Nick Cato's Blog, page 34

Poetry for the PerVERSE

THE ULTIMATE PERVERSEITIES by Kurt Newton (2010 Naked Snake Press / 90 pp / tp)
It seems I've been assaulted with several collections of horror-based poetry lately, and while I occassionally enjoy some dark verse, I'm not exactly an authority (or a huge fan) of the genre. However, when something as fun as THE ULTIMATE PERVERSEITIES comes across my desk, I'm more than happy to spend time with some horrific rhymes...(okay--I tried).
Set up in 6 sections, Newton's poems are (usually) short and sweet and at times offer some truly ghastly scenarios. In 'Captives of the Curious,' we meet several helpless victims in some unusual situations, my favorite being 'Dead in the Water,' about an afternoon cruise on a sailboat that goes horribly wrong.
Newton's second section, 'A Brush with the Macabre,' proved to be my favorite of the book, each poem featuring horror with a bizarro twist (check out 'Small Town Parade' and you may begin to doubt the author's sanity).
'In Sanity's Wake' offers 10 poems, including the hysterical 'Holocaust Beauty Pageant' (MAN do I love that title!).
'Forbiding Places,' takes a look at all kinds of dwellings, the best being the b-movie titled 'Slaughterhouse Girls' and 'Church Bazaar,' one of the longest (and best) pieces of the collection.
Section 5, 'Nightmare Trappings,' features another longer one titled 'Aborting the Antichrist,' which features a "shock" ending (!) and several 'Wet Dreams' most of us would rather not have.
PERVERSEITIES ends with 'Oddly Enough,' featuring a few food-based pieces, of which 'Breakfast of Champions' does a fine job of combining laughs and gags.
With plenty of artwork courtesy of Christopher Friend (whose sketch on page 74 is to die for), Newton's PERVERSEITIES is a neat little book for when you're craving some bite-sized chills (and you don't need to be a big poetry fan to enjoy it).

Now THIS is a Collection...

ENGINES OF DESIRE by Livia Llewellyn (to be released 3/15/11 by Lethe Press / 196 pp / tp)
This 10-story collection by relative newcomer Livia Llewellyn features dark stories in several genres (and mixed genres). After a short & sweet introduction from author Laird Barron, ENGINES kicks into high gear with the apocalyptic HORSES, which tells the tale of Angela Kingston, a missile facilites technician dealing with an international nuclear exchange. This one goes from bleak to bleaker and (literally) leaves you in the void (if you don't like your fiction extra dark, now would be a good time to abandon ship...)
AT THE EDGE OF ELLENSBERG is the sexually-charged tale of Tesla, a smart college girl who becomes entranced with a drug-dealing womanizer named Brett who lives on campus. Despite her friends' warning that the guy's a loser, she begins to stalk him, and what at first seems like a pulpy smut story turns into anything but. This one takes a surreal twist toward the end and left me wanting more.
Llewellyn shines with her super-short pieces: THE TESLATED SALISHAN EVERGREEN is a nifty bizarro fantasy, as is BRIMSTONE ORANGE (both stories deal with trees and fate), while TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK is as heartbreaking as it is horrific.
The title tale, ENGINES OF DESIRE, is a very well-written coming of age/lesbian piece, told over the course of four decades (and is easily one of the best stories here). JETSAM is one of the more unique 9/11 stories I can think of, and actually left me chilled.
THE FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND is a military scifi story told from the point of view of a young woman who understands her sole purpose in life is to bring her 400,000 eggs to fruition as soldiers to help fight an on-going intergalactic war. Her father tries to stop her, convinced there IS no war, and struggles come from every angle. Llewellyn is gifted at getting emotions going strong, and here the reader feels them even from the side characters. If you read one story in this book, make sure it's this one.
OMPHALOS is the only non-reprint here, and it's a richly symbolic "road trip" story dealing with incest and other dark family secrets.
The novella, HER DARKNESS, ends the collection on a note (almost) as bleak as the opening tale. Gillian is an artisan, gifted with the ability to reform rocks with her bare hands. Her lover Emanauel has plans for her, but isn't revealing them until they arrive at a giant stone which he believes houses his God. With elements of fantasy, horror and an amazing steampunk-atmosphere, this is a fine taste of what Llewellyn may soon deliver in novel form (she's currently working on her first one).
ENGINES OF DESIRE showcases an author I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from. Llewellyn's ability to combine the erotic and the horrific has helped her to quickly carve out her own niche, and her settings (regardless of genre) always have a sense of impending doom and mystery that'll surely resonate well with fans of dark fiction.
A very impressive first collection you won't soon forget.

