protean depravity

Here come the crime write-ups from the past month or so, enjoy!

I only recently discussed all the upcoming movie screenings in Berlin, and today  Final Girls Berlin  announced their spring program under the title " A Night to (dis)member! Underdogs celebration, open air cinema, and more!"  so here's a quick addition to that post because guys, it's awesome!

"We're learning to love the things that we hate", sang New Model Army's Justin Sullivan in the early 90's, and presumably still does so today. While Sullivan condemns politically numbed people, consumerism, and a Huxleyan kind of artificially happy society, this year's Fantasy Filmfest Nights ascribed this phrase a more individual notion and made it this year's focus, it seems like, at least for the few movies I saw. I was a little sick this weekend and still am a bit, so not very ideal, but in between bouts of nausea I could force myself to go see at least the minimum amount I planned on seeing. Family; the sacrifices we make, the things we gain, the boxes we need to fit into, the roles we have to play, the ways we have to bend and warp our ways to fit in, what's good for us, what's at stake for us if we don't comply - all these were themes explored during this year's Nights. Let's take a look at the films.

The latest short reviews are here, enjoy!

The 2026 film festival season ends with Fantasy Filmfest Nights this upcoming weekend, but that's no reason to despair because there are lots of fun screenings that can keep you busy until the next big festival. Except for the last Fantasy Filmfest screenings and the Final Girls in March, my film year was really nothing to brag about, and I didn't really see many films that left an impression on me. I hope that will change in the coming months, so let's take a look at some of upcoming film showings and unscheduled titles which give me hope that this year might still turn out to be a good cinematic year.

A Creepshow Animated Special -  Survivor Type   There was a time in my life when I was so preoccupied with life itself, migrating to Germany, financial problems, familial problems, health problems, mental health problems, moving to Berlin, the only big city which back then was affordable for poorer people - unfortunately that's not the case anymore - and finally losing my job... Everything was so "too much" that I didn't read much horror because I felt so done. For years. No Stephen King. And when I lost that job, I was on the lookout for something that made me happy, if only for a little bit, if only for a little while. That's how I discovered the Otherland Bookstore during my search, where I'd spend time talking about books to Hannes Riffel, who is the original founder of the bookstore, and talking to Jakob Schmidt, with whom I vibed well and who has always had an excellent taste in books. It was during one of those conversations that I remember talking to H...

In a couple of months the Horror Writers Association will be giving the Bram Stoker Awards for the year 2025, so it's well time to take a look at the nominees and add the titles that sound good to our painfully never-ending TBR-lists (and also give some commentary and my own bias given that I have already chosen the PD best of's 2025). So, we all know, the trophy isn't very pretty and as far as I know they don't give a prize money, but the prestige that comes with a BS-Award is big and provides for readers for years to come. In many cases deservedly, sometimes not that much, but in any case these awards make for a good benchmark if you want to build up an English horror library for whatever purpose, library, bookshop, or personal shelves. Here are the Bram Stoker 2025 nominees in categories of interest to PD.

Welcome to the short story lover's guide to Stephen King! In this penultimate post about Stephen King's second short story collection Skeleton Crew we'll take a look at one science fiction horror, two inanimate horror and one rat horror pieces of writing as well as one poem he wrote for his son, author Owen King. It would be good if you read along, or at least know or be familiar with the stories because I will spoil everything! Let's go!