Undead Backbrain

Hotel rooms can be very creepy places and have occasionally been the setting for horror stories and films. The Stephen King-based ghost flick 1408 (US-2007; dir. Mikael Håfström) springs to mind.

Now Morrigan Books is about to release Voices, an anthology of horror tales edited by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar, where each of the stories is set in a hotel room.

Every room has a story to tell – the question is: can you bear to listen? Can you bring yourself to hear the voices?

A while back, the editors asked me if I’d be interested in writing a series of short pieces to fit into the book at intervals: a prologue, an epilogue, and four others to end each segment. I was, and, as usual, got carried away; each “flash” piece grew longer than was reasonable and, when read in sequence, formed an overarching story. This is a structure that I took a liking to while writing “Moments of Dying”, as published in Black magazine No. 1 (2008) — five shorts that are thematically connected and reach a sort of climax in the final piece.

In the case of “Remainders” (as the story sequence I wrote for Voices is called), the stories are not only thematically connected, but form a single narrative as well — even though they are spread throughout the book and each one works as a separate story in itself. In fact, they are interwoven in several ways — narratively, with several recurrent characters; imagery that is repeated and developed further in each piece; thematic and content resonances taken from the anthology’s section headings; and chronologically, taking place at twenty-year intervals beginning in 1928.

Oh, I should add that there is an excellent line-up of creepy stories that aren’t by me!

Contents

Prologue — Robert Hood
Illusions
Sanctuary — Carole Johnstone
The Mirror — KV Taylor
His Only Company, The Walls — Brad C. Hodson
Remainders: 1948 — Robert Hood
By the Hand
Paris — Todd Edwards
Just Us — Pete Kempshall
A Picture of Death — Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Remainders: 1968 — Robert Hood
Possessions
Constance Craving — Gary McMahon
Bedbugs — Martin Livings
Faking It — Siobhan Byford
Remainders: 1988 — Robert Hood
Epiphanies
The Suicide Room — Paul Kane
Sentinel — Sonia Marcon
The Man Who Wasn’t There — Rodney J. Smith
Remainders: 2008 — Robert Hood
Epilogue — Robert Hood

Voices will be released at Conflux SF Convention in Canberra, 3–6 October 2008.

• More information on the book and how to order a copy.

As a tease, here is an extract from “Remainders: Prologue”:

“I don’t like this,” he whispered.

The elevator doors clanged open; the carriage shuddered uncertainly. “Wait!” he said, not looking at what was inside. “I want to go up the stairs. Ros, I think we should go up the stairs.”

“Brighton!” she growled.

At first it was the vast splashes of blood - blood that dripped from the lift car roof, runnelled down the polished walls, gathered in puddles on the floor - that drew his attention. When neither Rosalyn nor the porter reacted, however, he assumed they couldn’t see it - that it wasn’t really there - and closed his eyes. He waited in the dark for a moment, feeling the ominous trembling in his muscles grow, then let the world in again, hoping the blood would have disappeared.

But this time he registered the elevator attendant. The figure standing at the control panel was dressed in the same uniform as the porter, but his clothes hung loosely on his skeletal form. The bones of his face were barely hidden under a veneer of pale skin, and his eyes were dark, almost absent. He stared directly at Brighton as though he could see into his thoughts.

“We should go up the stairs,” Brighton insisted.

Buy the book to find out What Happens…

Sometimes fairy tales make excellent (or at least interesting) horror films. Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) [aka El Laberinto del Fauno] is something of an epitomé of the approach, of course; but others, such as Michael Cohn’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) and Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm (2005), do a good job of translating the imagery and sensibilities of Faerie into a horror genre context. Another recent film that springs to mind is M. Night Shyamalan’s rather awkward Lady in the Water (2006) — but the less said about that, the better, I suspect.

A new independent horror film that purports to use fairy-tale elements to weave its dark magic recently premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, taking the award for “Best of the Fest”.

Spike (US-2008; dir. Robert Beaucage)

Synopsis:

A young woman finds herself trapped in a nightmarish fairy tale come true, and must rescue her friends from a strange creature who idolizes her and will have her at any cost.

“There is always some madness in love….”

Director Robert Beaucage readily lists the influences that have driven his interest in fantasy tropes as a means of examining the undercurrents of our ordinary lives. He says:

“Dreams, fantasy, and mythology have fascinated me since my early childhood. From the exploits of Theseus, Perseus, and Odysseus to the works of C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll; from my own vivid childhood dreams rife with werewolves, witches, and dragons to the writings of Joseph Campbell and James Frazer, I have viewed fantasy and fairy tales as vital tools to understanding life.”

