Violent Night vs Christmas Bloody Christmas (reviews)

Violet Night vs Christmas Bloody Christmas

Dirs. Tommy Wirkola /Joe Begos 

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

“Go on, you beautiful b@stards, we have work to do.” Violent Night

“The US defence department has spent over $100 trillion on the most cutting edge robot technology…” Christmas Bloody Christmas

Let’s get ready to rumble… Here we have two new ‘killer’ Christmas films that are putting the violence into the festive season… Both have strong pitches - Violent Night being Die Hard where Santa is a foul-mouthed John McClane taking on gun-packing mercenaries very violently, whilst Christmas Bloody Christmas is a Terminator / Hardware effort with a robot Santa going on a berserk axe killing spree!? Prepare for less snowballs and more body parts to be flying…

'you're on the naughty list!'

Violent Night (Wirkola) sees Kris Kringle, (David ‘Stranger Things’ Harbour) chatting to a part-time Santa in a British pub drowning his sorrows. But there are presents to deliver and when he gets to one huge mansion all is not well. The Lightstone mansion in Connecticut has been taken over by armed thieves who are intent on taking the $3million in the vault. Favoured son Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell) and his estranged wife Linda (Alexis Louder) plus their 8-year-old daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) are caught in the crossfire.

The baddies led by a guy named Scrooge who has no qualms in killing all the security staff and threatening the family. But they hadn’t counted on Santa arriving - and having a back story of being an 11th-century hammer-wielding warrior!? Cue lots of violence as Santa goes about taking down the wronguns who are all very much on the naughty list. He’s helped a bit by Trudy getting her Home Alone vibe on and rigging up some lethally fun booby traps.

Director Tommy ‘Dead Snow’ Wirkola delivers enough comedy to make this palatable but some of the plot if fumbled and could have been tighter. Harbour is pretty great  — this role is miles from Jim Hopper - and there is enough carnage to please those looking for a violent night of fun!!

'Naughty, kill, maim, destroy'

Christmas Bloody Christmas (Joe Begos) however aims to be a new holiday horror and is mostly comprised of either sweary small-talking record store employees Tori (Riley Dandy) and Robbie (Sam Delich) but then it switches to full robo Santa rampage. The ’state of the art’ robot Father Christmas is supposed to be recalled - there are some fun background adverts that evoke Robocop and radio announcements which give the plot a lick of credibility. 

Begos made the really cool ‘veterans v drug mutants’ flick VFW and there are some great moments here when the robotic Terminator-like baddie gets wrecked but keeps coming back. Overall the gore is moderate and the fairy-light-like visuals give the film a kind of ‘70s exploitation vibe. The characters are a bit marmite, I personally found our ‘heroes’ a bit annoying but the sheer ballsy premise carries the film along just enough to make it worth a look for horror fans.

Dandy brings her best ‘final girl’ energy and is worth keeping an eye on to see what she does next. My main beef with this is that it takes a long time to get going - but when the police get involved it all kicks off in strong violent style!

Apparently, Joe Begos is planning a sci-fi horror next which could certainly be cool too. Christmas Bloody Christmas isn’t a stone-cold classic or even as fun a Violent Night but if you’re in the mood for some festive slaughter, you could do worse than check this out…

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Matt enjoys having a Burning Secret (review)

Burning Secret 

 

RJ Lloyd 

 

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

 

“Dyson lured me on, but I’ve only myself to blame. I got cocky and dropped my guard. He saw his opening and caught me good and proper with tales of easy pickings. I don’t mind admitting, it was greed that got the better of me.”

 

Here’s a rare treat of a book. Burning Secret is a fantastic epiphany that follows the fates of one Harry Mason (although that’s not his real name). Born one Enoch Price, the story starts with Price’s bid to escape poverty through bare-knuckle fighting amongst London’s seedy underbelly in the mid-1800s. Alas getting into serious debt to a violent and unscrupulous moneylender leaves him facing ruin and imprisonment.

