Classic Tales of Horror from Canterbury Classics. A short review of a great collection of tales in a high quality leather hardback form.

 

Classic Tales of Horror, from Canterbury Classics.

    This isn't my usual review. There is simply too much within this book to break down each short story or novella that makes up its entirety. I bought this book purely out of the desire to possess many of the stories within its pages that I had never gotten around to reading. It was worth the price simply for the excellent quality of the book. At over 900 pages, this is a massive selection of stories, and many of them are well known, but others are less so. Some are only a couple of pages long, while others run for several chapters, each of them possesses its own style, but each fits the overall theme. I have my favorites, such as The Pit and the Pendulum, but there were many that I read for the first time. I enjoyed The Turn of the Screw, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. Many of these stories are from the late 19th century and the early 20th century, and the language used can be a little jarring for those who have not read books from those time periods before.

    As I said earlier, this isn't the typical review. It is hard to give the contents a review, and with such a great variety of works, it becomes hard to provide an overall grading. So I'll do my best and rate this book on the quality of the product, the overall quality of the range of contents, and the selection of stories. The leather seems of good quality with a simple but well-designed cover. There were no signs of damage, and the material appears hardy and well maintained.  It is a chunky book with fifty-five stories within. That is more than I had expected, and they are well-written and great examples of the genre. There are some of my favorite stories within, which makes me a little biased, but even without those, I found this product to be a great read. I would recommend this to any horror fan, and it would be a greater recommendation to those that prefer works reflecting an earlier period in history. 

    This is an easy eight out of ten for me. The contents alone are worth the price and will satisfy any horror fan. Give this book a go if you are looking to add a collection of short stories to your book collection or if you are just looking to find some elusive tales that you might not have come across yet. If you can recommend any other classic collections of stories, let me know. Always looking for new books to add to my personal collection. 

Gothghul Hollow by Anna Stephens. Another entry into Warhammer horror, that is equal parts horror and mystery. Featuring the return of a fan favourite that I did not see coming.

 

Gothgul Hollow by Anna Stephens. A review.

    This was my first time reading anything by Anna Stephens, and I was glad I gave this entry into Warhammer horror a chance. This new sub-genre within the Black Library is rapidly proving to be my favourite, though I'm somewhat biased as Horror has always been a favourite for me. Having read a number of them now, I had a level of expectation, an idea of what to expect from future entries. Though there is a familiar formula to this book, the story proved exceptionally well written with a surprising twist towards the end. I am looking forward to what Anna Stephens will write next after this one. Hopefully, they will keep her on these characters and further the narrative. I am definitely interested in seeing what other stories the Games Workshop crew has in store.

    This story is a horror of multiple themes. We have a monster story, a haunting, a curse of sorts, and a mystery. It centers around four main protagonists and is set in the realm of Shyish during the Age of Sigmar. There is a fifth character that plays an important role, but I don't want to give too much away. The main gist of this story focuses on the history of the Gothgul family. Father and daughter stand at the heart of it all, their relationship strained by time and loss. The Hollow is under attack by some strange bloodthirsty creature, a curse upon the town and its people. As the ruling nobles, they seek to protect those within their ancestral lands though they have had little success. As the story begins, we find the creature stalking a wayward townsperson foolishly outside when the howls signal its approach. Things do not go well for him, his life ends painfully, but we are introduced to the first of our protagonists through the opening. Runar has been hired to hunt this beast down, he has brought his people with him, and they have, so far, done little more than find the bodies. The body is taken to the castle, to the awaiting Gothguls. There, along with Tiberius Grim Aaric's best friend, and Edrea's uncle, they begin the study of the corpse. A corpse that is found to be drained of blood, like all the others. Something that should be impossible, given the freshly slain nature of the corpse. There is a supernatural nature to this creature, when fired upon and injured, it seems to be unaffected by the damage inflicted upon it. Edrea theories that it is feeding on each kill, that the blood is giving it strength. This theory proves to be partly correct, but there is more to the creature than any of them have realized.

    All that is happening in this tale is related to events in the past. Events that Edrea is unaware of but are tied to her. There is much that Aaric has not told her about her mother, Hephzibah. Edrea is adamant that her father is lying to her about something, something about her mother. Before we discover what that is, Runar has taken to hunting the creature down. It is a hunt that goes badly for Runar and his companions. Some discoveries are made through his interaction with the entity.  Those discoveries come at the cost of those Runar holds dear, however. It almost costs the hunter his life also. The timely arrival of Edrea and her father saves Runar from meeting his demise and reveals more of the entity's nature. The next part of the story plays out in the castle, Runar waking to a strange vision that leads to a blood binding coming to each of the four protagonists. After this occurs, the story of the events leading to Hephzibah's death is revealed, along with some family secrets. 

    After discovering what happened to her family before her birth, Edrea is more determined to bring this event to a close. The events spiral into a conclusion of desperate battle as they enact a final gambit. Stephens does a great job of taking this in a direction I did not see coming, revealing a character I had not read in years. This reintroduction is startling, a message brought with them that tells of far greater danger to come. This is a much-changed version to the one I knew, and there is enough revealed to make me each for the next outing. With this being a horror/mystery tale, I have done my best not to spoil anything, hopefully, the above covers enough to pique your interest. 

