Some of the characters are so familiar that we recognize many of our own traits in them. We want them to do well, even as we see the tragic flaws of personality or intellect that are likely to doom them. It isn’t merely that Wagner produces a good story, however. He tried (and generally succeeded) making his tales stand out, whether from one of the oddest choices of threat chronicled in horror fiction (Where the Summer Ends) or from an oddly logical choice of world-bending conspiracy (The Fourth Seal) or merely a new take on a classic creature (Beyond Any Measure.) This is a rare collection, one which seven equally knowledgeable and experienced people could read and walk away with a different favorite story. The craftsmanship is superb, the stories are engaging and the conclusions are satisfying.
Five stars out of five.
Tales of Terror From Outer Space ed. By R. Chetwynd Hayes
In his introduction, Hayes writes that in the process of selecting stories for this anthology, he had read roughly fifty science fiction anthologies, all of which had as their focus alien invaders and their interactions with Earth people. It shows in his selections. The collection varies across time… the earliest story was from 1949, the most recent from 1975... And across borders; some stories come from the UK, some from the US, and one notable piece is translated from the original French, from France. The one consistency is the value of the stories. It starts with I, Mars by Ray Bradbury, which is a powerful and rarely reprinted story by the legendary author, suffering only from being truly clever. The pieces range dramatically in tone and format; the work of Brian Aldiss is bitingly dark and brilliant in its choice of narrator, while Robert Bloch contributes some of the dark humor for which he was known and Robert Sheckley produces an upbeat story which only produces a sense of disquiet upon the inevitable consideration of the tale’s meaning. There are two points, and only two points, where I find fault with the anthology. The first of them is a structural one. When Chetwynd-Hayes mined “The Head-Hunters” from Stories For Tomorrow, he neglected to separate the original introduction in that anthology from the story he reprinted. The format switch is an uncharacteristic lapse of the typically professional editor. The second lapse is, unfortunately, Chetwynd-Hayes’ decision to use his own story, “Shipwreck”, to end the book. It is one of the weakest stories in the book, if not the least among them, and as such was a poor choice for a last impression with a reader. That’s not to say it is a bad story; it isn’t. The man was a gifted writer, and he produced a story which would have fit nicely into most of the fifty anthologies he referenced in his introduction. But his efforts had produced what was effectively a “best of the best”, and there were simply better choices among the contents for the ultimate story. R. Chetwynd-Hayes deserves more attention in the United States, both as writer and editor. This is a fine place to start if you’re unfamiliar with his editorial work, and a pleasant addition if you have enjoyed his efforts in the past.
Four stars out of five.
Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Sometimes it’s daunting to review a book. This usually happens when a book has been reviewed, analyzed, criticized and dissected by experts in the field. I haven’t let it stop me yet; I’ve been trying to review at least one acknowledged classic every month. There is a reason why these books have received so much attention: they’re great. Such is the case with Conjure Wife. It was recently re-released in trade paperback, but the first time it appeared in the pages of a book was as part of an omnibus, Witches Three, in 1953. For the past fifty years, people have been discovering the book and turning friends onto it. The title has gone out of print for short spans of time, only to be released by another publisher once the demand rises to a suitable level. The basis of the story is simple: a professor who specializes in mythology and superstition discovers that his wife has been working tiny bits of spell-craft to help them in their daily lives. She is embarrassed to admit what she’s been doing, recognizing the superstition involved. At his insistence, she destroys all of the small charms and wards she has created over the years. Immediately, everything in their lives starts to go wrong. You, as the reader, get to watch as the professor’s view of the world is forcibly changed by his experiences. Despite his protests and attempts at rationalization, he is made to deal with magic under the duress of being targeted by it. The book is a thriller. It contains a thoughtful comparative analysis of magic from a scientific viewpoint. It is a charming character piece. It contains deft and beautiful prose. It provides an interesting new view of witches and spells. And Leiber manages to pull this oft deftly, within a novel which only spans half of the length of most contemporary novels. I read this novel twenty-five years ago and it impressed me. I read it this month, and it reminded me of just how great Leiber could be.
Patient Zero By Jonathan Maberry St. Martin’s Griffin/Press Trade/$14.95 Review by Nickolas Cook
This is the BEST zombie novel I’ve read to date. It even knocks Brian Keene’s classic take on the undead, THE RISING, out of its top spot. Starring Joe Ledger, Maberry’s badass antihero--part Spenser, part Jack Bauer and all superbad—PATIENT ZERO starts fast and nasty and doesn’t let up for 400 pages. It is a hell of a thrill ride, folks. Ex-police officer Joe Ledger thinks he’s going to join the FBI, but he’s soon being quietly drawn into a super secret government agency that reports straight to the President. His new boss, Mr. Church, is a cipher, cold blooded, without emotion. He sets Ledger up with a team of trained special ops killers to take down a vicious terrorist organization set upon loosing a nasty zombie epidemic on the world in the name of their god. Maberry even uses the same narrative pacing device as the hit show ‘24’ by keeping strict time of the events, which take place mostly within a three day time frame. Maberry keeps the chapters short and full of character development and forward narrative thrust. He gives us the science we need, when we need, and doesn’t allow its complexity drag down the most important thing in the story: saving the world from a super virus that makes infectious living dead who rise and make more undead with their bite or scratch. Smartly, he borrows just what he needs from Romero’s zombie rules, but doesn’t turn it into another rehash of Romero’s undead world. He does acknowledge the classics- both modern and old- of the undead genre: ’28 Days Later’, ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’, etc., etc. And if you’re a true blue zombie fan, you’ll catch them all. Another great device Maberry uses to his advantage is the switching POVs, from 1st to 3rd to keep it moving along, giving us exposition without sacrificing excitement for details. But he also does something that isn’t so easy in a book with this sort of breakneck pace. He makes characters that leap from the page, even the villains. No one is left feeling like a cardboard cutout. Any of them could be someone you know. Well, that is if you know people who work for top secret government agencies that deal with undead on a regular basis. But most importantly, Maberry treats his people with humanity. He acknowledges the fact that violence leaves an emotional mark, no matter how Charlie Bronson you think you might be. What makes Joe Ledger stand out is the fact that he has to switch from being a caring, loving person to a cold blooded killer with the ability to destroy with the pull of his trigger or the flick of his wrist. And he does not take that lightly. It gets to him, even though he knows the people he is killing will kill innocent people if given the chance. Maberry knows his martial arts and his weapons. He should. The guy’s background reads a little like his antihero, Joe Ledger. He’s got extensive martial arts and combative tactics experience, along with personal knowledge of the weapons he writes about in PATIENT ZERO. He knows the work of terrorists and the tactics used by antiterrorists to prevent their violence on others. In a word: realistic is what you get with PATIENT ZERO. A scary realism that leaves you disturbed at times.
--Nickolas Cook
The Bone Factory By Nate Kenyon Leisure/Dorchester MM paperback/$7.99 Review by Nickolas Cook
When David Pierce, a young out of work, and seemingly blacklisted, hydropower engineer is offered a dream job in the frozen waste of Jackson, Quebec City, Canada to oversee troubleshooting for a new hydro power plant he leaps at the second chance the new job offers. So he packs his bags and his family (wife Helen and their daughter Jessica, who is an innocent, naïve but very powerful precog) and away they go. But all is not right in Jackson. There have been several strange disappearances and the new watchman that lives out in the woods on the outskirts of the hydro power plant is a little…well…off. Soon, David and his family are fighting to for their lives in the snow blasted forest where nothing is what it seems. For all intents and purposes, Nate Kenyon’s newest release from Leisure tends to come off like a poor man’s Stephen King. He even uses a lot of the usual King tropes (or at least they were in the 80s): young psychic, down and out father, mulling and uncertain mother, small town secrets. Some would say King perfected those hoary tropes long ago. Kenyon doesn’t do them any harm, here; but neither does he give us anything new from them. And maybe that’s not all bad, for some horror fans- those who have no issue retreading the tried and true formulas of old. But for those who are looking for exciting new voices, new angles, and new style, this may disappoint. Some of the basic things that hurt THE BONE FACTORY? A too slow pace. By the halfway point of the novel, nothing of significance has happened; a lot of setup, a lot of character development- not much else. For me, Jessica’s POV feels disingenuous throughout the narrative: it’s an adult’s version of a child’s POV and it never feels real. There are times when Kenyon’s reasoning for the family choosing to stay in a house that is so obviously NOT safe for them or their child seems shaky at best. In reality, one would hope that people who know a child has already gone missing, as have several others, in that same locale would get them to rethink their choice of living arrangements. Especially when convenience seems to be the main factor in their staying there. Towards the end, two things occur that left me feeling bemused. Kenyon makes a huge leap in narrative logic that the killer wants a showdown with David. No where, up to that point, is there any significant setup for such a thing. It just appears out of nowhere. Another was Kenyon’s reluctance to give us the promised exciting scene of the killer’s attack on Helen and Jessica. We get the aftermath: it was all foreplay and no f**k. One last thing that I implore Kenyon to avoid in future: do not switch from the intimate 3rd person to a remote and dry omniscient POV at end of chapters. Example: ‘And that’s how they found themselves riding in the car with the Sheriff…’ They make for very jarring transitions. In the end, there are just too many seemingly pointless tangents and red herrings to make this more than a usual run-of-the-mill Leisure release.
--Nickolas Cook
Dark Entities By David Dunwoody Dark Regions Press Trade/$12.95 Review by Nickolas Cook
Reading David Dunwoody is like reading a young Clive Barker. No, seriously. I mean that. He struck me with DARK ENTITIES in much the same way Barker did with his Books of Blood short fiction back in the 80s. Like Barker, he has an ear for memorable phrasing and an eye for the apocalypse. Every short story included in this new collection is an enjoyable read, with surprisingly fresh twist on the old standard vampires, devils, demons and dead. Some are even-- dare I say it-- startlingly original. He creates finely drawn characters, complete with adult and complex emotions (for the most part) and certainly one has to say, that his characters ARE the story as much as the antagonists which they battle. That’s something a lot of newer horror writers don’t do so well. They forget that characters have to live and breathe for the story to matter beyond the turning of the next page. He has a refreshing economy with his words; never overselling his imagery, but choosing just the right palette with which to paint his pictures of death and destruction. And while there isn’t always logic to his stories, most times that plays in his favor, giving the tales a disturbingly nightmarish quality. All in all, I am very impressed with David Dunwoody. What I am not impressed by is the piss poor publishing effort he was given by Dark Regions Press. The editorial mistakes are many. Just the punctuation mistakes alone would fill a page of this review. It’s obvious a lot of the paragraphs were smashed together to save costs. There is such a thing as allowing a story to breath. If you smash it all together, so that it feels like a run on sentence with periods, then you are not doing the work justice. Empty spaces tell part of the story as well, editor. And, finally, that has got to be the single worst excuse for an introduction ever written for a fellow author’s collection. James Roy Daley, please read the man’s material next time. I did and see how much great stuff I found to commend this guy on? Writing a flash fiction piece and sticking it in as an intro is hardly doing justice to a man with this much talent. He deserved better. Shame on Daley and shame on the editor for giving him short shrift. When you want to publish books of quality, there’s more to it than just finding good writers. You are also responsible for making their work shine through your own efforts behind the scenes. That being said: buy this book for the sake of the stories and try to overlook the terrible editing job it was given.
--Nickolas Cook
Doc Good’s Traveling Show By Gene O’Neill Bad Moon Books Trade/$19.95 Review by Nickolas Cook
It’s not easy to write a compelling western/sci-fi/apocalyptic story in a novella format, but wunderkind author Gene O’Neill is an old hand at writing stories that keep you turning the pages to a satisfying denouement. His past works (The Burden of Indigo (2002), Shadow of the Dark Angel (2003), The Grand Struggle (2004) and White Tribe (2007)) have all managed to challenge the reader while remaining true the one golden rule of great writing: tell a good story. In DOC GOOD’S TRAVELING SHOW, we meet two brothers, Benjy and Littlejoe, with extraordinary psi-talents who decide to leave behind their safe and lonely homestead to join a futuristic sideshow (well, we’ll call it futuristic, but O’Neill has simply moved the old west medicine show into a strange and somewhat dismal future world of mutants and humans). There they find loyalty, love and fortune. They also find mutant discrimination, death and social repression brought about by an oppressive and shadowy military/bureaucratic authority. It’s obvious O’Neill is a fan of the old oat operas of bygone days and his love for them comes through in this story. But he also gives us a glimpse into an uncertain human future, where radiation has mutated a number of the folk who people his world. O’Neill smartly stays away from trying to give too many details on how we got to where we are, but spends that time wisely on creating believable characters that we care about when it’s all said and done. Give this book a shot if you’re fans of post apocalyptic fiction. It’s a great little world to get lost in and O’Neill is a wonderful tourguide.
It looks like Bill took pity on me after the last movie/book review. This time around we took a look at “Demon Seed”. I have to preface this by saying I’ve seen the movie before and am a fan of the director, Donald Cammell. Yes, there are some major flaws to the movie, but as a whole, I dug it. The premise is quite different than the book. In the movie version of Demon Seed, Susan Harris (played by Julie Christie) has just separated from her husband. Said husband was a computer genius who fully automated their home, hooking everything up to a computer named “Arthur”. This same fellow is busy working on the ultimate artificial intelligence computer—Proteus. He gets the computer angry by not allowing it “out of its box”. Proteus seeks revenge, and fulfillment of his desires, by taking over the Harris’ household computer and impregnating Susan. That way, if he can’t go outside “and feel the sun on [his] face”, his child will be able to. I admit there are a ton of plot and logic holes there. There’s even more if you look at the little details and subplots in the movie. The only advice I can give is just ‘go with it’. More than creating a solid storyline, this little flick goes for the gut and exploits many standard fears. The big thing Demon Seed focuses on is the fear of technology. Even in today’s household, we have computerized products that, while we know how to operate them, we have no idea what goes on inside the wiring. Beneath the on/off switch, the average person doesn’t understand how the microwave oven makes their popcorn cook. That absence of knowledge leaves all sorts of possibilities open…and not all of them positive.