 

What’s a man to do except high tail it to Florida, abandoning his wife and three

young daughters, a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life. This is where he takes on the name Harry Mason and due to his irrepressible nature becomes a key part of the history of Jacksonville. His extraordinary new life leads to not only political and financial notoriety, but also getting into shootouts, covering up a murder and taking a bigamous second wife.

 

Burning Secret sucks you in and makes you feel Harry’s torment – the wages of his choices up the need to conceal his true identity and dubious past.

Lloyd peppers the novel with letters, newspaper clippings and the like add flavour to the world we’re visiting here and an engaging Afterword is a bonus as it gives a host of background information about the people in the book and those who were affected by the events. Note – this is worth referring to as you read as it helps give additional context.

 

The plot sees the seasons and years march on and Harry elected in to the Florida State House of Representatives with the prospect of becoming State Governor. He can’t help himself though and the list of things he has to hide keeps growing. As he contends with the First World War, Spanish flu pandemic and prohibition – the story crackles with historical authenticity and evokes a lively need to keep reading. 

 

I can heartily recommend this to anyone who loves a good book. It is one of the very tomes I will return to and read again at some future date!

Author Bio

After retiring as a senior police officer, I turned my detective skills to genealogy, tracing my family history to the 16th century. However, after 15 years of extensive research, I couldn’t track down my great-great-grandfather, Enoch Price, whose wife, Eliza, had, in living memory, helped raise my mother. It was my cousin Gillian who, after several more dead-ends, called one day to say that she had found him through a fluke encounter. Susan Sperry from California, who had recently retired, decided to explore the box of documents given to her thirty years before by hermother, which she had never opened. In the box, she found some references to her great-grandfather, Harry Mason, a wealthy hotel owner from Florida who had died in 1919.

It soon transpired that Susan’s great-grandfather, Harry Mason, was, in fact, Enoch Price. From this single thread, the extraordinary story of Harry Mason began to unravel, leading me to visit the States to meet my American cousins, and it was Susan Sperry and Kimberly Mason, direct descendants, who persuaded me to write the book.

I graduated from Warwick with a joint in Philosophy and Psychology and a Masters in Marketing

from UWE. Since leaving a thirty-year career in policing, I’ve been a non executive director with

the NHS, social housing, and other charities.

I live with my wife in Bristol, spending my time travelling, writing and producing delicious plum

jam from the trees on my award-winning allotment

Buy Burning Secret

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Stunningly good first novel)

BACK THIS FUN NEW KICKSTARTER

Battlemages Don't Clean Their Teeth

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Matt falls for Pearl and X... Reviews em..

Pearl (18) vs X (18)

Dir. Ti West

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

“I want you to remember what it feels like. Because that’s how I felt every time you looked at me.” Pearl

“I will not accept a life I do not deserve." X

Ti West is racking up an impressive list of scary movies, personal favs include The Inn Keepers and The House of the Devil. But even his lesser works like Trigger Men, The Sacrament, and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever are worth a look…   

This year he’s back with a fiendishly ghoulish, outrageously fun shocker Pearl – which is a prequel to his grisly X. 

X was a kind of homage to 70’s Texas-Chainsaw-esque horror based around an adult film ‘The Farmer's Daughters’ production. Both films share the same location – a quaint farmhouse, home to Pearl (and her family in Pearl, and her husband in X).

Miss Goth

Mia Goth stars as the titular Pearl in both films, but where in X she put a whole new level of fear into grandmas, here she’s a young Judy Garland-alike old-fashioned, picture show wannabe dancer who dreams of getting out and making it big on the stage.

 

Has she got the “X Factor,” though? If you’ve seen X then you’ll know that she ends up back at the farmhouse but it’s a lot of fun finding out if she ever escaped… Pearl itself is terrifically accomplished and horribly gripping, as the Guardian review said it brings a “golden-age movie pastiche and dashes of Psycho and The Wizard of Oz” which is a great description.

