Bev Vincent reviews It Chapter Two

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

“We Are What We Wish We Could Forget”

aka

“Let’s Kill this Fucking Clown”

Let’s get this out of the way right up front. Yes, It Chapter Two is nearly three hours long. Did it feel like it? Not in the least. Because my phone was turned off during the press screening I attended on Tuesday evening, I had no sense of the passage of time, but I never felt the movie dragged. Not for a moment. I saw it on an IMAX screen, the first time I’ve seen anything on a screen that big in many years. It’s hard to say if it’s worth the premium, but the experience felt immersive to me.

The movie is R-rated, with good reason. It’s pretty darned scary, and very, very bad things happen to cute little kids. I admit, without reservation, that I was jolted into yelling out loud on at least a couple of occasions, which hardly ever happens to me. While the movie has more than its fair share of jump scares, it’s also tense, full of dread, and frightening.

It Chapter Two picks up exactly where we left off two years ago, with the young Losers in the aftermath of their battle with Pennywise, promising to come back if the killings in Derry, Maine start again.

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Bev Vincent Reviews The Institute by Stephen King

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

“Great Events Turn on Small Hinges”

When The Institute was announced in January, the book’s description had people wondering if it would have ties to Firestarter or the Dark Tower series. Kidnapping kids with psychic powers sounds like what happened to the Breakers at Algul Siento, and Charlie McGee underwent extensive testing at a compound run by the Shop to determine the range of her pyrokinesis.

Scribner hardcover

In fact, The Institute isn’t connected to those earlier works—or really to anything else in King’s work. The organization that runs the Institute in remote northern Maine (in TR-110, for those keeping track) isn’t the second coming of the Shop. The covert group has been operating for over sixty years. The kidnapped children, ranging from eight to sixteen years of age, aren’t being used to bring down the Beams supporting the Dark Tower. The one story that comes to mind when reading King’s latest is his 1997 novella “Everything’s Eventual,” which ultimately turned out to have Dark Tower implications, although that wasn’t clear at the time.

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CD eBook Spotlight: Curtain Call by Mark Allan Gunnells

In previous columns we’ve shared fun facts about authors or their books, or featured a mini-interview. This time we’re trying something a little different related to Mark Allan Gunnells’ collection of film- and theater-themed horror stories, Curtain Call and Other Dark Entertainments: we’re spotlighting the author’s recent TEDx talk on “How Horror Movies Taught Me Empathy.” Check out the video below (and the mini-interview that follows!), and then visit the CD website to learn more about the bookContinue Reading

Four New Horror Movie Posters — Signed!

Four New Horror Movie Posters — Signed!
Including Trapped, based on a story by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar!

Hi Folks!

To celebrate Richard and Billy Chizmar’s horror movie projects that are in the works right now, we thought it might be fun to offer SIGNED posters for Gone, Trapped, and Murder House!

For those who don’t know, Trapped is based on a story idea by STEPHEN KING and RICHARD CHIZMAR, so this should make for a neat collectible down the road.

And we couldn’t decide which one to offer for Murder House because we like them both so much, so we’re offering both posters for that film!

Richard Chizmar and Billy Chizmar will be signing and numbering these posters, and we’re only accepting orders for a limited time only, so please don’t wait to place your order!

Movie Posters

Read more or place your order while our supplies last!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Review: Hellrider by J.G. Faherty

Hellrider by J.G. Faherty
Flame Tree Press (August 2019)
304 pages; $24.95 hardcover; $10.37 paperback
Reviewed by A.E. Siraki

Eddie Ryder is a reluctant protagonist who owns his departed father Big Eddie’s car garage, but it’s a burden he did not wish for. He used to be a member of a biker gang called the Hell Riders. On top of being repulsive in many ways, they’re also devoted to racism. Eddie still respects most of their code, not out of choice, but out of necessity and survival. Continue Reading

Review: Rattlesnake Kisses by Robert Ford

Rattlesnake Kisses by Robert Ford and John Boden
Apokrupha (July 2019)
216 pages; $12.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

This, it appears, is the summer of Robert Ford and John Boden. Both have other releases stirring up notice in the weird/horror world—Ford with his novel (co-written with Matt Hayward) A Penny for Your Thoughts, and Boden’s recent release, the weird western Walk the Darkness Down. At this point, it should come as no surprise that the authors of The Compound (Ford) and Jedi Summer (Boden) continue to produce high-quality horror/weird fiction. Because of this, one would expect that a story co-written by them would offer double-barrels of emotionally gut-wrenching fiction featuring empathetic-but-doomed characters in weird situations. Rest assured, Rattlesnake Kisses fulfills that expectation, and then some.Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Richard Christian Matheson’s Created By

