Nick Cato's Blog, page 25

THIS is How it's Done...

[image error]
ROUGH CUT by Brian Pinkerton (2011 Bad Moon Books / 366 pp / tp)
Harry Tuttle directed a few popular horror films in the 80s.  Since then he has been churning out bad, low budget features, many which go direct to DVD or cable TV, barely keeping a cult following.  When his ex-wife marries a hot-shot Hollywood director and begins to get famous, he becomes inspired to get back on track.  The problem is, Harry finally comes to the realization that he just doesn't have it anymore.  He has become a hack.
One day he screens a new film given to him by a young wanna-be director.  The film, 'Deadly Desires,' blows Harry away; it's the most realistic, scary horror film he's seen in ages.  He strikes a deal with the new director (Marcus Stegman) to release the film, only with himself credited as director.  Marcus--badly in need of cash--eventually agrees.  Sure enough, Deadly Desires becomes a huge hit, and Harry's career seems back on track, bigger and better than before.
When a popular film critic interviews Harry, he also watches a screener DVD of Deadly Desires, and becomes convinced one of the kill scenes is too real to have been faked.  And when no one can get in touch with the actress who dies on film, all hell breaks loose: Harry realizes he has bought a genuine snuff film, and Marcus is currently at work on another one, this time targeting Harry's new girlfriend who also happens to be an actress.
ROUGH CUT features a well-crafted plot, tight writing, and a fantastic level of suspense.  Although aimed at a horror audience, this novel will also be enjoyed by fans of thrillers and crime fiction.  It's apparent Pinkerton has done his homework here: his portrayal of the ins and outs of the film business kept me as interested in the proceedings as the ever-growing tension.  You won't be bored for a second.

Hmmmmm....

In 1987, Spanish cult film legend Jess Franco released FACELESS, about a plastic surgeon gone mad.

2011.  Spanish art-house director Pedro Almodovar releases THE SKIN I LIVE IN, about a slightly off-balanced plastic surgeon.

Hmmmmmmmm. . . . .

Good, Edgy YA...

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake (2011 Tor Teen / 316 pp / hc)
In author Blake's world, there are two kinds of ghosts: the passive type and the murderous.  Cas Lowood is a teenager living with his mom who has inherited a rare gift from his late father: the ability to "re-kill" murderous ghosts with a special knife handed down to him.  Called to rid a small west coast town of a mysterious ghost known as Anna, things take a rough turn when Cas finds himself unable to kill her...especially after they begin to develop feelings for one another.
It turns out a strange spirit creature has been causing Anna to kill...one of her victims a popular jock named Mike whose friends are now furious, although they reluctantly help Cas deal with the Anna situation.  Along with a cute, popular girl from school, his friend Thomas and his occult-hippie uncle, Mike's 2 jock friends, and even his white witch mother, whose herbal spells help protect the group.
I don't read much Young Adult fiction, and was surprised by the amount of violence and profanity here...it's definitely not for younger teens.  While I enjoyed ghost hunter Cas, it was Anna's character and back story that held my interest.  She's an innocent girl--eternally stuck in her teenage years that ended horribly in 1958--transformed into a monster by an evil "Obeahman" which the group battles at the exciting conclusion.
ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD is a fun, quick read, good to whip through this coming Halloween season.  Nothing groundbreaking...but good.

A Bigger, GROSSER Centipede

My review of the controversial new film, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2: FULL SEQUENCE is now live at:CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT
You've been warned!

Cinema's Most Hysterical Moments (Part One)

THE MOST SINISTER NAMES IN THE UNDERWORLD...

WILLIAM HUMMERS: Wanted by the police for bank robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, and getting naked in front of his in-laws.
[image error]
FRANKIE WOLFE: Wanted by federal authorities for dancing with the mailman. 

A.D. ARMSTRONG: Wanted all over the country for arson, robbery, assault with intent to kill, and marrying a horse.
[image error]
VIRGIL STARKWELL:  Although he didn't make criminal of the year, he did make the FBI's top ten most wanted list.  Has been accused of robbery, intent to kill, possession of a false firearm, and theft of a mini-car.





(From Woody Allen's directorial debut, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN [1969] )

And Yet ANOTHER Good Horror Comedy...