 

Where X is a classic slow-build horror – that leads up to a satisfyingly climactic bloodbath - Pearl is more peppered with gruesome happenings… The thing both films share is the fun cameo by the massive crocodile in the farm’s lake who is responsible for chowing down on more than just the scenery…

 

In my opinion, both are great in their own way and together make for a knockout 1,2, combo… Here’s hoping that Maxxxine will smash it as the trilogy ender!!

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click below to find out in my dark sci-fi novel...

Matt takes the LEAP into an eco thriller from OC Heaton

LEAP (The Race Is On Book 1)

O C Heaton (@OCHeaton) 

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

“Above him, the dense swell of powdery lights resembled a thick cloud of billowing steam that spiraled across the entire night sky. He shivered in awe, looking towards the horizon where the sun had disappeared. Perhaps it's a good day to die after all.”

Imagine a world where we could teleport? It would change everything... I messed with the concept in Complete Darkness but here O C Heaton brings the 'world's greatest invention' into modern-day and it has seismic effects.

We get to join Uma Jakobsdottir, an eco-activist, and daughter of famed quantum scientist Jakob Arnasson - she has big dreams of reversing global warming.

It suddenly looks a lot more possible when she meets Ethan Rae - Britain’s youngest tech billionaire. Can they team up to launch her father’s greatest invention, which is, as you might have guessed called LEAP.

LEAP is a teleportation device that could replace all transportation, transform manufacturing and revolutionize food production. I don't need to spell out for you the incredible savings on fuel, time, and manpower such a device would bring.

But hold your eco horses, as ever there are forces that do not want to lose their income such as playboy CEO, Samuel Reynolds III... He wants LEAP to save his family’s airline, once the biggest in the US but now facing bankruptcy in the wake of 911.

I won't go into any more plot as reviews are here to tell ya if it's any good - not to regurgitate the promo blurb...

I'm delighted to report that LEAP is a fun, pacy read which will put a grin on those who like a bit of espionage.

Heaton writes in a highly detailed but readable format and whilst he doesn't skimp on the tech notes, they don't slow down the narrative unduly.

The action globe trots from the frozen wastelands of Iceland to the leafy suburbs of London and even the shadow of the Twin Towers, so buckle up for an ecological thrill ride.

Who is O C Heaton and how does he write?

I write what I love to read - big-issue thrillers that are super well-researched inside a complex plot full of twists and turns.

When I sit down to write a book, I have three non-negotiable rules:

1. It needs to concern a current or recent real-world issue that I can deeply research (I love research!) and weave my fictional story into. Hopefully, so tightly that you struggle to spot where one stops and the other starts.

2. It has to have a complex plot full of twists and turns that’ll leave you guessing right until the end.

3. It must contain grey characters, even the good guys. This makes sense to me. Firstly as a reader I hate stereotypical/one-dimensional characters and secondly, grey is real-life, right?

The result of the above is The Race Is On Series, an idea I had on a trip to Iceland. The first in the series is called LEAP, which tells the tale of a device which has the power to halt global warming. Told you I go for big issues! The ensuing race to control the power of this machine will continue throughout the sequel to LEAP which I’m well on my way to completing. It's called Green Ray and will be published in the Autumn of 2022.

Just like LEAP, the 2nd book weaves fact with fiction and encompasses events such as the 2009 global financial meltdown, Al Qaeda, a new US President and a cornered CIA; another delightful concoction around which I have constructed another tall, but hopefully credible, tale. Watch this space!

I live in Leeds, UK with the love of my life and our two daughters. It rains a lot in Leeds but that works out well for me - loads of time for research and of course writing

Buy LEAP

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö

(4 - Eco-em-up thrill ride)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

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Matt finds his Dominion Destiny - (review)

 

The Dominion - Destiny 

Chris Cloake (@ChrisCloake)

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

“The Goblet of Fecundity was gleaming, the sunlight glinting off the polished surface in powerful shafts. Tibby cooed over it, giving gentle caresses, like a mother with a new born child. This went on for many hours. She was waiting for the ethereal sensation of sovereignty she presumed would come to anyone with sufficient dynamism. In this much, she was correct. But it would need the touch of her blood on one of the transitions between the seasons, equinox or solstice.”

