David A. Riley's Blog, page 91

Peaky Blinders

Just started to watch Peaky Blinders on DVD. What an amazing series. Somehow I missed this when it was shown on TV. I never thought a gangster series set in 1919 Birmingham would be not only interesting but atmospheric, violent and gritty.

The first episode sets the tone, with the main power struggles in a Satanic-looking Birmingham being between the well established gangster family, the Peaky Blinders (with their distinctive habit of hiding razor blades inside the peaks of their flat caps), the IRA, and the police. Other criminal outfits besides the Peaky Blinders are the Chinese and the Italians, though how big they are has yet to be shown. The new head of police has made his name in Belfast, where he wiped out the IRA presence there with ruthless means and is bringing men from over there into Birmingham to help him stamp out the Peaky Blinders and any other threat to law and order. Against him we have the Shelby family who run the Peaky Blinders, who are hard, equally ruthless and cunning. 

Nightmare on Mad Gull Island by Adrian Cole

 
Copied from Pete Coleborn's excellent Piper at the Gates of Dawn website:

Coming at Easter 2014, and brand new from Spectre Press: Cthulhu 4: Nightmare on Mad Gull Island is a Nick Nightmare novella by Adrian Cole. The wraparound cover is by Jim Pitts, also making a welcome return to the genre.

Publisher Jon Harvey says: “Since restarting Spectre Press in 2012, after a 30-year hiatus, I have begun publishing again. The first was a portfolio of artwork by the likes of Stephen Fabian, David Lloyd, SMS and Dave Stewart – eleven plates in all, plus a wraparound cover and a booklet that introduced each plate. Then in 2013, I decided to resurrect an old favourite publication of mine, Cthulhu: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Issue 4 is the aforementioned Nightmare on Mad Gull Island. Cthulhu 5 is a new novella by Andrew Darlington. More titles to follow.”

Nightmare on Mad Gull Island is available in two formats: booklet (£5.00) and hardcover, which includes an article by Jon Harvey, “Pulp Fiction”, and an afterword by Adrian Cole in which he discusses Nick Nightmare. The signed, numbered hardcover edition costs £20.00.

Contact Jon Harvey at spectrepress01 [at] gmail.com for ordering details.

Bedabbled!

I just received the latest issue of the British horror and cult cinema magazine Bedabbled!, edited by Martin Jones and limited to only 100 copies. Unfortunately, for anyone who might want to purchase a copy now, issue 4 is sold out. But it might be worth your while checking for the next issue, as this is a beautifully printed A4 size magazine, with 48 colour pages covering every aspect of the British horror and cult genres.

Some of the films covered in this issue are The Yes Girls (1971); Hammer's "A Bloody Triptych", which is The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil; Vampire (1964 - directed by Harrison Marks); then an in-depth look at Milton Subotsky and Amicus Films by Nigel Taylor: "The Mind of Mr Subotsky". "Brats of the Capital" is an article on Straight On Till Morning, "Kitchen-sink, Hammer Style" by Sarah Morgan, followed by an interview with the film's star Shane Briant. The magazine concludes with an article called "Jack Carter in Reverse", a look at sleazy 1970 crime thriller Sweet and Sexy, directed by Anthony Sloman.

For further information check out Bedabbled's blogsite. 

Ender's Game

CGI has been both a blessing and a curse for many SF films in recent years. It's been a blessing because it has enabled them to have special effects that could only have been dreamed about years ago. But it's been a curse because too many film makers have relied on it at the expense of good scripts and intelligent storylines. Thankfully, though obviously CGI figures hugely in this film of interstellar war on a grand scale, the characters and storylines have not suffered as a consequence and this is one of the most intelligent, gripping and well told SF films I have seen for a long time.

Based on the novel by controversial SF author Orson Scott Card, the film is set in the aftermath of an abortive invasion of the Earth by an insect-like race called the Formics, who were only narrowly defeated. All of Earth's resources have been focused on preparing us for another attack, especially in recruiting youngsters whose minds are deemed best able to handle the computer-based military hardware required to fight the Formics. We follow ten-year-old Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) has he advances through all the various stages of recruitment and training to enter the vast military machine that has been created. With a ruthlessness verging on the callous, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) thrusts Wiggin to the limits of his abilities, seeing in him one of the best hopes we have to defeat the Formics.

