Critters writer - posthumous book

Brian Muir, best known as the writer of Critters, with whom I had a few e-mail exchanges before his untimely death, wrote short stories too. Five of them, plus an essay about writing Critters, have now been collected into a Kindle e-book which is available from Amazon.

Collapsar and Other Stories

A drunk and a dragon...a fallen horror movie actor in a labyrinth of real-life monsters...and fearless Jack Lightning, a hero of the Old West and the swiftest courier to vanish beyond the green curve of the earth. These are just a few of the characters to spring from the mind of Brian Muir, best known as the screenwriter of the 1980s cult classic, "Critters," but also a first-class fiction writer. He appeared along such greats as Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine before his untimely death in 2010. This brief but unusual collection contains five of his stories never before published, along with an autobiographical essay on "Critters" offering simple but invaluable writing advice.

Back in February 2011 I paid tribute to Brian Muir on my Devil's Porridge blog.

'Seoul' and 'Eve' at Chicago Fear Fest

The line-up for the Chicago Fear Fest tomorrow includes two films that I have reviewed recently: Time's Up Eve and Fear Eats the Seoul. Plus a whole load of other stuff.

Tash Force - new indie football comedy

Tash Force is a new indie British comedy about an inept policeman in charge of football crowd control. It's being billed as "The Football Factory meets Spinal Tap" and is released by Safecracker Pictures a week on Monday (23rd April). It's from the people who made Diary of a Bad Lad.

Synopsis
A hilarious mad-cap comedy about Tash McDermott (MARK WOODWARD), Head of Lancashire Constabulary's Football Intelligence Unit, as he tries to track down a football hooligan ring leader, and put a stop to any "shenanigans" on the terraces.

Tash is on the trail of the elusive ‘Nightmare’, a notorious football firm hooligan. Inspired by TV programmes like ‘Police, Camera, Action, Tash is giving a journalist (IAN WIGGINS) unrestricted access to cover his operation. But Tash is stuck in the glory days of the past, when football was a man’s game, women knew their place, a ruck was pretty much guaranteed, and he was top of the league for arrests and banning orders.

Tash senses that being the subject of a documentary will restore his status, put him right back where he deserves to be, and maybe even make him a star. So he takes his eye off the ball and starts playing up to the camera. But that, and the fact the he can’t hold his beer, ends up landing him in serious trouble.

First guests announced for Festival of Fantastic Films

The Festival of Fantastic Films is Britain's longest-established - and friendliest - genre movie event. This year it runs (in Manchester, as always) from 26th to 28th October.

The first announced guests are:

• actor Derren Nesbitt (Burke and Hare, Behemoth the Sea Monster, lots of TV bit-parts)
• actor Derek Fowlds (Frankenstein Created Woman, Tower of Evil, Yes Minister, Basil Brush)
• actress/choreographer Teri Scoble (Village of the Damned, Timeslip)
• actress Mary Maude (Freewheelers, Crucible of Terror, Terror)
• actor Martin Potter (Fellini Satyricon, Satan's Slave)

New trailer for Ken Barker's retro space opera

Kenneth Barker, director of Kingdom and Catalina: A New Kind of Superhero, has released the second trailer for his retro space opera On the Shoulders of Giants. Ken says:

"The 'Into the Unknown' trailer was created to reveal more of the film's narrative and set up enough intrigue to warrant growing interest in the final film. That might seem like a pretty redundant statement, but as a film-fan myself I quickly become weary when a trailer reveals the film's best bits. I really want you to come back and be captivated by the mystery of what could possibly happen to the crew in OTSOG. For this trailer my sole intention was to ensure there were no unintentional spoilers or climatic giveaways; what's the point of sticking around to watch the whole film if you have just watched a potted version! And while we are here; a big hoorah for adult centric science-fiction: there really is a lot more occurring below the surface in this film. Above all else OTSOG was produced from my desire to entertain and show my work. I sincerely hope you enjoy watching it."

Hardcore: release news and interview

I was beginning to think that Mark Withers' 2005 porn mockumentary Hardcore: A Poke into the Adult Film Orifice would never see the light of day but I am delighted to announce that Safecracker Pictures will release the film on 16 April. It has been retitled Hardcore: Bare Naked Talent and has a quote from my review on the sleeve!

And while we're in a Hardcore mood, here's a brand new interview with actor Mike Busson who plays the naked German cinematographer in that film, and also talks about his numerous contributions to Stag Night of the Dead.

New interview: Michael Riley

The producer of Paul Hyett's The Seasoning House talks about the film in this brand new interview. One of these days I'll dig out the interview I did with Michael back in 2008 about Vampire Diary.