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Happy Halloween!

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It was the day before Halloween…

Image by SzaboJanos from Pixabay

Seeing as it is the Spooky Season, I thought it would be fun to post a couple of short stories as a creepy treat for Halloween. So, today and tomorrow, I will post a couple of shorts for your enjoyment!

Up today is TUNNEL a short story inspired by games we used to play as kids on long journeys in the car, a game we passed on to our own kids as we grew older. So far, I haven’t seen any of the monsters that lurk in the many road tunnels around the UK, but I always keep half an eye open, just in case…

Pop over to the Short Story section or click on the link above to find the story!

The Unbeareable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

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Directed by Tom Gormican

Written by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten

In this wildly entertaining, action-packed comedy, Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage plays… Nick Cage! Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalised version of Cage accepts a million-dollar offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take an unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and he must use his legendary acting skills, channeling his most iconic and beloved characters to become a real-life action hero.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is directed by Tom Gormican and stars Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip, Night School), Sharon Horgan (Military Wives, Pulling), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Gone Girl) and Lily Mo Sheen.

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GNoH Review: Classic Monsters Unleashed (vol. 1)

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Edited by James Aquilone
Written by various

Stories of famous monsters in a new horror anthology featuring Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and many others. Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau, the Headless Horseman, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Wicked Witch of the West–they’re all here, in this collection of horror short stories that reimagine, subvert, and pay homage to our favorite monsters and creatures. 

There is nothing too terrifying or too extreme here which feels fitting in many ways. Those classic films I was raised on, showing on BBC2 at 6pm in the UK when I was a kid, were never that scary. However, they were fun and still come with a reassuring element of nostalgia which is the same here. What we have is collection of stories that have the same source of influence but, with such a variety of writers, presents us with an eclectic mix of tributes to the Golden Age of Monsters.

See the full review at Ginger Nuts of Horror HERE

Franchise Review: Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

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Written and Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

So we are nearing the end, but Alice (Milla Jovovich) has a few more scores to settle with Wesker who is still after her, for goodness knows what reason this week!

Retribution opens exactly as we left Alice and the survivors on the Arcadia. A not inconsiderable number of Umbrella forces are bearing down on them from above under the command of a brain-washed Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). After a pretty one-sided battle, Alice wakes up, as she so often does, in another Umbrella facility. But this time it is the big one! This is where Umbrella have done all their testing for the bioweapons, using clones and massive underground reconstructions of major world cities.

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GNoH Review: Slapface (2021)

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A boy deals with the loss of his mother by creating a dangerous relationship with a monster rumored to live in the woods. (IMDB)

If you want gore and intense, scary scenes then this isn’t for you, but if you fancy something a little more psychological, which doesn’t hold your hand through all the plot turns, then I think you will enjoy Slapface. The plot is not overly original and, while you can see most of the twists and turns coming, the set-ups and ending still leave you with some questions about what was real and what might just be supernatural.

See the full review at Ginger Nuts of Horror HERE

GNoH Review: Hymns of Abomination: Secret Songs of Leeds

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Edited by Justin A. Burnett

Various Authors

Welcome to Hymns of Abomination: Secret Songs of Leeds, an anthology of fiction compiled to celebrate the work of Matthew M. Bartlett.

This book is packed with weird fiction and horror writers, both established and new, who have been invited to play in Bartlett’s imaginative sandbox. Hymns of Abomination burrows deeper into nightmarish Leeds than is safe. This volume is a must for fans of Bartlett and horror fiction in general.

Hymns is a dirty, grimy collection of disturbing people, situations, murder, sacrifice, depravity, and violence. Some of it is unpleasant, and much of it will leave a lasting impression – the impression that if you were driving down a lonely road one night, lost and confused, when you come to the road sign that points left for Leeds and right to Castle Rock… for God’s sake turn right. TURN RIGHT!

Available to buy on Amazon

Read the full review on Ginger Nuts of Horror HERE

Quick Review: The Burning (1981)

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Directed by: Tony Maylam

Written by: Tony Maylam, Brad Grey and some other bloke

A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement. IMDB

So, confession time – I had never seen The Burning before watching it recently. Yep, I know it is a classic and know about Cropsy (Lou David) but it is one that I just have never gotten around to watching. I thought it was about time, so grabbed a copy in a recent ARROW sale, along with Horror Express and Theatre of Blood which I have also recently reviewed.

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