Thomas R. Clark's Blog, page 10

8th Annual Horror and Dark Fantasy Top 10 of the Year in TV and Film

It’s my 8th annual top ten list for horror and dark fantasy on the screen. Since I started doing these at This Is Infamous in 2013, I’ve grown as both a fan and creator of written fiction in this broad genre heading. Some of my choices may seem frivolous, some of you may not agree with my placement of these films in the dark fantasy or horror genres. That’s OK by me. This is my list based off my perceptions. And man, was 2021 a basket of treats after the drought that was 2020.

TELEVISION:

TV had much to offer this past year. Yes, there were Squid Games, but popular doesn’t mean I liked it or that it would make my top 10. From The Boys to Chucky, from witches in Salem to Witchers and Aes Sedai, the darkness was there. But Disney+ shined, a bright beacon in the night. The Marvel shows stood out and are peppered through my list. They all qualify as Dark Fantasy at the very least, especially due to their subject matters. Wandavision is straight up cosmic horror, as is Loki and What If… ?

It’s no surprise What We Do In The Shadows secured the top spot for me for a second year in a row. Love, Death & Robots was just as dark in season 2 as it was in season 1. Midnight Mass proved Mike Flannagan is the Stephen King of the teleplay. And Chaplewaite proved a Stephen King short story cold be expanded upon and made more interesting. The surprise here was Invincible- an animated adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic book series surpassed all expectations and told a faithful to comics story that intrigued people who don’t normally watch animated superhero fair. 

What We Do In The ShadowsWandavisionInvincible Love, Death & RobotsMidnight MassLokiFalcon/Captain America & The Winter SoldierHawkeyeChapelwaiteWhat If… ?

MOTION PICTURES:

Most of you won’t agree with me here, but that’s OK. I liked plenty of movies in 2021, but not all of them can make the top 10. Some movies were just big (Kong vs. Godzilla) and fun, some were ambitious (Matrix Resurrections) and failed in that ambition while others excelled in their goals.Take Spider-Man: No Way Home, for example.  It is cosmic horror at its best, and there has never been a better film in this genre, turning up the sci fi and mysticism to eleven, than this. Dune is stark and brutal as Arrakis, and the Harkonens are the ultimate goths, and making this film the way Denis Velleneuve did was the right way to do it. Last Night in Soho is Edgar Wright’s best film. Antlers is Keri Russell’s best performance on film. A Quiet Place Part II is a worthy follow up to its predecessor and solidifies “Jim” as a director instead of an office worker. The Green Knight is Excalibur meets Donnie Darko. Shang Chi has one of the darkest antagonists of any Marvel film. Malignant is an original mash up of genres. Come True is a bleak indy offering, and the Boys From County Hell is basically Sean of the Dead with Irish vampires.

Spider-Man No Way HomeDuneLast Night In SohoAntlersA Quiet Place Part IIThe Green KnightShang-Chi & The Legend of the 10 RingsMalignantCome TrueBoys From County Hell

Maybe you’ll check one of these out, maybe you already have. But these are the movies and TV shows that influenced me the most this year. 2022 is promising, as well, with Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness leading the pack of must-sees.

New Releases with Catch Up (No Pickles)

Happy belated Thanksgiving, friends! I’ve been away from my blog for good reason. I went back to driving for rideshare during the day. This has helped get me focused and add some structure to my life. Commitments to House of Stitched magazine and my desire to finish my current WIP, SUMMERHOME, have prevented me from playing around here. But a few pretty big things have happened, so let’s play catch up, shall we?

First and foremost, the audio book of THE GOD PROVIDES is now available for purchase on Audible and in iTunes. It’s narrated by Broadway vet Mia Moravis and is a treat to listen to!

Part 3 of my ongoing series on the origins of Cosmic Horror, ROOTS OF APATHY will appear in the Winter issue of HOUSE OF STITCHED, along with an interview I had with one of my teachers, Garrett Cook, on mentoring. I talk to Mary San Giovanni and Garret about Robert Bloch and how his relationship with Lovecraft molded him. Speaking of Cosmic Horror, my Cosmic Horror/Ghost-story mash up, WHAT FRAGILE BEINGS ARE WE, will appear in Issue 4 of Stranger With Friction.

