C.M. Rosens's Blog, page 4

#100HorrorMoviesIn92Days – Films 21-30

I got to 30/100! This has been a fun crop of films. I seem to have gone with a mix of fun slashers/cat-and-mouse/revenge films, political horror, and religious horror. It’s been interesting to watch more Hindu religious horror this time, as I’ve seen a lot of Muslim religious horror and various Christian tradition horror from a range of perspectives. I’ve also seen more religious horror now from Shintoist, Buddhist, and Taoist backgrounds, with a variety of folk belief and folk religion thrown in, so I’d like to keep watching more like this and exploring religious horror from around the world.

You can find the full list here: 100-horror-movies-in-92-days-2025

Films 1-10 here.
Films 11-20 here.

Here we go with films 21-30!

21) La Llorona (2019) dir. Jayro Bustamante. This one felt very apropos given the current genocides happening simultaneously right now. I really liked this film, especially after watching Rita by the same director. Slowburn drama/political horror.

22) (2021) dir. Rueben Martell. First Nations ecohorror, with an indigenous director and cast. I liked this one! Vengeance and drama, with lower budget effects.

23) Strange Darling (2023) dir. JT Mollner. Smart little erotic horror-thriller, I liked the way it was shot, the sequence order of the ‘chapters’, the small cast, the whole thing. It worked really well for me, and I’m glad I saved this for the challenge watchlist! Definitely best to go in cold on this one.

24) The Beast Must Die (1974) dir. Paul Annett. I’ve wanted to see this for ages! I really loved how fun this was. And how many times I yelled “Leave him, Caroline, he’s a wrong ‘un!” at the screen. What an amazing cast. And I also guessed wrongly at the werewolf break, but I should have gone with my gut instinct. Now I know, I think it will still hold up to rewatches.

25) The Monkey (2025) dir. Osgood Perkins. This was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed Longlegs last year. It’s one I’ve rewatched a lot. This one didn’t let me down either, and I got really into it by the end. I think this is one for a rewatch.

26) The Wrath of Becky (2023) dirs. Suzanne Coote, Matt Angel. Ok – so one thing that annoys me about a lot of US-made films (not all, but A LOT) is their inability to be subtle at all about anything. They have a point, they whack you over the head with it until you’re concussed, then make it one more time. However, this was super fun, I really liked it, and subtlety doesn’t really have a place in the enjoyment of a young psychopath with anger issues taking out whoever pisses her off. I didn’t like the way it ended so much, but that’s ok. Still a satisfying sequel. I will be watching the next one.

27) บ้านเช่า..บูชายัญ / Home for Rent (2023) dir. Sophon Sakdaphisit. At first, I thought… does this need to be 2hrs?? And then we got to the midpoint, and yes, yes it did. I actually really loved it, and I’ll probably be rewatching it once the challenge is over.

28) माँ / Maa (2025) dir. Vishal Furia. This genuinely made me cry. I loved the Kali Shakti sequence, it was so good. I haven’t seen many religious (Hindu) horror films, and this one goes with It Lives Inside for that. I’m not normally one for the sacred feminine and motherhood, but got a new appreciation for that energy from this film. And the end credits scene: was this whole film a prequel to शैतान / Shaitaan???

29) Lilim (2025) dir. Mikhail Red. Filipino Catholic horror, in which feminine rage is dangerous and monstrous, but also incredibly powerful. Issa murders her abusive father and legs it with her little brother, only to find an orphanage in the forest full of nuns who are a secret evil Lilith cult, complete with severe self-mortification rituals and creepy tattoos. A really interesting counterpoint to Kali’s role in Maa, actually, doing some very different things with angry women and motherhood/motherhood by proxy. In Maa, the protagonist faces off against a male villain to save her daughter and the other girls of the village. In Lilim, the little boys in the orphanage are the vulnerable victims of the women meant to be looking after them, and the dark “Mother” entity that haunts the orphanage.

30) बुलबुल / Bulbbul (2020) dir. Anvita Dutt. Bengali period drama-horror set in the 1880s, with lots of mystery and suspense. A child bride grows up to become lady of the manor, but in the misty jungle around her home is a Demon-Woman who kills men. Red tinted shots in the fog! Flaming torches! Gruesome murders! Murder lady! This one felt pure Bollywood Gothic to me.

And that’s Films 1-30! I’ll be back with films 31-40 soon, when I get there… let’s see if I complete the challenge this year.

Countries A-Z (Films 21-30)

Canada
Guatemala
India
Philippines
Thailand
UK
USA

Films 1-30 Global Round-Up (Fun Stats)
New-to-me horror from a country I haven’t seen horror from before has a “” beside it.

Australia – x1 – The Moogai
Belgium – x1 – Malpertuis
Canada – x3 – The Monkey, , Discopath
China – x1 – Paper Bride
Guatemala – x2 – Rita, La Llorona
India – x2 – Maa, Bulbbul
Indonesia – x2 – The Haunted Hotel, Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati
Italy – x2 – An Angel for Satan, Two Evil Eyes
Japan – x3 – Shikoku, Audition, The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
Nigeria – x1 – Ms. Kanyin
Norway – x1 – The Ugly Stepsister
Philippines – x1 – Lilim
Taiwan – x2 – The Bridge Curse, The Bridge Curse: Ritual
Thailand – x1 – Home for Rent
Turkey – x1 – Siccin 4
United Kingdom – x2 – The Stone Tape, The Beast Must Die
United States of America – x4 – It Lives Inside, The Wrath of Becky, Strange Darling, Incubus

Let’s see what these stats look like by my first 50 films! I’m very curious to know which countries will be in my top 3 this year, and what my favourites will be out of the ones I’ve seen. I found some new comfort watches last time, and some absolute gems. I’ve already seen a few that I really enjoyed. I’m excited for my next 10!

