Fairy Tale (2022) – Stephen King

Fairy Tale, Stephen King’s latest, available now from Simon & Schuster Canada feels unique in his bibliography. It takes the concept of those long beloved tales of Grimm and Andersen and gives them his unique twist. At its heart, the book seems to be an amalgam of things King loves. It is a story of…

M*A*S*H (1975) – Payday, White Gold, and Abyssinia, Henry

We’re closing in on the end of season three, and with Payday, Hawkeye (Alan Alda), serving as the payroll officer of the month has an unexpected windfall. Written by John W. Regier and Gary Markowitz, this episode first hit the airwaves on 4 March, 1975. As everyone finds ways to spend their pay, card games,…

Cujo (1983) – Lewis Teague

The film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1981 novel, Cujo, is the next title up in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, and I find myself a little divided on it. The majority of the film is, in fact, faithful to the novel until we reach the final act of the film. But we’ll get to…

From Russia With Love (1957) – Ian Fleming

This week I dove into Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel, and the one that was most closely adapted for the big screen, though SPECTRE is slipped into the film version, whereas in this tale it is simply east versus west as SMERSH, the Russian spy organisation comes up with a plan to humiliate the…

Onward (2020)- Dan Scanlon

Pixar films have been magic for the audience since Toy Story first graced theatre screens, or one could argue, when Luxo Jr., made his first appearance. With their latest offering, Onward, Pixar takes us into the world of magic. It seems magic exists, we’ve just let it slide away because it was too much work…

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) – Billy Wilder

The next title in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book is a bit of a red herring, which is kind of appropriate as it is kind of a mystery. Despite being nestled in the chapter on dragons and dinosaurs, the dinosaur, or monster in this one is apparent, from it’s first appearance that it…

The Croning (2012) – Laird Barron

This week’s book shelf brings a bit of cosmic horror as I delve into Laird Bannon’s novel, The Croning. The story spans the decades of one man, and the horrors that are around him, and the realization that these nightmare terrors are real. It’s unnverving, as we are introduced to geologist Don Miller, and his…

It: Chapter Two (2019) – Blu-Ray Review

Let’s get this out of the way first. No matter what Andy Muschietti had done for the second chapter of the It story there would have been no way to top the first instalment that was the perfect blend of creepy and nostalgia. And of course, there’s the plague of a Stephen King ending, something…

The Institute (2019) – Stephen King

It doesn’t say it directly, but The Institute, the latest King book I’ve read, could exist in the same world as The Shop from Firestarter, and one wonders if perhaps there’s a connection to the Dark Tower and the breakers or The Dead Zone. The tale follows young Luke Ellis, a bit of a boy…

Toronto After Dark 2019: The Assent (2019) – Pearry Teo

There’s a Barker/Lovecraftian feel to the gritty dirtiness of this entry in the Toronto After Dark film festival. Couched in a house covered in unnerving art, and filled with troubling apparitions and visions there is an aggressive edge to The Assent in the way it is shot, and the way the story unfolds. Mostly. Halfway…