Have you ever wondered what happens to letters that can't be delivered? Probably not, snail mail is a relic of the 80s along with other horrifying concepts such as fax machines, shoulder pads and permanent waves. The producers of Shudder's Late Night With the Devil deliver Dead Mail, a chilling study of obsession, possession, and captivity. What begins as a desperate letter dropped into a USPS mailbox soon spirals into a nightmare, with the Dead Letters team battling to locate a kidnap victim.
In a deliciously atmospheric nod to Dario Argento, director Elric Kane’s Shudder Original, The Dead Thing, plunges us into the bleak world of internet dating, with a twist of horror that’s equal parts stylish and sinister.
Night after night, Alex drifts through a parade of fleeting internet dates, each encounter as transient and hollow as the last. These ephemeral moments of contact are the only sparks in a relentless routine: a slow, almost ritualistic waltz from dimly lit bars to the antiseptic hum of her nightshift as an office document scanner, before she retreats into the cold glow of her SAD lamp and finally, into sleep.
But everything shifts when Kyle enters the scene - a spark that cuts through the monotony and ignites a connection on a profoundly unexpected level. Almost instinctively, they find themselves tangled in a web of raw emotion, baring their souls before the night even draws to a close.
And then the inevitable happens. Kyle ghosts her.
The insidious thing about ghosting is this: you might not even particularly like somebody, but the moment they ghost you, the power shifts, control slips through your fingers, and obsession takes the wheel, accelerating into overdrive.
As Alex’s obsession tightens its grip, she starts crossing lines that should never be crossed. Then she makes a terrible discovery. Can she find her way back to Kyle? And more importantly, should she? For Kyle is harbouring a dark secret and will stop at nothing to reclaim his life.
The Dead Thing is a beautiful film. Elric Kane has captured Argento's visual aesthetic with lurid colours and deep shadows that accentuate a film set mostly at night. The signature violence takes its time to appear, but when it finally erupts, it’s as jarring as it is disorienting.
This isn’t your typical gore-fest or jump scare parade. Instead, it’s a slow-burning exploration of rejection, the loss of control when you let someone in, and the obsessive aftermath when it all unravels. The plot may appear deceptively simple at first, but a cleverly placed twist midway transforms the narrative into something both haunting and unexpectedly captivating.
Blu Hunt (The Originals) delivers a standout performance as Alex, perfectly matched by Ben Smith-Petersen’s enigmatic Kyle. The pair share undeniable chemistry, though in this film, they seem to spark with everyone they encounter.
I give The Dead Thing an excellent four out of five stars and recommend it for fans of lurid and slow-burning horror. I'll be interested to see what Elric Kane delivers next and whether he continues his dedication to Argento.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Original, The Dead Thing premieres 14 February 2025.
Cape Town, The Future: social problems, energy crises, daily curfews and rising instability. The rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and only those in bed with the government are getting anywhere. In Street Trash, Ryan Kruger's follow up to Fried Barry, a ragtag group of homeless misfits stumble upon a horrifying conspiracy: a ruthless plan to exterminate every homeless person in the city. Thrown into a desperate fight for survival, these outcasts must band together, outsmart their hunters, and live to party another day.
There's just one thing (and if you've seen Fried Barry, you will know this): things are going to get weird.
Based on the 1987 film by Roy Frumkes and J. Michael Muro, Street Trash is part horror, part damning indictment of the rich, and part psychedelic trip into Cape Town's seedy underground.
Street Trash is not for the faint of heart; in the opening scenes you will see some of the worst body horror ever seen on screen. It certainly not safe for people with emetophobia, or people with whatever the fear of skin-melting-off-bodies is called. If I’m honest, this isn’t my usual kind of horror. But with Ryan Kruger attached, I had to watch. His brand of irreverent, subversive chaos never fails to deliver a hallucinogenic trip through urban mayhem.
I say this because I suspect Street Trash isn't going to be everyone's cup of Klippies and rooibos tea. You're either going to love it or hate it and it definitely helps if you can speak street South African.
Ryan Kruger has a bold, anarchic vision for a dystopian South Africa, one that instantly earns its place alongside District 9 and Chappie as a new sci-fi cult classic. He doesn’t just craft a grimy, neon-soaked future; he fills it with unforgettable characters.
Fried Barry alumni Sean Cameron Michael and Gary Green return as Ronald and 2-Bit, bringing their signature weirdness to the mix. Donna Cormack-Thomson (Catch Me a Killer) is a standout as the fierce and compelling Alex, while Joe Vaz brings mystic hilarity as Chef. But it’s Shuraigh Meyer and Lloyd Martinez Newkirk as twins Pap and Wors who steal every scene with their comedic brilliance, injecting moments of twisted levity into the chaos.
Street Trash is an absolute blast. Sure, it’s not winning any awards for narrative complexity, but who needs a sophisticated plot when you’ve got over-the-top absurdity, gloriously grotesque set pieces, and enough belly laughs to keep you hooked?
I give Street Trash an excellent four out of five stars and recommend it to fans of trippy, psychedelic, comedy horror. Bonus points if you're a fan of body horror and red paint. Extra bonus points if you get South African humour. Ryan Kruger is definitely on my to-watch list now.
★★★★☆
Street Trash will be available on limited edition Blu-ray from 17th February. Pre order on HMV & Amazon here
FB: @lightbulb_films | TW: @Lightbulb_Films | Web: Lightbulb Film Distribution
The greatest horror on-screen is often not in the vengeful spirits or undead corpses, but in the terror of everyday events. When somebody you love is missing, it sucks the air right out of your lungs and you can’t shift your thoughts away from them for one moment. The not-knowing makes your mind circle in an endless loop, one that is never quite completed. For some of us, that moment passes and our loved one is found; for others, 25 years go by without a shadow of resolution. Chris Cronin’s feature length debut The Moor delves into the mind of a grieving father, 25 years after his son disappeared without a trace.
25 years ago, 5 children disappeared without a trace
Now the darkness that took them has returned
The Moor opens with a single-take scene in the mid-90s. A young girl Claire encourages her best friend Danny to go into a shop to disturb the shopkeeper while she steals sweets. In the blink of an eye, a man enters the store, takes Danny and disappears with him. As the excellent opening credits roll with archive footage and VHS glitching, we learn that it is the “Summer of Fear”. Five children will disappear before the perpetrator is caught and put away for 25 years.
Set in Yorkshire, England, The Moor is beautifully atmospheric with sweeping shots of the barren moors and postcard views of the local town. Snippets of a documentary are featured throughout the film, giving the impression that this is a town defined by the Summer of Fear, one where young people left in droves following the terrible events of their childhoods.
Returning to her hometown for the first time in years, Claire (Sophia La Porta) meets up with Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson). Using increasingly esoteric techniques, and with the help of local psychic Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips) and guide Liz (Vicki Hackett), Bill shares that he is continuing the search for Danny on the moors where he is believes his son was buried.
Despite her visceral fear and deep-seated reservations, Claire agrees to join Bill. It soon becomes clear that they are dealing with a greater evil than they could ever have anticipated. They have already lost so much, what more does the moor want to take from them?
The Moor is frankly terrifying in parts, with the scenes in the séance and later on the moor forever embedded on my memory. Toeing the line between true crime and the supernatural, Chris Cronin delivers a nail-biting ride.
The Moor benefits from superb acting from the entire cast, be it interviewees in the documentary or the children in the opening scene. La Porta and Edward-Robertson shine as Claire and Bill, both in the carrying of their trauma and in the tentative, gentle way they treat one another.
The effect is addictive. I couldn’t draw my eyes away for screen for one moment, desperate to learn more about the forces at play in the moor, the nature of the great evil and the whereabouts of the children.
“There’s a time to accept that some things will always be senseless” – Claire
The thing about missing people is that you don’t always get a resolution. Children disappear and their parents can go to their graves without ever knowing what happened. Throughout the film, the audience is constantly haunted by the ghost of Keith Bennett, the Moors Murders victim whose remains were never found. Ultimately, The Moor buckles under the weight of that horrific burden, unable to resist the urge to close the circle. The final scene of the film, filmed used the found-footage conceit, provides an unnecessary and deeply unsatisfying ending to an otherwise excellent film.
In the end, I had to accept that no matter how conflicted I felt about that ending, how little it made sense, it achieved two outcomes: I couldn’t stop thinking about the film, for days after watching it, but I was also reminded that resolutions are seldom satisfying in legacy missing persons cases.
Despite my ambivalence, I give The Moor an excellent four out of five stars. I imagine I won't be the only viewer conflicted by the ending but on the whole, The Moor delivered on scares, atmosphere and performances. This was an impressive feature debut from director Chris Cronin and a welcome addition to the British folk-horror genre.
★★★★☆
The Moor will be in UK Cinemas from 14th June and Digital Download from 1st July
Do you ever get the feeling you’re going to like a film, right from the first minute? In the opening scene of Barnaby Clay’s The Seeding, a long-haired toddler walks onto screen, gnawing what turns out to be a dismembered man’s finger. Settle down, get comfortable, because The Seeding is a wild yet deeply uncomfortable ride.
Amateur photographer Wyndham Stone (Scott Haze, Venom) is on location in the desert to capture a solar eclipse. As the day winds down, he knows he needs to leave the desert and get back to civilisation. Fate intervenes when a boy appears, claiming to have lost his family. Against his better judgement, Wyndham follows and then loses the boy.
As night falls, he spies a woman walking into a cabin at the bottom of a canyon. He climbs down into the canyon to speak to the woman, who convinces him to share a meal and rest for the night. His nightmare begins the next morning when he realises he has no way of leaving the canyon.
There is a significant amount of misdirection in The Seeding and it’s likely that everything the viewer believes will turn out to be a lie. Is Wyndham a typical bro who deserves everything that’s coming to him? Is the woman, Alina (Kate Lyn Sheil, V/H/S) a victim who needs saving? Can Wyndham fix the manic gang of sadistic boys that watch their every move? What is actually happening here?
What do they want?
