Sunday 24 November 2013

TTA mags

New issues from TTA Press are out now...


Interzone #249 includes my regular 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with ratings:

Ikarie XB-1 (7/10)
Lifeforce (8/10)
Grimm - season 2 (6/10)
Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (7/10)
The Night Of The Hunter (5/10)
Pacific Rim (8/10)
Under The Dome (6/10)








Black Static #37 has my latest ''Blood Spectrum' review-column. This month, I'm looking at a batch of 21 titles:

The Body (6/10)
Byzantium (8/10)
No One Lives (7/10)
The Walking Dead - season 3 (6/10)
Only God Forgives (8/10)

    RetroGasm
Squirm (6/10)
The Mummy (4/10)
The Wicker Man: Final Cut (6/10)
Halloween (8/10)
The Witches (5/10)
Creepshow (7/10)
The Fury (6/10)
The Headless Ghost (3/10)
Pin (6/10)
The People Under The Stairs (7/10)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - part 2 (7/10)

    Tolerable Cruelty: Round-up
The Last Exorcism - part II
All Superheroes Must Die
I Spit On Your Grave 2
The Disco Exorcist
Thanatomorphose 

Pleased to get my name on the covers again!

Sunday 17 November 2013

Holmes

At first, I was a bit sceptical about Elementary... 

By making Dr Watson female (just a gender-switch gimmick?), and Sherlock a troubled junkie in recovery, have they changed the characters too much? 

No, I found this TV show really works as a refreshingly contemporary updating of the classic detective franchise. Far more than just a formulaic variation of Monk meets Lie To Me, this crime drama set in New York revitalises the iconic Holmes and Baker Street lore in ways that the BBC series Sherlock  largely failed to achieve. 

Entertaining as comedy (without ever lapsing into sitcom mode), and winningly effective as psychological character study, Elementary is appealing and fun as mystery, and - at halfway point through the superb season one - I'm enjoying this DVD boxset a lot more than any other TV 'cop show' that I have seen recently.         

Friday 1 November 2013

WC4

Weng's Chop #4
Weird genre movies zine Weng's Chop #4 includes my comments on the best of Lucio Fulci, in a 'geek round-table' feature about House By The Cemetery... 

WC4 boasts an impressive and eclectic range of content, with articles on Larry Cohen, SyFy movies, Sonny Chiba, interviews with the likes of Tim Doyle (who did the cover artwork), a section of columns featuring writing by Steve Bissette, and many pages of reviews - covering at least 50 films you have never seen, and probably a dozen or more that you've never heard of before!  

Order this issue from: CreateSpace.There's also a choice of covers available. Just search the site for Weng's Chop to see art options.