David Moody's Blog, page 25

Carnival of Souls

UK readers may remember the excellent BBC film series, MOVIEDROME. Presented initially by ALEX COX (director of REPO MAN and SID & NANCY among others), during its run MOVIEDROME showcased more than 200 cult movies. The first few seasons in particular were a fundamental part of my weird film education, introducing me to gem after gem after gem. You have to remember that having just emerged from the era of the video nasty, genre film fans had been starved of decent viewing material. Week by week, MOVIEDROME introduced me and countless others to a whole host of incredible films. Don’t just take my word for it, here’s a full list of the movies that were shown between 1988 and 2000.

One film that’s always stuck with me from my first viewing on MOVIEDROME is CARNIVAL OF SOULS. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it, and once I’d seen it, I couldn’t forget it. I recently re-watched it, hence my recommendation to you today.

After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS has atmosphere by the bucketload. It’s a film made without any pretence or posturing – a simple, Twilight Zone-like story told in an equally simple manner. It’s the only feature made by director HERK HARVEY, whose day job was the production of educational films. In many ways I think it’s the simplicity and directness of the film that makes it work so well. It reminds me in many ways of GEORGE ROMERO’s original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and it’s interesting that Romero had a similar filmmaking background.

In the opening scene, Mary (played by CANDACE HILLIGOSS), is involved in a drag race accident. Her car ends up in a river, and she eventually staggers out of the water. She then leaves her home in Kansas to take up a position as church organist in Salt Lake City, and as she tries to settle in her new location, she’s plagued by a series of visions and experiences which leave her questioning her sanity. She’s drawn to an abandoned pavilion on the shore of the lake and is tormented by frequent nightmarish appearances of a pale-faced character referred to only as The Man (played by the director). People ignore her, she fades in and out of reality, and her confusion increases as the nightmares become more pervasive.

As usual in these posts, I’m deliberately not saying very much. It’s always best to go into films like this knowing as little as possible. Suffice to say, CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a real treat. It may not have the shock value today that it would have delivered on release in 1962, but there’s so much else to recommend it for. Of particular note is the use of sound (and silence) to convey Mary’s disorientation. The simplicity of having her making the only noise in an otherwise completely muted world works brilliantly.

It’s a testament to the impact of CARNIVAL OF SOULS that, despite being ‘lost’ for many years, following its re-release in the late eighties, it was recognised as an important and influential horror movie. I’ll take this over any M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN shitefest any day of the week. Like director Harvey, Candace Hilligoss didn’t make many other movies. You get the impression they’d said everything they needed to with this one film. If you’re interested, have a look at candacehilligoss.com where you’ll find some interesting interview clips (though watch out for the spoiler-filled LEONARD MALTIN review clip which will totally ruin the movie for you).

You can watch CARNIVAL OF SOULS in its entirety on YouTube and it’s well worth 82 minutes of your time. It’s a quaint, rough-edged, dated, yet hugely influential fever dream of a movie and I love it.

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A rookie mistake

I made a dumb mistake, and the next five people who order a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk will benefit from it. I wanted to order in some copies of STRAIGHT TO YOU, but I clicked the wrong ISBN. So, instead of the beautiful 2014 edition shown below, I ended up with a number of copies of this abomination (click to reveal – I couldn’t bring myself to show the image here). This version of STRAIGHT TO YOU represents me at my most naive. I’d just started publishing independently, and I made just about every mistake imaginable with this book. I’ve written much about my disdain for the original version of my debut novel – this paperback represents the worst edition of the worst version of the book.

I don’t want these copies cluttering up my shelves, and I’m not going to just throw them away, so the next five people to place an order for a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk, will also get a free lump of turd copy of the 2006 paperback edition of STRAIGHT TO YOU.

There’s some good stuff available from Infected Books right now – see the list below.

AUTUMN: DAWN limited edition hardcover (FINAL COPY!)AUTUMN: DAWN paperback AUTUMN: THE HUMAN CONDITION and AUTUMN: AFTERMATH limited edition hardcoversThe CHAOS THEORIES paperback bundle THE LAST BIG THING And several of my non-Infected Books titles, including ALL ROADS END HERE *.