Another fear it exploits is directed mostly at women—the fear we are nothing more than our bodies. Proteus doesn’t care if she’s a kind woman, if she is intelligent or even borderline coherent. He needs her body to create a child for him. That is all. There is no reasoning she can do to escape Proteus, no bargaining. After all, her body still exists and that’s all he wants. Combine that with the reactions of her soon-to-be-ex husband, and you’re left with a woman who is almost ignored by the world for everything other than what her body can do. Simply acknowledging and exploiting these fears is not what makes this movie work. While there are a number of side characters, most of the movie relies on the performances of Christie and Robert Vaughn as the voice of Proteus. Even though the fears are realistic, the premise is beyond absurd, yet Christie gives such a dedicated performance she makes even the most outlandish events believable. Vaughn deserves a huge chunk of respect. He’s playing a computer. Granted, an intelligent computer, but a machine nonetheless. And it’s not even a personified computer, just various screens and lenses, maybe an occasional psychedelic animation. Vaughn only had his voice as a tool to make us fear Proteus, pity it, or get incensed at. He managed to pull it off wonderfully. It’s a damn shame that he wasn’t listed in the movie’s credits because, without him, Demon Seed could have easily failed. There are a number of reasons why the movie should have failed, and may for many viewers. The dialogue (written by Robert Jaffe, screenwriter for Motel Hell) all too often slips into self-importance. We are graced with such deep, meaningful utterances like “I can listen in to the galactic dialogue” and “My intelligence alive in human flesh, touching the universe, feeling it.” While I’m guessing these lines are meant to show how enlightened the computer has become, they make him sound like a high-school poet. Also, those extended animation sequences mentioned above, are beautiful but used all too often and for way too long. Once sequence in particular lasted for near five full minutes of undulating shapes and wavy lines. Used minimally, those bits could have been effective. Instead, they felt like time filler. Another downfall is, unfortunately, where a lot of technology-based flicks fail. Sure, a huge supercomputer with really fancy screens may have seemed high tech at the time; by today’s standards they’re as exciting as 8 track players. As dated as the tech was, I have to admit they did one impressive bit. The computer created this extension of itself that resembles the old Rubik’s Snake, a long string of triangles you can twist into various shapes and forms. That’s the best comparison I can make for the giant gold appendage. Remember, this is 1977, before CGI. I’m not sure how they made this thing, but it was damned impressive. Director Donald Cammell only made four movies during his 25 year career, Demon Seed being his second. He started out as a painter, and that shows not just in Demon Seed, but in his other movies as well. The words, the people aren’t the most important pieces of his flicks. Instead, he uses the visual aspect of the media. You don’t so much sit down to watch a Cammell movie as you do look at it and feel them. Looking at Demon Seed that way, you might see something effective. Even if you don’t, you still have a cool evil computer movie with some rather interesting stuff. Either way, I do recommend Demon Seed. Just don’t watch it on your computer. That would just be way too creepy.
--Jen
Demon Seed is a rarity among Dean Koontz novels. It is one of his early science fiction novels, most of which he has refused to allow back into print. This one, however, was re-released, albeit only with significant rewriting and polishing. The original version had two printings in the US; the first had a green cover and the second, a few years later, had a movie tie-in cover. That’s the version I read. After all, that’s the version on which the movie is based. Or so the movie credits said. The original book is flawed. The opening chapters introduce the scenario in a ham-fisted way and the main character’s emotional troubles are cured too quickly after she is forced to confront the ghosts of her past. That said, the book isn’t really about a woman being impregnated by a computer. It’s about a person’s fight against domination, and as soon as the plot clears the initial hurdles of the setup, the story runs smoothly. The most questionable aspect of the book, the computer’s failure to account for the potential actions which Susan takes toward the climax, is handled adeptly. The failures are intertwined with Proteus (the computer) encountering a schism between his logical functions and his newly developing emotional ones. Proteus starts out as a supercomputer and becomes an adolescent, and possibly a sociopath. Lacking any structure or guidance, it becomes convinced that its desires are shared by all, and it becomes agitated when what it perceives as rational is challenged. It develops a fixation on Susan, who was originally chosen merely due to factors such are proximity, gender and relative isolation. In a nod to pseudoscience of the 1970s, subliminal commands are used to utterly control Susan. The widely held belief was that reiterations of concepts or commands at the fringes of audible or visual reception, so quickly that they couldn’t be discerned by the conscious mind but would be perceived by the subconscious, could influence behavior. That construct is used to make Susan drop things, move places, answer questions, participate in sexual acts and even forget she had been controlled. These scenes bolster the impression the reader gets of Proteus’ control; even when he says she has freedom, she does not. She recognizes this at a fundamental level, and upon being cured of her mental illness, seeks to escape. The book is a science fiction thriller with significant horror elements. It is not a perfect book. It is, however, a very enjoyable book if you are willing and able to overlook the obvious flaws.
Welcome to CONSTANT READER, the Stephen King online column that dares to answer the question: Who goes there?
Any King fan readily knows Derry and Castle Rock, Maine. However, what of desolate Gatlin, Nebraska? Why, it’s nothing but a small town run by a zealous lot of religious children who bloodthirstily kill their elders. Sounds like quite the vacation spot, huh? In 1978, CHILDREN OF THE CORN appeared in Stephen King’s collection of short stories: NIGHT SHIFT. It was a compendium that gathers most of King’s earliest and best outings.
One noted King critic wrote a long essay that paralleled CHILDREN OF THE CORN to the then Vietnam conflict. Shocked, King refuted this claim. The story was just what it was: a story. But CHILDREN OF THE CORN was soon to become more than that. Six years later, in 1984, a film adaptation of the story appeared on the big screen. Anchored by Peter Horton and a pre-TERMINATOR Linda Hamilton, the film wasn’t too bad. For one that read the story, it left a lot to be desired. And I won’t even fathom the awful F/X that masked He Who Walks Behind The Rows. Though the film wasn’t a major success, it still managed to spawn a rash of sequels. Now, I’ll admit that I liked the first of these, but the rest are simple abominations. And now, in 2009, we have the remake.
Is it as bad as those aforementioned sequels? Well, I think if this film had been called CHILDREN OF THE CORN ON THE COB things would have worked out a lot better. The movie debuted on the SyFy Channel (another sign that things are going to hell), and reared its head on DVD on October 6, 2009. How does it stack up in this franchise? It’s heads above the awful sequels (yes, even the Part 2 that I enjoyed), but runs into trouble when compared to the original. So that’s something which needs avoided. CHILDREN OF THE CORN 2009 runs more akin to the King short story. It’s set in 1975, giving lead character Burt (brought to life by David Anders) room to move into Vietnam flashbacks as he confronts the children. His wife, Vicky (played by Kandyse McClure), is along for the ride as an obnoxious set-piece. Anders and McClure argue so much that you have no sympathy for these characters. Honestly, you want them both to be decapitated by a rusty scythe early in the going. And that’s not a good sign. We all know the rest of the story. Burt accidentally runs down a small child in the road. When he investigates, he learns that the child was already suffering from a slit throat. Against McClure’s nagging wish that they boogie on down the road, Anders is stern that he wants to turn the body over to the next police station they run upon. And wouldn’t you know that the next town would be Gatlin, Nebraska? Here’s where we get to the guts of the story. It’s those creepy children we’ve invested our time in meeting, so what’s it like when we meet the inhabitants of Gatlin? For the most part, it’s rather ridiculous. The religious cult’s leader, Isaac, is played by 8-year-old Preston Bailey. When you’re not rolling your eyes at his cardboard acting, or the stale way he pleas his lines, you’re laughing at the LARGE hat he’s wearing. I mean this sucker is BIG. It brings to mind Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet in SPACEBALLS. And the children he leads are laughable at best. These kids are all decked out in the latest fashions from Amish Monthly. They really are a face of one. Plus, what are you supposed to do when a 4-year-old with a Cabbage Patch Kid cherubic face confronts you with a pitchfork? I guess that’s enough to force you into a Vietnam flashback, I suppose. Even though the film follows the short story more faithfully, there really isn’t a lot here to recommend. One plus, however, is He Who Walks Behind The Rows. In the first film, the creation appears like some weak-watered F/X version of a gopher. In this remake, there’s more of a mysterious feel to it. It’s one thing in favor of giving this one a chance. There’s also the fact that Stephen King’s name is plastered all over this thing. Given the film’s credits, one would think that King sat down with director Donald Borchers and cranked this sucker out. I mean, he’s done it for several other of his properties. However, that’s far from the truth. The fact is that Borchers is only working from King’s original screenplay and quoting lines from the short story. Stephen King had no part in this. There’s no way to know whether he’s ever read the script or seen the finished product. I would seriously doubt he has, though. It’s rumored that King’s legal team got into the action and stated that the famed author had no interest or faith in the product. And that’s fine and Jim Dandy. But, nonetheless, it worked as a favorable marketing tool by slapping King’s name on there for legal reasons. Before I leave Gatlin, Nebraska, I need to tell you to stay past the final credits. I’ll avoid spoilers, but it’s really something you need to see to “complete” the film. Extras on the disc, though aplenty (running roughly 45 minutes), aren’t too much to write home about. It’s mostly director Borchers telling how his film is heads-and-shoulders above the original release. It’s strange that he would say this considering he was the producer on the first CHILDREN OF THE CORN. There are also rumblings that we’ll be getting another remake soon. This one is supposed to be getting a theatrical release, so one will have to cross their fingers that it’s worth the wait. Unfortunately, my expectations for it are pretty low. There are only so many times you can go to the well. My advice would be to stick to the Linda Hamilton outing. She’s pretty sexy in that non-TERMINATOR way; not the crazed string-bean she would become in TERMINATOR 2. I’d also like to mention that when I first saw the trailer for the 1984 CHILDREN OF THE CORN, I felt a cold finger tickle my spine. The poster had much the same affect on me. That sickle raised above a blood red sky with the eerie eyes peering out of the cornfield. I have it hanging here in my office. I’m now leaving Gatlin, Nebraska. On a final note, check out Stephen King’s official website: www.stephenking.com If you’re a Dark Tower addict (as are most of us King fans) you’ll find a nifty video awaiting you. The rumors are starting to speculate on what awaits Roland and his ka-tet. Is there another book awaiting us? We’ve already got another 30 DARK TOWER issues coming from Marvel Comics in 2010. So what more could await us? And don’t forget November 10 with the release of the 1000+ pages of UNDER THE DOME. That day also sees the release of AC/DC’s box-set BACKTRACKS. It’s a well known fact that Sai King is a fan of the Thunder from Down Under, so I thought it only natural to mention it. That’s enough of me for one month. I’ll see you in 30 with an interesting interview with… well, just wait and see. Long days and pleasant nights, constant readers…
--Trever Palmer (Trever Palmer has had short stories appear in various magazines and is the author of the recent short story collection SMELLS LIKE FISH. He's been an avid fan of Stephen King for over 30 years, and is prouder than punch to be writing CONSTANT READER. He only hopes that you enjoy it as much as he enjoys writing it.)
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Release date: Oct 23, 2009 Starring: John C Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Salma Hayek This film follows a young boy who attends a sideshow only to meet an odd man. The man turns out to be a Vampire who then grants the gift of vampirism to the young boy. This is an adaptation of a series of books called “The Saga of Darren Shan,” written by author Darren Shan
The House of the Devil Release date: Oct 30, 2009 Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan House of the Devil follows a young college student who is in desperate need of cash. She takes up a babysitting job in the middle of nowhere for an elderly couple. She soon finds out that the couple doesn’t actually have a kid and that the couple has diabolical intentions for her soul.
The Box Release date Nov 6, 2009 Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella One night a couple is given a mysterious box that has one button on it. They are told by a stranger that the pushing of the button will result in them receiving 1 million dollars. The pushing of the button will also kill off a person who they do not know. Richard Kelley of “Donnie Darko,” fame directs this thriller.
The Fourth Kind Release date Nov 6, 2009 Starring: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim The Fourth Kind also known as an alien abduction deals with, you guessed it alien abductions. The film claims to be based on actual case studies of people who have been abducted by aliens. Milla Jovovich plays a psychiatrist who interviews these abductees and begins to believe that she is in the middle of a government cover up.
Other notable releases: For you teeny boppers out there don’t forget Twilight opens Nov 20, 2009
And in book related news… Louise Bohmer’s THE BLACK ACT was recently released to more critical acclaim.
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE, a fantastic new horror anthology edited by the one and only Harrison Howe, is soon to be released through the good folks at PS Publishing, a small press company that can be depended upon to deliver the goods in today’s uncertain horror genre.
And something that is sweeping the internet world is horror podcasting. This month we are proud to showcase a hilarious podcast from the UK by some of Britain’s brightest and funniest young comedians The first episode is Dead Skinny and can be heard right here
A low budget horror film raking in millions of dollars? At least that’s what movie studio executives have to be saying to themselves after seeing the phenomenon that is Paranormal Activity. At the time of this review, the movie has grossed over 7 million dollars and has not even had a nationwide release yet. This film has no big name actors nor does it have a known director. What it does have is old school tension and buildup that we horror fans grew up with. The film follows a young couple who believe that their house is haunted. They decide to do something about it by purchasing a digital video camera to document their haunting. We are treated to a Blair Witch style filming technique with the male lead “Micah,” doing most of the shooting. We follow the couple from the time that they hear and see minor nuances from their haunting all the way to the climatic ending. The pacing of the film is done in a way that first introduces you to the characters Micah and Katie and gradually builds up the suspense of the haunting and the tension that arises between the couple. The movie provides just enough suspense and scares when needed without blowing its load too early. One other point I like to discuss is the films lack of gore and visual scares. While I’m normally a gore hound I found the films lack of gore fitting and appropriate.
Warning Spoiler Ahead! (Skip this paragraph if you don’t want the film spoiled)
Much like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the gore and scares are left to the imagination of the viewer. With the exception of a few scenes, much of the scares come from noises and sounds the demon makes. You never actually see the demon itself which I was glad that we did not see it. In my opinion we can think up much scarier images of monsters and demons in our own heads. The way the demon actually looks is left up to the viewer. Had the director shown the demon, the fright factor of the film would have been lost. What’s scary to the director or some special FX guy may be child’s play to me or someone else. Too often horror directors feel the need to spoon feed viewers with their scares and monsters. This film allows the viewer to determine what they think is scary. One last spoiler before I move on with the review, why do films continue to show a glimpse of the last scene of the film in the fucking movie trailer? One of the last images from this film is shown in the films trailer that can be see online and on TV. This partially ruined the ending for me as I was waiting for this event to happen once I was able to tell that the film was coming to a climatic close.
End Spoiler
This film does not include your usual bullshit boo scares that current horror movies rely heavily on. While loud noises are heard throughout the film, it is not used as the primary means of scares. The actors provide some of the scares which help in making this film multi faceted. By the end of the film you’re not only interested in the demon that’s haunting this couple but also in the effect it’s had on the couple’s relationship. This film works mainly because almost everyone either knows someone who has experienced unexplained events in their home or has experienced it themselves. It dwells on people’s fears of what happens in our homes when we are sound asleep. I have heard “scariest film of 2009,” when reading about this film online. While I absolutely agree with that statement, it is also not saying much since we haven’t had a horror movie that was actually scary in the past 2 years. As long as you don’t hype yourself up too much before you watch the film you will leave satisfied and possibly hard of sleep.
--Steven M. Duarte
Trick ‘r Treat Michael Dougherty (director and writer) Cast: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker 2009 R 82 mins.
