Spell mixes Deliverance and Misery with Hoodoo [Blu-ray Review]

Spell’s hero, Marquis T. Woods (Omari Hardwick), is a bigshot lawyer getting ready for his next case—defending against a class-action lawsuit with mostly black plaintiffs—when he gets the call that his father has died. Over dinner he tells his wife and two children, “I haven’t seen him since I ran away from Appalachia and never looked back.” The family decides to fly his single-engine plane down for the funeral. After ignoring multiple warnings at a gas station, Woods loses control of the plane in a storm. The scene cuts to black, leaving audiences to imagine the crash. 

Woods wakes in the bed of a creepy cabin, foot wrapped in blood soaked bandages. Shortly after, Ms. Eloise (Loretta Devine) comes in with her associate Earl (John Beasely), who tells Woods, “Wasn’t no one in that mushed up old plane but yourself” with a thick accent. There’s also no help on the way because they’re 50 miles away from the nearest hospital and Ms. Eloise doesn’t have a phone. She does have two men—Earl and Lewis (Steve Mululu)—to help her take care of Woods. Quickly, she begins telling him about Hoodoo, though she never says if she’s going to use her spells to help him or use him as ingredients to help with her spells. 

Read more at Wicked Horror!

Ryan’s Best Books of 2020

My article about my favorite books from 2020 is up at Cyn’s Workshop! You can read it here.

You can see every book I read here.

Movies I Watched in 2020

1. Queen and Slim (1/2/20)

2. The Nightingale (1/2/20)

3. The Grudge (1/3/20)

4. Stuber (1/5/20)

5.  Little Women (1/5/20)

6. Uncut Gems (1/6/20)

7. A Tale of Two Sisters (1/7/20)  

8. Tigers Are Not Afraid (1/8/20)

9. Underwater (1/9/20)

10. Ma (1/10/20)

11. Horror Noire (1/11/20)

12. Bonnie and Clyde (1/13/20)  

13. The Night (1/14/20)

14. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (1/15/20)  

15. The Florida Project (1/17/20)  

16. The Bad Batch (1/18/20)  

17. The Naked Gun (1/21/20)

18. The Color Out of Space (1/22/20)

19. Mandy (1/23/20)

20. A Wrinkle in Time (1/28/20)

21. Hobbs and Shaw (1/28/20)  

22. Parasite (1/29/20)

23. Knives Out (1/30/20)

24. VFW (1/31/20)

25. Almost Human (2/3/20)

26. The Lego Movie (2/3/20)  

27. The Mind’s Eye (2/4/20)

28. Ash is the Purest White (2/5/20)  

29. Red Eye (2/6/20)

30. The Witch (2/7/20)

31. First Love (2/8/20)

32. Body Bags (2/9/20)

33. Selma (2/10/20)

34. Gretel and Hansel (2/11/20)

35. Top Gun (2/12/20)

36. Lion (2/15/20)

37. Her (2/15/20)  

38. 1917 (2/16/20)  

39. Parasite (2/16/20)  

40. The Ranger (2/17/20)

41. The Ballad of Narayama (2/18/20)

42. At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (2/19/20)

43. Paris Je T’Aime (2/23/20)  

44. Hustlers (2/24/20)

45. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (2/24/20)

46. Girl on the Third Floor (2/25/20)  

47. Shaft (2/25/20)

48. Black Wall Street Burning (2/27/20)

49. The Farewell (2/27/20)

50. A Quiet Place (2/29/20)

51. Parasite (3/1/20)

52. The Witch: Subversion (3/1/20)

53. The Lodge (3/5/20)

54. Possession (3/5/20)

55. Little Joe (3/6/20)

56. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (3/6/20)  

57. Sanshiro Sugata (3/8/20)

58. Good Boys (3/9/20)  

59. Deliverance (3/10/20)

60. Ichiban Utsukushiku (3/10/20)  

61. Intentions of Murder (3/12/20)

62. The Meddler (3/13/20)

63. Zombieland: Double Tap (3/14/20)  

64. Bone Tomahawk (3/14/20)  

65. Red Beard (3/16/20)  

66. Viy (3/16/20)

67. Coherence (3/17/20)  

68. Satanic Panic (3/19/20)

69. Season of the Witch (3/21/20)

70. Blood Feast (3/22/20)

71. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (3/28/20)

