C.M. Saunders's Blog, page 19
August 22, 2020
Unknown Pleasures – Post Mortem Press: The Early Years (Volume One)
One of the first short stories I had accepted after returning to writing fiction after a long hiatus was ‘Curiosities,’ which was included in an anthology called Uncanny Allegories on Post Mortem Press back in 2010.
Curiosities, which was later included in X2, is about an antique shop on the south coast of England. It’s a shop with a difference. The original plan was to write a series of stories about the same place and characters. I guess there’s still time.
Anyway, Post Mortem Press has just compiled all the stories from Uncanny Allegories and many others into one handy, specially-priced volume called Unknown Pleasures – Post Mortem Press: The Early Years (Volume One).
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The book contains over 1800 pages and includes over 80 stories and novellas, including ‘secret classics’ by Jack Ketchum and Jonathan Maberry, among many others.
Check it out that awesome cover!
I think somebody over there must be a Joy Division fan.
August 13, 2020
RetView #37 – The Thing (1982)
Title: The Thing
Year of Release: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Length: 109 mins
Starring: Kurt Russell, T.K. Carter, A. Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Joel Polis,
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This is the third entry in this series featuring the work of John Carpenter, following The Fog and Christine, and I haven’t even got to the most obvious one yet. I remember having this particular movie on VHS as a teenager. I’d recorded it off the TV, so my copy was without the swears and a fair bit of gore had been subtly edited out. I thought it was brilliant then, but with all the swears and gore included, it’s ten times better. Coming immediately after his career-defining turn as Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (yet another Carpenter film), this is undoubtedly a Kurt Russell vehicle. He was involved in the production from the very early stages in helping Carpenter develop his ideas, though strangely he was the last to be officially cast. It’s pretty difficult to imagine anyone else playing MacReady, but early discussions reportedly evolved around using Christopher Walken, Nick Nolte or even Jeff Bridges as the lead.
In the frozen wastes of Antarctica, a Norwegian helicopter is shown chasing a sled dog, which runs into an American scientific research station. The helicopter lands, and is accidentally blown up by the passenger (doh!). The surviving pilot, in between stamping his feet and shooting at the poor dog, is yelling something in Norwegian, but the Americans can’t understand him, see him as a threat, and shoot him dead. ‘Murica! So then, the investigation begins. A delegation is sent to the Norwegian base, which is found to be deserted, though evidence suggests they may have found something buried in the ice. Meanwhile, the surviving sled dog is left to mingle in the kennels with the other dogs. However, it soon transforms into a gore-tastic alien creature, and is eventually killed by Childs (David) with a flame thrower. Data recovered at the Norwegian camp leads the team to a remote excavation site containing a massive partially-buried flying saucer. Now things start swimming into focus. However, it might already be too late. The team medic Blair (Brimley) autopsies the incinerated creature, and the group finally realize that they are dealing with a shapeshifting alien entity capable of assimilating not just into a sled dog, but into any of them, too. This knowledge sends Blair round the twist, and he sabotages all the vehicles to stop ‘The Thing’ escaping and locks himself in a shed in a huff. Coming to the conclusion that nobody will be safe until they categorically know they are all human, the group try to devise a test, but obviously the alien doesn’t want to be found and takes evasive action. In the end, there are just MacReady (Russell) and Childs left, and as the camp burns around them it becomes abundantly clear that one way or another, their days are severely numbered.
First, let’s talk about that ending, which has been the source of much discussion over the years, in a little more depth. It was left deliberately ambiguous, leaving the viewer to pretty much draw their own conclusions as to which one The Thing actually is; MacReady or Childs (or both, or neither). My own feeling is that Childs was looking decidedly sheepish at the end there. Carpenter actually filmed two alternative endings, one showing The Thing transform into a dog (again) and running off into the snowy wastelands, presumably to be picked up at another arctic research facility, and the other depicting MacReady being rescued and given a blood test, which he passes. Told you I was right about Childs.
