Devouring Horror One Bloody Chunk At A Time….
Horror is a mayhem-fueled world of slashers, zombies, ghosts, aliens, psychos and monsters. Films in the genre often provide diversionary relief from the just-as-stressful realities of pandemics, insurrections, racism, culture wars, polarizing politics and, well, monsters. (Here’s looking at you, Trump.) Oops. Guess I just […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVHorror is a mayhem-fueled world of slashers, zombies, ghosts, aliens, psychos and monsters.
Films in the genre often provide diversionary relief from the just-as-stressful realities of pandemics, insurrections, racism, culture wars, polarizing politics and, well, monsters. (Here’s looking at you, Trump.)
Oops. Guess I just played my part in polarization. As the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials say, “Not sorry!”
Anyway, I look forward to a bit of escapism, and horror movies are but one outlet, though satisfyingly so in the sense of burning off a little adrenaline. Hence an evening set aside to watch Sacrilege, getting its DVD and digital release this month from DevilWorks and Bad Blood Films. Set and filmed in the United Kingdom, it boasts the enticing tagline “face your fears.”
We’ll do what critics do in a minute, but first the premise: Four female friends plan a retreat at a remote lodge where they can reconnect, relax, get high and, as it turns out, attend a pagan group’s Solstice festival.
What could go wrong?
Intending just to watch the ritual unfold, the women — Kayla (Tamarya Payne), Trish (Emily Wyatt), Blake (Sian Abrahams) and Stacey (Naomi Willow) — are egged on by new acquaintance Vinnie (Jon Glasgow) to loosen up and play along. To that end, they write down the things they fear the most and then strip to their bras and join the cultists as they dance around a roaring fire, all under the watchful eye of the goddess Mabon, a “scary” collection of sticks and antlers.
As you might expect, the dawn of a new day brings a few surprises that correlate to their worst fears. First up is Blake, whose fear of dogs plays out in a solo scene when she’s swimming in the lodge pool. What looks to be a rather large Rottweiler frightens the bejesus out of her before mysteriously disappearing.
Kayla, who fears her just-out-of-prison abusive ex-boyfriend, Tyler (David English), starts seeing him in what she hopes are just nightmares. Trish is scared of bugs and Stacey fears losing her good looks to old age. Fittingly, she struts around in her scenes with cell phone in hand, snapping one selfie after another. She has a couple of horrific episodes where … let’s just say the mirror is not her friend.
I’m pleased to say Stacey is the first to go. Her selfie act becomes so annoying as to make viewers want to leap into the scene and do the dirty deed themselves.
So as not to spoil anything, I’ll forego further details, not that you can’t guess with almost 100 percent accuracy what’s going to happen in this cookie-cutter plot.
To say Sacrilege isn’t breaking new ground is an understatement. We all know pagan cults are up to no good, and this foursome has been branded sacrificial Solstice lambs.
It’s that predictability that is the film’s undoing, because it’s a good-looking effort with a few decent jolts, decent effects, decent dialogue, decent acting and decent directing by David Creed. The cinematography is better than decent, but the script is so timeworn as to be an indecent affront to horror aficionados.
You’ve seen this 100 times before, from Race With the Devil to The Wicker Man. Had there been an ounce of inventiveness here, Sacrilege might have been something more than a pretty picture. As it is, the movie wastes what appears to be a healthy budget by offering up little suspense and lots of deja vu.
And that’s the real sacrilege.
Director Jamison M. LoCasio’s new feature Know Fear is coming to digital on March 12 from Terror Films, and we have the trailer for you, Horror Fans! A creepy, demon-summoning book lurks in the basement of a house that just happens to have new tenants. […]
Movies & TV NewsDirector Jamison M. LoCasio’s new feature Know Fear is coming to digital on March 12 from Terror Films, and we have the trailer for you, Horror Fans!
A creepy, demon-summoning book lurks in the basement of a house that just happens to have new tenants. That’s like a horror nerd’s blankie, right there…warm and cozy! Of course, they find the book and demon stuff happens. So, naturally, the new homeowners use the book to do a ritual to rid themselves of their new supernatural baddies in what ends up being a pretty interesting twist on the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil proverb.
