The late nineties/early 2000s were a fantastic time to be a fan of horror on Britiish Television; from Channel 4’s gritty Vampire-series-that-never-mentions-the-V-Word “Ultraviolet”, Channel 5’s Horror anthology “Urban Gothic” (discussed on these very pages at length by the awesome John McNee) through to the superlative Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.


Creeping in in the year 2001 was a series that arrived with little fanfare and achieved so few viewers that it was never recommissioned for a second series. This was despite a stellar cast, lead actor Steve Coogan’s star still being (mostly) in the ascendance, and the already proven track record of relatively newly formed production company Baby Cow Productions.


That series was Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible, and it was truly diabolical (and not to be confused with the similarly named Doctor Horrible of Sing-along-blog fame).


Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible was a satirical, yet affectionate spoof (and tribute) to the 1970s British horror films of Amicus and Hammer, consisting of a total of six episodes. Each episode was a spoof of a style of horror film, rather than a direct snipe at any film in particular.


Steve Coogan portrayed the eponymous host beneath several layers of prosthetics, a creepy bald white-suited individual sat in his study, open fire blazing. He opens and closes each episode like a slightly less sinister and anti-Semitic Roald Dahl with choice words of wisdom.  The concept of a horror host is more familiar to American audiences (for instance, Cassandra Peterson as Elvira) but the framing mechanism here provides a familiar continuity, much as the same technique used in the earlier series of Tales of the Unexpected – the old tradition of being read a ghost story before bedtime. He’d star in each episode as well, mostly as the lead. Well, it was half his production company, after all.

Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust (Originally shown on BBC2 on November 12th, 2001)    ​

Setting its stall from the outset (and if that title isn’t going to attract viewers to a new and unproven series, nothing will) Lesbian Vampires of Lust is a gentle piss-take of Hammer’s late sixties and nineteen-seventies obsession with acres of pale-skinned cleavage (“The Vampire Lovers”, “Twins of Evil”, etc). It was no longer sufficient to have the star power of Christopher Lee glaring menacingly off camera – sex was needed to sell your movie as well; a perfect storm of boobs, bodices and blood.


In the tale, Coogan plays the dashing Hans Brocken, a perfectly coiffured dashing Military captain whose hand is, erm, broken (That’s the level of satire, folks – and it’s all the better for it). It’s 1877 and Brocken, and his new wife, are travelling to a remote castle in (Upper) Carpathia for their honeymoon. Little does he suspect that he and his virgin bride are heading into Vampire Territory ruled by Ronni Ancona’s Countess Kronsteen. Honor Blackman (as Transeet Van Eyre) gently lampoons the type of roles she was playing in the seventies, and the episode also features a never-camper Ben Miller.  It’s one of the stronger episodes in the series, and is a great introduction to the style of humour that will continue over the short-lived series.


It’s of interest that this is the first transmitted episode, but it’s the fourth episode on the DVD.

It’s easy to forget that, interspersed with his Hammer Work, Christopher Lee made six Fu Manchu films, the last of two which – “The Blood of Fu Manchu” and “The Castle of Fu Manchu” - with Jesús Franco. Fu Manchu was a villain created by the English author Sax Rohmer, featuring in fourteen of his novels between 1913 and 1959. Fu Manchu even ended up with a moustache named after him, which is no small feat.


Well, Steve Coogan never forgot. “Frenzy of Tongs” is a shrewd – yet slightly offensive – look at that character, a villain created to stoke up anti-Chinese sentiment. A make-up plastered Mark Gaitiss plays Hang Man Chang, a Chinese villain attempting to get the population of London hooked on his drugs. Plastered in make-up that slants his eyes and yellows his skin, it’s not a good modern look. Coogan plays Nathan Blaze, the Peter Wyngarde-esque dashing hero (and I’m beginning to notice a theme here…)


It’s one of the more forgettable episodes in the series, only really memorable for spoofing something from an era that was best left forgotten.

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Curse Of the Blood of the Lizard of Doom (Originally shown on BBC2 on November 26th, 2001)
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Doctor Donald Baxter (Coogan) is trying to find a cure for skin regeneration in order to cure burns victims. Eventually, frustrated with his lack of progress, he injects himself with an experiment lizard serum and finds himself transformed himself into a giant reptile. Part “Jekyll and Hyde”, part “The Reptile” (a Hammer film starring a young Jacqueline Pierce, 12 years before she’d portray Servalan in “Blake’s 7”), it’s a loving pastiche of the “Good scientist going to evil extremes” trope. (Warning: Contains Steve Coogan and Simon Pegg doing thick Scottish accents)

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This is the first episode on the DVD, but was transmitted as the fourth episode on the original broadcast. It’s my personal favourite of the six, containing three short stories – an anthology within an anthology.  It’s a clear spoof of the portmanteau The Vault of Horror in which three people in a new high rise development (Amicus(!) Towers) end up trapped in a lift. TO pass the time until their rescue, they get chatting and end up discussing recent nightmares they’ve all been having, each segueing into one of the three tales.