New Column up at CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT

My latest bi-weekly column, SUBURBAN GRINDHOUSE MEMORIES, is now like at CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT. Enjoy: http://cinemaknifefight.com/2011/02/24/the-beast-within/

Comic Geek Update No. 7

It's been a while since my last comics update, and there's been plenty of cool stuff coming out in comicland. Some of my latest kicks are:
DETHKLOK No. 3: One of Dark Horse Comic's most entertaining titles, everyone's favorite death metal band now has a 30-story tall (and 10,000 foot long) "Dethtrain,' which the band plans to perform a cross-country tour atop as screaming fans watch the show doing ludicrous speeds. During their maiden performance, The Train Ghoul takes up residence in a young metalhead who is bent on killing Mashed Potato Johnson, an elderly blues guitar legend who once taught Dethklok's guitarists some major chops. Comics just don't get more fun than this demented series, a spin-off of the Adult Swim TV show. Add a plus here for one insane ending...
KING CONAN #1: Dark Horse's 2nd Conan mini series since the conclusion of CONAN THE CIMMERIAN is a 4-part adaptation of 'The Scarlet Citadel,' which features a young scribe recording an elderly Conan as he tells the story of his meeting with sorcerer Tsotha-Lanti. While it's quite strange seeing Conan on his throne as an old man, most of the story is flashbacks to his younger days as he takes on Tsotha, as well as a corrupt kingdom, and it ends with a cliff-hanger meeting with The giant Serpent Satha. Conan's defiance of authority is (like most of his Dark Horse renderings) a high point here, and Tomas Giorello's artwork continues to be outstanding.
BRIGHTEST DAY # 19 & 20: DC's bi-weekly series really lets it rip with its 2 April offerings, both titled 'Aquawar.' In issue 19, Black Manta and co. show up with an army of those the White Lantern has released from the Bermuda Triangle (Aquaman even loses his hand during the fight). Issue 20 features Deadman attempting to understand why the White Lantern has allowed this evil outbreak just as Aquman and Jackson get some major help from Mera and Aquagirl (Mera shows some power here that'd give Dark Phoenix a run for her money!). While the whole 'Darkest Night / Brightest Day' saga may be getting a bit played, the non-stop action and fresh ways of using some classic heroes continues to make this a satisfying epic...
iZombie # 9 & 10: Vertigo's retro-looking female monster mash finally gets our favorite zombie girl, Gwen, out on a date with one of the vampire hunters. Of course she continues to have flashbacks, and is also contacted by her former college friend's dead mother to deliver a message. Issue 10 ends with one of the vampire hunters being held hostage by the vampire girls, while ghoul scientist Galatea continues to conduct strange drug experiments on unwilling subjects with the help of Gwen's red-haired vampire buddy, Claire. Ghost girl Ellie also has some fun now that she has learned how to temporarily possess people. iZombie's a pulpy, entertaining, well written series with addictive artwork courtesy of Michael Allred. Grab a bunch of issues as you'll surely be craving more as soon as you dig in (there's a trade edition now available of the first several issues).

Hide Your Nasal Passages!

SPORE by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow (2010 Leisure Books--eBook / 2011 Bloodletting Books--tp / 266 pp)
A funky new brand of cocaine has hit the streets of Los Angeles and MAN does it have a real kicker: a rare parasitic fungus that takes over the human host's body AND will. Nearly overnight an army of white pus & slime-drooling creatures are born and stop at nothing to add to their legion (even managing to clog every exit to and from the city). Surviving cops, military and gang-bangers are forced to join forces to survive and keep this uber-lethal outbreak from spreading (and a scientific prediction on how far this can spread is downright scary).
While the second half of SPORE is what you'd expect from Skipp and Goodfellow (i.e. intense violence, non-stop action, and off-the-wall creatures), the first half moved quite slowly and could've easily been cut in half. Our main survivor, Rory (as well as his girl Trixie) are decently done, but in the end I found myself not caring for anyone in this large cast. There's just so much commotion going on around L.A. I felt it overshadowed getting to know anyone here to closely.
SPORE offers a lot of fun if you stick out the slow start and approach it as a lost 70s b-splatter film-meets-classic 50s scifi creature feature (with plenty of blowcaine thrown in the mix). Fans of the authors should enjoy it.(Cover art for the Bloodletting Books trade paperback edition [artwork by Steve Gilberts])

Inside the Mind of a Horror Writer...