These cultural influences form the basis of his film’s thematic core.

“With Spike,” he commented, “I have set out to tell a fantasy story exploring dark and dangerous possibilities of a condition we have all experienced in one way or another: romantic love. Why do we love? What causes us to love particular individuals? What is love? Can we control it, or does it control us?”

Given my usual obsessions, I’m intrigued to know what form the romantically inclined titular creature might take, and the following image from the film suggests something both unique and literally described by its name.

Creature creator Jordu Schell’s design background speaks well for the possibilities. His resumé includes Men In Black, Planet of the Apes (2001), Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, X-Files: The Movie, Predator II, Galaxy Quest, Evolution, My Favorite Martian, Alien: Resurrection, The Guyver and Bedazzled.

Check out the website for more pictures, bios, storyboard images, behind-the-scenes stuff and clips from the film.

Afterthought:

I note the following statement from the director’s bio with even greater excitement: “His plans for a second feature will not include a monster, but may involve ghosts, time travel, and clockwork dinosaurs.” Clockwork dinosaurs? Very cool indeed!

• Source: the website via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

My awareness of J.T. Petty’s work, as writer and director, is pretty well restricted to Mimic: Sentinel (2003) — the third film in the series that originated with Guillermo Del Toro’s Mimic (1997) and one that hasn’t gained much of a profile among horror fans. The film was, however, extremely impressive, taking a completely different tack to its franchise predecessors and to monster films in general. Original, stylish and intelligent, it used its limited budget well by grafting the Mimic mythos onto a Rear Window scenario, thus giving the film a narrow perspective and considerable claustrophobic intensity. I thought it one of the most interesting horror sequels I’d seen for a long time and one that deserved better than it got.

Now Petty has turned his sights on another grafting, with a hybrid horror/western take on the monster movie called The Burrowers. The wild west may not be at the peak of its popularity in contemporary Hollywood, but there have been several  horror/western cross-pollinisations in recent times, including the ghostly Dead Birds (2004), zombie-comedy Undead or Alive (2007),  and even The Quick and the Undead (2006), which, though set in a post-apocalyptic future, is “western” in tone and appearance. Then of course there was Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, which was a prequel to the classic monster flick Tremors (1990), set in the old west.  This latter is particularly relevant to The Burrowers, as both films deal with burrowing, underground monsters preying on the human surface dwellers.

After a family is brutally murdered in their home, a group of ranchers and infantry men embark on a crusade to find the killers. When a mysterious killer attacks their ranks, they discover that carnivorous creatures are hiding beneath the surface of the earth waiting to feed on their flesh. (Bloody-Disgusting.com)

According to initial reports, the film takes a serious approach to its horrors and this differentiates it from its tongue-in-cheek and witty predecessor. Director Petty has expressed some surprise over the seemingly inevitable comparison with Tremors, pointing out that while that film is “an awesome fun monster movie”,  The Burrowers has “a completely different tone and a completely different world” and what he wanted to do was “make something more in line with The Thing and Aliens.” By which he means “serious”, I assume.

As in many of the best horror films, the horror of the monsters — as frightful as they are — tends at times to be overshadowed by the inhumanity of the humans toward each other. The Old West was a violent time, with fear ruling much of the relationship between settlers and the native Indians, and this is reflected in the film’s action and its underlying metaphors.

The exact nature of the monster, though, remains unclear. Petty comments that the design of the monsters was something central to the success of the film as he sees it.

“A lot of what I wanted to do with the movie was create a new monster … All of the movies I’m seeing today are 80-percent vampires, 15-percent Frankenstein [retreads] and the rest … werewolves. I love what Guillermo [del Toro] is doing in trying to create new monsters, so with The Burrowers I’m trying to do something new. Part of what I love about Aliens is that they have a good set of rules and how the monster works and part of what’s so scary in watching that movie for the first time is trying to figure out what is happening.” (ShockTillYouDrop interview)

So far the only two visual clues we have regarding the monsters are this piece of conceptual artwork:

… this hole in the ground:

and this shadowy glimpse taken from the trailer.

Are they humanoid? Are they big? It’s hard to say at this stage. Either way, this looks like an exciting project and one I’m looking forward to seeing more of.

You can view the newly released trailer on Twitch here.