Author Spotlight: M.T. Envy

M.T Envy, or Envy, is a 21 year old young mixed French/Indian aromantic woman.

She started writing at the age of 8, first in French, and pivoted to English in late 2022, sticking with mostly fanfictions before she had the idea for her debut novella “Shattered Fate”.

Author Links:

Threads: @mt.envy_author
Instagram: @mt.envy_author

Amazon link: a.co/d/cUKtQev

Cover Art: @TSWE10BOY on X/Twitter

Let’s talk about your book, Shattered Fate,  a queer tragic fantasy novella. What is the appeal in writing tragedy for you, and were there any tragedies (classical, modern fiction) that inspired the story?

Three works that stick with me even years after I’ve consumed them have sad or bitter-sweet endings. Sure, there’s an appeal in happy endings that can’t be denied, but making people hope until the very end, only to crush them with a heart-shattering ending is one of my favorite things in writing.

More specifically, I want to make people *feel* something and with my personal experience, I have more memories of sad feelings related to fiction than positive, happy feelings, and it’s something I want to replicate for others.

How did you go about creating a queer-normative world with Ancient Greek visuals, and what was your worldbuilding process? 

Coming from the lands of fanfictions and shipping, I’ve never really tackled worlds that weren’t queer normative, even if I wasn’t conscious of that. I’ve been raised in a tolerant family (to an extent) and my own orientation is “invisible”, I don’t have any story of direct oppression to share other than sexism and fatphobia (no, not even racism) and it’s not topics I enjoy exploring anyway.

If I make my characters suffer, I want it to be for other reasons than what they are. I don’t want them to suffer in their society just because they’re gay, lesbian, trans, ace etc. So that’s for the queer-normative part.

I don’t really have a world-building process, it came as I was writing. I had a base idea for the story and the world-building came as the story was being woven and written, each bit of the worldbuilding being revealed either rises questions or hints at future works I’m working on, such as prequels.

Basically, my worldbuilding was more of a matter of leaving doors open for me to explore later on than trying to ground people in the world and the story, as atypical as it might sound.

What queer rep will readers find in Shattered Fate?

An aromantic MC, even if that’s mentioned just once and doesn’t impact the plot.

An achillean relationship between the prince and his boyfriend.

An asexual side character, even if his asexuality is mentioned only once as well, at the same time as the MC’s aromanticism.

Introduce us to your MC and tell us how you developed this character.

Fate is a kind-hearted god who loves humankind way too much for his own good. He is the little hope I have in me, the little part of me that thinks “maybe humankind doesn’t deserve to go extinct after all”, the little part that wants to believe that we are good, that we can be good.

My whole point was to create a god in sharp contrast to the rather common idea of “gods hate humans/want to punish us” but that would, in the end (spoilers?) be broken in the end, and not even because of humankind, but because of forces greater than him and events outside of his control.

Despite his divine essence, he can be perceived as human, or more like as sentient as us. If a god, the god of destiny on top of that, can see things escape his control and that it takes a toll on his mental health too, then you, a human being with no such power, can struggle too and your struggles are valid.

One of the main themes in the novella is hope – how did you balance this in a tragic fantasy? What other themes are there for readers to find?

Well, hope is important to every tragedy, I think. Make your readers hope that it can end well. Make them believe that you lied to them about it being a tragedy. And remind them in the very end that, no, not all stories end well. You will be on a rollercoaster of hope and pain all along.

When Fate realizes he can do something to stop this tragedy, hope returns to him. And then, when he realizes the curse is of another god, fury and despair are the main emotions he feels.

Fight until the very end, because if Fate had lost hope in the very beginning, there would be no story for me to tell. I’m not sure if that classifies as a theme but readers will see characters supporting each other through the tragedy unfolding in their life.

Support is important when you face hardships, whether it is romantic with Zelph and Ael, or platonic and complicated with Fate and Death.

What has been your favourite reader responses to your work so far?

That it made them tear up, obviously! I cried rewriting the ending, so if my readers tell me that they cried as well, it means I’ve succeeded in what I wanted to do.

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#100HorrorMoviesIn92Days: Next 10 Films

I’ve made it to the 20s! My first 10 films are here. The next 10 I watched are a mixed bunch, but I’ve ended up with a lot of films I really liked, or that really worked for me.

Here’s the full list: 100-horror-movies-in-92-days-2025

Films 11-20

(11) Discopathe / Discopath (2013) dir. Renaud Gauthier. This one was a fun Canadian slasher / Canuxploitation flick about a repressed man in the 1970s who becomes a serial killer when he hears disco music.

(12) It Lives Inside (2023) dir. Bishal Dutta. Religious (Hindu) Horror, but also Emigration Horror, about a Desi family who emigrated from India to the USA but get caught up in a supernatural horror that another family in their community brought with them. I really liked this one.

(13) Ms. Kanyin (2025) dir. Jerry Ossai. New-to-me Nollywood horror, another Madame Koi-Koi flick. I really liked this one. The boarding school drama kept me entertained without the supernatural escalation, and when that kicked in, it was really enjoyable and had a decent ending.

(14) The Moogai (2024) dir. Jon Bell. Post-natal horror featuring racial tensions and stolen generation trauma in Australia. Really tough watch for me, and there was one moment in particular my heart actually stopped (as did the MC’s I think), and that was really well done. That wasn’t the supernatural part. Loads of child peril, and touches on post-natal psychosis, and the way Black mothers are treated.

(15) Den Stygge Stesøsteren / The Ugly Stepsister (2025) dir. Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt. This was a really tough watch as well, full on cosmetic surgery horror, and every time my stomach gurgles I think of that fucking tapeworm and all its disgusting friends. It does a really good job of highlighting the horrendous things girls do to themselves when encouraged to see each other as competition, and to value someone else’s beauty standards above their own self-worth.

