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Phil Hickes

Book Review: The Forbidden (Books of Blood Volumes 4-6) – Author Clive Barker

The Forbidden is one of the stand-out tales from Barker’s acclaimed Books of Blood series: a genre-redefining collection that prompted the horror high-priest Stephen King to proclaim breathlessly that ‘Clive Barker is so good I am almost literally tongue-tied.’ (For any horror fan not to have read these gory, otherworldly fables is a like a church-goer eschewing the New Testament.) It’s …

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Book Review: Gaslight Grotesque – Editers J.R. Campbell, Charles Prepolec

 Hands up who likes Sherlock Holmes? If your hand is raised then you’re in for a real treat with this fantastic tribute anthology. It’s a series of tales featuring our favourite cocaine addict and his faithful sidekick, but with an added layer of grotesque Gothicy goodness. In these stories we meet Wendigos and zombies, werewolves and ghouls. Aleister Crowley skulks …

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Book Review: City of Hell Chronicles Vol.1 – Editor Colin F.Barnes

City of Hell Chronicles Vol.1 The Ant-Headed Old One ‘The Great Maurr’ has risen and brought hell to earth. The land is scorched and the human race decimated, eaten or tortured. Only three cities remain, a crumbled, dying version of their former selves: London, Moscow and Hong Kong. The Great Maurr’s own City of Hell dominates most of North America. …

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Book Review: One Buck Horror Volume 3 – Editors Chris and Kris Hawkins

Another batch of pulp horror from the One Buck team. Another excellent collection of short stories to get your teeth into. If you’re wondering what to expect, it’s like an old horror comic without the pictures. It won’t take you long to get through, but as you’ve only paid a buck, you don’t begrudge its brevity. Non-spoiling taster to follow. …

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Film Review: The Innkeepers (2011)

SYNOPSIS: A horror-thriller centered on the last two employees at a haunted hotel that’s going out of business. REVIEW: This was showing as part of the Incredibly Strange film festival (incrediblystrange.co.nz), which is an offshoot of the main New Zealand Film Festival. I noticed it was scheduled for a 10.45pm showing, in one of the smaller, quieter and artier cinemas. …

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Book Review: Possessed: Spine Tingling Tales from Ten Masters of Horror – Editor Nate Kenyon

POSSESSED: SPINE TINGLING TALES The great advantage of the short story is that you can do one in a single sitting. A little shot of pure horror, down in one. None of this laboriously wading through another chapter every night only to discover that the monster was killed and good prevailed. And if you don’t like one author, then like …

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