72. Daniel Isn’t Real (3/29/20)

73. The Other Lamb (4/1/20)  

74. Atlantics (4/2/20)

75. Prom Night (4/3/20)  

76. Baskin (4/7/20)

77. Scream (4/8/20)

78. Scream 2 (4/8/20)

79. The Exorcist 3 (4/9/20)

80. Manichitrathazhu (4/10/20)

81. Infection (4/12/20)

82. The Slumber Party Massacre (4/15/20)  

83. Hellraiser (4/16/20)

84. Dolemite is My Name (4/19/20)

85. Little Woods (4/20/20)  

86. Ganja & Hess (4/21/20)

87. The Hitcher (4/22/20)  

88. The Craft (4/23/20)  

89. Blue Velvet (4/24/20)  

90. Chopping Mall (4/25/20)  

91. Alien Resurrection (4/26/20)  

92. Terrifier (4/28/20)  

93. Dog Soldiers (4/30/20)

94. Outbreak (5/1/20)  

95. Prevenge (5/1/20)  

96. Duel (5/2/20)

97. Bloodsucking Freaks (5/3/20)  

98. Tragedy Girls (5/4/20)  

99. Castle Freak (5/5/20)

100. Wrinkles the Clown (5/5/20)

101. Q: The Winged Serpent (5/6/20)

102. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (5/7/20)  

103. Deathgasm (5/8/20)  

104. Ghost Stories (5/8/20)  

105. Satan’s Slaves (5/11/20)  

106. Tigers Are Not Afraid (5/14/20)

107. Pan’s Labyrinth (5/15/20)  

108. The Town (5/16/20)  

109. Heat (5/17/20)  

110. Summer of ’84 (5/18/20)  

111. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (5/19/20)  

112. Skull: The Mask (5/20/20)

113. The Bad Sleep Well (5/21/20)  

114. The Lovebirds (5/22/20)  

115. The Changeling (5/24/20)

116. The Slumber Party Massacre 2 (5/25/20)  

117. Relic (5/26/20)

118. Terrified (5/27/20)

119. Kuso (5/29/20)

120. She’s Gotta Have It (5/29/20)

121. Ikiru (6/2/20)

122. Overboard (6/3/20)

123. Judy (6/4/20)

124. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (6/4/20)  

125. Bay of Blood (6/5/20)

126. The Outsiders (6/5/20)  

127. Blacula (6/6/20)

128. Scream Blacula Scream (6/7/20)

129. Scream, Queen! (6/7/20)

130. Eve’s Bayou (6/8/20)

131. Black Sabbath (6/10/20)

132. Night of the Living Dead (6/11/20)

133. Shirley (6/11/20)

134. Jason and the Argonauts (6/15/20)

135. The Vast of Night (6/15/20)

136. Pain and Glory (6/17/20)

137. The Valley of Gwanji (6/18/20)

138. Her Smell (6/19/20)

139. Terminator: Dark Fate (6/20/20)

140. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (6/21/20)

141. Clash of the Titans (6/22/20)

142. Belzebuth (6/24/20)  

143. JoJo Rabbit (6/24/20)

144. The Princess Bride (6/28/20)  

145. Candyman (6/29/20)  

146. Sugar Hill (6/30/20)  

147. Ichi the Killer (7/1/20)

148. Da 5 Bloods (7/2/20)

149. Hamilton (7/3/20)

150. Jaws (7/4/20)

151. Point Break (7/5/20)

152. A Deadly Legend (7/6/20)

153. Tourist Trap (7/6/20)

154. Panic Room (7/7/20)  

155. Clueless (7/9/20)

156. Best in Show (7/11/20)

157. Incident in a Ghostland (7/11/20)

158. Hot Rod (7/12/20)

159. The Beach House (7/12/20)

160. Palm Springs (7/13/20)

161. The Bigamist (7/14/20)

162. Fighting With My Family (7/15/20)

163. Scare Package (7/16/20)

164. Nothing But the Blood (7/17/20)

165. American Graffiti (7/17/20)

166. The Spy Who Dumped Me (7/18/20)

167. Little Monsters (7/19/20)

168. City of the Living Dead (7/19/20)  

169. Liar Liar (7/20/20)

170. Sleepaway Camp (7/21/20)

171. Silence of the Lambs (7/23/20)  

172. Blood Quantum (7/24/20)  

173. Train to Busan (7/24/20)

174. Bacurau (7/25/20)

175. Nocturnal Animals (7/26/20)

176. Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (7/27/20)