(16) 死国 / Shikoku (1999) dir. Shunichi Nagasaki. I haven’t watched much J-horror and so this year I’m trying to rectify that. I liked this one – loads of folk horror and religious horror elements. This one had one of my favourite horror themes: an adult’s return to a childhood past, only to discover that those memories are of friendships that never were, and the connection is too slight to prevent locals who knew you only as a child to see you as more than a familiar stranger. Also, pilgrimage as ritual.

(17) Incubus (1966) dir. Leslie Stevens. This is the only horror film in Esperanto starring William Shatner. There is something quintessentially ’60s about that.

(18) オーディション / Audition (1999) dir. Takashi Miike. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Miike films? I liked this one. I really enjoyed the first half, and the slow family drama feel of it, the sad lonely widower looking for someone who understands him, the close, supportive relationship between father and son, and the descent from this world into the dark and painful one of Asami.

(19) 蛇娘と白髪魔 / The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch (1968) dir. Noriaki Yuasa. I really enjoyed this – the unreliable, fantastical viewpoint of the child MC, the family melodrama, and the effects. The dream sequences were so much fun.

(20) Rita (2024) dir. Jayro Bustamante. Magical realism in a similar vein to Vuelven / Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) dir. Issa López, about stolen childhood innocence in a society that holds so many dangers. In this case, however, it’s sexual assault and paedophilia. This is my first Guatemalan horror film. I watched Bustamante’s La Llorona after this for film (21) but my next 10 films will include it!

Countries (A-Z)

AustraliaCanadaGuatemalaJapanNigeriaNorwayUSA

The padlet link: horror-films-i-ve-seen

Author Spotlight: Andromeda Ruins

Andromeda (he/him) is a queer, disabled, and neurodivergent author from a small town in the Midwest. He sits comfortably in the ‘I don’t know what’s going on’ category in just about everything, leading to him writing a lot about queer, disabled, and neurodivergent characters. He recently graduated his undergrad program with a Classics major and loves to take the themes and stories he learns about and adapt them to the modern day.

Author Links:

Website: andromedaruins.com

Book Links: ΔΆΙΟΣ | Incorrect Eyes

@andromedaexists on everything

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You have 2 books out at the moment,  ΔΆΙΟΣ and Incorrect Eyes, which are quite different to each other! Can you tell us a bit about each of these, and especially shifting from  ΔΆΙΟΣ to Incorrect Eyes in terms of your themes, genre and writing focus?

Of course I can! ΔΆΙΟΣ (pronounced die-ohs) is the first book in the Call Me Icarus series, an anti-establishment retelling of the fall of Icarus. It is a grimdark story following Icarus as he accidentally becomes the face of the rebellion after spending ten years hiding under the nose of ATLAS Corp. It is dark and gritty, toeing the line of grimdark, but not quite horror.

I started writing ΔΆΙΟΣ while I was in my undergrad program. I have a bachelor’s degree in Classics (with a concentration in Classical Civilization and minors in Latin and Attic Greek), meaning that all day every day I was surrounded by stories far older than I could ever imagine.

At the same time, I am a very politically active person. I wouldn’t say I’m an activist by any means, but I do what I can.

Those two aspects of my life came crashing together during the pandemic, and what came out of that is the story of a disabled trans man who hasn’t yet come to terms with his disability. One who harbors a hatred and resentment towards the world around him that puts him in the position of having to fight for things he never even considered because of the propaganda he was raised in.

I guess all of this to say that I really like taking the stories of our ancient past and molding it to fit the world we live in today, which is also where Incorrect Eyes comes in.

Incorrect Eyes is a psychological horror novella following an unnamed transmasc MC as he deals with severe paranoia and an Angel with too many eyes. This was a hard shift from my established Greco-Roman retellings to Catholic based horror, but it really comes from the same place of taking the old and molding it to the new.

This time, though, instead of the story being an overtly political novel about overthrowing a fascist government, it’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of bottling up emotions and stress. I think, if both stories are read next to each other, that you can see a lot of the same through lines. There’s just more of an emphasis on horror and mental illness in Incorrect Eyes than in ΔΆΙΟΣ (for now).

Let’s focus on Incorrect Eyes, your psychological religious horror novella. How did your own Catholic background weave into the novella, and how did this shape it?

Incorrect Eyes is a bit of a unique case for me. The initial idea for the story was the title, something that was thrown around in a group chat with my closest writing friends. I was granted the use of it by Cryptic, the friend who came up with the name, and I knew I wanted to do something paranoia-related with it, but I wasn’t quite sure what that would look like.

The first few drafts actually had Incorrect Eyes staying in my Greek Mythology lane, with it revolving around the Hekatonkheires. It was something more archeology based, with the main character uncovering just so many eyes in a dig site before his spiral. But that didn’t feel right, and when I was talking with my best friend she pointed out that it sounded like I was trying to create a “biblically accurate angel” that wasn’t an angel. So I took that and ran with it.

Only, I do have a degree in classics. And I was raised in a very strictly Roman Catholic family. So I chose to take the more academic route and draw from the Book of Isaiah and refrained from calling it a “biblically accurate angel” because all angels are biblically accurate, they’re just different tiers of angels. Once I had that piece in place, the rest of the story really fell in place. I am really happy with how it turned out, though I still think the archeological Hekatonkheires would have been fun.

What is the context of the Biblical passages your MC is studying, and why did you choose to build the novella’s focus around them?

The passage that the main character is studying in Incorrect Eyes is Isaiah 6:1-7. This is a passage in which King Uzziah enters heaven and is greeted by the Holy Host, only to have a Seraph put a coal in his mouth in an act of atonement.

Even the simple description of that passage sounds like the set up to a horror novel to me, the premise of being greeted by the Divine (something that I personally view as terrifying after being raised in the Church as I was) only to have them mutilate you in the name of the Lord… it sends shivers up my spine, truly.