Know Fear stars Amy Carlson (Blue Bloods), Mallory Bechtel (Hereditary), and David Alan Basche (War of the Worlds).
Call me crazy, but when I saw a trailer for a film that seemed to be about the origin of a new urban legend and a creepy clown, I got excited. Sure, the idea is one that has been done to death, but I’m always […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVCall me crazy, but when I saw a trailer for a film that seemed to be about the origin of a new urban legend and a creepy clown, I got excited. Sure, the idea is one that has been done to death, but I’m always hopeful that a new take on it will rise from the ashes and blow me away. Well, once again, my optimism wound up getting slammed face-down in the shitter. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now, right? Yeah, me too. Anyway, stick with me as I tell you a little about a tale brought to us by the writing team of Jen Mathiasen and Ryan McGonagle and director Anthony Hall called The Legend of Fall Creek.
Starting out, The Legend of Fall Creek feels the need to educate us by giving us a definition of “grindhouse.” I personally found this amusing since most horror fans are very well aware of what the term means. Their definition prepared me for what I was getting ready to watch since it basically warned that good acting and an understandable plot were being replaced by gore, sex and other “shocking” themes. Well, hell yeah!
Once the schooling session fades, we’re read the backstory. Essentially, a young boy named Robert Maxwell attended a classmate’s Halloween party around 20 years ago where he was bullied into having a panic attack which was accompanied by a nosebleed. Naturally, a group of several asshole kids chased poor Bobby out of the house and down the road into a wooded area called Devil’s Den, and guess what? The group of kids returned to the party, but not Bobby. He was never found. Folks claimed that they saw his ghost walking along the road on Halloween night, wearing his costume and leaving a trail of blood from his nose. Thus, the legend of Bloody Bobby is born. Scared yet? Wait.
Essentially, The Legend of Fall Creek is one of those movies where something bad happens in a small town. Everyone knows everyone else and they all remember what happened, but no one really talks about it unless it’s brought up, like a dirty little secret. Anyway, our main characters of the story are an awkward fella by the name of Reggie (Curt Clendenin), his cousin Tiffany (Christy Keller). After several years away, Reggie comes back to his hometown for reasons I really don’t remember, but I’m sure it’s mentioned somewhere in the movie. This brings me to another pointer when it comes to watching this movie, be sure to pay attention to the horrible dialogue between characters because it’s kind of key if you want to make any sense out of the mess of a story.
So, basically, once these two cousins head into town, we find out that there’s a big Halloween party that everyone’s going to be at, including Reggie’s high school crush, Madison (Anita Leeman Torres). It’s decided that Tiffany and Reggie are going to the party, but Reggie has to figure out his costume. After a cheesy montage of going through masks and voices, he finally decides on the most generic, most predictable costume idea of them all…a creepy clown. Shocking, innit?
Once they arrive at the party, Reggie recognizes most of the attendees as the folks who bullied him 20 years ago in school, and he’s obviously not thrilled to see them again. Funny enough, after Reggie shows up at the party, people begin to die. It’s pretty obvious that Reggie is the killer…or is he?! Does Reggie have some kind of connection with Bobby Maxwell? IS he Bobby Maxwell? I know, but I’m not telling.
What I will tell you is that The Legend of Fall Creek is just a hot mess. It has its moments, but they’re few and far between. I honestly feel like this film should have had a laugh track. Like I mentioned before, the filmmakers freely admit that the acting is not good and there’s not a sensible plot. As far as the gore, nudity and violence that are also mentioned are concerned, they are disappointingly lacking. The grindhouse approach falls flat and detracts from the movie. Weird, psychedelic blurry effects are used in the kill scenes and it makes it really difficult to tell what’s going on. In a nutshell, The Legend of Fall Creek is worth your time only if you have time to waste. It’s currently available on nearly all streaming platforms.
