DAILY HORROR STUFF | Michael Sellars | Author

Hyenas. My debut novel. A frenetic post-apocalyptic thrill-ride that readers describe as 'relentless', 'disturbing', 'unique', 'poignant' and 'a hell of a good time'. RTs greatly appreciated! UK: amazon.co.uk/gp/product/191… US: amazon.com/gp/product/191… #horror #zombies #liverpool

Hellraiser (1987). Directed by Clive Barker.

Theatrical trailer for The Ruins (2008). Directed by Carter Smith.

Identify the horror movie from the old-school jittery VHS freeze-frame.

Fire in the Sky (1993). Directed by Robert Lieberman.

Event Horizon (1997). Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Although the film met with mostly negative reviews and a disappointing box office result at the time of its release, it amassed a considerable cult following over the years. Director Paul W.S. Anderson said that the movie's cult status was predicted to him years before by Kurt Russell. Anderson screened Event Horizon before they started work on Soldier (1998), and Russell said "Forget about what this movie's doing now. In fifteen years time, this is going to be the movie you're glad you made". [IMDB]

Clive Barker's cover art for the 1986 Sphere edition of his Books of Blood Volume 1.

@ramseycampbell1 I quite like the idea that in an alternative timeline we might have Ramsey Campbell's Plasmid.😀

@HorrorPaperback I was offered the prospect of writing the novel but declined.

Plasmid by Jo Gannon. The story behind this one is a bit complicated. Although the name Jo Gannon is on the cover, the author on the title page is Robert Knight. Who's Robert Knight? Well, that's a pseudonym for sci-fi writer Christopher Evans, author of the BSFA-award-winning Aztec Century and, along with Robert Holdstock, editor of the Other Edens series of anthologies. So, who the hell's this 'Jo Gannon'? Jo Gannon wrote the original screenplay from which this novelisation was adapted. Ah, now it's starting to make sense. So where can I watch this Plasmid movie? You can't. It was never made. All we know is Stanley Long was in line to produce and direct it. And who's Stanley Long? Not sure. The only person I can find who even comes close to being the type of character who might produce and direct something like Plasmid is one Stanley A. Long. So, this Stanley A. Long made horror movies? No. He has a very grubby resume, with titles like London in the Raw, Naughty! and The Wife Swappers. But he was the cinematographer for Michael Reeves' The Sorcerers (1967), starring Boris Karloff, and Vernon Sewell's The Blood Beast Terror (1968), starring Peter Cushing. So, he has some horror credentials. What else do we know? Nothing. If anyone knows anything that might shed light on what is fast becoming the definitive mystery of our age, drop it in the comments.

@SerSquiggy It's a great read.

@HorrorPaperback Sounds my cup of tea.

Horror book recommendation. Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett. "Bizarre radio broadcasts luring dissolute souls into the dark woods of Western Massachusetts. Sinister old men in topcoats gathered at corners and in playgrounds. A long-dead sorcerer returning to obscene life in the form of an old buck goat. Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace. You've tuned in to WXXT. The fracture in the stanchion. The drop of blood in your morning milk. The viper in the veins of the Pioneer Valley." This appears to be a collection of short stories. In fact, it's advertised as such. But it's not. It's a fractured, discombobulating novel. This is a rule-breaking book. Weird things happening to weird people in weird places. Bartlett doesn't offer much in the way of footholds. This isn't Stephen King's ordinary people facing extraordinary events. And it isn't extraordinary people attempting to navigate the ordinary (a la Dennis Etchison, Ramsey Campbell etc). On the whole, this kind of fiction tends to flounder and fail, largely because it attracts a particular kind of writer: the lazy individual who wants to get the horror imagery that's bouncing around their head out onto the page but lacks the skill and discipline to do it effectively, and independent horror is littered with such writings. Bartlett, however, has skill and discipline to spare. It may be horribly misshapen, but his writing has a spine. It might not even be a human spine, but it's there and it's doing an admirable job of keeping everything painfully aloft. It's probably a lazy comparison but I'm going to make it anyway: Bartlett's work reminds me of David Lynch (or even William Blake) in that it's impossible to know precisely what's going on (overall and, often, at any given moment) but as a reader you have no doubt that the author knows exactly what he's doing and why. A great, great book.

Famous Monster of Filmland Issue 23 (June, 1963).

Horror art by Pär Olofsson.

@StebobM The only aspect of the character I was changing was the wise-cracking. The rest is just costume.

@HorrorPaperback No dumbest cause you’re basically changing the entire character to the point where you may well just make up a new character

So don’t make it anything like what it actually is? Lol Has to be one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard.

@KooKKz1 Sleepwalkers.

Pet Sematary 2 or Sleepwalkers?

@SteveArgento @slither198 You're entitled to your opinion. It just seemed a slightly loaded way to preface it. Apologies for the snark.

@HorrorPaperback @slither198 As a published horror writer do you think giving snarky responses to people who dare to disagree with your opinion paints you in a positive light?

The very brief flashback we get of the Brooklyn exorcism is evidence enough that we were robbed when we didn't get a whole series of Harry D'Amour movies.

@SteveArgento @slither198 Do you think being at the premiere adds weight to your opinion?

@HorrorPaperback @slither198 It's really not. I was the premiere of this and it was just further evidence that Barker is a great writer but a poor director.

@mdsmith101 Great idea.

@HorrorPaperback Double bill this with Cast a Deadly Spell.

@foreignhorrorhq I think it earns its third act. There needs to be some release after all that restraint. It's an excellent film.

The Eye is the Pang brothers proving that restraint beats gore every time. A blind violinist gets a transplant and starts seeing what her donor saw, filmed with a soft, out-of-focus haze that makes every hallway feel occupied. The calligraphy boy asking about his lost report card, the old man hovering in the elevator, these are the scares people still describe twenty years later. It loses its nerve in a loud third act, but this is the peak of the Hong Kong horror wave

@ScarredForLife2 Early Snuffy has a very Nicholson-in-The-Shining delivery.

MR SNUFFLEUPAGUS was Big Bird's elusive best mate in Sesame Street, a gentle, doe eyed creature who just wanted to make friends. But, like Rainbow's Bungle, the original version from 1971 was an absolute nightmare. The eyes! The eyes!

@OctoberpodVHS I'm with you. Keep the basics: a child killer executed by a lynch mob who can kill people in their dreams. Lose the hat, finger blades, stripey jumper, the smart-ass remarks etc. Make it creepy, surreal and brutal.

I've never really cared for NOES. But if they gave me the reigns, I'd take all of the best elements of NOES & put them in a blender. Maybe it would no longer be about Freddy. It would be a spiritual successor as similar to NOES as Haunting of Bly Manor is to Turn of the Screw.