Jason Hallford

A perfect accompaniment to Carpenter’s masterpiece of paranoia and claustrophobia. The throbbing bass immediately brings to mind the icy wastes of Antartica. Arguably the best sci-fi horror film ever made (up there with Alien), due in no small part to Bottin’s grotesquely inspired effects work.

You are welcome! I look forward to reading whatever you write next. 😊

* Scare quotes are intentional. Using the “monsters” POV—whose inner voice sounds eerily familiar— was a brilliant choice, allowing the author to draw parallels between it and normative “civilization”. It truly is a unique and well written story that deserves a read or listen.

@wiswell.bsky.social’s “Someone You Can Build a Nest In” is a weird and wonderful romance brimming with a savage wit. The “monstrous” plays counterpoint to a unique but genuine intimacy. It also serves as an effective metaphor for neurodivergence*. Carmen Rose’s velvet narration seals the deal.

5/5

Different song, Millennium, but it’s been in rotation on my favorites playlist for 10+ years. I had no idea he’d done one with Neil Tennant (I’ve been a PSB fan since impressionable young me saw It’s a Sin on MTV… feeling old now). I’ll need to check it out.

THE LESSER DEAD and THE SUICIDE MOTOR CLUB are two of the very best vampire books I've ever read.

Agreed, both are well worth a listen. I particularly enjoyed the former for its clever use of an unreliable narrator, although as a long time fan of Near Dark the latter really hit the spot.

You are welcome, sir. My grandfather was a member of the Muskogee Nation. He was a complex man; not easy to love. While he was not a slasher fan, I feel like experiencing the world through Jade’s eyes helped me understand him better. Thank you for that.

an older man is wearing a red vest that says the outlaws on it Alt: Christopher Walken wearing a red vest and shrugging his shoulders expressively.

I have reached the age where I must finally accept a bitter truth: I will never meet Shirley Manson. Not that I have anything particular to *say* to her, mind you. It’s just one of those things I’d like to do before shuffling off this mortal coil. Oh well, we all have our regrets.

The cover of Stephen Graham Jones’s “My Heart is a Chainsaw”, depicting the title in black text over a white background, bisected by a diagonal slash revealing red underneath.

@sgj.bsky.social’s “My Heart is a Chainsaw” is an powerful exploration of community, identity, justice, and the ugliness of generational trauma. It also lays bare a surprisingly rich vein of meaning spanning three decades of slasher films. I will never look at the genre the same way again.

5/5

a picture of a man with blood on his face and the words we 'll get together have a few laughs ALT: a picture of a man with blood on his face and the words we 'll get together have a few laughs

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and those who are wrong.

#merrychristmas #diehard

The cover of Gail Simone’s Red Sonja: Consumed, depicting a lock of fiery red hair wound lazily around a sword with a golden crosspiece and horse-head pommel.

@gailsimone.bsky.social’s “Red Sonja: Consumed” is a classic sword-and-sorcery tale built on a thoroughly modern chassis. If you like your fantasy more Howard than Tolkien, you should give it a read. The only thing missing is a rousing Basil Poledouris score.

4/5

Ah, now that is a debate for the ages. For my part? Yes, inasmuch as I watch it every Christmas.

Die Hard (1988) ⭐ 8.2 | Action, Thriller 2h 12m | R

Tonight’s Christmas movie: Die Hard! Now I have a machine gun , Ho-ho-ho…

m.imdb.com/title/tt0095...

Cue flashbacks of hours spent tweaking config.sys to free enough conventional memory to play Tie Fighter. Those were the days! Not.

Added all three to the queue. Thanks!

Lethal Weapon (1987) ⭐ 7.6 | Action, Crime, Thriller 1h 49m | R

Tonight’s cinematic refugee from the 80s: Lethal Weapon (1987). Yes, it is a Christmas movie. I will die on this hill, but would prefer not to. 😉

m.imdb.com/title/tt0093...

Indeed it is! I didn’t have space to add that it’s also a weird love letter to late-60s muscle car culture and the mystique associated with U.S. Route 66. I don’t think it’s what Steinbeck intended when he dubbed it the “Mother Road”, but, in a twisted sense, it’s certainly apt here.

What do you get when you blend Near Dark with Vampire$, mix in a generous portion of divine retribution, and season with a bittersweet dash of romance? I don’t know, but it’s probably something like @buehlmeister.bsky.social’s Suicide Motor Club. These monsters don’t sparkle in sunlight, they burn.

This is my go-to example when describing the perils of context-free interpretation. Someone born in ‘94 might reasonably assume the skies over Chiba City were a lovely shade of blue, not the black-on-gray ant races I grew up with. Neuromancer is 40 years old. It only gets worse from there.

@greatdismal.bsky.social’s screenplay for Alien 3 did the same for spore-based reproduction as featured in Alien: Covenant. While never produced as a film, its 2nd draft has since been illustrated as a graphic novel and dramatized by Audible (with Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn).

Anyone intrigued by Alien: Romulus’s shift away from the “xenomorph as uncontrollable bio-weapon” theme should do themselves a favor and read Alex White’s excellent Alien: The Cold Forge. As a bonus, it also puts
Weyland-Yutani (and soulless corporate intrigue) firmly back in the role of Big Bad.

1986’s Aliens instilled a (so far) life-long appreciation for military sci-fi tinged with horror. S.A. Corey’s “Livesuit” checks all the boxes—particularly in the last few pages. The Captive’s War is shaping up to be a worthy successor to The Expanse.

5/5

It’s the Rogue One of the Alien franchise.

Better Off Dead (1985) ⭐ 7.1 | Comedy, Romance 1h 37m | PG

Tonight on a Very 80s Christmas: Better Off Dead (1985)!

m.imdb.com/title/tt0088...

If you have an Audible membership, the audio book, narrated by Nick Atkinson, is included in their site-wide sale running through this weekend.

@trnapper.bsky.social’s “36 Streets”, impeccable noir credentials suffused with a heartbreaking humanity hungering for the annihilation of the eternal present. As the call, so the echo.

5/5 — Katherine Littrell’s narration also recommended.

You are welcome, sir. Can you recommend a good follow-up? I was thinking of reading “Those Across The River” next.

@buehlmeister.bsky.social’s “The Lesser Dead” is an engaging, impressively fractal meditation on the dangers of accepting things at face value. Did I mention it’s also about a tribe of vampires in late ‘70s Manhattan? Like them, the most interesting part comes after “The End”.

4/5 — Recommended