I built the novella around a different passage, originally; a combination of Isaiah 6:2-3 and Ezekiel 1:5-28.

However, I had a hard time keeping the tone of the story when drawing it out to incorporate the entirety of those passages, so I cut it down to just Isaiah. As for why… well, that ties into my area of comfort. I am a scholar, one who studies and translates ancient texts. This is a realm I am comfortable with! I love taking an existing tale and creating a narrative around someone interacting with it, though academic means or through living the story themselves!

What draws you to psychological horror, and how did you develop the sense of dread and mental deterioration of the main character?

Honestly, my life experiences draw me to psychological horror. I have been very open about the use of hallucinations in Incorrect Eyes and that they are modelled of my own hallucinations, though they are much worse than anything I’ve experienced.

It took me a long time to come into myself, but with that came a love for horror. Particularly, a love for body horror and mental fuckery. With that came an appreciation for the unwanted and the discarded. I grew to see the art in the way humans cope with things, with the way the mind will do whatever it needs to do to survive. That’s what I wanted to instill in the story of Incorrect Eyes. I wanted it to feel like no matter how bad things were getting, the main character was still functioning on a base level and trying to survive. He experiences hallucinations that grow worse as time goes on, and all he wants to do is make it through the night. That desperation to make it home mixed with the general “God, why me?” vibe created a mental spiral that drags the reader down with it. The only reprieve is realizing that you’ve reached the end, really.

In the novella, your MC is unnamed. Was this a deliberate choice, and if so, why? If this happened organically, why did you choose to stick with not naming him?

Yes, this is an intentional choice! He actually does have a name in my notes, however that does not come up on page. This was a deliberate choice I made while I was writing, one driven entirely by the narrative. I had always intended for the story to be told in the first person. I personally feel that horror stories thrive when told in the first person because it forces you to face the horrors as the characters do!

So when it came to writing Incorrect Eyes, I didn’t even think about how I could incorporate information about him. This extended to more than just his name!

He is a college kid, one that’s so deep into his degree that he’s counting down the days to graduation. That man does not care at all about how he looks or how he presents to the world. He is there to do a job, and that is it. The only interaction he has with people are with strangers on the street and through texts with his close friends and family.

The strangers don’t care who he is and while his name could have been mentioned in the texts, I can’t remember the last time I used someone’s name in that setting. It felt unnatural to me. Once the story was done and I could read it all as one piece, I found that the lack of a name for the main character added to the narrative significance. This man is spiraling into psychosis and seeing the Messengers of the Lord and yet he is not significant enough to have his name remembered as his story is told. He is merely a vessel for the horror of the Angels, not much different from the role of a prophet.

What is next for you and your writing? What can readers look out for in the future?

I’m currently working on my next novel, Desecrate! It’s (hopefully) going to be out next year, it’s a Dark Academia novel about a Seminary-dropout-turned-Classics-student as he begins to experience prophetic dreams about God chained in the basement of his local church. I’m really looking forward to getting this behemoth of a story out into the world. It’s been a time trying to write and re-write and re-write this story as my tastes have changed!

As soon as that’s out, I will be returning to the Call Me Icarus series! ΔΆΙΟΣ was book one in a trilogy, the other two books are zero drafted and waiting to be polished.

I had to take a break from the Call Me Icarus universe for a moment due to the nature of the story and the state of the US Government, but I’m ready to dive back in with a vengeance! I’m hoping book two will be ready for publishing in late 2026 or early 2027.

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#100HorrorMovies – First 10 Films

I’ve been pacing myself this time, but I’ve got to double digits in the challenge. If you’re not sure what the challenge is, read my previous post here. Check out the tag #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days for all the posts I’ve made on this in the past.

This year’s Letterboxd list is here: 100-horror-movies-in-92-days-2025

纸新娘 / Paper Bride (2023) dirs. Chen Siming, Jack Ye. Gothic Horror from China. More like Tumbaad than Incantation. Period drama/mystery meets a family curse, dark secrets, romantic tragedy, and dark and stormy nights at a haunted mansion… but is there a rational, rather than a supernatural, explanation?
The Stone Tape (1972) dir. Peter Sasdy. This one hasn’t aged well (remember when casual racism and misogyny was aired on TV? Ah, the ’70s…) I like the premise of it and see why it’s remembered as a good piece of weird fiction, but I think a better version is in there somewhere and didn’t quite emerge.
Malpertuis (1971) dir. Harry Kümel. Fever dream psychedelic Gothic fantasy but lowkey, about ageing gods trapped in a dreamscape manor house by a dying man, and the sailor Jan who is entangled in a series of waking nightmares. It’s slow, weird, Gothic dread, not jumpscares or anything remotely ‘scary’, but it’s definitely horror.
女鬼橋 / The Bridge Curse (2020) dir. Lester Hsi. The first film in a Taiwanese duology (at the moment, possibly a trilogy, if they make a third one). I actually really liked the lore and the worldbuilding across both films.
女鬼橋2：怨鬼樓 / The Bridge Curse: Ritual (2023) dir. Lester Hsi. The second film links in with the first one in ways I really liked, and it was a fun way to explore different urban legends and ghost beliefs.
Panggonan Wingit / The Haunted Hotel (2023) dir. Guntur Soeharjanto. I don’t like the way albino people are presented in films, and this one I was conflicted by, as I thought the film itself has a fun horror movie premise and then… yeah. Spoilers ahead: Expand Me It turns out the vengeful spirit is an albino woman from a rural community who flayed herself alive in a fit of prolonged self-loathing after being mistreated her whole life and having a doomed love affair with a guy who gets amnesia and forgets her and marries someone else. She ends up being a very sympathetic character in the sense that once her horrendous backstory is revealed, it’s like – good for you love. Kill everyone. Why not. But she’s still unhealed from her pain, and still killing everyone who sees her out of vengeance for that unhealed pain. It’s another ‘albinos can only live lives of horror and misery and then inflict it on others’ type trope. Anyway this is what albino people have to say about rep in movies:
On Hollywood portrayals | On the Evil Albino trope itself
Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati (2024) dir. Rizal Mantovani. This didn’t go where I thought it was going, but it was fine. A possession film with cleansing rituals and some slipping in and out of ghost worlds and so on.
Un angelo per Satana / An Angel for Satan (1966) dir. Camillo Mastrocinque. A sort of proto-giallo Italian Gothic drama, with a cursed family, timey-wimey stuff, and evil (or is she?) Barbara Steele. It’s got all the nudity, chaos, and strung-out Gothic melodrama you could want for a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Due occhi diabolici / Two Evil Eyes (1990) dirs. Dario Argento, George A. Romero. A double-bill very loosely based on two of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic stories. They went hard on the body horror in this one. Romero got an animated corpse in there. The second one is a hard watch if you’re a cat lover, and had to have a disclaimer that no cats were actually harmed in the making of it, but I’m not sure. It was very angry.
Siccîn 4 (2017) dir. Alper Mestçi. Back to this franchise… I’ve seen and enjoyed a few films by Alper Mestçi, this franchise seems to have all his best ideas. Siccîn 1-3 are pretty good, and worth checking out in any order you like, as they are linked by the concept of jinn possessions and black magic, not by character or setting. Each film is based on a “true story” that happened somewhere in Türkiye. This film wasn’t my favourite of the 4 I’ve seen so far but it wasn’t bad.

