The Bedlam Files | Adam Groves reviews horror, sci-fi, cult movies and books.

THE BRIDE!

I wanted to like this mega-flop, but have to admit there’s a reason for its non-success

THIS MAN MUST DIE

One of the finest-ever films directed by the late Claude Chabrol, a most unique and distinct revenge thriller

SLEEPWALKERS

The first wholly original screenplay written by Stephen King and, frankly, a pretty lousy movie

HUNTING HOUSEWIVES

Rich housefrows hunted MOST DANGEROUS GAME style through the Canadian wilderness—yes, it’s every bit as stupid as it sounds

CHICAGO JOE AND THE SHOWGIRL

The second feature by the UK’s Bernard Rose, a hard-hitting true crime drama that’s better than you’ve heard

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ANCIENT OF DAYS

An “Anthropological SF Masterpiece”? Not quite, but a damn good novel nonetheless

JOYRIDE

The word for this splatterific book is fun—dumb fun, yes, but fun, nonetheless

SUPERGIRL

This is about what you would expect quality-wise from a novelization of what was (until the 1987 release of SUPERMAN 4: THE QUEST FOR PEACE) the worst of the SUPERMAN movies

SEVEN COFFINS FOR THE KILLER

The final novel by the late James Williamson, writing as James Havoc, who offers up a full blast of splatterific nastiness in a wild west milieu

DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND

The legendary early-1900s comic strip by Windsor McCay, which I found authentically dreamlike

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SURREAL LIVES

A most welcome history of the Surrealists, marked by richly detailed, narratively informed prose

CANNIBAL WORLDS

A knowledgeable and wide-ranging tome that more than delivers on its promise of being the most comprehensive tome on Italian cannibal cinema of the 1970s and 80s

HOLLYWOOD ANIMAL

This 700-plus page memoir by a Hollywood insider was to the aughts what Julia Phillips’ notorious YOU’LL NEVER EAT LUNCH IN THIS TOWN AGAIN (1991) was to the previous decade