The effect is claustrophobic and quite agonising as the viewer cringes for Wyndham’s every experience. The Seeding is not scary as such, but embodies every person’s definition of horror and powerlessness.
Shot on location in Kanab, Utah, The Seeding features some stunning cinematography. The viewer is treated to starry vistas at night, the silhouette of the photographer as he captures the eclipse, and unsettling views of the arid desert.
Down in the canyon, the curtain of rock surrounding the tiny cabin is omnipresent and unsettling. Meanwhile, seen through Wyndham’s photographic eye, the cabin and canyon are full of trinkets and broken paraphernalia, artefacts of past lives and broken dreams.
The cast of The Seeding is tiny. Scott Haze and Kate Lyn Sheil give excellent performances as Wyndham and Alina and special mention must go to the cast of feral boys. Like Wyndham, the viewer never really gets to see them directly yet their menace is abundantly clear.
I give The Seeding an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to fans of independent, claustrophobic and folk horror. Director Barnaby Clay joins the rank of great horror directors such as Ryan Kruger who have made the move from directing music videos to delivering atmospheric, visually appealing horror.
★★★★☆
The Seeding is available to own or rent in the UK & Ireland from 12th February via Amazon, AppleTV, Google, Sky Store and Virgin Media Store.
I was hooked from the very first scene of the trailer for Rodrigo Gudiño's Rue Morgue horror, The Breach. A body has been discovered in the tiny Ontario town of Lone Crow and when Chief of Police John Hawkins (Allan Hawco, Republic of Doyle) asks whether it is a local, Deputy Connie Parks replies uneasily, 'I don't know how you would tell'.
Something horrible has happened on the banks of the Porcupine River and, with one week left in town before he moves to the big city, Hawkins needs to get to the bottom of it quickly. He enlists the help of coroner Jacob Redgrave (Wesley French) and local tour guide Meg Fullbright (Emily Alatalo) and together they travel up-river to the last known address of their possible victim, Dr Porter.
What they find is a house derelict beyond belief; Meg assures the men that it was not in this condition when she first dropped the doctor off mere months earlier.
To compound their issues, it is clear from the outset that John, Meg and Jake have some serious baggage between them and it isn't always certain that they'll be able to sidestep that history and act like professionals. The casting was fantastic in this respect, with all three actors delivering an onscreen friction worthy of a soap opera.
Derelict-looking house, a victim with impossible wounds, drama between the main characters? What could possibly go wrong?
As it happens - a lot, maybe too much. But we'll get to that later.
Filmed on location in Parry Sound, Ontario, The Breach features some stunning cinematography from Eric Oh (Sorry About the Demon). Most of the film takes place in the derelict home of Dr Porter, with some truly artistic composition. I'm always wary of excessively dark scenes in horror films but there was a great use of shadow, silhouette and flashlight to guide the viewer through the scenes.
I should probably admit here that I clearly don't know how to watch trailers properly anymore because I thought this was going to be a dark mystery-thriller, more along the lines of a police procedural than a horror film. I was wrong. The Breach is a stomach-churning body horror that had me gagging in disgust in some scenes, peeking from between my fingers in others, and desperately wishing I could un-see that fingernail scene.
The music in The Breach was fantastic. One of the reasons I watched this film was due to the involvement of Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist, Slash. He was executive producer and wrote and performed the foreboding opening theme in collaboration with Aybars Altay. It is James Zirco Fisher’s excellent score that sets the disquieting tone for the rest of the film, featuring tracks from his 2004 album Nightmare Picture Theatre, and the film ends off with She Past Away’s dark-wave anthem “Soluk”.
I’m on the fence as to whether the plot delivers. The Breach is based on Nick Cutter’s Audible original of the same name, featuring much of Cutter’s penchant for gore and cosmic horror. The problem is that it was a primordial soup of plotlines – was it in the sci-fi, zombie or body snatcher genre? Who knows? One of these threads seems to prevail in the end but sadly it's the most vague and underdeveloped part of the plot. It's frustrating because if that’s the outcome, I would have wanted to know more about it.
I give The Breach a solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to four out of five stars thanks to the excellent music and the conflict between the main trio. Recommended for fans of The Void, The Fly and The Mist. Rodrigo Gudiño delivers a different type of horror to that which I normally enjoy but I'm intrigued enough to check out more of his work.
★★★★☆
The Breach is distributed by Lightbulb Film Distribution and will be available on Amazon, Sky Store, Virgin Media, AppleTV and Google Play on 10 July 2023.
Redcaps are perhaps the most horrible of the unseelie creatures, so-called because they like to soak their caps in the blood of their many unfortunate victims. Of all the dark fae, they are my favourite: petty to the hilt and single-minded in their pursuit of mayhem, chaos and destruction. I've always wondered why so few filmmakers focus on the dark fae and was thrilled to see redcaps given the feature treatment in Jon Wright's folk horror Unwelcome.