In essence, the movie explores themes of paranoia and mistrust, and examines what could happen when people’s belief systems are compromised. Several critics have since suggested that it is also influenced by a latent fear of homosexuality which, in the early Eighties, was still something to be afraid of. It is indeed interesting to note that there are no women in the film, and an awful lot of phallic tentacles. The screenplay was based on the story Who Goes There by John W Campbell, Jr (writing under the pseudonym Don. A Stuart) which was first published the August 1938 edition of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. It was actually adapted once before, for the 1951 classic The Thing from Another World, but the John Carpenter version is much more faithful to the source material. Pointedly, Carpenter and his team originally wanted to film in black and white to further replicate the 1951 version but were discouraged from doing so by Universal who feared for the commercial repercussions of such a bold move.
Amazingly, upon release The Thing was ravaged by critics and, compared to Carpenter’s other films, became a relative failure, barely managing to recoup its $15 million budget. Carpenter later said: “I take failure hard. The one I took the hardest was The Thing. My career would have been different if that had been a big hit… the movie was hated.” He reputedly lost out on directing the 1984 adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter due to its poor performance. Which could have been, in part, a reaction to the feelgood success of ET, which showed alien visitation in a completely different, altogether more encouraging, light. However, in the years since, The Thing has become the archetypal cult hit. It is often cited among one of the best sci-fi/horror films ever produced, and now regularly receives the kudos and plaudits it so richly deserves. Despite being almost 40 years old, it still holds up well and spawned a decent prequel in 2011.
Trivia Corner
The infamous ‘chest chomp’ scene, The Thing’s equivalent to the ‘chest buster’ sequence in Alien, where Dr. Cooper tries to revive Norris with a defibrillator following a suspected heart attack, were filmed using a double amputee fitted with prosthetic arms which are then ripped off.
August 1, 2020
The Facebook Album Cover Challenge
I usually try to avoid these things. They are a drain on my time and resources, and more often than not completely pointless. This challenge, though, caught my attention. So much so, that I want to share it here. My Facebook page is a shit show. Things get buried and I often delete stuff without warning – usually when two or more of my acquaintances start arguing on one of my threads about Bigfoot or something. But this is my permanent record. It’s where things are kept for posterity, which is why you will find a near-complete record of everything I’ve ever had published here.
I was nominated by Douglas Sutherland (a madcap Canadian I first met when I worked at Southampton FC a lifetime ago – we later became house mates) to share one album per day for 10 consecutive days that influenced my taste in music – no explanations, no reviews, only the covers. It was pretty hard not to explain myself sometimes. I found the first few albums came easily, but the less choices I had left the harder it became and by day 10 there were five or six albums vying for a mention.
So here they are for your perusal, in the order I posted them (which wasn’t in order of preference).
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July 24, 2020
Surzhai in ParABnormal magazine
My short story Surzhai, about an ill-fated meeting between modern day sex traffickers and a bunch of ancient Chinese warriors with supernatural powers and an axe to grind, has just been published in ParABnormal magazine.
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I wrote the story in the summer of 2019 after returning from a road trip through the Guangdong countryside with my then-girlfriend. We saw a lot of little isolated dwellings, and I began to wonder what life was like in those places, largely removed from the trappings of modern life. I’d read a news report about young girls being kidnapped in rural China and being sold into the sex trade, and as we all know, at least in fiction, you can’t have evil without good. Everyone loves a revenge story. Somehow, all these things became intertwined in my mind, and Surzhai emerged.
The Mandarin words ‘sur’ and ‘zhai’ combined mean something close to ‘Death Cult’ in English, at least colloquially, though I know it isn’t a direct fit. My Mandarin is awful, and I was scrambling to find something authentic sounding which had some kind of relevant meaning. It was a balancing act. You can send complaints to the usual address.
ParABnormal Magazine is a print digest released by Hiraeth Publishing which publishes original stories, articles, art, reviews, interviews, and poetry.
From the writer’s guidelines…
The subject matter of ParABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters, mythological creatures, and creatures from various folklores. If your story also has science fiction or fantasy elements, we regard that as a plus.