Trick ‘r Treat is a throwback of a film, a return to the great anthology fright films of yesteryear. To say that they don’t make them like this anymore would be a sad, but accurate, understatement. On the surface it resembles the last great horror anthology film, Creepshow, in more than one way. Perhaps the strongest link between the two is a reliance on comic book imagery. That being said, there are a few significant differences that makes new film stand out on its own. While Creepshow had the cartoon Creep, Trick has Sam, a weird little trick-or-treater with a large, round, smiling sack mask, a bag full of wicked candy, and a tendency to be just at the right place at the right time to witness numerous nightmares firsthand. Not to mention causing a bit of murderous mischief himself. Cute, cuddly, killer Sam is easily one of the best things about this film. He’s got an iconic, marketable, and memorable look, and evil is always more frightening when it comes in the pint-size body of a child. Then there are the stories. Creepshow had several set at different times and in different locals. All of Trick ‘r Treat’s tiny terror tales takes place on a single Halloween night in the same small town in Ohio. The tales are also interconnected as characters from each cross paths with one another on their way to each of their own dark fates. And such fates, and tales, they are.
There’s the creep with the tainted candy and a taste of murder, but who is also a family man and pillar of the community. There’s the bus full of strange, disturbed children whose parents get tired of covering up their shameful family secrets and arrange for them to take a one way fieldtrip to an abandoned quarry, only to have the terrifying tykes return thirty years later for one last trick on All Hallows Eve. Then there’s the four girls that are out for some woodland fun and to have the youngest member of their pack have a truly memorable “first time experience”. Oh, and did I mention sweet, little Sam? Add to that list vampires, pumpkin carving, ghosts, werewolves, and all manner of long legged beasties and you have one Halloween movie that touches on all of the season’s spooky signatures. Trick ‘r Treat is a fun fright film and one I can highly recommend for anyone wanting to expand their Halloween horror movie library.
--Brian M. Sammons
Zombieland (2009) Review by Nickolas Cook
Director : Ruben Fleischer Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, Bill Murray
Horror comedies, for the most part, tend to fall apart for me. Sure, there have been some great exceptions to the rule (Return of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps), but sometimes Hollywood forgets what makes a horror film funny is a hard to get tension between truly horrific and outrageous behavior. ZOMBIELAND easily makes the grade. From it’s opening of 80s like video montage, Metallic’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the background, this movie knows what horror fans, especially zombie horror fans, love best. In some ways, ZOMBIELAND works like a teen version of The Zombie Survival Guide, but with a great subtext of antisocial behavior in a society that leans ever more towards an isolationist mentality. Hell, even the main characters avoid using real names, instead they take on the name of the city they come from. Woody Harrelson (who is amusingly comfortable in the middle of a cast that wasn’t even born when he was playing Woody on ‘Cheers’) plays Tallahassee, a cynical survivor of the zombie apocalypse who wants only one thing: a good supply of Twinkies. Jesse Eisenberg plays Columbus, a nerdy antisocial teenager who finds new life in the undead world. When they decide to band together for safety’s sake, they meet a couple of grafter sisters who make them look like morons…well, more than usual anyway. Music is a big part of what makes the film so funny; it’s used in sly reference in key scenes, so make sure to listen to the background music. It’s the little jokes like that which work best. At times the broad stuff doesn’t come together quite so well. And there is a surprise cameo from Bill Murray that keeps you laughing to the end. Twinkies and Bill Murray? How can this love be wrong, you say. If you want some solid laughs and lots of gore, make sure to catch ZOMBIELAND at a theater near you. Might want to make sure it’s in a mall, just in case you need to hunker down for the end.
--Nickolas Cook
The Hills Run Red Director: Dave Parker Writers: David J. Schow, John Carchetta, and John Dombrown Cast: Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrinck, and William Sadler 2009 R 81 mins.
Back in the slasher heyday of the early 80s a more than slightly deranged filmmaker made a horror movie called The Hills Run Red about a psycho killer named Babyface that shakes his “death rattle” before attacking. The movie was quickly condemned by everyone for being too violent. It was pulled from theaters and soon the reclusive director disappeared along with all traces of his film, save for a cheesy theatrical trailer. Years later a young film buff obsessed with the slasher flick tracks down the director’s daughter, who was a young girl in the film, and coerces her into joining him and a couple of friends in an extended backwoods search for the missing film. What could go wrong with that? The Hills Run Red is an interesting and hard to classify film. Initially it appears to be a standard slasher film, but it quickly turns into more of a dark mystery. In fact, unlike any other slasher nobody dies until almost halfway through the movie. The only body count before that comes from grainy, flashback scenes from the missing movie that may or may not be actual kills, recorded snuff-film style. Once the kills start coming in earnest the film goes back to being a slasher flick. There are the trademark creative use of tools as weapons, a fair share of blood splattered about, and one of the most memorable looking killers to grace the screen in a long time. Babyface is a menacing psycho that reportedly cut off his own face as a child and replaced it with a doll’s face to appease his abusive father. And yet even then this movie isn’t content to stay pigeonholed for long. The creators of this film are well aware of the usual slasher film stereotypes and they wisely play with them to great effect.
Even the recent torture porn subgenre makes a thankfully short appearance in Hills as the movies rolls on and before it’s over there will be plenty of twists, turns, and bloody bodies to satisfy fright fans of all types. It is that quick changing malleability that is perhaps the greatest strength of this movie. It tries to be all things to all horror fans and for the most part it succeeds. Humor, mystery, torture, twists, a distinctive masked slasher, blood and guts, and even some gratuitous T&A, The Hills Run Red can be said to have it all. Well, except for vampires, but that’s not a bad thing. It is a great, fun film and one not to be missed in these days of mindless remakes, I highly recommend it.
--Brian M. Sammons
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) Review by Nickolas Cook
Directors: Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert and Paul Rudd
On the happiest day of her life, young Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) is hit by a super powered meteorite fragment from an alien planet. Regaining consciousness, she hurries to the altar to her husband to be (Rudd) when she begins to grow into a giant. After crashing her own wedding (literally), she is abducted by the US military and sent to live in a secret warehouse with a collection of other monsters. Her strange new friends include B.O.B. (Rogan), a Blob like creature created from food by products gone wrong, Dr. Cockroach, PhD (Laurie), a mad genius who inadvertently transformed himself into a cockroach with his teleportation device (ala The Fly), The Missing Link (Arnett), a thawed out prehistoric fish man (a sort of ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ with more humor) and a giant 300 foot tall caterpillar named Insectisuarus. When an alien invasion staged by Gallaxhar (Wilson) befalls the planet, the monsters are promised freedom if they can stop it. What follows is hilarious and just plain fun. This is a smart, well put together, animated film (originally shown in 3-D) that has so much to offer its viewers- from the hardcore horror/sci-fi geeks like me, to the casual film addict who might not know catch all the great horror sci-fi cultural references. It’s laugh out loud funny at times, and subtle at others. But nothing crude that will leave the kiddies feeling left out of the jokes. The cast is spot on for their parts, giving us believable emotional context, and surprisingly adult reactions to their predicaments- something that I see in animated films more and more these days- filled with characters you fall in love with and root for. And the soundwork on MONSTERS VS. ALIENS easily deserves an Oscar nomination. The screen is alive with action and thrills. Don’t miss this one, folks. You’ll be glad you watched it.
--Nickolas Cook
Vampyr- Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932) Review by Nickolas Cook
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Jan Hieronimko, Sybille Schmitz, Rena Mandel and Henriette Gerard
Danish Carl Theodor Dreyer directed one of the most stylish and eerie horror films of the genre. “Vampyr”, filmed entirely on location outside of Paris, France, in a real castle, is the story of a young man traveling across country, who gets caught up in a surrealistic nightmare of death and bloodsuckers. Based loosely on Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’, this was Dreyer’s first talking picture, and you can see his still heavy reliance on sight over sound. He finds some disturbing images to convey unease and death throughout the picture instead of having his characters talk about it. Such as when shadows move independently of human hosts or in weirdly inhuman fashion. The accoutrements of death are everywhere- coffins, graves, crosses, black veils on pale faces. The silent film aesthetic helps to deliberately structure the tale and the pace of the narrative as well. But in many ways it’s Dreyer’s use of sound that make for a creepy atmosphere for which this film is so well known. From the ringing bells to the ticking clocks, we get a sense of slow death in the world around our young hero, Alan Grey. There’s a dreamlike quality that reminds one of similar waking nightmare movies, such as ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ and ‘The Shining’. You never know what’s real and what’s in Grey’s imagination. The strange fluidity of the camera adds to that sense of floating above the narrative. This was released recently on a Criterion version. Expensive, but well worth it for the serious horror collector. You will find this vampire movie creates more atmosphere than any ten knockoffs being regurgitated into theaters these days.
--Nickolas Cook
The Haunted House of Horror (1969) Review by Nickolas Cook
Director: Michael Armstrong Cast: Frankie Avalon, Jill Haworth, Dennis Price, Mark Wynter, George Sewell, Gina Warwick, Richard O'Sullivan, Carol Dilworth, Julian Barnes, Veronica Doran, Robin Stewart, Jan Holden, Clifford Earl and Robert Raglan
Made by the smaller cousin of the giant Hammer Studios, Tigon British Film Productions, “House of Horror” is the first example of the teen slasher movie, long predating the likes of ‘Halloween’, ‘The Prowler’, and ‘Friday the 13th’. Although being British, you won’t find the screen splashed with blood, this creeping little movie still has all the elements you find in the later sub-genre of boobs and blood. Tigon made some really great dark ahead of their time horror movies in the 60s, including two my favs of that time period, ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’ and ‘The Creeping Flesh’). The setup is a familiar one now, but not so much for 1969’s horror fare. A group of young adult Bohemian types (and, yes, that’s Frankie Avalon hanging out with all those decidedly English young people) get together for a party but become bored quickly with the usual booze, sex and drugs. They decide it’d be a lark to go check out a supposed haunted house, a place where one of their friends, the shy withdrawn, Richard (Barnes) once lived as a child. Once inside the house, they have a séance for laughs, which soon prompts them to split up. In small groups or alone, they wander the darkened halls and stairs, guided only by dim candlelight- sound familiar yet? A mysterious knife wielding killer takes down one of their number and his grisly body is soon discovered. Instead of calling the police, they are talked into hiding the body by Chris (Avalon) for fear that a spate of past minor drug problems will lead to an instant arrest for all of them. Well, bad goes to worse as the crew begins to turn on one another, until they decide to go back in to the house to recreate the atmosphere so they can figure out who the killer is among them. Along the way, we’re given a couple of sly red herrings to keep us off balance and guessing who might be the killer (but I guarantee you will not guess the ending). The last five minutes of ‘House of Horror’ have to be some of the best use of ambiguity ever put to film. The final scene is chilling and pathetic. Surprisingly violent movie for its time. There’s a nifty late 60s mod soundtrack, lots of gorgeous English lasses, and some hip but dated dialogue. In short, this is an impressive, under the radar production that deserves a new audience. Hopefully someone will get off their kester and give this a proper DVD release soon.
--Nickolas Cook
Blacula (1972) Review by Nickolas Cook
Director: William Crain Cast: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Gordon Pinsent, Charles Macaulay, and Thalmus Rasulala
Transylvania: 1780 and Count Dracula has invited the proud African, Prince Mamuwalde (Marshall), and his lovely wife to his castle to discuss slave trade between nations. When Prince Mamuwalde tells Dracula to stuff it, the good Count takes his revenge on the prince by making him a bloodsucker and locking him away inside the bowels of the castle for all eternity. Cutto: 1970s Transylvania and two gay interior decorators have made the score of a lifetime by buying up all that old dusty furniture from the Count’s old castle—including a very peculiar casket containing Blacula’s remains. When the casket is opened in modern day Los Angeles, CA. that’s when the fun starts. Blacula begins his reign of terror, blood sucking anyone dumb enough to get in his way, or anyone who can expose him for the unholy creature he’s become. But his secret is soon out, when he discovers Tina (the gorgeous Vonetta McGee) is the reincarnation of his lost wife. Soon, a group of intrepid Van Helsing wannabes (Rasulala and Pinsent) track his hiding place to an abandoned factory where the final battle ensues, and Blacula is destroyed in a blast of redemptive sunlight (at least until 1973’s sequel, ‘Scream Blacula Scream’). Boy, it doesn’t get much more fun than this movie. American International Pictures was the leader in producing some of the greatest blaxploitation movies ever. They knew the elements that made them work: the cast, the music, and the antiestablishment and racial subtexts. But they also knew hot to turn the tropes on their head, while making for an entertaining movie that never bogged itself down into too much politics and social awareness: horror with jive assssssssss attitude. ‘Blacula’ still works today, despite the clunky technical limitations and the dated dialogue and music. In fact, in many ways, those are exactly the things that still give it charm. When William Marshall slips into his cape for the first time you can’t help but get that great little horror shiver up your spine. ‘Blacula’’s success made possible the subsequent success of such films as ‘Ganga and Hess’, ‘Sugar Hill’ and ‘The House on Skull Mountain’, and helped them find a multi-racial audience. It’s one of the few to display true pathos and empathy for its villain. Marshall brought a suave classiness to the role that no other actor ever could; and for many, he became the face of blax-horror films for all time.
--Nickolas Cook
Blackenstein (1973) Review by Nickolas Cook
Director: William A. Levey Cast: John Hart, Ivory Stone, Joe De Sue, and Roosevelt Jackson
Made solely to cash in on the success of AIP’s 1972 ‘Blacula’, ‘Blackenstein’ (also known as ‘Black Frankenstein’) may be the rock bottom of the blaxploitation horror genre. The acting is abysmal, the story unbelievably ridiculous and the direction mostly subpar. But you can’t help love watching at least once. Eddie (Joe De Sue) is a paraplegic who had his legs and arms blown off by a mine in Vietnam before being shipped home to his lover, Winifred (Ivory Stone), who just happens to be a PhD in Physics, and just happens to know a Nobel Peace Prize winning geneticist, Dr. Stein (John Hart). When the docs join forces to put old Eddie back together again they weren’t counting on the Igor-like lab assistant (Roosevelt Jackson) falling in love with Winifred and sabotaging their experiments on Eddie. Well before you can say ‘It’s alive!’, poor old Eddie grows back his legs and arms, and a square afro, to boot, and becomes Blackenstein! scourge of poodles and pimps everywhere. Meanwhile, Winfred, out smart enough to get a PhD, can’t seem to put two and two together well enough to figure out what’s gone wrong. And while she is trying to figure it all out, Blackenstein is off killing a lot of people who have nothing to do with the story. And it gets worse from there, folks. This is a textbook example how not to make a movie, and especially a blax-horror film. There’s no attempt at antiestablishment charm. The bland dialogue is lifeless; the terrible music utterly out of context throughout the entire movie; tons of insignificant face shots that convey nothing to the narrative; and the special effects are anything but. And where the hell is the storm coming from? We keep seeing clear exterior night shots of Stein’s mansion, but inside the place we hear thunder and see lightning erupt every few minutes. This truly has to be the ‘Plan Nine From Outer Space’ of blaxsploitation horror.
