Nick Cato's Blog, page 42

"The Bonnie & Clyde of Horror" Strike...

IN SICKNESS: STORIES FROM A VERY DARK PLACE by L.L. Soares & Laura Cooney (2010 Skullvines Press / 106 pp. / tp)
Soares and Cooney's first collection features eleven short stories (5 from Cooney, 6 from Soares), followed by the title novella written by one truly demented husband and wife team.
Cooney gets the party started with 'Wasps,' a nifty little ghost story, which is followed by 'The Hirsute You,' a dark look at love that uses hiaku poetry to fine affect; 'Puppy Love,' a tale dealing with the ghastly training of a dog, is my favorite of Cooney's creepers, while 'A Crown of Mushrooms' features the legendary Rasputin living in the modern day, back to fulfill a long-awaited wish. 'Number 808' is a short but sweet revenge story that I didn't think was going to be a revenge story until the final sentences. Good show.
Soares' section begins with 'Little Black Dress,' about a 20 year-old conservative woman who undergoes a dramatic change after finally wearing a sexy witch costume to a party; A man returns to his long-lost daughter (and neighborhood) in 'Second Chances,' only to discover he has actually been summoned by something living under a nearby beach; a slightly off-balanced scientist and a missing link named Billy fuel "Mating Room,' one of the more disturbing tales of the collection. 'Head Games' features recently discovered, highly intelligent simians pulling a reversal on a couple of unfortunate explorers, while 'The No! Place' begins as a domestic abuse/revenge tale then turns into a wicked, unending nightmare. Soares' last short, 'Private Exhibition,' is a study in physical and personal wounds, and will surely leave a mark on your psyche.
The title novella, IN SICKNESS, takes a look at Zach and Maddy, a married couple who are both dealing with personal demons: unable to leave their home, Maddy (continually hitting the bottle) continues to see the ghosts of her miscarried children, while Zach attempts to hold their marriage together despite his demanding, pregnant mistress as well as another, far worse habit he has picked up on the side. Easily the darkest entry here, Soares and Cooney's collaboration is a first-rate horror yarn that (in the end) manages to display one couple's love in the face of supernatural and human terror (although it's an end fans of mainstream romance stories probably won't appreciate!).
With eerie cover art by Valerie Kahn-Dorato and some disturbing interior illustrations from Michele Sizemore, IN SICKNESS is a fine introduction to the "Bonnie and Clyde of horror,*" a duo I hope to see much more from. Definitely check it out.
(*- as referred to by author Brian Keene).

Inside the FREAK Hotel...

Directed by Paul (DEATH RACE 2000, EATING RAOUL) Bartel, this 1972 psycho-sexual, voyeuristic creep-out is a must see for fans of unusual filmfare; all the more surprising is it was made through MGM, although they ended up taking their name off the project and releasing it on the grindhouse circuit with hardly any advertising (big surprise there).

Warner Brothers gets an "atta-boy" for having the balls to release this to DVD.

Cheryl Stratton (played by the beautiful Ayn Ruymen) has a fight...

Maggots & Machines

SLAG ATTACK by Andersen Prunty (2010 Eraserhead Press / 129 pp. / tp)
Prunty's latest is a 4-story "mini-epic" centered around an apocalypse that's brought on by slug-like creatures raining from the sky. These nasty critters (known as Slags) like to eat their way inside people and before turning their insides to mush, wreak havoc with their minds.
In 'The Devastated Insides of Hollow City,' Prunty delivers a bizarro, noir-ish introduction to detective Shell, who's on the hunt for a woman...

A Genuine Guilty Pleasure

PERMANENT OBSCURITY (Or, A Cautionary Tale of Two Girls & Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography, and Death) by Richard Perez (2010 Ludlow Press / 449 pp. / tp)
I was a bit weary when opening this nearly 500-paged novel that's basically a tribute to Russ Meyer films and a modern beatnik/mod scene. But once I gave it a chance I found myself engrossed.
PERMANENT OBSCURITY tells the story of Dolores and Serena, two girls who party too much, abusce drugs, and attempt to hold on to...

Angels on Dope

SUCCUMBING TO GRAVITY by Richard Farnsworth (2010 Reliquary Press / 216 pp. / tp)
Greg, a fallen angel, has been struggling with heroin addiction (among other vices) for hundreds of years. Constantly wondering about the purpose of his existence, he meets up with a woman who he soon discovers is the target of other fallen angels: it seems they need her to open up a doorway that would unleash hell itself.
Farnsworth's first novel combines horror, fantasy, and even police procedural (a sug-genre ...

I Paint Against the Darkness

THE PAINTED DARKNESS by Brian James Freeman (to be released 11/10 by Cemetery Dance Publications / 176 pp. hc)
Freeman (author of the fine 2004 debut novel, BLACK FIRE, writing under the name James Kidman) lets it rip with his latest novella, about an artist named Henry who is haunted by something that happened to him during his childhood.
Henry lives with his wife and daughter in rural Pennsylvania. His wife and daughter leave to stay with her mother during a major snowstorm. As Henry...

Fun . . . But That's the Problem

The 2010 update of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a lot of fun; and hence my main problem with it. What made the original such a disturbing, hard-to-watch film was it's entire tone...it wasn't a "fun" film, but one that kicked you in the face and offered no apologies (i.e. it was an authentic HORROR film). Where the original was almost like watching a snuff film, the remake--while featuring a few intense moments--features kill scenes that are SO over the top you have to wonder if the producers wer...

Midnight Madness

There are certain films that usually do not fare well when watched during "regular" viewing hours. Originally used as a way to help build an audience long before the age of VHS and DVD players, midnight movies have been around for decades. Thankfully today there are theater owners across the globe who understand there's a whole crop of film that REQUIRES a midnight time slot for a proper viewing experience. Even if you've watched any film on the following list, seeing it in a theater (at m...

Little's Latest is Little on Horror

THE DISAPPEARANCE by Bentley Little (2010 Signet / 391 pp. / mmp)

Little's 21st novel explores themes first tackled in his 1989 short story, "Sanctuary," which was featured in his 2002 shorts collection cleverly titled THE COLLECTION. But while "Sanctuary" hit hard with Little's offbeat brand of the macabre, THE DISAPPEARANCE reads like a straight-out mainstream thriller.

A bunch of UCLA students go to the Burning Man festival, located 10 hours away from California in the middle of the desert....

New column up at CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT

Just conjuring up memories of this one caused me some intense pain...enjoy!

http://cinemaknifefight.com/2010/09/16/suburban-grindhouse-memories-dont-go-in-the-woods-alone/