Penny Dreadful
In which Penny bids a fond farewell to SFX after 10 wonderful Dreadful years. (Sniff)
NO, YOU HANG UP FIRST
As if 2021 wasn’t bad enough, you’re now going to have to say goodbye to your favourite horror columnist. Yep, after 10 blissful years writing for SFX it’s time for me to go. While I’m told there’s a really lovely farm I can go to where I can run in the fields with other horror columnists, I’m not quite ready for that, so if you still want to hear me banging on about everything horror I’ll be writing a weekly newsletter (where I’ll no doubt miss my deadlines as usual), which you can find at pennydreadful.substack.com.
If SFX ever reboots me I’ve asked that it be with A24 or, at a push, Blumhouse. Platinum
Dunes need not apply. Anyway, for my final column I thought it best to tell you about some of the things I surely would have been writing about in the foreseeable future…
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Screened at Sundance, Censor is great. Keep your eye on director Prano Bailey-bond – she’ll be doing a Marvel movie before you blink. Killer jeans movie Slaxx has just hit Shudder – hooray, it’s fab – while the pick of Frightfest Glasgow is Vicious Fun, an energetic, gory, ’80s-set horror-comedy packed with twists. Looking ahead: Chloe Zhao of Nomadland is taking on Dracula (wow!), while Hereditary’s Ari Aster has a new one, Disappointment Blvd – it’s a biopic, but I bet it’s steeped in dread. From new talent, excellent short film maker Cat Davies has her first feature in development, Evacuees – looks creepy AF. More Brits to keep your eye on include Host’s Rob Savage, who’s making films for Blumhouse, and Katie Bonham, another promising short filmmaker who’s moving towards features.
Dreadful Old Movie
At long last my much beloved Lake Mungo (2008), a truly terrifying treatise on grief from Australian director Joel Anderson, is coming out on special edition Blu-ray from Second Sight. It’ll contain a booklet featuring brand new essays, as well as contributions from the amazing
Rob Savage, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. The release date is still TBC, but this is a must-own.
TELLY TERRORS
Turning to TV, American Horror Stories – a spin-off which will be 16 standalone episodes rather than one long arc - sounds a lot less stressful than AHS (though season 10 of that is on the way too). Chucky is getting his own series, reuniting director Don Mancini with original Chucky and Tiffany, Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly. No one actually watches Apple TV+, but could an adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story, starring Julianne Moore and scripted by King, be the one to turn it around? I’m also stoked for Netflix’s adap of Sally Green’s dark YA Half Bad, and 30 Coins, a Spanish religio-horror from Álex de la Iglesia director of excellent siege horror-comedy The Bar.
BOOKS OF BLOOD
Books-wise, Catriona Ward’s The Last House On Needless Street ( just released) may be the next big thing. Grady Hendrix has The Final Girls Support Group due in July, and personal fave Paul Tremblay is working on a new one due in 2022 – title TBC, but it’s going to be very personal. Also keep an eye on Stephen Graham Jones, massive in the US but only just starting to hit over here; Clay Mcleod Chapman, who has Whisper Down The Lane out in April; and Ellen Datlow’s Shirley Jackson anthology. Oh, and in podcast-land, The Evolution Of Horror is a fave. Also check out The Final Girls, Strong Language And Violent Scenes, Chillenial Horrors and Hammer House Of Podcast. Breathe, Penny! I feel like I’m being played off at the Oscars… Find me on Twitter @Horrorpennyd and tell me what you love. And most importantly: stay dreadful.