I picked up Drew Starling’s terrific “Night Dive” short story a while back and loved it. So I was eager to dive into one of his novels and bought “Sentinel.” The story had a very Stranger Things vibe. A family in a small town starts noticing strange occurrences in the forest, including some kind of…

This was a 1940s suspense film my Mom and I picked almost at random for one of our movie date nights. When I saw that the film score was by Bernard Herrmann (composer of every great Hitchcock score) I knew we’d made the right choice. Indeed, the film turned out to be—as the kids would…

“A Decent Guy,” one of my favorites of stories I’ve written, is included in the recently release horror anthology “Killer Toys.” The story was published previously, but I’m glad to see it get a new lease on life (unlike some of the characters.) It’s hard to tease without giving away the twists, but let’s just…

I saw this movie on a long plane ride, and I’m going to note a disturbing observation I had while on the flight. Anyone who’s been on a plane in the last 20 years knows that now every passenger has their own personal screen to watch films. On my flight, I watched several, including “Obsession”,…

I went into this one blind, not knowing much about it other than it probably involved some kind of haunting. And it turned out to be totally worth it. The plot simmers with tension and intrigue. As a child in England at the turn of the century (e.g. the 1900s) David, played by Aidan Quinn,…

I’ve read a few Iain Rob Wright stories in the past. He seems to have a deserved reputation for dependable, if not earthshaking, horror stories.  Out of the 3-4 of his works I’ve read, I probably enjoyed Hell Train the least. The plot is straightforward. Several people find themselves on a British train that has…

I understand there’s a certain something in the air, certain anger about the elites (the Epstein class), racial divisions, gender issues, and so on. So it’s no surprise that this boiling acrimony is going to work its way into horror films. The problem is that horror filmmakers seem to have responded by making the same…

This is not a horror novel that’s going to fill you with icy knives of dread or cause you to fundamentally question the nature of human existence. But it is a pretty fun read. The setup is that a female protagonist moves into the Manhattan apartment of her recently murdered grandmother. It turns out Granny…

Perhaps I’ve mentioned my idea that modern films can experiment with more ethereal themes and plots because the producers know viewers can find answers to their burning questions by going on the web and reading those “The Ending of XXX Explained” articles. In truth, I’m not sure the theory holds up. There were plenty of…

The issue of authors using AI to design a book cover is a hot one. I should get one thing out in the open right off: My view on AI training and its use in the creative arts is definitely in the minority. Essentially, I think as long as the output isn’t directly reproducing existing…

I was dimly intrigued when I stumbled across this film on Amazon. It looked like a forgotten 80s suspense film set in a hospital. From the description, I thought it might be no more gruesome than an episode of Columbo. (For you young folks, that was an 80s detective show.) It turned out to be…

I mentioned this book when I was about halfway through it and said that I was enjoying it. Now that I’ve finished it, what’s the verdict? Meh. The general plot is straightforward. Someone is recreating the Jack the Ripper killings, targeting women with the same names as the original victims. The cops and several authors…

Why do I watch movies like “Morgan: Killer Doll”? It’s obvious from the outset that it’s low-budget schlock.  And yet these films continually draw me in. Is it some kind of sickness on my part? A personality defect? But, surprise—”Morgan: Killer Doll” wasn’t actually that bad. The title of the movie makes clear that the…

So I recently started a movie viewing session planning on watching a movie recommended by a friend, only to find it wasn’t available in my region. After screaming in rage for several minutes, I randomly picked a movie that was in the little Amazon recommendations list. That movie was “Exhuma”, a Korean occult horror about…

This is kind of a rarity. I’m reviewing this book about seven years after having read it. Why? Because I think it’s one of the greatest horror novels ever, and I realized I never left a formal review to this effect. The plot centers around a group of “at-risk” youth visiting an island as part…