All of my books – GOOD BOY, BELLA’S BOYS, THE DEATH LIST and THE GOD PROVIDES are now available on GODLESS in digital form only. On Friday 12/3/21, my Holiday short story, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS, will be available as a GODLESS exclusive. Here’s a peek at the new cover art:

Back in October short fiction from me appeared in half a dozen outlets. My short story SIN RAFFLE appeared in Stranger With Friction issue 3. My story THE HATE BOX IN HER HEART was published in NO ANESTHETIC from Splatter Ink Press. Another short story, AGAINST THE GRAIN appeared in the Staff Edition of House of Stitched Magazine. Crimson Pinnacle Press put out TWISTED LEGENDS, and that features YETI SHIT BLUES. And the third BOOKS OF HORROR group anthology’s second volume has HEARTS ALONE. And then I put FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME up as a GODLESS exclusive. You can find all of these great releases on Amazon in all formats and GODLESS in digital only! I’ll also be selling them at the Creepy Christmas on December 11th at the TK Tavern in Camillus, NY.

All of these stories were earmarked for my second shorts collection IMMORAL DILEMMAS… which has been put off until 2022… for obvious reasons. 

art by James P. McCampbell

You can buy Holiday Horror Bundles from me, too!!! They’re $45 (with shipping) and include copies of STRANGER WITH FRICTION ISSUE 2, TWISTED LEGENDS, NO ANESTHETIC, and your choice of THE GOD PROVIDES, THE DEATH LIST or BELLA’S BOYS in hard cover. But that’s not all. You get a nifty THE GOD PROVIDES themed keychain (Custom made by Blue Star Chain Maille), a set of THOMAS R CLARK cover stickers, a THE GOD PROVIDES magnet and a couple other surprises. It’s an $80 value for almost half off retail!

My WIP, SUMMERHOME, is nearly finished and will be the longest single story narrative in my library. I’ve procured a cover from the wonderful Lynne Hansen, and I’ll be revealing it closer to the release of the book, which I’ve projected for March. Still not sure if I will give this to SSP, SRB or perhaps shop it elsewhere. Regardless of how it comes out, at the very least advanced reader copies will be ready for Scares That Care’s AuthorCon in April.

Until next time… BLESSED BE!

I’ve Got My Eye On You!

Twin Magic And How Good Art Will Have Multiple Interpretations

I take monthly writing workshops to do two things: 1. Hone my skills. 2. Find new ways of telling stories. The workshops, taught by Garrett Cook, help me produce pieces, which aids me in becoming more prolific as I learn. It’s a win-win for me as a creative.

This month he has tested us with finding multiple uses of a verb to utilize as the catalyst for flash fiction stories. I chose the verb PAINT, and have sought to approach it as, well, an artist would a canvas. My goal is to leave each piece ambiguous, and allow the readers to find their own endings to the stories, in the same manner as a person observing a painting might find different interpretations in the art before them. 

This mindset has me reading between the lines in anything I read or watch lately. A pair of horror movies, both released recently and both polarizing, have gotten my attention as a result. James Wan’s MALIGNANT and Sean King O’Grady’s WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING. Outside of the mixed reviews for both, and similar leering eyeballs on a crimson pallet theatrical posters, on the surface these films couldn’t be more different. 

If not for an exchange of dialogue between two characters.

MALIGNANT is James Wan and Akela Cooper’s mash-up homage to a trio of generational horror tropes. One part 70s Argento giallo, one part Japanese 90s horror, and one part slasher flick, the film lingers between a low budget indy affair and a big studio production. Hell, he even casts Annabelle Hallis, who’s brunette locks transformed her into an Asia Argento clone, in the lead role. This movie is actually easy to follow if you know storytelling. The opening is a clear foreshadow of the climax and reveal. Most every story beat hits, and the third act? It’s as batshit crazy as anything we’ve seen in a horror movie. I was really impressed with the screenwriting and production of MALIGNANT. 

Right up until the Hollywood happy ending.

And that’s why MALIGNANT ultimately fails to deliver, it promises you so much and then drops the ball. Everything that came before the ending was pissed away by a cop-out. Wan and Cooper forgot a cardinal rule: indy films don’t have happy endings.  

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING doesn’t hold back a single punch, and this includes the obligatory grim climax. It’s  another example of a stellar script, this time by Max Booth III, the author of the film’s source material, an eponymous and just as polarizing novella. 

Essentially a study on how it’s never a good time to come out, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING is driven by it’s lead actress, Sierra McCormick, a rising star in genre films, especially horror-centric genre films and TV. McCormick keeps the film afloat. She is such a great actor, and she out acts everyone on the film. Her recent turn on American Horror Stories gave the young woman a chance to shine and show off her versatility, much of which I saw in her portrayal of the teenager Melissa.