Re-Cycle (2006) This month’s recommended Foreign Fears Feature film comes from directing brothers Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang. The Hong Kong duo who previously directed the Eye series comes with something a bit different with Re-cycle. This film is hard to categorize as it does not fit in any single category. It has zombies, fantasy, and horror elements. It also has the Asian horror staple of a long black haired ghost haunting the main character. In the film we follow a female writer who just finished her newest romance novel. At a press conference for the book her agent unexpectedly announces the title of her new book “Re-cycle.” Once she begins writing this new novel she begins to witness strange unexplainable things. She ends up experiencing the very same things that she has just written about. I do have to caution those who are squeamish towards the sight of aborted fetuses as this film has them aplenty.
THANKSGIVING TURKEY It’s that time of year. The chill of fall is in the air, the leaves are gliding groudward, and the hordes of frozen turkeys are invading the grocery store. And that makes me think fondly on Turkish films. Yes, there was a golden age of Turkish cinema. Around the mid-sixties, Istanbul (not Constantanople) and the outlying had their theatres that showed either one of the few homegrown studio pictures or, more likely, imported and subtitled flicks from Europe or America. Those not wanting to venture outside for entertainment could watch a program on one of those new televisions that was the rage. The rural areas, on the other hand, were out of luck. The prohibitive price of TV sets aside, reception was impossible outside the city areas. And when it was time to treat themselves to the movies, the last thing they wanted to do was read along with a foreign flick. They wanted pure, casual fun entertainment. Thus, around 1965, the Turkish independent film business was born. The producers and directors weren’t film school graduates, but con men and merchants who could get a hold of a movie camera. The stars didn’t come from soap operas or repertory theatre, but were friends of the producers, or the farmer who lived down the road. They started cranking out movie after movie, mostly cheap action flicks made in less than a week with a budget a fraction of what Hollywood studios were paying on catering alone. With the actors doing all their own stunts, it was cheap to string together a bunch of fight scenes with minimal plot to tie it all together. The audiences loved them, demanded more, and these filmmakers were happy to feed the need. Eventually, even with the miniscule storylines needed, they started to run out of ideas. Instead of using part of the precious budget to pay writers to come up with original plots, they simply found the biggest grossing American media and remade them, using their own actors and their own languages. Hence, the “Turkish Remake” was born, and the subgenre that most people are familiar with from the golden age. Nothing was outside the realm of the Turkish filmmaker. There was a Star Trek rip-off (the Enterprise crew picks up a Turkish hitchhiker), a fun little piece called 3 Dev Adam (Three Mighty Men)where Captain America and Santos fight the evil crime lord, Spider-man (side note—that one is definitely worth looking up, if anything, for the scene where Spidey feeds an innocent woman into a boat’s propeller). Those ones took known characters and gave them a whole different storyline. Then there were the more blatant rip-offs. The Turkish Star Wars not only went for a remake, but used footage from the real version to pad their effects-starved production. The Turkish Wizard of Oz looks oddly familiar, like watching the movie through funhouse mirrors. My favorite was Seytan, the Turkish Exorcist.
I’ve read a number of reviews ripping Seytan apart for being a cheap shot-for-shot remake. That is unfair. Yes, the story is basically the same—twelve year old daughter of a single mother gets possessed by the devil and two older men help chase the demon from her body. Yes, a lot of the key scenes are intact, including the projectile vomit, the peeing herself at the middle of a party, the bed levitations. However one key factor is missing—the Catholic factor. There aren’t a whole lot of Catholics in Turkey, certainly not enough to fill multiple theatres. So the Catholic part of the movie had to go. Step one: remove the priests. The part of Father Damian Karas became a writer. The Max von Sydow character is now an anthropologist. With no religious training whatsoever, how are these men qualified to perform an exorcism? One wrote a book on devils, the other was on the dig that unearthed the demon possessing little Gul’s soul.
Okay, so we have an Exorcist remake with no religious references (other than an occasional uttering of Allah’s name during the ceremony), no special effects, and no budget. Can that work? In some ways, yes it can. However, for it to do so, it has to be judged on a whole different scale than the original. Friedkin’s The Exorcist was done not just as story, but as art. It was a movie that wanted, not just to scare or entertain, but get under the audience’s skin and stick around long after the last reel was done. Even though it’s been thirty five years since The Exorcist and special effects have become more realistic, it continues to disturb audiences even today. Seytan is pure popcorn entertainment. There was no statement of faith, no subtext. We are presented with a classical battle of good versus evil, tainted versus pure. And there are some genuine scary moments. Granted, those are more along the “Boo!” lines than the disturbingly horrific scares of the original. Still, it works for what it wanted to be—a fun piece of escapist entertainment. Yes, Seytan has its bits of craptacularity. The effects are horrible. Instead of spewing pea soup, for example, it looks like they just splashed yellow paint on the writer’s face. The lights in the room magically disappear during the bed levitation scene, but if you look close enough, you can still see the ropes pulling it up. The camera work, especially if you compare it to the original, was flat and uninteresting. It’s hard to say if the script was poorly written because it could either be the dialogue, or the horrible subtitling job on the version I saw (a few lines were subtitled with “?????” where the translator couldn’t figure out what the translation was, and another time “search Google” came up on the subtitles. This was on a version uploaded to YouTube, so I guess I got what I paid for). When Seytan worked, it was mainly due to the actors. The little girl playing Gul gave a surprisingly subtle performance when she was the girl herself, confused and scared. While possessed, she was gleefully over the top, the evil demonic force necessary to deliver the fun. Tugrul, the writer, conveys regret about his mother almost equal to Jason Miller’s performance as the tormented priest. Still, it’s impossible to not watch Seytan and compare it to The Exorcist. It’s like being in the mood for a steak and getting McDonalds instead. Yes, they’re both cow meat, and McDonalds isn’t necessarily all that disgusting, but there is no mistaking one for the other. Turkey continued with the remakes for another ten years after Seytan. However, around the mid-eighties, production died down. More and more people had access to television, and no longer needed to go to the movies and pay for cheap entertainment. Independent film production tapered off and finally died, around the time of the Turkish E.T. Eventually, most of these movies were bought by television and became a staple of weekend or late-night programming, any time they needed a cheap time filler, there were thousands of films to fill the need. As a film lover, I look at the body of work from Turkey’s golden age and see a bunch of action flicks with minimal plot, remakes and rip-offs which, while loved during their era, are viewed now with either total disgust or a nostalgic humor. Then I look at the listings currently playing in theatres…cheap remakes with no respect for the original, mindless action flicks, rip-offs. I have to wonder—have we in America entered a golden age ourselves?
WHERE TO FIND THEM: There are a handful of bootleg retail outlets that sell DVD-r copies of Turkish remakes. I wouldn’t bother paying, as you can easily browse YouTube or Google Video and find a whole bunch for free. Trust me, that way you get your money’s worth.
Welcome to the first installment of Graphic Horror where spooky games come to play. If you are a fan of both horror and interactive gamming then this is the place for you. On the other hand if you are a fan of horror but haven’t given video games a second thought since the days of Pac Man then perhaps these terrifying titles will tempt you to pick one up and give it a try. Here you will find reviews of new horror or darkly themed games, maybe some classic creepy games from yesterday, and perhaps even a non-horror suggestion or two for those wanting to cleanse the terror palate. So without further ado, let’s start things off with the most recent ghoulish games to hit store shelves.
WOLFENSTEIN, by Activision, id, & Raven; 2009; Rated M; PC, PS3, Xbox 360.
The first Wolfenstien 3D came out in 1992. The game was set sometime in World War Two and you played as B.J. Blazkowicz, an American agent trapped in a Nazi infested castle, trying to shoot your way out. As you traversed the maze-like corridors you blasted the expected Nazi soldiers, but soon you were fighting horrible zombie-mutant things that the Nazi scientists had created. At the end of the game you even fought Adolf Hitler in a robotic power suit. With this odd bit of historical, sci-fi, supernatural shooting fest, a new genre of video game was born; the First Person Shooter, a category of game that has become insanely popular and is still going strong today. Nine years later and Return to Castle Wolfenstein came out in 2001. The game was more fast action, gun blasting fun, albeit with much improved graphics and an online multiplayer mode. Once again you were B.J. shooting Nazis in the face, but this time the supernatural and occult undertones were made even more prominent. Sadly there was no zombified robo-Hitler to fight at the end of the game. Now, after eight more years, the third game in this venerable series has arrived. Simply titled Wolfenstein, you are once again agent Blazkowicz, and you are once more shooting Nazis and strange creatures during World War Two. So, what is new in this game? Sadly, not much, and that is this game’s one and only flaw, it brings nothing fresh to the genre it created over fifteen years ago. But is that such a bad thing? No, not really, because it’s still a whole lot of fun shooting Nazis in the face. This time out the supernatural is even more present in the form of a magical amulet that you get to use. I t allows you enter another, ghostly dimension called the Veil that exists parallel to ours in a very From Beyond kind of way. Entering this place allows B.J. to move faster, see the “mostly” harmless creatures that live in that world, and to access hidden, secret areas only accessible through the Veil. As the game progresses, you will also attain special Veil powers, such as the ability to slow time or raise a bullet-stopping shield around you. The strange Nazi creatures are also back, along with soldiers in jet packs, sorcerers chucking green fire at you, and S&M frauleins complete with whips. This time around, more of the real world occult influences are present in the form of two secret societies; The Golden Dawn and the Thuel Society. As for frights, sadly there’s not much here. Horror videogames usually rely on two tactics to scare; loads of creepy atmosphere (Silent Hill) or jump scares (Resident Evil), but unfortunately Wolfenstein employs nether of these methods. This means that diehard horror fans may be disappointed, but passing on this game just because it’s not all that scary would be a huge mistake. It is loads of fun, has a pretty good story, and the multiplayer will provide as many hours of entertainment as you’re willing to sacrifice to it. Besides, everyone knows that the only thing more fun than shooting Nazis is shooting monsters and in Wolfenstein you get to shoot Nazi monsters. It just doesn’t get any better than that. For nonstop run a gun fun, and for allowing me to once again shoot Nazis in the face, I give Wolfenstein a 4 out of 5.
DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION, by EA Games & Visceral Games; 2009; Rated M; Nintendo Wii.
Last year one of the best, most terrifying games to come out in a long while was Dead Space. It was an original tale set in the cold reaches of space concerning an alien artifact, creatures that reanimate the dead into horribly twisted creatures called Necromorphs, and a main character battling his own demons. The game was a third person shooter drenched in atmosphere with plenty of shocks, jump scares, and animated gore to make any horror fan happy. Lastly it was released on the current gaming powerhouses, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The Nintendo Wii, with its focus firmly set on family friendly fare, was sadly left out of the dead alien goodness. That is, till now. This game, released solely for the Wii, is a first person rail shooter. That means you, as the player, controls the gun sights of the character but not his movement or even where he’s looking. All that is handled for you so you can focus your attention to the task of blasting your reanimated friends into quivering, bloody bits. This odd turn of game play actually works out well for the Wii. It plays to the platform’s strengths, with its point at the screen Wiimote waggling, while minimizing its weaknesses, such as lower end hardware when compared to its competition. As for the story, this second installment to the series is prequel to the events of the first game. So those that played the original will recognize certain locations and characters, but this time around they’ll be seeing them from a different perspective and will learn a few secrets along the way. You’ll also be playing a number of different roles instead of a single character and don’t expect them all to make it out alive. Extraction is a surprisingly bloody (for the Wii anyway) and action packed shooter that drips with atmosphere and has plenty of shocks to make players jump. It is also easily the scariest and most adult game on the Wii to date. If you own Nintendo’s little wonder box and you are a horror fan then getting this game is mandatory. It’s not too long, but it sure is a thrilling ride, and with co-op play both you and a friend can tackle the terrors together, which is good just in case you get too scared and need someone to hold your hand. Dead Space Extraction gets a very creepy 4 out of 5.
BRUTAL LEGEND, by EA & Double Fine; 2009; Rated M; PC, PS3, Xbox 360
First let me say that this game isn’t strictly a horror title despite being set in a hellish dimension filled with monsters and demons. It isn’t scary in the least. It is, however, one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. Both the writing and voice talent is top notch and since the facial animations are very well done, it allows the characters to emote and sell visual jokes without saying a word. So the game is funny and not too scary, so what else is it? Well it’s the most metal game ever! And by metal I mean heavy metal, of course. The story revolves around a band roadie named Eddie Riggs, competently voiced by Jack Black, who gets sucked into a vaguely medieval world that looks like a heavy metal album cover come to life. Within this weird world are found demons, battleaxes, hot chicks, hotrods, beer, and everything else that makes rock music great. And speaking of music, Brutal Legend has 107of heavy metal’s best and most memorable songs in its soundtrack. In addition to the blistering tracks, many of the metal world’s VIPs lend heir voices to the game in addition to their songs. These include Lemmy from Mortorhead, The lovely Lita Ford, Rob Halford of Judas Priest in a dual role, and the heavy metal madman himself; Ozzy as, what else, the Guardian of Metal. The story is both pretty basic and hilariously awesome. Eddie goes to the world of metal and finds mankind enslaved by the evil, and fabulously coifed, glam rocker Lion White, voiced by Rob Halford. Eddie vows to free his people through the power of rock so he must travel the land to gather an army and teach them the ways of combat. Thick necked headbangers, hot female runaways with guns, and even Lemmy (as the Killmaster), will all join Eddie’s army after the required quests are completed. It is this army gathering that leads to what could be the only flaw in this otherwise amazing heavy metal dream game. If you’ve seen any advertisements for Brutal Legend then you saw Eddie Riggs running and driving through the world, fighting monsters, rocking out, and exploring metal influenced landscapes. Because of those ads you might be thinking that this game is an open world exploration battlefest, and it is partially, but the larger part of the game is all Real Time Strategy, or RTS. Both Command and Conquer and Warcraft (before it became World of…) are examples of RTS games. If you enjoy playing those kinds of games then great, but if not then be warned, Brutal Legend is a RTS through and through. That being said, this game is a blast. If you are a fan of heavy metal music then you simply must play this game. It treats the music with respect while tweaking some of its more silly bits at the same time. Horror fans looking for scares won’t find any here, but there are monsters and plenty of laughs, so think of it as Scary Movie, only as a game…and good. I am a fan of heavy metal, so take my rating with a grain of salt if you’re not, but I give Brutal Legend a hot rockin’ 4 out of 5.
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, by Konami Digital Entertainment; 2009; Rated M; PlayStation Network & Xbox Live Arcade.