I finally got around to seeing MURDER PARTY, having missed its 2007 limited theatrical run in NYC.  After just watching the brilliant TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL, I was weary that this would'nt be half as funny.
While not hysterical, MURDER PARTY has its share of laughs and features a simple but clever premise: a nerdy male meter maid finds an invite for a "Murder Party" while walking home on Halloween.  He whips up a knight costume with a cardboard-box and duct tape and heads to the bash. Nearly seconds after he arrives, he's tied to a chair by a group of psycho artists, who plan to kill him and paint/film it in an attempt to get grant money from hot shot artist Alexander.  Despite the fact everyone's been doing tons of cocaine and weed, Alexander makes everyone shoot up with truth serum, and all hell quickly breaks loose when everyone's true feelings come out...and when they discover Alexander is a fraud.
Star Christopher S. Hawley does a fine job as the nerdy lead in the lame costume, and every artist is quite entertaining, especially Bill, who finds out everyone hates his art and goes totally ballistic in his Baseball Furies costume, hacking everyone in his path up with an ax.  The coked-up Lexi (played by singer Stacey Rock) looks great in her Liquid Sky-meets-The Fifth Element get-up, and Macon (with a werewolf mask that gets melted to his face) is quite funny as he chases the escaping Chris around with an electric chainsaw (!), continually re-plugging it in as he goes (bringing to mind the famous cello-marching band sequence from TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (1969) ).
The final ax vs. chainsaw duel between Chris and Bill in a still-life art gallery is as gory as it is funny, and the post reaction from a few artsy-fartsy types when they discover the room full of corpses is a riot.
Two things would've made this a bit better: one is the seemingly endless truth-serum sequence, that could have easily been cut in half, and they could have done SO much more when Alexander's dog finds and consumes an entire bag of crank-cocaine.  The shot of the pooch chomping the drugs reminded me of the infamous horse-coke-snort from BACHELOR PARTY...but the end results weren't nearly as funny.
Otherwise, MURDER PARTY is a lot of fun, features some great commentary against New York's snobby art community, and the DVD has some fun extras, including old shot-on-video "films" the director and cast members made when they were teenagers.  Makes a fine Halloween-party viewing.

Actor William Lacey in his first role as psycho artist Bill (gotta LOVE that costume!)

Lexi (Stacey Rock) plays dominoes while snorting more blow than Scarface.

Chris (Christopher S. Hawley) as the chainsaw-wielding cardboard knight

Lexi, Sky (Skei Saulnier), and Paul (Paul Goldblatt) contemplate how they're going to kill Chris at the onset of MURDER PARTY.

An EPIC Gets Underway...

HELLHOLE by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2011 TOR / 532 pp / hc)


After a five-year struggle against the corrupt governemnt of the Constellation, General Tiber Maximilian Adolphus fails to win a crucial battle for the key planet of Sonjeera.  But instead of execution, Diadem Michella Duchenet decides to exile him to a bleak planet located in the Deep Zone, a (mostly) unexplored space region comprised of fifty-four planets.  Adolphus accepts her decision, despite the Diadem labeling the planet "Hallholme" after the man responsible for defeating him.


Flash forward ten years.


General Adolphus has managed to survive Hallholmes' brutal and unpredictable weather patterns and scarce resources.  Other criminals, outcasts, and defectors to the Constellation are welcome at Hallholme, and most of them pledge their allegiance to Adolphus.


While the planet is known as "Hellhole" throughout the Dead Zone and the Crown Jewel Worlds, the strong manage to survive--and Adolphus begins to plan a way to fight back against the Diadem and General Hallholme, a man who used a barbaric tactic to win the Battle of Sonjeera.  He also manages to get most of the planets in the Deep Zone to back his cause.


This first of Herbert & Anderson's planned three-part epic moves forward quickly: two men hired by Adolphus to explore Hallholme discover an ancient alien race.  The Xayans--natives to Hallholme until an asteroid strike ruined their planet 500 years ago--have survived in mercury-like pools, waiting centuries for someone to find them.  When Vincent's friend Fernando falls into a pool, he's "possessed" by one of the aliens.  Fernando (and Zairic, his Xayan host) now share Fernando's body, and with Adolphus' permission, persuade other humans to help resurrect the Xayan race.  With super-human powers (including telemancy), the Xayans become allies with the Adolphus in his quest...and the stage is set to battle the Constellation's massive army in the next installment.


HELLHOLE is chock-full of interesting characters, is packed with political and intergalactic intrigue, features bizarre religious cults, and has a couple of unusual romances behind the action.  There's also four surviving native Xayans who get discovered; with their humanoid/catepillar-like bodies and artistic, philosophic ways, there's a lot of promise with them for the next two novels.


While some readers found this tedious and typical, I was sucked right in, and trekked through its 500+ pages in no time (I'm assuming HELLHOLE's negative reviews came from anal-retentive fans of "epic" scifi...something I only partake in on occassion).


