Synopsis: When Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) threatens to expose a demon worshipping cult as frauds, he challenges the coven leader to do his best to stop him. Cult leader Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis, sporting a devilish goatee) complies by invoking demonic powers to do just that. Prof. Harrington dies, though the cause of death appears […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Night of the Demon"Long, long, long, long before author Dean Koontz kicked off his spree of releasing original novellas tied to his latest novels, he wrote a slender action thriller under pseudonym. This is no real surprise. The sixties and seventies saw Koontz trying out a variety of fiction genres using a stable of pennames. Fun fact: The […]
Read more "His Name Is Whatnow?: Dean Koontz’s Chase"Ponder the age-old question that has haunted mankind since the invention of currency: How can I make a fortune without ever lifting a finger? Well, it gets an intriguing answer in Westlake’s novel Money For Nothing as well as a dark side. Josh Redmont starts out life as a struggling but basically decent guy. When […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Money For Nothing"Synopsis: Joan Mitchell (Jan White)is a suburban housewife with all the baggage that goes along with that title. She has a husband, Jack Mitchell (Bill Thunhurst), who is more interested in pursuing his career, she has a daughter, Nikki “Nix” Mitchell (Joedda McClain), who is ready to fly the nest in as noisy a way […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Season of the Witch"Dean Koontz’s Wilderness is an eBook exclusive story, not quite novella length, released to engender reader interest in his novel Innocence. Although Wilderness is short and eschews a traditional narrative structure—it does not give readers the conclusion they might be wishing for—the story also manages to contain some of the most evocative and lyrical prose […]
Read more "The Hunted and the Hunter: Dean Koontz’s Wilderness"After releasing a couple of novels about prison and the sorts of folks who find their way inside and then out again (Put a Lid On It and Breakout), Donald E. Westlake returned with a standalone novel with an unusual byline history. Here in the states, The Scared Stiff appeared under the name Judson Jack […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: The Scared Stiff"Synopsis: There’s nothing quite like making a new purchase, and when that purchase happens to be your dream jacket well, that’s the best thing of all, right? Not so, in the case of Georges (Jean Dujardin), who comes to discover than acquiring new possessions sometimes means having those new acquisitions possess you in turn. The […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Deerskin"The dame could have walked into a dozen offices in town, why did she have to walk into mine? For the third installment of his Makani trilogy, Dean Koontz slyly references the stereotypical hardboiled detective fiction opening. There’s no office, no bottle of gin in a bottom drawer, no dame and no burned out detective. […]
Read more "Downright Supernatural: Dean Koontz’s Troubled Times"Coming on the heels of Put a Lid On It, Breakout shows a certain train of thought Donald E. Westlake was having extrapolated onto another scenario and with a wildly different character. The opening chapters of the author’s previous political comedy (reviewed last week) shows a down on his luck crook protagonist dealing with life […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Breakout"Synopsis: Trooper Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) is a cop from the year 2300. He’s responsible for taking down a major baddie, called Whistler (Michael Stefani), but that guy has a cult of followers who are carrying around a nasty little bioweapon that turns them into rampaging maniacs even as it eats away at their flesh. […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Trancers"
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