Posts Tagged Horror
Archive
August 14, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Scores
I like to live life on the edge but I take precisely no risks. So my idea of the correct level of surface tension is to soundtrack my life with the scores from horror films and thrillers, big stabs of sound. It provides the right jolt – or the very wrong one sometimes. Which is […]Archive
August 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Movies of My Life # 23: Misery
I first saw Misery when it came out on VHS tape. I remember it vividly. If it wasn’t the first Stephen King adaptation I saw, it was the first to have real impact. I was in Gisborne, summer holidays. A small bunch of us staying at a friend’s house, watching Return of the Living Dead […]Archive
July 26, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Asking For Horror Fiction Recommendations
I’ve had horror on the brain since I was about 11 or 12 years old. That’s when I ‘cured’ myself from getting freaked out by silly, weak b-grade horror flicks. That’s when I got right into the A Nightmare On Elm Street series of movies. And a year or so after that – along with […]Archive
July 13, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
V/A: The Way of Darkness – A Tribute to John Carpenter
Various Artists: The Way of Darkness: A Tribute to John Carpenter Rustblade John Carpenter – not only an influential filmmaker but a hugely influential musician. In fact, in the horror genre it’s really him on the top of a synth-mountain. With Tangerine Dream perhaps scaling the final peak just behind eh…Archive
July 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Case Study In Genius Branding
Most of the Friday the 13th movies don’t take place on Friday. It isn’t the 13th. And Jason is not the killer to begin with – he also doesn’t find his look until the third film. That’s when he gets his hockey mask. Later in the series they will blast him into other bodies – […]Archive
July 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Movies of My Life # 21: Friday The 13th Part Two
I’ve been watching the Friday the 13th horror franchise again. I’ve pretty much decided it’s my favourite horror franchise. Not the best, understand – just my favourite. I can always watch a Friday film. I have to work myself up to get in the mood to deal with the second half of the Halloween franchise; […]Archive
June 28, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Nightmares On Mainstream
The finger knives were the thing that hooked us, if you’ll pardon that obvious pun. We were so into Freddy – a horror ghoul with no heart and soul of his own, but he’d rip open that garish red and green jersey to show you the swirling souls he stole. Quite how they made Elm […]Archive
June 21, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Bloody Loops
In horror movies there’s always a way to bring the villain back – not least because the villain is actually the hero. This is the secret. To horror movies, not life. In life you can never go back, you shouldn’t go back – you leave a place or finish a job or a relationship ends […]Archive
June 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
My Top 10 Stephen King Books
I keep threatening to read Stephen King again – I should. I love him. And I haven’t read any of his books for about 20 years. They’re piling up and I’m miles behind. But where to start? I still haven’t read all of the “classic” titles, let alone finding the best of the new ones. Well, I […]Archive
March 8, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Shirley: DVD
Shirley Director: Josephine Decker Madman Movies about writers…they seldom work. But the good ones absolutely nail it. I think it’s because movies about writers need to be ‘small movies’ – and Hollywood likes to go large, so many of the films about legendary literary figures have overestimated the interest of the non-literary crowd. Or they’ve […]Archive
February 26, 2021 by Simon Sweetman