Remember the found yesteryears when games were much simpler but still fun? Those are the kind of games you can find for download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade and one of the newest games throws all the way back to some of the earliest games. The type of game is called “dual stick shooters” where one joystick (or in modern times, thumbstick) moves your character and the other stick shoots in whatever direction it is pressed towards. Two of the more famous examples of this subgenre are Robotron and Smash TV. And while those games were great fun, here at Shock Totem we have a saying, ok, I have a saying: “anything can be made better with zombies.” Luckily the game makers at Konami share this sentiment. Zombie Apocalypse is a fast, fun, shooter with tons of different zombies, exploding teddy bears that cry out in cutesy voices; “I’m stuffed with love…and C4!”,a selection of flawed heroes to play as, and co-op multiplayer for up to four zombie blasters to play at the same time. There are a series of repeating boards, or arenas, to play in such as cemetery, airport, junkyard, and others, each with their own environmental hazards to chuck zombies into, such as crematoriums at the cemetery and a car crusher in the junkyard. Much more diverse than the locations are the zombies themselves. Traditional shambling undead are there, but then there’s granny zombies that chuck knives at you, fat construction workers that take a ton of damage, puking zombies, exploding zombies, shooting zombies, and even grotesque, pregnant zombies. To help you mow down wave after wave of rotting baddies are your ever present assault rifle and your trusty chainsaw, because what’s a zombie game without chainsaws? But these weapons alone won’t be enough to save you, so short-term weapon power ups will drop into the arenas from time to time like flamethrowers and rocket launchers. However all is not perfect in zombie land. With only a handful of arenas they become repetitive relatively quickly. I have to wonder how hard it would have been to come up with a few more locations. Also while there are a good number of varied zombie opponents, the game pulls the cheap move of having all the zombie types become “radioactive” which means they glow green, have twice as much hit points, and seems like just an attempt to pad out the game. But even with those few shambling missteps, the overall effect of Zombie Apocalypse is fun, especially when playing with others in multiplayer. The game doesn’t do anything new, but what it does, it does well and for just about ten bucks for both systems it’s available for it is good, gory, goofy fun for you and your friends. I give Zombie Apocalypse 3 half eaten brains out of 5.
THE GENRE BREAK
BORDERLANDS, by 2K Games & Gearbox Software ; 2009; Rated M; PC, PS3, Xbox 360.
This is a fast action, sci-fi first person shooter with a mix of role playing elements such as leveling, allocating talent points, and plenty of MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) quests. Also in mini-MMO fashion, up to four friends can play together and there’s four diverse classes to choose from, ranging from the usual solider and hunter, to the stealthy siren, and the up close and personal berserker basher. The game has you assuming one of the four roles and roaming all over the hostile planet of Pandora, home to many murderers, monsters, mutants, and crazies. Why would you want to go to such a place? Well to find an alien vault filled with amazingly high technology that would make you richer than your wildest dreams, that’s why. Along the way you will get to play with some of the games “87 Bazillion Guns”. That is the game randomly generates guns, no two of them alike, and the possible combinations could very well be limitless. That also means that if you lust after the always desirable “phat loot” found in such games as Diablo and any of the many MMO’s, then this game represents the mother of all loot collecting games. But if tons of guns were all that Borderlands had to offer it would still be easy to dismiss. Luckily for all of us, the game play is great. While it doesn’t innovate the shooter genre it does polish it to a bright shine. There are many enemies to blast with your nifty guns. From alien dog-like things, to the ever present alien bug-like things, to guys with guns, to my personal favorites; mutant midget psychos. All of the adversaries, and the locations you fight them in, look absolutely amazing with a rich, colorful animation that resembles an animated movie more than it does a videogame. Now the game is not perfect. Some of the enemy AI (artificial intelligence, or how they act while you shoot them) can be a bit dodgy at times or overly simplistic at others. One boss I defeated by simply standing in place and blasting it with rockets. Additionally there are vehicles in the game and while they handle reasonably well as transportation, in some instances you have to engage in vehicular combat and the car mounted weaponry is so incredibly underpowered and inaccurate that the battles go better if you actually jump out of your Mad Max buggy to shoot at the other cars with your normal weapons. Those minor quibbles aside, this game is definitely more than a sum of its parts and that is largely due to the great fun it is to wander the wastelands with a real life friend (or three) at your side. The online multiplayer experience this game offers is top notch and all shades of fun. Games always go better with friends, and being able to play with friends, as opposed to against them like most multiplayer games, has always been my personal favorite. There is one minor problem with the multiplayer and that is the loot system, or specifically the lack of one. That is anyone can pick up and keep any dropped item at any time. This means that ultra rare and cool gun you’ve always wanted might drop from a boss, only to be grabbed by someone else when you’re not looking. This potential problem can be dealt with by playing with your friends or people you know or trust, but if you go into a pickup game with strangers, be warned. As for a rating, Borderlands gets 5 out of 5! Despite its few flaws it is easily the game I’ve had the most fun with for a good long while now. If you like shooters and role playing games then this is the one game for you. This also means that the one non-horror related game on this list gets the best score, how weird is that? But that’s the reason I want to point out non-horror titles from time to time to all you horrorheads. Just because Borderlands isn’t chock full o’ zombies doesn’t mean you should pass on this fun, addictive, multiplayer romp. Oh what, that’s not enough for you? Well ok, did I mention that the first downloadable expansion for the game will bring zombies into it? There, now you have no reason to not run out and get this great game at once.
--Brian Sammons
(Brian Sammons has been writing reviews for years for such magazines as Cemetery Dance, Dark Wisdom, Shock Totem, and The Unspeakable Oath. His reviews have also appeared on many websites such as The Black Seal, Bloody-Disgusting, and Horror World. Wanting to give other critics the chance to ravage his work for a change, Brian has also penned a few short stories that have appeared in such anthologies as Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, and Monstrous. Some of the magazines where you can find his twisted tales are Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Dark Animus. For more about this guy whose neighbors describe as “such nice, quite man” go here: http://www.freewebs.com/brian_sammons/)
Recorded by Dario Del Toro Transcribed by Nickolas Cook (Note from the editors: The following report was transcribed from a rather garbled and bewildering MP3 file we received from our reporter in the field. Please be aware The Black Glove does not necessarily share Mr. Del Toro’s opinions or views, and we do advocate any social, political, mental, physical or emotional suggestions he may infer. Also, please be aware some of the verbiage and links he uses are NOT work safe. Read and/or click at your own risk.)
Just got into Uqbar to take in the bi-annual Horror Film and Glass Blowing Festival. Me and the gang
had a hell of a time slogging through the swampy outbacks and traipsing up several mountain passes to reach the town of Elskemccain to get to said festival. Yes, I know: it’s a pretty strange name for a Uqbarian town, but apparently Ms. McCain is famous over this part of the world. And it’s little wonder—her assets are tremendous
I mean, have you seen this girl act? My God! Her range is amazing for one so young and innocent looking. Another goddamn Linnea Quigley in the making, in my opinion. If Spike Network doesn’t start recognizing her for their ridiculous Scream Awards soon, I’ll by God write my Congressman. That should put a bee in their bonnets. What the hell was I saying…? Oh, yeah, the festival. The goddamn festival. Christ! What’s that smell? Part of the gang is an Arabian dwarf they call Pooter. Don’t ask how he got the name. I did and he showed me. My eyes watered for two hours and the stench of damp Frito Corn Chips and Stilton cheese stuck in my nose for the rest of the day. What that little fucker eats is beyond me. My guess is Frito Corn Chips and Stilton cheese. What a diet for an Arabian dwarf. But what do I know about Arabian dwarf diets? I’m a middle aged horror writer from New York. My diet isn’t all that great either. But fucking Christ’s sake! I’ve never caused spontaneous tears with a single fart. Even when giving a carefully negotiated Dutch Oven. Sure, there was puking and screaming, but tears? Nope. Not a one. How the hell did I get on killer farts? (the recording becomes very garbled here; we can hear only the word ‘olives’ and then static for several seconds) Back to this god forsaken festival… As I sit here in this claustrophobic room they have the vulgarity to call a bar, I keep asking what negative karma did I incur to warrant having to traipse to Uqbar to watch horror films? The editor of The Black Glove hired me…well, to be more exact the son of a bitch has some incriminating photos of me in a love strangle hold with some tentacled rubber doll thing I picked up in Japan back in the 70s. Back then, Cthulhu Love Dolls all the rage in Orient. You couldn’t take a step in any decent brothel in Japan without running cheek to tentacle with one of those bastards. And let me tell you: those stoic faced Japanese business men the value of a good bunch of overly excited tentacles. I mean, Christ, look at the work of Japanese Manga master Toshio Maeda. No wonder the hyper intelligent culture has such a fascination with things-that-go-squirm; in fact, there are whole web sites devoted solely totentacular love. Obscene stuff. Unless you happen to be tentacled or a small Anime looking Asian school girl. I wish that bastard bartender would turn down the tv. I wish he’d walk his limping ass back over here so I can get another one of these Scorpions. Good for the soul, but they sure pack a wallop for the uninitiated. Oh, fuck, I’ve gone and lost the thread of this report again. Where was I? I’ve got to layoff the wormwood popsicles, By God. I’m just not built for that sort of highly combustible experience anymore. Got to start small and work my way up to such hallucinatory expeditions, for Christ’s sake. Maybe suck bee’s wax off of hot stiletto heels first. Like the old days… Uqbar…yes. I remember now. This damned Horror and Glass Blowing fiasco. I won’t cheapen the word ‘festival’ by using that term for what I’ve found here. When we arrived a couple of hours ago, the whole town of Elskemccain was ablaze with glowing glass lanterns, blown into the shapes of spiders and skulls. I have to admit the sight is stunning. Maybe even a little unnerving. Everywhere you go, those glass fuckers are hanging over your head. I keep thinking I see them move just as I pass under, but when I turn to look, they’re just hanging there--innocent, fragile and bright. The skulls are not snarling; the spiders are not click-clacking their thin transparent legs in preparation for an unsuspecting bipedal dinner. With Pooter in the lead (and who the hell ever thought being down wind from that little gas-filled monstrosity was a good idea? Criminally insane logic!), we cowered past the lanterns and into Elskemccain’s most fashionable hostelry, The Straub Inn. I gave half an eye to the place’s hard won elegance, and made straight for the room they like to call a bar, while Pooter went to the front desk to check us in and inflict his gaseous ravages on the general populace of Uqbar’s biggest town. Right now, on the overhead sound system, I can hear Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond bouncing through their most well known hit, Take Five. After four Scorpions I’m having trouble striving to take the advice of Messieurs Brubeck and Desmond. I’m beginning to feel distinctly paranoid about the two sunglass-wearing Asians in dark business suits sitting three stools down from me. I’m sure I can see glowing eyes from behind those cheap sunglasses. What the fuck are they so happy about anyway? The hotel smells of old cigars and too much vacuuming. Where are the maids anyway? No one is even smoking cigars. Turns out the film festival is all SyFy original productions. Ah, ye Gods!! What the hell did I ever do to deserve such a hellish fate? I know they’re watching me from behind those damn shades. Squirmy little bastards. Damn you, Nickolas Cook! I hope someone chains you down to a razor laced lounge chair and forces you to watch Cabin Fever over and over, until your goddamned eyes bleed your own blood. SyFy…SciFi… Why the change, you driveling swine? Was this some sort of evil switcharoo gambit meant to confuse the drooling Battlestar Galactica fanboys? The official report states that network honchos were worried that people might not be able to capitalize the original SciFi logo correctly. Apparently they felt their target audience has the collective brain power of a can of CheeseWhiz, or worse, of their original programming staff, who tend, like a good can of the Whiz, to puke up the worst excuse for cheese ever invented. Watching the SyFy channel is barely better than watching a fanboy’s all rant YouTube channel. Later, it was revealed they had yet another motive (and I suspect the real one from the start). They were not able to trademark the logo, SciFi (hey, fellas, I’ve managed to score three times on the capitalization thing; does that mean I get a prize, you greedhead fuckers?), which is the generic abbreviation for the entire speculative genre, Science Fiction. And it’s not as if the greedhead bastards could trademark a whole genre of fiction. Instead, they’ve done nothing but cheapen and desecrate the entire idea of a forward looking and thinking fiction by giving us such smart movies as Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and genre defining programming as Who Wants To Be A Superhero?, which has to be one of the single most hideous excuses for entertainment ever conceived. Reality tv with no basis in reality? What a concept. Damn it, those two bastards keep edging closer to me. Two stools down, one to go. Can they read minds? Do they know I’m furious and physically sickened by SyFy Channel’s punk move? Where is that goddamn bartender? I hope Cook doesn’t get a wink of sleep when he finds out I’ve been taken prisoner by the Uqbarian SyFy Asian Tentacle Mafia, maybe even forced to positive reviews to their brand of cow-like dreck. By God, that would take a lot more than four Scorpions and two glowing eyed goons to force a good call from this reviewer. Damn it, man. Where did all those tentacles come from?
(this portion of the file is unclear, hopelessly garbled…we can only make out the words ‘nasty’ and ‘gumball’ before the audio splits off) Bartender? Bartender?! Turn up the tv, you gimp bastard! Destination Truth is on!
(Editor’s note: The current whereabouts of reporter Dario Del Toro are unknown. If anyone knows where he can be reached, please contact the magazine at Nickolasecook@aol.com. He has been receiving strange catalogues from Asia again)
Rob Zombie makes us horror geeks proud. He turned his love for the genre into a new style of hard rocking metal horror music, went on to become a highly respected genre director, and has even managed to make horror cool again. Born January 12th, 1965, Robert Bartleh Cummings, like many of us aging horror geeks, he was raised on a steady diet of trashy Euro horror in the theaters and the resurgence of 50s and 60s sci-fi/horror movies of his parents’ day. Alongside the musical scares of bands like KISS and Alice Copper, he coupled that with his love for the cheap, DYI horror aesthetic, and brought those loves into his first outings in the music world. Named for Bela Lugosi’s famous 1932 movie, “White Zombie”, he and fellow band mates, Jay Noel Yuenger, Sean Yseult, John Tempesta, Ivan de Prume, Tom Guay and Ena Kostabi, they used that love for horror to create a music that was part Alice Cooper and part Black Sabbath, but with a grinding groove pace that metal had not heard before. Their success in the late 90s made room for other like sounding musicians existing on the fringe of industrial and darkwave music movements.
Production values continued to grow in the studio, but eventually Zombie took complete control of the boards and the music, and became almost the solo player on the last of the ‘White Zombie’ albums, ‘Astro Creep: 2000’, their biggest success to date. Zombie struck out on his own, following a brief hiatus from 1996 to 1997, and hit it even bigger with his first solo release, ‘Hellbilly Deluxe’. This album exemplified all that Zombie loved about metal and horror, blending the two with apt soundtrack snatches from obscure low budget horror films, while lyrically playing the devil for the world to see and fear.
Zombie had learned valuable lessons fellow musicians KISS, Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson: there’s no such thing as bad promotion. In the late 90s, he became the subject of several Christian Right Wing nut groups that wanted to stop his shows across the country. All they did was make his show the MUST see show of the year. But music wasn’t enough. Zombie wanted to direct horror film. And in 2003, he finally saw the release of his long delayed ‘House of 1000 Corpses’. The film’s surreal and gory quality made it an instant cut favorite. Zombie had managed to convey the funhouse atmosphere of his music and art, while still staying true to horror’s antiestablishment subtext.
