Blog
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Mini-review of “Mortuary” (1982)
What does one do with a movie like 1982’s “Mortuary”? It’s kind of like an NBC Movie of the Week from the same era albeit with more violence and nudity. (There’s actually a bordering-on-pornographic love…
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Mini-review of “The Hitcher”
I first saw “The Hitcher” when it came out in the 80s. As a teenager, it stuck in my brain as a curious film: grim, gritty, nihilistic (though I probably didn’t know the meaning of…
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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…
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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.…
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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,…
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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”…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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Multiversioned Stories (Or, Get Snow White a Chainsaw!)
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…
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Creepy Donald Sutherland Movies
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…
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Weekend Friday the 13th Binge
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…
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Roger Corman, RIP
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…
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Appearance on “Do You Like Scary Movies” Podcast
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…
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New Review for “Terrors from the Toybox” Anthology
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…