The Independent Critic reviews 'Ms Green & Other Lovely Beasts'...

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.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story - a quick rant...

Season 3 of Netflix's true crime drama series from Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy has appeared on our screens, and after detailing the life and crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer (season 1) and the Menendez Brothers (season 2), their sights have now been fixed upon the so-called Butcher of Plainfield, Ed Gein.

The excellent first episode suggests a less gaudy and in-your-face tone, something with a splash of relative class (helped in no small part by an excellent performance from Laurie Metcalf as Gein's ultra-religious and overbearing mother) ... but this brief flirtation with taking the material seriously rapidly devolves, to the point that already by episode four Ed Gein is stalking babysitters and chasing two lost hunters through the woods with a screaming chainsaw while wearing a flesh mask, which was most certainly something he never did. Such moments become increasingly common as it becomes crystal clear that hewing close to the horrifying truth is of no real interest to the showmakers...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

FWOAN - My Statement of Intent...

#FWOAN Screenwriter Nick Thomson answers the important, ‘Why’s’ behind the motivation for creating the series of For Want Of A Nail...

#1 - to create a series that mixes drama and humour in a way that feels unusual and entertaining, introducing the audience to characters that they will care about and enjoy spending time with ... and

 

#2 - to finally represent Obsessive Compulsive Disorder on-screen as it has never been shown before... accurately and encompassing as many of the varied facets to the condition as possible.

 

“The series will allow the audience to learn more about the condition and gain a new appreciation of what OCD is and how it affects the 1-2% of the population who suffer from it. Importantly, never ‘wagging a finger’ at the audience (I hate that approach).

 

"For Want of a Nail" will be approachable, accessible, and entertaining - while never mocking the condition, or those (such as myself) who suffer from it..."

 

Continues after the jump...

That's TV Surrey - Report on FWOAN

"For Want Of A Nail" has just been covered in a video report by That's TV Surrey, featuring interviews with Producer Ali Causon and Director Lucy Joan Barnes. You can check it out via YouTube or on their Facebook page.

You can also view That's TV Surrey in the local area on Freeview channels 7 and 8.

Click "READ MORE" below for the Facebook embed...

This Cat is NED...

Do you like puppets? Do you like cats? Do you like puppet cats with a sense of humour in the general vibe of people like Will Forte? Then how about the web show This Cat is NED?

This isn't a sponsored post, I just happened to stumble across this recently and it tickled my fancy - so I figured I'd share it. They seem to do episodes every two weeks, 1 to 3 minutes per episode, and at the time of posting they've got 33 episodes. Dig in and enjoy - I certainly am.

Ash vs Evil Dead – Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Watch the Official Trailer HERE and the Comic-Con Panel HERE.

Ash is back, baby! The trailer for the ten-part horror/comedy series from Starz premiered at Comic-Con 2015 and it's whipped up a bit of a fan frenzy – so let's dig into some of the highlights.

Boy Done Good:

So where's Ash gone since we last saw him? Not very far, it seems – if anything he's gone in reverse – living in a trailer hitched to the same car he's always had (just think of the time and money Ash must have spent restoring it after the events of the third film!), and now he's not even working at S-Mart. Now he has – so I presume – slid down the retail ladder to 'Value Stop' where he's still a Stockboy, re-living past glories as he tells his co-worker Pablo of his prior adventures: “I was the only one to escape, but now the evil has found me.” At least he's got himself a new prosthetic hand – a bit more fitting to 21^st Century life than that bulky steel contraption from the last movie … maybe whatever magic that made it function wore off? “You won't see that hand, but that's all I'll say,” teased Raimi in response to a fan question on the matter of Ash's substitute hand at the Comic-Con Panel.

“Ash, even in his prime, would be the wrong guy to save the world – now he's thirty years older and he has to save the world! I'm really worried for the world,” said Campbell of Ash's advancing years. “Crabby old man Ash.” Sam Raimi also noted some of Ash's continued (but loveable) foibles: that the character is “a heel, a coward, and a blow hard” but is also “a great monster hunter”. Still though, while he may be a bit down-at-heel (he's even revealed to be wearing dentures at one point – but could this just be a little joke only for the trailer?), Ash still knows how to wield a stump-mounted chainsaw – a moment in the trailer that pushed all the right buttons!

Click “READ MORE” below to continue this trailer analysis with more screenshots...

"Celebrityville" marches forth...

