Behind the Couch

Dormant alien parasites are unleashed in a small Australian town after an earthquake. They begin infecting and possessing susceptible locals, including a group of incels, intensifying their hatred and aggression, turning them into violent, zombie-like creatures hellbent on eliminating anyone who isn’t like them. Young trans filmmaker Sophie finds herself caught up in the horror when she and her friends are targeted by the possessed mob. Written and directed by Alice Maio Mackay, T-Blockers is an ultralow-budget horror and a spirited pastiche of B-movie tropes. It utilises an Invasion of the Body Snatchers -style narrative to explore contemporaneous prejudice and transphobia. What she lacks in budget, Mackay makes up for with a striking sense of style (it’s all neon lighting and retro-wave inspired aesthetics), incisive social observations and scathing humour. Her third feature, T-Blockers exudes a real punk sensibility: anarchic, rebellious, and reminiscent of Gregg Araki and early J...

Newly married Bea and Paul (Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway) decide to take their honeymoon at her family’s secluded lakeside cabin deep in the forest. Their bliss is shattered after Paul finds Bea wandering disorientated in the forest at night and soon after she begins to seem less and less like herself. To begin with, it’s little things, like forgetfulness, but before long, her personality changes and even her grasp of language diminishes, while she insists everything is fine. As Paul’s attempts to get them to leave and go back home become increasingly desperate, he realises that they are not as alone as they thought, and something lurks in the surrounding forest, its insidious grip on Rose becoming ever more powerful…  Directed by Leigh Janiak (who co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Graziadei), Honeymoon unfurls as a deeply haunting and suspenseful two-hander. The unsettling notion that the person you have married and chosen to spend the rest of your life with, suddenly changes ...

"There was something of stolid resignation about them all, as if they walked half in another world between lines of nameless guards to a certain and familiar doom." HP Lovecraft, Color Out of Space. Adapted from a short story by HP Lovecraft,  Color Out of Space  is written by director Richard Stanley and author Scarlett Amaris. It marks the return of the cult director, whose last directorial feature was Dust Devil in 1992, though in the interim he has also directed documentaries, short films and written/doctored screenplays, including creepy doppelganger chiller, The Abandoned (2006). There have been many filmic adaptions of Lovecraft’s work throughout the years, most notably from director Stuart Gordon , who proved quite deft in treading the line between the sort of pulpy exploitation and hallucinatory cosmic horror Lovecraft is renowned for. Lovecraft’s work has often been described as ‘unfilmable’ as his narratives tend to focus on conjuring atmosphere, and descr...

2015 Dir. Jaron Henrie-McCrea AKA The Gateway The humble shower curtain holds a rather iconic place in horror cinema. Its presence in one of the most shocking and undeniably influential moments in all of cinema helped to create tension and a sense of vulnerability; a thin layer separating normality from chaos and carnage, a veil between life and death. Since Psycho (1960), countless horror films have featured scenes in which shower curtains are whipped back to reveal murderous marauders poised to thrust sharp implements into the naked flesh of the unfortunate showerer. In Jaron Henrie-McCrea’s low-budget, oddball delight, the presence, or to be more precise, the disappearance of the shower curtain once again serves as a harbinger of foreboding doom. But in a very different way indeed… Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review . 

The X-Files FAQ by John Kenneth Muir (author of, amongst a staggering array of other titles, The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi, Eaten Alive At A Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven: The Art of Horror , and Terror Television: American Series, 1970-1999 ) is an in-depth exploration of Chris Carter's phenomenally popular cult 1990s science-fiction TV series. Muir's book explores the series in terms of its historical context - the Clinton era - and how this influenced the myriad story-lines involving conspiracy theories and a deep mistrust of the US government. The author looks at the show on a season by season basis, explores its key episodes, overarching themes and concerns, its creators, antecedents ( Kolchak: The Night Stalker ), descendants ( Fringe ), spin-offs ( The Lone Gunmen ) and cinematic outings.  The X-Files FAQ is an indispensable tome, not only for new fans of the series, but for established aficionados and anyone considering revi...

2015 Dir. Bernard Rose An unflinching modern-day re-imagining of a timeless classic, Frankenstein tells its tale entirely from the point of view of the Monster (Xavier Samuel) as he is created by a husband-and-wife team of eccentric scientists (Danny Huston and Carrie-Anne Moss) and then left for dead. Confronted with aggression and violence as he attempts to make his way in the world, the Monster must get to grips with the horrific nature of humanity as he searches for his own. Like his previous genre offerings, including Paperhouse (1988) and Candyman (1992), Bernard Rose’s Frankenstein is a compelling, fascinating and immensely thought-provoking yarn. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review and win a copy of Frankenstein on DVD. 

