The Witching House by John Everson

 Angry and alone, Gianna tests an urban legend and writes the name Madelyn in blood on the mirror of the Witching House. When the ghost actually answers, she gains an unexpected friend. But soon Gianna learns friendship isn’t what the dead girl wants the most. Madelyn wants revenge for her murder. Can Gianna stop her before half the town is dead?

When Gianna is forced to move out of her school and away from her friends because of her father's new job, it feels like the end of the world. Her pregnant stepmother is treating her like Cinderella, her brother is no help, and the new school is full of bullies.

After a particularly cruel incident, she visits the "Witching House" a burned out shell where 20 years ago a group of vigilantes dealt with the witch in a Freddy Krueger-esque manner. It is rumored that writing the witch's name in blood will call her to you. You can probably guess what happens from there.

I liked Gianna but was not a fan of any of the other characters. Her father especially grated on my nerves as the type of half assed parent you just want to smack and say wake up! This is mainly a supernatural revenge story, so if you enjoy seeing bullies get what they deserve, including some fairly gruesome outcomes, this may be for you.

There are some chilling and creepy scenes, but nothing really fresh or original. Towards the end, it made me think of what it would have been like if, after Carrie had been bullied and tormented, Stephen King had her take an attitude of Oh well, never mind; let's just let bygones be bygones.

My thanks to Flame Tree Press for the ARC

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Marrow - Movie Review

Scatena & Rosner Films (S&R Films) has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Marrow”, the latest horror feature from writer-director Mitch McLeod (“Silhouette”), starring Jessica Dawn Willis (“The Woman Under the Stage”, “Death 4 Dinner”) alongside legendary genre actors Danielle Harris (the “Halloween” franchise) and Michael Ironside (“Scanners”, “Total Recall”). The deal was negotiated by Zach Stampone, VP of Distribution at Scatena & Rosner Film, and Executive Producer Carlos Cortez on behalf of the filmmakers. 

Based on a series of real-life police files regarding a stalking in small-town Texas, “Marrow” follows Jamie Foster, a formerly successful vlogger who attempts to revitalize her career by inviting her stalker onto the show—knowing he may be the serial killer responsible for murdering a string of influencers. Although Jamie’s views go up, she begins to realize more than her life is at stake when the stalker’s identity—and humanity—come into question.

I was invited to watch an early screener of Marrow, starring Jessica Dawn Willis as a popular true crime vlogger. As her viewership numbers begin to wane, she takes a bold chance on a mysterious caller who may be responsible for a string of deaths. 

The movie gets off to a slow start with lots of talk and little action. But the creep factor intensifies with the gradual reveal of this mysterious caller's intentions and why Jamie is obsessed with true crime. While the role Danielle Harris plays as Jamie's aunt is smaller, it adds significant impact with a wild backstory.

In a world of social media. blogs, vlogs, and influencers this movie begs the question: how far would you go for followers, comments, and views?

This is a fun watch provided you don't expect to take it too seriously. I rated this a 7 out of 10 stars on IMDB.

View the trailer here

Director 

Mitch McLeod

Writers

 Preston Fassel, Mitch McLeod, Jessica Dawn Willis

Stars 

Jessica Dawn Willis, Danielle Harris, Michael Ironside

 

The Horror Collection Halloween Edition

Halloween is a night of costumes, candy, bonfires, and ancient traditions, but when darkness falls, some legends refuse to stay buried.

Travel to forgotten towns where impossible rituals continue beneath the harvest moon. Meet haunted children, grieving parents, vengeful scarecrows, hungry jack-o'-lanterns, escaped killers, ancient Scottish curses, restless war ghosts, and sinister spirits waiting behind familiar masks. From nostalgic trick-or-treating and eerie small-town folklore to cosmic nightmares, gothic revenge, psychological terror, and outrageous splatter horror, every story captures a different face of the year's most terrifying night.

Featuring twenty-one chilling tales from some of horror's finest voices—including Brian Hodge, Ronald Kelly, Jeff Strand, Jeffrey Thomas, William Meikle, Gord Rollo, Mark Morris, Brian Moreland, John Everson, Steve Stred, Ryan Colley, Veronica Smith and many more, The Horror Collection: Halloween Edition is packed with unforgettable frights, unsettling legends, and haunting surprises.

