Final Women

 I don't know why I put off reading this for so long. Linda Addison's How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend is an excellent collection of horror prose and poetry. My favorite poems were the clever bookending pair of "How To Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend" and "How To Recognize Your Friend Has Become a Demon," as well as the beautiful "Demon Dance." "Land Sharks" was another favorite. The stories were all strong, but I had a few favorites among them as well. The collection's two longest stories, "The Power" and "Milez to Go," were companion pieces about two magically gifted cousins, and I could happily read many more stories about both of them. "Excerpts From the Unabridged Traveler's Guide as UFO's in Galaxy A.G.2" was one of the most creative and original stories in the book and made me chuckle more than a few times. Finally, "Boo" absolutely broke my heart. It's...

When I first started hearing about C.V. Hunt, I wasn't sure their writing was for me. Don't get me wrong, I knew their books would be good. Plenty of rave reviews convinced me of that. Still, their stuff sounded a bit more explicit than I was, at that time, ready to handle. That being said, I dived into Murder House a few months ago and loved it. So when I saw this collection, I jumped at a chance to read it and bought it for myself as a Christmas present. That was an excellent decision on my part, because I loved this one just as much, if not more, than Murder House. There's a lot of body horror in here, which isn't always my cup of tea, but Hunt makes the grotesque fascinating. Whether people are becoming one with outdated technology, having their body invaded by eels, or being sucked into a giant vagina (yeah, you read that right), Hunt grounds all the bizarre in solid reality, investing the reader in the character's predicaments and making you completely believe...

 Horror has been seen as man's domain, and I've never quite understood why. I'm the biggest horror fan I've ever met, and I have a lot of femme friends that like horror a lot too. There are also a ton of women out there working in the horror field, and Creepy Bitches collects some of those women's essays on the genre in one entertaining book. The essays range from analytical to personal to a cross between the two. I enjoyed almost all of them. There were some that I liked better than others and only two that didn't really work for me. My favorites include "Underground Horror: The New York City Subway Scene and its Effect on my Daily Commute" by Jean Wexler, "Taking the 'Ick' Out of Icthyology: Gender in the Creature from the Black Lagoon Trilogy" by Heather Hendershot, and Stacie Ponder's "Passing Into Myth: Candyman and the Final Woman." (Ponder is also the writer of the excellent Final Girl blog). I admit I almost skip...

I read Mike Thorn's Darkest Hours about a year ago and was seriously impressed by it. Peel Back and See might be even better. There are some truly great stories in this collection, and while not every story will work for every person (and you might not want to eat before reading some of these), I found myself enjoying most of them even more than I expected. My favorites include "Mini McDonagh Manor." In this story, after her mother's death, Julie builds a replica of her childhood home, before ultimately deciding to go home and visit the real thing for the first time in years. She believes something sinister lurks there and wants to find out once and for all what it is. This is the most legitimately creepy story in the whole collection and gave me actual chills. If you like this one, make sure you also don't miss out on "Dreams of Lake Drukka," which could easily be a companion piece to "Manor." Another standout is "Deprimer," which a...

Over 10 years ago, I bought and read this first volume of the slasher series Hack/Slash and loved it. I'm not sure why I never got around to reading any more of the series. However, I purchased Volume 2 recently and decided to revisit Volume 1 first. The series revolves around slasher killer Cassie and her hulking companion, Vlad. Cassie survived her undead mother's reign of terror as a teenager, leading her to set out on the road in search of other murderous monsters to kill. Hack/Slash is absolutely as good as I remembered it. I might even like it better this time around. I still completely love Vlad. Now that I'm older, however, I definitely view Cassie a little differently. I noticed her vulnerabilities more this time around. She may be a badass ass kicker, but she's also still very much a kid and still finding herself. I don't think I paid as much attention to that last time I read it, when I was still very much a kid myself. All three stories contained in this...

We want you to know how we lived. That we lived. That we were girls before we were game. That we were alive. Too often the voices of victims are silenced. In a world fascinated by evil, those that practice it become celebrities, and those who suffer from it, forgotten. In her collection, Many Restless Concerns , Gayle Brandeis speaks for the victims of Erzsebet Bathory in excruciatingly exquisite poetry. This is a haunting book. Take your time reading it; every line should be savored. Note: There is some debate whether Bathory was actually guilty of mass murder, or was framed by a government who couldn't abide a woman with the amount of power she wielded. That debate, and my opinions in it, did not affect how powerful I found Brandeis's book to be.

 Ravenous I know I've mentioned this on a previous list, but this was a recent rewatch for me, and I've got to say, I liked it even better the second time around. Based on the experiences of both the Donner party and Alfred Packer, Ravenous is a period piece with a lot of great snowy scenes. Guy Pearce leads the cast as a disgraced soldier sent to serve at a remote outpost, and Robert Carlyle steals scenes as the sinister stranger hiding some very gruesome secrets. Alien vs. Predator A team of scientists is assembled by an aging tycoon to investigate a mysterious structure found underground in Antarctica. Once inside, they find themself in the middle of a battle between the titular two franchise species. I did not expect a lot going into Alien vs. Predator; it had not exactly received rave reviews. However I ended up being pleasantly surprised. As usual, I dug the snowy atmosphere, and the film also gets bonus points for starring Lance Henriksen, who always classes up even the ...

6. Malignant Malignant is an action packed, freaky film that feels like a combination of the best of the late 90's/early 00's Dark Castle films mixed with a more mainstream Giallo. Those are two of my favorite things, so of course I loved this one! James Wan can really do no wrong film-wise, and this is such a fun movie - a carnival thrill ride for the screen. 5. Candyman I love the original Candyman, so this one had a lot to live up to. After watching it, I still prefer the first one, or at least find it scarier, but the reboot is still a treasure. Incredibly timely, this one takes on topics of racism, gentrification, and police violence in a compelling manner. 4. Slumber Party Massacre (remake) While the original had a quietly subversive feminist streak, the remake brings its feminism to the forefront. Our heroines break down in a backwoods town while on their way to a girls' weekend. There's more than meets the eye to this town, however. But there's also more tha...

Silent Night, Deadly Night & Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 These two movies are cheesy, often sleazy, but they’re Christmas horror classes in spite of, or perhaps because of, those characteristics. Half of the second one is simply a recap of the first one told in flashback, but it’s still worth watching for the original bits, which have to be seen to be believed. “Garbage day!” Silent Night (2012) Steven C. Miller’s loose remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night is a grim movie. Many of the inhabitants of its small town are sketchy and often downright sleazy. There’s no happy ending coming for anyone here. Definitely lacking in Christmas cheer, this is still a hell of a movie, bolstered by standout performances from horror regulars Jaime King as our heroine and Michael McDowell as the cocky and condescending sheriff. Donal Logue is also fantastic as a creepy Santa Clause red herring. Gremlins Joe Dante’s classic Christmas creature feature can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike. This ...

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Summer Slasher Horror Anthology Vol. 1 is a collection of slasher stories, given the title. It's not; only one of these stories conceivably falls under that category. That doesn't mean it's not worth a read though. The editors have gathered an incredibly solid collection of horror stories here, especially so given that these authors are all fairly little known. Aside from the fact they're not slashers, these stories have little in common with each other, apart from a generally high quality. Mark Braught's "Best Friends Forever" is a bittersweet Halloween tale, while "Intermission: Death at Weddings" by Bonnie Medford is dark poetry. The haunting "Death Comes in Threes" by Greg Bhatia takes place during the London Blitz, while Austin C. Nichols's "Beneath the Boat" is a creature feature set on the open ocean.  The two best stories are the longer entries, "Cold Canaries" by ...

