Final Women

Alan Baxter's The Roo is a fast paced, gory creature feature, featuring a bizarre but surprisingly effective monster. People begin disappearing in the small Australian outback town of Morgan Creek, and it doesn't take long for the surviving townspeople to figure out what's killing them, a giant, supernaturally strong, demonic kangaroo. This is one gory, outlandish romp with the titular roo acting as a serial killer along the lines of a marsupial Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. However, there is a message to the madness here. The Roo also offers a searing indictment of domestic violence and how its ripple effects damage more than just those immediately affected by it. My only problem with the book is that there a few too many named characters; keeping track of them all was occasionally difficult, especially because some weren't terribly important to the story. I get why the author chose to do this (he explains it in the book's introduction), but the result was sti...

  Dracula, Motherf***ker! by Alex de Campi Between this and Archie vs. Predator , Alex de Campi is quickly becoming one of my favorite names in comics. Dracula, Motherf**ker! is a fascinating, quick read with starkly beautiful artwork. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer. I would love to see de Campi and artist Erica Henderson revisit this world - 1970s L.A. gone gothic and haunted by vampires. Speaking of the vampires, this is one of my favorite depictions of Dracula's brides yet. Note: Be sure to read de Campi's postscript, "On Monsters" at the back of the book. It's enlightening on her vision for the story, and I agree with her thoughts on the depiction of Dracula (he should never be depicted as beautiful) and her reasonings for her portrayal of the brides. Night Trap by Cullen Bunn There are very few things I love more than a good (or at least fun) slasher movie, so Cullen Bunn's Night Trap was right up my alley. A bunch of friends gather a...

Reincarnation Reincarnation concerns a director making a film about a massacre that occurred over 30 years prior, where 11 people were murdered in a small hotel. The film seems to stir up the spirits of the original victims, who begin targeting their reincarnations in an apparent attempt to avenge their deaths. I originally watched this film upon its release in the mid-2000's as part of the initial run of After Dark Horrorfest's 8 Films to Die For series. Upon my first viewing, I was less than impressed, finding the film un-engaging and a little confusing. I recently decided to give it another go and am happy to say, I really enjoyed it this time. Most of the parts I found confusing were cleared up upon a second viewing, and I discovered that Reincarnation is actually a stylish, suspenseful film, with some particularly compelling creepy doll imagery. Recommended for fans of J-horror. Ju-On: The Grudge 2 The first time I saw this, I actually enjoyed it better than the first Ju...

On the Night Border by James Chambers is an excellent collection. There is a wide variety of horror stories here, something for every taste. It's also a great introduction to Chambers's writing; I will definitely be checking out more from him. Some highlights include: "A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills" - I did my junior year high school term paper on the Beat poets, so this story involving Jack Kerouac was right up my alley. A lonely artist reminisces on his friendship with Kerouac and the night they experienced something strange in the wooded hills behind the artist's hometown. The artist confronts this mystery again when he ventures back into those woods following Kerouac's death. "The Many Hands Inside the Mountain" was a Halloween set story and one of my favorites in the collection. A man plans his revenge on his fiancé's wealthy father, but all doesn't go according to plan when he witnesses the family's annual Halloween ritua...

This horror anthology opens with a kidnapped girl being forced to tell her abductor scary stories in an effort to put him to sleep so she may escape. This wrap around segment is somewhat suspenseful although it's probably the least interesting part of the film. The first story concerns two young children home alone, forced to contend with not only a legitimately creepy intruder but also a ghost haunting their apartment building. This is by far the creepiest section of the film, adequately conveying the terror young children often feel when home alone. It suffers from a somewhat muddled plot however, including a bit that oddly, and needlessly, appears to be just a dream. The story's resolution unfortunately only adds to the confusion. The second tale concerns a serial killer being transported to Seoul on a plane. He gets loose thanks to what must be Korea's most oblivious police officers, but then has to contend with a resourceful flight attendant and the ghost of one of his...