177. Wolf Cop (7/29/20)

178. La Llorona (7/30/20)

179. Moana (8/1/20)

180. Aladdin (8/1/20)

181. Aladdin (8/2/20)

182. Host (8/3/20)

183. Blinded by the Light (8/4/20)

184. Never Fear (8/5/20)

185. Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (8/6/20)

186. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (8/8/20)

187. The Burning (8/8/20)

188. The Dark End of the Street (8/9/20)  

189. Seoul Station (8/10/20)

190. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (8/10/20)

191. The Witch in the Window (8/11/20)

192. The Peanut Butter Falcon (8/12/20)

193. Haunt (8/13/20)

194. Robocop (8/14/20)  

195. House (8/15/20)

196. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (8/16/20)

197. Baron Blood (8/17/20)

198. Hagazussa (8/20/20)

199. Pieces (8/21/20)

200. Scream (8/21/20)  

201. The Hustle (8/22/20)

202. Scream 4 (8/22/20)

203. The Strangers: Prey at Night (8/23/20)

204. Ghost Story (8/26/20)

205. Thirst (8/27/20)

206. Manhunter (8/29/20)

207. The Tigers of Scotland (8/31/20)

208. The Uninvited (8/31/20)

209. Only Lovers Left Alive (9/1/20)

210. Evil Boy (9/2/20)

211. Beyond the Door (9/4/20)

212. Psycho (9/9/20)

213. Anaconda (9/10/20)

214. Under the Skin (9/11/20)

215. The Last Starfighter (9/12/20)

216. The Big Chill (9/12/20) 

217. Radio Flyer (9/13/20)

218. Collateral (9/15/20)  

219. Salem’s Lot (9/17/20)

220. The Rhythm Section (9/21/20)

221. Graveyards of Honor (9/22/20)

222. Ringu (9/23/20)

222. Graveyards of Honor ’02 (9/24/20)

223. He Got Game (9/24/20)

224. Buried (9/25/20)

225. Culture Shock (9/26/20)

226. An Easy Girl (9/26/20)

227. Red Dragon (9/30/20)

228. Us (10/2/20)

229. Theater of Blood (10/3/20)

230. Get Out (10/3/20)

231. Vampires vs the Bronx (10/4/20)

232. Scare Me (10/5/20)

233. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (10/6/20)

234. The Last House on the Left (10/7/20)

235. The Platform (10/8/20)

236. The Old Ways (10/9/20)

237. Hubie Halloween (10/9/20)

238. Luz (10/10/20)

239. The People Under the Stairs (10/10/20)

240. Ghost Hunters versus Bloody Mary (10/13/20)

241. Amulet (10/16/20)

242. The Gallows (10/19/20)

243. Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (10/20/20)

244. Pumpkinhead (10/21/20)  

245. The Frighteners (10/23/20)

246. Bad Hair (10/24/20)

247. House of Usher (10/24/20)

248. The Love Witch (10/25/20)

249. The Tomb of Ligeia (10/26/20)  

250. Annabelle (10/27/20)

251. WNUF Halloween Special (10/28/20)

252. From Beyond (10/29/20)

253. Creepshow: The Animated Special (10/30/20)

254.The Mortuary Collection (10/30/20)

255. Puppet Master (10/31/20)

256. Spiral (10/31/20)

257. The Masque of the Red Death (10/31/20)

258. Maniac Cop (10/31/20)

259. The Witches ’90 (11/3/20)

260. God Told Me To (11/4/20)  

261. Voodoo Apocalypse (11/5/20)

262. Jennifer’s Body (11/5/20)

263. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (11/8/20)

264. Yojimbo (11/9/20)  

265. Borat (11/10/20)

266. Borat: Subsequent Movie Film (11/11/20)

267. The Sixth Sense (11/13/20)

268. Saturday the 14th (11/14/20)

269. Cold Light of Day (11/19/20)

270. Warning from Space (11/20/20)

271. Paranorman (11/20/20)

272. The Stuff (11/21/20)  

273. Emma. (11/21/20)

274. Warm Bodies (11/22/20)

275. My Octopus Teacher (11/23/20)

276. ils (11/24/20)