Saddle up people here we go for a fantasy romp across ancient worlds where many varied races clash for glory survival and just hope. If you’ve read the first two in this series you’ll be aware that things in the ancient dominion of Ordefima are at a crisis point – they face a catastrophic invasion that could destroy its people.

Who will save them – maybe Rupert – the Marquis of Ordefima? He faces daunting odds as his enemy Gaticus (not a transformer) is coming for his people and his sister too! 

You want Lord of the Rings style fantasy battles and drama? You’ve come to the right place… The Dominion - Destiny isn’t a feel-good tale though, Cloake puts his characters through hell in order to up the stakes.

If you’ve journeyed with these people through the two previous books, you’ll be invested in how it all comes to end. There is much Game of Thrones=-lite political power struggle – treacherous twists and turns in the narrative. 

In amongst the darkness and gloom this is a love story too. As the world around us gets ever bleaker – fantasy has an appeal to escape into and Cloake delivery a tale where you’re never far from a duel, betrayal or sacrifice and of course the dastardly reptilian Gharids.

The Dominion – Destiny is a fitting end to a fine fantasy trilogy. 

Who is Chris Cloake?

Chris Cloake was born in 1964 and began telling stories a couple of years later. He grew up in Kent, England. He is motivated to write by a deep interest in life, particularly the cruel, deeply flawed nature of people contrasted with their incredible creativity and inspiration. The power of the natural world is a common theme in his work as a writer and professional photographer. He lives happily with his wife, two children and a large collection of music, books and board games.

Buy The Dominion – Destiny 

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö

(4 - Decent fantasy trilogy closer)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click below to find out in my dark sci-fi novel...

 

This post is part of the magnificent ZOOLOO Book Blog Tours...

Matt is spooked by Zoe O'Farrell and her Ouija (review)

 

Ouija

Zoe Lee O’Farrell (@zooloo2008)

Reviewed by Matt @Cleric20 Adcock

“Jon went back into his room, grabbed his phone and opened WhatsApp. He found the group chat, and quickly typed,

 

Guys, dunno bout you, but weird stuff has happened! Sum1 is trying 2 spk 2 me!!!!!!!!

 

He hoped someone would be online so they could all talk about it, but no answer came.”

Very little can prepare you for Zoe Lee O’Farrell’s grim debut novel. You might know the old adage - don’t play with Ouija boards cos bad things will happen, but you really haven’t witnessed anything quite like this… 

O’Farrell writes with an immediacy and winning style, her suspense-laden tale might seem familiar but it’s wall-to-wall nerve-jangling which will delight those looking for a sinister thrill ride! Meet a likable bunch of teens who decide to try a Ouija board in a supposedly haunted school - itself the site of a massacre… What’s the worst that could happen huh?

What follows is a nightmare for all of them, the characters are believable and O’Farrell is obviously fluent in ‘teen text banter’ - the group is riddled with exactly the sort of relationship tension, drama, and showboating that young people have been engaging in forever. 

As a demonic entity is unleashed and the body count rises, the question begins to form ‘who will survive - and what will be left of them?’ This isn’t a book for the faint of heart.

If you needed a reason not to dabble with a Ouija board - this book will do the job with its deliciously dark plot that contains some seriously disturbing scenes - the type that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Freak-em-up demonic slasher fun doesn't get much better!)

So, is Zoe an absolute psycho? I don’t think so, as I had the joy of bumping into her at a writers' event and we seemed to hit it off ok, apart from very differing views of football… Here are her answers to the Darkmatters questions - which are some of my favs since I started doing this  (respect on the Arnie answer) -  so you can get to know her a bit more too:

Matt: If you were a superhero – what powers would you have and who or what would be your nemesis?    

