Nick Cato's Blog, page 47

New Column up @ CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT

This time I dredge up a real turkey from the "Golden Age" of slasher films . . . enjoy!

http://cinemaknifefight.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/suburban-grindhouse-memories-funeral-home/

Mourning the Morning

MORNING IS DEAD by Andersen Prunty (2010 Grindhouse Press / 142 pp. / tp) I'll never forget one of the first reviews I read for the David Lynch film, ERASERHEAD. The reviewer had said it was "The closest anyone has come to capturing a dream on film." Now with countless viewings under my belt, I fully agree. While a bit easier to piece together than Lynch's film, Prunty's latest novella has the feel of one of those dreams we all have where insane things begin to come into our lives and we can ...

CREEPY no. 3

DARK HORSE COMICS' latest incarnation of Warren's classic illustrated horror magazine has been a pretty good ride so far.
The recently-released third issue begins with the start of a 2-part story dealing with Hitler (and the cover art hints at where it's headed). Second tale PELTED has the feel of a classic EC comic, and the third (and final) chapter of THE CURSE turned out to be quite...err...creepy.
MAQUILADORA (written by Cody Goodfellow and featuring great artwork by Kevin Ferrera) gives a ...

Another Goodie from Dark Arts Books

WHEN THE NIGHT COMES DOWN edited by Bill Breedlove (2010 Dark Arts Books / 272 pp. / tp)

Joseph D'Lacey, Bev Vincent, Robert E. Weinberg and Nate Kenyon deliver these 'Sixteen Tales of Darkness Descending' in Dark Arts Book's latest 4-person anthology. As with most collections, the stories are hit or miss, although this time they're mostly hit.

D'Lacey's opening story, 'The Unwrapping of Alastair Perry' sets the bar quite high for things to come, and ended up being one of my favorites of the b...

My Own Private EQUINOX

One of the best things about being a film fan in 1975 (even if you were only 7 years old at the time) was having access to a film projector. My family had a nifty 'Super 8' projector that we'd lug out every once in a while to watch footage my parents shot on vacation. Then one fateful day while walking through GRANTS (a pre-K-Mart type of store) my brother and I spotted a case containing a bunch of cartoons and other flicks in the Super 8 format. We begged; we cried; we eventually conned...

Blood makes it SALTIER!

EMPIRE OF SALT by Weston Ochse (2009 Abaddon Books / 310 pp. / tp)

After falling on hard times, the Oliver family drives cross country from Philadelphia to California to relocate at Bombay Beach, a former resort community on the edge of the Salton Sea that now looks more like a desert wasteland. The oliver kids befriend an ex-gang banger who shows them around. One night they witness a bus load of military soldiers about to enter a private section of their community when green-skinned creature...

Let's Get ready to Rumble!

ZOMBIE FIGHT NIGHT: BATTLES OF THE DEAD by A.P. Fuchs (2010 Coscom Entertainment / 100 pp. / tp and e-editions)
Love 'em or hate 'em, every guy (at one time or another) has enjoyed an action flick, be it Stallone rescuing M.I.A.'s, Van Damme kick boxing his way to glory, or Seagal cleaning his 'hood of criminal scum. Fuch's latest novella is inspired by these testosterone-fueled classics, only he has added plenty of monsters, a little scifi and some fantasy into the mix.
In 2037 AD, 10 years...

A Fun, Nihilistic Ride

I gave this four stars for the humor level: there are several scenes that had me in stitches. I'd rate the story two and a half stars, only because the "everyone's after the money" thing has been done so many times before. Regardless, FLORIDA ROADKILL delivers on the humor, and there's PLENTY of it. Serge and Coleman may be criminal scum-of-the-earth, yet they're so funny when they're not killing hookers with bottles of Fix-A-Flat you can't help but cheer them on. Like a good episode of...

(Probably) the best of the new 3

MUCH better than DIARY OF THE DEAD, but some really silly dialogue adds a bit too much unintentional humor. There's some inventive zombie kills and a decent story, and it was nice to see a character from DIARY carried over to SURVIVAL. Romero really needs to have a talk with whoever named the two feuding families (each time O'Flynn or Muldoon was mentioned the crowd went into hysterics) and a soap-opera-ish "twin sister" sub-plot didn't enhance the realism. Despite its flaws, the film is...

Check out my latest film column @ CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT

After a recent theatrical screening (and 3 DVD viewings), I did my best to shed some light on this amazing, under-seen gem. I have a feeling I'll have a whole other article about a year from now...

http://cinemaknifefight.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/suburban-grindhouse-memories-ganja-hess/