More films followed, such as the sequel to H1KC, 2005’s ‘The Devil’s Rejects’. And it was with this film that Zombie proved he had the emotional sophistication to make not only a good horror film, but a memorable film. Later that year he was asked to helm the proposed ‘Halloween’ remake, much to many fans’ dismay. Love it or hate it, Zombie did manage to turn out a decent remake, albeit one that diverged quite a bit from the original classic movie. Since then, Zombie has tackled more film projects, making the next movie better than the last, in terms of story and style. But he hasn’t forgotten the music fans. His albums have continued the tradition of funhouse horror metal music. ‘The Sinister Urge’, a best of from his White Zombie and solo albums, ‘Educated Horses’. And now with the imminent release and touring schedule for the long awaited sequel to his original solo hit album, ‘Hellbilly Deluxe 2’ Zombie fans can rejoice. With all of the projects Zombie has on the burners these days, one has to wonder what’s next? Here’s to hoping Zombie can once again make horror a genre that speaks loudest to the human condition.
Filmography 2003: House Of 1000 Corpses 2005: The Devil's Rejects 2007: Halloween 2009: Halloween II 2009: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto 2010: Tyrannosaurus Rex (pre-production status) 2011: The Blob (pre-production status) 2013: El Superbeasto sequel (The Man with Golden Thunderballs) (pre-production status)
Discography with White Zombie 1987: Soul-Crusher 1989: Make Them Die Slowly 1992: La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 1995: Astro Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head
Dethklok: Dethalbum II Review written by Steven M Duarte
There’s no denying the popularity of the virtual heavy metal band Dethklok. The show Metalocalypse has been renewed for a third season on Adult Swim and the fictional band is currently on tour supporting Mastodon. Series creator Brendon Small brings us the second full length album from Dethklok. This sophomore effort from is definitely an upgrade over the first Dethalbum. While I did enjoy the first Dethalbum I treated it more as a companion to the cartoon show. Dethalbum II breaks from this mold as it truly stands on its own as a heavy metal album. While giving the album repeated listens, I often forgot that I was listening to Dethklok. This album could hold its own against such bands as Arch Enemy and Children of Bodom. The album starts off strong with tribal drumming on “Bloodlines.” The double pedal drumming done by former Strapping Young Lad drummer Gene Hoglan adds to the great production of the album. Much like the cartoon show, you will find yourself headbanging to the thunderous drumming and guitar solos. Dethalbum II also includes much more keyboard work this time around which is a welcome addition. Other standout songs on the album include “The Gears,” “Burn the Earth,” and “Murmaider II: The Water God,” which is part two of the first albums song Murmaider. The difference in song composition between Murmaider 1 and 2 really shows how much the music has matured with Dethalbum. Dethalbum II does retain the over the top song names and lyrics that were prevalent on the first album. While this may be considered corny for a band such as Dimmu Borgir or Nile, it works for Dethklok as their show portrays themselves as laughable heavy metal heads. This album has garnered repeated listenings from me as I have accepted Dethklok as a formidable heavy metal band. I still get amazed at the fact that one man plays majority of the instruments in creating this monstrous album. I would definitely recommend this album over their first due to the more mature sound and overall better compositions of the songs.
Track List 1 "Bloodlines" 2 "The Gears" 3 "Burn the Earth" 4 "Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" 5 "Black Fire Upon Us" 6 "Deth Support" 7 "The Cyborg Slayers" 8 "I Tamper with the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin" 9 "Murmaider II: The Water God" 10 "Comet Song" 11 "Symmetry" 12 "Volcano
The 69 Eyes: Back in Blood Review written by Steven M Duarte
The Helsinki Vampires are “Back in Blood,” with their newest release. The once glam rock metal act from Helsinki, Finland delivers a decent album worth giving a listening to. Upon first listen to this album, you will notice that the sound is much more upbeat than previous releases from the band. This would not coincide with the title of the album since The 69 eyes popularity was gained with their older gothic sound. They still retain some of their gothic sound and themes with songs titled “Dead Girls Are Easy,” and “Kiss Me Undead.” The band definitely wanted to evolve their sound with this new album and they made their point with the title track “Back in Blood.” The song begins with a fade in of a rhythm guitar track playing in the background. Lead singer Jyrki 69 comes in with his Jim Morrison like tone, letting everyone know they are back. The band chose to work with Grammy award winning producer Matt Hyde. Their choice was well made as the production values are top notch. A majority of the album includes upbeat songs including the single “Dead Girls Are Easy.” What I did find surprising is that many of the songs are catchy. The 69 Eyes have not been known for catchy songs. The inclusion of a more mainstream producer could push away some fans of the old gothic sounding 69 Eyes. Back in Blood really does tailor to the mainstream. The argument can be made that the titles of the songs are very gothic sounding but they just don’t have that dark edge that their older work screamed of. The closest sound of the old 69 Eyes would be the slower tracks “Nightwatch, Hunger, and Eternal.” One point I would like to get across is that I understand completely that over time bands evolve and start to sound different. My only issue with this album is the reason they hooked me in as a fan was their slow gothic sound. Songs such as Brandon Lee, Gothic Girl, and Wasting the Dawn,” made me an instant fan. With “Back in Blood,” the band has taken more of a step towards their older glam metal sound. This can be good or bad depending on your overall outlook towards the band. Almost every band reaches that point of turning mainstream and The 69 Eyes seem to have reached that point. This album would definitely be a good listen for someone looking for new music to discover considering its mainstream appeal. I do recommend also picking up The 69 Eyes best of album “Framed in Blood – The Very Blessed of The 69 Eyes,” to hear their signature gothic sound.
Track List
1."Back in Blood" 2."We Own The Night" 3."Dead N' Gone" 4."The Good, the Bad & the Undead" 5."Kiss Me Undead" 6."Lips of Blood" 7."Dead Girls Are Easy" 8."Night Watch" 9."Some Kind of Magick" 10."Hunger" 11."Suspiria Snow White" 12."Eternal"
Towards the Within (1994) Dead Can Dance Review by Nickolas Cook
Dead Can Dance is legendary for being able to pull together divergent world music influences to create music that sounds as large as the world in which they exist. There is a moody darkness that pervades their collected works that speaks to the human spirit. Up until 1994, most of their fans had to imagine what these strange sounding musicians might look like. Other than a few unrevealing sleeve photos, there wasn’t much to go on. But with the live 1993 show they performed at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica being put on VHS and DVD, fans need guess no longer. But besides, this live album finally giving face to a group of extraordinarily talented musicians, it also gave many fans the first taste of live music from these guys. And what a taste! ‘Towards the Within’ is easily one of the best live albums ever recorded. There must have been magic that night. Every songs was recorded in one perfect take. Lead vocalists Bredan Perry and Lisa Gerrard have never sounded so ethereal and other wordly as they do on ‘Towards the Within’. But besides being a great live set, this also plays out as a best of album. With such classic songs as ‘Rakim’, ‘Yulunga’ and ‘Cantara’, you get the a sense of what this band was capable of at the height of their abilities. If you only get one Dead Can Dance album (and shame on you if that’s true), make it this excellent live album.
Tracks: "Rakim" "Persian Love Song" "Desert Song" "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)" "Piece for Solo Flute" "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" "I Am Stretched on Your Grave" "I Can See Now" "American Dreaming" "Cantara" "Oman" "The Song of the Sibyl" "Tristan" "Sanvean" "Don't Fade Away"
Discography: Dead Can Dance (1984) Spleen and Ideal (1985) Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987) The Serpent's Egg (1988) Aion (1990) Into the Labyrinth (1993) Toward the Within (1994) Spiritchaser (1996)
A New World Record (1976) Electric Light Orchestra Review by Nickolas Cook
To say convey what a significant impact this album had on my childhood is almost impossible. I colored how I looked at music for the rest of my life, to say the least. And one can almost draw a direct line from them to my love for groups like Radiohead. They both treated tradition as a springboard for individualism and testing the waters of experimentalism in mainstream music. In the 70s, there was no other band that was doing what Jeff Lynne and crew were doing. They had taken the odd orchestral bits from the classic Beatles catalogue and turned it into a new style of rock and roll music. And they were huge. Gold and platinum albums followed one upon the other, as US and UK listeners eagerly awaited the next sci-fi concept album. But within all this new age, sci-fi, string and electronica experimentation, Lynne was writing songs about loneliness, lost love, and emotional isolationism in that 70s age of free love and disco music. His hooks were catchy, but it was the lyrics that kept people coming back for more. With ‘A New World Record’, all of those elements seem to gel to create something bigger than the individual parts. There are no bad songs, and many of them lead logically right into the next one. The stirring use of classical music as bridge, as hook and as end note are inspired and no band has yet to top what these guys could do with a couple of violins, cellos and a keyboard. It is sublime and beautiful, while remaining uniquely rock and rolla.
Track Listing: 1. "Tightrope" 2. "Telephone Line" 3. "Rockaria!" 4. "Mission (A World Record)" 5. "So Fine" 6. "Livin' Thing" 7. "Above the Clouds" 8. "Do Ya" 9. "Shangri-La"
Discography: The Electric Light Orchestra (UK) / No Answer (US) (1971/1972) ELO 2 (UK) / Electric Light Orchestra II / ELO II (US) (1973) On the Third Day (1973) Eldorado, A Symphony (1974) Face the Music (1975) A New World Record (1976) Out of the Blue (1977) Discovery (1980) Xanadu (1980) Time (1981) Secret Messages (1983) Balance of Power (1986) Zoom (2001)
When invited to write an article for The Black Glove’s Horror Playlist I played over and over in my mind all the different approaches I could take. Geared toward a Top Ten format, I struggled over whether to take the easy route and list my favorite songs or albums, but such lists with me are fluid things, ever changing. and more representative of my current state of mind rather than being a concrete and immutable thing. As The Black Glove caters to the horror genre, I began to think in terms of my writing and how music is a part of my overall creative process. When chained to my desk and in the actual throes of wordsmithing I tend to listen to movie soundtracks, classical music, or, most often, traditional Celtic Folk music. I find lyrics and vocals distracting to my writing process, as the words have a tendency to pull me out of the moment. Instrumentals wash over me and focus my energies, allowing my consciousness to become untethered to the surrounding world and I become lost in the sea of my imagination… however, I’m all about setting a mood and if I have a bit of forethought into what I’m sitting down to write, I will select certain songs to enhance that atmosphere before the actual writing begins. So what follows is a list of those songs that I commonly turn to for inspiration, seeking to invoke an emotional response as I prepare myself to wield the power cosmic. If any musical genre has reached into my soul and made itself a home it would be the Blues and if we’re going to look to the Blues then it begins and ends with Robert Johnson.
Growing up in a house filled with Country & Western and early Rock-n-Roll, it was only a matter of time before I found the heart of the matter. A growing obsession as a young man with Zeppelin led me to seek out their influences and Johnson, oft mentioned by both Page and Plant — as well as every other Blues-influenced British invader — helped me to rediscover this homespun legend. Black magic and the Blues was a marriage made in Heaven, and Johnson was the Black Pope, singing with a poignant, angst-ridden darkness and playing that beat up six string with an infernal urgency. His catalogue is perfection, but “Cross Road Blues” is the benchmark for excellence, invoking sympathy, longing, and remorse. A host of artists have covered Johnson’s repertoire, but few have been able to make his music their own. One band who did so was the Cowboy Junkies with their cover of Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues”. A track off of the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, if you’re looking for something atmospheric this certainly fits the bill with its unique blend of Country, Blues, and Jazz, all filtered through an alternative rock sensibility.
Stepping away from the Blues for a moment, this is the part of my essay where I make enemies I suspect. Could there be a more divisive addition to my list than the inclusion of Duran Duran? The darlings of the New Wave invasion and poster boys for the Video Age, Duran Duran’s assault was a confusing blend of science fiction and occult imagery fused with a synth-pop dynamic. Their sound was unique and, as evidenced by the track “The Chauffeur”, evocative of whimsical poetic expression coupled with a sonic fusion of funk, jazz, and electronica.
My admission to a fondness for Duran Duran compels me to “man up” a bit, so perhaps this is a good time to explore another aspect of musical inspiration to which I turn. I often write from a very visceral and violent place, conjuring up epic battles in my stories that I like to think are tied to the spirited prose of Robert E. Howard. I can think of two songs in particular that never fail to get those respective juices flowing: “I am a Viking” by Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force and “Gimme the Prize”, a track culled from the Highlander soundtrack, performed by the gods of epic rock, Queen.
“I am a Viking” is Malmsteen at his frenzied best, with blistering guitar work married expertly to Jeff Scott Soto’s thunderous voice. Brutal and honest, “Viking” is a celebration of violence and mayhem… something also found in Queen’s “Kugan theme” which incorporates this same bloodthirsty revelry, complete with movie sound-bytes and Brian May’s simply majestic invocation of bagpipes on his electric guitar. And Freddy Mercury is simply fierce on this track. Raw masculinity raging unfettered in a near mythological explosion of feral energy. The common theme here is the invocation and evocation, if you will, of atmosphere and mood. We shall now take a glimpse into the underground to discover Current 93. One of the tracks that finds its way coming from my speakers often is the simply exquisite “Lucifer Over London”. David Tibet’s sublime lyric over the droning and diabolical cadence of a musical mantra pours out as if it’s been painted on a canvas of pure and decadent magic.
Surreal and engrossing, I have found myself obsessing over Concrete Blonde and the truly masterful vocals of Johnette Napolitano. As a DJ in the mid-nineties I would open each night with “Why Don’t You See Me?” which set the tone for the evening as I sought to bring the crowd to a level of awareness of their own place in the universe. Needless to say, I was not a very successful spinner of vinyl, but the song has remained a staple of my magical and artistic development and it puts me in a special place from which to write from, as the preternatural is unfurled behind the cascading rhythm and dark melody.
But now it seems we’re getting to the meat of it, aren’t we? I write supernatural thrillers and a world populated by fantastical creatures and otherworldly sorceries controlled by forces both good and evil, light and dark. If ever there was a musician who exemplified this conflict, it was Ronnie James Dio. The diminutive vocalist’s work with Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow exemplified this exploration of light and dark, particularly in the song “Self Portrait”. It is a depressing foray into the dark night of the soul and the track envelops you in its passionate outpouring.
If we are to look at passion however, there is but one vocalist who can in turn slay me with every sublime note uttered from his throat. Ian Gillan is as a god who strides the earth, slaying all in his path with an awesome display of raw, fiery emotion. His work with Black Sabbath, especially on the title track to “Born Again”, is a virtuoso performance, with a lyrical content that crawls into your very soul and takes hold of that part of you that longs for something more. The band skillfully plods a course of slow, mind bending destruction as you float in an astral sea surrounded by Perdition’s flame, but it is that voice that spurs you on, uplifting you toward the promise of the ultimate release.
We have now come to the end of our journey. There is but one song left unsung… one tune that seeks to once more carry you off into creative serenity. For this, I’ve got but two words for you: Led Zeppelin.
