David Moody's Blog, page 52

The Rover

My first film recommendation of 2016 and wow, what a belter I have for you today. is a bleak and surprising dystopian tale which features a superb performance from the ever-reliable . Watch the trailer and click the link below for my thoughts.

10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner pursues the men who stole his only possession, his car. Along the way, he captures one of the thieves’ brother, and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous journey.

So far so cliched, right? Wrong. This is a movie which caught me completely by surprise. Pearce is on top form here as a broken man who’ll stop at nothing to retrieve his stolen car. Set in the Australian outback, the movie naturally lends itself to the inevitable MAD MAX comparisons, but anyone who thinks that is way off the mark. This is something else entirely.

I loved the look and, more particularly, the feel of THE ROVER. The backstory is rightly sparse, and all we know is that the film takes place ten years after a global economic collapse. Whilst most dystopian movies take place either as the shit is hitting the fan or once it’s well and truly dropped, THE ROVER seems to exist in an unsettling nether-land between the two. There are glimpses of civilization and of society continuing to function, and yet there are far more telltale signs that the end really is well-and-truly nigh.

Pearce (here playing a man who’s so badly damaged that he makes the character he played at the end of look like a children’s entertainer), is ably supported by poster-boy image which initially propelled him to stardom. Pattinson is great as the abandoned brother of one of the gang who stole the car – a frightened, wide-eyed survivor with learning difficulties whose innocence seems out of place in this unforgiving landscape.

Excellent direction, subtle effects, an atmospheric soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and a superb ending I didn’t see coming combine to make this a film I’d recommend in a heartbeat.

THE ROVER is available on DVD and Bluray now. It’s also streaming on Amazon Prime in the US and UK.

The Rover is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

What Works for Me – Characters and Plot Development part #2

As promised, here’s the second part of my conversation with Suzanne Robb and Emma Ennis of the Fresh and Untitled podcast.

Such great people to talk to. As I’ve already said, we talked and talked. There are two more parts to follow, and I hope you’re enjoying listening as much as we did chatting.

What Works for Me – Characters and Plot Development part #2 is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

2016 is Year of the Zombie

Happy New Year, all! As promised, today sees the launch of Infected Books’ YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE, and have we got a great story to kick off the project. I’m thrilled to announce that our first author is the brilliant ADAM BAKER with KILLCHAIN, a novella set in the world of his best-selling books OUTPOST, JUGGERNAUT, TERMINUS and IMPACT.

Elize arrives in Mogadishu with instructions to assassinate a Russian embassy official. She has tactical command of a US kill-team, CIA operatives, rookies and veterans of a dozen war zones. It should be a straightforward hit but her luck is about to run out. She will soon find herself trapped in a city gone to hell, struggling to complete her mission in the face of betrayal, a spreading pandemic and a population hungry for flesh…

KILLCHAIN is available now from Amazon. A print collection of all the novellas will be available at the end of the year, and you can find out more about YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE over at www.infectedbooks.co.uk. Don’t forget, we’ve got space for one more author… our ‘Pitch and Page’ competition will be launching shortly.

Here’s to an awesome, rot-filled 2016!

2016 is Year of the Zombie is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

German edition of TRUST released today

The German language edition of TRUST is released today by Voodoo Press. TRUST is a book I’m very proud of. It’s different from most of my other stuff, and it was the first of my pre-HATER Infected Books novels to be rewritten and re-released. There’s been movie interest in the novel from time to time and I think of all my books not under option, it’s the story I’d most like to see on screen. It deliberately goes against all the typical alien contact cliches, and I think original cover artist CRAIG PATON said it best when he called TRUST an anti-science-fiction novel.

To learn more about the book (and to read the first half of the story online), visit www.trustdavidmoody.com or click the image below.

The German edition of the novel is available now from Amazon.de and other retailers, and signed copies of the UK version (including one copy of the ultra-rare limited edition hardcover with additional bonus content) can be picked up from www.infectedbooks.co.uk.