TO EACH THEIR DARKNESS by Gary A. Braunbeck (2010 Apex Publications / 330 pp / tp)
Since reading the brilliant novel IN SILENT GRAVES back in 2004 (a novel I've now read 3 times), Gary Braunbeck instantly became one of my must-read authors. I quickly sought out as much from his as I could, and just about everything I've read has managed to inspire me both as a writer and (even) as a person. TO EACH THEIR DARKNESS is an extended version of Gary's FEAR IN A HANDFUL OF DUST: HORROR AS A WAY OF LIFE, a book I had missed out on, so everything here was new to me (except for a couple of short sections I had read online over the past few years).
This isn't a "how-to" manual, but rather a series of sections dealing with the films, literature, and real-life events that have inspired and shaped Gary as an author. As a huge film fan, I could've read another 500 pages of Gary's film reviews and recommendations, but as it stands there's plenty here to seek out (I was especially thrilled to see how much of an affect the Burt Lancaster film, THE SWIMMER, had on the author: it has been one of my favorites since I saw it as a kid on late night TV). Seriously...if you read this, keep a pen and pad on hand as you'll surely want to check some (if not) all of these films out.
Like his fiction, Gary's real-life stories are quite dark, depressing, and (some) downright terrifying, yet like a car accident, I just couldn't look away, and now that he has shared these accounts, it has given some of my favorite stories from him even more depth than they already have (it was also nice to see him dissect much of his own writing, especially one of my favorites, his short titled 'NEED' that literally caused my stomach to drop the first time I read it). There's also a story of one of Gary's closest friends that had me laughing my ass off, so despite the grim aura surrounding most of DARKNESS, there's still a few laughs to be had (as well as much to benefit from, which I'm sure is Gary's main goal here).
Gary also gives much space to what he believes keeps horror (as a genre) less respectable than other forms of literature, yet not once does he apologize for being a genre writer. And when he gets into the issue of the lack of subtext used within modern horror fiction, writers would do well to pay close attention.
If you're a fan of Braunbeck, these 330 pages will fly by. While I'm not sure it was necessary to feature several introductions Gary had written for other author's books, there really isn't anything negative I can say about this look into the mind of one of horror fiction's most gifted authors. Check it out.

Strand Throws a Curveball . . .

FANGBOY by Jeff Strand (to be released April, 2010 by Delirium Books / 237 pp / limited edition hardcover)
Jeff Strand is an author responsible for some of the sickest (and funniest) moments in recent horror fiction. From bumbling chainsaw-wielding psychos to testicle-covered loverboys, from rampaging plus-sized insects to internal parasitic chaos, Strand's fans have come to expect a certain something from his Gleefully Macabre Tales.
So what does Jeff go and do? He decides to throw us a real curveball: his latest novel is a ( gasp! ) fairy tale! Yep, you heard that right. FANGBOY (while still undeniably a Jeff Strand novel) is a genuine fairy tale, albeit one I strongly doubt will be read in elementary schools anytime soon.
Nathan Pepper is born to two average parents. He's a normal-looking boy, until he opens his mouth to reveal over-sized, razor-sharp teeth. While his parents love him unconditionally, his grandparents (and nearly everyone else around him as he grows up) doesn't. Nathan is eventually forced to live on his own in the woods for a year, and before long we're off on an adventure that has all the elements of a classic fairy tale, only told from Strand's dark (and often demented) perspective.
With a few memorable antagonists, circus geeks, a super-charged horse, and plenty of surprises, FANGBOY isn't as extreme a story as Strand fans might expect, but it's as entertaining (and well written) as anything in his catalog.
This is limited to only 150 copies, so Strand-addicts and fairy-tale completists better act now...