Book cover for Created By, written by Richard Christian MathesonAt one time, in the much-heralded horror boom of the 1980s, Richard Christian Matheson was one of the biggest names in the field. Of course most knew well that his father, Richard Matheson, was one of the most important writers in all of literature. It was curious that, even though they collaborated now and then, Richard Christian’s writing bore little resemblance to his father’s style. In fact, R.C. Matheson’s writing was completely unique.Continue Reading

Writing As Life by William F. Nolan: New Signed Limited Edition Hardcover From Dark Regions Press!

We’re pleased to report we will be getting a few copies of the signed Limited Edition hardcover of Writing As Life by William F. Nolan from Dark Regions Press, which has an extremely low print run of just 300 copies! Our allotment will not last long, so please place your order as soon as possible!

Writing As Life

Read more or place your order on our website while supplies last!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

CD eBook Spotlight: That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard

Coiver for That Which Grows WildWe’re devoting this latest eBook column to Eric J. Guignard’s story collection, That Which Grows Wild.

In May of this year, the book won a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. Instead of an interview, this time we asked the author to provide a story that’s not in the book, as a kind of bonus/addendum, but also to give a sample of the kind of eclectic fiction you’ll find in the full collection. Without further ado, please enjoy the melancholy, romantic apocalypse of “Carmine Lips and a Fade into Oblivion.”Continue Reading

Review: The Fearing Book Two: Water & Wind by John F.D. Taff

Book cover for The Fearing Book Two: Water and WindThe Fearing, Book Two: Water & Wind by John F.D. Taff
Grey Matter Press (August 20, 2019)

130 pages; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

The Fearing is an epic, apocalyptic horror story by “King of Pain” John F. D. Taff,  told over the course of multiple, individual book installments published by Grey Matter Press. Book One is titled Fire & Rain, which I reviewed for Cemetery Dance in June. Here’s a quote from the review:

And this is where Taff is a damn genius. He proves time and time again that in just a few pages, in just one scene, he can manipulate the feelings of his readers and make us care about these people on the page like THAT *snaps fingers*.

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My First Fright featuring Josh Malerman

The Twilight Zone is one of the most respected and beloved television series of all time. Horror writers regularly cite it as an influence on their writing, like Christopher Golden did for this very column. But what about the 1983 film adaptation? Twilight Zone: The Movie is an anthology, featuring (mostly) remakes of famous episodes by famous directors like Steven Spielberg and John Landis. It wasn’t well-received upon release, and it gained notoriety for a helicopter accident that claimed three lives, but it’s achieved somewhat of a cult status over the years. For some, like author Josh Malerman, it was their first real exposure to horror, an eclectic blend of spooky, fantastical storytelling. Continue Reading

Review: Miraculum by Steph Post

Miraculum by Steph Post
Polis Books (January 2019)
320 pages; $17.10 hardcover; $16 paperback; $1.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

If readers haven’t yet discovered the magic of Steph Post’s enthralling writing, Miraculum is a fine place to start, a novel that should put her on the map with a style somewhere between Gillian Flynn and John Connolly, but with a mark all her own. Continue Reading

Gwendy’s Magic Feather: First Trade Review Has Arrived and It’s A Good One!

The first trade publication review for Gwendy’s Magic Feather. the new full-length Castle Rock novel by Richard Chizmar, has arrived and while we don’t want to give away too much about the story, here’s a little bit of what Booklist had to say in their rave review:

Young girls are being kidnapped, her mom is recovering from cancer, and a paranoid Gwendy cannot stop looking over her shoulder. The story is told in classic supernatural thriller mode with all of the unsettling, creeping dread of horror but none of the gore. The compelling crime plot moves the story along quickly, but ultimately, this is the story of Gwendy finding her own power to shake the demons of the box. An easy choice to hand off to fans of King’s Castle Rock mythos (who will love all of the “easter eggs” here), Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas books, and Charlaine Harris’ supernatural series.

We’re accepting our FINAL RESERVATIONS for signed copies, so please visit our Gwendy’s Magic Feather page now and place your order now!

The Long Way Gwendy's Magic FeatherHome

Read more or place your order for a SIGNED 1st Edition/1st Printing while our supplies last!