2024-04-13 14:10
Welcome back to October 31, 1977. Night Owls with Jack Delroy (a show desperate to poach Johnny Carson's viewers) is floundering. After the loss of his wife, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchia… Read More
Blog Directory > Arts & Entertainment Blogs > TV & Film Blogs > Addicted to Media tv-and-film Blog >
Addicted To Media Blog
emm-media.blogspot.com
Tags:
film
unwelcome
doctor jekyll
borden family
breach
indianna bell deliver
seeding
horror
patrick
madison
Television. Film. Music. Books.
Addicted.
Television, film, music and book news and reviews by Mandy Southgate
2024-03-21 18:01
On a dark, stormy night, loner Patrick sits at the table in his trailer, contemplating the end. The rain is beating on his trailer’s rickety roof and windows when there is an insistent… Read More
2024-03-02 11:00
Oh, let our dark hearts rejoice! Hammer Films has risen from the dead, resurrected in an acquisition by British theatre producer John Gore. The first film on the revived Hammer slab is Joe S… Read More
2024-02-24 05:30
Folk horror Silence of the Prey opens the 8th edition of the Golden State Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood tonight. Karyna Kudzina stars and makes her directorial debut… Read More
2024-02-22 16:34
Do you ever get the feeling you’re going to like a film, right from the first minute? In the opening scene of Barnaby Clay’s The Seeding, a long-haired toddler walks onto screen… Read More
2023-08-14 07:52
On August 4th, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found dead in their home, brutally slaughtered with an axe. The main suspect was Lizzie Borden, Andrew's own daughter. One hundred and thir… Read More
2023-07-13 08:24
After 125 years of horror films, you'd think people would know the basics: never, ever ignore local knowledge of dangerous places and never follow someone else into certain death, no matter… Read More
2023-07-03 00:00
I was hooked from the very first scene of the trailer for Rodrigo Gudiño's Rue Morgue horror, The Breach. A body has been discovered in the tiny Ontario town of Lone Crow and when Chi… Read More
2023-06-22 13:43
Redcaps are perhaps the most horrible of the unseelie creatures, so-called because they like to soak their caps in the blood of their many unfortunate victims. Of all the dark fae, they ar… Read More
2023-05-22 13:31
I love films that surprise me, where the journey is completely unexpected and not entirely spoiled by the trailer. You might think you know what Kurtis David Harder's Shudder Original Influe… Read More
2023-01-21 17:29
Unscrupulous landlords are nothing new. I mean, how difficult is it to admit that the water in a house has two settings - arctic and third-ring-of-hell? Or to say, you know, Sorry About the… Read More
2023-01-08 12:42
It's early January and I'm sitting on a train, travelling through County Wicklow to Dublin. The rain is beating against the windows, the landscape outside is frigid and grey. Now is the perf… Read More
2022-11-18 00:06
There were three things I loved as a kid: Tim Burton, The Addams Family and the colour black. I can’t even begin to explain how happy it makes me that the three have collided in sple… Read More
2022-10-22 14:01
The problem with reviewing television shows before they release is that there is a point in time where you're not even allowed to talk about them. All I could do after finishing episode si… Read More
2022-10-16 23:30
There's no doubt about it, fandoms have become toxic. Yet before the infamous fallouts in the Star Wars fandom and the incessant hounding of Jodie Whittaker, there was another massive contr… Read More
2022-10-12 19:58
I have an awkward confession to make: I'd never seen any of Dario Argento's work before viewing Dark Glasses. I'd heard great things about the use of colour, music and gore in his films and… Read More
2022-10-02 23:30
I know, I know. It's not technically permitted to admit this in the horror community but I wasn't a fan of The Blair Witch Project. Somewhere between the extreme hype and lack of resolution… Read More
2022-09-30 12:43
The best parts of historical fiction are the ones that take us back to a certain time and a certain place. We get to learn more about what people wore, how they thought and what the atmosphe… Read More
2022-09-11 16:35
I can’t tell a lie: Thursday was strange. While we were eating our meal at Busaba, we saw the news that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away. What were we meant to do? What would happen… Read More
