protean depravity

Ever since the COVID pandemic seems to have ended I haven't been doing much PD film festivals at home, because, well, the movie theaters opened again, and consequently I haven't been selecting any best movies of the year. Unless there's another pandemic coming, Abraxas forbid, I don't intend to do that anymore, but still, every now and then a movie might come along which I deem exceptionally good and one of my best movies of the year and that movie then deserves more attention. So, here's the review of one of those movies; Late Night With the Devil , which I first saw at the Fantasy Filmfest Nights in April, an almost hypnotic, dream-like experience; and to solidify my viewing experience and be sure not to have missed anything, I watched it a second time this past weekend at the wonderful Creepy Crypt , brought to you by Yorck Kinos. Title is linked to imdb page for details, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, PLEASE, THE TEXT BASICALLY CONSISTS O...

Of course one can never know the hardships of curating and editing a horror anthology as iconic as Datlow's Best Horror of the Year and there may be reasons beyond our knowledge why some stories don't make it there and why others do. I'm pretty sure that 2022-2023 was an exceptionally good time for horror short stories, but unfortunately I don't see that reflected in this book. In consequence, this year is one of those years in which the Datlow Best of Anthology does not quite strike my fancy. It happens.

  So here's my not so surprising surprise I said I would announce this week: Revealing the cover of my translation project of a Turkish SF-anthology (cover art by Alessio Gherardini), and the publication date which is October 9th 2024!

Having recently written about what a great horror year 2015 was made me nostalgic for that time. Undeniably, there's already a wave of promising new horror pics on the way, and I am hoping for a revival of a good horror year in 2025, ten years after. Time will tell if it will really happen, but until then let's have a look at and discuss the movies released from 2015 to 2020; those five excellent horror years, until the pandemic replaced the screen horror with a real one. Here the first two years 2015 and 2016.

My reading rhythm was unusually speedy this past week, so I already have new short reviews to share with you. Might be because I have been hanging out a lot in and around my local Mauerpark and Falkplatz, enjoying the absolutely fantastic weather we have had lately, laying on the grass, reading my book. The prices have risen so much that I seriously and sadly can't afford sitting in cafés as much anymore, but I bought myself a picnic blanket and a thermos flask for coffee and have been enjoying the weather nevertheless! I have news too; since I will be part time jobbing at the Hammett Bookstore starting June, I thought it would be good to rekindle my "Thriller Time"s and "Bloody Thrilling" Columns. Hammett owner Christian said it's not necessary for me to know the books well, but I can't work like that, I have to know my books! So, there will probably be a lot more murder stories here on PB, though Horror is and will always stay my main staple. And I hav...

Hey all! It's been quite a while since I actually reviewed books here, but I have finally read enough to make some short reviews out of them. In fact, I have been reading a lot but I have been reading all over, especially in different genres, genres that don't really fit in here, but now I have enough freaky books. Make use of the nice weather to read outside and I hope you enjoy my reviews!

    It's brain binge time again! That means the Final Girls Berlin will be offering a weekend (or two afternoons) of talks which you can follow for free on Zoom - and there's even a panel on cannibalism and one workshop.