Phil Slattery

15 Movies to Watch Before You Put Together Your 2015 “Best of” List

I will probably have to drive three hours to Albuquerque to see the horror films mentioned here, but I think they’ll be worth it.

Movies, Films & Flix

It is nearing the end of the year which means the world will be inundated with “best of” lists. I will be guilty of releasing several lists and I’ve already started soul searching in order to produce the most pretentious 1-10 on the planet. The following 15 movies might have gone under your radar and I wanted to get them some press. In an effort to keep this list from being 50 deep I’ve decided to recommend films that were released in under 1,000 theaters

Honorable Mentions: It Follows, Dope, Sicario, Bridge of Spies, The Gift, Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian and a whole lot more.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

What I love most about this film is that director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon trusted his actors and let them own the material. The camera lingers on their faces and there are moments that will leave…

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Does Size Matter?

I have not read “It” yet (I too have found the length daunting), but thanks to this intriguing review, I will put it on my reading list. At the moment, I cannot think of the longest single novel I have read (I’ll have to check my accomplishments on Goodreads–they are public), but I have read the complete “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Hobbit”, and the background history to those, “The Silmarillion”, all twice.

Eleventh Stack

Guys, I completed one of my 2015 Reading Resolutions just in time to start thinking about 2016’s … but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I finally finished Stephen King’s It. I feel a new kind of emptiness inside and my right eyelid has been twitching for the past couple of days (and I thought Chuck Palahniuk wrote some twisted stuff). That old terror of reality is coming to get me, more frightening than any supernatural evil, but I did finish.

I decided to give myself the entire month of October to read It because it’s huge and because I’d finish on Halloween. Spooooooky! I have to say it’s one of the most complete novels I’ve ever read. Some of the book’s detractors may say that there’s too much detail about the history of a fictional town, but it made the whole experience feel more real. I wanted to…

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do

Writing at Starbuck's in Farmington, circa October 12, 2015. — Writing at Starbuck’s in Farmington, circa October 12, 2015.

Here’s a link to an neat, entertaining article on Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency about some good, sound,basic advice on how to write anything better. I recommend printing these out and sticking them on your refrigerator, stapling them to your forehead, or tattooing them to your forearm.

Thoughts? Comments?

Oscilloscope Laboratories Presents the Trailer for Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s “BODY”

Horror Underground

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Oscilloscope Laboratories proudly present the theatrical trailer to Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s BODY!

body-poster_web_FINAL

BODY opens theatrically on December 11th and on VOD nationwide December 29th!

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Horrify This

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Secret Admirers.”

Writing at Hasting’s Hardback Café in Farmington, NM, late evening of October 16, 2015 (self-portrait)

In this prompt, Ben Huberman asks:

“You return home to discover a huge flower bouquet waiting for you, no card attached. Who is it from — and why did they send it to you?”

Horrify this.

My question to you is: instead of a huge bouquet of flowers waiting for you, what horrific bouquet would be waiting for you (or someone else) and why was it sent?

Thoughts? Comments?

Minutes to Midnight

This appears to be a plot straight out of “Cabin in the Woods”. Does anyone know of an article or book that lists the basic, run of the mill horror plots? This might be plot 1G–teens at an isolated cabin; villain/monster swings a mace on a chain.

MOVIES & MANIA

Minutes-to-Midnight-2015-Movie-Poster-Christopher-Ray Minutes to Midnight is a 2015 slasher horror film directed by Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray (Reptisaurus; Megaconda; Mega Shark vs. Kolossus; 2 and 3 Headed Shark Attack) from a screenplay by Victoria Dadi (This House is Not a Home) and Christopher M. Don.

The film was produced by DeInstitutionalized, LLc and is presented by ForeverMaur Films and Possum on the Half Shell Productions.

Minutes-to-Midnight-John-Hennigan-Bryce-Draper-Phillip-Andre-Botello-610x406 Cast:

William Baldwin (Flatliners), Bill Moseley (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; The Devil’s Rejects; American Exorcist), Richard Grieco (Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain; Raiders of the Damned), Viva Bianca (Scorned), Christopher Judge (Knock ‘Em Dead; Reaper; Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!), John Hennigan (The Most Dangerous Game) and Dominique Swain (Dead Mary; Nazis at the Center of the Earth; Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre).

Minutes-to-Midnight-Bill-Moseley-610x406 Plot:

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Monica J. O’Rourke and Wrath James White ‘Poisoning Eros’ Review

Source: Monica J. O’Rourke and Wrath James White ‘Poisoning Eros’ Review

For Fans of extreme horror, this article from Horror Novel Reviews has something titillating for you.

Farmington Writers Circle in Development

Writing at Hasting's Hardback Café in Farmington, NM, late evening of October 16, 2015 (self-portrait) — Writing at Hasting’s Hardback Café in Farmington, NM, late evening of October 16, 2015 (self-portrait)

I would like to establish a writers’ circle for the Farmington, New Mexico area, including San Juan County, and anyone from the Four Corners area. I will he hosting a meeting on November 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Farmington Hastings’ Hardback Cafe to establish how many people are interested. Everyone is welcome to attend. The mission of the Writers Circle will be to promote Farmington area writers of any genre and skill level, to advise each other on being published, and to establish useful contacts within the regional and national literary communities. If anyone in the Farmington/Four Corners has an interest, please contact me via this website by commenting below.

Thoughts? Comments?

