Jenny Ashford is a horror, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019. Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books. She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook. Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
So how’s this for a bizarre coincidence? I had been perusing the films that Shudder had been adding all throughout the past couple of months that I hadn’t got around to watching yet, with a view to putting them on the docket for my August series of reviews, when I happened upon a 2010 film … More Movies: All About Evil (2010)
This particular double feature consists of two mind-benders that utilize aspects of time displacement and multiverses to fashion some unsettling narratives that effectively creep the viewer out while also exercising the parts of our brains that like to pretend we sort of understand quantum mechanics. The first movie I want to discuss is the 2009 … More Mindf*ck Double Feature Review: Triangle (2009) and Coherence (2013)
An American writer is walking the streets of Rome one night when he passes an art gallery with enormous glass doors. Peering inside, he is shocked to see a woman struggling with a black-clad figure holding a knife. The writer rushes to help, but when he passes through the first door of the gallery, it … More A Brief History of the Giallo Movie
I had only heard of the author Sara Gran peripherally, mentioned on a few other book review channels I watch, so when I came across her novella Come Closer, I wasn’t really aware of: one, how old it was, and two, how it had had something of a resurgence in popularity more recently, following the … More Books: Come Closer by Sara Gran
Japanese author Kanae Minato was a home economics teacher and housewife who wrote her first novel, Confessions, on weekends and in between household chores. The book came out in her home country in 2008 and was a nationwide sensation, at which point it was translated into numerous languages and eventually earned worldwide acclaim. It arrived … More Books: Confessions by Kanae Minato
Any informed discussion of the best giallo films of the 1970s would inevitably name-check producer/director Sergio Martino, who was responsible for a significant number of great giallo movies during the era: The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, … More Movies: The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)
I decided to return today not only to my favorite decade for horror movies, but also to my favorite horror subgenre for this post. In short, I’m reviewing two haunted house films from the 1970s, both of which have made numerous appearances on various “underrated” lists around the internet, and both of which happen to … More Double Feature: Something Evil (1972) and The Stone Tape (1973)
The small film subgenre of British folk horror is easily overlooked, with most casual fans only being able to point to a single example, the excellent and well-regarded cult classic The Wicker Man. But there were a few other sterling examples that deserve their place in the earthwork circle, as it were, such as The Devil Rides … More Movies: The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970)
Director Umberto Lenzi should be no stranger to fans of Italian gore films, as he was the man responsible for such infamous cannibal outings as Man from Deep River, Eaten Alive!, and Cannibal Ferox. But he directed a number of giallo films as well, including Eyeball, So Sweet…So Perverse, Seven Bloodstained Orchids, and the film … More Movies: Knife Of Ice (1972)
Before making his mark as a horror writer, Chris Sorensen was probably best known as an audiobook narrator, having more than 200 audiobooks under his belt. He is also a playwright and a screenwriter who had several of his works produced. So it was no surprise perhaps when he decided to try his hand at … More Books: The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen
