Rich Cross

Our Autumn edition is nearly here, folks! Subscriber copies will start shipping later this week, so if you're a UK reader who'd like to get it delivered straight to your door (with free P&P!) before the Aug 29th release, head to our official store: starburstmagazine.store/products/sta...

STARBURST Issue 490 [NEW!] (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 20th Annive The Summer edition of STARBURST MAGAZINE is here, and leading the charge is our bumper tribute to STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH on its 20th Anniversary! As always, the issue is chock full of exclusiv...

While we finish up work on Issue #491 (out Aug 29th!), we thought we'd sweeten the deal for those who haven't yet caught our current issue...

Order #490 and choose ANY other back issue for FREE! Just add both to your cart to access your discount!

Store: starburstmagazine.store/products/sta...

BURY ME WHEN I'M DEAD - STARBURST Magazine In indie thriller Bury Me When I'm Dead, the fateful consequences that follow a young woman’s death may be supernatural or coincidental.

My take on the ghostly (or is it?) thriller Bury Me When I'm Dead is published by @starburst.bsky.social

The film "toys with the question of whether the fateful consequences that follow a young woman’s death are supernatural or coincidental."

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/bury...

THE BANISHED - STARBURST Magazine Dark Australian folk-horror The Banished splices together evergreen genre tropes in a fresh take on the perils of going down to the woods.

My review of indie what's-happening-in-the-woods thriller The Banished is published by @starburst.bsky.social

"it’s the handheld torchlit visuals of a hyperventilating Grace in the nighttime woods that deliver the nerve-jangling tension"

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

Issue 490 of Starburst Magazine @starburst.bsky.social is out now - chock-full of genre, sci-fi and fantasy goodness, including a mammoth retrospective of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE, Season 6, Episode 5, JANINE - STARBURST Magazine A tightly focused ‘mission’ episode, Janine is arguably the strongest yet of the final run.

My review of Janine, the fifth episode of the final series of The Handmaid's Tale, is now up on @starburst.bsky.social

This halfway point explores "a world where deeply-held convictions threaten to exact a heavy price from all true believers"

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Season 2, Episode 1, POWER EQUALS POWER - STARBURST Magazine Betrayal has become one of the recurring themes of many Walking Dead story arcs, with characters breaking the bonds of loyalty usually justifying their actions as the unavoidable cost of pursuing a hi...

The first of my episode reviews for the second season of The Walking Dead: Dead City is up now on @starburst.bsky.social

Power Equals Power - "the weight of evidence here suggests that there’s still plenty of life in Dead City."

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE HANDMAID'S TALE, Season 6, Episode 4: PROMOTION - STARBURST Magazine It’s an irony that confronts any dystopian state hoping to attract new visitors enticed by unproven promises of reform: relaxing border controls increases the authorities’ vulnerability to attack by i...

My review of Promotion, the fourth episode of the final series of The Handmaid's Tale, is up on @starburst.bsky.social

"Events are moving at pace... [as] New Bethlehem seems certain to become the battleground in which the dystopia’s fate will be settled."

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE HANDMAID'S TALE, Season 6, Episode 2: EXILE - STARBURST Magazine Exploring the parallel stories of June and Serena following their enforced separation in the dramatic finale of Train, second episode Exile examines choices their characters make in circumstances that...

My review of "Exile", episode two of series six of The Handmaid's Tale is published today on @starburst.bsky.social

"The fateful reckoning between oppressors and oppressed that the series six promises already feels like it’s in motion."

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

SEW TORN - STARBURST Magazine Adapted from his own short film by writer-director Freddy MacDonald, the plot of this indie comedy-thriller is threaded through an inspired conceit – imagining just how far the talents of a nimble sea...

My review of indie movie Sew Torn is published on @starburst.bsky.social - "what entertains throughout... are the elaborate ruses, traps, and set-pieces that Barbara improvises from her sewing kit"

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/sew-...

SHUDDERBUGS - STARBURST Magazine An immersive meditation on the themes of grief and loss, Shudderbugs adopts the motifs of a whodunnit thriller to explore a daughter’s reaction to the unexpected and potentially suspicious death of he...

"An immersive meditation on the themes of grief and loss" which "adopts the motifs of a whodunnit thriller". My review of Shudderbugs, now published by @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/shud...

Die Alone writer-director Lowell Dean is "an auteur with an eye for the twisted and macabre". What a perceptive and quotable reviewer @starburst.bsky.social assigned to this one... www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/die-...

BLACKWATER LANE - STARBURST Magazine Adapted from BA Paris’s 2017 novel The Breakdown, this less-than-thrilling psychological mystery has the unthreatening ambience of a made-for-TV movie. Blackwater Lane lacks tension or much in the way...

My review of ho-hum psych thriller Blackwater Lane is up on @starburst.bsky.social. The film's conclusion "draws heavily on the Scooby Doo school of criminal deduction" www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/blac...

INTO THE DEEP - STARBURST Magazine The tidal wave of new shark movies shows no signs of slowing, with many small-budget films eager to use increasingly affordable CGI technology to render Great White antagonists on screen. Many recent ...

Into the Deep - a new shark flick that lacks bite (even with the involvement of Richard Dreyfuss). My review in @starburst.bsky.social www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/into...

COME HOME - STARBURST Magazine An atypical take on the cabin-in-the-woods premise, small-scale ensemble indie flick Come Home eschews all the predictable through-the-window voyeurism and serial killer ‘jump scare’ clichés to offer ...

Come Home - an interesting, if oblique and discombobulating, take on the cabin-in-the-woods flick. My review in @starburst.bsky.social www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/come...

ELEVATION - STARBURST Magazine Imbued with the aesthetic of a 1990s monster movie, post-apocalyptic creature-feature Elevation is a high-concept actioner which recognises the value of injecting interesting character dynamics into e...

Before Anthony Mackie suits up as Captain America later this year, he'll be on monster-hunting duty in Prime Video's Elevation, out Jan 28th. Read our review here: www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/elev...

No worries!

Read a free sample of my Obverse Books Silver Archive on the classic third series Survivors episode Mad Dog.

Well, it's "Rich Cross" (not Rick Cross) and "Mad Dog" (not Mad Dogs), but I appreciate the plug!