Horror cinema writing is a broad and broadening church, despite (or perhaps because) of the increasingly ephemeral, online nature of much modern film criticism. Print media continues to be written, printed, read, collected and enjoyed, from the self-published to the most lavish tomes. It’s in a good place right now, and in The Vatican Versus […]
Ah, it’s been a while since I reviewed a Devil’s Advocates title. For anyone not currently in the know about this series of books: they’re each focused on an influential horror film, each book has a different author, and offers different kinds of focus and perspectives, but without fail you can expect a detailed, academic-lite […]
40 Cult Movies: from Alice Sweet Alice to The Zombies of Mora Tau by Jon Towlson “Why do we like these movies so much?” It’s a question author Jon Towlson asks in the introduction to this book as he reflects on his own tastes, which – to go by his writing career to date, as […]
If you are a fan of Lucio Fulci, Florinda Bolkan, giallo cinema or all of the above, then you may be interested to know that my book on Fulci’s early film, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, is now available. I’ve referred to it in various blurbs as a ‘labour of love’, and it is: […]
Dead Can Dance have long been a deeply resonant, exploratory presence on the outskirts of alternative music. Never comfortably existing in one genre or another – no surprises there, given their incomparably wide range of musical influences – they have nonetheless formed a kind of breathing and thinking space for an array of punks, goths […]
By guest contributor Grace Anderson There’s no denying that Stephen King reigns supreme when it comes to horror literature. With sixty five novels, two hundred short stories and ninety movie and television adaptations under his belt, Stephen King has been a powerhouse in the horror world for decades. However, there have been many valid criticisms […]
David Temple is a journalist – well, a photojournalist, with a grisly specialism; he specialises in crime and accident photography, so there’s lots to do, especially in his resident city of London. The book starts on New Year’s Eve; David is unexpectedly called to dash out of the Knightsbridge pub where he’s drinking to photograph […]
The Pain Eater is one of those stories which feels familiar in some aspects, but yet weaves a new potential mythology of its own, one which it launches into a world rendered very recognisable. As such, it’s a convincing and engaging blend of unpolished, everyday family drama, and something else entirely – which comes down […]
‘This book is just a little collection of memories, a scrapbook, if you will. No book, however comprehensive, could do justice to, or fully encompass, this man’s life. This is a thumbnail sketch of the Anton LaVey I knew.’ (Boyd Rice) I was surprised and interested to find out that a new book on LaVey […]
I first got introduced to Doug Stanhope’s brand of comedy a few years ago with his skit on trying to ‘sleep sober’ and the ensuing carnival that kicks in when you try; as an insomniac, even if one who tends to be sober when attempting to sleep for reasons of silly day job, it struck […]
I’ve read a lot of comics in my day, everything from light-hearted romance manga to the ultra-gore that is Garth Ennis’s Crossed, but there have been only handful of times when I closed the work and audibly said “now THAT was a good comic!” Most of them were handed out cautiously and most certainly after […]