Zoe: Gosh start with a hard question why don't you!!!! Erm.....I mean do I even want to be a hero, why not a villain? It's always the hero that wins out....ok will think about this......thinking................ thinking................... thinking.......... I think I would want to be able to create more time in the day for me to get what I want done whether it be spend time with my mini me, reading, gaming or building my business. My nemesis, easy, all the asses that take up too much for my time for negative reasons......

Matt: What is the most disturbing fictional scene you’ve ever read or watched in a book/film of any genre? 

Zoe: I heard about that Human Centipede film, which I have avoided. I get a bit creeped out more with the way things are filmed, like when they do that twitchy shit on the Ring for example. But I had to turn off Old People the other day, it was just a bit too unsettling for me and it takes A LOT to unsettle me!    

Matt: If you were hired to throw a parade of any scale or theme through the centre of London what type of parade would it be?  

Zoe: I am going to go crazy, I would have an Arnold Schwarzenegger parade, try and get the main man there! There would be Arnie quotes on the floats. His films would be showcased in order of best to....well best (but ignoring that shite Terminator film which has no right to be there). Oh, come on you know it was going to happen! 

Matt: You’re in a strange town with £100,000 that you have to spend in a single evening – talk me through what you get up to…  

Zoe: Sorry you don't have the security clearance for that 

Matt: Who inspires you most (can be living or dead)?  

Zoe: There are many people in, in the book world there are a couple of authors who I adore, but my main champion is an author called Carol Wyer, she inspires me daily and her stories keep me going. She is a rock star. 

In life, my dad did, life wasn't always easy for him or us, but he grafted and he always looked for the best in people. 

Matt: There’s a masked assailant with a gun to your head, who is most likely

to be under the mask?  

Zoe: How long have you got? 

'even got a spooky smile...'

 

Matt: What is the meaning of life?  

Zoe: To appreciate what you have and who you have. 

Matt: What was the best gift you’ve ever been given?  

Zoe: Well I am going to be really cheesy and say my mini me, but then it is like arguing with a mini me at the same time. LOL, so depends on what day you ask me - JOKING! 

Aside from the beautiful creation, I think the best gift (and again I am going full power of cheese) I was given was by my Nan, the first book I remember - Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship, as that sparked my love of reading - I was about 6...... 

Matt: If you could have a demon servant – what would you get it to do for you?  

Zoe: Well to be honest, the mood I am in while I write this I think I would go pretty dark and pull a Hellraiser, and get them to bring the freaky deaky chains from nowhere..... bit dark?

Matt: What would you like written on your tombstone? 

Zoe: Finally! 

Matt: Any final words you like to add...

Zoe: Thank you so much to everyone who has read my book and this Q&A! 

Here's the 'official' Author Bio for Zoe:

Zoé O’Farrell grew up in Watford but left the town life to live by the sea down at the White Cliffs

of Dover. She spends her days working with numbers before escaping in the evening to the world of words

and movies. Her go-to relaxation is watching a scary movie or reading a terrifying book!

She is a book blogger and tour organiser just to keep her extra busy. When she is not reading or

writing, you can usually find her watching Watford FC or at a gig. Failing that she can be found

rolling her eyes at her husband as he acts the same age as her spitfire of a Mini-Me whilst

separating her two cats.

Ouija is her debut novel.

Follow her at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZoeOFarrellAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zooloosbookdiary/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/zooloo2008

Website : https://zooloosbookdiary.co.uk/

Buy OUIJA here

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click below to find out in my dark sci-fi novel...

Matt has been waiting for these VISITORS (review) and Owen Knight

The Visitors

Owen W Knight (@OwenKnightUK)

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@cleric20)

“We have considered your report and accept many of your recommendations. We thank you for alerting us to the possibility that the Visitors might have negative intentions towards us as a species. You questioned the benefits to us, the human race. We believe these are self-evident and will assist us in creating a better world.”

You join us at a time that will be known as ‘The Great Reset’. An alien race has made contact with us and frankly, things will never be the same again. The main protagonists here include Peter (who actually saved the world fourteen years ago – but that is another story) and his sister Emily. These two bright young things are key, along with some other strangers who cross their paths due to oddly coded invitations – potentially to the future of the human race.