 Do you ever read a book and you enjoy it so much, you just kinda can't get it out of your head afterwards? You want to tell everyone you encounter how much you enjoyed the book and convince them to read it too? That was this book for me. I was initially a little wary of this series by Brooklyn Ann, because I'm not a huge romance person. But my love of 80's flavored fiction won me out, and I ordered this one and the first book in the series, His Final Girl. I decided to jump into this one first, since it's Halloween themed and would get me into the holiday spirit. This one's also heavily inspired by Night of the Demons, one of my absolute favorite films. Needless to say, I loved it. Her Halloween Party is so much fun and feels just the reading equivalent of watching my favorite 80's horror films. I even enjoyed the romance; it was sexy and sweet and I was fully invested in it by the book's end. I can't recommend this one enough, especially to 80's ho...

  Literally Everyone Who Died in This Movie Every single death in this movie saddened me. Some of the characters are ones I'd been rooting for in the original movie or the previous Halloween. Others just put up a really good fight and didn't deserve to go down like they did. Halloween Kills is a really good movie, but it is a disheartening watch. I only hope that the third movie in the new trilogy brings about a satisfactory ending to Michael and rectifies some of the pain and sadness of this installment. This guy's death particularly broke me, as it was not Michael Myers related, and therefore seemed all too real. My heart went out to this guy, and I actually cried a little when he died.

 Rush Week (1989) This film is delightful! I know that's an odd choice of word to describe a slasher film, but Rush Week , with its small body count and minimal blood spillage, is a fairly light, entertaining film that spends more time on its budding romance (which warmed even my cold, dead heart) than its murder sequences. Plus it features the inimitable Roy Thinnes, and who can say no to one of his horror movies? Tower of Evil (1972) A group of archeologists investigate a (supposedly) abandoned island in the wake of a massacre of some young tourists staying there. The archeologists are looking for ancient Phoenician treasure they believe is hidden in caves under the island's surface. But just like the island's previous victims, something is hunting our heroes. The answer to just what is a wonderfully gruesome surprise. Tower of Evil is an original film and features above average acting, a surprisingly sexy sex scene, and a legitimately creepy villain with a chilling, chi...

Every horror fan has them. The inevitable victims that we just weren't ready to see die. The ones who, if we were making the movie, would have made it to the final credits. This is Part 2 of my list of them. Note: I'm not including animals on this list, because, once again, it should go without saying that I NEVER want the animals to die. If I made the rules, no animals, fictional or real, would ever die. Note 2: Spoiler Alert. Obviously Click here for The Ones I Would Have Saved: Part I. Dillon (Dave Sheridan), Victor Crowley He's sweet, goofy, and ultimately heroic. Plus he reminds me of a good friend of mine. R.I.P. Dillon Tracy Jarvis (Joan Freeman), Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter She's such an awesome mom! R.I.P. Mrs. Jarvis Kate (Julia Rehwald), Fear Street: Part One - 1994 and Simon (Fred Hechinger), Fear Street: Part One - 1994 The central romance of Deena and Sam is wonderfully sweet and the soul of the film, but, let's face it, these two were the mo...

Jayson Robert Ducharme's Come Forth in Thaw is a beautiful, haunting book about loss and grief, as well as survival. It begins with Eleanor Jackson venturing into Adrienne Forest State Park (a fictional location based on Aokigahara Forest in Japan - known as a popular place for committing suicide). Ellie's convinced her son has come here to kill himself, and she ventures into a surreal world, filled with ghosts of the dead and other forest spirits, to look for him. Ellie's experiences in the forest play out like a dark, tragic version of Alice in Wonderland . The places and inhabitants are surreal, and I was particularly enchanted with the Donneur Vie, a tree like spirit and soul of the forest. Ducharme is excellent at describing Ellie's dreamlike experiences in the forest; as a reader I could clearly picture every place and creature. The novel is equally adept in its depiction of grief and suicidal ideation. I've suffered from depression since I was a child and am...