Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

BLINK TWICE (2024)

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Directed and co-written by Zoë Kravitz, BLINK TWICE (2024) is a psychological thriller (though at least horror adjacent if not also horror) about a woman invited by a billionaire to his private island, where his guests spend their time in endless partying and self-exploration, only to discover something far more sinister is going on. While its feminist message is paper thin and it takes a while before things get bad, I enjoyed its restless energy, little moments of humor, and oddball characters and cast.

When billionaire tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum) hosts an event signaling his return after disappearing for a while following some horrible harassment allegations, server Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) infiltrate the after party so Frida could flirt with him. He invites her to his private island, where he and his friends spend their days enjoying life to the fullest. The only problem is strange memory lapses and other little clues that things aren’t what they seem. When Jess disappears but the other women doesn’t seem to remember her, Frida becomes increasingly aware that something is dreadfully wrong, leading up to a violent final act.

The themes of the rich doing whatever they want without real consequences because they’re rich and exploiting others are present, if not explored much. The story takes a simpler path of seeding the idea that things aren’t what they seem and letting it cook until it explodes. Honestly, the story is fine, not great, not terrible, and it at least feels familiar. Where the movie shines is in the sometimes frantic and always restless energy it has in its pacing, acting, cinematography, and little comedic moments.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with BLINK TWICE, which offers up a simple story creatively told.

OUTSIDE (2024)

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In the Filipino zombie movie OUTSIDE (2024, Netflix), a family faces its dark secrets and inner demons against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. Though arguably it could have used more zombies and a bit more action, the movie is a breath of fresh air in a genre whose tropes have been overworked by Hollywood, focusing on the human toll of stress when everything falls apart.

The movie begins with a family traveling into the countryside, where Francis (Sid Lucero) believes they can find refuge with his parents. He brings Iris (Beauty Gonzales) and their boys Josh (Marco Masa) and Lucas (Aiden Patdu). They take over the sugar plantation and attempt to hold out, but Iris is anxious about reaching other survivors and wants to leave, while Francis wants to stay.

There’s a lot of slow burn family drama and psychological horror here, as the characters and what drives them unravels like the proverbial onion. Iris appears cold, but she has her reasons. Francis is insecure and tries too hard to prove himself as a man, but he has his reasons. All of it enhanced and salted by not knowing if anyone else is alive amid civilization’s collapse; instead of putting aside all the old stuff because the world is ending, the movie makes the point that the opposite may be true. The actors do a great job communicating in a layered way, both what they want and what they need.

The zombies are pretty well done, nicely creepy. The only trick is by the third act, they start to fade as a threat until the very end, while the family drama boils over. I was all in for it, as I greatly enjoyed the movie and was happy to go where it took me, but some might not be. The location was interesting too, taking us into the rural Philippines.

Overall, I liked OUTSIDE a lot. I’ve seen a lot of zombie movies, and while this one ain’t perfect, it’s good. Where movies like WORLD WAR Z excelled in action but failed in basic character development and making us care, OUTSIDE goes the other way, not providing nearly as much action but offering richly drawn characters who feel like real people, thrown into a claustrophobic horror of the apocalypse.

HELLBOUND, Season 2

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I was blown away by HELLBOUND (Netflix), a Korean series about a strange new phenomenon occurring in which angels appear to people to tell them the hour of their death and that they have been sentenced to suffer in Hell. Season 2 blew me away even more.

The first season reveals the phenomenon and what it means to society. People are of course terrified, wondering what God wants and how to avoid suffering a similar fate as those very publicly beaten by demons before being incinerated and taken to Hell. To prevent societal collapse, a young man named Jung Jin Su–prophesied himself 20 years earlier to go to Hell–understands the only way to save humanity is to create a religion in which people taken to Hell clearly deserve it, leaving you safe as long as you follow his religion’s rules. When he pays to live-broadcast a woman named Park Jung Ja being taken by the demons, everyone believes it’s true–and they all flock to Jung Jin Su’s New Truth Society. Later in the season, after Jung Jin Su is taken to Hell, a charlatan takes over the New Truth and sets out to suppress information that a baby has been sentenced to Hell–directly contradicting the church’s teachings.

In the second season, the New Truth battles with Arrowhead, a mass movement of evangelical fanatics bent on destroying society and handing the ruins to God, and also Sodo, a group formed by a former lawyer dedicated to finding and exposing the truth about the demons. As the Arrowhead continue to gain in popularity and society starts to crumble, the government attempts to make a deal with the New Truth, its agent saying, We know Park Jong Ja has been resurrected, we know you have her, and we want to use her to create a new doctrine and destroy Arrowhead.

What they don’t know is that Jung Jin Su has also resurrected, and his experience in Hell has changed him.