On February 9, Gravitas Ventures and Kamikaze Dogfight will deliver Necropath, a new horror film by Joshua Reale that, according to its press materials, will also deliver us a new horror icon. We won’t go that far–yet–but the trailer looks promising. Necropath is a grimy, […]
Movies & TV NewsOn February 9, Gravitas Ventures and Kamikaze Dogfight will deliver Necropath, a new horror film by Joshua Reale that, according to its press materials, will also deliver us a new horror icon. We won’t go that far–yet–but the trailer looks promising.
Necropath is a grimy, grindy-looking nightmare that depicts what happens when a deranged butcher does his thing during an extremely viral pandemic, a timely coincidence if ever there was one. As society crumbles and nefarious conspiracies are uncovered, an abandoned girl is forced to protect her baby sister while she fights for survival.
The film stars Moe Isaac, Nathan Faudree, Cassandra Hayes, Lillian Colvin, Natalie Colvin and Shain Hence.
Watch the trailer for Necropath below, Horror Fans, and watch for the movie on demand and digital February 9….
Happy 2021, readers! What a crazy ride it’s been, yeah? Well, I’m glad to be here sharing my two cents with you once again. So, this is going to be a little different from my previous reviews, as I’m going to be telling you a […]
Book Reviews Books & ComicsHappy 2021, readers! What a crazy ride it’s been, yeah? Well, I’m glad to be here sharing my two cents with you once again. So, this is going to be a little different from my previous reviews, as I’m going to be telling you a little bit about a fantastic coffee table book that is, quite frankly, the most breathtakingly gorgeous thing I’ve laid eyes on. This beauty comes from author J.W. Rinzler and is simply called, The Making of Aliens and it was just released by Titan Books in August of 2020.
This 256-page book is full of every behind-the-scenes treat a die-hard fan of the Aliens film could ask for and more. Pages of gorgeous never-before, or rarely ever seen photographs and concept art fill the book. In addition to the photographs, there are numerous enjoyable, informative interviews with the cast and crew of Aliens. The making of this film was certainly no walk in the park. The way that J.W. Rinzler writes about the timeline of the film’s production, it’s like you can imagine yourself sitting alongside James Cameron and feeling his frustrations and being witness to his thought processes or being in a casting meeting as changes in the script and lineup seem to be unending and wondering how or if Sigourney Weaver would even want to come back to the role of Ellen Ripley. For anyone who thinks that filmmaking is an easy task, this is absolutely the book to read, as it’ll make you reconsider your opinion.
Once again, The Making of Aliens is not a short read, but there are just so many neat things you become aware of once you start. There are a lot of trivia items that could come in handy when you want to make yourself seem cool, there’s a lot of information and description about the special effects used and how the sets were designed and brought to life. I don’t want to give a lot away, because as I said earlier, The Making of Aliens is just the one definitive item that every fan of Aliens needs to have in their collection. Even if you’re not a big reader, just flipping through the pages and looking at all of the visual goodies included is more than satisfying.
I really can’t recommend The Making of Aliens enough. J.W. Rinzler has done a fantastic job in compiling all of the information and research to bring this book to light. Again, it’s not only an entertaining read, but you really do learn so much as you read from cover to cover. If Santa didn’t bring you anything that great this past Christmas, I’d suggest picking yourself up a copy of this book. If you do follow my advice, let me know what you think once you’ve read it!
Happy Holidays, Horror Fans! Oklahoma City, Oklahoma maverick Mickey Reece is back with a terrifying new nightmare about one of our genre’s tried and true baddies – the vampire! And while we readily admit there’s no shortage of vampire flicks out there, whether you’re into […]
Movies & TV NewsHappy Holidays, Horror Fans! Oklahoma City, Oklahoma maverick Mickey Reece is back with a terrifying new nightmare about one of our genre’s tried and true baddies – the vampire! And while we readily admit there’s no shortage of vampire flicks out there, whether you’re into handsome and sparkly or gross and hungry, one thing the trailer for Reece’s bloody stab at this well-worn subgenre makes clear is that Climate of the Hunter is unlike anything we’ve seen yet when it comes to fanged fiends on celluloid.
