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Good morning fellow film fiends! This week’s bulletin will be a tad shorter than previous posts as life has been a bit hectic in the past week, which has impinged on my viewing time. I have however been able to watch the first episode of new Netflix show, Altered Carbon, based on Richard K Morgan’s body swapping sci fi novel of the same name. Rest assured I’ll be posting up a review when I get to the end of the series.

I’m currently reading The Steel Remains, the first book in Morgan’s ‘grimdark’ fantasy trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes, where the author has fun messing with a lot of the stock tropes of the fantasy genre. Check it out if you are a fan of George R R Martin or Joe Abercrombie.

In other news, during a tram stop sojourn on to YouTube, I came across two engaging little short horror films – Last Bus Home and Mimic. The former is a nicely put together and atmospheric urban ghost story, while the latter is a creature feature that deftly builds a sense of dread in the viewer. Check out the links below:

And finally –  to any aspiring independent filmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

 

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Hail movie brethren! What fresh terrors have stalked the grey wastes of The Stricken Land in the week past? Read on…

  • Do you feel suitably let down by the really not very good Alien prequels? Sate your disappointment by watching Life (2017), a great little outer space chiller from the makers of Deadpool. Ignoring the golden rule of film that extra terrestrial organisms should be left well alone, the crew of the international space station propagate a globule of Martian bacteria with predictably malevolent results. It’s not going to win any prizes for originality and trite comparisons with Alien are inevitable, but this well crafted horror takes its vintage more from classic fifties paranoid sci fi like the Quatermass films and X the Unknown by way of the novels of John Wyndham, than it does from man-in-a-suit creature features.

  • Next up is The Raven, a stylised period manhunt thriller centred on the conceit of having the father of the detective novel, Edgar Allen Poe investigating a serial killer inspired by the grisly deaths featured in Poe’s gothic masterworks. John Cusack does a great scenery chewing turn as Poe, but the film’s great weakness is its abundance of hard to like characters, not least the drink sodden Poe himself. Director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) does his best with a basic potboiler plot, but the languid pace and lack of sympathetic protagonists meant this struggled to keep this viewers attention. There is probably a great film waiting to be made about the life of this giant of American literature, unfortunately, The Raven isn’t it.

  • Audible have recently released Bafflegab Productions audio drama version of the 1971 British folk horror film Blood on Satan’s Claw, featuring the voice talents of the ever excellent Reece Sheersmith and Mark Gatiss. I’ll be posting a compare and contrast review of both productions in the near future. Watch this space…

 

  • Spotted on Twitter is this crowdfunded British horror from Ash Mountain Productions and director Richard Rowntree. Scheduled for UK home viewing release in April 2018, Dogged was the 4th most successful UK based horror feature film to receive funding from Kickstarter according to the IMDB. Go to http://www.ashmountainfilms.com  for more info, meanwhile, check out the trailer –
  • Also peaking our interest is Lords of Chaos, the latest flick from Jonas Åkerlund, an account of the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the late 80’s-early 90’s based on the book of the same name. Focusing on the band Mayhem,its founder Euronymous and his subsequent murder in 1993, this looks to be a dark and disturbing look at the lives and time of some very f**ked up individuals.
  • And finally, the documentary Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary gets a Blu-Ray release on March 13 2018.This looks like a must for fans of the film as well as Stephen King fans and all those fascinated by what goes into making a film.

Before I sign off; to any aspiring independent filmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

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Good morning film fiends! Here is the first of what I intend to be a weekly bulletin featuring all the best sci-fi/fantasy/horror film related content that I’ve come across on my internet forays during the preceding week. Keep those beady eyes peeled(!) on your inboxes or social media feeds for future Newsblasts from thestrickenland.com!

In this week’s roundup:

  • Check out the trailer for Occupation, an independent Australian alien invasion flick from director Luke Sparke, and starring Jango Fett himself, Temuera Morrison and Bruce Spence (the Gyro Pilot from Mad Max 2). From the look of it, this promises to be Independence Day, but good. Check out the official website and trailer below to judge for yourself.

http://www.occupationthemovie.com/news.php

 

  • Go to YouTube and watch Womp Stomp Films and director Vincente Disanti’s excellent fan film tribute to the Friday the 13th  series, Never Hike Alone.The climax features a great Easter egg that is guaranteed to delight fans of the Camp Blood saga. Given that I personally disregard all the official entries to the series after part VII, I’m minded to regard this as series canon. Yes, it really is that good. See for yourself by clicking the link below –
  • Whilst we’re on the subject of Friday the 13th, YouTube also features an excellent documentary, Friday the 13th part III – The Memorium Documentary. As the title suggests, it focuses solely on the third film in the franchise, and was produced in memory of the late Richard Brooker, the actor and former trapeze artist who portrayed Jason Voorhees in the 1982 installment. A great little time capsule of the early 80’s slasher craze, featuring reminisces by many of the cast and on set photos from the original shoot. Find the link below –

 

  • The trailer for belated sequel Deep Blue Sea 2 is finally here complete with explosions galore and dodgy looking cgi sharks. The original is officially regarded by this site as the second greatest shark movie ever made, so I expect very little from this blatant cash in on the current crop of bargain bin shark flicks. Still the trailer makes it look like fun –

And finally…

  • Winchester gets its UK release on February 2nd, and I’ll be bringing you a full review of the Helen Mirren shockfest in due course. Based on the legend surrounding Sarah Winchester, the real life heiress of the eponymous firearms company, who ordered continuous construction of maze like extensions to her San Jose mansion for 38 years in the belief that if building stopped then the ghosts of those killed by her late husband’s creations would find her and claim her soul in revenge. The obvious conceit of the film is that the legend is founded in truth as an excuse to indulge in some good old supernatural hi-jinks. As a fan of period set horror, I’m looking forward to this one. Check out the trailer if you haven’t already –

Before I sign off; to any aspiring independent filmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Watch the Skies,

Ian