• Interview with J.T. Petty
• via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

Australia’s entry in the J-Horror revolution begun with (or at least given its major impetus by) Ring [aka Ringu] (Japan-1998, dir. Hideo Nakata) is a low-budget supernatural horror film called Watch Me.

Watch Me (Australia-2006, dir. Melanie Ansley)

Starring Frances Marrington, Sam Voutas and Tanya McHenry, it follows in the aesthetic tradition of films such as the Japanese Ring, Ju-On: the Grudge, Dark Water and Kairö. It tells the story of a film-school student caught up in a supernatural infection spread via email attachment, and involves a snuff video, a red-haired ghost and the deadly injunction to “Watch me!”

Watch Me did the rounds of the film festival circuit nearly two years ago and was generally greeted warmly (though generating a decent chill factor). The Backbrain found it to be an excellent addition to the scary female ghost tradition.

At last Watch Me is about to receive the wider distribution it deserves via DVD, as it is being released on September 2nd from Brain Damage Films. Extras include an alternative opening, interviews with the cast and crew, and the director’s first short film: “Butcher”.

The Backbrain conducted an interview with producer (and star) Sam Voutas a while back:

On J-Horror:

I completely agree that we’re talking about an international aesthetic now. It’s by no means fixed to one country. Mainland China and Hong Kong films are coming out with J-horror style films, too. It makes sense really. Horror was getting a bit repetitive, self-reflexive as they say, then in came J-horror, which just felt completely different, so it’s really added a lot of spice to the genre. Watch Me would be very happy to be added to that family. Even if it is only the tiny ugly cousin three times removed.

On the Shoot:

On the shoot we had very few problems! People pretty much knew that this wasn’t a big film and put their egos to the side. Indie film is really too small for egos. Of course, there were the usual technical or set problems, but doing things indie for the most part actually makes things easier. You do things your way, you have control. No need to take something to a higher authority and seek permission regarding content or style, as you have to do so painstakingly in TV.

Read the full interview here.

Review

Like the best of the post-Ring J-Horrors, Watch Me manages to achieve an identity of its own. What it does is take the subgenre’s basic conceptual elements and forges its own vision of them, melding a slightly different narrative approach, subtle trope variants and some new thematic elements onto the template. Director Ansley and producer Sam Voutas may not be creating a new aesthetic, but they have produced an effective extension of the old one.

Read the full review here.

Source: Sam Voutas

• Official website

The story goes that Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy were keen to make a miniseries of it, but cost and backroom politics seem to have killed that. We’re talking about Stephen King and Peter Straub’s fantasy The Talisman here, the epic scope of which is apparently hindering the book’s translation to cinema.

But the prospect that it might get made inspired director Matthieu Ratthi to make a demo scene, hoping to encourage the Powers That Be to consider him for the job of directing a Talisman movie, should such a beast ever be unleashed. The result is called “The Hotel Room”, and in my opinion it works remarkably effectively as a stand-alone piece of cinematic “flash fiction”.

• Source: Arrow in the Head via Avery

James Doig has recently published two excellent anthologies of early Australian supernatural horror fiction:

Australian Gothic: An Anthology of Australian Supernatural Fiction 1867-1939, edited by James Doig (Equilibrium Books, 2007)

and

Australian Nightmares: More Australian Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by James Doig (Equilibrium Books, 2008)

These two anthologies represent years of work and a Holmes-like dedication to the pursuit of minutia in ferreting out information and sourcing references. The resulting books are undoubtedly of historic importance in understanding the nature and extent of supernatural horror fiction in Australia.

But it is not simply historical curiosity that is satisfied by Doig’s anthologies. The stories which he includes prove to be entertaining and often powerul reading, many displaying a dark sensibility that is as potent now as it must have been then. I found them both surprising and rarely “dated”, at least not in the sense that they have lost their ability to engage the imagination. Many pack as strong an imaginative punch as the contents of more contemporary anthologies.

I asked James about his project:

“Early Australian supernatural fiction is very much an untouched area. People like Van Ikin and Graham Stone have done an exhaustive job finding and getting into print early Australian science fiction, but vintage Australian supernatural fiction and fantasy haven’t attracted much attention at all…. The thing is that the best supernatural horror fiction doesn’t date — the ghost stories of Charles Dickens, Henry James and M.R. James are just as effective today as they were in their own time. The same can’t be said of early science fiction, which in most cases has dated terribly.”

