Watching EVIL DEAD

 

WATCHING EVIL DEAD: UNEARTHING THE RADIANT ARTIST WITHIN by Josh Malerman (to be released 9/16/25 by Del Rey / 224 pages)

I’ve only read one novel by Malerman (INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE), and as a horror fiction fan for close to 50 years, it was one of the few horror novels that managed to scare me. I became an instant fan, and when I heard he had a non fiction book coming dedicated to Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD, I was all in.

When Malerman discovered his girlfriend had never seen EVIL DEAD, he went on a mission to share it with her. This book is an account of the night they watched the film with another couple, as Josh gives us a history of his life on the road as a musician who had always found time to write. After finally selling his debut novel BIRD BOX, Malerman faced the fears all artists face, and his chronicles of it here are at times funny, often deeply heartfelt, and ultimately, ridiculously inspiring. This also doubles as one man’s love letter to his fiancé, who (thankfully) ended up being an EVIL DEAD fan, too.

WATCHING EVIL DEAD is a quick, fun time. During the book, the author asks, a few times, “What were people thinking watching this when first released?” I’ll tell you: we were *enthralled.* I’m betting most readers of this book will be, too.

Issue 4 Out Today

 

The 4th issue of SUBURBAN GRINDHOUSE MAGAZINE is out now, full of contributions from your favorite new and classic film commentators, plus loads of surprises. Grab a copy here:  SG4

Also available at FORBIDDEN PLANET in NYC…

Aliens get Sneaky…

 

VEIL by Jonathan Janz (to be released 9/16/25 by Blackstone Publishing / 360 pages)

In the latest from genre favorite Janz, people begin vanishing into thin air one seemingly ordinary night. But as dawn arrives, it appears those being snatched are abducted by some type of invisible force, their faces full of terror. This is the complete opposite of a heavenly rapture many hope for.

The novel follows a high school teacher named John who loses his wife and son, and after a couple months of struggling to survive, his teenaged daughter is ripped right from their allegedly safe hiding space. John meets up with a radical group of survivors who have discovered, by a (literal) accident, how they can see the invisible alien creatures who have figured out a strange way to invade our world.

After undergoing risky surgery to gain this new vision, John and co. are on a mission to rescue their loved ones on the aliens’ turf, and what follows is an action-packed sci-fi creature feature that’s full of heart and stand-up-and-cheer moments, not to mention a wickedly heartbreaking scene when John finally manages to locate his abducted son.

You’ve heard the term “popcorn movie.” This is an exciting “popcorn novel” that can be enjoyed even by those who don’t regularly read horror or sci-fi. With a super fast pace and a cast the reader cares for, this VEIL is nearly impossible to put down until you’ve completely looked behind it.

The Coming of the Antichrist?

 

OF BEASTS by M. Jane Worma (to be released 2/10/26 by Clash Books / 77 pages)

Dante is a 17 (or 18) year old who is having a relationship with Jude, the pastor of a Texas church. They begin having dreams, supposedly from God, that reveal Dante is the Antichrist and must begin the apocalypse, and Jude must stop him.

OF BEASTS is part queer romance, part religious horror that’s heavier on descriptions of sex and very light on why any of this is happening. Without spoiling things, a major miracle occurs and doesn’t seem to phase anyone (including the reader), and with the low key (possibly) symbolic ending, this quick read offers an interesting premise but doesn’t deliver on anything it proposes.

Cronenberg Back on Track

 