2022-08-31 13:49
Not many films render me silent, staring into space and trying to piece together what I've just seen. Root Letter is a gritty, uncomfortably realistic film that delves into the heart of both… Read More
2022-08-21 13:03
Bauhaus broke up (for the first time) when I was ten-years-old and had last toured as Bauhaus in 2006 before their current set of tours began in 2019. I'd fallen in love with them at age 15… Read More
2022-08-14 23:02
Ryan Kwanten and J.K. Simmons starting in a horror film together? Oh how Glorious, I'm definitely up for that! In all seriousness, though there's nothing serious about this film, Glorious i… Read More
2022-07-06 07:36
I've finished Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris. I wanted to say 'finally finished' but I realise that it only took me two weeks to read. I have a bad habit of not finishing books on Bos… Read More
2022-06-28 16:31
It was an event that shocked the world. The April 1996 Port Arthur massacre caused fundamental changes to Australia's gun control laws and remains an incredibly traumatic event in the nati… Read More
2022-06-19 13:44
There's something about certain dystopian or post-apocalyptic novels that draws me in, keeps me reading into the quiet hours of night and doesn't let me go until I'm finished. I knew I had… Read More
2022-06-13 10:10
The Gunpowder Plot is the latest immersive experience from Layered Reality, the award-winning producers of the Jeff Wayne’s The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience which I wen… Read More
2022-05-24 17:29
If you've played Telltale Games' The Walking Dead video game series, you'll be very familiar with Clementine, the series protagonist. Clementine lived on after the end of the game, making he… Read More
2022-04-04 00:00
I love films that are more than just the sum of their parts. Give me synergy, emotion, gravity and I'm sold. Randall Okita's See For Me is a whole mood. Visually stunning and anchored on a f… Read More
2022-03-25 15:33
Today we welcome a brand new contributor to the Addicted to Media team, Mirza Hota. Mirza's first challenge is Night's End, directed by Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Skin) Night's End starts… Read More
2022-03-23 14:57
It's official: Stranger Things returns to Netflix on 27 May 2022 which means you need to watch 2 to 3 episodes a week if you want to complete your rewatch by then. As before, Stranger Things… Read More
2022-03-18 13:12
There is great news for fans of Sally Green's incredible Half Bad trilogy today: the series is coming to Netflix in 2022 and we get a first look at the cast! The eight-part drama series will… Read More
2022-03-11 08:12
Do you ever feel like you're not like everyone else? That while all the other unicorns are all sparkles and rainbows, you'd rather stab everyone? Me too. The good news? We're not alone. Meet… Read More
2022-03-02 14:27
Authors often share their thoughts at the end of contemporary YA novels, explaining why the issues were important to them and the inspiration for their writing. It's interesting that Charle… Read More
2021-12-21 08:23
I recently discovered that I like spooky short stories and in keeping with a 'horror is not only for Halloween' theme, I picked up the A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters short stor… Read More
2021-12-17 20:56
Are you in the mood for a short story that will put a smile on your face? I'm a great fan of author Jack Croxall, in fact I loved his novel Wye, and I jumped at the chance to host his brand… Read More
Ben Housden's Superb Debut 'Thunderpaws And The Tower Of London' (Nature's Claw # 1) ★★★★☆
2021-12-05 18:53
I had a suspicion, from the very first minute I heard about Thunderpaws and the Tower of London, that we are onto something special. I genuinely believe this might be the next great British… Read More
2021-11-28 07:44
They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover; 'they' being the type of people who clearly don't read books because I always judge books by their covers. Case in point, I knew I was go… Read More
2021-11-14 19:57
I think what I love most about graphic novels is the ability to pick you up and transport you to incredible, fascinating worlds at the flick of a pen. Comic books present a lurid, impossibl… Read More
2021-11-06 11:44
I'm a proud zombie fan and lover of the dead. I feel it necessary to get that out the way because I was always going to like Ryan Parrott' and Evgeniy Bornyakov's Dead Day, the question was… Read More