You can read the press release and watch the trailer for Climate of the Hunter below, Horror Fans….
Dark Star Pictures has acquired critically acclaimed indie auteur Mickey Reece’s award-winning and super stylish vampire feature Climate of the Hunter.
The film, lauded by critics as a “gloriously quirky cinematic feat” (Rue Morgue) and “an instant cult classic” (Film Freak Central), releases in select theaters this December ahead of an On Demand release January 2021.
Two sisters, Alma and Elizabeth, along with a dog who’s described as a “philosopher,” have come to Alma’s remote house to reconnect with Wesley after twenty years. Alma is recently divorced, Elizabeth is a workaholic in Washington, D.C., while Wesley lives in Paris dealing with a wife recently struck with a fatal disease. When the three come together for dinner it has all the makings of a lovely adult melodrama about loneliness, and the desire to connect and share our lives with someone… but we must add to the mix one otherworldly piece of information: Wesley could be a vampire.
Ginger Gilmartin, Mary Buss, Ben Hall, and Jacob Ryan Snovel star in a Mickey Reece film. Climate of the Hunter is in select theaters December 18 and On Demand January 12, 2021.
Hello Readers! I hope you all had a decent Thanksgiving celebration and are doing okay out there. Usually, I kick my reviews off with an introduction of sorts, but I’m just going to jump right in and tell you a little bit about yet another […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVHello Readers! I hope you all had a decent Thanksgiving celebration and are doing okay out there. Usually, I kick my reviews off with an introduction of sorts, but I’m just going to jump right in and tell you a little bit about yet another home invasion movie. Oh, and the home invaders are a bunch of disturbed and deranged psychopaths, including one who wears a mask. *heavy sigh*
Haven’t we had our fill of this premise yet?!
The general story of Derelicts is that a not-so-perfect family tries to come together to celebrate Thanksgiving as usual. As we see early on, the imperfect family is more dysfunctional than they want to admit. We’ve got a pair of horny elders, who like to bang one (or more) out throughout the day. There’s the perverted son, who likes his shower time for…reasons. The father figure of the family is a sullen type who has his own sexually deviant secrets. His wife is just a bitchy mom type who’s just kind of around to bitch and take up space. Finally, there’s the pretty daughter who naturally has issues of her own.
So, as the day moves on, we’re let in on just how fucked up this family truly is. These are the type of people who need something horrible to happen to them. Lo and behold, the home invaders arrive, and I’ve gotta tell you, this gang is made up of some of the ugliest folks I’ve seen in a while. This crew includes a wedding gowned Courtney Love-looking gal, a clenched-toothed dim bulb, an Otis Driftwood-inspired group leader and, of course, the screaming, non-verbal one who wears a gutted teddy bear as a mask.
Anyway, so once the invasion begins, things get even more weird and disturbing. I’m not going to spoil anything else. However, I will say that nothing story-wise—if there really even IS a story—makes any sense at all. So basically, Derelicts is just a dysfunctional family versus an even more dysfunctional family, a blood-soaked hour and ten minutes of “what the fuck am I watching?!”
Derelicts comes to us from the writing trio of Brett Glassburg (writer/director), Andre Evrenos and Clay Shirley, and the fine folks at Terror Films and Batchain Productions. Derelicts is essentially a mashup of everything Troma and Rob Zombie. If you’re one who enjoys a ton of gore, geriatric porn, really bad acting and a story that doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense, then Derelicts is an absolute must-see. You can currently find Derelicts on VOD.
I remember in the early ‘70s when the Good Doctor was barely an intern. Pop Mality took me downtown to one of the local theaters (this being the fondly remembered days before mall multiplexes took over) to see a peculiar film called The Legend of […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVI remember in the early ‘70s when the Good Doctor was barely an intern. Pop Mality took me downtown to one of the local theaters (this being the fondly remembered days before mall multiplexes took over) to see a peculiar film called The Legend of Boggy Creek. It was an odd low-budget flick that used a semi-documentary style to look at the stories of a man-like monster haunting the swampy backwoods near Fouke, Arkansas. The movie made a huge impact on me (the creature’s cry was hair-raising) and actually went on to become a huge success. The Boggy Creek Beast was no script-writer creation; it was based on many eyewitness reports.