Focusing on a family trapped in their home’s bathroom after a storm, We Need To Do Something is a claustrophobic remix of The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, with a bit of Stephen King’s The Mist. It’s Lord of the Flies meets The Craft, dysfunctional family style, with a supernatural twist. 

In true indy film form, when Amy, Melissa’s new found girlfriend, reveals she may have brought something to life within her, something that was once dead, the paths of two disparate films meet. What is this diabolic entity? Was there an evil twin within Amy? A thing similar to the cancerous twin Gabriel in MALIGNANT, whose body absorbed into her being while still in the womb? Did the magic, much like the domestic violence Maddy faced, bring that part of her back to life? Who knows, or better yet, who cares! I’m having fun with these movies, because they’re making me think. That’s the beauty of the ambiguous dark ending. You don’t know. Think of the indy film as a painting in an art show. You and everyone else who watch the film can, and likely will, come up with your own speculation about what actually happened in WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING. 

In contrast, MALIGNANT plays with its hand revealed the entire time, and dresses it up in homages. Outside of that third act reveal, there are no questions, there’s nothing to stimulate your mind after. The third act was pretty predictable if you paid attention, truth be told. The rest of the movie, right down to the actors, is glossed over and too pretty to be the indy films it pays tribute to. 

Its biggest transgression, though, is that goddamn “happy ending,” neatly resolving everything for Middle America’s consumption, while leaving it open for a potential sequel. The film’s climax leaves you cold and ambivalent, and not in a good way, to all that came earlier on the screen. It’s not that WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING is a better film because its ambiguous ending works, because it’s not. The movie, too, is not without its flaws. The middle drags, and it might have been about ten minutes longer than it needed to be. The film’s insistence on not showing its hand has shown to be a source of frustration, boring mainstream horror consumers. 

Horror connoisseurs, however, will appreciate both MALIGNANT and WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING for their individual accolades. One is not better than the other, they are equal peers, and welcome additions to the horror genre. Thinking about the possibilities left open by both films has gotten my own creative juices flowing. I can’t wait to post this blog so I can get back to working on my own interpretations of what it means to paint with words. Art inspires art, no?

9/11, Twenty Years Later

Twenty years.  It’s a lifetime for some of us. Twenty years ago I was 34. Twenty years before that I was a teenager. Twenty years before that I wasn’t even on my mother or father’s radar. Twenty years is a long time. In twenty years, perceptions and politics can change. But some memories? They remain. This date, September 11, is burned into my brain. I remember everything that happened that day. I’ll never forget it. How can I? 

In September 2001, I was living in Marcellus, NY with my then girlfriend and now wife, Dawn. I was unemployed, my job moved to Rochester and I had no desire to move there. Dawn was working at an assisted living home, and I was focusing on making my garage band something more than an opener getting paid with free beer. 

I spent a ton of time online in a yahoo chat group called ASK A WITCH. When Dawn would go to work in the morning, I would drive her in, come home and job hunt. This Tuesday morning, I went to the AAW chat room when I got back, after checking my email. It was around 8:45 in the morning. We didn’t have email on our phones or facebook back then, kids. Heck, this was pre-MySpace and I was tethered to a Desktop and tower.

My friend Carrie, aka Cryptic Wolf, was the first person I saw come into the room, a few minutes later. I looked at my clock.  It said 8:56 am.

“Are you watching the news?” She said, I told her no. Then she spilled the news to all of us. One of the Twin Towers was on fire. I turned on my TV, Good Morning America hit my screen. There it was, live from a distant camera, the Twin Towers standing tall above the NY skyline. And one had smoke billowing out from it. 

The clock on the TV, embedded with the GMA Logo, clicked to 9:00. The minutes crept by. 9:01. At 9:02 I saw what I believed to be a plane circling around, flying by to inspect the fire. 

At 9:03 I learned how wrong I was in my assumption. I watched another plane slam into the second tower and disappear in a fiery explosion. I stood, catatonic, unable to do anything except watch and listen. The sound of yahoo instant messenger on my computer beeping broke me from my trance. 

Thus began a day filled with paranoia, fear, and righteous patriotism. Dawn and her co-workers learned what happened as they made their morning rounds, we spoke on the phone shortly after. I followed the news on all 3 networks on TV, and on the internet. As the morning progressed, the towers fell, and we learned about Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda. 

Terrorism. By 19 foreign nationals on American soil. On a level unheard of. Strikes in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washingston. Back then I was filled with righteous anger toward the Middle Eastern terrorists who dared bring their war to my country. It created our Big Brother world of today. Orwell did say we’d invite them in, and we did so under the guise of the War on Terror. A 20 year conflict we just pulled out of. 

Now? I’m tired of war.

