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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
THE CORE
Definitely one for the too-stupid-to-be-ignored category
INFINITY POOL
The best film yet made by Brandon Cronenberg, but it’s still not quite there
MAMA
Fairy-tale musical fantasy, like a kid-friendly MARAT/SADE or perhaps a grown-up H.R. PUFNSTUF
DONOVAN’S BRAIN
This is by no means the best brain-in-a-tank movie ever made, but it is the best known
AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION
I say this is the best of the AMITYVILLE movies. No, AMITYVILLE II isn’t particularly good, but it is superior to its overrated predecessor and the innumerable follow-ups
HOW MANY TIMES?
This one seems daunting, I will admit: a collection of unabashedly experimental tales based on mathematical formulae
INSIDE BLACK HOLLYWOOD
The WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART of the Blaxploitation film cycle, a thinly fictionalized expose of the filming of THE MACK (1973)
THE AGE OF DECAYED FUTURITY
A collection that proclaims itself “the best of” horror story maestro Mark Samuels
EXPLORING DARK FICTION #5: A PRIMER TO HAN SONG
A particularly fine entry in the Eric J. Guignard edited EXPLORING DARK FICTION anthology series
SEVEN DAYS
Hugely popular in his native land, Senecal deserves to be better known in ours—although SEVEN DAYS probably isn’t the best place to start
SCREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: THE FILMS OF WES CRAVEN
Fans of Wes Craven can rejoice, as this hardcover overview of his life and films is about as good as can be expected, despite being over two decades out of date
HORROR PANEGYRIC
A well-written overview of the Savoy published Lord Horror novels, HORROR PANEGYRIC deserves credit simply for the fact that it’s currently the only existing book-lengthy study of these important works
HORRIPILATIONS: THE ART OF J.K. POTTER
HORRIPILATIONS was the first-ever book devoted to the surreal art of J.K. Potter, and if you ask me it was long overdue
HOLLYWOOD MONSTER
I’ll confess I wasn’t expecting much from this memoir by actor Robert Englund, a.k.a. Freddy Krueger, yet I wound up pleasantly surprised by this fun little book
HIP POCKET SLEAZE
The vintage adult paperback community is a small one to be sure, but for those of us who are into such things John Harrison’s HIP POCKET SLEAZE is an essential acquisition
Remembering Rick Sullivan and GORE GAZETTE
About Rick Sullivan (June 9, 1955 – December 18, 2017), a pivotal figure in the horror world
Remembering That Which is Better Forgotten: HOT DOG…THE MOVIE and HAMBURGER: THE MOTION PICTURE
HOT DOG…THE MOVIE and HAMBURGER: THE MOTION PICTURE are two not-very-distinguished products of the “raunch-com” cycle of ANIMAL HOUSE and PORKY’S inspired sex comedies
Jack Ketchum: 1946-2018
This one hurt. Certainly there have been a lot of famous people deaths that have affected me, but this one impacted me especially
2017: Bedlam in Print
Assembling a best-books-of-the-year list is always a dicey proposition. Quite simply, nobody can be expected to track down and read every worthwhile book printed over the course of the previous year…
2017: The Year in Bedlam
What follows is the latest installment of the Year in Bedlam overview of the previous year’s best and worst movies, according to yours-truly