Find more horror reviews here.
%20001.jpg)
“To your perfect family.” Hey kids! What do you want out of an Evil Dead movie? Well, if it's a colour scheme that looks like three-day-old porridge and weighty themes about miserable personal relationships, then you've come to the right place...
%20002.jpg)
Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…
The sardonic arm of the law, foul-mouthed kitty-cats, and baloney in a galaxy far far away is just some of what's been setting the tone of my July/August 2026...
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
Or just search for "Murder at the Grindhouse" on your home nation's Amazon website.
Set during the dying years of the most notorious street in America: New York's 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, Murder at the Grindhouse is a coming-of-age murder mystery thriller set against a backdrop of social upheaval, the encroachment of corporate America, and a sensational killing streak. The propulsive story is told primarily through Calvin, a scorned small town zero forever chasing to catch up only to arrive too late, who is drawn to the city by a stunning, morbid mystery: who was the second body hidden inside his Aunt's funeral casket?
Calvin enters this extraordinary land of outlaw film culture and illicit freedoms as a wide-eyed innocent seeking answers and personal redemption, drawing him into a world of copycat murders, temptation, and mob intrigue. Besieged by alluring distractions, he is guided by Angela, a hard-nosed punk rocker; Carol-Ann, a jocular dancer with Broadway dreams; and their coterie of misfit friends. However, when Calvin's amateur sleuthing puts him in the middle of one too many crime scenes, Detective Armstrong begins to like him as a prime suspect for 'The Devil of The Deuce' serial killer. Will Calvin be able to peel back the layers of secrets, lies, and sordid actions to unveil horrifying truths – and at what cost to his soul?
A vivid and gleefully lurid journey through society's edge during a bygone era, Murder at the Grindhouse consumes the reader in a world populated with humorous, vibrant, and emotionally flawed personalities cast against a mix of absurd fringe fantasia and sudden danger.
My new novel "Murder at the Grindhouse" is coming out August 7th 2026, available worldwide on paperback and eBook via Amazon - so here's a little sample to read: the prologue that kicks things off.
January 1982
Granted, I've never rode behind a hearse before, but I don't think they're supposed to ride that low to the ground. Aunt Teresa was a robust woman, and yeah, she's only been present in occasional letters since sixty-nine, but there's no way she's put on this much weight since then.
The black Caddy up ahead wallows along the freeway, its undulating rear bumper scraping against the patchwork tarmacadam as the winter sun, wreathed in freezing clouds, slithers across the soft curves and sharp details of its gleaming body.
Uncle Gene's up front. He hasn't said a word since this morning at JFK, his frosty silence imposed upon everyone else in the limousine.
“At least the sun came out for her,” I say, disregarding the verbal embargo.
In the middle row of seats, Dad's gaze refuses to peel away from the world passing by, as Mom turns her head an inch or two, that all-too-familiar blankness on her face. Neither utter a word. The same goes for Angela, head to toe in black and keeping her distance. Despite the veil, there's a hint of a smile under the brim of her hat. She must like folks stewing in their awkwardness...
Click "READ MORE" below to contiue...
My buddy Brian and I have been mucking around with a music generator these past few months, and with me writing the lyrics and him prompting the tunes, we've accidentally gone and made a whole album of tracks - some of which act as a prequel/re-telling/sequel for the "I Am Zombie Man" series of literally no-budget short films I made many moons ago.
.png)
We've called ourselves We Are Zombie Men, and the album is called Bolivian Bliss. You can check it out on the the WAZM YouTube Channel:
Bolivian Bliss (Alternative Cuts)
I used Microsoft Designer to prompt the images of Zombie Man and his new beau Fan Girl.
A quick FAQ after the jump...
Murder at the Grindhouse - my new novel - is releasing on August 7th 2026 worldwide via Amazon.
The eBook is already up for pre-order worldwide (e.g. UK, USA) and the physical print edition of the book will go live for purchase on August 7th.
Set during the dying years of the most notorious street in America: New York's 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, Murder at the Grindhouse is a coming-of-age murder mystery thriller set against a backdrop of social upheaval, the encroachment of corporate America, and a sensational killing streak. The propulsive story is told primarily through Calvin, a scorned small town zero forever chasing to catch up only to arrive too late, who is drawn to the city by a stunning, morbid mystery: who was the second body hidden inside his Aunt's coffin?
Calvin enters this extraordinary land of outlaw film culture and illicit freedoms as a wide-eyed innocent seeking answers and personal redemption, drawing him into a world of copycat murders, temptation, and mob intrigue. Besieged by alluring distractions, he is guided by Angela, a hard-nosed punk rocker; Carol-Ann, a jocular dancer with Broadway dreams; and their coterie of misfit friends. However, when Calvin's amateur sleuthing puts him in the middle of one too many crime scenes, Detective Armstrong begins to like him as a prime suspect for 'The Devil of The Deuce' serial killer. Will Calvin be able to peel back the layers of secrets, lies, and sordid actions to unveil horrifying truths – and at what cost to his soul?
A vivid and gleefully lurid journey through society's edge during a bygone era, Murder at the Grindhouse consumes the reader in a world populated with humorous, vibrant, and emotionally flawed personalities cast against a varied mix of absurd fringe fantasia and sudden danger.
Find more horror reviews here.
%20001.jpg)
“DIY horror is trafficking right now.” How do you resurrect and reinvent a semi-obscure horror franchise that focused on 'real' death and destruction to shock its audience many years before anyone had even heard of something called the World Wide Web and viral videos? In the case of this unexpected 2026 rebirth of the 1978 original, the approach is to make things timely to meet our current world of social media...
%20002.jpg)
Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…
Cruising around the galaxy with my little alien buddy, the fall of a villain, a modest amount of Cage Rage (and two blistering heat waves!) is just some of what's been setting the tone of my May and June 2026...
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
Richard Propes of The Independent Critic has published a review of 'Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts' - and you can check it out HERE.
Directed by Barnes from a script by Nick Thomson, Ms. Green is a deliciously dark delight, a dramatic short with a comedic gleam in its eye and a film that carries with it the spirit of a gothic poet's heart. Koster's Green is an unusual sort, though I'm hesitant to ruin any of it for those may eventually see the entertaining short. Koster makes us rather love Ms. Green, though perhaps from a distance. She's seductively psychotic, a wee bit fractured and yet possesses a sweetness that makes her endearing. Koster makes all of this believable and rather fun to watch.
Lensing by Will Middleton and Aaron Whitehead is effective throughout, and Veronika Koubova deserves immense credit for editing that makes Ms. Green work despite its slight 15-minute running time and an undeniable desire to spend more time with these characters.
You can follow the film's progress on Facebook, visit the Oakhill Productions website, and visit the film's IMDb page.
Find more horror reviews here.
%20001.jpg)
“I don't think so.” What does an audience want from a Friday the 13th movie? Not too much, for we're not a particularly demanding bunch when it comes to the machete-wielding franchise – Jason Voorhees in his iconic hockey mask hacking up some campers with style and verve will do nicely, thank you: real meat and potatoes stuff. It shouldn't be difficult to not fuck that up, right? … Right?!...
%20002.jpg)
Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
Another great review of our short film Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts, this time from Indie Shorts Mag. Check out their full review HERE.
"Green is the undeniable backbone of the whole affair (puppet Dziga may be the femora). She makes Elnora a particularly enjoyable heroine. Elnora is sweet-spoken and snarky, earnest and sarcastic. Patient. Secretly furious. And borderline psychopathic. The insanity is painted delicious, a tongue-in-cheek approach that transfers to other comedic moments, like a swish pan back and forth between Elnora and Dziga. For Elnora and Parker, the tone is softer than fluffy clouds, even as they share in the task of skinning a dead animal."
You can follow the film's progress on Facebook and visit the Oakhill Productions website.
Check out the new trailer for our short film "Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts" below...
This trailer takes on a more quirky, romantic vibe, angling towards some of the other shades to the complex protagonist Elnora Green, played by Lauren Koster.
You can follow the film's progress on Facebook and visit the Oakhill Productions website.
Find more horror reviews here.
%20001.jpg)
“Just don't forget who you are and what you do.” One of the most notorious slasher movies of the 1980s, torn from theatres after a fervent protest by concerned mothers, Silent Night Deadly Night (Charles E. Sellier Jr., 1984) nonetheless survived with a sheer bloody mindedness that produced four sequels and not one but two remakes. But how far can you really stretch such a straight forward, but admittedly vivid, concept as a serial killer in a Santa suit?...
%20002.jpg)
Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…
The storyboards for Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts were made by Mike Cosford (visit his website HERE), with whom we had worked with before on For Want Of A Nail. Fun fact: on FWOAN, some of the storyboards depicting the protagonists had a striking resemblance to the actors that played the parts - before they had even been cast! However, this time around we already had our cast in-place, so there was no magical precognition (as far as we know, anyway!)
Here are a few comparisons between Mike's storyboards and snapshots of the finished film.
The main opening of the film takes place inside a fantasy world in Elnora's mind, brought to life as if a scene from a Universal Monster Movie from the 1930s and 40s. Tilting down from the naked branches of December trees and tracking forward, we come to find Elnora isolated and (seemingly) talking to herself ... but she's not really alone. The bottom of the garden at producer Ali's mother's house was transformed into the outskirts of a rural cemetery for this scene...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue...
Dziga II, the pug sidekick of Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts protagonist Elnora Green, was portrayed in the film in two different ways: the first was how Elnora sees Dziga (as a children's TV show puppet that talks with a Scottish accent, articulating her innermost thoughts and desires, bringing some semblance of clarity to her own confusion in the curious world of Celebrityville), and the second was as everyone else sees Dziga - as a real-life pug dog.
We found Dolly the pug through one of our actor's family members, and our Art Director Olivia was able to then hand-craft the puppet version to match Dolly. Bearing in-mind that we'd be working with a real animal, and one that wasn't a professional in the industry, I made sure to write her scene in such a way that it required nothing too complicated from Dolly - just a few choice shots to get the point across about how different people actually saw the character of Dziga II...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue...
Time for some more glimpses behind-the-scenes of our new short film, the weirdly romantic horror comedy Ms Green and Other Lovely Beasts...
Richard Coppen at Panther Studios in Reigate supported us with ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) on our short film. ADR is when actors re-record dialogue in the studio to make every word crystal clear. On Ms Green, our actors jumped back in to perfect lines and capture every subtle emotion: including bringing puppet pug Dziga to life! Richard's skill, patience, and good humor make every session effortless. He doesn’t just run a studio, he makes sound sing.
Click "READ MORE" below to continue...
A grizzled Finn on the rampage, banging synth rock, and a cloud-scraping Knight are some of what's been setting the tone of my January/February 2026...
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
It takes a whole village to make a film, so to speak, so here's a few of those involved in bringing our film Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts to life.
"From the moment I read Ms Green, I knew I wanted to bring Nick’s vision to life. The script’s blend of dark subject matter with a distinctive quirkiness and humour is something only Nick could achieve, and it immediately resonated with me. I had a clear sense of how Elnora should be portrayed and how I wanted audiences to connect with her. This project was made possible by an exceptional cast and crew, whose talent and dedication helped bring my vision, alongside Nick’s and Ali’s, to the screen. It was truly a collaborative effort, and I am immensely proud of what the team has accomplished."
Posts
All Comments