“Most of the stories are set in Australia, and there are themes and subjects that crop up fairly often. One of these is the “child lost in the bush” — this is quite a popular theme in early Australian fiction, and there have been a few studies of it. Of course, it symbolises the fears of European settlers blundering into a huge country that overwhelms them; they were like babes in the woods. … A number of the stories are set during the lawless gold rush — greed, envy and hate lead to murder, which results in supernatural revenge — the classic supernatural horror tale, common in all times and places.”

“I think the point is that they were talented, professional writers and were well received during their lifetimes, but have since been forgotten. The depressing thing is that many of the writers included in AG and AN died forgotten and penniless. “

Read the full interview here.

As you would have heard by now, one of the greatest cinematic monster makers of all time died on 16 June, succumbing to multiple myeloma, which he’d been fighting for seven years. Stanley Winston, who was 62, will be missed not only by his family and friends, but by his numerous colleagues at the Stan Winston Studios and by his legions of fans.

For a long time Winston has been the “face” of genre special effects and SFX make-up — a superstar in the field, whose name is almost as much of a draw-card as those of the great directors he worked with (who included Tim Burton, John Carpenter, James Cameron, Neil Jordan, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Terry Gilliam, Tobe Hooper, Peter Hyams, Stephen Hopkins, Frank Marshall, Steve Miner, Michael Bay, Fred Dekker, Gary Sherman and others — a virtual role-call of genre filmmakers). From his gargoyles in 1972, through a parade of aliens, predators, things, dinosaurs, robots, ghosts, demons and other assorted creatures to his recent work in constructing Iron Man, he has done more to create the icons of modern horror and science fiction than almost anyone. In his directorial debut film Pumpkinhead (1988), he created one of my favourite monster designs.

Winston has won four Oscars for his work in Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Aliens, but has won 17 other film awards and has been nominated 31 times. Check out his amazing filmography for yourself on IMDB.

I have known Stan Winston’s name — and have considered it a guarantee of quality monster or SFX design if it appeared on the credits of a movie, however effective the specific film itself may or may not have been — for nearly as long as I have watched movies. I will definitely miss his expertise.

Below is a collection of images, mainly taken from auction material, that illustrate the extent of his talent. They are all maquettes made by Winston himself, or under his guidance, that were used on-screen in the various films in which they featured.

Velociraptor from Lost World: Jurassic Park 2

The Creature from the Black Lagoon from The Monster Squad (1987)

The Mummy from The Monster Squad (1987)

The Queen from Aliens (1986)

Eggs from Aliens (1986)

Kothoga from The Relic (1997)

The Spitter from Jurassic Park (1993)

Spinosaurus Head from Jurassic Park 3 (2001)

Pteradon from Jurassic Park 3 (2001)

Thermian from Galaxy Quest (1999)

Demon from End of Days (1999)

Scavenger demon from Constantine (2005)

And of course his great Godzilla for Jan De Bont’s unmade 1994 version of Godzilla

Brimstone Press today announced the launching of a new, glossy, horror-related magazine, Black: Australian Dark Culture. This will be a major national magazine with wide distribution and, hopefully, wide appeal. It will focus on all things dark: from movies, music, and books, to politics, witchcraft, fashion, comics, gaming, true crime, bizarre medical cases, and much more.

I’ve known about this for some time as I’m in it, being featured through an Author interview, some film and book reviews and a five-part story sequence under the general title “Moments of Dying”. See the end of this post for an extract from the first part of the sequence, “First Moment of Dying”.

Apart from that, editor-in-chief Angela Challis and Managing Editor Shane Jiraiya Cummings have shown considerable class in their book productions and the advance information they sent me looked fantastic — classy, professional and thoroughly ambitious.

So what is it about?

Angela Challis describes the magazine as a revelation and one of the few genuinely new offerings at news stands.

“Crime dramas are the most popular shows on TV, horror movies are flooding video stores, and paranormal books are incredibly popular. Everyone is drawn to the dark side … and there is clearly a demand for dark-themed entertainment, but until now, there has not been a publication that caters to the enjoyment of all things dark. Black will fill this expanding and increasingly popular niche,” she said.

Shane Jiraiya Cummings views the magazine as a vehicle to explore the darker side of the human spirit, as well as pop culture and entertainment.

“Almost everyone loves the villain, and Black caters for that, but dark culture is more than just scary movies and brooding anti-heroes. Black addresses serious social issues that many consider taboo like alternative lifestyles, euthanasia, and political censorship – such as China’s ban on supernatural movies and literature in the lead-up to the Olympics, which we’re covering in our launch issue,” he said.

