Macabre Musings: Book Review - Scarecrow Gods by Weston Ochse
2008, Delirium Books

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read Fear Zone's interview with Weston Ochse.

My introduction to the work of author Weston Ochse was through his short fiction. It was both good and "fresh" enough to warrant my taking note of his name and seeking out further written works by the author. This, in turn, led me straight to his longer works, Recalled To Life and Vampire Outlaw Of The Milky Way , both of which were, like author Ochse's short fiction, innovative, energetic, imaginative, and immensely fun to read. Indeed, the only work by Weston Ochse that I seemed unable to obtain (without spending a great deal of money) was his ... (more…)

Capcom's DEVIL MAY CRY 4 is a big, loud, garishly goofy game.

It's stupid fun.

It's cotton candy.

It's pure sugar and brilliant color, frenetically spun until it looks huge and appetizing and substantial.

One taste, two, and you're smiling from ear to ear. Three tastes, four, and the immediate sugar rush tightens your smile into a line. Five tastes, six, nausea begins to rise.

I liken the game to a Jerry Bruckheimer production, big and slick, a well-oiled entertainment machine that dazzles with its bells and whistles and tries so hard to deliver on its promise of sheer spectacle that it just ends up numbing us into quiet submission. No brains, no soul, just empty thrills. Not to ... (more…)

CLOSET SPACE (2008 dir Mel House)

*Pre-Release Festival Edition Review

A professor and his students doing research in a house out in rural Texas believe they have a found a doorway to the other world in a closet inside the house. After the professor and the students mysteriously disappear into the closet, a group of highly experienced researchers take a trip out to the house to find out what happened to the group. Behind the closet door is a dark tunnel with different passageways. The group gears up to go on an expedition through the tunnel to find the professor and students. Soon enough, the group is beset by bizarre occurrences and eventually they have run-ins with slimy, tentacled ... (more…)

Macabre Musings -- Film/DVD Review: EXPERIMENT (2005)

EXPERIMENT, as with a previous and far more famous film, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999), stands as proof that a tiny-budgeted film can still be quite good, entertaining, and pack a comparatively huge emotional wallop for an audience.

Dan Turner, making his feature film directorial debut, ably and admirably directs EXPERIMENT, a British film production by Magician Picture, Ltd. The film, which was recorded using the then latest in high definition video technology, reportedly was made for the extremely small budget of approximately Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars. To give you an idea as to just how small such a sum is, when contemplating ... (more…)

From the wilds of West Virginia comes HATCHET JACK, an independent slasher film from director Eddie Mahalick. Inspired by true events, this 46-minute thriller is an atmospheric, often disturbing film that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.

Working from a screenplay by Justin Sago, JACK is essentially a frame story, as a rural bartender (Mahalick, in one of several bit parts) warns a group of deer hunters about the legend of Hatchet Jack, a solitary madman with a grisly past who roams the woods of the Mountain State. Thus begins the story proper, as a group of Pittsburgh-area youths head to the town of Rivesville in search of the titular figure (though exactly why is never made clear).

... (more…)

FORCED ENTRY (1973)

Thought you've seen it all? Well, this is one for you sickos (sickos like me, yeah). This is hardcore, people. This $6200 feature directed with grim style by Shaun Costello in 1973 precedes TAXI DRIVER in showing the ugly side of New York City. A demented Vietnam vet (pornstar Harry Rheems sans moustache) spends his time chasing girls and raping them at gun (or knife) point.

Get ready for a mix of porn, horror and--social commentary (OK, Greg, maybe I went too far, but there's some of that in there) that is truly one of a kind. You put it in your DVD player and are automatically transported to the 70's era Grindhouse times, where stuff like this was actually shown in ... (more…)

Book Review: A Whisper Of Southern Lights by Tim Lebbon

2008, Necessary Evil Press

Back in 2004, Don Koish and his Necessary Evil Press, in conjunction with author Tim Lebbon introduced and premiered the first in a proposed new series of novellas entitled "The Assassin Series." Book One, Dead Man's Hand, with wonderful artwork by talented artist Caniglia and a rousing Introduction by famed author Tom Piccirilli, introduced readers to two intriguing characters and a mesmerizing plotline that had initially been created by author Lebbon in his first novel, Mesmer (1997). The Second Book in the Series, Pieces Of Hate, was released the following year (2005), also containing artwork by Caniglia ... (more…)

(SCENE - in black and white: A large white limo with blackened windows pulls up in front of a fancy hotel. Out pop L.L. SOARES and MICHAEL ARRUDA, both sporting long hair and 70s disco-style tuxedos. They escort their beautiful prom dates from the limo. MA smiles and reveals shiny silver braces. LS smiles and picks a human ear from between his teeth. "Freeze Frame" by the J.Geils Band plays in the background.)

LS (voiceover): Ah, the high school prom. What memories!

(Suddenly the film stops and a hole burns through it as it's eaten by the projector.)

MA: What a horror show, you mean! Yep, we were both in high school when the original PROM NIGHT came out, back in 1980.

LS: But today, in ... (more…)

The other day I overheard someone saying that they thought the world was a much more violent place than ever before in the history of the human race. This made me pause. My gut reaction was to agree, but then, I began to wonder: is this really true? Is the world more violent? Is the human race more vicious than previous centuries? Or are we merely more open about the violence that takes place to the point that we have become jaded to the horrors humans inflict on one another? Serial killers are nothing new to our species; mass murders have been around as long as history allows us to recount. We have tried to place labels on certain individuals who have caught our attention such as Elizabeth ... (more…)

RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN

Video games about World War II, though extremely popular, tend to bore the hell out of me. After you've played through CALL OF DUTY 2 (the pinnacle of WWII shooters) what else is there? True, many of them do a very nice job recreating the chaos of trench warfare and capturing the bleak, war torn European landscapes, but I get awfully tired of the shoot Nazis, advance, shoot Nazis, advance, game mechanic. Also, their undying faithfulness to era weaponry, though accurate and historically sound, generally presents very little in the way of pizzazz. Standard issue rifles and machine guns kill efficiently enough I suppose, but they can't shoot through walls or track ... (more…)