The result is pure cosmic horror. I’ve always found conventional religion to be as scary as Lovecraft. I mean, there’s this Supreme Being, and he loves you, but if you don’t follow the rules and love him back you will suffer for eternity. Now imagine angels appear around the world and tell seemingly random people they are going to Hell, and then demons come at the prophesied time and shred them before burning them to ash. The show explores how humanity might react to such a thing, and how you’d end up with competing religions offering salvation, and then you’d end up with opportunistic people taking over these organizations and using them to gain and hold power and privilege. While the first season was about the battle to either give humanity the truth about its lot or offer it comfort in a new religion, a battle over meaning and interpretation, the second season is about the battle to control the narrative as a means to hold power.

I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s amazing TV in the vein of THE LEFTOVERS, though even more thought-provoking and powerful. Highly recommended.

BOYS IN THE VALLEY by Philip Fracassi

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In BOYS IN THE VALLEY by Philip Fracassi, demonic possession spreads among the boys in a remote orphanage, resulting in nightmarish horror. The publisher ambitiously billed it as THE EXORCIST meets LORD OF THE FLIES, and the read pays off on its promise.

At St. Vincent’s Orphanage for Boys in the early 1900s, thirty boys live a hard life under the watchful eyes of a handful of priests. One boy, Peter, cares for the younger children as best he can and faces a difficult decision–whether to follow his heart to Grace, the young woman living at a neighboring farm, or into the priesthood under the guidance of Father Andrew.

One night, a posse led by the local sheriff arrives with a prisoner accused of unspeakable acts. When the man dies, his death releases an evil that spreads like disease, infecting the boys and splitting them into sides. Then the violence begins.

The novel rings with solid and straightforward old-school horror. Fracassi strikes a nice balance between character and pacing, keeping the story moving and steadily raising the stakes, especially at around the midpoint, when all hell breaks loose, and then the pages fly by. The characters are all likeable or at least sympathetic, kids you can root for and a few people you can enjoy loathing. The demonic kids are straight-up evil and offer chilling antagonists.

On a personal note, I had the opportunity to hang out with Fracassi at KingCon, and we had a blast talking shop for hours. I’ll be watching his career with interest, and I’m happy to recommend checking out his stuff.

STOLEN TONGUES by Felix Blackwell

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In STOLEN TONGUES by Felix Blackwell, a young couple travels to a remote cabin, where they are terrorized by voices calling out in the night. The situation gets worse when the woman starts whispering back in her sleep. Originally a contest-winning story on Reddit.com’s horror community NoSleep, this horror novel delivers all the creeps and then some.

Stephen King once categorized horror as being horror (grotesque), gross-out (gore), or terror (chilling). He identified the third as being the most powerful, and I’d agree, as it taps into fear of the unknown, and it fires the imagination. The scares in STOLEN TONGUES almost entirely stem from this type of horror, and Blackwell pushes the pedal to the max.

The story starts with the couple being under siege at the cabin and escaping, only to discover the creature has followed them. The creature is pretty well drawn, with its own strange habits, customs, and lore. The effects it has on Faye, the protagonist’s fiancee, are beautifully creepy. I had a lot of fun with it, though it comes in for a very long landing that had me a little impatient, but that was just me, I’m a bit jaded.

I liked it so much I ended up picking up the prequel that Blackwell later wrote, titled THE CHURCH UNDER THE ROOTS, which goes even deeper into the weird lore. I liked that one a lot too.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, the author hasn’t written anything since then, and he said on a podcast that he has anxiety issues and that his sudden success gave him an extraordinary amount of stress. I can absolutely relate. Readers can be beautiful rays of sunshine or absolutely cruel. I know of one author whose second novel completely took off, only for him to suffer near collapse, and another who ended up quitting Big Five publishing and sticking with self-publishing under a pseudonym.

It’s unfortunate, as Blackwell is clearly a talented writer, but maybe he’ll return. Until then, I’d recommend these novels, which offer some great scares.

DARK WINDS, Season 1

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Based on the Leaphorn/Chee novels by Tony Hillerman, DARK WINDS (Netflix) is a crime drama that takes place in the Navajo Nation, with predominantly native actors.

The year is 1971, and an armored car heist and several murders fall on the desk of Lieutenant Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police. Working with a tough police sergeant and a new deputy named Chee, Leaphorn must content with FBI interest in the case, internal divisions on the reservation, and a terrorist movement seeking to gain greater self determination for the Navajo people.

As a crime story, it’s compelling, with numerous threads that slowly tie together to the big showdown at the end of the first season. What makes the show really special is the Southwestern landscapes, the indigenous culture, and the charming characters I found myself really rooting for. There is even a supernatural aspect in native witchcraft, which adds a bit of TRUE DETECTIVE to the mix and elevates the story even further.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with DARK WINDS and would recommend it. No heavy lifting required, though a bit spicier than the usual popcorn watch.