So far my spread of countries is pretty good, in A-Z order I’ve got:

Belgium/France
China
Indonesia
Italy
Italy/USA
Taiwan
Turkey
U.K. (England)

Updating my Horror Movies Padlet map with these when I can.

If you want some inspiration for this year’s challenge, or just for whenever, there is a single curated list of all the films being watched and tagged “100HorrorMoviesIn92Days”, that you can check out: The Fellowship of 100 Horror Movies in 92 Days: 2025 Edition.

I’ll update later with my next 10 films.

Author Spotlight: John North

John North (he/him) graduated from Georgia State University, where he definitely didn’t spend thousands of dollars just to study Film & Media. John’s love for films and animated media inspired his love for writing. What started as an afterschool hobby became a deep passion, one he wanted to share with the world.

John brought new worlds to life with his imagination, fully inspired by the anime he watched while growing much. John learned so much from the stories he grew up with. He learned to value perseverance, confidence, self-improvement, empathy, friendship, and most importantly, family. These messages show through his writing.

Welcome to his Gorgon series, which is the product of seven years of hard work and discipline. It’s a bloody, violent story, but at its heart, its all about family bonds, personal improvement, responsibility, and achieving self-love. The biggest lesson that John’s learned through his life so far is the following. ‘While who you are is important, and what you do is what you’re remembered for, it’s where you want to be that will always keep you moving forward’.

Author Links:

Instagram: @johnthestoryteller
Threads: @johnthestoryteller

Amazon (to be updated upon release of The Crimson Witch 3rd Edition) – Amazon Link

Goodreads- The Crimson Witch

What draws you to write YA Dark Fantasy Adventure with strong themes of sisterhood? 

The short answer is the anime I watched growing up. Series like Dragon Ball, Naruto, Soul Eater, and Fullmetal Alchemist drove me to create a world of my own where powerful characters go on adventures that often result in life or death battles.

As for the sisterhood aspect. . .it’s more or less something that just happened. I have siblings of my own, and I’m close with all of them in a way, and most of them I didn’t grow up with. I can’t definitively say the relationship between Aurora and Polaris is based on any specific relationship I have with my siblings.

That said, the bond is easy to emulate in part because I know what it’s like to have a sibling and want to fight for them, or fight them in some cases. Aurora and Polaris’s ‘sisterhood’ could very easily be a ‘brotherhood’ with a simple gender swap, but that’s not necessarily what I wanted to portray.

Similar to Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, with her characters Edward and Alphonse Elric, their sibling bond isn’t necessarily tied to gender, nor is it entirely divorced from it. Same thing goes for Aurora and Polaris. I wanted something strenuous initially, with mild punching and explosions through the midst of a journey, but ultimately heartwarming by the end.

What are the main themes in the Gorgon series, and did these evolve organically through the writing process, or were they deliberate choices?

So, certain themes were deliberate and planned. Aurora’s coming of age story definitely planned.

Another big one is Anti-Government. Yes, like every dystopian story ever.

In Gorgon, the world is divided, each country/faction ruled by a Demi-God. Demi-Gods have more magic than any other race, and most have lived well beyond two hundred years, some having ruled for over six centuries. The idea is that certain people have overstayed their welcome while holding seats of political power, and they’ve got to go and make room for a younger generation to clean up their mess. Sound familiar?

Themes of ‘sisterhood’ and friendship are also huge in Gorgon, and remain prevalent through the series.

However, a new theme made itself known to me through the writing of books three and four, one I never planned on but grew organically. Themes of reform, prejudice, and revolution. Especially revolution. While not spoiling much and keeping terms vague, a certain character with a former criminal background wants to make systematic change to benefit former criminals that would be better off with rehabilitation and integrating back into society instead of facing capital punishment, an end that’s commonplace for those who step out of line under the Demi-God regime.

So yes, fun stuff all around. I fell into this huge quandary by complete accident, but not at all bad about it. I’ll do my best to do right by these themes!

How did you go about worldbuilding for this series – can you share with us some examples of your process and research?

So this is an interesting one. So, I started building the foundations of this world back in high school, when I wrote short little adventure stories for fun. It was a hodgepodge of many different fantastical elements with little connective tissue initially. But overtime, as my ideas grew and Gorgon was born, I took to creating a world history (a timeline I’m still organizing to this day), a loose map that I could alter as I continued, and political factions (The Magic Nations and Allied Nations, for example).

