protean depravity

"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! 

Here are some short reviews from the past month. Writing this post I realized that I've been reading A LOT OF short stories and I'm in a proper short story fever! If that speaks to you, I hope you find something to your taste, enjoy!

Barely rested from the last film festival, here I am planing for the next one, the wonderful Fantasy Filmfest Nights  (April 16-19) which impresses with a truly fantastic selection that makes me wish I could see all of the films featured. But the budget is tight, and time isn't endless, so I have to make choices. Although I made my choices generously, I probably still won't be able to see all of the pictures below, especially as I still have to go to work, notably on Saturday. The day is for working but we have nights to watch films and I'll try to fill them with screenings.

Laura Casabé's latest film "The Virgin of the Quarry Lake" was one of the feature films competing for the first place at this year's Final Girls Berlin Film Festival,  and was among my absolute favorites. Thus, I wanted to unpack this work and see how it was stitched together from two short stories by grand-master of horror Mariana Enriquez, Our Lady of the Quarry and The Cart both from her 2009 collection The Dangers of Smoking in Bed . Let's first take a look at the short stories, and then the film. There are possible spoilers, so maybe read the stories, watch the film, as usual.

The Final Girls Film Festival Edition 11 is over...  The post-festival blues still lingering, here I am with a massive back pain the one week of sitting in City Kino Wedding bestowed me, thinking back of the awesome time I had. Being in the jury and contributing to determine the winner amongst the feature movies, all the great people I met, chatted, watched movies with, discussed those movies and connected... It would be no exaggeration to say I had the time of my life, and even though I didn't cry, I certainly understand fellow jury members who were hit hard by the melancholy. On the picture you see is all that's left from the good days: a lot of stickers and business cards, flyers for the Leiden B-Movie Festival in August, the festival program in which we're all featured, a tote bag, my name tag, and one piece of print art I bought from Henna Räsänen who was sitting at the table next to us, the Otherland table, during vendor day on Sunday. Let us first start with the shor...

I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time now and have been postponing, then came the FFF White Nights, and then Berlinale, and also lots of work, and yada yada yada, and it's kind of late, but finally here I am scribbling something, because I don't want to keep putting off reviewing this movie to the point that it's too old to be relevant, and the second part of the 28 series, The Bone Temple, deserves it. It is such, such a good film all around. Let's analyze it then! (OBVIOUSLY SPOILERED REVIEW)

As I've written before, this year's Berlinale was a bit frustrating and not all that amazing, but I was able to watch a couple of films nonetheless (even though most of them at the Uber Hall which is cold, and too big, and uncomfortable). I don't want to complain too much, though, I was still able to see nice films, just not super good ones. So this year there's no winner since none of the pictures struck me as great or wonderful or whatever. Here's a short overview of my film haul.

Enjoy the latest short reviews! 

Well, I'm going to say it out loud, this year's Berlinale is a dud. Insanely quickly sold out tickets, a lukewarm selection of films, a lack of genre pictures in its program, and finally idiotic comments from the jury... Berlinale is already a fail and makes me want to look ahead for other festivals. Honestly, I'm not sure I'll give it much space in my future life, I think I'd rather save my leave days for the FFF and the Final Girls Berlin. Sorry for the rant.

Jenny Kaplan is as New York City as they come – independent and complex, trying to make a living through a severely underpaid job at the lifestyle magazine Bread and Circus , and always one rent away from being evacuated. Her biggest accomplishment is a very personal and honest piece of autofiction that includes her break up and abortion, titled “Drano”, which got her the most views and support she ever had, but also brought along powerful enemies, such as The Brotherhood and, unfortunately, the owners of her workplace.

The new year started so busy that I almost forgot about publishing the short reviews. Luckily, because of that, there are quite a few now since they added up. In the meantime I discovered a new favorite author, Drew Huff, I fell in love with The Divine Flesh,  the way it was written and the subject matter was totally up my alley, so I have been stocking  up on Huff's books (because I'm totally expecting to do nothing and sit on my couch and read books as long as the snow piles up outside, the way it does now). I also really want to focus on short stories this year, and to put a dent in my TBR by finishing all the horror anthologies I collected over the years, and I started doing that. Hope you enjoy my short reviews, have a great winter time! 

...because that's when Berlinale starts again!

In my introductory blog post to  Skeleton Crew  I stated that there are stories in this collection that outright bother me, that I don't like, and even yes, I hate. I don't mean to be preachy or judgy, but some of these are extremely mean - especially against people above a certain weight. I don't want to claim that King is fat-phobic, but after re-reading these stories, I almost think he might be. I certainly hope it was a phase and he's not like that still, because it is a bitter pill to swallow for me, as I'm obviously a fan of his.  Where do we draw the line in such cases, though? How can a reader discriminate between an author writing a character realistically, with their flaws, misogynistic, racist, homophobic characters because in real life they exist and should be written about; and an author being himself misogynistic, racist, homophobic and using a character as his mouthpiece? This is a difficult task for any reader and I'm usually very lenient and giv...

It's finally time for some crime, thriller and mystery again, let's go! I've had tons of time to read over the festive days (it was so wonderful), so there are quite a few short reviews today. Enjoy.

I have been spending this last weekend mostly at the Fantasy Filmfest White Nights, and this year is the most movies I have seen during White Nights ever, a personal record! I was thinking that the really good movies were reserved for the Nights section in April and the main festival in September, but, wow, was I wrong... A shout-out to the organizers and the Zoo Palast crew, the festival was amazing as always, and a heart warming highlight in this dark, cold and icy winter. I put the films in the order of my personal delight, ranking from least to most, with the movie at the bottom of the page being my favorite of the festival. It doesn't mean that the lower ranking movies are bad or not worth watching, on the contrary, in this year's White Nights selection there wasn't one movie that wasn't worthwhile, but I will explain for each movie why they didn't make my personal best. The good news is, they all made it into the top ten! I missed two films and saw seven from ...