Steeped in violence from the very first scene, Unwelcome opens with a brutal attack on Jamie (Douglas Booth) and his pregnant wife Maya (Hannah John-Kamen, Killjoys) in their London flat. Escaping the gangs and their urban trauma, the couple move to rural Ireland when Jamie inherits a house from his aunt Maeve. Maeve’s only request? That they leave a blood offering every evening, before sunset, for the fear dearg (or redcaps) living at the bottom of the garden. The consequences, if forgotten, would be disastrous for the couple and their unborn baby.
Desperate to be rid of their kindly neighbour Niamh (Niamh Cusack) and explore their new home together, Jamie and Maya mask their scepticism and agree to the bizarre request.
The first law of folk horror: don't make promises you have no intention of keeping
Knowing that they’ve inherited a fixer-upper, the couple dive right into a home improvement project with the help of Colm Whelan (Colm Meaney, Gangs of London) and his very strange offspring. Things get off to a bad start and rapidly go downhill from there.
The second law of folk horror: don’t piss off the locals
What is there left for a slightly naïve inner-city couple to do? Probably best for one to keep secrets, the other to gaslight them, and one to make a rather ill-advised deal with the fear dearg.
The third law of folk horror: never, ever make a bargain with the fae
With themes of trauma, delusions and promises that can’t be kept, Unwelcome explores taking back control in the face of adversity versus diving into the darkness and embracing the chaos. Sometimes hysterical laughter is the only reasonable option after all.
Unwelcome is a visual feast. From the old house to Maya’s yellow dress to the woods at the bottom of the garden, each scene is beautifully composed and brimming with colour. The redcaps were so well done. Director Jon Wright confirmed that they used actors Paul Warren, Rick Warden and stunt performers to play the redcaps and then filmed on double-sized sets to complete their appearance as little people. I genuinely would not want to run into one of them in a darkened forest.
The film features some legends of Irish film, including Colm Meaney and Niamh Cusack, but the whole cast is really good. Hannah John-Kamen shone as Maya and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell was utterly convincing as the brutish Aisling Whelan. I began to despise Jamie more with every passing scene, so kudos to Douglas Booth too for delivering an entirely flawed character.
Beware of the locals. All of them
There is a lot going on in Unwelcome. I liked that I could never quite tell who the real villains were and I also appreciated the parallel telling of the paranormal and human threats. I enjoyed the film a lot, right up until the very strange ending, and for the most part it was a thrilling ride.
I’m a little torn on how to rate Unwelcome. I would have liked to see far more on the mythology of the redcaps but ultimately appreciated that there wasn't a massive amount of exposition to weigh down a fast-paced film. I’m definitely on the fence about that weird ending though, even though I knew it was coming, but recommend to fans of folk horror and lovers of European folklore. I'm definitely interested enough to check out the work of director Jon Wright and screenwriter Mark Stay.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Exclusive, Unwelcome premieres on Friday 23 June 2023. Streaming Exclusively on Shudder and AMC+
It's early January and I'm sitting on a train, travelling through County Wicklow to Dublin. The rain is beating against the windows, the landscape outside is frigid and grey. Now is the perfect time to watch independent horror Bring Out the Fear, written and directed by Richard Waters and filmed in this very part of Ireland.
Bring Out the Fear should be a tale of cosy, winter bliss. Rosie (Ciara Bailey) and Dan (Tad Morari) take a long, outdoor walk to reconnect with nature and with each other. The only problem? Things are far from ideal between them and in a bad case of missing-all-cues-to-the-contrary and the worst-timing-ever, Dan decides to propose to Rosie on a romantic lookout point.
It does not go as planned.
Desperate to escape their increasingly awkward situation, Dan and Rosie rush to leave the forest and soon find themselves walking in circles. Could it be that someone is watching them? Does the forest not want them to leave?
Before long, the ghosts of their relationship begin to haunt them: the idea that things might not be as idyllic as Dan likes to believe, the spectre of Rosie's infidelity, Dan's inability to outrun the embarrassment of his failed proposal.
The question is: who will survive this impossible ordeal?
Bring Out the Fear was filmed almost entirely in a seemingly infinite forest in Wicklow, Ireland. The endlessly verdant background feels ever more claustrophobic and ominous and director Waters uses this setting to maximum effect. As Dan begins to blend more and more into the foliage, Rosie is a beacon of colour in her yellow raincoat.
The film is tense from the beginning and the horrors to come are heavily foreshadowed in both the opening scenes and title. That means little though, because the viewer is still piecing together the real source of evil here long after the credits have rolled.
An allegory for the humiliation and pain of a crumbling relationship, Bring Out the Fear is well-acted throughout with both Bailey and Morari enticing the viewer to share in every cringeworthy interaction between their characters Rosie and Dan. And just when viewers think they’ve got it all worked out following that rollercoaster of a climax, the final scene causes them to reconsider everything they thought they knew.
I give Bring Out the Fear an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to fans of claustrophobic folk horror. I'll be interested to see what Richard Waters brings to the Irish horror scene next.
★★★★☆
Bring Out the Fear is out now on Apple TV and iTunes. Visit the Bring Out the Fear official page for more viewing options.
