In every word that you say
I feel my freedom slip away
I feel the bars come down around me
And I cant get away
I cant get away

--Wang Chung
"To Live and Die in L.A."

The Horror Writers Association has announced it will hold the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards ceremony in L.A., rather than in Winnipeg, Canada, in conjunction with World Horror Con. The last two Stokers banquets were held in Salt Lake City and Toronto, with WHC, which saved the HWA considerable money. Many members objected to the Winnipeg location as being remote and expensive to reach, and expressed concerns about getting books through customs.

WHC is held in a different location every year, with each location determined by bidding ... (more…)

I have yet to read Tom Piccirilli's The Fever Kill, even though this beautiful volume has been sitting on my desk for over a month. I can't wait to get to it, though, partly because Piccirilli's one of the best writers working today (see my review of Frayed, and partly because this is one of the best looking books I've seen in a loooooong time.

The Fever Kill is not a horror novel, but a hardboiled crime story (we won't discriminate against non-horror the way so many folks discriminate against horror). Anyone who's read Piccirilli knows that he doesn't limit himself to any one genre and he excels in every area he explores.

The Fever Kill is published by our friends Julia and R.J. Sevin ... (more…)

EDITOR'S NOTE: When I read the terms for which the Writers Guild of America settled its 3-month strike with Producers I scratched my head and then shook it. Seemed like a lousy deal to me. Seemed like another loss for creative folks. Seemed like the people with money had crushed yet another American union. Harlan Ellison has chimed in, and I guess cranky minds sometimes think alike.

Taken from Harlan Ellison's online community, reproduced in its unedited entirety below:

HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:

Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw ... (more…)

My personal views do not necessarily reflect those of Fear Zone...

I read the following press release today:

"MONESSEN, Pa., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Douglas Education Center (DEC), a creative career school located just 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh, is already home to Tom Savini's monstrously successful Special Make-Up Effects Program, which began in 2000 and has graduated hundreds of students from all over the country. DEC offers many other programs besides make-up effects, including graphic design, illustration, cosmetology, and starting in February, Tom Savini's Digital Film Production Program. "Our film students are going to have the opportunity to collaborate with all of these ... (more…)

There were plenty of horror novels worth reading, discussing, and praising this year. One of my favorite reads was The Dust of Wonderland, a sophisticated look at haunted New Orleans by Lee Thomas, who demonstrated he's as skilled at writing adult material as he is YA fiction (or vice versa). Brian Keene touched a nerve of nostalgia with Ghoul, his '80s flavored novel. Joe Hill ("Wait a minute--YOU MEAN HE'S STEPHEN KING'S SON???") won critical acclaim with Heart Shaped Box. Gary Braunbeck had a much deserved hit with Mr. Hands(read our interview with Gary and our review of his Hands). And Sarah Langan scored her second consecutive success with The Missing (See Sarah read an excerpt ... (more…)

This year's crop of "original" horror films featured numerals in the titles, like HOSTEL 2 and SAW IV. The Best Horror Film I saw in 2007 was not a sequel, a remake, or an adaptation; it was Larry Fessenden's THE LAST WINTER, starring Ron Perlman, James LeGross, and indie darling Kevin Corrigan.

THE LAST WINTER was produced by Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix company and released by IFC (Indpendent Film Channel)Films. This makes sense, since IFC regularly shows Fessenden's excellent films HABIT and WENDIGO. Unfortunately, this also meant that the filmmaker's newest offering received only a limited theatrical release.

I had planned to review THE LAST WINTER when Fear Zone launched, but ... (more…)

Well, there's no real surprise, is there? DEXTER is easily the best horror TV show currently in production. There's been a void since BUFFY and ANGEL left the airwaves. I'm intentionally leaving CHARMED off that list. What could possibly compete with DEXTER--REAPER? I don't think so. And ABC LOST me a long time ago.

DEXTER is one of the best shows on, horror or otherwise, period. It's smart, dark, gory, humorous--and insightful. It's one of those High Quality Cable TV shows, like THE WIRE or THE SOPRANOS.

I'm late to Dexter's world: I bought the first season DVD when Amazon ran a sale, and my wife and I devoured all 12 episodes for the extended Christmas weekend. Great ... (more…)

There were several thoughtful movie adaptations this year: after years of development, Frank Darabont finally brought STEPHEN KING'S THE MIST to the screen--with a ridiculous new ending of his own creation. Richard Matheson's classic I AM LEGEND proved that the third time isn't the charm, despite a strong performance by Will Smith (the film's best asset) and an appropriately somber first half. And Tim Burton and Johnny Depp delivered the bloody goods in SWEENEY TODD.

I suspect that the best horror adaptation of the year was JACK KETCHUM'S THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, co-written by Phil Nutman and Daniel Farrands. I only suspect this because I haven't seen it yet. I was unable to make the ... (more…)

I'd like to take this celebratory opportunity to thank all of the contributors to Fear Zone, including the tech guys who work behind the scenes, for their hard work and dedication to this venture.

I also want to thank every single person who has "hit" this site at one time or another--and believe me, that's a lot of people! We consistently outdraw several popular sites that have been around a lot longer than we have. I really appreciate all the e-mail I've received telling me how much you enjoy the Zone.

It's hard to believe we've only been active for four months. Look at all the content we've built up! By focusing on reviews, interviews, and original videos rather than the ... (more…)

Comedy is hard. Comic horror is even harder. When I hear the term "horror comedy," I can't help but think of sad examples of the genre, like MY DEMON LOVER, starring Scott Valentine (who dared to tell TV GUIDE: "I was once an extra in one of the worst movies ever made, BASKET CASE..."), or HOUSE II, or (insert title of almost any Troma film). People tend to forget that there are extremely funny horror films out there, like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON or SHAUN OF THE DEAD. When a horror comedy turns out as well as those two instant classics, they seem to receive their own little place in history. Because horror comedy is so rarely done right, I opened this category up to various ... (more…)