All books are signed, and postage is free for UK orders. Don’t forget, you also get free ebook versions with all Infected Books releases.

* Please note – the free ebook offer does not apply to books released by other publishers

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Recommended reading – Survivors

I think perhaps the main reason I love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction is the way it strips away all the divisions of society and (generally) puts us all in the same boat. It doesn’t matter what your background or beliefs are, how smart or rich or loud or quiet or well-connected you might be, when the shit really hits the fan, we’ll all likely have as good (or as bad) a chance of survival as the person next to us.

This is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to recently, not least because we’re in the middle (or possibly the tail end, or maybe still the opening act) of a global pandemic which has had a profound and long-lasting impact on the entire planet, even those who continue to claim it’s a hoax. Far more trivially, I’ve also been thinking about the same themes as I’ve been working on the new AUTUMN books. Book one, AUTUMN: DAWN, was very much a straight-forward survival horror story in the style of the previous books in the series. AUTUMN: INFERNO and AUTUMN: EXODUS, however, will be altogether different. It’s not so much about picking up the pieces after an apocalypse; more about seeing if there are any pieces left to be picked up.

I’ve been catching up with some post-apocalyptic reading, and the novel I’ve just finished – SURVIVORS by TERRY NATION – makes this point very effectively. Unfortunately, it also drives home my earlier assertion that no matter who we are or what we’ve done, in the event of a global catastrophe, we’re all equally fucked. Grim, eh?!

I’m sure many of you will have heard of SURVIVORS – the two BBC TV series, if not the novel. The story, first published in the 1970’s, deals with the aftermath of a global pandemic. A disease with a 95% mortality rate spreads around the world in a matter of days, and the book documents the struggles of some of the remaining 5%. It’s sobering stuff.

Reading this book in 2021 is a mighty strange experience, because it’s both horrifically dated and frighteningly prescient at the same time. The first part of the novel – the pre-apocalypse, if you like – is steeped in the attitudes and chauvinisms of the time. The characters are paper-thin and the dialogue is a struggle. However, the onset of the pandemic (the virus is simply referred to as The Death) is occasionally unnervingly accurate. I recently read an article which talked about how, in some respects, we’ve actually been quite fortunate to experience a pandemic of a disease with a relatively low mortality rate. I can only begin to imagine the horror had it been a disease like Ebola that was sweeping through countries, let alone a fictitious infection like The Death or whatever it was that did all the damage in AUTUMN. It certainly makes you think. How many variants are we away from something truly catastrophic…? I love writing about this stuff, but I’m in no hurry to experience it first hand.

What makes Nation’s novel a really interesting read, however, is the author’s description of the way civilisation struggles to pick itself back up again. The reader is left in no doubt whatsoever that it’s going to be a hell of a struggle. Our band of survivors find a place to live in – someone else takes it. They plant vegetables – their entire crop is stolen or diseased or destroyed by vermin… you get the idea. Nothing’s going to be easy in this grave new world.

The effectiveness of the book is in part down to the way it proves the point I made at the beginning of this post. The apocalypse will be the great leveller. Although the lives of Nation’s survivors are very simplistic in comparison to how we live in 2021, as individuals we’re no better equipped to survive. In some ways, I’d argue we’re less prepared. The pacing of the novel is uneven, the plot occasionally contrived, and the characters frequently frustrating, but with the background of the global situation today, I recommend you pick up a copy and give it a read. It’ll certainly give you food for thought. Print copies are hard to come by, but at 99c/99p for the ebook, you’ve no excuse.

 

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Joe McKinney

So sad to hear of the passing of Joe McKinney. Joe was one of the first fellow zombie authors I got to know well, though I hadn’t spoken to him for a number of years. Way back when I was starting out (when the zombie sub-genre was first starting to become established, actually) Joe’s books were everywhere, and rightly so. DEAD CITY, FLESH EATERS and his other novels were hugely popular. Our paths crossed quite a few times, and I was honoured to write the foreword to DEAD WORLD RESURRECTION – an outstanding collection of his zombie short stories.

