movies – Page 2 – Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher

Hold onto your seat at “Don’t Breathe”!

Dont breathe Sept 2016 Pay full ticket price to see this at the first opportunity. This is one hell of a suspenseful movie. I’m old enough that I fall asleep in action movies and shoot’em-ups if they flag the least in holding my attention. I sat on the edge of my seat like a teenager through this entire flick, flinching, dodging, squirming, and ducking with the action every step of the way.

The plot is incredibly simple. Three teenage friends work as a team to break into rich people’s homes for different reasons, a girl to earn enough money to run away from home, her jerk boyfriend who trips on the vandalism, and the intellectual who has a crush on the girl and will follow her anywhere. The jerk finds out about a blind veteran of Iraq, who won a lot of money in a lawsuit involving the death of his daughter. They film the vet’s house in a deserted section of Detroit until they find out that he rarely leaves. They decide to go against their usual practice of waiting until the owners leave and instead break in during the wee hours with the intent of chloroforming him while he sleeps. Of course, things do not go as planned and the friends find themselves trapped with a tough, twisted killer who has a dark, sinister secret to protect.

With Iced Tea, Farmington, New Mexico, March 20, 2015

Now, at this point, you can probably guess who is the first to die and then the second, but don’t be too sure about the ending as there are innumerable twists and turns throughout and they are particularly rapid-fire at the end. I found the action very inventive and well done with completely unsuspected twists. One moment that had me twisting and muttering “Ewwww” was the most wicked and innovative use of a turkey baster that I have ever seen or even heard of.

I found the acting first-rate and the use of close-ups very effective for bringing the viewer directly into the fast-moving, blood-splattered heat of the action. I didn’t catch any slip-ups and I thought all the action was logical and exceptionally well planned out down to the tiniest detail. The set-ups to maintain or generate constant suspense were right on the money.

See this movie at your first opportunity. This is one of the most terrifying thriller/horror movies I have seen in a very long time.

Morbid Meals – Killer BLT – Tribute to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

EXAMINATION In the cult classic black comedy, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, one of the random acts of violence perpetrated by these deadly nightshades was that a man was attacked by a BLT sandwich…

Source: Morbid Meals – Killer BLT – Tribute to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

New Prose Poetry: “Remains” by Larry Thacker

I am bound to only the portions of books you’re paging through, a forced patience as you deliberate over the aged leather bindings and titles, of chapter and verse, of gradual plot developments and story arcs, the lovingly slow conflicts unraveling over black on beige onion skin thinness, so hauntingly unrushed even for me with the bottomless well of time in this shaded condition. Long uninterested in my own company.

I hear your steady breath mouthing words as you read and it still aggravates hell from me. I would gladly hover here, over your shoulder for years, as this slightest presence, a forever company in poetry and story, word, letter, and pen, if I could but accomplish something more than some slightest benign breeze on the curtain. An afterthought after a boring day. An aftertaste after a sip of tepid wine.

But sometimes, when you have finally given in to sleep’s call in the early morning dark and startle suddenly awake to find that book turned to a different page than you remember, it is then I have just barely mustered enough of a whisper to turn the page, yet you have missed it and I am exhausted in this lost state. Again, undetected. Again, left to my own retched company.

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Larry D. Thacker is a writer and artist from Tennessee (US). His stories can be found in past issues of The Still Journal, Fried Chicken and Coffee, Dime Show Review and The Emancipator. His poetry can be found in journals and magazines such as The Still Journal, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Mojave River Review, Broad River Review, Harpoon Review, Rappahannock Review, and Appalachian Heritage. He is the author of Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia, the poetry chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train and the forthcoming full collection Drifting in Awe. He is presently taking his MFA in poetry and fiction at West Virginia Wesleyan College. More stuff at:www.larrydthacker.com

Announcement: Phil Slattery Teams with Darksomnia Productions to Produce Documentary of a Haunting

Francene Kilgore (l) and I on the set with Alrenzo Black (r) and 2tk (center) of Darksomnia Productions, August 6, 2016

My fiancée (Francene Kilgore) and I are teaming with Darksomnia Productions of Farmington, NM to produce a documentary/dramatization of a haunting that occurred in south Texas from about 2006-2010. Filming is taking place. Parts of the documentary will be dramatized by actors while my fiancee and I appear discussing the events. The video should be completed within 1-2 months. More details to come.

Darksomnia Productions

Alrenzo Black (l) and 2tk (r) of CEO's and co-founders of Darksomnia Productions.

Alrenzo Black (l) and 2tk (r) of CEO’s and co-founders of Darksomnia Productions.

Reminder: Submissions of Works of Horror Being Considered for Publication

If you would like to submit a short horror story (flash fiction of less than 1,000 words preferred), an article or book/movie review on the art of writing horror fiction, or just on the art of writing, please send it to horror@philslattery.com. Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the body of the e-mail or a Word document (.doc or .docx). There is no pay for any submission at this time (maybe after I win the Pulitzer or Nobel, but probably not before then).

I am seeking:

Articles under 1,000 words on the art of writing horror (fiction of any length, poetry, screenplays, etc.) or on writing in general, but material along the lines of horror is preferred. Articles on foreign horror are encouraged.
Book and movie reviews, the more recently published or distributed the better, but I will consider reviews of classics works such as those of Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood, etc. all the way back to Walpole (and before if sufficiently interesting). These must be under 1,000 words also.
Articles on horror in other countries are encouraged. These must also be under 1,000 words.
Translations of articles, stories, or poems from French, German, or Spanish are considered, but the original article/story/poem and its translation must not exceed 2,000 words.
Horror poetry (under 32 lines) or articles on horror in poetry.
Flash horror fiction (i.e. under 1,000 words) preferred, although longer stories may be accepted if really good.
Horror screenplays (under 1,000 words), horror haiku, horror sonnets, basically anything innovative that can be considered horror will have a shot here. I will even consider short videos, but I have not even experimented with them yet and do not know how to write the guidelines for them. The first consideration, however, will have to be that they conform to WordPress’s guidelines for videos, so I’ll start with that. If you want to submit a video, please do, but be aware that I may have to decline it, if it turns out that I do not have the technical expertise to post it and do it justice. Drop me a note first about other formats however, so that I can determine if they are feasible within the limits of my blog and skill set.

Guidelines

Be professional.
Use standard manuscript format. The easier it is for me to simply copy and paste into the website, the more likely you are to be published.
With submissions include your website, twitter handle, or any other social media identification you like. A short bio of 100 words or less (including a list of previous publications) is nice, but not required. Knowing your publication history won’t influence whether or not you are accepted, but it might be nice for the readership to know. If you don’t want to include any social media contact info, don’t include it. Pseudonyms are fine, but please state them as the byline and include your actual name and contact info in the top left of the first page of the submission per standard manuscript format.
In the subject line of your e-mail state whether this is an article or review or poetry of fiction submission, your name, and the work’s title. For example: Article by Phil Slattery “Poe’s Raven: an Analysis”
No hardcopy submissions. Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the body of the e-mail or attached as a Word document (.doc or .docx).
I would like to reach as large an audience as possible, so please keep profanity to an absolute minimum.
I will try to respond to submissions as quickly as possible, but please allow at least a couple of weeks before querying about your article/story.
There is no pay other than the honor of being published on this website.
I am not taking multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions. Once you have submitted one article/story, please wait about a week before submitting another.
You may submit on piece of artwork or a photo to accompany your article/story. I will edit it (mainly re-sizing) as needed to fit the space available. I will not publish any form of what I deem pornography or in bad taste. If you do not submit artwork or a photo, I may select something appropriate. JPEGs, TIFs and other formats accepted by WordPress are okay, but keep the number of bytes to a minimum. I have only a limited amount of space available.
Artwork and photos may be submitted on their own and you must own the copyright to them. There is no pay for these either. If I do not use these right away, I may keep them until a use arises, but please let me know if this is okay. If you no longer wish me to use them, please let me know as soon as possible.
Do not send advertising (no matter how cleverly veiled it is). It won’t be published.
Gratuitous sex, extreme violence, violence to children, rape and anything else that offends my personal sensibilities will not be published. Anything that seems to reflect an actual crime (past, present, or future) will be immediately turned over to the proper authorities.
If I like your submission, I will publish it as soon as possible, probably within a week. This will depend on the backlog of submissions and other factors. Don’t ask for a timeframe.
Reprints are okay, but you must tell me when and where the article/story/poem was first published.
I do not want fan fiction.
Always re-check the guidelines before submitting. I may change them at any moment without prior notice.