Horror sequels can be tough to pull off. Often the original lays out a series of perplexing events (teenagers dying in their dreams, for example) and then provides an explanation (Freddy Krueger was killed by those teenager’s parents and seeks revenge.) When you get to the sequel, the mystery is gone.  Sometimes screenwriters handle this…

You’ve encountered killer weed, but killer weeds? Cat and her husband take residence in a summer cabin on a lake. Various tensions start to flare (her husband’s a real dbag) and Cat finds herself drawn to… something in the water. This story has a kind of “simmering cool” that reminded me of a Steven Soderbergh…

Gather round, young ones, and let me tell you about a mysterious bygone era known as the eighties. This was before all your newfangled internet and AI chatbots. Movies were a trip back then. If you missed them when they played in the theater, you had to wait and hope they showed up at your…

AI horror is gonna lure me every time. You might recall my rave review for the critically maligned “evil Alexa” movie “AfrAId” a while back. Stories about the fears of AI just really tickle my philosophical funny bone. As a result, I knew I would eventually see “Companion” (about an intelligent sexbot) when I saw…

Many people are probably familiar with the Satanic Panic of the 80s and 90s where at least dozens of people across the country were accused and convicted of committing fantastical crimes – child sacrifices, weird sexual abuse – then shown to be innocent. It’s a fascinating instance of mob mentality gone bad (I guess it…

There’s a timeless premise for horror movies: young people do something horrible and are punished for it. It’s the conceit of “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “Soriority Row”, “Carrie” and even my new novel “The Mirror Man.” (How’s that for subtle advertising?) 2020’s “The Call” follows this path as well. New kid in…

I’m pleased to announce my second horror novel, The Mirror Man,” is arriving at Amazon on May 1st, 2025. Pre-orders available now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DYBKTX7Y Blurb: What you don’t say can still kill you. When a viral sex video humiliates a small-town beauty queen, college student Mason Gutierrez’s friends join in the online mockery. Mason stays quiet,…

I don’t talk much about television shows here, partly because there isn’t much horror on television. (I’ve found seasons of American Horror Story hit or miss—sometimes brilliant, sometimes unwatchable.) Because it aired on STARZ, otherwise known as the network nobody watches, I missed the horror comedy series Shining Vale that ran a few years ago.…

I’m taking part in a new book promotion that has a number of horror books available at Amazon. Click the link to see the goods! https://books.bookfunnel.com/intotheshadows/onn2n93q1y

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…