David A. Riley's Blog, page 91

John Connor - Wimp or Hero

I love the first two Terminator movies - I love the TV series too, starring Lena Headey. The only problem I have is with John Connor, heralded as the future saviour of the human race against the machines.

This works fine and dandy in the first movie as he has yet to be born. It's not till Terminator 2 that we meet him in boyhood, played by Edward Furlong, who is mouthy, streetwise and a bit of a computer whizkid. He's also not short of a few guts. What happened to him after this? By Terminator 3 his mother is dead and he's turned into a whining looser. Even in the TV series he's constantly bemoaning what fate has in store for him and doesn't show much of the grit he'll need to become the leader mankind needs to destroy the machines.

In fact, if anything, the only person with real guts at all, time and again, is his mother, Sarah, who is the real hero of the franchise. It's a shame the filmmakers decided to kill her off with leukemia by the third installment. Indeed, one of the strengths of the TV series was that her death was sideslipped and she lived on.

So, what happened with John Connor? Did the filmmakers find it too difficult to turn him into the hero he was supposedly destined to be? Something definitely went wrong, because what we eventually got wasn't worth all the death and destruction of the first movie. They might as well have said to Sarah: train up and get ready. You're it.

Dredd

Just got round to watching the 2012 Dredd on DVD and really enjoyed it. Much better than the Stallone version years ago. Of course it does have the advantage of having Lena Headey as the main villain, who isn't only my favourite Sarah Connor (from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) but also Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Karl Urban as Dredd does an excellent job and, unlike Stallone, keeps his helmet on throughout the film - and looks suitably ruthless and hard. 

Unlike Stallone's version, too, there is a down at heel grittiness about Mega City which makes the scale of crime much more credible. The Judges are only just managing to keep the lid on things - and their grasp is slipping. And the story is a good one, very much reminiscent of The Raid in an oblique way - with more lethal gunfire than even most of today's action films. Olivia Thirlby as rookie Judge Anderson, who has psychic talents, is excellent too, giving her role a toughness yet possible vulnerability. 

The good news is that it looks likely, despite a lacklustre performance in the States, there will be a Dredd 2. I hope so.

Fear Magazine to be Relaunched

Latest news from John Gilbert, editor of newsstand horror magazine Fear, which ran from 1988 to 1993, is that the magazine is to be relaunched with a new publisher. The only definite news yet about this project is that prices will be:

Single copy (print) £4.99
6 months subscription £28.00
12 months subscription £54
E-book all formats £2.99

This is welcome news. Covering films and horror literature with news, reviews, articles, interviews and original fiction, Fear was an integral part of late 80s, early 90s horror. I even managed to get a story in it myself with a mix of horror and sci-fi. Winter on Aubarch 6 (since reprinted in my collection The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror) appeared in the 11th issue in 1989.


I'll add more news about the relaunch as and when it's available.

The James Herbert Award for Horror Writing

This is great news and certain to help raise the profile of the horror genre in general, especially novels.

 

For immediate release, Monday 7 April 2014

Horror Writing Prize in memory of James Herbert is launched    
 ‘I didn’t plan to write horror; it just poured out of me’ James Herbert To celebrate the life and career of one of the world’s best and most loved horror writers, Pan Macmillan and the estate of James Herbert have announced the launch of The James Herbert Award for Horror Writing.  
The announcement coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the first publication of The Rats for which Pan Macmillan will be releasing special anniversary paperback and collectors’ hardback editions in May and September respectively and which will contain an exclusive new introduction by Neil Gaiman.
The prize, which will be awarded annually, aims to discover and publicise a new generation of horror authors working today and celebrate the boldest and most exciting talent in the genre.  The winning author will receive a cheque for £2,000 and a specially-designed commemorative statuette.

The inaugural award will be open to horror novels written in English and published in the UK and Ireland between 1st January 2014 and 31st December 2014. Entries should be submitted to Pan Macmillan via their online submission form available at www.jamesherbertaward.com by 1st October 2014.
James Herbert’s daughter, Kerry, will head up the panel of five judges whose names will be announced in the summer.
A shortlist of five novels will be announced in January 2015 with the winner announced at an awards ceremony in March 2015.
Eileen Herbert, James Herbert’s wife, says, “I was thrilled when Jeremy talked to me about this Award. Throughout his years as a storyteller Jim encouraged new and upcoming writers and I know he would be delighted and honoured that his name will continue this tradition.
“Thank you Pan Macmillan.”

A New Nick Drake Song

It wasn't till a few years ago that I "discovered" Nick Drake - through reading about him online. The source was Chris Barker. Since then I have bought any disks I have been able to find of his. Now, unexpectedly, we have a new song, left unfinished at the time of the singer's death.

This is a link to the article in The Independent all about it.

The Walking Dead April Fool's Spoof

I did a Facebook entry about The Walking Dead this morning. It's already had 45 shares. No idea how many shares the shares have had!

So the season finale for The Walking Dead shows that Rick's been in a coma all this time and it was all just a dream... What a cop out! 

The Widower

Watched the final episode of The Widower starring Reece Shearsmith and John Hannah last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Very subtle and convincing. I particularly liked the final conversation between his last intended victim and her best friend on board her yacht and her realisation that his concern for her had all been a sham. An excellent piece of drama and a credit to all concerned with it. Would love to see John Hannah on TV more. His performance as the Scottish police detective was first rate.

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.