Coogan plays Denham Denham, the owner of the Amicus building, Julia Davis plays Stephanie Wise and Pointless Lead singer Alexander Armstrong plays Michael Masters. It’s the strongest narrative out of all six episodes, and of course ends up as one of the morality tales that all such portmanteau horror tales ended up being. Evil – be it selfishness, envy or greed - is punished, seemingly for all time.

​In the sixties and seventies, you couldn’t move for limb transplants being carried out by unethical doctors. Legs, arms, even little fingers, the denizens of Harley Street were all at it – defying their peers to prove that their old science was dated. Little were they to know that, inevitably, and for reasons not ever fully understood, some vestige of the previous owner would remain in the transplanted part. And, invariably, the part would always have come from a psychopath (“Hands of Orlac”, etc)


Voodoo Feet of Death sees Coogan play Lester Crown, a 1930s World Champion Ballroom dancer whose career is cut short when he loses both of his feet in an accident involving a freakishly large pair of scissors.  Doctor Lorimer Maitland - Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes specialist and Europe’s pioneer in Foot Transplantation – arranges for a foot replacement, but at a terrible cost.


It’s a tale of bitter jealousy that can only ever end one way. Coogan and Sarah Alexander are clearly having their time of his lives playing Crown and his ever patient girlfriend, plummy upper-class English accents and all.

No series such as this would be complete without spoofing witches, a common trope amongst Hammer and its ilk. In “Scream, Satan, Scream”, Coogan plays Captain Tobias Slater, Witch Locator - clearly based on Matthew Hopkins (as portrayed by Vincent Price in the excellent “Witchfinder General”). Warwick Davies plays Tygon, his assistant (named after the production company behind that same movie).


Tobias Slater is as corrupt as they come, using his position as an excuse to defile as many attractive young virgins as he can. It’s another cleavage-heavy episode, and – of course – Slater gets his just desserts.


The humour feels a little more forced than the other episodes – it certainly has the feel of “Carry on” meets “Witchfinder General” - but it’s still a worthy conclusion to a series which is a loving tribute to the horror genre.  If you’re a fan of the double (or in many cases, single) entendre, you’re in for a hoot.


“That was truly diabolical.” – Doctor Terrible


“Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible” is an absolute steal on DVD from Amazon UK, and well worth picking up. So often it’s the case that our memories of a series are better than the actual rewatch, so it was good to see it hold up. I’d argue it’s only the Fu Manchu episode that remains the weakest, feeling somewhat like a spoof so far – the humour in it has aged badly. Generous extras too; an interesting “Making of” documentary and full audio-commentary with the cowriters and the director.

​As mentioned earlier, John McNee did an excellent series of articles on the TV series Urban Gothic, the first part of which can be found here


The BBC details on “Doctor Terribles House of Horrible” are limited, but can be found here – there are a few clips.

David Court is a short story author and novelist, whose works have appeared in over a dozen venues including Tales to Terrify, StarShipSofa, Visions from the Void, Sparks, Burdizzo Mix Tape Volume One and Corona-Nation Street. Whilst primarily a horror writer, he also writes science fiction, poetry, and satire. His newest collection, Contents May Unsettle, was released in 2021 and his debut comic writing has just featured in Tpub’s The Theory (Twisted Sci-Fi). As well as writing, David works as a Software Developer and lives in Coventry with his wife, three cats and an ever-growing beard. David’s wife once asked him if he’d write about how great she was. David replied that he would, because he specialized in short fiction. Despite that, they are still married..

A TV station employee takes a camera crew out to an abandoned factory to investigate a purported snuff film that was made there, only to end up running for her life.