Jonathan Glazer’s abstract sci-fi chiller follows the gruesome exploits of an extraterrestrial predator disguised as a beautiful woman (Scarlett Johansson) who feeds on the lifeforce of unsuspecting men she abducts while driving around Scotland. A provocative rumination on the idea of what it is to be human, the film features a fittingly moody score courtesy of Micachu And The Shapes front-woman, Mica Levi. The classically trained Levi cites John Cage, strip-club music and euphoric dance as her main influences for this, her first film score. Pulsing between sensual and sinister, her music for Under the Skin creates a chilling sense of space and cosmic vastness. Head over to Paracinema to read my full appraisal and listen to a track. The following article was published on Paracinema.net on 28th Feb 2015  Under the Skin – Mica Levi  "If your lifeforce is being distilled by an alien, it's not necessarily going to sound very nice. It's supposed to be physical, a...

Widely known for his graphic novel adaptations of classic literature, including collaborations on the acclaimed Sherlock Holmes series with Ian Edginton, INJ Culbard has also been making a name for himself with his adaptions of the work of HP Lovecraft. Having tackled At the Mountains of Madness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , and The Shadow Out of Time for SelfMadeHero, Culbard has now turned his attention to Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, with a strikingly beautiful adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath . I had the absolute pleasure of talking to Ian recently about his Lovecraft adaptations, describing the indescribable, the far-reaching impact of Lovecraft's unique brand of cosmic horror, and his forthcoming adaptation of Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow (!). Head over to Exquisite Terror to read our conversation .

2012 Dir. Ryan Smith Bus crash survivors Ana and Freddie (Karolina Wydra and Steven Strait) awaken to find they are the only people left in their small town, and their attempts to leave are thwarted by a towering wall of impenetrable fog completely encircling the place. Before long they discover that all is not what it seems, and as the sinister fog continues to encroach upon them, they realise their time is running out… Incorporating elements of sci-fi, horror, comic books and fairy tales, and conveying a strong influence from the likes of The Twilight Zone and Carnival of Souls , Ryan Smith's feature debut is an intriguing genre hybrid that, despite revealing its major twist early on, unfurls as a quietly powerful and compelling yarn. With striking visuals, twisting plot, assured direction, strong lead performances, and engaging ideas concerning destiny, fate, and redemption, After  is a strangely touching and haunting film. Head Over to Exquisite Terror to read my f...

Issue 18 of Diabolique  is now available to order. Throughout its pages we take a look at horror’s unparalleled ability to provide a window onto the myriad ills of contemporary society. With a political climate marked by division and pre and post-2012 fears about the apocalypse, as well as the sheer amount of underground and mainstream filmic and literary offerings about the End Times currently available, it would seem that the concept of the end of the world is resonating with audiences like never before. We wrestle with these themes and their depictions in everything from The Omega Man to 28 Days Later to The World’s End and everything in between, featuring interviews with acclaimed author David Moody; comic book artist/illustrator Arthur “Zombie King” Suydam ( Army of Darkness, Marvel Zombies, The Walking Dead ); and Before Dawn co-writer/co-stars Dominic Brunt and Joanne Mitchell. This issue also contains my own piece on the three cinematic adaptations of Richard Mat...

Nestled amidst the wildly uneven yet marvellously unrestrained film work of Tobe Hooper is Lifeforce , his 1985 adaptation of Colin Wilson’s cult 1976 novel, The Space Vampires . An audacious amalgamation of sci-fi and horror, Lifeforce revolves around the discovery of slumbering humanoid aliens in the tail of Haley’s Comet and the terror they unleash when brought back to earth for study. A critical and commercial flop upon release, Lifeforce has undergone something of a reappraisal in recent times. Co-written by Dan O’Bannon, it’s a solid B-movie that mesmerises with its sheer audacity, abundance of effects, intriguing ideas, bizarro chutzpah and, well, space vampires! Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review of this cult classic. While you’re there, why not pick up an issue of Exquisite Terror , an independently produced periodical with an academic, analytical approach to cinematic horror. Issues 1 - 3 are available now, and issue 4 is available to pre-orde...

