The tables turn in slasher films. Bad guys may ultimately rise after defeat to leave sequel potential open, but usually there's a culm...

Someone once asked why I thought  The Wicker Man  was so chilling. They seemed perplexed. It can be hard to convey the deep chill of...

Since we were just talking about slasher pics, I have news of a new horror thriller, Anna: Scream Queen Killer that's streaming on Ama...

I picked up Unknown Man No. 89 by Elmore Leonard sometime in the eighties. I was a young reporter, covering the police beat on occasion...

I don't usually get enthusiastic when a horror film's premise involves a group of teens going anywhere or doing anything. It...

Long before paranormal romance had been named, Ray Bradbury imagined his Elliott family, a clan of supernatural beings that rings a little...

Monty is home and has had his first dose of insulin. He's eaten well today, but his back legs are wobbly. Apparently that's a commo...

I haven't mentioned my cats much on the blog in a while. Monty, seen above looking up as a flight carrying people to DisneyWorld pas...

Let me put on my curmudgeon's cap and jersey for a moment, and discuss a web design and content trend I really hate. That's slide s...

Wes Locher was an up and coming comics writer before he took a class from me, but I mention that he's a past student in the interest of...

j Got a kind note from Jack Delaney, the director of a new horror feature film called The Caves . Be warned, the trailer's a bit bl...

 Once in a while you pick up a book and find it far exceeds expectations. I was intrigued reading the jacket flap of Peter May's The ...

In this debut novel, Jamie Mason introduces a compelling group of characters then puts them through sometimes comic, sometimes tragic and ...

I was sad to hear today of the passing of another of the favorite authors of my youth. Richard Matheson has gone.  Before I could read, ...

I'm not sure how I missed Vicki Hendricks' dark,  noirish Miami Purity (1995), often dubbed a feminine The Postman Always Rings ...

I read most of the Ross MacDonald Lew Archer novels when I was a kid, and in the back of the Bantam editions the "About the Author...

I think I maximized my viewing experience of the new app-based serial Haunting Melissa   last night. I put in my ear plugs as I lay me...

Improv techniques superimposed over the plot of John Buchan's 1915 spy novel made for great fun in the performance of The 39 Steps...

Somehow I missed the Valentino series from Loren D. Estleman until browsing the other day and hitting on the latest book, Alive! Happy...

It's not quite The Cabin in the Woods  or Scream , but I recently ran across an interesting 2009 thriller with meta touches on Netf...