Here's hoping the authors take this fine introduction and make the series explode...

A Horror Comedy that WORKS!

L.L. Soares and myself take a look at TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL, currently showing in limited theatrical release and on most Pay per View services:
CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: Tucker and Dale vs. EVIL!

An Answer for Some New Friends/Followers/Fans...

I have over 2,050 "friends" on Facebook.  Over 500 "followers" on Twitter.  And I'm assuming a few who still visit my MySpace page, although I haven't been active there in well over a year.  Several of these fine friends/followers/ (and what I'd like to believe are FANS) have asked me about this blog.
"How come you don't blog about your writing?" is a popular question I'm asked.To put it simply, I like to blog about the countless books I read and films I see.  I'm not sure how much about my writing I can blog about without losing fans by putting them to sleep.  And being I'm not an emotional guy, I don't offer too many personal rants, nor do I like to get political or religious here, as—being an independent conservative—I just don't have time to field annoyed emails and comments.  (I wrote one heart-felt piece about my late mother a few years ago on my old blog, which seemed to be a favorite.  Check it out here: Remembering Bunny )
With that said, I was recently asked to write a guest column about writing for the NEW ENGLAND HORROR WRITERS blog.  If you're interested, you can read it here: How Location Writing Worked for One Author
The NEXT question I'm often asked is when I'm going to have something new out.  It's been over 2 years since my debut novel DON OF THE DEAD was published, and since then I've been busy shopping around my second novel, writing a third, and most recently have begun writing a novel in collaboration with author L.L. Soares.  (Don't forget folks: I also run a small press, edit THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW monthly e-zine, work a full time day job, and have a new puppy to deal with on top of my fatherly and husbandly duties!).  But enough excuses:
I recently announced that my new novella, THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER, was sold to Damnation Books, so expect to see that around the spring of 2012 in trade paperback as well as eBook form.  It's my bizarro/dark fantasy take on the end times that I'm hoping goes over well with a cross-genre audience.  Also, I'm thrilled to be part of the mammoth non-fiction slasher film book, BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS, edited by Vince Liguano for Dark Scribe Press.  Along with 70+ other contributors, I look at the 1981 film NIGHTMARE, directed by Romano Scavolini, a film I've been raving over since seeing it on a double bill with MOTHER'S DAY back in 1982.  You can order a copy of this 490-paged doorstop right here:  Butcher Knives & Body Counts 

The adventurous among you can order the film, NIGHTMARE, just recently released in a proper DVD treatment by the folks at CODEREDDVD right here: NIGHTMARE 30th Anniversary DVD
I've also been invited to write for 4 horror anthologies, and I'll have more news about those as they become available.
So…thanks to my new friends/followers/fans for the questions and interest, and feel free to visit my small press' page ( NOVELLO PUBLISHERS  )  and keep coming back here for more reviews than you can shake a stick at!
And maybe…JUST maybe, I'll get the itch to deliver a writing blog as the demand grows…

Yet Another COMIC GEEK UPDATE...

In the 4th issue of this 5-issue mini-series, Koji gets his father to let them try to fix a battle-worn MechaGodzilla in their war against the mob, while...

...the 6th issue of KINGDOM OF MONSTERS features the Obama-like U.S. President granting permission for an all-new MechaGodzilla to be built in Detroit in an attempt to battle the world-wide monster invasion.
I'm assuming the final issue of GANGSTERS AND GOLIATHS as well as the next KOM will be must-reads for MechaGodzilla fans...
(NOTE TO IDW: PLEASE stop with the 4-variant covers per issue---they're annoying!)

While I enjoyed DC's epic DARKEST NIGHT and BRIGHTEST DAY mini series, this 3-issue "Aftermath" was easily an attempt to milk the series' popularity a bit longer.  While interesting for SWAMP THING FANS, fans of the aforementioned series didn't miss too much.

Gwen's zombie-hunting boyfriend FINALLY discovers she's a zombie.  And while this issue acts as a catch-up for newer readers, it's still one of the most entertaining comics on the market.  The retro-looking artwork never gets old, either.

The ROAD OF KINGS series gets back to business as Conan finds himself caring for a young girl.  He takes her along on his quest, which leads them to an underground lair filled with countless over-sized creepy crawlers.  The action comes fast and furious in this satisfying installment, marred only by Mike Hawthorne's sloppy and silly-looking artwork (although I liked his renderings of the undead in the final panel's zombie attack).  Seriously, DARK HORSE...CONAN has been one of your best titles for years.  PLEASE get rid of this guy and give our favorite Cimmerian an artist worthy of the quality of the comic.