That it was my third viewing of Martin Scorsese’s remake of the film noir classic that prompted this review tells you everything you need to know. I don’t watch crappy films three times. But even on repeat, Cape Fear is a magnificent film. The plot drives forward, the tension simmers before exploding into a violent…

I was recently drawn to watch “Brain Dead”, a 1990 offering that includes both Bills e.g. Pullman and Paxton. (Together at last!) It was billed as a thriller, but I could tell from the promo material that was like calling “Natural Born Killers” a romcom. I was immediately guarded when the intro credits were rendered…

I recently reviewed “Nightwish.” Now I turn to another movie with a nocturnally themed title, this one a film noir feature from the 50s. “Nightfall” is quite entertaining. Aldo Ray, an actor I was unfamiliar with (a quick wiki search reveals he was an incorrigible drunk), plays the classic noir loner who wanders the streets…

The two big questions I had while watching 1989’s Nightwish were “where is the night” (it’s one of those rare horror films that mostly takes place during the day) and “where is the wish”. The night eventually comes, but I never understood what the wish was. The movie starts with an elaborate horror sequence which…

When you watch schlocko-horror cinema, it’s a bit like playing the slots in Vegas. You take a chance with every viewing, hoping you might get a big payoff. With “Humanoids of the Deep” we hit the jackpot. It is fantastic!!! The film starts a bit slow. Fishermen and denizens of a small coastal town start…

I’ve always been a sucker for revenge stories: tales where a character is wronged and then given a chance to even the odds. This is doubtless driven by my inner desire to seek revenge on the many, many, many people who have wronged me. Oh, how I would love to see them suffer! But in…

As autumn approaches, a collection of horror authors, including myself, have gathered to offer their novels and collections at the bare price of 99 cents! This is a good opportunity to stock up on affordable horror ebooks. Click the link below or on the logo for a look at the titles. You’ll see my debut…

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…

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…

I was just reminded of the existence of Inkitt, a “story-farm” company similar to Wattpadd. Writers on Inkitt post stories, some of which earn mass readership. But Inkitt has a twist that I’ll let this TechCrunch article explain. Everyone has a story in them, as someone famous once said. A startup called Inkitt believes that…

Though I seldom comment on a celebrity’s death unless I have some personal story about them, I did feel an extra kick in the gut when Donald Sutherland died. He was a face so present for the entirety of my life (his career was in full swing in the seventies when I was born) that…

I’m going to make a minor confession that may seriously impact my standing as a horror aficionado: I have never liked the “Friday the 13th” film series. Can’t say why exactly, I just always found the plodding serial killer archetype represented by “…13th’s” Jason (and “Halloween’s” Micheal Meyers) kind of dumb. I much preferred the…

Reading through this NY TImes obit of exploitation director Roger Corman, I was struck by how many of the films mentioned I have seen: “The Wild Angels,” “The Trip” (a cautionary tale about LSD starring Jack Nicholson), “The Intruder” (a cautionary tale about racist demagogues starring Bill Shatner), “The Little Shop of Horrors”, “A Bucket…

A few weeks back, I taped an appeared on the “Do You Like Scary Movies” podcast. (In fact, I do like scary movies.) The podcast is produced by the same folks who did the Arithmophobia anthology I had a short story in early this year. It was a fun talk about horror films, horror writing,…

I had a short story in a toy themed horror anthology last year. The reviews are still coming in, such as this one from Mathew Fryer’s blog, that comments on several of the stories, including my own. In “A Decent Guy” by Wil Forbis, we meet Bennett: a successful family man whose son has a…