I have an awkward confession to make: I'd never seen any of Dario Argento's work before viewing Dark Glasses. I'd heard great things about the use of colour, music and gore in his films and was keen to see something from the master of giallo.
Dark Glasses (Italian, original title Occhiali Neri) begins on the day of a solar eclipse in Rome. As the skies darken, we meet young escort, Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli), who stares up into the sun. As the eclipse burns itself onto her retinas and Diana is temporarily stunned, we get a foreboding sense of what is to come.
Elsewhere across Rome, a serial killer is targeting prostitutes, leaving only a handful of clues for the police to follow. Their murders are particularly cruel and gruesome with seemingly little motive.
When Diana finds herself targeted by the predator, she flees in her car only to get into a terrible accident. She wakes up in hospital and learns that she has lost her eyesight. Not only that but she has to come to terms with the tragic consequences of the accident.
As Diana fights to put the pieces of her life back together, she meets a young boy, Chin (Andrea Zhang), who also survived the accident. It doesn't take long for Diana to realise that the serial killer is still at large and he still has her within his sights. The only problem is that she can no longer see him coming and both her and Chin are in danger. With only her caseworker Rita (Asia Argento) to help her, will Diana and Chin survive the ordeal?
I liked Dark Glasses a lot. I loved cinematographer Matteo Cocco's use of colour and loved how the night scenes were drenched in shades of blue, red and yellow. He uses vanishing points and leading lines to draw the viewer in and to suffocate with claustrophobic terror. Watching this film was a visual feast.
Were it not for the gore, I'd class this as more than a thriller than a horror but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Arnaud Rebotini's haunting synthesiser score perfectly added to the tension and kept me right at the edge of my seat. I love it when films blend emotive music into the story, specially when it's done so effectively.
It's always a nice surprise when horror films have good actors. Ilenia Pastorelli did a great job as Diana, capturing the frustration, anger and grief that comes with losing something as important as eyesight. Her sarcasm and self-deprecation provided some welcome levity at times and her symbiotic relationship with Chin helped the plot along.
Likewise, it's always a good sign when horror films have a decent plot and Dark Glasses was okay. There were some Swiss cheese moments - for example when the killer changes his van colour but keeps it the same colour for the rest of the film - but overall, I liked the premise and the sneaky reveal at the end. Human nature is always going to be the best motive.
I give Dark Glasses an excellent four out of five stars. Fans of Dario Argento and giallo horror should like this one a lot.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Exclusive, Dark Glasses, premiers Thursday, October 13, 2022
I know, I know. It's not technically permitted to admit this in the horror community but I wasn't a fan of The Blair Witch Project. Somewhere between the extreme hype and lack of resolution, I was left feeling lukewarm. As a result, I tend to avoid found- or live-footage horror but Deadstream caught my eye and I decided to give it a chance.
The directorial debut of Joseph and Vanessa Winter, Deadstream is the story of reprehensible video stunt-blogger Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) (possibly the illegitimate lovechild of PewDiePie and Logan Paul), who comes out of forced retirement to go it alone in one of America's most haunted houses. Not the most haunted, you understand, because that would take actual money, but close enough.
Armed with just a head-cam, selfie-cam and his enormous ego, Ruddy acts with increasing stupidity, throwing his spark plugs into the trees and padlocking himself inside the house before throwing the key down a drain.
What could possibly go wrong?
I desperately want to say that the most scary thing about Deadstream is Ruddy's stupidity but I'd absolutely be lying. Let's just agree that deciding to watch the film - in the dark - at 5am on a Sunday morning (thanks insomnia) wasn't my finest 87 minutes. When it wasn't making me jump out of my skin and sending my very grumpy cat scarpering out the room, Deadstream made me cringe and gag in utter revulsion. The special effects might have been cheap but the effects were extremely grim.
For a live-footage horror film, Deadstream is extremely well made. The visuals were great for supposedly taking place in a dark, abandoned house and the plot device of the live video stream was very well done. The comments on the live stream were brilliant and made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion (sorry, cat), especially the one about how Ruddy looked like he'd been in a boxing match with Logan Paul.
Joseph Winter portrays Ruddy to perfection. He's despicable and irredeemable, unlikeable to the max. His 'fans' clearly want Ruddy to die and he's here for that. It helps that Ruddy has such a large catalog of controversies behind him because that helps move the plot along nicely. Special mention also goes to Melanie Stone in her role as Chrissy. No spoilers but there's a point in the film when Chrissy's disposition changes and it was chilling.
I enjoyed Deadstream a lot, much more than I expected to. It was scary and grim enough with a healthy side-helping of humour.
I give Deadstream an excellent four out of five stars. It's the first work I've seen from either Joseph Winter or Vanessa Winter but I'll be interested to see what they do in future. Recommended to fans of found footage, supernatural and comedy
horror.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Exclusive, Deadstream, premiers Thursday, October 6, 2022
The best parts of historical fiction are the ones that take us back to a certain time and a certain place. We get to learn more about what people wore, how they thought and what the atmosphere was like during that time. For me, historical fiction doesn't even need to be centred around major historical events, I'm just looking for glimpses into the past. When I picked up Sarah Beth Martin's In the Vanishing Hour, it was with this in mind - I was captivated by the idea of twin mysteries set in a small Massachusetts town in the early 1950s and 1970s.