"Put yourself in the shoes of Japanese late night-talk show host Nami: You receive a mysterious VHS in the mail. When you pop it in and press PLAY, you are shocked to see what appears to be a genuine snuff film; Before your eyes in living video color, a helpless woman is brutally tortured and murdered. Now, what would you do if confronted with the possibility of a snuff videographer sending you mementoes in the mail? Would you (A): Immediately alert the police? Or (B): Gather a group of your TV station coworkers to trace the source of the tape, regardless of the obvious possibility of danger? Well, luckily for us, Nami chose option B, and “Evil Dead Trap” (1988) is a roller-coaster nightmare ride!"  - 80's Horror Movies

10/31 Part II is the second installment of the popular Halloween themed anthologies that taps the best directors, actors and composers from the indie film world and brings them all together to make one terrifying feature.

Premiering on Demand and Digital August 13 from Terror Films, the film stars Jennifer Nangle, Anastasia Elfman, David E. McMahon, Tim Robinson, Rhema Srihartiti and London Grace.

“As a huge fan of horror growing up, especially anthologies like Creepshow and Tales From the Crypt, I was thrilled to be able to work with a group of such talented writers, directors and actors to make our own anthology film come to life”, says producer Rocky Gray.

10/31 Part II on Demand and Digital August 13.

From the producer of Get Out and Us, Antebellum stars Janelle Monáe as a woman who finds herself trapped in a terrifying reality and must uncover the brutal truth
before it’s too late...
 
Successful author Veronica Henley (Janelle Monáe) is finishing a book tour before she returns home to her husband and daughter. But a shocking turn of events is about to upend Veronica’s existence, plunging her into a horrifying reality that forces her to  confront her past, present, and future — before it’s too late.
 
From directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz comes this tense and provocative thriller with a terrifying twist. Antebellum also stars Eric Lange (Lost, Narcos), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, Nocturnal Animals), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire, Fargo), Kiersey Clemons (Zack Snyder’s Justice League) and Gabourey Sidibe (American Horror Story, Empire).

Certification: 15 Run time: 106 mins

   
Antebellum is on Digital Download, Blu-rayTM and DVD 2 August from Lionsgate UK

Wiertz was, in contrast to Poe, a bothersome do-gooder who believed in “progress,” as evidenced by the way he treated the topic: there is no question of humor or perspective or of depicting the expensive funeral “touches” that Poe describes so charmingly. No, the coffin the possibly indigent, apparently dead person is trying to crawl out of is hammered together hurriedly, with a cross painted on the lid in a rudimentary manner, the floor covered with some straw, and lowered into an anonymous catacomb in an equally hasty manner, without any pomp. The direct provocation for Wiertz’s creation was the cholera outbreak that occurred in Antwerp in 1853, with the epidemic then spreading across the other towns and cities of Belgium and claiming thousands of vic- tims who had to be hurriedly buried (still alive?) in order to stem further disease. Wiertz leaves no doubt with regard to his reason for painting this canvas as the following can be clearly read on the coffin: “Mort du choléra, certifié par nous Docteurs Sans Doute” (dead by cholera as pronounced by doctor Without Any Doubt), including stamp--thus an open indictment of the physicians.

In Poe’s very short story entitled “The Oval Portrait,” a traveler retreating at night to a deserted castle in the Italian Apennines is fascinated to read the comments on a virtually lifelike painting of a young girl. According to this observation, the poor painter was, with each stroke of his brush, actually drawing, like a vampire, the life from his young bride and model, who grew increasingly weak until he found her dead on her chair when applying the final touch and uttering the words “This is indeed Life itself!”

The definitive version of “The Oval Portrait” --which initially bore the title “Death in Life” and had a longer introduction con- cerning the effects of opium on the mind--dates from 1842, the year of Virginia’s first hemorrhage due to tuberculosis. Besides the underlying theme that art can therefore, so to speak, overcome or
“avert” physical death and can make a person “eternal,” Poe also inadvertently reveals two other intimate, and asexual, aspects of his marriage to his cousin: firstly, he portrays the painter as some- one who gives priority to his artistic vocation over his love, which he therefore cannot or does not want to experience physically; and secondly, he admits with the necessary feelings of guilt how this vocation does not even enable the painter to feed and clothe his loved one and will eventually rob her of her life. All that is pre- served of their relationship for posterity is a literally lifelike oval portrait...an oval portrait in the “vignette” style, so typical of the time, and which, in Poe’s imagination, must have had much more of the features of his very own and perhaps virginally deceased child bride than those of his late mother, Eliza, or his late foster- mother, Frances Allan. Ironically enough, however, Poe was never able to gather together the financial resources to hire an artist with a view to producing a genuine likeness of his young wife, with the result that only one portrait of his cousin-bride remains preserved, painted a few hours after her death. Truly macabre...