But this is no mere Starship Troopers. There are more complications in what is going on than meets the eye, building up to a satisfyingly stunning conclusion. With some top notch acting, especially amongst the younger cast members, and some amazing special effects, this is a thoroughly enjoyable science fiction film which never once undermines the seriousness of the tale it is telling.

A Sample Story from The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror

I've posted on facebook:  

If anyone would like to sample one of the stories from my collection The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror, please use this link to read His Pale Blue Eyes, which was originally published in Bite Sized Horror (Obverse Books, 2011): http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/attachment/download/88

http://davidandrewriley.blogspot.co.uk/p/collection-lurkers-in-abyss-other-tales.html

Film - Who Can Kill a Child?

The Spanish film, Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), directed by
The crossing to the island, though, is easy. On the quayside the only inhabitants in sight is a group of children, one of whom appears to be inexplicably hostile. The small town by the harbour is typical of the region with white plastered walls which reflect the sunlight with blinding brilliance. The town is oddly quiet as Tom and Evelyn make their way through it, looking for their lodgings. On their way they enter a shop. Unable to find anyone there to serve them, though, they leave money behind for a number of provisions they help themselves to from the shelves, then head further into the village. The only people they have still seen are children, including a young girl fascinated by Evelyn's pregnancy. The tension is built up with unnerving stealth. None of the children have so far said one word, even to answer direct questions by Tom, and we know there is something seriously wrong with the island. The absence of any adults is inexplicable, the more so because a rotisserie has been left unattended so long, cooking some chicken, that they have been burned black, and an icecream cart, abandoned in the sun, contains only melted icecream. It is not till some time later that Tom and Evelyn see their first adult, an old man walking down the narrow alley outside their lodgings, who is suddenly attacked by a girl, who tugs his walking stick out of his hands and beats him to death with it before running away, giggling. From now on the true horror of what has befallen the island becomes graphically clear. With scenes chillingly reminiscent of The Village of the Damned (The Midwich Cuckoos), it is not long before Tom and Evelyn are fighting for their lives.

Though an increasingly violent film, it never trivialises what it portrays or indulges in cheap shocks. With keen insights into the horrors it portrays, it is uncomfortable, cheerless and tense, all the more so for the sharp brilliance of the light in which most of it is shot. This is a horror film in which little is seen in shadow. It is out there, shockingly clear, with nothing hidden. The finale, when you think things may finally be cleared up, has one final twist which makes what we know will follow even more horrifying than we have seen so far. 

Martyrs

Martyrs is a French movie starring Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï & Catherine Bégin, directed by Pascal Laugier.

I do not like films that rely solely on scenes of torture, what have sometimes, perhaps sensationalistically, been termed torture porn. Films like Hostel and its sequel do nothing for me. And, when I first started to watch this film, I must admit I did have misgivings that this too may come under that category.

It doesn't, though it shares many of the characteristics. There is graphic violence, but for me what sets it apart is the quality of acting, the naturalism of the filming and the startling twists in an amazing well thought out plot, all of which makes sense at the end of the film, which never fails to shock and surprise. Even the extremes of suffering which some of the protagonists are forced to undergo has a thoroughly understandable if bizarre explanation by the climax.

Well worth the effort of putting oneself through the harrowing scenes that fill so much of it. It's a film that never pulls its punches or sells itself out and leaves you thinking about it long after it's finished.

Credit Card Scam

I'm normally very tardy at looking at credit card statements, basically because I don't use them much and they're paid by direct debit. Luckily today when my Barclaycard statement arrived I opened it and took a look straight away - because, though I haven't used it for a couple of years at least, there were numerous payments on it for Wuaki TV, Jersey - a company I have never used. Every day, several times a day payments of between £10.99 and £13.99 have been going out, totalling well over £100. Barclays have now put a block on the card and are investigating it for me. Needless to say I'll be keeping a close eye on my card statements in future!

From what I can gather Barclays are going to cancel the payments, which only started on the 3rd March. Fingers crossed on that.

The Quiet Ones

Here's a trailer for the next hammer Film The Quiet Ones, due out in April.

War of the Worlds: Goliath

I haven't watched much Anime recently but this new one, War of the Worlds: Goliath, does look good.