Rest in peace, Joe. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

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Herbst: Morgendämmerung

Happy to advise that the German language edition of AUTUMN: DAWN – HERBST: MORGENDÄMMERUNG – is now available in print and ebook.

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The Last Big Thing – new edition

I’m pleased to report that THE LAST BIG THING is now available in paperback. Originally released in early 2019, this is a collection of some of my favourite non-zombie short stories from the last 15 years or so, along with a number of other stories I wrote especially for the book. Of note, this is currently the only place you can get EVERYTHING AND NOTHING (my lone HATER short story) in print. Personally, I think it’s worth picking up for the title story alone. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written.

THE LAST BIG THING paperback is available from Amazon. It’s also available as an ebook (Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, Nook) and there are a handful of signed hardcovers available at a discounted price over at www.infectedbooks.co.uk.

The beautiful cover art is by long time collaborator CRAIG PATON. Thanks to Craig for tweaking the files for this new edition.

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It works much better when you give a shit

A few weeks back I posted about the brilliant ONE CUT OF THE DEAD and how I thought that micro-budgeted madcap zombie meta-movie had a million times the depth and character of the boring, bloated, load of bollocks that was ARMY OF THE DEAD. It’s not a completely fair comparison, I’ll admit, but there’s a point to be made – for me to enjoy a movie, good characterisation and a cohesive plot are essential.

I saw another couple of films recently which prove the point, and that leads me to this weekend’s double movie recommendation.

I’m sure you’ve heard of GREENLAND. It’s a big budget Amazon blockbuster with a star-filled cast who find themselves staring into the abyss as the end of the world approaches. You might not, on the other hand, have heard of THE QUAKE – a Norwegian movie from a few years back which was, in fact, a sequel to THE WAVE, which I wrote about here.

Two relatively straightforward disaster movies, with two very different approaches. Can you guess which one I liked best?

On the face of it, both of the trailers sell these films in a similar way. Here, have a watch:

We get the build-up of emotion, the ominous music and titles, the sense of impending doom, and then we get a glimpse of the money shots – those crucial, climactic, effects-laden scenes that disaster movie fans love to see. I was disappointed that GREENLAND didn’t turn out to have many more money shots than those that are glimpsed in the trailer. Films like this tend to sell you the promise of an hour and a half of jaw-dropping mayhem in the trailer, then only deliver around fifteen minutes max.

I’ll be honest, I really enjoyed watching both GREENLAND and THE QUAKE. Personally, I found THE QUAKE to be a superior movie on pretty much every level. The main reason without doubt was because I cared about the characters in THE QUAKE. I could not have given one tiny shite about the fates of any of the poor folks in GREENLAND, but it was fun watching them go through hell.

The reasons for my differing reactions really interest me as a writer. Like many folks, I’m a sucker for a good disaster movie. The success of such a film is often measured in terms of its spectacle, but I think you need more than just grand set-pieces and widespread devastation.

For me, THE QUAKE is at an immediate advantage here, because it’s a sequel to another disaster movie, and we’re already well acquainted with the characters. In fact, having seen the previous movie, it makes it all the more emotional when we meet geologist Kristian and his family again, and realise that their lives have unravelled since escaping the tidal wave that devastated their home of Geiranger in Norway. That the family has fallen apart after such a nightmare is entirely plausible. Kristian, in particular, is a wreck; a shadow of the man who saved so many lives previously.

GREENLAND also features a dysfunctional family unit at its core, but the handling of the problems that have driven these folks apart is clumsy and formulaic, and you couldn’t care less if they stayed together or not. So that immediately set me off on the wrong foot – if I didn’t care about the family in the first place, was I ever going to care whether they’d survive?

But it’s not all about the characters. In films like this, does it even matter what happens to them? It could be argued that the more grief they’re put through, the more hellish situations they’re forced to endure, the better. I agree with that to an extent, but my problem with GREENLAND is that I pretty much nailed how things were going to turn out from the first few scenes. There were twists and turns and diversions along the way, but I wasn’t far off. THE QUAKE on the other hand, was far less formulaic. Our chap in GREENLAND is literally given a ticket to save him from annihilation and is simply running to find his safe place. Kristian in THE QUAKE, on the other hand, is shouting into the wind… desperately trying to warn people that something terrible is coming, but being resolutely ignored.