277. Why Horror? (11/25/20)

278. Happiest Season (11/25/20)  

279. Seven Samurai (11/26/20)

280. Jingle Jangle (11/27/20)

281. Vampyr (11/27/20) 

282. Happy Death Day (11/28/20)

283. The Social Dilemma (11/29/20)

284. It’s a Wonderful Life (11/30/20)

285. Suspiria (12/1/20)

286. Possessor (12/3/20)

287. Not a Creature was Stirring (12/3/20)

288. Freaky (12/4/20)

289. The Golem (12/4/20)

290. Alice, Sweet Alice (12/5/20)

291. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (12/7/20)  

292. Scrooged (12/8/20)  

293. The Curse of Hobbes House (12/9/20)  

294. Gremlins (12/11/20)

295. Better Watch Out (12/11/20)

296. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (12/12/20)

297. Christmas Evil (12/13/20)

298. The Invisible Man (2/25/20)

299. Jingle All the Way (12/14/20)

300. Rare Exports (12/15/20)

301. Four Christmases (12/16/20)

302. A Creepshow Holiday Special (12/19/20)

303. Elf (12/19/20)

304. His House (12/21/20)

305. Die Hard (12/22/20)

306. Soul (12/26/20)

307. Wonder Woman ’84 (12/28/20)

308. The Guest (12/29/20)

309. Blockers (12/30/20)

310. Love Actually (12/31/20)

And for reference, here’s what I watched in 2019.

Books I Read in 2020

1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (1/2/20)

2. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1/3/20)

3. The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike (1/8/20)

4. Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (1/11/20)

5. The Law of Lines by Hye-Young Pyun (1/16/20)  

6. Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older (1/22/20)

7. Wes Craven: Interviews edited by Shannon Blake Shelton (1/26/20)

8. The Best American Short Stories 2009 edited by Alice Sebold (1/28/20)

9. Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins (2/2/20)

10. Inland by Téa Obreht (2/13/20)

11. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (2/16/20)

12. Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas (2/17/20)

13. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (2/20/20)

14. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin (2/21/20) = 

15. Ghostlove by Dennis Mahoney (2/26/20)

16. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (3/1/20)

17. Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (3/6/20)

18. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (3/11/20)

19. American Midnight edited by Laird Hunt (3/13/20)

20. Shadows by Joan de la Haye (3/14/20)

21. Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Mallory Ortberg (3/14/20)

22. My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (3/16/20)

23. Difficult Light by Tomás González (3/19/20)

24. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez (3/24/20)

25. The Writhing Skies by Betty Rocksteady (3/26/20)  

26. Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (3/26/20)

27. Zero Saints by Gabino Iglesías (3/29/20)

28. The New Black edited by Richard Thomas (3/30/20)

29. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (4/4/20)

30. The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (4/10/20)  

31. Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey (4/12/20)

32. William Friedkin: Interviews edited by Christopher Lane (4/13/20)

33. The Only Good Indian by Stephen Graham Jones (4/19/20)  

34. The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld (4/22/20)  

35. Were We Awake by L.M. Brown (4/23/20)

36. A People’s Future of the United States edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams (4/23/20)

37. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (4/29/20)  

38. Gulp by Mary Roach (5/2/20)

39. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (5/4/20)

40. Monster, She Wrote by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson (5/5/20)

41. Helium by Rudy Francisco (5/10/20)

42. If It Bleeds by Stephen King (5/11/20)

43. Mostellaria by Plautus (5/13/20)

44. Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn (5/13/20)

45. All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (5/16/20)

46. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (5/20/20)

47. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (5/21/20)

48. The Yellow Room by Chris Poole (5/23/20)

49. Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals by Bitter Karella (5/24/20)

50. Magic City by Jewelle Parker Rhodes (5/26/20)

51. When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom (5/26/20)

52. I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott (5/26/20)  

53. Sequelland: A Story of Dreams and Screams by Jay Slayton-Joslin (5/29/20)

54. Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (6/3/20)

55. The Unsuitable by Molly Pohlig (6/4/20)

56. Seabirds Are Still Alive by Toni Cade Bambara (6/5/20)

57. The Dream-Quest of Vellit Boe by Kij Johnson (6/7/20)

58. Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar (6/10/20)

59. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (6/16/20)

60. Rashōmon and 17 Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (6/17/20)  

61. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (6/17/20)