“Dark Fairytales” from Horroraddicts.net

Source: November: Dark Fairytales

Follow the link to Horroraddicts.net for an interesting perspective on the dark side of fairytales and how they continue to exist in today’s dark literature, using Japan’s Hell Girl as a prime example.

I find this a fascinating article with a lot of excellent points, however there is one point that seems a bit superficial:

“Stories like this have taught us how to treat each other for centuries, but they have also taught us some very dangerous ideas:

The evil always get their comeuppance.
Wait long enough (or suffer bad enough) and your prince will come.
There are secret pots of gold or riches granted you when you out-smart evil beings.

Well…as we know living in the real world is not so easy…”

While these are the obvious lessons that fairy tales instill in children, and we, as adults, know the world is not so easy, it is important to look at their origins in history. Fairy tales arose a few centuries ago when survival was much more difficult than today. Medicine was primitive. Laws were essentially the will of the emperor/king/local despot or the accepted religion (e.g. the Inquisition) enforced by his soldiers or officials. No professional organizations or entities existed to investigate even the most mundane crimes, or if they did, the investigators were rank amateurs or hobbyists by today’s standards. No organizations existed to ensure the quality of food or of water or the safe disposal of wastes. Duels and violent, personal retribution for offenses were not uncommon. Life was often, as someone once said, “brutal, nasty, and short”.

In this type of environment, fairy tales gave hope to children and adults alike that they could survive the trials, tribulations, and horrors that existed beyond their doorstep and that some form of justice was woven into the ethereal fabric of the universe, that would right the wrongs they experienced or saw being done to others.

Today, the need to believe in fairy tales no longer exists, though it, no doubt, does among the very young and, by our modern standards, the very desperate. The ancient fairy tales have not changed, though the times and environment have. New ones have arisen reflecting the mentality, for better or worse, of our modern world.

Thoughts? Comments?

Contronyms: to sanction or to sanction?

Cool. I love the history of words, of their nuances, and of their origins. This is great stuff for a writer.

Sesquiotica

This article originally appeared on BoldFace, the official blog of Editors Toronto.

There are some words in English we may not know whether to sanction. They are so impregnated with meaning that their meaning may seem impregnable. If you try to hold them fast, you may find them too fast to hold; at best, you can hope that (of the senses available) one will have left and you will be left with the one that’s left. If, for instance, you ask someone to dust something and find instead they have dusted it, you might understandably lose your temper and have a fit of temper—especially if you are an inflammable, rather than inflammable, kind of person.

How do such self-opposite words—what Jack Herring labelled contronyms—come about? Sometimes it’s because sense and form cleave apart, and sometimes it’s because they cleave together. When they cleave, it’s typically because of a…

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Ramsey Campbell’s ‘Thirteen Novels on the Edge of Horror’

Source: Ramsey Campbell’s ‘Thirteen Novels on the Edge of Horror’

In this fun, engaging article from Horror Novel Reviews, Ramsey Campbell lists thirteen thrilling novels from the last fifty years that should be on any horror enthusiast’s list of novels to read.

Question of the Day from Ben Huberman at The Daily Post

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Truth Serum”:

Phil Slattery at a literary costume part for charity in 2015, dressed as Lovecraft’s Herbert West, Re-animator

Ben Huberman poses an interesting question: “You’ve come into possession of one vial of truth serum. Who would you give it to (with the person’s consent, of course) — and what questions would you ask?”

I would not give it to anyone with their consent. Their permission implies they are telling me the truth anyway or would if I asked for it.

For a blog specializing in horror, It would be better to ask the following:

Who would you give it to without their knowledge, and by implication, without their consent?

Who would you give it to, without their consent, but with their knowledge? For example, the s.o.b. you hold in the most contempt is duct-taped in a chair or is strapped onto a surgical table under blinding lights.

Now, under these conditions, what questions would you ask?

Thoughts? Comments?

Reading List: The Witching Hour from Longreads

Source: Reading List: The Witching Hour

“Even as Starbucks switches to its Red Cup holiday menu and the radio plays Christmas music, Halloween tugs at the coattails of my subconscious. To honor our dearly departed All Hallows’ Eve, here are four pieces about witchcraft in the United States and abroad.” –Emily Perper in the Longreads article.

Follow the link to read two stories and two articles on the historical basis of our society’s concept of witches and witchcrafts re-posted through Longreads. While you are there, like Emily’s article for doing a great job in selecting pieces.

“Rage and Redemption in Alphabet City” from Author Amy Grech and New Pulp Press

Sounds intriguing.

Horror Underground

71JoDy+08HL Released this week from New Pulp Press comes Rage and Redemption in Alphabet City, the new book from acclaimed author Amy Grech.

Amy Grech’s stories shock, like a sudden, splash of cold water. This latest collection delivers gritty profiles of people snarled in the crime and seething anger of inner city New York at its most violent. Here you’ll encounter five dark tales—”Rage and Redemption in Alphabet City”, “.38 Special”, Cold Comfort”, “Prevention”, and Hoi Polloi Cannoli”—actually 12, if you count the literary parts. These startling stories will convince you that Grech is a noir and horror writer you want to watch.

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Wolf Creek – TV mini-series

John Jarratt of Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2 Please respect the owner's copyright. — John Jarratt of Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2
Please respect the owner’s copyright.

Source: Wolf Creek – TV mini-series

The renown movie will be an Australian TV mini-series come mid-2016 and will star John Jarratt. Follow the link to the press release at Horrorpedia.com. Filming started October 19.