And that leads me onto another comparison – the scale. There’s a natural tendency for moviemakers to want to constantly up the ante, but is it really necessary? I’m not so sure. In GREENLAND, we learn pretty early on that an unstoppable event is going to wipe out all life on Earth. The stakes are therefore so high that they barely seem to matter. The inevitability and implausibility of the outcome are such that, again, I disengaged and found it hard to care. I found myself just watching for the action scenes and special effects. In comparison, THE QUAKE sees only (only!) Oslo and the surrounding area destroyed, yet there’s still plenty of spectacle, and there’s also the promise that if the cast survive the immediate chaos, they’ll still have a future. Knowing that safety is not too far away (but still temporarily out of reach), allows the viewer to invest in the family’s collective story. Who’s going to make it? What shape will they be in when this is over? What will the future hold for what’s left of them? (The irony here, of course, is that a sequel to GREENLAND has been announced, despite the whole world having been wiped out… I’ll be genuinely interested to see where the filmmakers take the story).

In my books, I’ve always tried to focus on ordinary folks trying to survive extraordinary situations. They’re easier to identify with and, as I said in the title of this post, it works much better when you give a shit. I know it’s only my opinion, but the contrast between GREENLAND and THE QUAKE has further validated this approach for me. On the face of it, these are two extremely well-made films that rely on similar tropes and tell broadly similar stories. For me, though, THE QUAKE is a far superior film that had me on the edge of my seat throughout because it felt like what happened on the screen actually mattered.

Both films are currently streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK, and I think they’re both worth your time (but please watch THE WAVE first if you’re going to watch THE QUAKE). If you’ve seen them, what are your thoughts?

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Coming next…

In the weeks following the release of a new novel, I usually like to give readers an indication as to what’s coming next. Now that AUTUMN: DAWN has been out for the best part of a month (and huge thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy), it’s time for a brief update.

Coming in July, AUTUMN: DAWN will be released as an audiobook, and also as a German language paperback and ebook. Also next month, THE LAST BIG THING will finally see a paperback release.

By the end of July I fully expect to be deep into the writing of AUTUMN: INFERNO – the second book in the London trilogy – so my updates here may be a little less frequent. Picking up just a short time after the explosive (literally) end of DAWN, the story will see the survivors of book one trying to stay alive in the face of constant attacks from a) an unprecedented number of dead bodies, and b) each other. If the wind’s blowing in the right direction, the book should hit the shelves late this year.

This past weekend Chris Philbrook, Mark Tufo and I completed our edits for the final book in THE BLEED series – ARMAGEDDON. I’ve loved writing this series with Chris and Mark, and I think the conclusion is the best part yet. It’ll be out on 21 September, and can be pre-ordered on Kindle and Audible. A paperback version will be released alongside the ebook and audio.

Reality after reality is being destroyed by THE BLEED. With their options narrowing by the second, and with their group scattered far and wide across the multiverse, it’s down to less than 10 people to try and save the lives of billions upon billions of others.

I’m also working on another novel, and have been for a couple of years now. It’s a psychological horror in which THE WORLD DOES NOT END. Imagine that, a Moody book without an apocalypse! More details when I have something I can share.

I’ve been trying to schedule a Facebook live event for some time, and I’m hoping to make this happen later in July. I’ll share details nearer the time, but if you have any questions you’d like to ask about me or my work, please get in touch.

 

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Saint Maud

In previous recommendation posts I’ve talked about my local cinema, which is literally a couple of hundred metres from my front door. In the brief time it was open between lockdowns last year, I managed to fit in a few visits, mostly to see re-releases of old movies on the big screen (DOG SOLDIERS and V FOR VENDETTA, if you remember). But there was one new release I’d been really keen to see which I didn’t quite manage to fit in. The film was SAINT MAUD, and over the course of the UK’s endless third lockdown, I watched a crumpled poster for the movie gradually fading in the winter sunlight outside the cinema. At the risk of sounding pretentious, it was as if Maud herself was constantly reminding me to watch. When the film popped up on Amazon Prime in the UK a short while back, I did just that, and I’m so pleased I did. What a magnificent film SAINT MAUD is.