German edition of TRUST released today is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Scream Issue 34

Hope you’ve all had a good Christmas and are looking forward to New Year. I am. I’ve a lot of stuff in the pipeline for 2016, and it’s been too quiet around here for too long.

One of the great things about the holidays, I find, is that I get chance to catch up on a few of the films I’ve missed or that I’ve been meaning to watch again. My pile of as yet unwatched Blu-ray discs (which, I’m ashamed to admit, still includes a few of the gifts I received last Christmas) has substantially increased in size. I’m particularly looking forward to re-watching the final QUATERMASS series from 1979, and to working my way through the entire NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series in HD.

I’m particularly looking forward to watching the NIGHTMARE films again. Coincidentally, this morning the latest issue of SCREAM MAGAZINE dropped through my letterbox, which includes a fascinating interview with Mark Patton, the star of the second ELM STREET movie. As usual, there’s plenty of other stuff in the mag, including a look back at the Hammer cult classic VAMPIRE CIRCUS, and features on Turkish horror, CHILDREN OF THE CORN, and much more. As always, SCREAM comes with the Moody seal of approval.

To get your hands on a copy of SCREAM, visit www.screamhorrormag.com. You can also pick up the magazine from any branch of HMV, Forbidden Planet, or any of the newsagents listed here. SCREAM is also available digitally as iSCREAM. You can also follow SCREAM on Facebook and Twitter @ScreamHorrorMag.

Scream Issue 34 is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

THE FRONT: SCREAMING EAGLES

Congratulations to Tim Long on the release of THE FRONT: SCREAMING EAGLES, the first book in the World War II series I’m honoured to be writing alongside Tim and Craig DiLouie. I think Tim summed it up perfectly when he described THE FRONT as ‘Band of Brothers meets Dead Snow‘.

SCREAMING EAGLES is available now, and I’m currently working on book two, RED DEVILS which will be out in early 2016. To celebrate the release, SCREAMING EAGLES is available for 99c for the next couple of days. To add to the fun, Craig and I have reduced the price of a couple of our books too. You can currently grab ISOLATION and Craig’s CRASH DIVE for pennies too!

THE FRONT: SCREAMING EAGLES is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

What Works for Me – Characters and Plot Development

I’ve been meaning to write about characters and plotting as a ‘What Works for Me’ piece for some time. When the brilliant Suzanne Robb and equally brilliant Emma Ennis interviewed me on the subject for their Fresh and Untitled podcast, I decided it would be easier to link to their video instead of writing a post from scratch. Thing is, we talked… and talked. A three hour interview has now been cut down into handy twenty minute segments, the first of which is here:

Three more to follow shortly!

What Works for Me – Characters and Plot Development is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Unkindness of Ravens (and Lord of Tears)

I owe an apology to director Lawrie Brewster and writer Sarah Daly. After watching (and loving) their 2013 feature, LORD OF TEARS, I asked Sarah to answer a few questions for an article on this site. Events have since conspired against me, and I hadn’t been able to post the piece until now. Why now? Because their new movie THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS is currently in its last few days of Kickstarter funding, and it’s tantalisingly close to hitting its target. I urge you to watch the video below and get involved. If LORD OF TEARS is anything to judge the new movie by, your investment will be worth every penny.

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk a little about LORD OF TEARS, not least because one of the RAVENS’ Kickstarter perks is this incredible limited edition action figure of LoT’s iconic and nightmarish Owlman.

LORD OF TEARS is a unique, beautifully filmed and paced, haunting movie which is truly worth your time. It tells the story of schoolteacher James who, haunted by horrific nightmares, returns to his childhood home in the Scottish Highlands. There he meets a mysterious woman whilst being plagued by visions of the terrifying Owlman. Once you’ve checked out the Kickstarter for RAVENS, click the link below to read more about LORD OF TEARS.

Please note – if you’re trying to track LORD OF TEARS down, a repackaged and retitled version of the film – OWL MAN – is coming in 2016.

