Slashers & Serial Killers in Review: MANHUNTER (1986)

Machine Mean

You Owe Me Awe!

Manhunter (1986) – essay by Kit Power

Expect spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled, go watch the damn movie. I’d recommend it.

As soon as the list of movie titles went up for this project, I knew I wanted to cover Natural Born Killers. And I had initially promised myself that’d do – there’s a lot of talented writers in the machine mean pool these days, and it’s not like I don’t have the odd other project to be getting on with.

And then I saw that Manhunter was on the list.

So here we are.

And it’s impossible for me to talk about the movie without talking about it’s more famous cousin, Silence Of The Lambs – covered on this site with admirable enthusiasm by Chad A Clarke. I don’t have much to add to his piece, but I do want to…

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Splatterpunk Zine NEW charity anthology: FIGHTING BACK!

FIGHTING BACK is a new horror anthology from Jack Bantry and Kit Power.

All proceeds will be going to charity.

“….all royalties will go to the MacMillan charity. MacMillan nurses go into cancer patients home and nurse them through the final stages of the illness and help loved ones left behind. It’s a charity close to my heart as my sister-in-law died recently after suffering for 5 years and I know everyone is touched by cancer in some way.” – Jack Bantry

Check out this line-up of stories and authors:

They Swim By The Night – Adam Millard
Melvin – Matt Shaw
Extinction Therapy – Bracken MacLeod
The Going Rate – John Boden
The Passion Of The Robertsons – Duncan Ralston
Hellscape – Rich Hawkins
Molly – Glenn Rolfe
Only Angels Know – George Daniel Lee
Limb Memory – Tim Curran
Feast Of Consequences – David Benton & W.D. Gagliani

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Halloween Reads

priya sharma fiction

One great thing about visiting the dealers’ room at British Fantasy Con (FCon) is that it reminds me how passionate people are who dedicate their time and energy to the small press and how much people still love the printed page.

I’m proud to have had work in TTA Press–  I love it because there’s nothing quite like it publishing short genre fiction in the UK.  Andy Cox, the editor, has an eclectic eye for work and high production values. Interzone, Black Static and Crime Wave win awards, as do the stories that Andy chooses.

As a horror fan, Black Static has contained some amazing stories that have stayed with me, such as “White Rabbit” by Georgina Bruce (British Fantasy Award Winner in the short story category) , “Shark! Shark!” by Ray Cluley (BFA Winner short story) , “When the Moon Man Knocks” by Cate Gardner  (BFA nominated), “Sunshine”…

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Creature Features in Review: Gremlins 2 (1990)

Machine Mean

This essay contains spoilers for, and assumes prior knowledge of, Gremlins and Gremlins 2. If you don’t want to be spoiled, go watch the films first. So, I’ve written about Gremlins < http://gingernutsofhorror.com/my-life-in-horror/someday-you-may-be-ready > elsewhere. It’s one of the most popular things I’ve ever written online, at least in terms of number of views, which is both gratifying and mystifying. And I feel like I should start by stating the obvious – it doesn’t need a sequel. There’s nothing significant left hanging in terms of plot or character resolution that needed another movie to explore. The movie is, in Aristotelian terms, a complete action. The most you can say in defense of any proposed sequel is that the first movie leaves the door open, what with Gizmo still being alive at the end, but that’s a long way from having a sequel be either needed or, necessarily, desirable. 

And sequels…

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Mansplaining and the Power of Naming

The Bias

Every few weeks, a man jumps into my mentions to ask me why “mansplaining” is a word. These conversations tend to follow a familiar pattern: multiple women respond with their own experiences of being ‘splained at, and how the word is useful to describe a particular pattern of sexist behavior. The man (sometimes several men) argues that we should just call it ‘condescension’ because (you guessed it) “not all men.” Then they’ll insist that the term “mansplaining” is a gendered slur.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that as soon as a marginalized group develops words to describe their oppression, their oppressors will label those words ‘slurs.’

We’ve seen this with a lot of terms, from claims that ‘cis’ and ‘whiteness’ are slurs to the shift in meaning by which “bullying” is now used to describe any activist labor that makes privileged people even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

This is one of the…

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Creature Features in Review: King Kong (1933)

Machine Mean

I am going to assume you’ve seen this film so spoilers will abound. If you haven’t, for the love of God, go. Go now.

Well, now. Here we are again.

Last time, it was Bride of Frankenstein (check out THAT review here). Sure, Thomas, I’ll cover Bride’, thinking quick watch through of Frankenstein and the sequel, then 1500 words, bish bash bosh, job done. Then that sinking feeling, as I realized how ludicrously good Bride was, how much I’d have to say, would want to say, just how big the world of existing essays, books and criticism must already be.

You might have thought I’d have learned something from that.

Yeah.

Apparently not.

So, King Kong. In my defense, I had seen it before, and more in my defense, it had been well over a decade. So, my memory was simply that it was bloody brilliant, absurdly good for…

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My Semi-Fictional Life #162 (Please Read – Signal Boost for Frank Errington)

Frank is an amazing person. Please call if you think you can help, or share if you know you can’t. Thank you.

Source: My Semi-Fictional Life #162 (Please Read – Signal Boost for Frank Errington)

Women in Horror Month

Nadia Bulkin

Enter, you. You’re a writer. You’re a horror writer. You’re a woman.

***

You go to see a new horror movie. It is filled with young ladies in peril, and then in various states of undress (still in peril), and then in various states of dissection (still in undress). The camera fawns over their destroyed bodies. The one who entered the movie broken gets to live. It’s the reward for her suffering. You come home disappointed. “Well, I could have told you it was going to be like that,” your male roommate says. “If there’s a half-naked girl in the trailer, you know the movie’s going to be rapey.”

***

You are an ambassador of your gender, so you better be good: in your writing, in your attitude, in your openness to overture. Someone generous is taking a chance on you, so don’t disappoint, or you’re the last lady horror…

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October Author Spotlight KIT POWER

Big interview with Tina Marie over at the Tina’s Bookcase blog. Check it 🙂

Tina's Bookcase

Kit Power is a great friend, and brilliant writer. Have only known him a short time, and it’s been an amazing ride. Hop aboard ….

Kit lives in the UK with this lovely family. He’s witty, funny, kind, smart, talented, an all around great guy, and you will adore him, just as much as I do. When not writing, he’s front man for The Disciples Of Gonzo, http://www.disciplesofgonzo.com . This man’s talent knows no bounds. If you haven’t picked up one of his books, or an anthology that he’s been a part of, you are truly missing out!

All of Kit’s books are available on http://www.amazon.com and can be easily found on his author page. Kit’s books come in paperback and kindle formats.

https://www.amazon.com/Kit-Power/e/B00K6J438K/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1476090329&sr=1-1

The first book of Kit’s that I read was GODBOMB. It’s a very thought provoking book. I know it made me think about my beliefs (or lack…

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I’ve Become Radicalized

Wow.

CLASH

Yeah, radicalized. Go ahead: think about Muslims and panic, you bigot. Now listen up because I have some shit to get off my chest. When someone becomes radicalized, it means they become more radical, especially when it comes to politics, and radical only means that they advocate for some sort of change. True, the term usually applies to people who participate in the very bad things that come from political/religious fanaticism, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t use the word. I’ve been radicalized, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

You see, I’ve been inhabiting Otherness for almost a decade. I’m the guy women run from the second they step off the bus. I’m the guy mothers pull their kids away from when I walk through the park. I’m the guy some white dude wearing a tie asks if he has a green card during a job interview…

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