As I’ve grown, and become more learned, I’ve come to understand it’s just history repeating itself. For eons there has been a long standing culture war between Europeans and Persians. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why such a miserable place like the middle-east is fought over like the last donut at a State Trooper convention. There’s some irony, I think, to this also being the anniversary of the end of the Battles of Thermopylae and Artemision, the war that determined the fate of Europe as we know it, so many thousands of years ago. Ever since, it’s been non-stop, regardless of religious beliefs. 

9/11 was my generation’s November 22nd, or January 6th, respectively depending if you’re a boomer, or a millennial. A day I’ll never forget.

My Favorite Movies of 1981

MY FAVORITE FILMS OF 1981 ARE SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ON POP CULTURE, TO THIS DAY.

It’s been over a week since I touched this project, listing down my 3 favorite films from each year of my life. It’s all because of 1981, also known as the year that broke me on this endeavor. I can EASILY have a top 10 here. 1981’s crop of films were over the top in quantity, quality, and longevity. I had to make some serious decisions. Like, kicking Mad Max 2 to the curb to its 1982 USA release.  

Here’s a sample of what came out that year. Keep in mind these are the movies I LOVE, AND BECAUSE OF HBO, I was able to watch each of them as often as HBO “streamed” them, sometimes a year later, but still. It was this mindset that has saved me from buying video games on their release day and waiting until they’re a GREATEST HITS for $20. It’s still a new game to me, right? But movies, right? 

1981 was like Cronenberg’s Scanners, the films were mind blowing. Tobe Hooper took us to the Funhouse and Sam Rami started The Evil Dead. An American Werewolf in London is tied with The Howling and universally recognized as the greatest werewolf movies ever made. John Carpenter returned to Haddonfield for Halloween II and Jason came to life in Friday the 13th Part 2. Harrison Ford grabbed the whip as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark while Bond was For Your Eyes Only. Quest For Fire gave us an Iron Maiden song and sex ed with Rae Dawn Chong while Sean Connery went to High Noon in Outland. Disney gave us what I still consider to be the best screen dragon ever in Dragonslayer’s Vermithrax, and Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans enthralled us with Hellenic mythology. Nighthawks gave us a super violent Stallone vs. Rutger Hauer. While Mel Brooks contemplated the History of the World Part I, Time Bandits went through the multiverse. Stripes and Porky’s made us laugh, and that’s a fact, Jack. Mommie Dearest destroyed the wire hanger industry, and I had to pick three movies as my favorites. I don’t think you’re going to be surprised by my choices.

3. From the poster featuring a science fiction Valkyrie, to the content, Heavy Metal is a total package, the first movie-soundtrack tandem to enthrall a 14 year old Tom. The radio played the music non stop, on every format station, Journey’s Open Arms. Devo’s cover of Working in the Coal Mine. Blue Oyster Cult’s Veteran of the Psychic Wars. Black Sabbath’s The Mob Rules. Sammy Hagar and Don Felder’s eponymous, yet different, songs. The movie itself is highly influential on me. I see it as a theatrical representation of the Blue Oyster Cult Imaginos mythology, with the Loc-Nar orb filling in for the black mirror. It’s no secret BOC was originally tapped to do more of the soundtrack, but the studio execs went in a different direction. The songs landed on Fire of Unknown Origin, and are some of BOC’s best. You can see the influence of the imagery from the Heavy Metal comics on directors like Luc Besson and the Wachowski Sisters. 

 2. “Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis’s bethad, do chél dénmha…  Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis’s bethad, do chél dénmha…” The Charm of Making… in Excalibur. John Boorman’s interpretation of the King Arthur legend is the best to appear on film, in my opinion. The cast is stellar: Nicol Williamson’s Merlin is the anti-Gandalf, the anti-stereotype of the venerated Druid and wizard. It launched the genre film careers for the likes of Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Ciaran Hines, Hellen Mirren, and Captain fucking Picard/Professor X himself, Patrick Stewart. Beautiful to behold, filled with iconic imagery. This film has made cultural and creative impacts with its take on the myths. Hell, alongside George Romero’s Knight Riders, Excalibur inspired Ronnie Dio to write NEON KNIGHTS for his Black Sabbath debut.  