I got a little bit done before Christmas ... then all the usual festivities got in the way ... drinks, chocolate, presents, chocolate, roast dinners, chocolate, you know how it goes.

Then I caught a stinking, foul cold which dragged on for days. I was pretty floored by it but, eventually, it passed and I was able to get back to the twisted world of "Celebrityville" - and I'm now two thirds of the way through it...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue the update...

Piecing together your story's jigsaw...

I'm diving into the planning process of my second book - Celebrityville - and so I thought this would be an opportune time to talk a little bit about initial ideas and linking up the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that will become your story.

The events of Celebrityville will take place before those of my first novel - Sleb - and will stand as the first part in a continuing series set in that absurd universe with those curious stars, obsessives, haters, and all-round warped individuals.

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Ilsa Trilogy Edition...

Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1975):
What's the Plot?
The first appearance of Dyanne Thorne's exploitation icon - the savage and sensual Ilsa of various employ. Set during World War II, the film takes place in an isolated prisoner camp used primarily for sadistic medical tests, as well as Ilsa's own private experimentations in search of supporting her theory that women are far more capable of dealing with pain than men (cue some rather graphic and disturbing brutalities). However, with an Americanised German native by the name of Wolf brought to the camp, an uprising is soon in the offing - as well as the chance for Ilsa to finally be sated between the sheets.

Raunch Factor?
Numerous energetic sexual encounters between Ilsa and Wolf - who is capable of lasting as long as he wants - sometimes involving a couple of her female cohorts. Thorne fans get plenty of bang for their buck. Frequent nudity in general, too, albeit sometimes in rather distasteful contexts.

Gore Volume?
This is the most savage entry in the series with particularly nasty blood-soaked interludes in the medical wing throughout the film. Boiled flesh, ocular trauma, death-by-lashing, bodies ravaged by disease and so on. It gets pretty rough at times and even seasoned genre fans will find their limits tested.

What's the Vibe?
Quite nasty and rather tasteless, in essence, and yet understandably iconic in exploitation cinema. The fact that it takes place during WWII and inside a prison camp makes the tone particularly horrible and mean-spirited. What's more, the generally bleak tone sits decidedly at odds with the campy exploitation elements (e.g. the athletic bedroom antics in Ilsa's private residence). Even stranger is that this film, filled with such brutality, was shot on the same set as beloved American TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Exploiting Nazis and WWII for entertainment isn't anything new by any means, but She-Wolf of the SS frequently crosses the boundaries of taste that makes for an uneven viewing experience, stuck somewhere between grindhouse titillation and repulsive recreation. Even the sense of relieving triumph come the finale takes a swift beat-down.

Click "READ MORE" below for an extra double-helping of Ilsa's persuasive charms...

YouTube Finds: All Star Celebrity Bowling...

I've been a fan of this web show since it first started, and recently I re-watched all the episodes, and I figured it was about time I flagged them up to anyone not in-the-know about them yet. Created by the Nerdist crowd, who have their own podcast network, Nerdist-in-Chief Christ Hardwick started All Star Celebrity Bowling in which teams of bowlers (e.g. musical comedians, cast & crew of TV shows, etc) would face off against Team Nerdist (featuring Hardwick, son of professional bowler Billy Hardwick) in a tournament to try and win $10,000 for charity. Taking part would get them $1,000, beating Team Nerdist in a game would get them a further $1,000, and whoever would come out victorious over all other teams would win the big money for their chosen charity.

I do rather enjoy bowling - although I'm rubbish at it as I never go regularly (not even remotely so) - and I found these to be bloody entertaining, even the episodes featuring people I either didn't know or barely knew who they were. There's a really fun and relaxed atmosphere to these videos too, so the show is doubly enjoyable to watch. Below are the three episodes that I enjoyed the most (and have re-watched several times a-piece)...

1) Team Nerdist vs. Team Mad Men

2) Team Nerdist vs. Team Walking Dead

3) Team Nerdist vs. Team Breaking Bad

YouTube Finds: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee...

Surfing around YouTube last week, I stumbled upon this brilliant little web series featuring Jerry Seinfeld talking to his comedian friends as he takes them out for coffee and chit-chat in different cars every week - Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a ruddy fun way to spend some YouTube time, so check it out.

Below are a couple of my favourite episodes so far:

1) Larry David, 2) Alec Baldwin, and 3) Joel Hodgson.