The Horror of Wil Forbis

Category: Horror

  • The Dead Don’t Die (2019) Review – Jarmusch’s Zombie Comedy

    The dead don’t die, they say. But you might while waiting for this film to end. HAWHAWHAWHAWHAWHAW!!! I’m kidding. It wasn’t that bad. Part of the issue is I’ve never gelled with the work of the director, Jim Jarmusch. Back in the 90s, when I lived in Seattle, he was the dark darling of the…

  • New blog series: Did they Deserve to Die?

    So, just for funsies, I’m kicking off a new series of posts called—as you can see—“Did They Deserve to Die?” Each post will take a horror movie and ask the question about the doomed characters. This is not not to shock or provoke (well, not just), but to dig into the film’s themes and moral…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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”…

  • 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…

  • Horrorrevolution reviews “What Waits in the Shadows”

    Just got word of a new review for my novel at the web site horrorrevolution. I’ll give a teaser here, but click here to read it in full. A story about myths, monsters, and the unescapable monstrosity of man, What Waits in the Shadows is an excellent book that plays off of common childhood fears…

  • Bibliophilia Templum reviews “What Waits in the Shadows”

    The website, run by a fellow John Saul fan, has kind words for my new novel. I cannot say enough good things about this incredible novel. It has elements of psychological horror, supernatural horror, and suspense—so much suspense and tension. What Waits in the Shadows is a shelf-worthy, 5-star, highly recommended chilling horror read that…

  • The Fear of Strangers (in “Fear” and “Greta”)

    If you’re a highly successful horror author loved by millions, it’s good to be aware of the different fears that percolate through the human psyche. Or, if you’re me, an author who’s royalties from today paid for about a third of my cup of coffee (and this is a good day), well, it’s still a…

  • Review of 1988 TV remake of “I Saw What You Did”

    Some of my first viewings of classic horror movies of the 50s and 60s (I’m talking about flicks like “Them” and “The Blob”) occurred because of a TV show that played on Sunday evenings in Honolulu where I grew up. I can’t remember the program’s name, but it was hosted by a talking skull (that…

  • The Three Investigators, Forgotten Heroes of Horror?

    Lately I’ve been questioning what got me interested in the horror genre.  Was it the numerous Alfred Hitchcock suspense films like Rebecca, Rear Window and Vertigo my mother took me to when I was growing up in the 1970s and 80s? Was it reading collections of ghost stories like The Dynamite Book of Ghosts and…