 1. “President of what?” Anyone who knows me, knows John Carpenter’s Escape From New York is my second favorite film of all time, and if ever given the chance to contribute to his mythology, I’ll jump on it without hesitation. The soundtrack is my favorite, its wave synth rock and adds to the movie’s coolness. You see, everything about Escape from New York is fucking cool, and that’s why I like it so much. Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken is my favorite anti-hero, why? Because he’s just fucking cool from his eye-patch to his attitude to his empathy. Yes, I said his empathy. Lee Van Cleef’s Commissioner Bob Hauk is almost cooler as one of my favorite “mentor” characters in fiction, and fundamentally that’s what he is on Snake’s Anti-Heroic journey in an alternate timeline where the USA and Russia went to war. Isaac Hayes as The Duke of New York is as formidable a villain as you can get – and one without a sympathetic backstory. None is needed, his motivations are clear, they want out of the dystopian nightmare known as Manhattan Federal Prison. The side characters are rich and memorable as everything else in this film. Romero, Brain, Maggie, Cabbie, even Tom Atkin’s handful of lines as Cpt Rehme. And to think Carpenter and company accomplished all of this on a near shoestring budget, 1000 miles away from NYC in St. Louis. 

My Favorite Movies of 1980

THE EIGHTIES BEGIN WITH TIME TRAVEL, HISTORY, AND THE BIRTH OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FILM FRANCHISE IN HISTORY

1980, the fateful year I received my first Dungeons and Dragons set. The year was loaded with low budget sci fi and horror as the decade of excess started, and Supermodels led the charge. Saturn 3 starred Farrah Fawcett, Galaxina had the last appearance of Playboy Bunny superstar Dorothy Stratten.And who can forget the controversy surrounding teen model Brooke Shield’s nude bodysuit in The Blue Lagoon. And speaking of sex, Richard Gere turned on the bedroom eyes with American Giglo, and gave us one of Blondies’ best songs, Call Me! 

Did someone say songs? Who can forget… FLASH! AHHHH AHHH! the campiest of camp, Flash Gordon and Queen’s iconic soundtrack? Speaking of soundtracks, John Travolta’s Urban Cowboy did the same thing for Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee that Saturday Night Fever did for the Bee Gees. Sissy Spacek told us about The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Dolly Parton and company worked 9-5, Fame gave Irene Cara another hit. And how about the musical fantasy of Xanadu? You have to believe it is magic… even though it killed the musical genre on screen for a decade or so. Heaven’s Gate did the same for westerns through most of the 80’s.

Comedies reigned. Airplane mocked the disaster movies of the 70’s, the Blues Brothers went on mission from God, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor went Stir Crazy, and Clint Eastwood wanted to get things done Any Which You Can. Caddyshack told us I’m Alright, and gave us another comedy franchise.

John Carpenter followed up Halloween with The Fog. Friday the 13th carried on the Slasher genre started by Carpenter. Halloween scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis went to Prom Night. Art House directors went horror when Stanley Kubrick infamously adapted Stephen King’s The Shining and Brian De Palma followed up Carrie with Dressed To Kill. George C. Scott gave us chills in The Changeling. We also had Humanoids from the Deep, Mother’s Day, and down in South America we got a Cannibal Holocaust. The weird and horrific tried to go mainstream. A decades long meme was created with David Lynch’s The Elephant Man (“I am not an animal! I am a human being!”). The imagination of Richard Matheson still enthralled the public with Time After Time, and though Christopher Reeve showed his romantic chops in the movie, he again showed the world a man could fly and kick ass in Superman II.

Action movies were starting to take hold when Chuck Norris went to The Octagon to fight Ninjas. As opposed to John Carpenter’s undead, Peter Benchly gave us living anachronistic pirates in The Island, Richard Jordan’s Dirk Pitt tried to Raise The Titanic, and Mark Hammil joined the First Infantry Division in The Big Red One. But my 3 most favorite films to crawl out of 1980 shouldn’t surprise any of you.

3 The Final Countdown – What would happen if a Nuclear powered aircraft carrier went back in time to the days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? The USS Nimitz gets to answer that question. I love this movie. The cast is stellar. Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farantino, Charles Durning, and a still sexy as hell Katherine Ross. And to make it better? Lloyd Kaufman produced it.

2 Walter Hill’s The Long Riders is a bloody, gun toting spectacle. The premise was novel, take real life acting siblings and cast them as the James-Younger Gang and tell the story of Jesse James and Cole Younger. They enlisted the Carradine brothers (David, Keith, and Robert) to play the Youngers, and Stacy and James Keech to play Frank and Jess, respectively. I watch this movie yearly. It’s one of my most favorite westerns of all time. It portrays the Civil War veterans as real people, with real problems, from their time as guerilla fighters, to their failed daytime bank robbery and Jesse’s assassination. 

