Previous SFF Author: Anthony Horowitz
The Dark Chamber by Leonard Cline
Just recently, I had some words to say concerning British author J. B. Priestley’s chilling second novel, Benighted, which was released in 1927. But, as it turns out, that was not the only atmospheric and genuinely unnerving horror exercise to come out that year. On the other side of the pond, Michigan-born author Leonard Cline, in his third novel, The Dark Chamber, would create a work so very macabre that it would later earn enthusiastic praise in H.
December 2nd, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Leonard Cline | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
While growing up in the 1960s, I used to love whenever one of the local TV channels would show one of British director James Whale’s Big 3 horror movies, all from Universal Studios: Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and, perhaps best of all, the eternal glory that is Bride of Frankenstein (1935). What I was unaware of back then was the fact that there was a fourth Universal horror film directed by Whale, and that bit of youthful ignorance was not entirely my fault.
November 17th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | J.B. Priestley | Film / TV, Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
… and we watched the willow branches bow outward from the passing, and it was invisible except that invisible was not the right word, because its not-there-ness hung in the air like an afterimage.
The Hollow Places (2020), by T. Kingfisher, reminded me a lot of the other folk-horror novel of hers I read recently, The Twisted Ones. Both take place in or close to small southern towns,
November 10th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | T. Kingfisher | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Bat Woman by Cromwell Gibbons
As some of you may have discerned, my favorite type of reading matter these days has been the science fiction, fantasy and horror books from the period 1900 – 1950, and so I am always on the lookout for modern-day publishers issuing new editions of these often out-of-print works. Case in point: Bruin Books, from Eugene, Oregon, which, a few years back, made it possible for me to finally obtain a reasonably priced copy of Paul Bailey’s wonderful horror novel Deliver Me From Eva (1946).
November 2nd, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 2.5 | Cromwell Gibbons | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Abel Salazar Triple Feature directed by Chano Urueta and Rafael Baledon
Are you ready to settle in with an absolutely dynamite and horrifying triple feature one weekend this autumnal season? Well, then, have I got a doozie for you! These three terror treats from south of the border, all made in the early 1960s, may come as a stunning surprise for the jaded horror viewer who thinks he/she has seen it all. The Mexican filmmakers in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s were enjoying a kind of Golden Age, certainly as regards as the horror film,
October 30th, 2020. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Devil’s Hand directed by William J. Hole, Jr.
In the 1943 film The Seventh Victim, just one of nine brilliant horror films produced by Val Lewton for RKO that decade, a character played by Kim Hunter comes to NYC to look for her missing sister, and discovers that that sister has joined a secretive, devil-worshipping cult in the heart of Greenwich Village. It is a superior horror outing, as are all the other Lewton horror outings, featuring wonderful acting, a sharp and compact script, and – typical for these Lewton affairs – a deliciously eerie atmosphere throughout.
October 29th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 2 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy directed by Rafael Portillo
It was at NYC’s legendary Thalia Theater on W. 95th St. in Manhattan where I first saw the Mexican wonder known as The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy (1964), paired with the Ed Wood-scripted The Bride and the Beast (1958) to make for one truly mind-boggling double feature. Ah, what a great theater that was! OK, time for Tales From My Misspent Youth, chapter 135: The Thalia, back when (I’m talking about the late ‘70s/very early ‘80s here), was a wonderful place to see a double feature of this sort,
October 28th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Wolfen directed by Michael Wadleigh
I well remember loving Whitley Strieber’s 1978 novel The Wolfen, back when it was first released. The book was atmospheric as could be and managed to do something that all good horror novels of its ilk should do: make the reader believe in the possibility of the supernatural. The book was most assuredly unsettling, and one that this reader has not forgotten, even 40+ years after experiencing it. But despite my love of that book, somehow, I never got around to seeing the film that was made from it,
October 27th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Beast Within directed by Philippe Mora
In the February 1974 TV movie A Case of Rape, Ronny Cox portrayed a man whose wife, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, is raped and beaten not once, but twice by the same man. The film was an enormous success, and indeed remains the most-watched TV film in NBC history. But few could have foreseen that almost precisely eight years later, Cox would again play the part of a husband whose wife undergoes a violent rape, but this time with far more dire results. The film in question is The Beast Within,
October 26th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Horror Rises From the Tomb & Panic Beats directed by Carlos Aured & Paul Naschy
Looking for a good creepy double feature to help you pass the time one stormy October evening? I’ve got a doozy for you. Hang tight!
HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB
As if to prove the old adage “you can’t keep a good man down,” the 1973 Spanish film Horror Rises From the Tomb gives us the story of 15th century Satanist Alaric du Marnac. When we first encounter this demonic figure,
October 23rd, 2020. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Anthony Horowitz
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…