In 1967 Michael Reeves directed The Sorcerers , a curious blend of horror and sci-fi in which Boris Karloff stars as an ailing scientist who creates a device that enables him to control the mind of a young man and share the sensations of his experiences. It isn’t long before the scientist’s wife, drunk on power and obsessed with experiencing new things, begins to indulge her increasingly perverse desires, including murder. The original story and screenplay was conceived and written by John Burke; however when Reeves and Tom Baker re-wrote sections of it at Karloff's behest, Burke’s credit as screenwriter was relegated to ‘Based on an idea by.’ This ‘error’ was eventually corrected in Benjamin Halligan's 2003 biography of Reeves. It is also the raison d’être for a new book by Johnny Mains, an award winning editor, biographer, horror film historian and renowned authority on the vintage horror anthology series, The Pan Book of Horror Stories . The Sorcerers by John Burke det...

1967 Dir. Michael Reeves An ailing scientist and his wife create a device that enables them to control the mind of a young man and share the sensations of his physical experiences. It isn’t long though before the wife, drunk on power and obsessed with experiencing new things, begins to indulge her increasingly perverse desires, including murder. Reeves’ penultimate film is a curiously irresistible blend of horror and sci-fi, filtered through a cynical snapshot of swinging sixties London – and the moral vacuum of the characters – spiced up with various ‘mad scientist’ tropes. While it may be overshadowed by his last film The Witchfinder General , The Sorcerers exhibits as idiosyncratic and bleak an outlook on the corruptible nature of humanity as the Vincent Price starring classic. Both films peer into the depths of what causes normal people to do corrupt, despicable things, and due to its then-contemporary setting, The Sorcerers makes an especially powerful impact in this reg...

1965 Dir. Mario Bava AKA Terror en el Espacio Two interplanetary ships on an exploratory expedition into deepest, darkest, unchartedest space receive a distress signal from Aura, an unexplored and seemingly deserted planet. When the ships are pulled into its gravitational pull and crash land on the ominous surface, the surviving crew members gradually fall victim to the disembodied inhabitants of this strange world, who begin to possess their minds when they sleep. They also possess the bodies of the dead and use the animated corpses to stalk and kill the remaining survivors in an attempt to get off the planet which is about to go postal... Based on Renato Pestriniero's short story “One Night of 21 Hours”, Planet of the Vampires is a bit of a misnomer – the alien entities that possess the bodies and minds of the crew are more like ‘body-snatchers’ than blood-thirsty vampires. That’s by-the-by though; the title is as wonderfully garish as the film itself. In short – it’s ...

2010 Dir. Paul Ziller When Jacob Glaser (Misha Collins), a renegade astrophysicist and underground radio host, is alerted to unusual electromagnetic energy fields occurring throughout the globe, his initial investigations lead him to Stonehenge. Somehow, the stones have begun to move independently and are building up enough energy to vaporise anyone who comes within a certain range. Jacob’s theory is that Stonehenge is a key part of a massive alien terraforming machine connected to other historical sites around the world...  Meanwhile, in the US state of Maine, a former colleague of Jacob’s has discovered an underground pyramid linked to the ongoing events at Stonehenge and is actively working towards the destruction of mankind in the hopes that he and his followers can survive the coming apocalypse and be the rulers of the next era of life on earth. When Jacob discovers the existence of a key that he believes is capable of switching off the doomsday machine, he sets about ...

1951 Dir. Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks A group of scientific researchers and military personnel discover an alien spacecraft frozen under the ice in the Arctic. Retrieving the alien pilot, they take it back to their outpost to conduct research. However when the block of ice it’s entombed within thaws, the creature goes berserk and sets off on a bloody rampage, killing anyone who crosses its path and feeding on their blood. The military personnel led by Captain Hendry decide enough is enough, and plot to destroy the creature before it destroys them. Based on the short story 'Who Goes There?' by renowned sci-fi writer John W. Campbell, The Thing From Another World is one of the earliest, and most successful amalgamations of horror and sci-fi. A precursor to the likes of The Day The Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds and Alien , the film was produced during a time when the media was bombarded by reports of sightings of UFOs; a time that would become the Golden Age of sc...

2001 Dir. Jim Isaac In the near future a team of government scientists finally succeed in capturing and containing the seemingly indestructible killer Jason Voorhees. They plan to cryogenically freeze him, but not before he breaks free and slaughters all but one of them. Sole survivor Rowan lures him into the chamber but is frozen in time with him. Flash forward to the year 2455; earth is an uninhabitable wasteland, devoid of life. Jason and Rowan are discovered by a team of interplanetary explorers on a scouting mission to earth, and taken back to their ship to be thawed out. Newly revived, Jason does what he does best. Murderlises people. In space (!).  The final shot of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday AKA Friday the 13th Part IX promised us a confrontation between Jason and Freddy Krueger. Indeed, with that ‘final’ instalment of the series and with Krueger’s own franchise coming full circle with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare , the time to bring both villains together...