Frances Adams is haunted by the death of her brother Mac in 1951. He was just a teenager when he drowned in the Charles River and Frances cannot escape the weight of his loss. When she gets a job as a window dresser in a department store, Frances meets model Gwen who invites her into a world of fashion, lights, fragrance and colour. It is a world where Frances can reinvent herself and become so much more than the sister of a dead brother.
When tragedy strikes again, Frances is drawn into a web of mysteries that will force her to confront not only her own past and that of her family, but also the secrets that Gwen sought to solve.
With hints of fern, teal and emerald in the book cover, In the Vanishing Hour is a whole mood. I loved being immersed in the heady days of late-50s fashions, propriety and women's aspirations to enter the workforce and be something more. This was contrasted with the yellow brown aesthetic of the early 70s, with a decidedly more laid-back vibe tinged with edges of regret.
Throughout the novel, Sarah Beth Martin digs deep into the impact of the events that haunt us, the mysteries that weigh us down and the impossible task of moving forward in a world that you never imagined for yourself.
I enjoyed In the Vanishing Hour both as a mystery and as a work of historical fiction. Mystery thrillers are no longer my bag, which is strange given that I read every Kellerman and Cornwell back in the day, but the mystery here was interesting and poignant enough to keep me interested with a lesser emphasis on danger and none of the gory details.
For a vivid and mysterious journey through time, I give In the Vanishing Hour an excellent four out of five stars.
★★★★☆
I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel from Book Sirens. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me
Ryan Kwanten and J.K. Simmons starting in a horror film together? Oh how Glorious, I'm definitely up for that! In all seriousness, though there's nothing serious about this film, Glorious is one to watch.
Wes (Ryan Kwanten) is in a Bad Place. Wracked with guilt and self-loathing, he's clearly made a mess of things and would do anything to get his girl back. Instead, he drives across the state before stopping at a rest stop, drinking his way to the bottom of a bottle and waking up feeling very worse for the wear. And that's when his trouble really begins and Wes learns how not to trust weird men in dingy bathrooms when they tempt you to stick body parts in holes with the whole known universe at stake.
Ghat (J.K. Simmons) is a being of impossible malevolence and destructive potential. He's also stuck in a toilet cubicle in the armpit of America and can't bear to be looked at but that's an other story entirely. All he needs in order to unleash his creator's every whim is to destroy the life of a completely innocent and undeserving man.
Because Wes is completely undeserving, right? And surely he's broken enough already after suffering an unbearable breakup, never mind his terrible upbringing?
Claustrophobic and grimy as they come, Glorious is very funny and a very enjoyable ride. You might never quite see Ghat in all his glory but J.K. Simmons commands the whole, shitty, disgusting space with just his voice. Well, you wouldn't expect any less from him, would you?
"Glorious speaks to my adoration of Lovecraft, gore, absurdist humor, philosophy, and the type of transgressive movies that leave you thinking I can’t believe I just saw that. It is a wild mix of horror, humor, and heady moralistic concepts about our own existential realizations of who we really are, forcing each of us to stare into our personal abyss. And sometimes, the abyss stares back… and maybe has a favor to ask." - director Rebekah McKendry
With belly laughs rather than jump scares and a generous side helping of toilet humour, Glorious is an excellent way to pass 1 hour, 19 minutes. Don't be fooled though, this is definitely horror and I look forward to what director Rebekah McKendry (All the Creatures Were Stirring) delivers next. Four stars from me.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Original Film, Glorious, premiers Thursday, August 18, 2022
I recently discovered that I like spooky short stories and in keeping with a 'horror is not only for Halloween' theme, I picked up the A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters short story collection. The byline says it all - Ho ho uh-oh. A collection of darkly weird winter and Christmas tales - I was definitely in the right place.
A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters is probably the most eclectic and diverse collection of short stories that I've read. Tied together by the theme of Christmas or winter, that is pretty much all they have in common with tales spanning multiple centuries, locations and realms, from the realistic to the fantastic.
It is this that makes the anthology uniquely readable. With each story taking about 20 minutes to read, you can pick up this collection any time you have some time to kill, be it at the doctor's office, waiting in a queue or, if you're especially brave, alone in the dark at 3am.
(As a lover of all things clown however, I can confirm that the combination of comical clown shoes with a classic Harlequin suit was truly frightening!)
I enjoyed A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters and give it four out of five stars. Recommended to fans of diverse and spooky fiction.
★★★★☆
A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters, edited by Rasta Musick and published by Cinnabar Moth Publishing, is available to buy on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com (note: both these links are affiliate links; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).
I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.
I had a suspicion, from the very first minute I heard about Thunderpaws and the Tower of London, that we are onto something special. I genuinely believe this might be the next great British phenomenon, the children's series to travel around the world and set young minds alight. I'd love to see this series come to life on the big screen and think it would be perfect as an animated series.
Teufel (pronounced Two-Full and translated from the German 'Devil') is a very proud cat of a very nice vicar. He lives a nice, boring life in Devon until one day his world turns upside down. All of a sudden, Teufel is transported to the Tower of London where his vicar is now a chaplain and there are more ghosts than he can shake a catnip tree at. Oh, and there are big, fat ravens too.
In time, Teufel, or Thunderpaws to those who know his clumsy ways, will learn that the ravens of the Tower of London are not to be touched but not before he has a wild adventure that takes him to Battersea Park, St Dunstan-in-the-East and Big Ben, all the while saving London and the world from the biggest threat yet.
There is a lot to love about Thunderpaws and the Tower of London. The print edition is absolutely exquisite with text doodles and beautiful colour illustrations by Japanese illustrator MonoKubo. If you're buying this book for Kindle, do ensure that you open it on the Kindle app from time to time to see those illustrations.
If, like me, your two major loves in life are cats and London, you're in for a real treat with Thunderpaws and the Tower of London. I really enjoyed the depiction of Thunderpaws as a snarky, teenage boy. I have a much-beloved 15-year-old boycat Seth, an old man now but very much master of his kingdom back in the day; he could be the white-and-black cousin of Thunderpaws, and author Ben Housden captured that big attitude perfectly. He's clearly been owned by a cat or two in his time.
Any good London-based tale will teach you a thing or two about our history and Thunderpaws and the Tower of London is jam-packed full of ghosts and historical figures, especially those who met their demise at the Tower. Speaking of ghosts, there is a whole host of ghost cats and wise mice, heroic rats and misunderstood polar bears.
Ben Housden states that Thunderpaws and the Tower of London is suitable for readers aged 9 to 90. As a seeker of superior middle grade and young adult fiction, would I recommend this book specifically to readers aged 9 to 15? Absolutely. It's funny and silly, with enough cat farts and manipulative miaows to keep most readers entertained.
My only complaint was that much of the book was heavily plot-driven, which can make for slow reading. The story really ramps up towards the end though and we see Teufel's character begin to develop. As I often do at the end of series, I may well revise my rating up once I've read the sequel.
For being the most original book I've read this year, I give Thunderpaws and the Tower of London an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to everybody, especially fans of Rivers of London, A Street Cat Named Bob, A Darker Shade of Magic and The Infernal Devices.
★★★★☆
I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.
They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover; 'they' being the type of people who clearly don't read books because I always judge books by their covers. Case in point, I knew I was going to read Andrew S. French's The Arcane the minute I saw that cover, James Helps's design is exquisite and perfect for this book. The good news? I really enjoyed the story too.
Sixteen-year-old child prodigy Alice is studying biology, physics and mathematics at Teesside University when her logical, carefully-curated world of science is turned upside-down. In the course of one particularly life-threatening evening, she learns that the twin-sister-she-never-knew-she-had kills monsters. Cue record scratch.
Part one of the Arcane duology, The Arcane is a young adult, urban fantasy set in the UK. If you're a fan of Supernatural, Buffy, Lucifer or Doctor Who, you'll feel very comfortable with an all-star cast that includes vampires, werewolves, angels, demons and an unexpected encounter with Medusa. There's even some timey-wimey, space travel stuff to add to the madness. I'm definitely not going to spoil more of the story because it was enjoyable letting it unfold. Suffice to say, discovering you have an identical twins raises questions.
The Arcane is a lot of fun. I really appreciated that each twin had a unique voice and personality. It was amusing seeing Alice desperately trying to frame everything she was seeing within logic and science, despite the increasing evidence that physics had left the building. I also loved the pop culture references and the song titles for chapter names.
The only problem I have with The Arcane was that unforgivable cliffhanger. I haven't scrambled that quickly for a sequel in years! The good news, dear reader, is that both The Arcane and sequel The Arcane Identity are out now to buy. I suggest you buy them together. For a wild rollercoaster ride of a book, paranormal shenanigans and making me crave more, I give The Arcane an excellent four out of five stars.
★★★★☆
I'm taking part in The Arcane blog tour. Definitely visit the other blogs on the tour for more reviews and other snippets.
I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.
I'm a proud zombie fan and lover of the dead. I feel it necessary to get that out the way because I was always going to like Ryan Parrott' and Evgeniy Bornyakov's Dead Day, the question was simply: how much. The thing about the genre is that you can make the rules up as you go along and that is done brilliantly in this latest graphic novel about the dead rising again. To be clear, Parrott states up from that this is not a zombie story.
The inspiration for Dead Day came from extremely painful events in Parrott's own life: the murder of his grandparents. In the aftermath, he asked himself what he would say to them if they could gone back for just one night. And what would that night look like? What if it happened the whole world over?
Dead Day is set in that world where the dead come back - every now and again - for just one night and loose ends are tied up. The only problem? Dead things are best left as they are.
Dead Day is gorgeous and I was drawn in immediately by the cover and concept. Evgeniy Bornyakov (Descendent, You Are Obsolete) is the artist and Juancho! is responsible for the vibrant, lush colours. Letterers often go unmentioned but I really liked Charles Pritchett's letters and the manner in which he distinguished between narration and story.
