
Halfway through my life’s journey, on the evening of the Feast of Barlaam and Josaphat, I lost my way in a darkened wood and departed from the Vāmamārga.
Continue reading Welcome to Hell (Inferno, Cantos I and II)Where Southern Hospitality Meets Mind Shredding Insanity
Halfway through my life’s journey, on the evening of the Feast of Barlaam and Josaphat, I lost my way in a darkened wood and departed from the Vāmamārga.
Continue reading Welcome to Hell (Inferno, Cantos I and II)It’s been a bad week Mad Hearts, it’s been a nightmare. Many of you have probably heard news or been vaguely aware that something was going on in Texas. I wanted to give a run down, so people could understand what the week was like.
That last one hurt. Steven King is a member of our horror family, hell, he’s practically a patriarch. And it fucking sucks that he would be so cold and so cruel to those authors and artists’ living in a place simply because the place has been gerrymandered into a red leaning state.
And know this, Mad Hearts, a lot of us do live here. Madness Heart Press is based in Austin, Texas. Death’s Head Press is in Houston Texas, Susan Snyder, Lemons Clemons, John Baltisberger, Lucas Mangum, Wile E. Young, Gabino Iglesias, Wrath James White, Patrick C Harrison III, we all live in Texas. For those keeping track, that’s at least SIX authors that are on the ballot for Stoker or Splatterpunk awards. Death’s Head Press alone has 8 books on the ballot. So understand that when you bash the state, Texas is a home for horror.
If you donate any money to any of these organizations I will send you a e-book in any format you like of any book you like. Just send a picture of your donation receipt to john@madnessheart.press, and tell me what book in which format.
“Once upon a time, a little mouse moved into St. Marinara’s orphanage. He loved to play games with all the other orphans. But most of all, Chuck E. loved learning to play music. He especially loved the song ‘Happy Birthday.’” – The Story of Chuck E. Cheese
“We’re all mad here.” – Alice in Wonderland
On a recent episode of Wandering Monster, John, Lemons, and I had one of our many discussions regarding monsters – specifically, in this case, monsters from video games. On this occasion, I happened to bring a game to the conversation called Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF). For those who have not had the pleasure, FNAF is a game in which one plays as a security guard who keeps tabs on the security cameras in, essentially, a haunted Chuck E. Cheese in which the animatronic performers have come to life and will do creative and terrible things to your body, given the opportunity. The point of the game is to use security doors and your watchful eye to prevent this outcome. FNAF was a monster hit for an indie game, and went on to inspire so many sequels that the creator held the Gunness World Record for “Most Sequels Released in One Year.” I’m sure this was a proud achievement for a guy who launched FNAF based on the spectacular failure and frighteningly bad character design of his previous games. Those game also happened to be exclusively Christian, and thus did not center on homicidal automatons.
I mention this because there’s a great deal of FNAF in the DNA of a truly delightful film – starring Nicolas Cage in full badass mode, no less! – called Willy’s Wonderland.
Continue reading Nicolas in WonderlandYou should be informed that this is not a sharksploitation film. I was bamboozled. Look at the poster! I feel a little betrayed. Oh, there is a shark in this movie. It attacks people. But it is definitely not a shark movie.
Continue reading From the Depths: Seems More From the Shallow EndThe second post that I ever wrote for Madness Heart Press, way back in March of 2019, was a review of The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 10, edited by Ellen Datlow. It’s an excellent collection that is well worth picking up, and is the venue in which I first encountered a short story called “West of Matamoros, North of Hell,” by Brian Hodge. There were many top-notch exercises in horror in Best Volume 10, but “West of Matamoros” is the one that has stuck with me the longest – haunted me, you might say. In particular, I often think of one sequence in which a very frightening, violent fellow (I won’t spoil the story for you – you ought to read it for yourself) has a calm conversation with another fellow about, and I quote, “the mask behind the face.”
Continue reading Masks (Part Three): The Mask Behind the FaceFlying sharks with machine guns, jet engines, invisibility and ridden by zombie Nazis? YES PLEASE!
Folks, I have been waiting for this movie to be released for years. I heard it was out on VOD yesterday so I ran to my wallet and mashed $4.99 into Amazon Prime’s face hole so I could finally watch this damn thing. Why was this movie causing my tummy to flutter with such anticipation? Did you read the first sentence of this blog?
Continue reading Sky Sharks: Absolutely, Beautifully Bonkers!People say I’m prolific. I also start a lot more projects than I finish.
People say they can’t imagine collaborating with another writer. Collaborations have kept my creativity alive these past couple of years.
People say I’m underrated. I’m always pushing forward.
People say extreme, transgressive art is problematic. That problematic shit has saved my life.
People say my work is triggering. Imagine living through the things that have inspired it.
People say lots of shit. Social media has turned everything into a worked shoot.
People say wrestling is fake. A plethora of injuries and premature deaths say otherwise.
Most of what people say is bullshit. But to them, the subjective is reality.
I’m not interested in what people say. But the people I love speak gospel.
Shut up. I’m talking.
This was originally posted at lucasmangum.com.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the original Castle Freak (1995) but it never really merited a full review. Compared to the other works of H. P. Lovecraft that got turned into movies (Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dagon (2001), Color Out of Space (2019)), it’s just ho-hum. The other movies are balls-out bonkers and way more entertaining. Effectively, for Castle Freak (1995), there is nothing to review.
Continue reading Reed’s Horror Review, Castle Freak (1995) and (2020), a Comparison.Between the pandemic and the government, I haven’t written a word of fiction in almost a year. Compared with the horror show of reality, how could I possibly come up with anything more chilling?
Continue reading The Ephemeral Horror of January 6th