One last word on language and linguistics. Hiraeth Publishing are based in Iowa (like Slipknot!), but interestingly enough, ‘Hiraeth’ is an old Welsh word. There is no direct English translation but it means something close to ‘homesickness’ or a sense of yearning/regret. As a proud Welshman, that struck a chord with me.
The latest issue of ParaABnormal is available now…
July 13, 2020
RetView #36 – The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Title: The Blair Witch Project
Year of Release: 1999
Director: Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez
Length: 81 minutes
Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard.
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past twenty-one years (yep, that long) you must have heard a lot about this month’s #RetView entry. Among other things, The Blair Witch Project has been labelled a cult classic and credited with both exposing the world to viral marketing and ushering in the now loved and equally-loathed Found Footage genre. Personally, I’m in the former camp. Like I’ve said before, I fucking love a good Found Footage flick. The whole point of this series is to watch old(ish) films through a new lens, to see how they (or other things) have changed. Sometimes it’s useful to have a whole new set of eyes to look through, too. The first time I saw this movie was with my then-girlfriend in Wales. The second time I saw this film, over two decades later, was with a different girlfriend in a different country, who knew very little about The Blair Witch Project and the impact it made. The effect was remarkable. While it was by no means the first movie to use the found footage technique, it was the first to expose the general public to what was then a largely experimental form.
You’re probably familiar with the premise. But in case you’re not, The Blair Witch Project tells the story of a trio of student film makers who head off into the woods to investigate a local legend. Smart move. It won’t surprise you to find out that they all disappeared, leaving behind their equipment. The footage in the movie, showing the spooky events leading up to the disappearances, was supposedly discovered a year later.
I don’t know how many people reading this can remember the pre-internet world. Probably not many. Before websites and social media platforms dominated our lives as they do now, us horror buffs got most of our news and information from magazines and newspapers. The internet was there, obviously, but still in its infancy and ripe to be exploited. When it was released in 1999, the world was feverishly prepping for the Y2K bug which would apparently wipe out life as we knew it. It was a weird time. In that paranoid, twitchy climate, The Blair Witch Project rode a wave of publicity based on the fact that at first, most people didn’t know if the footage used in the movie was actually real or not. Rumours and speculation, both online and in the press (fuelled by the fact that the actors all used their real names rather than those of characters adding yet more ambiguity and realism) were rife. Artisan, the company that bought the rights to the film, allegedly spread false rumours about the actors’ demise, and deliberately failed to quash online speculation. Just the thing that makes a marketing department smile. It was one of those rare moments in cinematic history where the planets align and a little indie film destined for obscurity goes global. In this case, raking in over $248 million from a budget of just $60,000 (some sources say the true figure was closer to $25,000) proving that miracles really do happen, even in Hollywood.
Truth be told, Myrick and Sanchez squeezed an awful lot out of that $60,000. The then-innovative shooting style meant that they could get away with a lot that would be noticeable in a conventional film, but this is still remarkable in its simplicity if nothing else. It was spliced together from 20 hours of raw footage taken over eight days in Maryland, and much of the dialogue was improvised on the spot. Rumour has it that they wanted have the Animals’ ‘We Gotta Get Out of this Place’ playing on the car stereo at the beginning, but had to veto the plan when they realized that they couldn’t afford the rights.
Even now, when you’re fully aware that most of the hype was just that, you can’t fail to be impressed. The acting is superb and there are some genuinely jumpy moments. Just for the record my second viewing companion, who was completely oblivious to all the hype, agreed. I tried convincing her the footage was authentic, and she almost believed me for a while. But people who grew up with the internet are much more savvy and less easily fooled. Regardless, The Blair Witch Project is a modern classic. If you’ve already seen it, I urge you to watch it again. Preferably with someone who hasn’t. And if you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for? Go discover the legend.
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Trivia Corner:
In one notorious scene, the teeth Amanda who, incidentally, is now a medicinal marijuana grower, found in the twigs were actual human teeth, supplied by Eduardo Sanchez’s dentist, and the hair belongs to Josh.
July 11, 2020
Tethered is out now!
My new novella, Tethered, is out now on Terror Tract Publishing.
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Craig, a journalism graduate trying desperately to get a foothold in a fading industry, is going nowhere fast. While searching for a project to occupy himself, he stumbles across a blog written by a girl called Kami about internet rituals – challenges undertaken by those seeking to make contact with ghosts or other supernatural entities.
Craig becomes obsessed, and when Kami suddenly disappears he goes in search of her. From there he is powerless to prevent his life spiralling out of control as he is drawn deeper and deeper into a dark, dangerous world where nothing is quite what it seems. A world populated not just by urban myths and hearsay, but by real-life killers.
He thinks he is in control, but nothing can be further from the truth.
Tethered is available now on paperback and ebook from Terror Tract Publishing.
June 27, 2020
The Alarm – Stream (Hurricane of Change) (review)
The Alarm were bothering the charts long before the triumphant one-two combination of Equals and Sigma. Between 1987 and 1989 they released a trio of seminal albums beginning with Eye of the Hurricane and ending with Change, with the live mini-album Electric Folklore sandwiched in between. The late eighties were turbulent times, not just for the band, who despite arguably being at their commercial and creative peak were beginning to be torn apart by internal politics and squabbling, but also in a wider social context. This was the aftermath of the Miner’s strikes, and when the Berlin Wall fell shortly afterwards it catapulted Europe and the rest of the world into a period of seismic change. While all this was going on, lead singer Mike Peters travelled extensively through his homeland of Wales in a bid to rediscover his roots. During that period of intense retrospection he wrote extensively, many of the lyrics eventually being incorporated into the songs which appeared on the original albums while others fell by the wayside and still others remained unfinished or in some cases even unwritten.
Though it was their third official release (fourth if you count the debut EP) the original Eye of the Hurricane was the first Alarm record I ever bought, and I soon busied myself filling out my collection. The fact that I ended up with some of that collection on vinyl, some on cassette, and some on CD was perhaps indicative of the uncertainty of the times. The thing that resonated with me most wasn’t the anthemic, fist-pumping choruses or impassioned musicianship, though those things definitely played a part, but more the lyrics. In a landscape consisting mostly of Bon Jovi and Guns N Roses clones, it was refreshing to hear someone singing about the place where I was from, and about the things that mattered to me, especially at that stage in my life. I was 13 or 14, and things are especially confusing then. You begin to ask questions and seek meaning, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the Alarm’s music helped me find answers to some of those questions.
Thirty years later, Peters has revisited that period and put all the material in a modern context, recently commenting:
“I have always thought of these three albums as an Alarm trilogy. A lot happened to the band and the world, during the writing and recording sessions from 1987-1990. As one decade bled into another, the themes of response and resolve to contend with uncertain times are running through the core of each and every album. Played together, these songs tell their own story and, with the tumultuous times Europe and the USA can expect to face in the coming months and years, are still as relevant today as when they were first written.”
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The original tracks have been re-recorded or even re-imagined, those unfinished or unwritten songs have finally been laid down, and the whole thing adapted into a sprawling double album called Hurricane of Change tied together with segments of poetry and spoken-word narratives. Mike Peters has adopted a similar approach in recent years with re-recordings of earlier Alarm albums Declaration and Strength which, though critically and commercially well received, split much of the fanbase with some appreciating the new interpretations and others maintaining that the original recordings should be left as they are. My stance has always been firmly in the former camp. I enjoy hearing different versions of my favourite songs. Always have. Remixes, remasters, covers, demos, acoustic or live versions, bring them on. Music, like life, is always progressing and evolving whether we like it or not. If your favourite flavour ice cream is strawberry, it doesn’t mean you can’t also enjoy the occasional scoop of mint choc chip as well. Besides, the hardcore traditionalists will always have the original recordings by the original line-up. It’s not like anyone is forcing them to surrender their record collection at gunpoint.
This is an ambitious project, told in chronological order with the emotive autobiographical spoken-word parts delivered by Peters, with a supporting cast of members including his wife Jules, and other members of the band, all adding depth and a theatrical quality that was missing from the originals. Most of the re-imagined songs, slower-paced and piano-heavy, bear little relation to the original versions. Rain in the Summertime and Rescue Me, two of the band’s biggest hits, are virtually unrecognisable. Of the new songs, for me Ghosts of Rebecca and The Ballad of Randolph Turpin stand out both lyrically and sonically dealing, as they do, with folk heroes and uprisings, and really do sound at home in this setting. The first disc (dubbed Downstream) presents the Eye of the Hurricane album, where the new songs serve as missing pieces. The second disc (Upstream) is comprised of tracks originally found on the Change album, including Where a Town Once Stood which I tactfully re-purposed as the title of one of my stories recently, as well as a few b-sides recorded around the same time and another new song, A New Day. The whole package makes a worthy addition to any Alarm fan’s collection, serving to put the original albums in context and take the songs down a different, lyrically-focused route where there is more of an impetus on mood, atmosphere, and storytelling rather than eighties radio-friendly pomp.
Watch the official trailer for Hurricane of Change HERE.
Peters describes the recording process thus:
“By looking at the lyrics afresh, I have now been able to fully realise what I was grasping for as a songwriter and lyricist in 1987-1989. Back then, my confidence had been blunted by a difficult creative process, and I had always privately felt that there was a lot more left to be discovered within the original body of music. With these new recordings, I have been able to realise a torrent of new possibilities and emotions and, in turn, draw them out of the very same songs. By recording Hurricane of Change in this new way, I feel that I have been able to liberate my original lyrical vision and re-present the music in a way that I believe, is just as relevant, if not more vital than ever before.”
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Go HERE for merchandise, tickets, and Alarm/Mike Peters recordings.
June 13, 2020
RetView #35 – Hide and Go Kill (2008)
Title: Hide and Go Kill
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Tomoya Kainuma
Length: 72 mins
Starring: Saki Yamaguchi, Haruka Misaki, Rui Ono, Aimirora
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I’ve been quietly obsessed with internet rituals for a few years now, ever since I stumbled across something about the mysterious death of Elisa Lam online. Merging technology and the paranormal, which could be a metaphor for Japanese horror itself, internet rituals (or games) have cropped up in my writing several times, not least in my forthcoming novella Tethered, and Hitori Kakurenbo which translates to ‘hide and seek alone’ and was my contribution to 100 Word Horrors 2. Hide and Go Kill is based on the same ritual. In true urban legend fashion, the details vary between sources but in a nutshell, the instructions are as follows:
Get a doll, remove the stuffing, replace it with rice, throw in some of your blood or nail clippings (gross) then sew it back up with red thread and give it a name. Preferably something good and scary. At 3 am, turn off all the lights but leave on the TV then go to the bathroom, fill a bucket full of water, and place the doll inside. Saying “I see you (name),” stab the doll with a sharp knife, then go and hide. If you manage to perform the ritual correctly, you’ll soon start to experience certain unexplained phenomena like hearing noises from an empty room and then, you guessed it, the doll will come to find you, hence the name ‘hide and seek alone.’ Either that, or you might commit suicide or disappear without trace. Good times had by all!
The movie version opens with one of those simple yet spooky white-on-black introduction sequences consisting of what’s (I think) meant to be an exchange between several people on the comment section a blog, one of whom is explaining that a friend of theirs played hide and seek alone and didn’t come out of it very well. The film proper begins in a Japanese classroom. If you’re a fan of J-Horror as I am, you’ll know that all the best twisted shit starts in Japanese classrooms, and Hide and Go Kill is no different. Here, there’s a girl called Midori (model and actress Yamaguchi) reading a blog on her phone and remembering her absent friend, Fumika, who after being jilted by her lover and bullied at school discovered the Lonely Girl blog and tried repeatedly to persuade Midori to play hide and seek alone (“Fuck the fuck off, Fumika!”). Eventually she succumbs, of course she does. The blog, and by extension, the game, spreads, and the horror takes hold. The film is essentially an anthology of sorts, each segment following a different person’s experience with the common denominator being the blog (poorly translated in the movie as a ‘mobile novel’) and the ritual it pertains to, culminating with the origin story. True, this movie follows a popular template and in places is slightly derivative of certain J-Horror staples, notably Ringu. Also, the subtitles are atrocious.
***OMINOUS MUSIC!***
In a scathing review, BloodyGoodHorror.com said, “It’s boring. Real boring. Each story also has to show how the characters first learned about this stupid game. In each case, it’s through some text-message released novel called “Lonely Girl”. As described in the film, “Lonely Girl” is so dark and twisted that very few people would read it. Problem is, every single fucking person in the movie reads it. As do all of their friends.”
Well, you know what they say about opinions.
Mine happens to be that while it is far from perfect, Hide and Go Kill isn’t completely without merit. In fact, as a concept it’s pretty damn good. At the time of release over a decade ago it was quite innovative, and it benefits greatly from the general skin-crawling creepiness so often associated with J-horror. Mood. You won’t find much about it online, apart from a few mixed reviews and a very basic IMDB listing. I couldn’t, anyway. Despite spawning a sequel a couple of years later (Hide and Go Kill 2 or, alternatively, Creepy Hide and Seek, which has to be the worst name for a movie ever) it’s almost like the film slipped completely under the radar. However, if by chance you have Amazon Prime you can watch it in full here. Don’t forget to turn on the subtitles, unless you happen to be fluent in Japanese.
Trivia Corner:
Word is that the movie spawned the ritual, rather than the other way around. Clever producers or PR people invented the game and floated it out to popular message boards as a form of guerrilla marketing where it soon took on a life of its own.
Tethered is available for pre-order now on Terror Tract Publishing.
June 5, 2020
Burnt Fur
My short story, The Others, is included in the furry-themed anthology Burnt Fur, edited by Ken MacGregor, and available now on Blood Bound Books.
BBB, who have previously published my stories The Devil & Jim Rosenthal in DOA and Subject #270374 in DOA III, are one of my favourite publishing companies, and it’s always a pleasure to work with them. We have something else in the pipeline for 2020, more details of that project to follow soon.
Right now, it’s all about the Burnt Fur…
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“Burnt Fur: An Anthology of Horror is easily one of my favourite modern horror anthologies. There isn’t a bad story amongst the bunch with some just lacking the extra spark to really get the horror juices flowing.”
From the review by Games, Brrraaains & a Headbangin’ Life
My contribution, the Others, has an interesting back-story. A few years ago when I lived in Hunan Province, China, I started dating a local girl called Ebony. That’s not her real name, by the way. I couldn’t even pronounce her Chinese name, let alone remember it. I called her Ebony because she had beautiful dark skin. One day she told me a story. She said when she was little, she would see animals which looked a bit like ‘friendly bears,’ interacting with people around her. Some were big, some were small, they wore colourful clothing and seemed to communicate with each other. Strangest of all was that apparently nobody could see these things except her. She thought she was going mad, and when she was telling me about this, her eyes filled with tears. Telling someone about this was a big thing for her.
I didn’t know what to think. It’s not something you hear every day. I didn’t doubt her sincerity for a moment. I sympathised because she was relating what had obviously been a traumatic experience for her, or numerous traumatic experiences, as it hadn’t been a one-off incident. These bear-like creatures were around for years. The question was, what did she see? Were these things real? Transgressors from another dimension, maybe? Or was it all in her mind?
I never did find out. Our relationship fizzled out soon after. But her weird confession formed the basis of this story. I also wanted to say something about the convenience and the increasing prevalence of online dating. Because on the internet, you’re never really 100% sure who you’re talking to.
Is that creepy enough for you? If not, why not slip into your Fursona and see what else Burnt Fur? has to offer?
Burnt Fur Available now on paperback and ebook.