Recommended if you like: The Walking Dead, The Purge
I liked Dead Day a lot and will definitely be keeping an eye on what Parrott, Bornyakov, Juancho! and Pritchett do next. Will be great if they work together again.
Amazon (affiliate link; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you)
I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel from Netgalley. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.
Image Credits © Evgeniy Bornyakov / Juancho!
There is a weight that comes with grief; a drowning, suffocating heaviness that pulls you under moments before guilt begins its reign of carnage. But what of real culpability and true guilt? What of inescapable ghosts and demons? Writer and director Russell Owen tackles these themes in the disturbing and desolate Shepherd.
Eric Black (Tom Hughes) is sleepwalking through life, barely keeping it together following the loss of his pregnant wife. He is plagued by nightmares and living amongst the detritus of their life together. The traces of his wife are all around him - lipstick on a tea cup, an ultrasound in a drawer. Realising that his days of calling off work are numbered, Eric answers an advertisement for a shepherd on a desolate Western Isle.
With just his dog Baxter for company, Eric lands on an island with a barren, windswept landscape and a lighthouse with no working light. It is an omen that he doesn't see, an indication that no lives will be saved here, no souls shepherded.
Indeed, the partially-sighted Fisher (Kate Dickie), part seer, part ferryman, observes that something is haunting Eric and she hopes that he is able to confront it.
The problem is that Eric's journey of self-ruin began a long time ago and soon life on the island, with the constant tolling of the fog bells and relentless wind, begin to play on the last remaining vestiges of his sanity.
The island plays such a great role in Shepherd that it should be credited as a character. While some cinematographers choose to juxtapose psychological horror with vistas of beautiful landscapes and natural beauty, Richard Stoddard chooses to match the despair and desolation of Eric's grief with barren, grey and monotone cinematography. It is effective and utterly claustrophobic, both within the shepherd's cottage and outside on the hills.
There is but one scene of starlight and beauty, notable for its fleeting appearance. This is no happy tale.
The cast of Shepherd is tiny. In addition to Hughes and Dickie, Eric's mother is played by an unrecognisable Greta Scacchi while his wife Rachel is played by Gaia Weiss.
Both Scacchi and Dickie provide structure and malice to Eric's rapidly unravelling experience. Scacchi is his sense of guilt and self-flagellation, an utterly cruel and unloving mother who will not let him go. Meanwhile, Dickie as Fisher reminds Eric of the debt he will have to settle, of the inevitability of his reckoning. Both Scacchi and Dickie give superb performances, buoyed by a menacing and well-written script.
While it's true that grief is familiar ground for writers of psychological horror, Shepherd manages to set itself apart with a truly gruesome climax and disturbing reveal. Shepherd opens with a quote from Dante's Inferno, referencing Hypsipyle as pregnant and alone, and the resulting guilt that Virgil must endure. This thread flows throughout the film as we come to realise that Eric is faced with his own version of Hell, with its shackles of grief and guilt, of the fate of his unborn child and the horror that awaits us all.
Directed by horror veteran Russell Owen, Shepherd had its World Premiere at BFI London Film Festival and will be in UK / EIRE Cinemas from 12th November.
I'm so pleased I chose historic fiction as my theme for my holiday away in Spain. My second read is especially relevant as I've chosen Jules Hayes's The Spanish Girl, a historic novel spanning both the Spanish Civil War in the 30s and the death of Franco and subsequent rise of the Basque separatist movement in the 70s.
I initially believed that The Spanish Girl wasn't for me, incorrectly believing it to be a light romance novel. Granted, I'd sought out that exact genre due to suggestions from other readers on how to overcome my pandemic reading slump, but The Spanish Girl exceeded my expectations in every way.
The Spanish Girl begins in December 1937, at the height of the Spanish civil war, with a young boy witnessing the horrific murder of a mother and newborn baby. The reader is swiftly transported to Bilbao, Spain in May 1976 where journalist Isabella prepares to meet with a member of the Basque nationalist movement.
Isabella soon learns of an incredible personal connection between the people she is meeting and her own mother who disappeared before Isabella ever met her. Told through alternating timelines between the 30s and 70s, we learn of the full story of Isabella's parents and how she comes to learn about her own true history.
This the the second novel I've read about Franco's Spain, the first being Ruta Sepetys's excellent historic novel The Fountains of Silence. Both novels have served to make me thirsty to learn more about Spain in the 20th century, which makes sense seeing as I spend so much time here.
The Spanish Girl is a rich and powerful novel, invoking the sights and aromas of Spain with vivid descriptions of its music, geography and food. The vibrancy and colour of this beautiful country is juxtaposed with the horror and violence of the Spanish civil war, fascism and terrorism, all of which is brought to life by Hayes's impressive research.
For bringing to life two pivotal moments in Spain's history, I give The Spanish Girl an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to lovers of historical fiction, especially non-WWII history. Don't get me wrong, I've read a lot of WWII history myself but steer towards non-fiction accounts of WWII lately.
★★★★☆
I received an electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.