I’m a graduate of YouTube University with a major in Writing Tip Video Essay Research, which greatly strengthened not just my worldbuilding, but writing overall (certain classes at Georgia State University helped too, I guess). I also take big inspirations from pretty much all the fiction I’ve consumed in recent years.

Percy Jackson has definitely been a big one, especially since most characters and concepts in Gorgon are loosely based off Greek Myth. There’s also some Arthurian Legend, and other bits of various folklore I plan to include down the line. Some of the various languages in Gorgon are also entirely based on Japanese, Arabic, Latin (for spells), and Spanish.

Gorgon is a hodgepodge of many different fantastical elements and cultural inspirations, kind of like Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball (before Z took everything to space). Mind you, new world-building elements come to me on a daily. While I have certain laws of magic and the world that I keep established, I allow certain things to be vague so it gives me flexibility for future ideas. So long as anything new I come up with doesn’t contradict established rules within the setting.

How do you handle the themes of monstrosity and self-acceptance/actualisation in the series, and why do you think these themes are important in YA fiction in general, and to your target readers in particular?

I explore these themes through the quiet scenes and moments wedged between moments of action and catastrophe, those moments specifically born from the ‘monster’ character in question. I think we all have a ‘monster’ inside us all (not to get cliche…).

We all have a side of us we’re not proud of. For some of us, we aren’t proud of our entire being, and sometimes it’s born from how we are perceived by others. But it’s important to not entirely reject one’s self, and that includes all the good and all the bad. That much is important for growth and moving forward.

More importantly, understanding one’s self, one’s monster, is important for embrace, and said embrace leads to self-love, self-care, and improvement where applicable. It’s something we all deal with at some moment through our lives, especially during adolescence.

Sometimes that ‘monstrosity’ is simply just being ‘othered’. That’s something no one should ever be ashamed of, and it’s especially difficult to deal with during youth. While this book isn’t meant to portray ‘monstrosity’ as ‘otherness’ in a direct way, it is meant to show that being different doesn’t mean you should go un-loved or despise yourself. That’s a lesson every young person should learn and hold dear. And it wouldn’t hurt if they got that lesson through a fun, action adventure with badass witches and princesses fighting vampires and Demi-Gods.

What is/are your favourite reader response(s) so far? (Use this space to quote some of the best reviews and blurbs)

“Aurora and Polaris are quite the pair! It had plenty of action, adventure, magic, and emotions!” -Bethany Bauerle ; Goodreads

“It’s an entertaining and interesting world, with a lead character that is fun to follow. I LOVED her “wanted” posters! Such a great element of the book. There was lots of different creatures and some good emotion added, especially between family etc” – Beth ; Goodreads

“The twists and turns kept me wanting to see what was next. I can’t wait to see what happens with Aurora, Polaris and Serena.” – Karen ; Amazon

“A stylized book resting in fast-paced, bloody action, and carried by its focus on family, specifically its unlikely sister pair. ”

Caroline Hamel ; Goodreads

Do you have any future publication plans, anything we can look out for? 

Absolutely! In 2026, I plan to publish The Minotaur’s Wrath (Book II) and The Siren’s Voice (Book III) the following year, finances pending.

I’m also developing the first book of an entirely new series, Winter Fox Academy. It’s in the early draft stages, so official dates for that will come in due time.

COMING 2026Like This? Try These!

Author Spotlight: Ruby Dare

Spicy Romance Author of multiple books. Ruby (she/her) is a fat, black, sassy, creative woman born and bred in New England. She writes stories about fat, confident-as-fuck goddesses who have mind blowing sex and big joyous love, just like we all deserve. And most of them like to swear.

Author Links:

Website: ruby-dare.com

Instagram: @writergurl73
TikTok: @rubydare
Facebook: @RomanceAuthorRubyDare

Amazon Link: Amazon.com: Caught Between Cozy and Kink eBook : Dare, Ruby : Kindle Store

Universal Link: books2read.com/u/490GWJ

Linktree: linktr.ee/rubydare

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Caught-Between-Cozy-Kink-Ruby-ebook/dp/B0DS8GRMDV

Where did the original idea come from for the novel, and how did this idea grow and take shape as you delved into it?

The idea came from a simple street sign and asking myself “what if” what if you’re at a crossroads,which way do you go and why? Usually there is a road that feels comfortable and familiar, but may not show you anything beautiful. And then there is the road that isn’t known, but has potential of anything and everything. So, which way do you go?

My main character decided comfort wasn’t getting her anywhere anymore, so she went the other way stepping outside her box just a little. And luckily, she found someone who offered to help her along the way.

The further I got into writing the more I thought about what it would be like if this one event of accepting help from someone turned their entire life around for the better. What would it look like for the people involved? And the story just grew from there.

What queer representation can readers find in this novel and what influences did you have for their characters.

There is quite a bit of queer representation in this book. My main character, Blythe is a lesbian, her best friend Evan is bi. And the other main character is a trans masc, non-binary lesbian.

I’m a people watcher, so some character influences came from people who have just orbited around me, and some of my own life experiences.

But for my character Nyx, the trans masc non-binary lesbian my influence came from someone on TikTok. One night I came across King Captain, who is a drag king, on my FYP. They are a trans masc non-binary lesbian that exemplifies joy, authenticity, sex appeal, and unapologetic self love. It was intoxicating to watch as they interacted with those in their live. And I knew I wanted to write a character like that.

 So I reached out to King Captain and asked if I could model a character after them. Lucky for me, they graciously agreed and have been an extraordinary muse in constructing the character of Nyx.

Can you tell us a bit more about the couple dynamic between a cancer survivor and their trans masc non-binary lesbian personal trainer. What went into creating these characters and pairing them together and how did you develop the couple’s dynamic as your writing progressed from draft stages to finished stages?

