Friday The 13th

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June 19, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: My Favourite Kill of All Is Mrs. Vorhees’ Head Being Chopped Off In Slow-Motion

Betsy Palmer collected bit-parts, replaced Lauren Bacall in a play one year, same deal with Ellen Burstyn about a decade later. She’d been on game shows and in some B-movies. She’s got another great footnote in her CV – she dated James Dean. But the last impression of her on the screen is the best. […]

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September 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Horror Movie Scores: Some Favourites

On a big horror kick right now. I feel like I have been on a big horror movie kick since I was 13. That’s when I conquered any fear of being frightened by overdosing on horror films. The good, the bad, the ugly. Now I’m catching up on some classics I haven’t seen – or […]

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March 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Getting Ready For Freddy

A Nightmare On Elm Street was the one that cured me from getting scared – or worried at all – by horror films. The entire franchise, I mean. Not just the first film. But certainly the first four are the ones I adore. Well, number two is a bit shit (sorry!) But it gets a […]

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February 3, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: I Used To Be Scared of Horror Films So I Watched Every Single One From The Local Video Store And Now I’m Cured

When I was a kid a rather stupid movie had a deep impact on me. It’s called Alligator. It’s from about 1980 – and I reckon we saw it just a few years after that. And in it, a pet alligator gets flushed down the loo. It ends up in the sewer where the bodies […]

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May 1, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1379

Pino Donaggio, The Howling [OST] (1981) The music from The Howling has long been one of my favourites; it does what I want from a horror-film soundtrack – chiefly: scares the shit out of me. The film was one of a handful I was profoundly affected by as a youngster. I was traumatised by a […]