It was the first of many movies I’ve seen on the subject of mystery hominids, a subject that continues to fascinate me. They range from the ridiculously abysmal (The Curse of Bigfoot, The Capture of Bigfoot) to well-done and intriguing (Hammer’s Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas was a great one) and hit all points in between. Quality documentaries on the subject of Bigfoot and other wildmen are few and far between, so when I got the chance to see this very contemporary look at the phenomenon, I jumped on it like a dog on a juicy bone.
I’m happy to report that Sasquatch Among the Wildmen—this brief but packed documentary—is well worth a look. So much so that even a lot of confirmed Sasquatch skeptics can watch this and feel it was time well spent. Apparently, director Darcy Weir has done a previous doc on the subject of Bigfoot, which I will have to track down and see.
Bigfoot/wildmen documentaries can go down a variety of paths. First, there are “storyteller” and “recreation” films that feature lots of spoken reports from witnesses and staged recreations of Bigfoot encounters, often with little outside confirmation of events. Then you get the “Great White Hunter” documentaries with a lot of big, bearded guys blundering around in night vision scenes yelling “What was that?” Those you see clogging up reality TV. Some look at the Bigfoot phenomenon from a paranormal or supernatural angle, which is an intriguing take that should not be easily dismissed, but which wind up being highly speculative at best. Then there are hard science documentaries that look at the wildmen strictly as undiscovered species of animal. Sasquatch Among the Wildmen firmly falls into this last notch.
The scientific approach used here is admirably rigid. In the first five minutes, we are introduced to Dr. Jeff Meldrum from the University of Idaho, who is the most respected investigator of Bigfoot in the world right now. When the soft-spoken and unsensational Dr. Meldrum painstakingly describes the foot morphology of primates and how it relates to the many mysterious hominid casts in his possession, it’s about the furthest you can possibly get from a crackpot tossing out wild theories in Youtube videos. Meldrum’s presence gives this documentary instant credibility.
Another great thing about Sasquatch Among the Wildmen is that it lives up to its title…it takes a look at man-beast sightings around the world, not just the American and Canadian locations that have been done to death. The Chinese Yeren, the Russo-Mongolian Almas, the Middle Eastern Dev and several other variants are looked at. The nitpicker in me wishes they would have mentioned something about the “rock apes” of Vietnam that many American servicemen saw during the war there, as well as the Australian Yowie. The truth is, there are so many hominids being seen all over the world that it would take hours to get to them all.
Even better, the documentary mentions the important differences in these creatures. One of the worst traits of many who write about cryptid creatures is how they are all lumped together under one name. The Chinese Yeren or the Sumatran Orang Pendek become “Bigfoot”, despite the fact that they are very different from the lumbering giants of the Pacific Northwest. The Orang Pendek tops out at about four and a half feet tall, which doesn’t sound much like Bigfoot, yet lazy journalists describe the creature just that way. The same thing happens with lake and ocean monsters…a creature spotted in a Russian lake becomes “The Loch Ness Monster” because it’s easy for lazy people to use that name instead of the one the locals use.
This approach does NOT happen here. The beasts are given their proper names and unique characteristics. For example, the Almas is described as being more man-like than the more apish Sasquatch. It may possibly be a relict population of Neanderthals or other primitive human offshoots. I’m glad the makers of the documentary took this more painstaking but accurate approach…it helps to raise this above many other takes on the subject.