The main thing about my characters is that they accept people for who they are in the place they are at. I think that’s what draws the two of them together.

There is an innate feeling of trust that Blythe has with Nyx. She’s not sure why it’s there but she trusts it enough to accept the help that is offered. They both have things that have happened to them that have helped shape who they are. Once they meet it’s like a glove that fits perfectly to hand. You aren’t quite sure why it’s such a snug perfect fit, but you go with it.

Their relationship progressed as it did because of open communication. Sure, there were secrets that weren’t shared from past traumas they both had experienced but for the most part they were completely open and honest with each other which is why they could have the kind of relationship that they had that eventually turned to love. They were the steps that were a natural progression  for these two. Open communication is incredibly sexy.

What did you draw upon for writing the kink elements of the book and what kinks are represented?

For the kink elements I did some research on Google. I also listened to some kink podcasts as well as drawing on personal experiences. The kinks represented are biting, impact play, a little sensory deprivation, spanking, and pleasure play.

There are strong themes of  disability, cancer ptsd, self-reflection, and boundary setting in the book. How do you feel romance and the introduction of kink, interplays with these themes and helps Blythe especially in her hearing process?

For Blythe, kink is crucial in her healing process. It lets her unabashedly feel all of her emotions down to cellular level in her body. The trauma that the cancer caused not only her body but also her mind was something she had trouble properly expressing, and properly letting go. It kept her in a perpetual state of fear that she had gotten so used to she almost didn’t recognize it within herself. I say almost because she could sometimes see it, but always ignored it. Until something in her changed. Maybe enough time had passed, or she finally needed to find a way alleviate her perpetual physical pain, and maybe Nyx offering to help her without Blythe having to ask helped as well.

Personal boundaries and rules can bend and sometimes break when someone is fighting cancer. So the  chance to build those back up can make it safer to allow romance in. At least that’s how it was for Blythe. To have someone express their own boundaries and praise Blythe for expressing hers is healing.

Blythe has a good amount of self esteem from the beginning but at times it falters. Still, she’s got a good grasp of her worth. However, she was missing that giddy, happy butterfly feeling that romance brings. Makes the sky a little bluer and the sun a little brighter. She gets that back with Nyx which I also think becomes an unconscious motivator for her to really go and grab life.

What has been your favorite reader response to your work so far?

My favorite reader response has been that they felt seen. Representation in all art forms is so important. So for a reader to see themselves in one of my characters is the ultimate praise.

Praise & Reviews for Caught Between Cozy and Kink:

From the moment I started reading this book, I fell in love with Abi, the main character. She’s so relatable in many ways, and her passion for baking resonated with me since it’s also my way to relax! The storyline reminded me of “Spoiler Alert,” but in my opinion, it was even better. Finally, a book with a plus-size MC in a smutty romance where the guy doesn’t constantly talk about her body size! Abi and Liam’s relationship was incredibly sweet, and I’m crossing my fingers that the second book will be about Tess.

Sometimes when you’ve been reading large series, you just need to open a book you can read in a few hours and smile at. This is one of those books. A nice palate cleanser if you will. Good in its own and a nice refresh without the commitment of a full course.

Ruby Dare seems to have it down to an art form. The story had good world building and characterizations without causing the book to be too long and taxing.

The story itself was very cute and gave off hallmark movie vibes for sure! Filled with love, secrets, true friendships, and animals? Amazing!

i cannot rave about this book enough! It has everything i love in a cute spicy rom-com. This read was so cozy and heartwarming, i can’t wait to read more from this author!!

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#100HorrorMoviesIn92Days Starts Now

01 Aug-31 Oct Horror Film Challenge

I’m a bit late with this post, but I’m doing the #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days challenge again this year because it’s so much fun, and I’ve been saving up films to watch this time! This was started by @/SpookySarahSays on Letterboxd, and there’s a Discord server and everything. The tag on socials is #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days if you want to join in and check out what others are watching.

The challenge is to watch 100 films (or as many as you can) from 01st August to Halloween (31st Oct), but they have to be new to you, and classed as Horror on IMDB or Letterboxd.

If they are not classed as Horror they can be counted if you can make a good argument as to why they should be. For example, David Cronenberg’s Crash is not listed as Horror but last year I counted it, as I can definitely make some good arguments as to why it should be counted. I’m actually just doing this for me, not trying to convince anyone else, so if it’s good enough for me… it’s good enough for me.

This year my goal is to watch as many new-to-me horror films from around the world as I can.

I already have a Padlet where I’ve tried to keep track of horror films I’ve watched up to now, which is not at all complete, but I’ve tried to make sure all the countries are represented by at least one film that I’ve seen from there. With the USA, I’ve tried to put films against States they’re set in. I was going to do that with Canada and Australia as well but I haven’t got around to that yet. Click on the little pointers and you’ll see all the ones I’ve got so far. For some countries I’m missing, I’ve watched a few films from there but none are horror so I’ll be on the lookout for anything I can get my hands on that fit the bill, and trying to find some more franchises that aren’t USA-made.

I’ll be adding more as I watch them this time, and they’ll have their own Letterboxd list.

2022 is here

2023 is here

2024 is here

2025 is here

I’ll do a round up of my watches here, as in previous years, and a thread/series of posts with the tag on BlueSky and Threads. We’ll see how many I get through, as I have a busy August! I’m trying to do as many international films as I can, so I’ll do a post by country like I did last year.

Kicking off with:

纸新娘 / Paper Bride (2023) dirs. Chen Siming, Jack Ye

Horror-thriller from China, featuring a ghost bride, a curse, and a creepy old house. Very excited for this ghost marriage film!

If you fancy a watch, I found it on YouTube here:

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Happy watching!