As well as the giddy thrill I can feel emanating from all you out there at the prospect of all that Robert Hood material, Black magazine has somehow managed to secure a brand-new Stephen King story — an Australian exclusive — from his upcoming book Just After Sunset. I know, that news is much less exciting than all the Hood stuff, but let’s face it, it’s good to do the old guys a favour every now and then, just to bolster their egos.

Apart from Stephen King’s story, the first issue includes:

• Heath Ledger as The Joker in the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight: the fateful role that may have led to his death.
• M. Night Shyamalan on his new movie The Happening.
• China’s Olympic ghost ban.
• Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.
• A glimpse into life as a dominatrix.
• A tour through Brisbane’s necropolis.
• Interviews with Australian authors Robert Hood, Marty Young, and Nathan Burrage.
• Plus competitions, news, fiction, opinion pieces, and an extensive HorrorScope review section!

Contributors to issue one include Gary Kemble (staff writer), Rocky Wood, Chuck McKenzie, Josephine Pennicott, David Carroll, Leigh Blackmore and Margi Curtis, Mark Smith-Briggs, Bella Dee, Dr Carissa Borlase, James Doig, and more!

Black magazine will be on sale nationwide from July 14.

This is an exciting project and one we’re all hoping will be a great success for the Brimstone Press crew.

So subscribe now!

• Black magazine website

Extract from “First Moment of Dying” by Robert Hood

Outside, the world was waiting.

Inside, the silence was as cold as guilt.

A woman’s corpse lay on one of several occupied gurneys, in preparation for the pathologist’s scalpel. An off-white sheet partially covered her; she was in her mid-twenties and plain in death, despite the nakedness of her upper torso. Whatever desire she’d inspired in life had become irrelevant now. Dull abrasions, dried blood, and unhealed wounds decorated parts of her forehead, left cheek, and shoulder. Her throat had been cut. Her right breast bore dark blotches—the imprint of cruel fingers.

In that moment, a word was insinuated into the silence: it was the susurration of a foot on dirt, the creak of a branch touched by wind, the sigh of a dying breath.

Now.

The woman’s dead hand twitched as the airborne vibrations of the word entered through her fingertips. Quickening spread up her arm and into her chest, slowly and painfully; it ground through atrophied muscle with a will more inexorable than decay. Finally, her chest heaved, straining with the effort of life.

The woman’s eyes opened.

Artist Malcolm McClinton has sent Backbrain a sneak preview of his cover art for the first in a graphic novel series featuring Hiram Grange, who is an agent for the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs — a secret organisation run by the Freemasons.

This first book is called Village of the Damned and the series is coming out through Shroud Publishing. McClinton describes it as “visual, raw, grittily violent, more than a little seedy, with supernatural monsters, hot chicks … and very very cool”.

Publisher Timothy Deal describes Hiram Grange as an anti-hero — “an awkward and gangly unlikely hero who suffers addictions to absinthe, opium, and sex. A man as flawed and complex as he is capable and deadly.”

Our primary goal was to create a five-novella series for Hiram, each detailing a separate but connected supernatural adventure. In each novella, Hiram investigates areas of confluence–geographic regions that are hotbeds of supernatural activity. In an area of confluence, Hiram may encounter the undead, lycanthropes, vampires, or any number of otherworldly entities.

The five books in the first “season” of the Hiram Grange Chronicles are:

• Book One: Hiram Grange and the Village of the Damned, Tim Deal
• Book Two: Hiram Grange and the Hitler Gene, Scott Carr
• Book Three: Hiram Grange and the Digital Eucharist, Robert Davies
• Book Four: Hiram Grange and the Chosen One, Kevin Lucia
• Book Five: Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow, Richard Wright

• Malcolm McClinton’s blog
• More information on Shroud Publishing and the Hiram Grange series

“He turned her on. Now she had to switch him off.”

Like Universal Soldier (1992), this Filipino exploitation flick features a dead soldier reconstructed and reanimated as an ultimate fighting machine, hence is a zombie tale of sorts. Unlike Universal Soldier, though, this one is a love story… of sorts… as well: it describes itself as “A Mechanical Love Affair”.

Killdroid (Philippines-[in production]; dir. Rico Maria Ilarde)

“A disturbed Goth schoolgirl who stumbles unwittingly across the remnants of a long abandoned military project designed to create an army of android killers from the processed bodies of dead soldiers. The girl takes on the mysteriously beautiful Killdroid as a lover, only to discover, too late, that its insatiable sexual appetite is inexorably linked with a need for slaughter.” (24Framespersecond.net)

Teaser Trailer: