BOOK REVIEW: “HIDDEN HORROR: A Celebration of 101 Underrated and Overlooked Fright Flicks”

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If you’re a fan of movies, then you’ve probably perused a movie guide or two in search of inspiration. I’ve always been a fan of these books, especially if they revolve a specific film genre. This all started for me with John Stanley’s “Creature Feature Movie Guide” series and continues to this day. These guides aren’t perfect as they’re usually written by one person who has their own personal tastes. What this means is that the author may hate a movie you absolutely love and vice versa. Because they’re trying to cram so many movies into one guide, the films aren’t given as much of a personal touch with the reviews often ending up static. Not so with the subject of this review; a horror movie guide that takes things to a whole new level! I present to you., “HIDDEN HORROR: A Celebration of 101 Underrated  and Overlooked Fright Flicks.”

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Review: Wildclaw Theatre’s Deathscribe 2013

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Every year since 2008 Wildclaw Theatre has celebrated the holiday season with a Festival of short horror radio plays. Running only 10 minutes in length, these plays have to depend strictly on story and sound to get their ideas across.

I attended my first Deathscribe festival last year with Terror Dave Fuentes (read Dave’s review of it here). Last year I did not know what to expect at all. I’ve been to many theater productions around Chicago, but never to radio plays. It was a lot of fun, so I was really looking forward to this year now that I knew how it worked. Continue reading →

Q & A with PONTYPOOL Author/Playwright Tony Burgess

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On January 11, 2014, Terror Dave Fuentes and I saw Strawdog Theatre’s production of Pontypool, a play based on the book Pontypool Changes Everything (read my review here).

The book, screenplay, and play were written by Tony Burgess. Tony is a Canadian author who has written several novels, including Hellmouths of Bewdley, Pontypool Changes Everything, Caesarea, and Fiction For Lovers. He was nominated for both the Genie Award and the Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Pontypool. Continue reading →

BIG ASS SPIDER! Is Big Ass Fun!

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The 2013 film BIG ASS SPIDER! has everything going against it. When I first saw that this film was available for sale on DVD and Blu-ray all I could think was, “Great, another SyFy Channel crapfest movie of the week!” Sure there are favorable reviews on the back of the box but anyone can write anything they want on these boxes and to be honest, I haven’t heard of one of the listed reviewers. Granted, it was also an “official selection” at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival but what exactly does “official selection” mean and what the hell is the SXSW Film Festival? When I found a Blu-ray copy for $10 I thought to myself, “OK, I will give it a try” and boy am I glad I did. This movie is hilarious and a lot of fun to watch.

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Alien Invasion Films of the ’50s – I Married A Monster From Outer Space!

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Welcome to another edition of “Alien Invasion Films of the 1950s!” I was excited when Terror Dave Albaugh asked me to guest author today’s selection as it happens to be one of my favorites…and often disregarded. I guess that’s to be expected when a film is pegged with a sensationalistic moniker designed to attract 1958 teenagers like I Married a Monster from Outer Space, but don’t let it fool you. This movie is one of the genre’s best entries and absolutely worth watching regardless of its tabloid title.

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Chicago horror talents revealed at “Hidden Horror” launch party!

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It was back in September 2012 when horror writer/actor, Aaron Christensen (“AC” for short), approached me along with 100 others asking if I was interested in participating in a follow up to his book Horror 101: The A-List of Horror Films and Monster Movies. Just as the title suggests, the book features a list of “must see” horror films; each discussed by individual writers. His latest project features another collection of essays; this time focusing on the not so famous though still worthy of attention. I was a fan of Horror 101 long before my blogging days and was VERY flattered to be considered for its sequel…thus beginning my association with Hidden Horror: A Celebration of 101 Underrated and Overlooked Fright Flicks!

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