2021-10-31 21:27
There is a weight that comes with grief; a drowning, suffocating heaviness that pulls you under moments before guilt begins its reign of carnage. But what of real culpability and true guilt… Read More
2021-10-25 09:20
I love it when books teach me something I didn't know about myself. For example, I had no idea that I loved spooky short stories with a definite historical slant but then I read Judi Daykin… Read More
2021-10-09 09:00
August 2021: I'm sitting beside the pool on a long-awaited summer holiday and I cannot lie, it's bliss. I feel so fortunate to finally be away from gloomy, cold England where summer 2021 ne… Read More
2021-10-03 14:21
And the prize for the most flawed narrator of the year goes to: Ri Fernández. A strange way to start a review, I know, but I spent a fair bit of Nikki Barthelmess's Everything Within… Read More
2021-09-26 07:00
The grand theme of my summer holiday 2021 was historic fiction but this third novel is a little controversial. The blurb told me it was set in the 90s which could count as 'historic' but in… Read More
2021-09-18 13:20
I'm so pleased I chose historic fiction as my theme for my holiday away in Spain. My second read is especially relevant as I've chosen Jules Hayes's The Spanish Girl, a historic novel spann… Read More
2021-09-10 20:27
One of the absolute truths about judging novels is that a review can in no way adequately capture a book and this is never more true than in Morowa Yejidé's incredible Creatures of P… Read More
2021-08-27 09:00
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the PAOLA SANTIAGO AND THE FOREST OF NIGHTMARES by Tehlor Kay Mejia Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to en… Read More
2021-08-11 09:00
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the ARCHIBALD LOX VOLUME 2: ARCHIBALD LOX AND THE KIDNAPPED PRINCE by Darren Shan Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and m… Read More
2021-08-07 14:34
How do I love this book? Let me count the ways. One. The narrator Jeanette Illidge is absolutely brilliant, capturing each of the many characters' voices with individuality and distinction… Read More
2021-07-17 09:00
This is a book that battled with its desire to write portray an HIV positive teen in an accepting, affirmative manner while simultaneously realising that a book without conflict would be to… Read More
2021-07-11 17:21
Through the darkness of the past 15 months, one good thing has been introduced to the world: Darren Shan's Archibald Lox series. With stunning covers and equally enticing storylines, this s… Read More
2021-07-04 13:18
They're back! If you're a fan of Pixar's Monsters, Inc (and even if you're not) the big news is that the world of Monstropolis is returning to our screens on Disney+ on Wednesday 7 July 202… Read More
2021-07-03 13:56
Thirteen-year-old Edie Marble and her family have had a tough year. Edie's mother passed away a year before and Edie learns at the stone unveiling that her death may not have been an accide… Read More
2021-06-27 13:06
Minnesota, 1983. The 80s are in full steam: neon lights, wire-rimmed glasses, gel-soaked side-partings and man-perms. No wonder people are getting a little bit stabby. Enter Joel (Evan Mars… Read More
2021-06-20 11:03
A short time ago, Archie Lox was a normal boy living in London. That all changed when he saw a young girl, Inez, being chased by assassins and he followed her into the Merge. The Merge is an… Read More
2021-05-23 17:11
Reading comics is a relatively new thing for me. It was only during lockdown, when I had the attention span of a fig, that I discovered the joy and page-turning wonder of graphic novels. Jo… Read More
2021-05-17 18:35
'Wait, what just happened?' Not the usual way to begin a review but then Chino Moya's dystopian anthology Undergods is a very unusual film. The last time I sat with a pen and paper trying t… Read More
2021-05-09 23:01
I was trying to recall when last I saw an Australian horror film but how could I forget The Babadook, the film that started my whole obsession with horror? Relic is the debut feature by dir… Read More
2021-05-03 18:09
Cape Town nights are hectic. There is a unique witching hour where one-too-many shot glasses has tumbled and nothing makes sense anymore. A night like that turns into the morning after for… Read More
2021-05-03 17:01
I've been trying to work out which are my favourite types of horror and I've come to realise it's clever horror. Show me something unexpected, unique or surprising and I'm going to be happy… Read More
2021-04-24 13:55
It's takes a lot to render me speechless but director Cody Calahan's The Oak Room is a very clever horror film that had my mind reeling for ages afterwards as I tried to piece the plot tog… Read More
2021-04-11 23:01
There are some houses that should remain empty, whose histories are built on such pain and suffering that the only answer is to demolish them and cleanse the ground. When a priest, his wife… Read More
2021-04-11 14:00
May 2021 marks one hundred years since the Tulsa Massacre when the thriving African American community of Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma was attacked by a mob of armed white Tulsans, killing as… Read More
2021-04-05 12:28
At a time when coalminers' strikes bring darkness and blackouts across London, a young nurse is forced to work the night shift in an old and decaying hospital. As unwelcome memories risen un… Read More
2021-04-03 12:38
When I began this series, it was with the aim of listening to at least 2-3 audiobooks a month. I haven’t finished one single audiobook. This is the nature of lockdown – entering… Read More
2021-03-29 11:31
"Every journey has its road and every road, sooner or later, comes to a crossing, a sudden juncture and only one choice to make". Five British teens are on a school trip in Italy when an obs… Read More
2021-03-19 11:26
I didn't listen to as much new music as I'd wanted to in February. Snow and icy weather had me hibernating, hiding away from the world and when I do that, I just listen to old favourites. I… Read More
2021-03-15 10:00
How do you escape the inevitable, when you don't know what you're running from? How do you live through the worst possible experience a human can face and come out intact on the other end? H… Read More
2021-03-13 10:00
I have this thing. I find it really difficult to write about things I love without coming across as overly effusive and entirely not objective. It's the reason why I didn't write about Docto… Read More
2021-03-11 15:01
Horror is really coming into its own. It used to be that horror was gore, fangs and jump scares with little focus on plot, acting or cinematography (and there are definitely films that match… Read More
2021-03-06 11:34
I'm not going to lie. I was terrified going into Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas's prequel to the wildly successful The Hate U Give. Just 9 months ago, there was another prequel to a much-loved… Read More
2021-02-27 09:54
I genuinely can't believe it's almost March already. I know that years begin to accelerate as you grow older but lockdown seems to be making time speed by. January and February were okay but… Read More
2021-02-20 12:10
This year is all about comfort and kindness for me. It's snowed for most of January and February, cutting me off from my usual runs and walks, and I've taken every opportunity to curl up wi… Read More
2021-01-30 08:13
Back in November, I made an early New Year's resolution to discover new music. That's going really well and far exceeding my ability to write about it. I've realised how music consumption h… Read More
2021-01-27 23:18
The mark of a great film is when you swear fealty to the director, knowing that you will forevermore be a fan and follower of their work. I felt that way about Joko Anwar's Impetigore and wa… Read More
2021-01-23 13:37
I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of January. I'm writing from my home in sunny Kent and it's beginning to look like lockdown will be with us until at least mid-February… Read More
2021-01-14 18:44
This year came with no promises, so I'm preparing to bunker down with an endless supply of horror films. My first for 2021 is also my first from French director Vincent Paronnaud, Shudder or… Read More
2020-12-13 13:40
I've been following Surface Pattern Designer & Illustrator Gail Myerscough on Twitter for some time now. Not only does she have the cutest cat - Pete - I also love her work. So, in the h… Read More
2020-12-07 06:33
The Twisted Tree has been on my to-read list forever. The exact date you ask? Well that would be 28 July 2019. Specific, I know, but I saw author Rachel Burge speak at YALC in 2019 and her b… Read More
2020-11-29 15:17
My first thought on finishing Tiffany D Jackson's Monday's Not Coming was joy, "so glad it's over" to be precise. There are four primary reasons for this, three of which drive my three-star… Read More
2020-11-27 10:33
I don't discover new music anymore. In Before World, I went to festivals, diligently researching all the new (to me) artists before the day. Concerts were great opportunities too, with supp… Read More
2020-11-23 18:44
Archibald Lox should have returned home to his foster parents after his adventures in the Merge in Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds. When we meet him again in Archibald Lox and t… Read More
2020-11-08 13:28
There's a little sliver of doubt that takes root when, on finishing a film you absolutely adored, you go online to see what other people thought and realise you're utterly alone. I'm really… Read More
2020-10-27 19:03
British Army doctor Izzy Cormack (Jemima West) returns home from a particularly brutal war to find that nothing makes sense anymore at home. She begins to suspect she has PTSD following a s… Read More
2020-10-26 20:46
Something's not right with Sam (Drew Fonteiro) and it's been that way for a long time. He suffers from blackouts that range from embarrassing to downright terrifying and he can't seem to sh… Read More
2020-10-17 18:45
I like Pollyanna McIntosh. There's no specific basis for this, except for Pollyanna's all-round awesomeness and her criminally short stint as Jadis in The Walking Dead but I like her a lot… Read More
2020-10-13 21:00
There's a great paradox with superior films; sometimes it's better to know absolutely nothing about them before viewing but then how do you decide which films to watch? Rose is one of those… Read More
2020-10-01 06:02
I'm always excited about new British independent horror films, especially when they look creepy and atmospheric, but I'm especially thrilled to see that Jennifer Sheridan's Rose will receiv… Read More
2020-09-27 14:16
It's been a long, long wait to see David Mclean's Schemers. Originally set for release in May 2020, the world turned upside down and we had to wait for cinemas to reopen again before we coul… Read More
2020-08-23 16:06
The final episode of NOS4A2's second season is here. The events in "Bats" take us to the end of Joe Hill's novel, with a few notable differences, some of which you may have already picked up… Read More
2020-08-22 11:21
Horror is meant to push you out of your comfort zone. It's meant to be creepy and unsettling and often toes the line between exhilaration and plain fear. Sometimes horror skirts too close t… Read More
2020-08-20 12:07
Question: if you create a violent and disturbing piece of art, depicting a gruesome murder, and a crazed fan goes on to re-create your art on real, live human beings, who is in fact responsi… Read More
2020-08-16 18:00
As we reach the penultimate episode of NOS4A2's second season, I'm starting to realise that I don't like Charlie Manx very much. This isn't helped by the fact that Zachary Quinto does smug s… Read More
2020-08-15 11:23
It was the cover that caught my eye on Mademoiselle Caroline and Julie Dachez's graphic novel Invisible Differences, translated from French and now available in English for the first time. A… Read More
2020-08-09 18:00
This week's NOS4A2 is all about Vic's father and is aptly named "Chris McQueen". We begin the episode with a flashback to Larry McQueen's funeral, a Vietnam vet who spent a lifetime chased b… Read More
2020-08-07 13:08
2020 is turning out to be a disappointing year for books. I thought Erin Entrada Kelly's We Dream of Space was going to be my favourite book of the year but I just found it quite sad. We Dr… Read More
2020-08-02 18:00
It's the beginning of the end for the second season of NOS4A2 and "Cripple Creek" makes for very disturbing and unsettling viewing. There were several points in the episode where I considere… Read More
2020-08-01 21:20
I'm trying to work out why I chose to read Loner. It was partly the hype; the first I heard of Georgina Young's Loner was that it was winner of the 2019 Text Prize for Young Adult and Childr… Read More
2020-07-31 09:00
If I thought finishing Station Eleven while a pandemic hit was bizarre, I have no words for reading a post-apocalyptic novel. In Josh Malerman's Malorie (sequel to Bird Box) our protagonist… Read More
2020-07-29 11:00
How gorgeous is this cover? C.L. Taylor is releasing the much-anticipated YA novel The Beach in January 2021 and I'm pleased to share the beautiful cover and exclusive excerpt. About The I… Read More
Subscribe to Addicted To Media
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!