62. Jump Rope by Ruby Jean Jensen (6/24/20)

63. Writing Movies for Fun and Profit by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (6/26/20)

64. Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley (7/3/20)

65. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (7/4/20)

66. American Poison by Eduardo Porter (7/7/20)

67. Actress by Anne Enright (7/8/20)

68. Hairspray and Switchblades by V. Castro (7/11/20)

69. Copper and Mercury by Jessica D. Coplen (7/14/20) (Workshop)

70. The Ressurectionist by Wrath James Wright (7/15/20)

71. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (7/18/20)

72. The Need by Helen Phillips (7/19/20)

73. Sleep No More edited by August Derleth (7/21/20)

74. The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (7/26/20)

75. You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (7/28/20)

76. Jaula by Oscar Mancinas (7/29/20)

77. The Tribe by Bari Woods (8/3/20)

78. Earthworm Gods by Brian Keene (8/7/20)

79. The Turner House by Angela Flournoy (8/7/20)

80. Virgins & Tricksters by Rosalie Morales Kearns (8/12/20)

81. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (8/15/20)

82. The Man They Wanted Me to Be by Jared Yates Sexton (8/15/20)

83. The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (8/16/20)

84. The Hollow Ones by T. Kingfisher (8/22/20)

85. I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura Van den Berg (8/23/20)

86. Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland (8/26/20)

87. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (8/31/20)

88. The Running Man by Stephen King (8/31/20)

89. Let’s Go Play at the Adams by Mendal W. Johnson (9/6/20)

90. The Book of Deadly Animals by Gordon Grice (9/8/20)

91. Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams (9/11/20)

92. The Deep by Alma Katsu (9/12/20)

93. Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale (9/15/20)

94. In the Shadow of the Master edited by Michael Connelly (9/17/20)

95. The Evolution of Howard Jones by Stephen Clary (9/17/20) (Workshop)

96. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Morena-Garcia (9/21/20)

97. My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (9/22/20)

98. Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (9/26/20)

99. Arizona Ghost Stories by Antonio R. Garcez (9/28/20)

100.  The Art of Pulp Horror edited by Stephen Jones (9/29/20)

101. Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay (10/1/20)

102. Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates (10/4/20)

103. Pedro Páramo by Jaun Rulfo (10/7/20)

104. The Possession of Natalie Glasgow (10/8/20)

105. Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (10/10/20)

106. Devolution by Max Brooks (10/10/20)

107. Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess (10/12/20)

108. Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper (10/14/20)

109. Standalone by Paul Michael Anderson (10/18/20)

110. The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant (10/20/20)

111. A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle (10/21/20)

112. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (10/22/20)

113. Godzilla on My Mind by William Tsutsui (10/24/20)

114. Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (10/26/20)

115. Nightmare Flower by Elizabeth Engstrom (10/28/20)

116. Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke (11/1/20)

117. Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor (11/1/20)

118. Nocturnal Missions by Gio Lassiter (11/2/20) (Workshop)

119. Hinterland by L.M. Brown (11/7/20)

120. The Deathless by Lynne Grigsby (11/8/20) (Workshop)

121. The Women of Weird Tales edited by Melanie R. Anderson (11/11/20)

122. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcìa Màrquez (11/12/20)  

123. The Caped Crusade by Glen Weldon (11/15/20)

124. The Force of Nonviolence by Judith Butler (11/19/20)

125. A Love Song, A Death Rattle, A Battle Cry by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre (11/22/20)

126. The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories vol. 1 edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle (11/24/20)

127. A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (11/26/20)

128. Adam in Eden by Carlos Fuentes (12/3/20)

129. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (12/5/20)

130. Permafrost by Eva Baltasar Sardà (12/8/20)

131. Pet Sematary by Stephen King (12/13/20)

132. The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallis (12/17/20)

133. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (12/24/20)

And for reference, here are the books I read in 2019.

Ryan Bradley’s Top 10 Horror Movies 2020

No one is out here arguing that 2020 was a good year in most respects. But horror films (and novels) have been popping all year. We’re in a boom with horror auteurs stacking great movies one after the other. The boom arguably started in 2014-2015, when Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, and Robert Egger’s The Witch were released in a little over a one year period. 

This boom, unlike previous periods of horror, has given more opportunities to women, people of color, and LGBQT people. Diversity in front of and behind the camera in horror has led to a better genre, which was demonstrated clearly by the excellent offerings of 2020

Continue reading at Wicked Horror!