Author Spotlight: Shawn Winchell

I grew up on Goosebumps, Stephen King, and The X Files and I think that is pretty obvious to the people who read my books. When I’m not busy raising my 5 kids, I write paranormal suspense and horror stories.

Author Links:

@authorshawnwinchell on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

www.shawnwinchell.com (eBook and paperback versions of all my books are available to purchase from my website, though I’m currently only able to ship physical copies to US readers. I’m hoping to be able to change that in the future. Until then, anyone in a different country can find my books on Amazon or most major retailers)

We’re here to spotlight your body of work, which includes 7 books available in eBook, paperback, and a couple in hardback! What draws you to write horror, and how many subgenres and aspects of the genre have you tried so far? Do you find yourself returning to certain things?

I always wanted to write noir (think Raymond Chandler). I never actually planned on writing horror, but when I write, those are the stories that come out. One great thing about horror is that the genre is such a broad spectrum that there is something for everyone. I like to think that my work represents that – I’ve written all over the genre, from ghost stories to psychological to sci-fi horror and demonic possession.

If you had to highlight 2-3 themes in your body of work, what would they be, and how have you expressed them in the books? Do you find yourself expressing or even returning to these themes consciously, unconsciously, or a mix? 

One recurring theme in a lot of my writing is the concept of an unreliable narrator. I absolutely love them. I think an unreliable narrator gives a story an added layer that can’t exist any other way. Plus, they’re a lot of fun to write.

Another thing that I find myself returning to from book to book is the dichotomy between skeptics and believers – whether that is in regards to ghosts or aliens or anything really. I believe having that contrast is important.

Tell us a little bit about your writing process and style – have you found yourself developing or changing up how you write between your first book and your latest book? 

My writing process has stayed mostly the same except for one major change. I wrote the entire first draft of my debut by hand. It was such a fun experience to put pen to paper and watch as the pages piled up.

Since then, I’ve had quite a few medical issues that have made using my hands difficult on a good day and impossible on bad ones. As a result, I’ve had to give up the handwritten draft.

The rest of my process is still the same, though. I map out between twenty and thirty scenes on index cards and then I start writing. As I’m writing, I try to let the story go wherever it wants to, but if I get too far off track, I use the note cards to redirect myself. And I make a point to never read what I’ve written until I have a finished draft to keep myself from getting stuck tinkering instead of actually writing.

Let’s spotlight some characters! Pick 2-3 protagonists from your any of books, and share what makes them tick, and why you enjoyed developing them. 

It’s funny, my favorite characters to write almost always end up being side characters. Tommy and Ms. Evelyn in Birdseye were a ton of fun, as was Madame Ethelinda from Eliza (who is actually the only character I’ve ever written that was solely based off of a real person – an old boss of mine from when I used to work at Barnes and Noble).

My favorite protagonist would have to be Lucy, the nine-year-old narrator from Birdseye. She’s socially awkward on top of being at an age where she is still finding herself. She’s confident and smart and knows how to trust herself, even when maybe she shouldn’t. She’s also kind and compassionate despite someone (me) putting her through some really awful experiences.

Let’s zoom in on your favourite antagonists to write. Tell us how these characters/entities came about, and what your process was for developing them as you wrote their stories. 

I had a lot of fun with Eliza in my first book. The idea for her came about as an amalgamation of a ghost story from an old asylum near where I live and a Native American legend about what they call “Stick Indians.”

My favorite antagonist that I’ve written so far is Gus from Liminal. I’m not going to say much about him other than if you read the book, I think you’ll see why I like him so much.

As an indie author, what have been the main challenges for you in terms of publication? What have you learned over the course of 7 books?

The biggest challenge for me is and always has been social media. I very rarely used it before publishing my first book and it is still a struggle for me. But, over the course of releasing more books and starting to build a bit of a following, I’ve learned that it is absolutely necessary. And thankfully, for the most part, the people that aren’t interested in what you have to say usually just scroll by.

Can you tell us about your future publication plans? What can we look out for next?

For 2025, I have two books planned for release – Googly Eye (a possession/occult horror novel) in April, and the first book in a new series called The Many Terrors of Creekbed Hollow that will be published in October.

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(Horror) Films To Know Me… 1990s Edition

The 90s were a wild time. We got creature features and slashers galore, which moved into the torture porn trend of the ’00s, pushing the boundaries beyond the campy as effects got better. I did manage to whittle it down, and these films basically reflect my inner ’90s self. Horrifying. To nobody’s surprise, most of these films are from 1992, a truly bumper crop that year for me!

As of the time of writing, I’ve logged 65 horror films from the 90s, and the full list (always added to as I go) is here.

Honorary mention to Lurking Fear (1994) dir. C. Courtney Joyner, which is not a good film, but nevertheless is a 90s comfort watch in the Lovecraft vein.

Top 10 Horror Picks Nightbreed (1990) dir. Clive Barker Event Horizon (1997) dir. Paul W. S. Anderson Cronos (1992) dir. Guillermo Del ToroThe Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir. Jonathan Demme Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) dir. Francis Ford Coppola, because I am a basic bitch.Ghostwatch (1992) dir. Leslie Manning – I missed this first time around as I was (a) a small and (b) not in the UK at the time. It’s a good time. Parky, how could you, you minx. Candyman (1992) dir. Bernard Rose Split Second (1992) dir. Tony Maylam Sleepy Hollow (1999) dir. Tim Burton Blade (1998) dir. Stephen NorringtonTop 10 Horror Runners-UpIt (1990) dir. Tommy Lee Wallace La Setta/The Sect (1991) dir. Michele Soavi Tremors (1990) dir. Ron Underwood Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) dir. Michael Cohn The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming The Faculty (1998) dir. Robert RodriguezI Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) dir. Jim Gillespie The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995) dir. Kim HenkelFrom Dusk Til Dawn (1996) dir. Robert Rodriguez Bats (1999) dir. Louis Morneau