English writer A.J. Wills worked as a journalist for more than a decade before becoming a full-time novelist in 2021; his was a name I’d heard before, leading me to believe I’d actually read something of his, but I guess I was mistaken because none of the titles of his novels rang a bell. But … More Books: The Warning by A.J. Wills
British director Danny Boyle first came to worldwide attention in 1996, with his breakout hit Trainspotting, a charmingly scuzzy black comedy about drug addicts, and a film that is largely credited with revitalizing the somewhat stagnant British film industry at the time, which had been mostly focused on social realism dramas and prestige period pieces. … More Movies: Shallow Grave (1994)
The seventies were a weird time, man, which is probably why the movies that came out during that decade are always such a trip to watch. And in the case of the movie I’ll be discussing today, I mean “trip” pretty much literally, because the film was written as a cautionary tale about the dangers … More Movies: Blue Sunshine (1977)
I haven’t seen all of the Coen brothers’ films, but every single one I’ve seen has been uniquely wonderful in its own right, so it was with some measure of excitement that I decided to revisit their debut feature film, 1984’s Blood Simple. I had seen it once back in the 1990s and remembered liking … More Movies: Blood Simple (1984)
At the end of November of 2022, an author named Alan Golbourn contacted me and offered to send me a couple of his novels for review, and of course I accepted, because free books are one of my very favorite things. I regret that it’s taken me this long to get around to reading one … More Books: The 666 Murders by Alan Golbourn
A while back, I read and reviewed Scott B. Smith’s 1993 novel A Simple Plan, which has got to be one of the best thrillers ever written. While I was reading it, I remembered that there had been a very good film adaptation of it, but I hadn’t seen it for such a long time … More Movies: A Simple Plan (1998)
Although Netflix is generally not the first (or the fourth, or the ninth…) streaming service I think of when I’m looking for some good horror, every now and then they surprise me by platforming a real gem that I previously only heard about through word of mouth, and happily, this turned out to be one … More Movies: Coming Home in the Dark (2021)
The 1955 horror thriller Diabolique (known as Les Diaboliques outside the US, which translates as The Devils or The Fiends) is one of those movies that all horror fans should see at least once, and preferably twice, since the famous twist at the end of the story recontextualizes everything you’ve seen up until that point. … More Movies: Diabolique (1955)
The 1967 classic Wait Until Dark was yet another film that I sought out as a kid in the 1980s because of its tense third act being mentioned favorably in Stephen King’s nonfiction magnum opus Danse Macabre. I remembered really loving the movie back then, so I was very excited to revisit it, since I … More Movies: Wait Until Dark (1967)
The Scare Salon 