1 …and still the best film of the Skywalker Star Wars Saga, The Empire Strikes Back. What more can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said? How about some trivia. In the 80s there was no such thing as “spoilers” or outrage over the same. You see, a month before the film hit the multiplexes of the shopping malls, Donald F. Glut’s novelization was released, a fantastic adaptation of the movie’s screenplay, it flushed out more of Luke’s training, and filled us all in on a little secret. You see, going into The Empire Strikes, all the die hard fans who read the book already knew Darth Vader was Luke’s… father. But it didn’t make it any less exciting of a reveal – the actors, especially Mark, made it work. The editing and pacing, something that has always been a saving grace of this film series, made it work. Oh, and we were relieved Yoda didn’t look like the Marvel Comics purple elf.

MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 1979

Cosmic and Ecological horror made this year special on the screen and page.

1979 stands high on my list of great cinematic years. A trio of my favorite films of all time came out during this particular revolution around the sun. Franchises were king. Front he established, like ROCKY II, STAR TREK gave us the first of its MOTION PICTURE franchise, and Happy Meals at McDonalds. MAD MAX launched Mel Gibson’s career and the story of the eponymous, and often enigmatic, post-apocalyptic hero; and the WARRIORS came out to play a Greek legend.

Movies based on books were big. Klaus Kinski did a stellar job with his color and sound faithful remake of NOSFERATU. I read the accompanying book in a day. APOCALYPSE NOW is a classic adaptation of Heart of Darkness, and taught us to love the smell of napalm in the morning. Tobe Hooper’s SALEM’S LOT changed Barlow to a Nosferatu like fiend, but he wasn’t near as scary as Ned in a rocking chair or Danny Gloick floating in a window. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR told Josh Brolin and MArgot Kidder to get out, as copies of the book continued to fly off shelves as if possessed by the very poltergeists alleged to inhabit the Long Island home. Martin Cruz Smith’s NIGHTWING also got the film treatment, but it was three other films, each of which has a stunning novelization written adapting their respective screenplays.

3 Disney’s idea to answer Star Wars was to make a realistic, cosmic horror science fiction film utilizing cutting edge technology and science. They achieved this feat with THE BLACK HOLE. The plot is simple, and stop me if you’ve heard this before… A scientific space expedition discovered a distress call from a ship believed lost decades before. They find the ship, and learn of diabolic circumstances on board, and a gateway to heaven… or hell. Is it EVENT HORIZON? Is it THE FLYING DUTCHMAN? Is it both? Nope!  It’s a fucking Disney movie, and the first of two screenplays we’ll talk about today, each adapted by one of the most influential writers of all time, Alan Dean Foster. Foster gets into the heads of the characters in the film and shows us their motivations. This book is as scary as any modern cosmic horror novel, as is the movie.  

2 Yep. Alan Dean Foster also did the novelization of Ridley Scott’s ALIEN.  is a top 10 horror movie on most anyone’s list. It launched a decades long franchise, and cemented HR Geiger’s art as synonymous with this genre. This movie is terrifying, and like THE BLACK HOLE, it is a realistic, cosmic horror film… yadda, yadda, yadda. 

1 I’ve said it before, PROPHECY answers the question, “What if Bruce the shark worked?”. I wrote a blog on it back in June. I adore this movie and its story. It’s one of my top 10 movies of all time. In lieu of me reinventing the wheel here, you can go back and check what I think about this film, and David Seltzer’s novelization of his own screenplay.

MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 1978

A remake, an adaptation, and the most successful independent film of all time… and they’re all traumatizing!

As of today I’m moving this interaction treat to my blog. I’m also slowing down the releases a little, to a couple a week. Feel free to comment on whatever social media platform you saw the post from, I’ll see them and interact. Having this on my blog only makes sense in the grand scheme of things. My social activism on Facebook has gotten my muted from the platform too often lately.

The further we climb the years, the harder and harder it becomes to nail down three movies. And 1978’s movies are nearly as tough to pick as 1977’s. After all, ‘78 gave us the box office disaster known as HEAVEN CAN WAIT. EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE showed us Clint Eastwood the comedian, and started an American love affair with Orangutans. MAGIC ruined Jeff Foxworthy for me, SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND was a Bee Gee disaster. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL made Nazis even scarier and terrified us all of the dentist. DEVIL DOG frightened me, THE EYES OF LAURA MARS stared at me, and THE SWARM gave us the Killer Bee long before Murder Hornets. THE WIZ gave us a diverse L. Frank Baum adaptation, and the double entendre of GREASE filled our hearts and eyes with catchy songs and dancing. THE DEER HUNTER taught us Russian Roulette and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS made us all scared of Turkish prisons. FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE had Han fucking Solo in it, plus Robert Shaw’s last role, and SUPERMAN THE MOVIE showed a man could fly, but put the man of Steel against a bad Supervillain. My 3 favorite movies from 1978 are:

3 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS – I love this classic remake. The exchange in the kitchen always makes me burst out laughing. “These are rat turds!” “No, they are capers!”  “No, they’re rat turds!”  This film enthralled me. The special effects are amazing and sometimes quite body horror gross. Plus it had Mr. Spock, Brooke Adams looking fine, and Donald Sutherland pointing fingers and screeching. I had both the novelization and photo graphic novel of the film.