So carve your pumpkin, leave the porch light on... and pray that whatever comes knocking isn't looking for candy.

These well-crafted tales make for a perfect October read, or if you love Halloween as much as I do, they are a welcome treat any time of year.

Among my many favorites were Ghosts of Candies Past by Jeff Strand in which a  father discovers something unusual when he checks his kids' Halloween haul. You can always count on this author for a few laughs among the gore.

Marrowvale by Kurt Fawver is a chilling tale of secret Halloween traditions and the writer who is invited to view the festivities.

Sweet Tooth by Brian Moreland is about the struggle Helen faces to keep away from the Halloween candy. Although she will face a new challenge this year with one very special trick-or-treater.

The Boy In The Garden by Callum Pearce is the story of a ghostly visitor who has suddenly been appearing every Halloween for the past 3 years. He seems to be coming much closer to the house this year.

John just wants a pumpkin to carve like every other kid in town, but his father won't allow it. Instead, he must have a tumshie. I wonder who will regret it in Tumshieheid by William Meikle.

Morgan Hayden is 12 years old and new in town. He doesn't know anyone, so he's excited when he finally makes his first friend, but soon he will also meet The Pumpkin King by Steve Stred.

No Halloween anthology would be complete without a babysitter alone in the house with a creepy child, which brings us to Watch Over Smiley by Stephen Crowley.

These were just a few of my favorite treats in this huge volume of 21 tales, guaranteed to satisfy your craving for horror set in the most wonderful time of year.

My thanks to KJK Publishing for the e-ARC

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Crone by Keith Rosson

Eli Lamp is a broken man. An ex-detective, ex-addict, and long-grieving father whose daughter, Hannah, disappeared a decade before, Eli decimated his old life investigating her abduction and is now indebted to the Crooked Wheel, a local drug gang, as an enforcer. He lives in a rundown trailer at the edge of the woods, where he keeps Hannah’s room in pristine condition and tries to make it through one day at a time.

But when the son of the Crooked Wheel’s boss is found viciously murdered in a crime scene that doesn’t seem to add up, Eli receives a new order: Find out who the killer is and your debt to the Wheel is clear forever. You’re free. This pursuit brings him into the orbit of Avery Bryant, Hannah’s best friend and the last person to see her before she went missing. Soon, Eli and Avery are entwined in a hunt for answers that spans decades, stretches the realm of possibility, and brings churning to the surface a conspiracy linking not only these current tragedies, but the buried sorrows of Eli’s past.

And though none of them dare say the word "witch," at least not out loud, something lurks in the woods, bent-backed and black-eyed, clawed and vengeful, looming ever closer. . . .

One night, walking home from a party in the pouring rain, 15-year-old Hannah, who is legally blind, accepts a ride and is never seen again. Her best and only friend, Avery, watched her get into the van, and that is all she knows. She didn't see a license plate or who was driving.

I wanted to know more! I wanted this to be about Hannah and the Crone in the woods! Instead, it's more about her father Eli, and how his life spiraled out of control with an especially grotesque addiction to wire, a fictional drug that is shoved under the toenails. Eli is indebted to a drug dealer for some unknown reason that we don't find out about until the book is practically over, in much the way we don't find out what happened to Hannah or anything about the crone until we nearly reach the finale. 
The middle of the book dragged for me. It was more crime thriller than horror and mainly about rival drug gangs and crooked cops.

I loved Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson, so I was super excited to get a copy of Crone. I wanted to love this as much and I tried hard, but just couldn't swing it. I could not really connect with any of the characters. I didn't like Hannah's friend, and I tried to like her father, but he was already kind of a loser before her disappearance. I wanted more than violence and gore, but I stuck it out to the end and was at last rewarded with some answers. Sometimes I wish a book was longer because I don't want it to end. This was not one of those times. I did want it to end once the truth was finally revealed. Instead, it dragged on about Avery's friend, whose name already escapes me because I didn't care about her either. I would have titled this book Wire, since the majority of it focused on the drug instead of the Crone. You may enjoy it more than I did, but this book was not for me.

My thanks to Random House for the e-ARC

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