Sasquatch Among the Wildmen also is not afraid to include skeptical opinions. Many witnesses of the Yeren are asked about the Chinese wildman, but one of China’s foremost anthropologists is quite dismissive of the reports. He believes the witnesses are misidentifying gibbons or other known species of ape. It’s hard to imagine this would be the case in every instance, but it could certainly be true in some cases. In another segment, a couple of famous YouTube videos are easily disposed of as obvious fakes. This gives the documentary a lot more believability on the whole. It’s the opposite of the infamous early ‘70s “documentary” The Legend of Bigfoot by Ivan Marx, where the “authentic footage” was obviously people running around the woods in a suit.
There’s also some new video footage of hominids that I haven’t seen before. Most documentary clips are the same ones such as the Patterson/Gimlin footage that have been making the rounds for years, but this program is really up to date and has very recent clips. One sequence of some Iraqis filming a “Dev” in a cave is startling because it shows the “eyeshine” of the hairy creature…something human beings don’t have. It also seems to grimace showing some teeth. The rest of the clip is pretty blurry, which seems to be a prerequisite for man-beast footage, but this particular segment is unique enough to really grab your interest and it also focuses on one of the least-known hominids, the Dev of the Middle East. Is the footage “real”? That’s really up to each person to decide.
While the first half of Sasquatch Among the Wildmen looks at worldwide variants of the creature, the second half returns us to the more familiar stomping grounds of North America. Several more scientific aspects of Bigfoot are looked at, including the existence of “nests” in very remote areas and analysis of the cryptid’s howls, wails and other noises. A Sasquatch convention is visited and the opinions of experts like Shane Corson and David Ellis are sought. Not a lot of time is spent looking at the actual convention itself, but the attendees don’t seem to be especially strange and the event is well attended.
Some time is spent with members of a group called The Olympia Project, who scour the forests of the Pacific Northwest in search of Sasquatch evidence. There’s a lot of excitement when they venture into an extremely remote and isolated area of the Olympia National Forest and find a large amount of what look like Bigfoot “nests”…circular constructions of brush created by something large. A couple of experienced forest rangers admit they’ve not seen anything quite like it. Dr. Meldrum is called in to examine the nests as well and very careful measurements are taken. Could the “nests” be just what they claim…or is something else responsible? As is usual in most documentaries about the unknown, no firm conclusion is reached, but when Meldrum, the rangers and the Olympia Project members are excitedly shown examining and talking about the nests, it’s hard to not to feel their enthusiasm.
Another aspect of Bigfoot that’s looked at is the numerous sound recordings taken in connection with the cryptid. For this part of the documentary, “bioacoustics” expert David Ellis is interviewed. Bioacoustics studies the sounds made by animals and other living things. Ellis uses advanced equipment to look at some of the howls, growls, hoots and snorts that are attributed to Bigfoot and see how they match up to known animals. Coyotes, bears and cougars are compared to the unknown racket and are pretty quickly eliminated as contenders.
They also look at the phenomenon of “wood knocking” and “rock clacking” associated with Sasquatch and his kin. Ellis and an associate are shown in a forest at night making their own noises and getting some kind of response from the dark. The knocks and clacks are kind of dicey because who knows if it’s not some joker out in the woods having some fun? The actual growls are more convincing, and Ellis finds that some of the Bigfoot roars are very close in tone to the kind of grunt made by wild baboons…of which there are not many in the Pacific Northwest.
Up to this point, Sasquatch Among the Wildmen has been a pretty fast-moving and entertaining documentary. But right after Ellis’ segment, everything abruptly comes to a halt. It’s almost like the makers ran out of money and pulled the plug. And that’s really the difference between what was a good documentary and what could have been a GREAT documentary. This feature runs for about an hour and 15 minutes and that’s barely enough time to even skim the surface of this subject, especially when you are talking about wildmen across the world. If this would have been two hours, it could have maybe been the best documentary ever on this subject. As it is, I still recommend it for those interested in the topic of mysterious man-beasts. This feature will make even the skeptical think more deeply about what could be traipsing around the forests and mountains of the world.