This group must travel to the hidden village of Templewood, home to the Sect, a secretive organisation intent on global power, who see themselves as ‘God’s Authority on Earth’ no less.  

As the clock ticks and the stakes get ever higher, can the fact that the Sect have infiltrated many Governments and are actively collaborating with the will of the Visitors lead to the promise of a glorious future – or something far more sinister?

I’m a big fan of speculative fiction and very much enjoyed Knight’s last book The Green Man. We he tackles the well-worn plot of alien invaders bringing gifts of advanced scientific and genetic discoveries. It put me in mind of the fun ‘80s TV show ‘V’ starring Marc Singer on the side of the humans and Jane Badler as the untrustworthy visitor Diana (below)… 

Anyway, the problem with aliens with superior technology is often the price that they’ll ask for sharing it with us. And whilst in The Visitors the gifts they bring will potentially provide enormous benefits for humanity, the plot deals with the fallout for us in terms of how they will also facilitate the Sect's bid for global power.

Can the Visitors be trusted? Why are the ‘borrowing’ humans to do we know not what with before sending them back? Will the Sect blindly follow the Visitors’ wishes or usurp them for their own ends and if so, how can Peter, Emily and the crew possibly save us from what might happen next?

This is a thinking person’s sci-fi, where politics and ramifications of decisions are explored more through discussion than laser gun action. There is something wonderfully British about this book with the heroes often stopping for cups of tea and the like.

I can heartily recommend this allegorical tale – which feels very timely – and look forward to what wonders Knight might bring us in the future!

As Abba once sang: ‘And now they've come to take me, come to break me, and yet it isn't unexpected. I have been waiting for these visitors…’

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - This time it's not war, but it's fascinating!)

Get your copy of The Visitors - Buy Link 

I asked Owen some questions so you can get a glimpse into his mind - here are his answers (i'm at least 80% sure he hasn't been taken over by an alien...)

Matt: If scientists ever managed to create a giant mecha version of you – who or what would be your nemesis?

Owen: Rust caused by red wine.

Matt: What is the most disturbing fictional scene you’ve ever read or watched in a book/film of any genre?

Owen: The sense of threat in the scene where Frank (Dennis Hopper) inhales amyl nitrite through a mask to enhance his pleasure from violence in David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet.

Matt: If aliens took over your body - how would people realise?

Owen: My eyes would turn amber (read The Visitors).

Matt: You’re in a strange town with £100,000 that you have to spend in a single evening – talk me through what you get up to…

Owen: I’d spend the evening booking a year away in exotic places where I can meet local people and get insights into their lives.

'the mind behind the Visitors'

Matt: Who inspires you most (can be living or dead)?

Owen: So many… Arthur Rimbaud, J.G. Ballard, David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon, B. S. Johnson. Alasdair Gray, Andrew Michael Hurley…

Matt: There’s a masked assailant with a gun to your head, who is most likely to be under the mask?

Owen: Someone I have mistreated in one of my books. An anonymous alien, perhaps, or the Green Man.

Matt: What is truth?

Owen: I continue to seek the answer.

Matt: What was the best gift you’ve ever been given?

Owen: The gift of insight. To be able to build a story from by linking unconnected ideas.

Matt: If you could have a sidekick robot – what would it be able to do for you?

Owen: Randomly generate heterogeneous ideas that I could link and use in my next novel. Rather like a tennis ball machine.

Matt: What would you like written on your tombstone?

Owen: ‘I have found the portal to the real world and could be gone a while.’

Matt: Any final words you like to add...

Owen: Football clubs are now investing in how to speed up players’ thought processes and reaction times. I can think of few greater gifts to a writer than to be able to think, analyse and make connections faster. If The Visitors bring me a gift, I hope it is a quantum algorithm process to do just this.

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click below to find out in my dark sci-fi novel...