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Mini-Review of “Loneliness is a Monster” (book)
I went into this book relatively cold, not having read any of the predecessors in the series. It certainly delivered in the way you’d expect: ghastly scenes of violence and maggoty grossness, a satisfying story arc, likable characters (well, except for one.) But two things really stood out. You know how suspense narratives sometimes have…
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Mini-review of “The Prowler”
There’s an age old truism in reviewing horror movies: an exploding head will always improve a movie by one grade level. So a C becomes a B, a B+ become and A+ and so on. 1981’s The Prowler, which I watched yesterday, has an exploding head, so how does it rank? Pretty high actually, because…
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New Review for “What Waits in the Shadows”
Here’s a fairly positive review of “What Waits in the Shadows” from the Monster Librarian blog, though they ding me for a 100% legitimate complaint about a formatting issue I should have caught. That said, the reviewer was largely positive and a fan of the character of Jeremiah O’Brien in particular. The secondary character of…
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Mini-review of “House on Haunted Hill”
So I neglected to mention that a couple weeks ago I saw “House on Haunted Hill.” This should not be confused with the Mike Flanagan directed Netflix mini series called “The Haunting of Hill House” from several years ago. (I did watch that as well, and it was good, though I think Flanagan’s “Midnight Mass”…
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Things to Observe while Reading Fiction (for Writers, or Similar Unfortunates)
So I don’t write here much about writing. Perhaps that’s ironic. I don’t know; I’ve never been clear what irony is. However, I was looking through some notes and came across this handy list I created for myself in my formative days editing “What Waits in the Shadows”. Thought I would share it here. Things…
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The Hideous Monstrosity of the Blobfish, “the World’s Ugliest Animal”
Part of the fun of horror writing is getting to discover the real life monsters that populate nature. Many posts ago I mentioned the giant insects of the Carboniferous Period. Today I discovered the blobfish, which looks very much like the name would suggest. (Pics at link.) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/worlds-ugliest-animal-blobfish-6676336 And there’s an explanation for its hideous…
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The Bait and Switch of Horror Films
After finishing my foray into watching the entire “Friday the 13th” movies, I’ve now delved into the “Saw” films. I saw (ha ha – get it?) the first one when it came out, and then stared in slack-jawed amazement as it wracked up something like ten sequels. I decided there must be something to the…