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.

TTA mags

Interzone #246 is out now, and it includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up, with ratings:

Journeyman (4/10)
Life Of Pi (7/10)
Fringe - season 5 (6/10)
Dr Who And The Daleks (5/10)
Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 AD (6/10)

This issue also features a new column of incisive comment on genre matters, 'Future Interrupted' by Jonathan McCalmont, here considering whether SF is actually exhausted or just resting for a bit.

I read in dismay that, according to Dave Langford's reportage in his 'Ansible' link, the self-styled Barftas awarded Nicholas [sic] Cage a worst actor prize for Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance. As I wrote in Interzone #241, that comicbook sequel was very good fun (score: 7/10), and Cage is rarely less than entertaining, whether he goes crazily OTT, or not. I think some people really do need to see a few truly awful genre movies, with dully amateurish 'acting' before criticising a major box-office star like Cage, simply because they fail to appreciate the often satirical edginess of his typical screen pesona.

Also just published, Black Static #34 closes with my 'Blood Spectrum' of movies & TV reviews. This issue's coverage:

Sleep Tight (4/10)
The Echo (5/10)
Bait (3/10)
The Collection (4/10)
Spartacus: War Of The Damned (3/10)
White Tiger (5/10)
Slice & Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (3/10)
The Hidden Face (5/10)
True Blood - season 5 (6/10)

    1980s Retro
Scanners (8/10)
Scanners II: The New Order (5/10)
Scanners III: The Takeover (5/10)
Blood Simple (7/10)
Evil Dead 2 (7/10)
Knightriders (4/10)

    Slack-Jawed & Lifeless: Round-up
Baron Blood
The Facility 

Matching for IZ 241 for offering something new, but offering different content, BS 34 has a new column by 'Blood Pudding' (sounding too much like, or quite the opposite, of mine..?) by Lynda Rucker, who ponders the on-going debate in literary/ media circles about whether horror is dead, or currently being reborn.

   

March mags

Interzone #245 is just out, and this issue includes my latest 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD/ blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up, with ratings:

     Neverlandscapes
Peter Pan (2000) - (4/10) 
Peter Pan (2003) - (5/10)
Neverland (2003) - (6/10)
Finding Neverland - (7/10)
Neverland (2011) - (6/10)

Crawlspace (2/10)
Looper (8/10)
Game Of Thrones - season 2 (7/10)
Alps (1/10)

    Best Bonds
Licence To Kill (8/10)
Skyfall (8/10)

Black Static #33 has also been published, containing my 'Blood Spectrum' column, and here's the list of new and recent DVD/ blu-ray releases that I've reviewed this time:

Fear Itself (6/10)
Holy Motors (8/10)
Resident Evil: Retribution (6/10)
Chained (3/10)
Antiviral (7/10)
Sinister (8/10)
Lost Girl - season 1 (6/10)
Rust And Bone (7/10)
Room 237 (6/10)
The Tall Man (7/10)
Silent Hill: Revelation (5/10)

    Retrothon: 4 Decades
Dracula (7/10)
Black Sunday (5/10)
Lisa And The Devil (5/10)
From Beyond (7/10) 

Just published

Behold, a new issue of Black Static (#32) - with the free 'scent of darkness'!, and the latest Interzone (#244), too - boasting cover artwork by the great Jim Burns. Here's a listing with ratings for my first DVD and blu-ray review columns of the year...

'Laser Fodder' (IZ)

Death Watch (7/10)
The Arrival Of Wang (5/10)
The Castle (6/10)
The Lord Of The Rings (8/10)
U.F.O. (1/10)
Continuum - season 1 (6/10)










'Blood Spectrum' (BS)    

     URBAN MONSTERS
The Amazing Spider–Man (6/10)
The Dark Knight Rises (8/10)
Dredd (6/10)

Sound Of My Voice (4/10)
Southern Comfort (8/10)
Zombie Flesh-Eaters (2/10)
Berberian Sound Studio (6/10)
When The Lights Went Out (5/10)
The Possession (6/10)
House At The End Of The Street (5/10)
Stitches (1/10)

IZ&BS

The new issue of Interzone (#241, July-Aug.) has my latest 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with ratings:

    Wheelspin Reinvented:
Metropolis (5/10)
Things To Come (7/10)
Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie (1/10)
Iron Sky (6/10)

Humanity’s End (5/10)
Earth 2 (6/10)
Lesbian Vampire Warriors (4/10)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (7/10)
Painted Skin (6/10)
Falling Skies – season 1 (4/10)
Hell (4/10)
John Carter (6/10)
Total Recall (8/10)

    Animetrics:
Roujin–Z (3/10)
Howl's Moving Castle (4/10)
Tales From Earthsea (3/10)

    Amicus realms:
The Land That Time Forgot (4/10)
At The Earth’s Core (6/10)
Warlords of Atlantis (4/10)
They Came From Beyond Space (4/10)

    Backlist:
The Astronaut Farmer (6/10)

- * -

With a change in format and publication schedule, Black Static #29 (also July-Aug.) has a more book-like feel, shedding its expensive full-colour magazine style in favour of b&w interiors that - in my honest opinion - weakens the visual impact of its artwork and presents only greyscale photos. Sadly, it seems to me like a step backward in production standards, but I'm certainly pleased to see the higher page-count allows space for my 'Blood Spectrum' column of movie reviews to cover 19 titles:

    Zombiplex
War Of The Dead (4/10)
Juan Of The Dead (4/10)
Exit Humanity (3/10)   

The Howling Reborn (3/10)
The Darkest Hour (6/10)
The Grey (4/10)
Piggy (3/10)
YatterMan (6/10)
Bleach: Memories Of Nobody (4/10)
Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion (3/10)
Bleach: Fade To Black (2/10)
Chronicle (4/10)
Island Of Lost Souls (6/10)
Jabberwock - Dragon Siege (1/10)
The House (1/10)
The Squad (2/10)
The Woman In Black (5/10)
The Innkeepers (5/10)
Absentia (5/10)
Crows Zero II (3/10)
Airborne (1/10)

IZ240

Interzone #240 includes my latest 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, and this issue's line-up of movies & TV stuff looks like this (plus ratings, as below):

Resistance (3/10)
Six Million Dollar Man (6/10)
The Future (4/10)
Space: Above And Beyond (6/10)
Dark Shadows (3/10)
Clone (4/10)
Deadball (4/10)
Yakuza Weapon (5/10)
Haywire (6/10)
Underworld Awakening (6/10)    

BS28

Black Static #28 (from TTA Press) includes my latest column of DVD and blu-ray reviews. The line-up for this issue's 'Blood Spectrum' is as follows:

Mad Detective (8/10)
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (7/10)
Contagion (8/10)
Immortals (7/10)
A Horrible Way To Die (1/10)
Kill Keith (1/10)
The Thing - prequel (6/10)
The Yellow Sea (6/10)
Another Earth (5/10)
Hugo (6/10)
666: The Prophecy (6/10)
Crows Zero (5/10)
Shadow Of The Sword (5/10)
Texas Killing Fields (5/10)
The Divide (3/10)
Bad Lieutenant (5/10)
Dream House (4/10)
Demons + Demons 2 (5/10)
The Wicker Tree (3/10)
The Plague Of The Zombies (7/10)
The Reptile (4/10)

Slightly revised page layouts this time, due to a shortage of space for so much content.Which is good news for readers, I think.

Thanks to Pete (and editor Andy) for giving my forthcoming Hulk book a plug.

Fresh blood

Issue #27 of Black Static magazine includes my 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.
Here's the line-up:

Dark Star (8/10)
Shark Night (2/10)
Beyond (3/10)
Four Flies On Grey Velvet (5/10)
Tyrannosaur (1/10)
Perfect Sense (6/10)
Rolling Thunder (6/10)
Gantz 2 – Perfect Answer (6/10)
Tekken: Blood Vengeance (4/10)
Fright Night (5/10)
Real Steel (2/10)
Vanishing On 7th Street (4/10)
Dellamorte Dellamore (5/10)
Paranormal Activity 3 (1/10)
Dracula: Prince Of Darkness (7/10)
Urban Explorers (2/10)
Evidence (1/10)
The Awakening (6/10)

Interzone 2012

The latest issue of Interzone magazine (from TTA Press) is #238 and it has my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up of titles reviewed:

Brazil (9/10)
Captain America – The First Avenger (6/10)
Apollo 18 (1/10)
Camp Hell (2/10)
First Squad (3/10)
Legend Of The Millennium Dragon (3/10)
The Skin I Live In (7/10)
Arena (1/10)
Faces In The Crowd (4/10)
Melancholia (7/10)
Tomie: Unlimited (6/10)
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (5/10)
Repo Man (9/10)
    Backlist:
The Science Of Sleep (7/10)

This issue also includes my book review of Peter F. Hamilton's collection Manhattan In Reverse.

BS #26

The latest issue of Black Static magazine is #26 (Dec 2011-Jan 2012), and this Bristish fantasy award-winning bi-monthly features my 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

Here's the line-up of new & forthcoming titles covered, with ratings:

Umbrage: The First Vampire (1/10)
Helldriver (7/10)
Smallville - season 10 (7/10)
The Human Centipede 2 (5/10)
Guilty Of Romance (4/10)
Conan The Barbarian (5/10)
Super 8 (4/10)
Cowboys & Aliens (4/10)
Kill List (2/10)
Frankenhooker (6/10) 
Troll Hunter (4/10)

Interzone

The latest issue of Interzone (#237) includes my regular 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, and here's this month's line-up:

13 Assassins (7/10)
The Event (2/10)
Freedom (4/10)
The Devil's Kiss (1/10)
Green Lantern (5/10)
The Woman (6/10)
Alien Undead (1/10)
Maniac Cop (6/10)
Saint (7/10)
Assassin: City Under Siege (5/10)
Panic Button (1/10)
Deadly Blessing (5/10)
Redline (6/10)
Silent Running (7/10)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (5/10)
Final Destination 5 (3/10) 

Black Static 25

The latest issue of Black Static magazine (#25, November 2011) includes my 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's a listing of the line-up with ratings...

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (5/10)
Tomorrow, When The War Began (4/10)
The Twilight Zone – season four (7/10)
The Cape (5/10)
The Cat o’ Nine Tails (4/10)
Fringe - season 3 (8/10)
Manhunter (8/10)
Tucker And Dale vs. Evil (4/10)
Gantz (6/10)
Stake Land (6/10)
Empire Of Passion (5/10)
The New Daughter (5/10)
The Ward (7/10)
Henry, Portrait Of A Serial Killer (8/10)
Mother's Day (6/10)
Straw Dogs (6/10)
Mimic - director’s cut (6/10)
Tree Of Life (4/10)
X-Men: First Class (5/10)

    Dregs of Grog: Round-up
Episode 50 (2/10)
Cannibal (2/10)
Blood Runs Cold (2/10)
Deadtime Stories (2/10)
The Man With The Severed Head (2/10)

Interzone #236

This month issue of Interzone (from TTA Press) includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with rating scores:

The Twilight Zone - season 3 (7/10)
Source Code (4/10)
La Jetée (3/10)
Level Five (1/10)
Sans Soleil (2/10)
The Vampire Diaries - season 2 (2/10)
Stargate Universe – season 2 (4/10)
Supernatural – season 6 (4/10)
Insidious (4/10)
Julia’s Eyes (4/10)
Eureka - season 4.0 (3/10)
51 (1/10)
Quatermass And The Pit (8/10)
Warehouse 13 – season 2 (5/10)
Muckman (3/10)
Cannibal Holocaust (1/10)
2001 Nights (6/10)

    Used Clumpage: round-up
Cowboys & Zombies (0/10)
Strigoi (3/10)
Wreckage (1/10)
Hatchet II (0/10)
Midnight (3/10)
Black Heaven (4/10)
Pieces (2/10)
Rogue Ninja (3/10)
The Holding (4/10)
The Roommate (1/10)
Territories (1/10)
Sacred Blacksmith – season 1 (2/10)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – season 8 motion comic (1/10)

The issue also has my first editorial for Interzone, so there's even more of my ramblings!

Black Static

The latest issue of Black Static (#24, Aug-Sept) includes my regular 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

Here's the line-up:

The Task (2/10)
Conan The Barbarian (8/10)
The Devil's Rock (4/10)
Giallo (4/10)
Obsession (6/10)
Slaughter High (1/10)
Bane (1/10)
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (1/10)
Evil Rising (4/10)
Moby Dick (1/10)
Scream Of The Banshee (2/10)
The Violent Kind (1/10)
Hobo With A Shotgun (6/10)
Limitless (5/10)
The Silent House (2/10)
Super (3/10)
Almighty Thor (0/10)
The Lost Bladesman (6/10)
The Rig (1/10)
Sucker Punch (5/10)
Twin Daggers (2/10)
The Witches Of Oz (3/10)
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec (8/10)
Quarantine 2: Terminal (5/10)
Second Coming (2/10)
Uninhabited (2/10)
Wasted On The Young (2/10)
Waterborne (0/10)
Iron & Blood: The Legend Of Taras Bulba (4/10)
Red Riding Hood (4/10)
Scream 4 (5/10)
Beastly (2/10)
Atrocious (0/10)
Attack The Block (5/10)

       Eyes Wide: anime round-up
Yu Gi Oh: Bonds Beyond Time
Shikabane: Corpse Princess
Black Butler – series 1, part 1
Sekirei – complete series
High School Of The Dead
Nabari no Ou – series 1, part 2

IZ 235

The latest Interzone (#235, July-August), from TTA Press, has my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's list of this issue's coverage, with ratings:

The Fifth Element (8/10)
Hereafter (4/10)
Eyeborgs (5/10)
The Twilight Zone - season 2 (6/10)
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (8/10)
Don't Look Now (8/10)
Never Let Me Go (5/10)
Tenebrae (6/10)
Assassin Rising (3/10)
Caprica - TV series (4/10)
Drive Angry (7/10)
The Pack (5/10)
Robot Chicken - Star Wars episode III (0/10)
The Adjustment Bureau (6/10)
The Funhouse (6/10)
Unknown (6/10)

    Anime Nations
Eden Of The East - The Movie I: King Of Eden (3/10)
Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance (6/10)
Akira (8/10)
Musashi – The Dream Of The Last Samurai (6/10)

    Deadweight Horrors: Round-Up
Prey (2/10)
The Rite (3/10)
Hunger (1/10)
Siren (2/10)
World Of The Dead: Zombie Diaries 2 (0/10)
The Resident (4/10) 

This issue of Interzone also includes my review of Michio Kaku's book, Physics Of The Future.
TTA Press have announced a new offer of lifetime subsciptions for Interzone and sister magazine Black Static. 

Blood Spec

The latest Black Static (#23, June-July) includes my Blood Spectrum column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, with 30 releases (including a couple or three boxsets) covered in 9,000 words over 11 pages. Here's the line-up, with my rating scores...