X-Men: Three Forgotten Mutants Are Confirmed Captives of Mojo

When Wind Dancer returns to Krakoa, she confirms that several veteran X-Men members are still trapped against their will in the Mojoverse. Find out who at Comic Book Resources!

Review of Permafrost

My review of Permafrost by Eva Baltasar is now live at Cyn’s Workshop! Give it a read here!

My Best Articles of 2020

I came pretty close to writing 100 articles this year (and I might still get there, with a little more than a week left). It was a bad year for me, emotionally. Given the cognitive dissonance between the 318,000 Americans who’ve died from COVID-19 and the complete absence of public mourning, I imagine that I’m not the only one. 

But I’m proud of the writing I did. Here are my favorites, in chronological order.   

“Is Dead Ringers Based on a True Story” via Wicked Horror. 

“The Night is Ruined in the Last 15 Minutes” via Wicked Horror. 

“VFW Director Joe Begos “Wants You to Have Feelings When You’re Looking at an Image” [Interview]” via Wicked Horror. This one got translated into German for a fancy Blu-ray edition as well, which still feels surreal. 

Favorite nonfiction sentence of the year, from my review of Little Joe: “Bello—from a long line of movie dogs that is content to simply wait on a mat outside the lab for hours a day while my non-movie dog humped her bed, chewed a bone, napped, stole a tuna can from the recycling, then napped again during the less than two hour runtime of the movie—breathes in the pollen.” 

“Review of American Midnight: Tales of the Dark” via Cyn’s Workshop. 

Runner-up for my favorite nonfiction sentence of the year, from my review of Ghostlove: “This shadows-are-sunny outlook allows Mahoney to draw a quirky supporting cast from the iconography of horror.”

“Tigers Are Not Afraid Returns Fairy Tales to Their Gory Glory” via Wicked Horror. 

“Feedback for My Comp 1 Student Who Pretended Not to Know Me While On A Date At The Second Best BBQ Joint in Tulsa, Oklahoma” via The Daily Drunk. I had another piece, co-written with my friend Dana Eckstein-Berkowitz, on The Daily Drunk but it’s currently unavailable as The Daily Drunk transfer to a new website. 

“Skull: The Mask is Nasty, B-Movie Fun” via Wicked Horror. 

“A Roundtable Discussion with the Director and Cast of ‘The Bizarrely Beautiful’ Relic” via Wicked Horror. 

“La Llorona Frightens and Enlightens” via Wicked Horror.

“Train to Busan Presnets: Peninsula is Fun as Hell” via Wicked Horror. 

“Lovecraft Country‘s Tulsa Massacre Is an Amazing Recreation of a Horrific Event” via Comic Book Resources. 

“A Classic X-Men Has an Uncanny Odor” via Comic Book Resources. 

“Marvel’s Helstrom Takes Aim at The Exorcist – and Horror’s Most Enduring Tropes” via Comic Book Resources. 

“AEW’s Adam Page is One of TV’s Best Representations of Mental Illness” via Council of Zoom. 

“Cold Light of Day Will Chill You” via Wicked Horror. 

“Possessor Uncut is a Must See” via Wicked Horror. 

Along with the articles, I also edited the anthology When the Sirens Have Faded for A Murder of Storytellers. The physical printing has been delayed indefinitely because of COVID19, but the digital copy is still available! 

Wicked Horror Gift Guide 2020

There’s a week to go til Christmas, and if you’re anything like the writers at Wicked Horror, that means that you haven’t started shopping yet. It’s not too late! There are plenty of great options for your horror-loving friends and family that might arrive by the holiday. You can also print a picture of any of these, put that sucker in a wrapped box, and put the estimated date of arrival on it. Heck, you could do that without ordering a gift and we wouldn’t tell on you. 

And hey, if you’re reading this site, chances are you’re a horror fan and you could buy any of these gifs for yourself! Again, we’re not narcs. We wouldn’t tell on you if you decided to buy some of this cool s*** for yourself.

Continue reading at Wicked Horror!

X-Men Teases the Flawed Resurrection of a Mutant Leader

One of Marvel’s most dangerous mutant leaders has been revived, but this one-time X-Men villain still isn’t acting like themself.

Read all about it, at Comic Book Resources!