2 “If they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you.” WATERSHIP DOWN – Richard Adams’ book and this film are part of my being. I love this film, and was as traumatized by the violence as you might expect. But the story of Hazel-Ra and his companions, and it’s message of hope, has endured with me for five decades now. My first stand alone novella, Good Boy, is my love letter to this film.

1 I cannot stand slasher killer films. With that being said, John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN is one of my favorite movies of all time. The bar was raised so high with this piece of art (and that’s what HALLOWEEN is, a piece of audio-visual art!), nothing else has come close to matching it since, at least in my perception. I love HALLOWEEN II and III, as well. And please, save us the bullshit regarding Rob Zombie’s inferior remake. It’s Carpenter. My book The Death List is an homage to HALLOWEEN.

MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 1978As of today I’m moving this int...

MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 1978

As of today I’m moving this interaction treat to my blog. I’m also slowing down the releases a little, to a couple a week. Feel free to comment on whatever social media platform you saw the post from, I’ll see them and interact. Having this on my blog only makes sense in the grand scheme of things. My social activism on Facebook has gotten my muted from the platform too often lately.

The further we climb the years, the harder and harder it becomes to nail down three movies. And 1978’s movies are nearly as tough to pick as 1977’s. After all, ‘78 gave us the box office disaster known as HEAVEN CAN WAIT. EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE showed us Clint Eastwood the comedian, and started an American love affair with Orangutans. MAGIC ruined Jeff Foxworthy for me, SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND was a Bee Gee disaster. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL made Nazis even scarier and terrified us all of the dentist. DEVIL DOG frightened me, THE EYES OF LAURA MARS stared at me, and THE SWARM gave us the Killer Bee long before Murder Hornets. THE WIZ gave us a diverse L. Frank Baum adaptation, and the double entendre of GREASE filled our hearts and eyes with catchy songs and dancing. THE DEER HUNTER taught us Russian Roulette and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS made us all scared of Turkish prisons. FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE had Han fucking Solo in it, plus Robert Shaw’s last role, and SUPERMAN THE MOVIE showed a man could fly, but put the man of Steel against a bad Supervillain. My 3 favorite movies from 1978 are:

3 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS – I love this classic remake. The exchange in the kitchen always makes me burst out laughing. “These are rat turds!” “No, they are capers!”  “No, they’re rat turds!”  This film enthralled me. The special effects are amazing and sometimes quite body horror gross. Plus it had Mr. Spock, Brooke Adams looking fine, and Donald Sutherland pointing fingers and screeching. I had both the novelization and photo graphic novel of the film.

2 “If they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you.” WATERSHIP DOWN – Richard Adams’ book and this film are part of my being. I love this film, and was as traumatized by the violence as you might expect. But the story of Hazel-Ra and his companions, and it’s message of hope, has endured with me for five decades now. My first stand alone novella, Good Boy, is my love letter to this film.

1 I cannot stand slasher killer films. With that being said, John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN is one of my favorite movies of all time. The bar was raised so high with this piece of art (and that’s what HALLOWEEN is, a piece of audio-visual art!), nothing else has come close to matching it since, at least in my perception. I love HALLOWEEN II and III, as well. And please, save us the bullshit regarding Rob Zombie’s inferior remake. It’s Carpenter. My book The Death List is an homage to HALLOWEEN.

Killer Con and the 2021 Splatterpunk Awards

Killer Con 2021 has come and gone. Based in Austin Texas, the annual extreme horror convention was conceived by Wrath James White and Brain Keene as a way to recognize the talented authors in the sub genres of splatterpunk (that’s me!) and extreme horror.  This year’s annual extreme horror convention was a virtual festival, using zoom meetings and discord for vendor rooms. Three days of exceptional programming, overseen by the amazing John Baltisberger (I was impressed he was able to do all this AND still stabberger Nazis in the same weekend!) were capped off by an awards ceremony recognizing those whose works stood out as exceptional over the last year, and a gross out contest that lived up to its name.

The winners of the fourth Annual Splatterpunk Awards were announced on Saturday evening.  Here is the press release from Brian Keene:

For Immediate Release

Founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene announced the winners of the 4th annual Splatterpunk Awards — honoring superior achievement in horror fictions’ Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror categories published in 2020 — on Saturday, August 21, 2021.

The Splatterpunk Award nominations are suggested by readers and fans. The final ballot is made up of the top seven nominations for each category. Then, a rotating jury of critics and academics read the works on the ballot and vote on the winners.

The winners for this year are:

Best Novel: The Magpie Coffin – Wile E. Young (Deaths Head Press)

Best Novella: True Crime – Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)

Best Short Story: “My Body” – Wesley Southard (from Midnight In The Pentagram, Silver Shamrock Publishing)

Best Collection: The Essential Sick Stuff – Ronald Kelly (Silver Shamrock Publishing)

Best Anthology: Worst Laid Plans – Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)

In addition, John Skipp was presented with the J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous LAA recipients are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, and Edward Lee.

White and Keene also announced the formation of the Splatterpunk Awards Hall of Fame – a physical, traveling memorial and showcase honoring those who have left their mark on the fields of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. The initial Splatterpunk Award Hall of Fame Inductees will be: David J. Schow, David Barnett, Edward Lee, John Skipp. Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Charlee Jacob, John Pelan, and J.F. Gonzalez. The Hall of Fame will debut in Austin, Texas next August.

I was honored to be both a nominee for an award (for Best Novella) and participant in the Gross out contest. And though I didn’t win any awards or competitions, I didn’t lose a Goddamn thing. Why? Because being nominated for an award, is- in and of itself- a win in the first place. It shows your peers have noticed you. Oh – and let me tell you, having the opportunity to try and gross people out was a fucking blast. And the winners? HOLY CRAP! Nigel Parkin’s anniversary delicacy will forever make me look twice at any cheese product, and Danny “The Fox” Volpe’s strawberry shortcake… um recipe(?), blasted all of us out of the water. 

I’m happy as pig in shit for Wile E. Young, who won the Splatterpunk Award for best novel. Four years ago, I made 2 great friendships in the horror creative community while in a Borderlands Bootcamp writing workshop. Here I am, sitting in the back of the class with two other guys, like the bad kids in school. Skip Novak, who I talk to almost every day, and Wile E. Young, who I admire a great deal as a peer. I love this kid so much I named an important character after him  in THE GOD PROVIDES. If you know his shoot name, you know which character.

Wile E.’s writing voice is built to tell stories, to capture you and enthrall you. If you take Joe R. Lansdale’s East Texas verbiage, add a bit of Brian Keene’s way of characterization, sprinkle the ashes of JF Gonzalez across the top, and shake it all up in Robert E. Howard’s casket before pouring it into HP Lovecraft’s grave… you will have none other than Wile E. Young. I can hear him talking when I read his words.

He came out of the gate firing on all cylinders with Catfish in the Cradle, and followed that up with a book I adore, it was my book of the year for 2020, this year’s best splatterpunk book and the lead in volume of the SplatterWestern series from Death’s Head Press: 

The Magpie Coffin.

If Michael Moorcock wrote a western with Joe R. Lansdale, it would be this book. And I am eagerly awaiting its follow up. I love the character of Salem, and that gun of his…. think Elric and Stormbringer in a western setting. And as much as this is a western in marketing and setting, underneath it all, fundamentally it’s a sword & sorcery story at heart. Wile E. has achieved something more than winning an award with this book. He’s created an iconic character. He can keep on writing Salem stories as far as I’m concerned. He’s discovered his Conan, his Solomon Kane, his Hap & Leonard, his Levi Stoltzfus… or maybe The Exit is more appropriate, considering.

I’m not ignoring the other winners. How about Sam winning TWO awards? You go girl! I cracked some humor early one when the awards were announced, calling them the Kristopher Triana awards – when in truth they turned out to be the Samantha Kolesnik awards. It’s good to see a female voice dominating a genre where female contributors are a minority. Wes Southard, who won for best short story, is another writer I admire and strive to emulate. He and his wife are animal advocates, and as a result I have a huge amount of respect for both of them. Oh, and how about one of the sages of horror fiction making a comeback? Ron Kelly, another old school influence on me. And how about John Skipp winning a lifetime Achievement award? I look up to Skipp, as everyone else in this community does, and feel this honor was well deserved. So much talent, and all positive role models, to be surrounded with is mindblowing. I feel blessed.

Next year, I hope the convention will be face to face.