Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A Soviet spy recruits an army of international terrorists. Their mission: infiltrate the United States, wreaking havoc and inciting civil war. They only have three obstacles to overcome: The army, the CIA and Chuck-friggin-Norris. Anyone who’s read my books knows I love some good old fashion shoot-‘em-up, smash-‘em-up carnage… especially when it’s served up in R-Rated, …

What do Jason Vorhees, Tom Brady and Mystery Science Theater 3000 all have in common? They never age, and they all take a beating and come back for more. Joel Hodgson’s creation has endured for thirty-five years across multiple networks, without changing its simple, yet elegant premise. For anyone too young to remember here it is: A lone everyman is …

Welcome back to the final chapter of Beware Children at Play. And, being our final chapter, we’ll cut straight to the film’s finale—the notorious, ‘kill all the children scene.’ On paper the idea of a dozen children being shot, stabbed and bludgeoned by their own parents sounds truly reprehensible. But due to budgetary restraints, and inexperienced child actors the scene …

Welcome back to the penultimate chapter of the Beware Children at Play saga, where we finally dive into the nuts and bolts of a zero-budget production. Beware Children at Play’s child actors were cast via newspaper ads and through some local modeling agencies. Some of the kids were surprisingly good, and I hope they look back on their movie experience …

Welcome back to part two of my history of DON’T films. We’re kicking things off with everyone’s favorite decade, the 1980’s: Ten years defined by Chernobyl, Huey Lewis, rampant cocaine abuse and, most importantly, movies with DON’T in their title.

One of the perks of membership in the Horror Writers Association is being sent pre-publication arcs from fellow writers seeking the lofty Bram Stoker award. One of the highlights was Preston Fassel’s biography, Landis: the Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street. It’s a true labor of love, chronicling the rise, fall, second rise and eventual fall of semi …

When I think back on the thirty plus movies and television shows I’ve worked on, one always stands out—a little gem entitled BEWARE CHILDREN AT PLAY. If the title doesn’t ring a bell, it’s that infamous movie where a dozen children are brutally slaughtered on camera. When Troma Films screened Beware’s trailer at the Cannes Film Festival it allegedly inspired …

DON’T is a powerful word. It’s one of the first commands we’re taught as kids, keeping us from sticking our tiny fingers into electrical sockets, or playing with knives. The word’s power is drilled into us from early childhood, which is probably why it’s the first word in so many hit song titles from the 1950’s and 60’s. But it …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Ken Russell, the director of Tommy and The Devils shifts into sensory overload with his hyper stylized biography of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt—a lascivious librettist who careens from proto pop stardom to Marxist revolutionary, ultimately becoming a catholic missionary to battle his arch nemesis —German composer Richard Wagner. Just picture the cult favorite cheese fest, rock …

Rate This MovieSYNOPSIS: Captain Nolan (Richard Harris), a financially desperate fisherman attempts to capture a live Orca in the hopes of selling it to a marine park. Sadly, he unwittingly kills a pregnant female. The dead Orca’s mate declares war on Nolan, pursuing him to a remote fishing village. REVIEW: It’s fair to say that all shark movies owe their …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In this adult animated feature, aspiring cartoonist Michael falls in love with Carol, an African American bartender. The couple struggle to escape their hellish urban environment, but fate isn’t on their side. REVIEW: The seventies represented a golden decade for filmmaking, spawning some of the most important and personal works ever committed to celluloid. Taxi Driver, …

Welcome back for part 2 of our expedition into that emerald green hell known as the rainforest. This leg of our journey is equal parts arthouse and grindhouse. Each of these films in some part helped shape my novel Primeval Waters. We’ll kick it off with an overlooked nail biter from the director of The Exorcist. Missed Part 1? Click …

Scholars say there are four primary conflicts in literature—man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. self and man vs. God. Well, no backdrop better combines all these elements than the Amazon Rainforest—an untamed jungle populated with hostile tribes where all of God’s creatures are out to devour you, if your own fear and ignorance doesn’t kill you first. That’s …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: To quote George Bernard Shaw, “Assassination is the sincerest form of flattery.” In director Larry Buchanan’s alternative history drama, a sinister cabal within the US Government plots to kill those three ‘pied pipers of rock and roll,’ Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison to ensure Nixon’s re-election. REVIEW: Today I’m reviewing a film, that, prior …

Learn the evil truth about SEA MONKEYS. Explore the mating habits of BIGFOOT. Meet the macho man behind KING KONG. And learn why SCORPIONS are nature’s superheroes. All that and more packed into six incredibly strange minutes! PLUS a chance to win a free eBook.