Wiertz’s best-known painting is La belle Rosine, a model that is much more bare, as well as less virginal and asexual, than the model from “The Oval Portrait” by Poe. And yet, it deals with the same theme in an almost identical way, namely that art can overcome or “avert” physical death and can make a person “eter- nal.” Rosine, in contrast to many of Poe’s female personages, is indeed a girl of flesh and blood, as Wiertz had painted her a few years previously while she was doing her makeup, proof that they were lovers and had carnal contact with each other on more than one occasion.

And the skeleton here? For the sake of convenience, the canvas could be completed as an illustration for “vanitas” in the form of “Death and the Maiden” if it were not for Rosine assisting in anything but a chaste manner and a small detail lending a “twist” to the picture, i.e., with a label bearing the words “La belle Rosine” stuck to the skull. In this way, Wiertz makes the model stare into the hollow eyes of her own cranium, i.e., a chronologically impos- sible situation, though this did receive much acclaim among the later Symbolists and Surrealists such as André Breton and Salva- dor Dalí.

However, what does Wiertz actually mean by this brutal “state- ment”? La belle Rosine is perhaps both a hymn to her earthly beauty and a firm refusal to make her his wife: Rosine will shortly lose this earthly beauty she has and turn into a skeleton, with the result that Wiertz will prefer to devote the time allocated to him on this earth to painting “eternal” canvases rather than loving a transient woman. And yes, Poe’s Virginia and Wiertz’s Rosine do continue to live in their short story and canvas--Virginia as the heavenly beautiful girl and wife of a destitute artist, Rosine as the volup- tuous model of a painter who treats this evidently well-to-do lady almost like a prostitute.

One of the lesser-known short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Power of Words,” is a philosophical jewel. A self-assured “Oinos” (Greek for wine, although the Norton Critical Edition suggests that it refers to the Hebrew word for “man”) flies toward the immeasurable universe for a moment after his death and, in all his confusion, is immediately welcomed by a spirit named “Agathos” (Greek for “good”), who explains the theories of the universe to him. Very briefly, it could be argued that, according to these theories, God created the world and humans, who then continue to create with their thoughts and words, prompting actions that will, however, remain ad infinitum. Because the universe is thus so dynamic and endless and “restless,” it is not omniscience that brings supreme happiness but, rather, the gathering of further knowledge. The only thing that the Creator does not know, according to Agathos, is that he is omniscient. In order to illustrate this power of words at the end, Agathos points to a planet with the most beautiful flowers and volcanoes belching the most lava and, half crying, tells Oinos that this planet was created by a passionate love poem he jotted down three centuries earlier for a beloved.

“Its brilliant flowers are the dearest of all unfulfilled dreams, and its raging volcanoes are the passions of the most turbulent and unhallowed of hearts.”

This is a splendid vision of the universe, a vision in which not one single thought, word, or action is lost but can, on the con- trary, bring about a “butterfly effect,” as it were, and also a vision in which Poe praises the immortality of the soul. In this story, he depicts himself after his death as “a spirit new-fledged with immortality!” which, with his poems--Poe regarded himself pri- marily as a poet --created the most exotic planets. Was he aware that his work would become such a source of adoration and study after his death?

Wiertz’s painting Une seconde après la mort or Les grandes choses de la terre vues à 500,000 kilomètres de ce globe (One second after death or the great things on the earth seen from a distance of 500,000 kilometres) depicts the same scene as Poe’s narrative in a virtually identical manner: a man in a shroud flies into the immea- surable universe and will be met by another soul. As optimistic and profound as Poe’s version is, however, the picture painted by Wiertz during the latter years of his life is equally pessimistic and embittered. The man --a self-portrait perhaps --looks back nostalgically at his planet earth, which now has the importance of a shriveled pea, and lets a thick book slip from his hands --“Gran- deurs humaines” (Human greatness). This is the “statement” of an artist who feels he has failed (he could never be the equal of a Rubens or Raphael or Michelangelo), who realizes that he could never achieve his grandiose ambitions (he has doubts about the “eternal value” of his work and has not even been responsible for bringing any children into this world), and who then bids a bitter farewell to his life of failure. Indeed, one of his last utterances on his deathbed reads: “A quoi me sert mon imagination à présent. On se détache facilement des misères humaines” (To what good is my imagination now, one grows so quickly indifferent to human misery)...Grandeurs humaines, actually, or Sic transit gloria mundi...