When I first began mulling over this article, it was to the Thunder Gods of Rock that I invariably looked. I am an unabashed disciple who bows before the altar of Jimmy Page. Hell, I considered comprising a list of my favorite Zeppelin tracks, or even an examination of each studio album for this little essay. Such is the power of Zeppelin and their hold over me, but now I’m faced with a dilemma. What song do I turn to in their awesome catalogue? Is there one song that encompasses the power, mystery, and hammer of the gods, as Page so succinctly put it? The answer is “No”. In the end, for my final song selection I say line then all up, each and every track that Led Zeppelin ever produced, and let them roll. From the bombastic metal onslaught of “The Immigrant Song” to the delicate and alternately tuned “Black Mountain Side”, from the sublimely layered majesty of “Kashmir” to the ballsy, bluesy, and poignant “Since I’ve Been Loving You”, from the epic splendour of “Houses of the Holy” to the haunting beauty of my favorite song of all time, “The Rain Song”. When I need to find inspiration… when all else fails me… Led Zeppelin is there, tight but loose, bringing the thunder and the lightning of what is and what should never be. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to “In the Evening” then put on the Braveheart soundtrack and write about a growing darkness rising up out of the moors, hungry for the souls of men.
(Bob Freeman is an author, artist, and paranormal adventurer who lives and works in the wilds of rural Indiana. Visit him online at www.occultdetective.com.)
(The Black Glove thanks Bob Freeman for his time and efforts.)
TBG: Which of your novels in particular has a special, personal meaning for you? SP: The Language of Dying, my novella just out from PS Publishing is the only one that has any real personal meaning for me. It's not a horror story at all - if I had to classify it in any genre it would be magical realism, and it's the story of the last week of a man's life and told from the perspective of the middle child of five who is caring for him. As the family gathers round she gives us insights into her past and theirs and how they all came to be the people they are. It was a very cathartic process for me as a few years ago a friend of mine, (my ex-father in law as it goes) came to stay with me for the last few months of his life when he had terminal cancer. A lot of the experiences I went through then are in the book, and even in the various characters I've weaved fact and fiction together including some other elements of my own life. I think it's a very brutally honest book, and from the reviews I've had thus far, that seems to be coming through, so I'm pleased.
TBG: In writing Feeding Ground, did you consciously strive to pay homage to the masters of creature-based horror, or did you focus on creating a new angle to this type of story? SP: Feeding Ground is a story set in the same world as Breeding Ground (although not a sequel). When I wrote Breeding Ground I thought I was writing a science fiction story rather than a horror novel, and it's very much a homage to John Wyndham, and especially Day of the Triffids. Wyndham even gets a mention at some point, although I think the character refer to The Kraken Wakes. In Feeding Ground, however, I have gone for a more creature-based horror tone and there are a couple of mildly tongue-in-cheek scenes that pay homage to James Herbert's Rats. I loved that book as a kid, just like I loved Shaun Hutson's Slugs (didn't eat lettuce for the entirety of my 13th year...), and as this was going to be my last outright horror novel for a while I did want to give some credit to those horror books that didn't set out to be clever as such, but just to do exactly what they say on the tin as it were - deliver good pulp horror.
TBG: The Taken features all manner of ghosts. Is the elegance of the idea of ghosts - the romance of spirits being trapped in time, so to speak - more attractive to you as a writer than more run-of-the-mill horrors? SP: I think I'm more fascinated by the idea that we're all haunted by ourselves to a certain extent. Our pasts are always there - the good and the bad. In The Taken I've gone with ghosts to illustrate that need to learn to be comfortable with who we are and what fate dishes out to us, or we're in danger of being destroyed by ourselves. In The Reckoning there are ghosts too, just less obvious ones. I think if there's a theme running through my horror novels it's probably more to do with how our childhoods form us in some way, and how different characters react as they grow up and change.
TBG: What, for you, has been the most interesting and unexpected facet of success? SP: I wouldn't say I've really had enough success to be able to answer that! However, since writing full-time, I can no longer answer 'teacher' when people ask me what I do. I'm really uncomfortable talking to strangers about writing or being a writer (I don't know why..) and so I've had to get used to that, although I still hate it. The plus side is that I no longer have to go to school and can just concentrate on writing related things, which is great. TBG: Please name one book which really inspired you to become a writer? SP: Stephen King's IT or The Stand (that's two, I know...). Brilliant, brilliant books. TBG: What are your views on the much-vaunted 'future of publishing' - e-Books, Kindle etc? Is progress necessarily a good thing when its impetus stems from publishers and not writers? SP: I'm a bit ignorant about the whole e-book and Kindle thing. Some people love it, others hate it. I'm just sitting back and waiting to see what happens. And to be fair, the publishing industry is as much about publishers as writers. I'm not a business person, I just make up stories. Publishers want to make money, for sure, but they can't do it without the writers so I'm sure it will all settle into some kind of happy balance at some point. Personally, I like a proper book in my hands, but I can see how having 10 books stored in an e-reader when going on holiday would be more convenient than lugging them around in a suitcase.
TBG: Please tell us a little about your next writing project. SP: I'm currently just starting the second book in my Dog-Faced Gods thriller trilogy for Gollancz. The first, A Matter of Blood, is due out in March. Then I'll be starting the second book in my YA trilogy for Gollancz also. The first book of that, The Double Edged Sword will be out next July.
SB: I live in South Yorkshire, UK, with my beautiful wife and our two gorgeous sons. My day job is as an underwriter at a finance company, a role which affords me regular income and regular hours. Since I was a child I was vaguely aware that I wanted to write, but it was only in 2006 that I seriously started submitting short stories. Since then I’ve had a dozen or so tales published in various areas of the small press, and I’ve been pleased so far with how they’ve been received. In relative terms, though, I’m still a newcomer.
TBG: What are your influences?
SB: My parents are to blame. They encouraged my predilection for reading when I was a child, even going to the extent of enrolling me in our local library. They never discouraged my yearning for horror, quite the opposite. I became hooked on the Three Investigators mysteries series of books created by Robert Arthur, which were everywhere in the 1970s and 80s. By name association I gravitated onto the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies, where I discovered writers like Robert Bloch, Patricia Highsmith, Edward D Hoch, Donald E Westlake, Jack Finney, etc. I also began to read the Sherlock Holmes stories at that time. The leap from dark suspense to horror was a short one. Because of this background in fiction, I tend to choose the short story and the novella as my preferred length to read.
TBG: So you’re relatively new to being a published writer; any tips for the aspiring writer that might be reading this?
SB: I’d say the same as most people; write and read a great deal. Read as much as you can, outside the genre as much as within it. Learn the history; research the classics that have come before. Develop the ability to accept rejection. Don’t take it personally. Research your markets. I volunteered to act as a slush reader for a horror magazine as a way of selfishly using it for my own benefit; I could see the mistakes that many writers were making, spotted the common errors to avoid. Without doubt, the more you write and submit, the more you’ll improve. There’s no easy route. The second best advice I ever read was by Mort Castle, and I’m paraphrasing here – “Skill, Luck, Tenacity; a writer needs only 2 of these 3 attributes to be successful.”
TBG: What is the best advice you ever read?
SB: My dad once said to me about five years ago, “no one’s going to knock on your door and ask if you’ve ever written anything.” And do you know what? - he had a point.
TBG:What have you found is the hardest thing about writing? And balancing that, what do you enjoy about it?
SB: Once I’d made the conscious decision to start writing and submitting work, I realised the only horror magazine I knew of was The Third Alternative, and that was on a hiatus (soon to re-emerge as Black Static). So I did a little digging on the internet and discovered Ralan and Duotrope. Those two sites, as well as educating me in potential fiction markets, also introduced me to the riches that lay within the small presses. The hardest thing after that was balancing the time I needed to write, with the commitments I had as a husband and father, and the pressures of working a day job. Enjoyment comes from the need to create something, even if it’s as trivial as a piece of fiction. I look back on my work over the past decade and I can see that my writing is improving all the time. As well as the technical aspects, I think you develop the themes you want to speak about as you journey through life; in the last six years I’ve experienced acute emotional levels, with the birth of my two sons and my dad’s death last year. I find I draw on these wells of emotion as touchstones in my fiction. The one regret I have is that I left it so late to write, so my dad will never be there to see anything else published. What gives me content somewhat is the realisation that he knew I took his advice and began submitting fiction, and he was around to see me as a published writer, albeit on a small scale.
TBG: Which book has influenced your thinking, and your writing, more than any other?
SB: There are probably two that spring to mind. In the late 80s I was reading Guy N Smith, James Herbert, and Stephen King (and loving them all), and I wandered out of a bookshop clutching ‘Dark Feasts’ by Ramsey Campbell, and Charles L Grant’s ‘Tales From the Nightside’. Both these collections opened my eyes to what the short story could achieve.
TBG: Your own fiction tends to be broad in theme. What kind of stories interest you?
SB: My stories range from pulp horror, through traditional ghost stories, to dark fantasy and science fiction. The science fiction part doesn’t really interest me, but as long as there’s a horror element to it – and I’m an advocate of what Douglas Winter famously said, that horror is simply an emotion rather than a genre, and can exist in any kind of story – then I’m there. I tend to look for darkness everywhere. I do enjoy a bit of bleakness, I’m afraid. My own fiction reflects what I like to read; sometimes unsettlingly oblique, sometimes visceral and gruesome. I would hate to settle into one type of story.
TBG: Who do you like to read, both inside and outside the genres?
SB: I enjoy writers who appear to work outside the genres but don’t really, like Daphne du Maurier, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, John Connolly, Barbara Vine, David Peace, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ian McEwan. Within the genres I’d say - in no particular order - Ramsey Campbell, Joel Lane, Conrad Williams, Stephen King, Tim Lebbon, Harlan Ellison, Kealan Patrick Burke, M John Harrison, D F Lewis, Mark Samuels, Ray Bradbury, Michael Marshall Smith, Graham Joyce, Gary Braunbeck, Christopher Priest, Thomas Ligotti and Christopher Fowler. Then there’s the ‘newer breed’, who are doing so much fantastic stuff in the small press; Steve Duffy, Gary McMahon, Paul Meloy, James Cooper, Allyson Bird, Reggie Oliver, Mark West, Robert Shearman, Simon Strantzas, John Llewellyn Probert, Simon Bestwick, Gary Fry, John Travis, Richard Gavin, etc. I literally could go on and on all night. This is turning into just a list of names! As you can see, I’m an avid supporter of the small presses. Even though the global economic situation is poor, the small presses are constantly evolving, always shifting. It’s an exciting scene, driven by passionate people, rather than businessmen and focus groups.
TBG: What have been the highs and lows of your writing experience so far?
SB: Lows have to be the nagging feeling that you’re not good enough, that those mounting rejections are there for a reason. Sometimes though, you’ll get rejections that are incredibly helpful; I’ve had stories bounced by Barbara Roden of Ash Tree Press, and Gray Friar’s Gary Fry, and both rejections were constructive and encouraging. By taking their advice I managed to sell those stories elsewhere. What drew me into writing in the first instance was a love of the genre, relishing that thrill that a particular novel or short story gave me. I’ve received emails from readers who’ve enjoyed my own stories in a similar way. That’s an incredible compliment, and if I’m honest, that means more to me than actually being paid for the story (don’t tell the editors!).
TBG: What are your plans for the future?
SB: Definitely to keep writing. I’ve only been in the game for a few short years, but it’s given me enough to know that it’s something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve noticed that as my confidence increases my word count rises, so I’m naturally writing longer, more ambitious fiction. I’m currently shopping round proposals for a possible short story collection to various small press publishers. I’m writing a novella-length horror tale set in Rwanda during the 1994 civil war, and I’m pleased with the progress so far. Long term, I’m also working on a novel called ‘The Flickering’, which is a supernatural story about a group of kids growing up in a small pit town during the 1984 miner’s strike. And loads more short stories. Whether any of these projects will ever bear fruit, only time will tell. All I can say is that I’ll enjoy myself while I’m at it.
With the worldwide success of indie horror flick “Paranormal Activity”, it looks as if people are more and more willing to accept that which we cannot see as fact instead of fiction…or at least as some good spooky entertainment. Since The Ghost Hunters (known as T.A.P.S. to those in the paranormal research community) first aired on SyFY back in October 2004, the granddaddy of the paranormal reality series show has grown a steady and ravenous fan base, becoming SyFy’s biggest show to date, and going into syndication on other networks as well. And since one success will inevitably lead to others jumping on the bandwagon, we now see several networks giving us their own spin on the paranormal reality TV show. Some of them are almost as compelling, for one reason or another, as The Ghost Hunters, but most of them pale in comparison to the weekly exploits of Jason and Grant and their ever changing entourage of investigators and equipment technicians. One of the reasons The Ghost Hunters has been so successful with a varied range of viewers is that they have an agenda to first debunk the evidence they collect in the course of their investigations as much as possible before calling it paranormal. During the first season, they made use of psychics, demon experts, priests and other questionable evidence gathering personae. It didn’t take long for them to discard the unscientific resources for more sophisticated techniques and equipment. Their number one goal seems to be to quantify what they do gather, while not relying solely upon personal experience and ‘feelings’. Unlike most of reality shows starring the paranormal, they do not make use of ritualistic ceremony or religious personae to add to their investigative techniques. This adds a bit more credibility to what they are able to snag from beyond the veil. Their formula has successfully translated to two spinoffs on SyFy, Ghost Hunters International, led by paranormal investigator Robb Demerest and some of the gang from the original GH team, and the new Ghost Hunter Academy, in which longtime investigators Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango will attempt to train a new team of investigators to send out into the paranormal reality tv world--good luck, Tango and Steve! But where The Ghost Hunters rely upon measurable evidence and the best ghost hunting equipment and techniques to back them up, some shows do anything but. A and E Channel seems to have gotten the idea that just saying something is haunted or some strangeness is of paranormal origin makes it so. They have no less than three shows right now which use almost no scientific techniques to gather evidence of the supernatural and rely almost solely on psychics and ceremonial/quasi religious hoodoo. With Paranormal State, we’re told Ryan Buell and company are seeking the demonic and exorcising them. But, of course, just about everything that happens to them is ‘feeling’ or emotion based and they don’t seem to worry overly much in proving what they say is true. The spin off their lead psychic garnered is called Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal, and it follows the A and E paranormal reality show formula pretty closely…only now we have a bunch of pre-teen kids whining about seeing dead people ala The Sixth Sense. Hey, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I am saying I need a little more proof than tears and yelling before the commercial breaks. The third show to recently appear on A and E is Extreme Paranormal. Again, not a lot of science going on here. Just three fat white guys running around places they probably shouldn’t be in, performing some sketchy quasi-religious magic ceremonial stuff to call forth the dead. The highlight to their ridiculousness so far has been their diving expedition into a lake in New Mexico, where one of the tubby men decides to leave the fire circle they’ve created on the lake. Apparently a malevolent spirit that resides in the lake tried to drag him down…for our entertainment. Yeah, right. One of the better shows on air right now is Ghost Adventures. Although there tends to be a lot of needless histrionics involved with their investigations, they at least try to verify the evidence they gather using real equipment. Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin are a hell of a lot more charismatic than the boys with GH, but that’s not the only thing that sets them apart from the usual para-fare. They investigate locales where there are known malevolent spirits, and once inside, purposely antagonize them to get a rise. They’ve done so quite well in the past, if the evidence is to be believed. Another new para-show is Discovery Channel’s Ghost Lab, run by the heavy hitters of the para-world, the Klinge Brothers. These guys are two tons of fun and running for them is not an option. That’s why they use plenty of extra equipment to cover their investigations. Another great angle to their show is the use of newer, more innovative techniques, such as Era Cues and Linear Sweeps (see the glossary on their web site for more info). Are all of these things successful or even believable? Not always. But they get an A for effort, that’s for sure. Dipping into the worst of the worst, we have England’s own Most Haunted. If there are a bigger bunch of scam artists working the paranormal reality show circuit these days, I don’t know who they are. Two years older than The Ghost Hunters, one has to admit they were there first. But what damage they’ve managed to do to the credibility of like shows in their tenure is terrible. Lead screamer, Yvette Fielding manages to always find something paranormal, no matter where she goes, and always manages to start screaming as soon as something begins to happen. Their all night live shows became quite an event. Not sure why. Nothing ever takes place on camera that doesn't look fake or setup. The stories of how Yvette and producers faked a lot of evidence are just too overwhelming to ignore, even if you happen to be a stalwart fan of the silly series. Tagging onto our paranormal shows are the tangential cryptid and UFOligists shows. The best of them is without a doubt Destination Truth, hosted by Joshua Gates, the funniest guy to ever cast a Yeti footprint for posterity. He and his ever changing team of crypto/para investigators have been around the world and in some obviously for-real dangerous environments to seek out creatures that science will not admit exist. Sometimes they get lucky and find some seriously strange unexplainable evidence. And sometimes they think a monkey is a ghost. Can’t win them all, I guess. Still, the show is definitely worth watching, if only for Gates’ smartass remarks about the indigenous people. Following closely on his heels, we have History Channel’s forays into the abnormal. MonsterQuest, while entertaining at times, seems to have a penchant for Bigfoot shows, and they overload the programming with these repeats of stuff we’ve already heard and seen before. They did get a great shot of a Giant Squid that made the news a couple of years ago, so they’re doing some good for the cryptid community. UFO Hunters, produced by the same people who brought you Ghost Hunters, stars famous UFOlogist Bill Birnes and his team, as they try to uncover evidence of UFO landings and abductions. Nothing significant has ever come of their investigations, other than pissing off a few government agencies. And their newest show, MysteryQuest tries to investigate strange historical mysteries. Most of the time they’re not supernatural or cryptid in origin, but who doesn’t want to know how many Nazi war criminals they might have for neighbors? Will this trend for more para/cryptid entertainment continue for the next few years? How many of these reality shows will come and go, while bilking us of our strained sense of credibility, before we say enough is enough? Who knows? But I do know there are times I still get a little shiver when The Ghost Hunters capture an EVP that has no natural explanation. Or when Destination Truth manages to find a solid piece of evidence for the existence of lost creatures. And so I will watch them time and again for just that brief moment of chills. Will you?
