Lili's Lair

The IMDB description of Ravenous (the English name for the Canadian filmLes Affamés) reads:

"In a small, remote village in upstate Quebec, things have changed. Locals are not the same anymore - their bodies are breaking down and they have turned against their loved ones. A handful of survivors goes hiding into the woods, looking for others like them."

So, one more movie I almost didn't watch because its description is so boring.

But don't let the description fool you, minions. Although Ravenous is not your typical high-energy, ripping guts out, characters more concerned about having sex than surviving film, it is totally worth the watch if you love end of the world-type movies.

Ravenous is a bit of a slow burn, and feels like every scene is painstakingly deliberate in it's delivery, but in a good way. Getting through the first five to seven minutes is a bit tough, but well worth it.

The zombies are not your typical zombies. They don't particularly look like zom…

Recently, my malevolent malcontents, I've had the pleasure of watching a few movies that not only disturbed me, but also infected my dreams with their malicious splendor. The Bye Bye Man (I hate to even write the title for fear of summoning him!) is one of them.

Feeding into my phobia of the utterance of a name multiple times and viral propagation of said evil deed, this movie delivers that super-creepy unease you get when you know something is going terribly wrong, and you're certain it's not going to stop until the whole world is infected. The Bye Bye Man is a film in the same vein as The Ring and Pulse, with a dose of the Bloody Mary urban legend, and a bit of Candy Man thrown in for good measure.

The Bye Bye Man was directed by Stacy Title and written by Jonathan Penner. It was based on the chapter "The Bridge to Body Island" from the book The President's Vampire by Robert Damon Schneck. It stars Douglas Smith as Elliot, Lucien Laviscount as John, Cressida…

I almost didn't watch The Void. my minions. I've been reviewing way too much horror and not showing enough love to the other genres I should be covering. But when I heard it was a Lovecraft-style story, I couldn't resist. (I have a weak spot for anything Lovecraftian, you see.)

The Void was a good, old-fashioned, in your face, blood-drenched horror movie that proved that physical effects are still just as good as CGI if done properly. And boy - did their special effects people get it right! The special effects in The Void were very cool throughout. (I'm not going to tell you why because it would spoil your twisted fun!)

The story was interesting without being too convoluted, making the film an entertaining watch.  I kept yelling at the characters, asking why they were doing such stupid things. This just goes to show that The Void had me completely engaged not only with the story but also with the characters. (Even though I wanted to bitch slap every one of them by the e…

In the past, I've covered the creepy pasta of summoning an evil spirit by calling its name three times in a mirror. And I've said vehemently how bad and stupid doing this is. I've also admitted that this reiteration of names freaks me out.

Well, it seems to be an epidemic in horror movies these days. And although I'm seriously tweaked by this type of movie, I'm also sickly drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. So, of course, when I came across Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite I had to watch it. (I didn't want to; I had to!)

Be forewarned: this is a Russian film and therefore it has subtitles. For me, that meant watching it twice and taking copious amounts of notes. Honestly, I'm not sure why I took over ten pages of notes, but I have a suspicion that my subconscious was in a full act of rebellion against my watching another Bloody Mary-type movie. My unconscious thought probably was: if I take loads of notes, I will be detached enough from all the messed up st…

I was going through movies on Amazon when I stumbled on The Monster Project. Since I love indie horror, I had to give it a watch. I'm happy I did.

The Monster Project was directed and co-written by Victor Mathieu with Shariya Lynn and  Corbin Billings.

I loved the whole premise of the movie: Indie filmmaker Devon (played by Justin Bruening) sees that people are willing to believe anything online with regards to the supernatural, so  decides to cash in on this and do a documentary about "real" monsters. With his sidekick, Jamal (played by Jamal Quezaire), manning the camera and tasked to come up with a name, The Monster Project is born. An ad on Craigs List goes up calling all real life monsters to come out to tell their story, and the fun begins.

Also in the movie we have Bryan (played by Toby Hemingway), a recovering drug addict looking to change his life though his new found faith, and Murielle (played by Murielle Zuker), an aspiring director and Devon's ex-girlfrie…

The month of May at the Lair has been dedicated to some wicked indie talent. From music to movie makers, and now to my second creepy author of the month, Matt Hayward, who's work has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and garnered a nomination from Penguin Books for short story of the year, 2017.

Not only is Matt one busy boy who's written or is writing a plethora of tales, but he's also a professional musician. The latest album from his band, Lace Weeper, entitled As The Crow Flies, features  Chad Channing  of Nirvana and Before Cars. Pretty wicked, my minions, especially since Nirvana inspired Matt as a teen. (You can read that in the interview, I'll sew my mouth closed now. No more spoilers, I promise.)

As busy as Matt is (he's a newlywed, to boot!) he found enough time for an interview and gave us a bio to read. So, without further ado my malcontents, read on:


Lili's Lair: Why do you write?

Matt Hayward: Because I’d make a piss-poor salesman. I started w…