Maud is a reclusive young nurse whose impressionable demeanour causes her to pursue a pious path of Christian devotion after an obscure trauma. Now charged with the hospice care of Amanda, a retired dancer ravaged by cancer, Maud’s fervent faith quickly inspires an obsessive conviction that she must save her ward’s soul from eternal damnation, whatever the cost.

It’s so good to find a well written, well acted, self-contained film like this. In an era where franchises about fast cars and monsters and superheroes go on and on forever, and shite action movies get endless sequels because people watch them, not because they’re actually any good, it often feels like quiet, unnerving, smart films like SAINT MAUD don’t stand a chance. And that’s a real shame. I know, I know… the mainstream film industry is exactly that – a profit-driven industrial machine, and those films I mentioned make the bulk of the money – but give me SAINT MAUD over crap like ARMY OF THE DEAD any day of the week.

So what makes SAINT MAUD so special? For me, it’s a combination of a few things. First, writer and director ROSE GLASS. The story-telling here is confident yet sensitive, giving us space to make up our own minds about Maud as the film progresses. I think I’m becoming allergic to exposition dumps in films, and this is a textbook example of how to do it right. It’s clear early on that all is not well with Maud, and Glass’s script tells us just enough to confirm our suspicions while still keeping us guessing. There’s no need to fully delve into Maud’s backstory; a few hints are given through the briefest of flashbacks and interactions with supporting characters, but we’re left wondering right until the end of the film. The cinematography is excellent, and the location – Scarborough – adds to the eeriness with its out-of-season seaside vibes.

The real joy here, though, is MORFYDD CLARK as Maud. Her performance is absolutely spot on, hitting the sweet spot between appearing vulnerable and lost one minute, borderline psychotic the next. The success of the film hinges on Clark’s performance, and yet she seems natural, almost effortless in the role. She’s heartbreakingly engaging, and at the same time genuinely menacing.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably read one (hopefully more!) of my books. You’ll know that my style is direct, with very little filler. You won’t find page after page of backstory and imagery in a Moody novel, because I like to focus on the story – everything else can often feel superfluous. For me, that’s another reason why SAINT MAUD hit the spot. It clocks in at less than ninety minutes, and there’s barely a wasted second. Every frame of the film drives the story towards a conclusion in which the only certainty is that it’s going to be bloody hard to watch.

As usual with my recommendations, I’m beating around the bush here – trying to give you enough to make you want to watch this film without giving anything away. SAINT MAUD seriously affected me. It’s one of the greatest horror films I’ve seen in decades. No, scratch that, it’s one of the greatest horror films I’ve seen. But hey, what do I know?!

SAINT MAUD is available to download and on bluray from all the usual outlets. It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

 

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The shipping forecast

Please excuse the awful pun in the title of this post – I tried (and failed) to think of an interesting way of writing about the woes of sending international post in the times of Brexit/coronavirus.

I’m from a customer service background, and I strive to make sure everything that Infected Books does is done with the reader first and foremost. Unfortunately, sometimes circumstances conspire to trip me up. I’m hugely grateful to everyone who picked up a copy of the limited edition of AUTUMN: DAWN (there are two left, if anyone’s interested). It’s easily the most beautiful looking book I’ve produced, and I’m insanely proud of it.

Every order has been signed, sealed and posted by me, and it’s been brilliant to see photos appearing on social media from all around the world when copies have arrived. Except for Canada. It seems there is a black hole in the postal system between Birmingham and Canada, and packages are taking an inordinate length of time to arrive. There’s good news, though, as I’ve heard that the first books are getting through (thanks for the update, Mike!), but I just wanted to briefly post here to apologise to Canadian readers and to let you know your books should arrive imminently. Thanks for your patience. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any concerns.

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