Blood Fever (2006) – Charlie Higson

The end of James Bond’s first year at Eton is almost here, and the young boy, still thirteen, is working to figure out what to do with his summer holidays. His Aunt Charmain endorses his choice to go on a school trip to Sardinia, with the caveat that if it gets too dull, he can…

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) – Andre Ovredal

We just can’t leave the undead alone. It seems every couple of years someone trots out another Dracula update, or a new take on vampires. Some of them are good, some of them are not. The Last Voyage of the Demeter falls into the former. It’s bloody, and it’s fun. Based on a small five-page…

TAD 2023: International Shorts After Dark

It’s the final day of the festival and Toronto After Dark always takes this opportunity to showcase some of the amazing genre shorts that have been submitted to them from all over the world. This year, there are ten shorts to dive into, something that is sure to tickle your fancy is to be found…

All Monsters Attack (1969) – Ishiro Honda

This entry in the Godzilla serries is unique, in that the majority of it takes place in the imagination of a young boy, Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki). A latchkey kid, like a lot of us growing up in the 70s and 80s, Ichiro is a quiet kid (with Godzilla toys in the closet), who isn’t quite…

The Outsider (2018) – Stephen King

Stephen King’s The Outsider has proven divisive with some fans, as it marries a lot of his more recent writing, specifically his work on the Mr. Mercedes trilogy (the first of which plays as a straight thriller), and his earlier work that delved into the supernatural. I knew going in that there would be a…

Odd and the Frost Giants (2008) – Neil Gaiman

It’s always a delight to explore a Neil Gaiman book, and though this novella was far too short, it was everything I’d come to expect from this master storyteller. Incorporating Norse Mythology, which is also the subject of his latest book, the story follows a young boy, named Odd, who has an unexpected encounter with…