THE SHROUDS (2025): I haven’t liked a David Cronenberg film since EASTERN PROMISES (2007) and was especially disappointed with his 2022 film CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, which was supposedly a return to the director’s classic style (it wasn’t). And while it was difficult avoiding reviews for his latest (which hipster filmfest reviewers began spoiling over a year ago), I am happy to say I enjoyed the director’s talky but deep meditation on death and loss, inspired by his wife’s passing back in 2017. Vincent Cassel is great as Karsh, the head of a hi-tech company who have invented a special burial shroud that allows people to watch, via a phone app, their deceased loved one’s bodies decaying in the grave. Clients can also view their late loved ones on screens affixed to tombstones where the bodies are buried in a special cemetery, which Karsh not only owns, too, but runs a swanky restaurant on its grounds. Things start getting even weirder when Karsh discovers odd growths on his wife’s bones, which his tech-savvy brother-in-law claims aren’t natural, but may have been deliberately put there. Conspiracy theories abound, and Cronenberg has a great time bringing all types of theories into play, making the viewer fear his own phone halfway through this gloomy, slow burn. Diane Kruger (of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS fame) is great in a dual role both as Karsh’s sister-in-law, and she also shows up as his wife Becca in the film’s surreal body-horror moments, including a sex scene that made the entire audience wince. Sandra Holt plays Soo-Min, a blind potential client who eventually develops a relationship with Karsh and is part of the film’s low key but bizarre ending that brings Bava’s LISA AND THE DEVIL (1974) to mind. THE SHROUDS will surely divide Cronenberg fans and may turn some viewers off: it’s a slow burn, and forces the viewer to contemplate disease and dying, not typical subject matters for a Saturday afternoon matinee. I was fascinated not only with everything the film explores, but that this is how Cronenberg has publicly chosen to grieve his wife’s passing. It’s obvious actor Cassel was made up to look like Cronenberg, and halfway through the film I became confident we have been allowed to take a glimpse into the actual mind of a filmmaker who has been delivering some of the strangest, more transgressive films for the past 50 years … and that mind is a scary place to be.

Don’t Miss this Haunting

 

 

THE OCTOBER FILM HAUNT by Michael Wehunt (to be released 9/30/25 by St. Martin’s Press / 336 pages)

The title of this book is the name of a trio who visit horror film sites and blog about them. One film, titled ‘Proof of Demons,’ gains a hardcore following, and after a real life tragedy, a sequel is being made by a cult of the film’s fans. But now, Jorie, a member of the Film Haunt who has left the horror scene, is being forced to star in the sequel by the original film’s fans/cult and director, who have oddly enabled a supernatural creature to help them.

I’ve been loving the trend of horror film-themed novels, and author Wehunt blends this with another recent trend, Internet influence, and has created a genuinely unsettling tale where the reader is often required to decipher what’s actually happening or what is part of an otherworldly slant.

This could’ve used a bit of tightening up, as a few areas drag for a bit, making the story slow down at times, which is difficult to say about an otherwise very well-written novel. But the payoff is certainly worth the reader’s time, and one chapter features a possession scene from the human point of view that hasn’t been done this effectively since Michael Laimo’s novel THE DEMONOLOGIST 20 years ago. 

A fine addition to the crop of horror film-themed horror novels, Wehunt’s debut was well worth the wait for those who have been following his short fiction (he has two published collections). I’m eager to see what’s next.

Religious Terror in the Deep South

 

WORDS OF CHRIST IN RED by Robbie Dorman (2025 Independently Published / 304 pp / to be released 4/18/25)

Pastor David Ingram accepts a job in a small church in Georgia, taking over for his friend, the previous minister, who died in a tragic car crash. The job is offered to David by the late minister’s wife, and it doesn’t take long for the super-conservative congregation to split.

David, along with his husband and young son, are accused of bringing Satan into the church and continuing to change things as the previous pastor had begun. As David attempts to preach love and acceptance, Eli, a long standing member of the church, believes it is his calling to bring judgment and punishment to those who refuse to stay on his side. A commissioned statue of Christ is removed from the church, and Eli believes it is giving him commands straight from God.

WORDS OF CHRIST IN RED may be a bit more thriller than flat out horror, but supernatural elements do come in to play, especially when one of the faithful shows David his special way of communing with God.

Anyone who grew up in (or even visited) a small church can easily associate with the turmoils presented here, and the author builds enough suspense and tension that even if religious horror isn’t your thing, you may still find yourself racing through the pages to see what happens … and the final chapter will surely be debated by all who take this emotional trip.