Harvester of Sorrow

THE SORROW KING by Andersen Prunty (2011 Grindhouse Press / 292 pp / tp)

High school senior Steven lives in the small Ohio town of Gethsemane with his widowed father, Connor. Still dealing with the death of his mother 2 years prior, a rash of teenage-suicides hits the town, adding more pressure to both Steven and Connor's lives. To clear his mind, Steven begins taking long walks late at night. One night he spots a young redhead girl walking alone. He becomes obssessed with her, and even stalks her around school untl he discovers her name (Elise). When he meets up with her on his next walk, she asks him why he's been watching her. A relationship is born, and so are more worries for Connor when Steven begins staying out until dawn every night.

Prunty's take on ghosts, the afterlife, and human fear is done in a refreshing manner...but it's the 3 main characters who kept me riveted from page one: Steven learns his girlfriend may have something to do with the suicides, adding to the regular problems he's facing as a HS senior; Elise eventually declares her love for Steven, but has too many secrets she's not willing to share. Their relationship comes to an abrubt halt as soon as it seems to get going, and whenever she comes into the story there's the sense that anything can and will happen. Connor spends his days working long hours at a bookstore and staying up late worrying if his son will fall victim to what the news is now calling the "Suicide Virus" (one scene at the high school graduation ceremony is quite disturbing). Connor is done in a way that puts him leaps and bounds above the stereotypical parent we usually see in genre novels.

With some slick prose, a great title villain, and a finale that brings Douglas Clegg's gruesome novel THE ABANDONED to mind, Prunty--while better known for his bizarro stories--proves he can write a solid, genuinely scary horror tale with the best of them. Horror fans DO NOT want to miss this.

SANTA SANGRE (Part 2 of 2)

If you missed my first installment last week, catch up right here if you're too lazy to scroll down: http://nickcato.blogspot.com/2011/01/santa-sangre-part-1-of-2.html
While I've seen some of the extras on this Severin DVD on other DVDs, the ones I hadn't are just fantastic, including a great interview with Jodorowsky by musical conductor Simon Boswell (where there's some fun info. if you're a fan of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN), a couple of strange short films and a music video, a Japanese trailer, and an incredible making-of feature titled Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen: The World of SANTA SANGRE, which fans of the film will surely watch multiple times. There's also an interesting look at Goyo Cardenas, the real life serial killer who SANTA SANGRE is loosely based on.
The transfer of the film itself is flawless (and this is the DVD I'm reviewing, NOT the blu-ray, which looked incredible at the screening I attended---see part one of this blog), and there's some deleted scenes featuring commentary from the director. For those who haven't seen the extras on other DVD releases of this film, there's a few other director interviews that'll surely inform and entertain.
This will easily be one of the best DVD releases of the year. And if you haven't experienced the film yet, this is the way to do it.

A New CULT Classic? Hardly...

THE COMMUNE is a well made independent film from 2009. It deals with Jenny, the child of divorced parents, who spends the summer of her 16th birthday at her father's neo-hippie new age commune (she looks about 25, but we'll let that slide). From an early scene of Jenny dancing around her room to the pagan imagery seen all over the compound, it's apparent director Elisabeth Fies was heavily inspired by THE WICKER MAN (1973). There's some decent tension throughout, dark family secrets, and a couple of sequences that go on for about double the length they should have. Yet despite the familiarity of the whole thing, THE COMMUNE works. It's no masterpiece (or even a "cult classic" as someone had the audacity to co-title it), but a decent homage to the occult horror films of the 70s.
Director Fies really put her all into this (she even does the only female nude scene), and it's worth a look for those who want to see a ROSEMARY'S BABY meets WICKER MAN-hybrid done right. While I didn't buy most of the hippies/pagans living in the compound (and in fact found most of them comical), I thought Stuart G. Bennet did a fine job as Jenny's father/cult leader Dr. Polieos, and lead actress Chauntal Lewis is quite easy on the eyes (even if she looked 9 years older than her character).
Again, not a GREAT film, but a decent time killer that works much better than that other, way overrated psuedo-70s/80s flick, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009).
The Incestuous Dr. Polieos brainwashes his followers with pre-recorded DVD messages (as well as pool-side, half-naked stretching exercises).