 “The evil that lies within!” So proclaims the tag line of this fairly obscure but fondly remembered toy line of the mid to late 1980s. Like Transformers, MASK, Visionaries and numerous other lines of the era, Inhumanoids was a franchise that experienced a media blitzkrieg during the era of its release, the original toys inspiring everything from a (remarkably atmospheric) cartoon to a short lived comic series that served as a secondary, “back up” strip in the latter day issues of the UK Transformers comic. TWELVE TERRIFYING TOY FRANCHISES: MADBALLS
17/12/2016
 How can any self-respecting child of the 1980s not have fallen in love with these gruesome, revolting little globs of ugliness?
In a culture dominated by a sudden ready access to all manner of media (from video tapes of films and TV shows to the then barely born video game market), it's little surprise that toys in general began to reflect tastes and aesthetics informed by horror, which was, at the time, insanely popular in almost all mediums and formats. The Madballs are nothing particularly special in technical terms or even as playable items; barring some rather macabre and brilliantly gross sub-lines of the franchise, they have no gimmicks or moving parts; they do not shoot missiles or spray water or transform or metamorphose or any other of the hundred and one things toys of the era claimed to do.  The self-styled “Free-Range Bio-Exorcist,” “Ghost with the Most's” debut feature is hardly what you might call a child friendly affair. With its close focus on death, its surreal and morbid imagery and subject matter, its distinctly adult jokes and tone, Beetlejuice sits uncomfortably in that bracket of being a beloved childhood favourite that was never intended for children.
Being a child of the '80s, I was perfectly positioned to be one of the film's many, many, many child converts, hardly anyone I knew as a boy not having seen or owning the film on VHS; a fact which various interests knew and were keen to exploit. As such, it wasn't like before Beetlejuice was adapted into comics, cartoons and, indeed, a short lived but highly inventive toy line. TWELEVE TERRIFYINGTOY FRANCHISES: ALIEN
15/12/2016
 You'd be surprised how many toy franchises aimed squarely at children's markets have an overt horror motif, especially during the 1980s-1990s, when toy manufacturers were far less concerned with being taken to court or garnering negative press from certain moral-minded quarters for their products.
With that in mind, it's my pleasure to explore some of the most imaginative and inspiring examples thereof in the run up to Christmas, starting with one of my personal childhood favourites: MY TOP READS OF THE YEAR
6/12/2016
 2016 has been one the best years for genre fiction, so much so that this post nearly never happened as there was just too many great books over the past twelve months. But with a lot of thought, deliberation and the occasional toss of a coin, here is my personal top 20 reads of 2016. Some of ther books here may not have been published in 2016, if i read it over the past 12 months then it counts in my book.
Ginger Nuts of Horror has been given behind the scenes access to the new Mummy film coming to a screen near you next year. Today we bring you a behind the scenes look at the zero gravity stunt that made Tom Cruise feel more than a little bit sick.
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