Antoine Wiertz. Edgar Allan Poe. Contemporary artists of their time on either side of the big pond. Poe always saw himself as an aesthete and a poet, though he is nowadays mainly revered for his macabre and frenetic short stories published in inferior magazines of the time. Wiertz wanted to be the equal of the great painters, though he only arouses interest now on account of his rather bizarre and macabre pictures and, as already explained, these do have something in common with Poe’s stories in terms of the associated themes and shock effects.

Irreverently, it could be said that Antoine Wiertz was the Ed Wood among the Romantic painters because of his clumsy tech- nique, though digging a bit deeper reveals a fascinating person whose canvases now, almost two hundred years later, increasingly manage to excite the interest of enthusiasts all over the world on account of their incredibly original and almost avant-garde approach.
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Tenebrous Press returns with its next highly anticipated Horror anthology, IN SOMNIO: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror! 

Nineteen fearless authors—and some of today’s finest illustrators—cut to the heart of classic Gothic Horror and drag it into modern times, sculpting it into an altogether sleeker beast.

In the hands of Mary Shelley, Daphne Du Maurier, and Shirley Jackson, Gothic Horror often explored the bleak shadows of our very homes and the darkest corners of the human mind. It focused on themes of madness, personal transformation, phantoms, and the occult. 

Drawing inspiration from these original Gothmothers, IN SOMNIO takes those familiar themes and recasts them in a modern light!

​Within the walls of an arcane modern art gallery; upon the shores of a hostile but compelling sea; into the blackest burrows of the animal kingdom; tableside at the world’s last restaurant on the eve of the apocalypse; from the deep deep South to a Lovecraftian Steampunk theatre, a cornucopia of disturbing vignettes await you.

Cartoonist and writer Sloane Leong and writer Cassie Hart have partnered to launch a Kickstarter campaign for DEATH IN THE MOUTH, a horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world. It will feature twenty prose stories spanning the distant past to the far future, real and fictive worlds, all while exploring new and unique manifestations of horror. Each story will also be accompanied by an original black and white illustration by a unique artist. We've invited authors like C Pam Zhang (How Much of These Hills Is Gold), Darcie Little Badger (Elatsoe), Jewelle Gomez  (The Gilda Stories), An  Owomoyela  (Abandonware), Karin  Lowachee  (Warchild), Jahra Wasasala (MOTHER/JAW), K- Ming Chang (Bestiary), Rachel & Sean Qitsualik- Tinsley (The Raven and the Loon), and more to contribute stories.

Artists you can look forward to seeing illustrate these tales include
Michael Deforge, Joy San, Jabari Weathers, Makoto Chi, Allissa Chan, Pinchas Segal,  Alicia Feng,  and Natalie Hall. 

Nyx Horror Collective is a community of diverse women creators who develop, celebrate, and elevate original, women-led horror content for film, TV, and new media.

What began as a simple 60-second film challenge in January 2021 blossomed quickly into the little festival that could. Garnering top notch judges from the horror genre and securing Shudder as its official streaming platform, Nyx Horror is proving itself to be a creative force of nature.

One of the missions at Nyx Horror and with 13 Minutes is to give women horror filmmakers of all identities and backgrounds greater exposure and more opportunities through strategic partnerships with established industry professionals. With that in mind, the Festival has garnered support from production companies and film incubators that include Blood Oath (Starry Eyes, Satanic Panic) and Squid Farm Productions (Shudder Original Shook), as well as from development executives at Blumhouse [Get Out, The Invisible Man (2020)].

“I cannot wait for audiences to see the creativity and talent. These filmmakers packed so much story and scares into one minute,” said Lisa Kröger, Festival Co-Producer.

“Our drive to keep generating incredible opportunities for this festival really speaks to our tenacity and passion, as individuals and as a team, to dispel the myth of ‘no women, LGBTQIA+ or people of color working in the genre.’ We’re right here; you can’t say you don’t know any. Not anymore.” – Mo Moshaty, Festival Co-Producer
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“The messages that Nyx has received from women and non-binary filmmakers since launching 13 Minutes have been overwhelming in the most amazing way. This is why we do what we do—to share in the joy of so many talented creators is beyond rewarding.” – Kelly Krause, Festival Co-Producer

“We wanted to give these wonderful up-and-coming writers and directors the opportunity to have their work seen. The fact that Shudder is hosting us on their platform is a testament to their growing support of BIPOC and women-driven work and we’re eager for the world to see more of this kind of content.” - Melody Cooper, Festival Co-Producer


Nyx Horror Collective’s 13 Minutes of Horror Film Festival will air for 32 days on Shudder from August 13 – September 13, 2021.                                         ​