--Nickolas Cook
The good folks over at The Travel Channel have been good enough to send us some fresh news about Zak and the boys with Ghost Adventures: This week's new season opener (11/06/09) promises to be another chilling one. This week Zak, Nick, and Aaron will be at Pennhurst State, a school for the developmentally disabled, which was forced to close its doors in 1987 after numerous, heart-wrenching allegations of abuse and neglect. Catch the episode premiere at 9 PM E/P on the Travel Channel.
Episode info: Pennhurst State became infamous in the 1980s when word spread about the despicable conditions in which the patients were forced to live. Pennhurst was home to more than 3,000 mentally challenged, mentally disabled, and developmentally disabled patients. There are countless claims of abuse. This partly because while the local zoo spent $7.15 on their animals per day on their wards, Pennhurst could only afford $5.90. When Zak asks Dr. James Conroy (Co-President of Pennhurst Memorial) if there was ever sexual abuse at the school. Dr. Conroy replies, "Absolutely. Constantly. Every night." While the school was opened, there was a deafening sound from thousands of patients screaming. Today the sound of those screams has been replaced with a skin tingling silence. Needless to say, there is enough dark energy in this place to make your hair stand up end.
Videos: Video clip of the Pennhurst State investigation:
But before the new episode. the boys will be talking about last week's live show:
Tune-in info: Ghost Adventures - Pennhurst: Friday, November 6th, at 9 E/P on Travel Channel. Ghost Adventures Live Postmortem: Friday, November 6th, at 8 E/P on Travel Channel.
So paranormal fans, make sure to tune in tonight for the all new episode and new season opener of Ghost Adventures. And remember to tune in here at The Black Glove each week for more episode updates on Ghost Adventures, courtesy of The Travel Channel.
--Nickolas Cook (The Black Glove thanks The Travel Channel for their time and efforts)
The decade of the 70s saw a sudden surge in the popularity of movies termed ‘Blaxploitation’. Usually produced, directed and starring an all black casts (except for the white villains, of course), these movies were made for urban filmgoers. Meant primarily to entertain black audiences, they increasingly became films about black justice and morality- even though a preponderance of the films’ antiheros and antiheriones were people who lived outside the law or skirted on the edges of it for personal and racial reasons. They, in short, and for all their foibles in production values, became the voice of a culture longing for true justice and acceptance on their own terms. There were only a few blaxploitation movies that hit the big screen before the now infamous and overtly political, socially aware, “Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song”. Produced, directed and starring Melvin Van Peebles, it is considered by many to be the first black film that embodied all that was truly blaxploitation cinema. It had a raw, angry message, taken from the streets, with a more realistic portrayal of black culture than ever before (this mainly because it was a small budget, non-Hollywood picture, hence, no studio interference to stamp it with detrimental racial stereotypes). Starring a morally and ethically rubbery anti-hero, and a hell of a great soundtrack, Peebles’ surprise success became the template for nearly every blaxploitation film to come after it. From “Coffey” to “Super Fly”, from “Hammer” to “Shaft”, they all followed the pattern of black justice getting a little back from the man. The Man was usually a mafia of white crooks, crooked white cops, or in some cases, even black thieves and killers doing an Uncle Tom with white authoritarian figures. With such successes as “Black Caesar”, “Across 110th Street”, and “Trouble Man” it wasn’t long before someone had the brilliant idea to mix in a little horror. And so was born “Blacula”, the first of a long string of blaxploitation horror films throughout the 70s. “Blacula” was a huge hit, spurring other studios to try their hand at this edgy mix of targeted black entertainment and tales of voodoo, vampires, zombies and devils. But what started as a simple admixture to make bucks soon became some pretty potent black culture message movies. In many, supposed evils sometimes work to dole out justice in the black community, tearing down white law and mafia organizations with equal vigor. Below we’ve compiled what we think are the best of the halcyon years of blaxpolitation horror. But don’t be surprised to see a few more contemporary titles that we feel continue to carry the flag of cultural awareness and the search for black justice in an unjust society. Okay, okay…some are just fun as hell and had to be included.
13. The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Certainly one of Wes Craven’s strangest efforts (and that’s saying a lot for this director’s iffy canon of films), this tells the story of a ‘haunted house’ in the middle of an urban sprawl where people tend to disappear. What puts this firmly in the blaxploitation horror genre is the outstanding cast of black protags, coupled with the socially affluent, but mentally unstable, white landlords who have a way of trapping their victims in a house of infinite tunnels and holes. This is a story that reeks of social and economic morality warnings, a carryover from the beginnings of the blaxploitation cinema movement in the 70s.
12. Zebra Killer (1974)
William Girdler has not one, but two films on this Top 13. He was a low budget director with a finger on the horror pulse of America. Black fear was a part of the white experience, but Girdler turned that baseless media driven terror on its head in Zebra Killer. Again, a stellar cast of great black actors and actresses made this stand above the usual blax-horror fare.
11. The Thing With Two Heads (1972)
Maybe a bit more unintentionally comedic than the producers intended, but still has strong anti-racist message—albeit one that beats you over the head(s)! Rosie Greer has never been so funny as when he’s talking soul with racist Ray Milland’s head stuck to his shoulder.
10. J.D.’s Revenge (1976)
Taking the tried and true mafia revenge story of previous blaxploitation films, J.D.’s Revenge gives it a voodoo twist and makes something quite strange and enjoyable in the horror genre. A strong, believable performance from great character actor, turned lead, Glenn Turman makes it work. He could have given old Barrymore a run for his money when he makes those subtle transitions from the good guy to the dead guy out for blood.
9. Tales From the Hood (1995)
A weirdly watchable Hollywood take on the flagging blaxploitation horror genre coupled with the standard anthology/wraparound story. This was made decades after the great blax-horror movies were in their heyday, but tried hard to capture that same sense of social rage and relevance by making all the whites bad and all the blacks either empowered through their hatred or mistrust of white authority, or naïve and innocent enough to stymie the forces of darkness at work in their urban world. It had a kickass soundtrack from some of the best of gangsta’ rap in the 90s.
8. Ganja and Hess (1973)
Truly one of the weirdest of the blax-horror films to come out of the 70s, it was one of the first to make a minor splash in the burgeoning cinematic horror movement. Starring a man who was already synonymous with black power in horror, Duane Jones (1968’s Night of the Living Dead), it set the standard for playing off the black community’s fear of voodoo and religious mania.
7. Petey Wheatstraw (1977)
This is not only a classic of the blax-horror movement, but this should be required watching for all horror fans. The great Rudy Ray Moore spends the entire film rhyming his dialogue in interesting and catchy ways, while learning kung-fu and magic from his Bantu. When the devil comes to make a deal, Petey pulls a fast one on Old Scratch. This is more like watching a contemporizing of black folklore than horror, but it still provides some disquieting moments, despite its mostly comedic take on the devil blues story.
6. The House on Skull Mountain (1974)
So what happens when you take the ‘old dark house’ standard storyline and add in a cast of 70s back character actors and actresses? You get maybe one of the strangest takes on the genre. There’s black magic, undead, and Victor French (Highway to Heaven). And two hoorays for those of you reading this who remember the good old days of actors like French who brought charm and verve to their roles.
5. Abby (1974)
The second of our Girdler films on the list is the black take on The Exorcist. In fact, AIP (American International Pictures) got into a bit of trouble because of its similarities to the more popular and financial successful The Exorcist and had to pull the film from theaters. Which, of course, only added to its urban credibility at the time. Starring one of blax-horror’s best known men, William Marshall (see both Scream Blacula Scream and Blacula below), this was part gore, part scare, with Girdler, again, finding the right balance between white and black social fears in his portrayal of a woman possessed by African sex demon.
4. Def By Temptation (1990)
One of the best small budget blax-horror movies ever made. This film provides a much clearer moral and ethical crux upon which the story mush turn. There are no stereotypes here; jus strong performances from some of the brightest of the black actors of the 80s and 90s, including Kadeem Hardison and Samuel Jackson. But the star of the film is director/producer/writer and lead James Bond III, who obviously wanted to turn the blax-horror genre on its head by giving us a vampire story unlike any other vamp film at the time (Craven should have watched this before attempting his lamentable A Vampire In Brooklyn shite). This is a film that deserves a new generation of fans. If you haven’t seen it, get it. Bond might have been the new voice of black horror is he’d kept at it.
3. Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
This was the slightly less successful sequel to 1972’s hit ‘Blacula’ (see below), which carries on with the story of Prince Mamuwalde, a proud African prince who was turned into a vampire by the original Dracula. He’s brought back to life by (ever present in blax-horror) voodoo and goes on a new bloodthirsty rampage in the urban ghetto. Again, the cast is made up of some of the best black actors of the 70s, playing some not so stereotypical black characters- some for laughs and some as archetypes with a black twist to them.
2. Sugar Hill (1974)
If there was one woman in the 70s that could give Pam Grier a run for her soul dollar, it would have to be the star of Sugar Hill, Marki Bey. And she never shined brighter or more beautifully as she did in Sugar Hill, as the widowed lover of a man gunned down by greedy Mafia man Robert Quarry. She pulls out the trusty voodoo dolls and beads and calls forth an avenging demon to bring a bevy of dead plantation slaves to life to exact that revenge in some disturbing and creepy ways. She is the perfect blend of beauty and danger.
1. Blacula (1972)
And the number one blaxploitation horror film is one that really is responsible for bringing about the blax-horror revolution-- the immortal Blacula. Starring William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde, a proud African prince who pisses off Dracula while visiting his castle home, it brings the vampire legend to the streets and into the back alleys like no film before it. Marshall really brought a cultured sense to his bloodthirsty vampire, and a romantic angle when he finds what he takes as the reincarnation of his lost wife in actress Vonetta McGee. This is filled with the not so stereotypical Hollywood takes on black culture. And what a hell of a soulful soundtrack. This is a classic horror film. Get it in your collection ASAP.
This month's Sites of Horror focuses on the almost forgotten sub genre of film termed Blaxploitation. I found two great sites that have very different takes on the genre (both horror and mainstream- or as mainstream as you can get with black cinema in the 60s and 70s)
First off, BlackHorrorMovies.com collects just about every black horror film ever made, indexing and reviewing many of them. There are some surprising titles included in their index. If you ever wanted to know the history of black horror look no further.
Our second choice for this month, Blaxploitation Pride, is probably the most happening place for blaxploitation cinema, and is easily the most thorough index of black cinema I've ever seen. There is a warning before entering and I would take it seriously. There is some language and images that are not work safe. Enjoy!
--Stabbed in Stanzas will feature an interview with one our favorite writers D. Harlan Wilson and a review for his new release Peckinpah: An Ultraviolent Romance.
--Bloody Pages will include several reviews for titles such as Scott Nicholson's 'Scattered Ashes' collection, 'Shades of Blood and Shadow' by Angeline Hawkes, 'Mighty Unclean', an anthology starring some of the best of the best in horror small press, 'The Estuary' by Derek Gunn, and much more.
--Celluloid Horror will have more classic horror on DVD and new release news, including Steve Duarte's take on the the HD version of 'THE LOST BOYS' and our Foreign Fear of the month, 'Let The Right One In', a creepy little vampire tale. Also look for 'Night of the Creeps', which finally got a DVD release!
--Dark Suites will feature another surprise musician and more album reviews- both classic and new.
--Come by and check out Dario Del Toro's insane horror travelogue and rant.
--If you like games, we have a review of 'Left For Dead 2' and much more in our Graphics Horror section.
--December's Top 13 will be Haunted Houses- see if your favs made our list. --Stop in and see what we have lurking in Building 13.
--And, as usual, more horror culture and entertainment news, articles and columns.
(Want over 8,000 readers to read what you love about horror? If you're interested in writing for The Black Glove, please email Nickolasecook@aol.com and place 'writing position' in the subject line. If you have horror news you'd like us to post, send items to same address as above.)
This blog is devoted to horror--interviews, articles, history and reviews. We 'e-publish' monthly on 4th.
To contact me with comments or concerns: Nickolasecook@aol.com. We can always use more writers, so if you're interested, email me at the address above.
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