After a satiric horror story as well as a quartet of sleuth stories featuring actor turned detective Sam Holt, Westlake returned to Dortmunder and his string of pals for one big mess of a caper in one big book. Well, the caper is messy; the novel itself is exquisite. The spine of the story involves […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Drowned Hopes"This week, we were intending to release our view of the campy horror-comedy SATANIC PANIC, due to hit theaters on September 6. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men . . . Needless to say, that isn’t happening today. Instead, we will be aiming to release this piece for next week’s Labor Day […]
Read more "MOVIE MONDAYS: THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE"Although it would be the concluding volume of the Sam Holt series, the novel THE FOURTH DIMENSION IS DEATH was originally conceived as the kickoff of another trio in the series. When the publisher’s sales team messed up and revealed Westlake as the author behind the pseudonym on publication of the first book, “Samuel Holt […]
Read more "CONSIDERING WESTLAKE: THE FOURTH DIMENSION IS DEATH"Synopsis: When a pair of lovebirds rob a gas station, they aren’t thinking too clearly. Mickey (Bill Skarsgard) is just proud of himself for (mostly) keeping character and overcoming an argumentative cash register. Jules (Maika Monroe) is pleased with her crowd control skills and her ability to knock over a wire rack with a crowbar. […]
Read more "MOVIE MONDAYS: VILLAINS"Dennis Etchison’s second novel did not appear for seven years after his first novel DARKSIDE (reviewed here). The author’s sophomore work hit shelves in 1993 as part of the Dell Abyss line, an imprint dedicated to transgressive, unusual, non-formulaic horror fiction, which did not require Indian burial grounds, spooky teens, or traditional haunted houses. Etchison’s general […]
Read more "WE ALL GO INTO THE DARK: DENNIS ETCHISON’S SHADOWMAN"This week, we revisit another of the columns Trista and I wrote for the CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT site back in 2016-2018. In March of 2017, we caught an anthology flick of horror and horrific crime tales set in Mexico. As fans of world horror, we were stoked to see the thing and it balanced the […]
Read more "MOVIE MONDAYS: MEXICO BARBARO"Where do I go from here? That seems to be a driving question behind some of Westlake’s novels. I wonder if that was the very thing he asked himself before sitting down to a new standalone project. It certainly fits with SACRED MONSTER, which blends a few of the themes and topics he had been […]
Read more "CONSIDERING WESTLAKE: SACRED MONSTER"Synopsis: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) enjoyed a starring role in the popular television western, BOUNTY LAW, during its run in the 1950s. However, by 1969 he and his stunt man Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) are no longer rising stars. Rick struggles to get jobs as the heavy in a variety of television shows, while Cliff […]
Read more "I DIDN’T HAVE A CHANCE: ONCE UPON A TIME . . . IN HOLLYWOOD"There is a house in Maine, you see. Called Spindrift House on the shore. It’s been the ruin of many an investigator. Oh my, here comes some more . . . IN THE SHADOW OF SPINDRIFT HOUSE is the latest novella from Mira Grant, made available as a limited edition hardcover edition as well as […]
Read more "JINKIES!: MIRA GRANT’S IN THE SHADOW OF SPINDRIFT HOUSE"
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