The Mary Shelley Club (2021) – Goldy Moldavsky

So I have been reading a lot of science fiction of late, and wanted to shake it up a bit, and find something a little bit more from the horror/thriller genre, and a top horror novels of 2021 list returned the Young Adult (I hate that term) novel, The Mary Shelley Club. Well I put…

TAD 2018: The Inhabitant (2017) – Guillermo Amoedo

It’s unfortunate that The Exorcist is considered the gold standard in horror films, because the film having its Canadian Premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre as part of the Toronto After Dark film festival is no doubt going to draw comparisons because of it’s subject matter. And that is unfortunate, because the Mexican/Chilean coproduction of The…

Heart-Shaped Box (2007) – Joe Hill

After enjoying Hill’s short story collection a couple of weeks ago, as well as his fantastic work on Locke & Key, I decided to give a full novel a try, and the result ends up being a very satisfying ghost story, as we dive into a world of sex, violence and rock’n’roll. Judas Coyne (not…

Fake Blood (2017) – Rob Grant

Whether Canadian film-makers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac movie is fact or fiction isn’t the point of their latest cinematic effort. What is important is the film’s subject matter, and the commentary it makes on film, violence in cinema and the responsibility of the film-makers. Opening Friday at the Carlton here in Toronto, Fake Blood,…

The Shape of Water (2017) – Guillermo del Toro

del Toro’s latest film, The Shape of Water is very much a fairy tale for adults, as well as sharing a kinship with the horror films of the 1950s, specifically, 1954’s The Creature From the Black Lagoon (as well as to Abe Sapien as seen in del Toro’s own Hellboy series). But in this film,…

Hot Docs 2016: Fear Itself – Charlie Lyne

  Screening this evening at 10pm at the Lightbox, and again on May 3rd at 3:45pm, before moving to the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema for a final screening om May 4 at 9:45pm. An experiential film, a solo voice, that of Amy E. Watson,  guides the narrative as she recalls and experiences fear as brought…