I asked Sarah to tell me a little about the background to LORD OF TEARS, and something about hers and Lawrie’s backgrounds too:

“Lawrie and I have been working together for almost five years now. We started out in the glamorous world of corporate videos, with our own creative projects on the side, but in the last couple of years we’ve managed to make the transition to producing feature films full time. It’s not always been the easiest road but we’re both delighted to have made it here! I did a degree in film back in Dublin, specialising in scriptwriting and had been peddling my scripts for years, working admin jobs to make ends meet. I had a string of short films to my name but hadn’t managed to make the leap to working full time in the industry. Lawrie, meanwhile, studied an array of subjects from Theology to Acting and eventually Film. Since leaving university, he had been building his corporate video business here in Fife, Scotland, squeezing in the odd short film, and dreaming of one day directing and producing his own creative projects exclusively.

“When our paths first crossed online and we began sharing our creative work, we realised that we shared similar goals and a pool of skills that could work well together. I made the move to Scotland back in 2010 and we’ve been running our production company here ever since. We produced our first feature film, the mumblecore disaster film White Out, that same year amidst corporate work, and that was what really set us down the path to making feature films full time. In 2011, we started to plan our next project, what was to become Lord of Tears. We established a sort of method of working together on story that we’ve run with since on all our projects. First, we went through an extensive period of research into ancient mythologies, folklore, gods and monsters, searching for characters and stories that hooked our attention. We knew at this point that we wanted to make a kind of gothic/folk-horror inspired film so delved deep into those wells to find inspiration. The owl-headed God that eventually became the Owlman, the film’s antagonist, immediately caught our interest.

“Around the Owlman entity, Lawrie built a narrative backstory that tied the Owlman to our film’s hero, James Findlay. I then worked from this blueprint as if it were a historical document, building the narrative of the film around it, with the aim of creating a world that felt authentic, while obviously uncanny. We like to tell stories in the manner of dark documentarians, I suppose, in the style of Lovecraft to an extent, imagining that we are opening a window into another, darker world that may well exist somewhere in the multiverse!”

So how about that Owlman character? He made quite an impact in the marketing for the movie… Sarah said:

“When we first stumbled across the owl-headed God that was to become our Owlman (whose true name I won’t mention for fear of spoilers!) we instantly saw that he had potential as a cinematic villain. The depictions of the God online mostly showed the deity in ancient settings, and we knew that we wanted to make him slightly more modern if not entirely contemporary. We took inspiration from the online phenomenon Slenderman, a nightmarish, long-limbed faceless entity in a black suit. We saw the great menace that this character had, and how he captured the imagination of so many, and wanted to try to bring some of these same qualities to our monster. So the Owlman was to wear a Victorian tail suit, more fitting in a gothic environment, and would similarly have long limbs, in our case topped off with enormous talons. In a visual sense, the character was designed by our art director and director of photography Gavin Robertson and brought to three dimensional life by local artist Angela Allen.

“Lawrie and I created a full and plausible (in the context of the story!) character by blending various mythologies from pagan Scotland to ancient Carthage. We knew we didn’t want him to be an active, slasher-type monster but instead an ominous, brooding presence. The Owlman is almost always still, or moving very slowly – a watcher rather than an actor.

“Finally, we gave him a voice which he used to deliver several darkly poetical monologues. These are an important part of the Owlman character, brought to life by awesome veteran English actor David Schofield.”

LORD OF TEARS firmly wedged itself into the horror psyche a couple of years back, and I asked Sarah how the unique marketing strategy came about?

“I suppose that for Lawrie and I, creative control, independence and sustainability are the things we strive for, so to produce, market and distribute the film ourselves was a natural choice. We did some things that others in the industry found unorthodox or even foolish, for example, focussing on a premium physical product when the rest of the world is obsessed with VOD. We are big believers in the power of a tangible object, in creating something beautiful that feels special to own. We hoped that there were horror fans out there who shared our belief in the physical artefact, and were relieved to find that we weren’t alone. Reviews of our film have consistently remarked on the unique design of our Special Edition, and on the packaging too (each one is individually wrapped in black paper and adorned with a feather).