Chatroom (5/10)
Confessions (5/10)
Enter The Void (5/10)
Time Traveller (5/10)
Salon Kitty (4/10)
Black Swan (8/10)
Spartacus: Blood And Sand - season 1 (4/10)
Trackman (4/10)
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (6/10)
Fertile Ground (4/10)
Red Canyon (2/10)
Stanley Kubrick: Visionary Filmmaker Collection (7/10)
Agnosia (6/10)
Fading Of The Cries (2/10)
5150 Elm’s Way (3/10)
Psalm 21 (6/10)
Seconds Apart (5/10)
Zombie Undead (1/10)
Cross (2/10)
Cross Of Iron (6/10)
Demons Rising (0/10)
Red Hill (2/10)
Apocalypse Now (10/10)
Eaters: Rise Of The Dead (1/10)
Needle (2/10)
Trail Of The Screaming Forehead (0/10)
Witchfinder General (7/10)
Savage Streets (3/10)
Neighbour (3/10)
The New York Ripper (2/10)

IZ# 234

The latest Interzone (#234, May-June 2011) has my Laser Fodder column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

This month's line-up (here with ratings) includes:

      Made in Spain: Fantastic Factory
Beyond Re-Animator (7/10)
Faust: Love Of The Damned (5/10)
Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt (6/10)
Arachnid (4/10)

Universal Squadrons (3/10)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – part one (4/10)
The Twilight Zone - season one (6/10)
Woochi – The Demon Slayer (7/10)
Blood Reich: Bloodrayne 3 (3/10)
The Devil’s Tomb (2/10)
Dark And Stormy Night (1/10)
I Saw The Devil (5/10)
Pandemic (4/10)
Sweatshop (2/10)
The Frankenstein Experiment (4/10)
The Walking Dead (4/10)

BS #22

Black Static #22 received today from TTA Press.

This issue includes my regular 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's a list of month's line-up (coverage of 24 releases on 10 pages), but due to budget deficit cutbacks affecting numbering of ratings, there are no 8, 9 or 10 scores this month. The figures won't run to anything that high!

And Soon The Darkness - remake (3/10)
Bathory: Countess Of Blood (4/10)
Death Notice - Ikigami (3/10)
Marchlands (1/10)
Phenomena (7/10)
Saw: The Final Chapter (6/10)
The Beyond (7/10)
Savage (5/10)
Age Of The Dragons (3/10)
Husk(2/10)
Island Of Death (1/10)
Primevil (3/10)
Demon Empire (6/10)
Wake Wood (3/10)
Blooded (1/10)
Caged (3/10)
The Last Lovecraft (1/10)
Prowl (2/10)
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest (7/10)
Monsters (7/10)
Rubber (6/10)
Tekken (3/10)
Chain Letter (2/10)
The Door (7/10)

BS #21

My 'Blood Spectrum' DVD & blu-ray column in Black Static #21 (TTA Press) has 22 reviews on nine pages:

Shogun Assassin (6/10)
Piranha 3D (5/10)
A Serbian Film (9/10)
Mirrors 2 (3/10)
Outcast (5/10)
Amer (7/10)
I Spit On Your Grave - remake (5/10)
Buried (8/10)
Let Me In (5/10)
We Are What We Are (3/10)

        Damage Control: Round-up
Ghosts Of War (4/10)
Choose (2/10)
Open House (3/10)
Sinbad And The Minotaur (1/10)
In Their Sleep (3/10)
Burke & Hare - remake (5/10)
Gnaw (0/10)
Bedevilled (3/10)
Terror Trap (1/10)
Damned By Dawn (3/10)
Someone’s Knocking At The Door (4/10)
The Unforgiving (1/10)

Best foreign film

Told in flashbacks, Oscar-winning Argentinean crime drama The Secret In Their Eyes concerns a retired judge, Espósito, writing a novel about an actual rape and murder case - one that he believed sent the wrong culprits to prison, two men who were framed by a corrupt authority for the sake of legal expediency. Haunted by the outcome of this ‘Morales case’, Espósito re-opens investigations to expose the injustice, and convict the real killer. 

Director Juan José Campanella maintains a fluidity of pacing in the unfolding narrative that most clearly resembles a superior TV movie, but its genre elements are too few for any serious consideration as horror or thriller, despite fine performances from the main cast in an intriguing mystery storyline, and some romantic complications of the protagonist’s life, which broaden the film’s appeal.