New Release! CODE 30 by Gail Smith

CODE 30
A novella of paranormal horror
by Gail Smith (Linda Mooney w/a)
Red Rose Publishing
Word Count: 33.3K

Hi. My name is Alexis Hembree, and I’m a cop. My partner and I are good at our jobs, except we don’t tend to work what others would call a “normal” beat. For some reason we draw evil to us like flies to sugar.

Sometimes there are things in this world we can’t explain or anticipate. But when they cross that line between their existence and ours, when they show up, we have to deal with them as best we can.

Some cops fight criminals. We fight something that never should have existed.

303 Lexington St.

It was a crack house. Except, in this case, drug dealers went in but they didn’t come out. Not alive, anyway, but in body bags. What’s more, if everyone who went inside ended up being shredded to death, who was doing the killing?

Georgie Porgie

The killer targeted women. Young, old, prostitutes, business women, it didn’t matter. One moment they would be walking down the sidewalk in the middle of town, and the next what was left of their bodies would be found in a nearby alleyway. Devoured. That’s why I had to be the next one to walk the streets. To draw out whoever was doing this. To be his next victim.

The Goodbye

He murdered young girls by crucifying them with ice picks. He was slick, elusive, and heading for our city. My partner and I were damned and determined this murderer would get no further. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep my head on the job. Neither could I ignore the weird-ass dreams I was having about this deviate. This case was becoming more personal, more foreboding, and more dangerous with each passing day. And there was no damn way I could avoid what I dreamed would be the final outcome.

Monday Movie Review - EDGES OF DARKNESS

Yes, it's a low budget film.  The camera shots and angles are pathetic at best.  But the blood and gore effects are top notch.  And the acting, in most cases, is superb.

Unfortunately, it's not enough to save this trilogy-as-one-movie.

We begin some years after something as turned most of the world into zombies -- the shuffling, bumbling, grunting, and devouring-everything-it-can type.  There's no explanation as to what occurred up to now. We're here, and for the next hour and a half we're watching three groups of people trying to survive. The only thing all three have in common is the fact that they all live in the same apartment complex.  Otherwise, the stories don't interact or connect.

This movie has just about every horror element in it -- zombies, vampires, the anti-christ, and soul sucking computers.  Not to mention one fired up, kick ass, female zombie killer who, in my opinion, is the star of this film.

Don't let the poor production quality turn you off.  This movie may not end up in my permanent collection, but at least I suggest you:

Coolest LEGO Horror Reenactments

Check this site out!  Horror reenactments dones with LEGO toys.

Thinking of Traveling This Summer? Consider Thailand!

You might want to go by and check out their bakeries in Bangkok.  They've got some yummy looking breads shaped like decapitated heads, body parts, and internal organs!  YUM!

You can find out more here.

Monday Movie Review - NINE DEAD

This movie has a great premise:  a masked killer kidnaps nine seemingly random victims and chains them in a room.  He gives them ten minutes to find out what they all have in common.  If they don't, he'll kill one of them.  At first they don't believe him, until he fulfills his promise and takes his first victim.

As the clock keeps ticking away, and the victims are slaughtered one at a time, the survivors try to find the answer the killer is seeking.

The cast is good.  The tension is there.  The kills aren't spectacularly bloody, but the who-done-it keeps you glued... until the ending.  The big, sucky ending that doesn't satisfy, and in my honest opinion, felt overly contrived.

My recommendation?

And Still Another April Fool's Joke

Apocalypse Cakes

You know it's gotta be good when you see desserts named Seismic Haitian Mud Cake, or Jonestown Kool-Aid Cake (colored purple!), or Branch Davidian Texas Pecan Pie (complete with flaming cross), or Fallen Angel Food Cake (with said angel buried head first in the center) or the above Raining Blood Red Velvet Cake.

To find out more, plus how to order the recipe cards, go check out the blog!

Monday Movie Review - THE REEDS

I've started watching the films from the After Dark Horrorfest IV, beginning with THE REEDS.  According to the blurb on the back:

When a group of London friends boating through Norfolk Broads takes a wrong turn in the dense, reedy waters, they find themselves haunted by a terrifying and ancient evil in this eerie spine chiller directed by Nick Cohen.  It soon becomes apparent that they're no match for the malevolent forces that lurk in the vast waterway.

Okay.  So I began checking off the tired and overused cliches:
Out in the middle of nowhere - check
A group of young friends out for a good time - check
Car/boat becomes damaged or unusable - check
Cell phones unusable - check
Strange force out to haunt/kill them - check

But then a funny thing happened.  The movie took an unexpected turn, and delivered a nice, throw-you-for-a-loop twist to the tale. One bad CGI makeup effect notwithstanding, I recommend that you:

Gallows Humor

Here's a Prank You Might Try

Dip your feet in red paint and walk through the house.

See how long it takes for someone to notice.

Monday Movie Review - I SELL THE DEAD

Think SHAUN OF THE DEAD meets Victorian England. 

Blake and Grimes are a parody of Burke and Hare, the notorious graverobbers of that era.  They sell corpses to a slimeball physician, but are often foiled in their attempts to snatch freshly dispatched bodies by another gang of competitive graverobbers.

Life carries on as usual until the duo encounter the undead -- vampires, zombies, you name it.  From there on, the two business partners discover the money is much better if they take the extra risk at capturing one of those.

Although I found the ending a bit too farfetched (hell, what am I saying?  The whole movie is farfetched!), I SELL THE DEAD is great no-brainer of a film.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it found a cult audience.

My recommendation?

Happy Easter!

Gruesome Tattoo

I've seen some pretty bazaar and gross tattoos, but I think this one is a sure fire winner when it comes to gruesome.

I dare to wonder what's going to happen the next time he goes to the beach or the pool, and takes off his shirt for a dip.

Let's not even think about what could occur in the bedroom!

April Fool's, honey!  It's not real!