“It’s been a huge learning curve handling every element by ourselves from running a successful Kickstarter campaign, to creating viral content, to physically producing and posting out products, but it’s ultimately been hugely rewarding. We’ve been lucky enough to find an incredible, supportive audience for our film, who we hope to continue to engage with, and take with us on our journey into future films! We’ve also found support in the shape of patron of the arts, and artist in his own right Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki, who came on board as our Executive Producer. Lord of Tears went on to become Sultan’s company Dark Dunes Productions’ first ever co-production.

“Really, our aims were to build a model that would allow us to sustain ourselves telling the kinds of stories that inspired us, and I’m very happy to say that thanks to Lord of Tears, things are looking very good on that front!”

Which leads us nicely onto Sarah and Lawrie’s new movie, THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS. Sarah says “it’s a horror feature about an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD relating to a traumatic incident he suffered in Afghanistan. The trauma of this event manifests itself in a very real way in the Scottish Highlands where he is holed up, attempting to battle his demons.”

Let’s give this movie the final push to get it over its Kickstarter target, because I for one cannot wait to see it.

The Unkindness of Ravens (and Lord of Tears) is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Year of the Zombie

It’s fifteen years next year since AUTUMN was first released. Back then there were very few zombie novels about, and the living dead were nowhere near as prevalent in the mainstream as they are today. How things have changed. But AUTUMN’s not the only anniversary coming up… 2016 also marks the fifteenth birthday of INFECTED BOOKS.

I reckon we should celebrate, so I’m putting these two events together and designating 2016 as YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE.

Next year Infected Books will be releasing twelve zombie novellas – one per month – from eleven of the best zombie writers out there. But wait… check the maths… It doesn’t add up – twelve releases but only eleven authors? That’s where YOU come in. From the press release:

“As part of YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE, we’ll be running a very special Pitch & Page comp via the Infected Books Facebook page. The comp will be judged by our very own Dragon’s-Den-esque panel of bestselling horror author and IB head honcho, David Moody, US literary agent, Gina Panettieri and Micheal Preissl of German and English language publisher, Voodoo Press. The winner will join our 11 established authors to have their novella released as part of Infected Books’ YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE. How cool is that?

And if that ain’t enough, we’ll have a few more surprises along the way, as well as a heap of zombie-themed prizes and giveaways courtesy of our sponsors.

So hang onto your hair, kids – 2016 is YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE… and it’s going to be brutal.”

I can’t wait for you to see who we’ve got lined up for this. More details in the coming weeks.

Year of the Zombie is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Happy birthday to the STRANGERS

A spate of brutal murders occur in and around the small town of Thussock. The bodies of the dead – savagely mutilated, unspeakably defiled – are piling up with terrifying speed. There are no apparent motives and no obvious connections between the victims, but the killings only began when Scott Griffiths and his family arrived in Thussock…

Time flies. It’s a year today since STRANGERS was released, so I thought I’d give the book a little first anniversary love. It’s a novel I’m very proud of. I set out to write a quick and bloody horror story – the kind of pulpy tale I’ve always loved to read – and that’s exactly what I did. The book’s had some great reviews, but I think what I’ve been most pleased about is the reaction to the characters. I can’t recall ever writing about quite anyone like Scott Griffiths before. He’s an arrogant, misogynist prick, and your reactions to him have been great. You’ve found him as vile as I hoped you would!

“STRANGERS is easily Moody’s best work to date, a dark, disturbing and visceral book that gives him a legitimate claim to the title of Britain’s Best Living Horror Author that was left vacant by James Herbert’s untimely death.” — This is Horror

“I can’t stress enough how utterly captivating STRANGERS is.  It’s addictive reading from start to finish.  And it proves once and for all that there’s a hell of a lot more to Moody than the end of the world.” —DLS Reviews

STRANGERS is available now from all the usual outlets. You can get hold of a signed copy of the paperback (along with a free ebook version and free UK delivery) for the bargain price of £7.50 as part of the Infected Books BLACK CHRISTMAS promotion.

Happy birthday to the STRANGERS is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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