You know a film is bad when I can’t even figure out how to begin my review of it. I’m honestly at a loss for words after watching a movie written and directed by Stuart Stanton called, No Such Thing as Monsters. As usual, I […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVYou know a film is bad when I can’t even figure out how to begin my review of it. I’m honestly at a loss for words after watching a movie written and directed by Stuart Stanton called, No Such Thing as Monsters. As usual, I was intrigued by the trailer because it looked like there was potential for a good, gory tale. I know I should have known better, but I was weak. Don’t judge, we’ve all been there at times.
No Such Thing as Monsters starts off decently. We meet Mary (Angel Giuffria) and David (Matthew Clarke), a young couple who seemingly get along well enough. David proposes that they take a romantic camping trip, in a camper, to a remote area of the Australian bush, but Mary is hesitant to agree with the idea because staying in a camper makes her claustrophobic. Eventually, David persuades her to trust his plan and off they go.
They arrive at their destination and things are okay, until a van full of crazies rolls up on the same supposedly remote area. This bunch of weirdos winds up being your stereotypical deranged and inbred family. There’s the slutty sister, the sister who’s the “normal” looking leader of the group, the gross brother and the creepy, silent, little sister who always wears a mask. So, after seeing that there’s something way off with these people—instead of driving away and going back home where they’d be safe—Mary and David decide to be friendly to the group. This is one of the many stupid choices the couple makes throughout the movie.
Mary and David wind up being kidnapped and transported to the family’s house. Mary is kept captive in the claustrophobic camper, while David is tied to a bed inside of the house and used by the females of the family for…reasons. Both of them are used and abused by several members of the family and are essentially seen as nothing more than familial playthings. In a strange plot twist, the little mask-wearing sister winds up not being quite so terrifying, as she tries to offer help to both Mary and David at times, but are her actions and motives really so innocent? As the story moves forward, a lot of weird and confusing shit happens with little to no reason as to why these events take place. Once this happens, the story falls apart.
No Such Thing as Monsters could have been a great film if the focus would have been to tell a complete and logical story. It seems that the writing team of Stuart Stanton and Karen Elgar had a good story to tell, but I think their execution sadly focused more on being disturbing rather than sensible, and in turn, it made No Such Thing as Monsters a highly frustrating film to watch. If you want to try giving this film a watch for yourself, it’s currently available on VOD.
Ten years ago today I wrote the words, “Welcome to Ravenous Monster….” A few short paragraphs later this website lurched off the slab as I roared, “It’s alive! It’s ALIVE!” And the rest, as they say, is history. I want to humbly acknowledge this milestone […]
Featured Article NewsTen years ago today I wrote the words, “Welcome to Ravenous Monster….” A few short paragraphs later this website lurched off the slab as I roared, “It’s alive! It’s ALIVE!” And the rest, as they say, is history.
I want to humbly acknowledge this milestone and say thank you to our small but loyal readership—our Horror Fans. Thank you for giving our content a shot and for giving us an audience for our musings. I also want to thank all the Ravenous Monster writers, past and present, whose work and words have fueled this thing.
As I wrote a decade ago, there wasn’t really a void that needed to be filled. And that remains true today. So why do this? Well, for as many times as I’ve asked myself that same question over the years, you’d think the reason would be profound or at least complex. But it’s actually super simple. I’m a writer. And I love horror movies. So, me writing about horror movies is just how the universe works. I might as well share it with you. And since that requires a “sharing infrastructure,” i.e. a website, I figure other people who share my talents and tastes might as well use Ravenous Monster as a conduit to write about horror for an audience too.
That’s it.
As a result, I’ve forged some fantastic relationships, both creatively and professionally, not to mention meeting some of my best friends. Along the way I’ve also gotten to meet some of my childhood heroes, I’ve gotten to enjoy some incredible art, and I’ve learned a ton.
As I type these words, I have every intention of checking in a decade from now to thank you again. Like all labors of love, sometimes this one leans toward labor and other times it leans toward love. The quality of every facet of this website ebbs and flows with the tide of what’s going on in the real world and how that affects my life and the lives of our contributors. But even so. Writers write. And writers who love horror write about horror. It’s that simple.
Thanks for reading.