    This is an easy 8 out of 10 stars. It is a well-written book with great action sequences and amazingly fleshed-out characters. I would recommend this book to any fan of horror novels, mystery novels, and the Age of Sigmar books. Give it a look if you're looking for anything new and are interested in one of the best stories from Warhammer Horror novels.

Dog Soldiers. Possibly the most British horror film I have ever seen, has several of my favourite actors in it and some of the best humour around.

 

Dog Soldiers, a review.

    It is, without doubt, one of the best horror comedies around. I will happily argue with anyone who thinks otherwise. The premise is simple. A unit of soldiers against a pack of werewolves. You couldn't go wrong, and the film delivers brilliantly. With great performances from the familiar faces, Sean Pertwee, Liam Cunningham, and Kevin McKidd, the film is well-acted but never takes itself too seriously. Being brought up with the type of humor on show in the film, it hit all the notes for the comedy elements, and I loved the banter that is so familiar having grown up in Britain. 

    The film opens up with a couple camping in Scotland, near Fort William, a heavily wooded area with little else around. During the night they are attacked in their tent and slain rather bloodily by some unseen killer. We then flash to another scene as Corporal Cooper seeks to evade capture as he attempts selection for special operations. Here we are introduced to Liam Cunnigham's Captain Ryan, the man in charge of his selection, as he issues an order that Cooper will refuse to obey. Cooper makes a big mistake and hits Ryan after the Captain heartlessly kills a dog for no reason other than to punish Cooper. This action will play out in the film as it unfolds. We then flash forward to Scotland once more as Cooper's squad is deployed by helicopter. Amid the trees, the squad falls into position, and we are introduced to our protagonists. Here we have Sarge, Spoon, Joe, Cooper, Terry, and Bruce as they take up a position, and the banter begins, Joe rueing that he is out here on exercise as the footy is on. The exercise is against Special Forces, and none of them are happy to be out in the woods, but the Sarge has them soon moving out. Things play out fairly quietly as they move deeper into 'enemy' territory, watched by Captain Ryan. The squad moving as they are expected to by the Special Forces. After a campsite story by Sarge, things begin to speed up as something attacks the Special forces out of the night. Tracking the trail of a dead cow our Squad finds where the cow had been attacked. At that moment, a flare goes up, and they seek out those that sent it up. The squad finds the Special forces camp and a severely wounded Ryan. It looks to be the sight of an attack, and yet they find no sign of what attacked them. The rest of his unit appears to have been taken amid the attack, and some of their fallen guns haven't been fired, which is unusual. The squad exchanges their guns for those around them and sets about treating the injured Ryan, all the time working to get the comms up and working. They discover that their own comms had been bugged and that the other comms are too damaged to work. Within moments we hear the first howl, and they quickly begin a staggered retreat. As they flee this danger, we see no sign of what is attacking them. We get the impression of something moving fast, gunfire loud as they seek to hold them back. Bruce holds the rearguard as they flee, and he meets a grisly end, impaled upon a tree branch as he flees pursuit. Sarge goes back and is slashed open after finding Bruce's remains. We get a glimpse of his attacker as Cooper comes back to save him. These scenes are well shot the forest dark as they flee through at speed, the camera moving quickly as it pursues them. Fortune appears to be with them as they stumble onto a car, piling into it hurriedly. 

    From here, we travel to the house, driven there by the mysterious Megan. This house is where the rest of the film will play out, the squad falling out and securing the place for an upcoming assault. Ryan is seen to be getting better as the squad settles in. Megan and Cooper set about treating Sarge's injuries in a bloody but amusing scene as the rest of the squad move to make the house more defensible. Here we get the idea that they are being hunted by Werewolves, Megan speaking as if she had been expecting some kind of rescue. Cooper is reluctant to believe that their enemies are Werewolves. He continues to operate as if he is facing a normal enemy until the first attack comes. Ryan's improved state has not escaped notice, and we get a verbal confrontation as Cooper questions the superior officer, Ryan avoiding the questions as it escalates to violence. Here we see that his wound has healed, and he is bound to his chair, moments before the Werewolves attack. The action is frantic as they fight to survive, gunfire rapid as they are assaulted from multiple points of ingress. Here we get an iconic scene as Cooper rushes upstairs to Sarge as one of the Werewolves climbs in from the window and looms over the unconscious soldier. After a desperate fight, Cooper and Sarge push back their attackers, Terry is taken as he turns his back on an open window, his screams loud as Megan rushes to the broken window and watches him being pulled into the night. This hits the squad hard, and Cooper struggles with the responsibilities of command now thrust upon him. Again we get more of the backstory as a relationship between Ryan and Megan is revealed, the bound Ryan's biting comments winding up those around him. Again the dialogue is witty and keeps your attention in the lulls between action, each part important to the overall story. A decision is made to make a break for it, with Megan divulging to the group that there is another car in the barn. At this point, Joe is eager to make the move for the car, mostly to get him away from Ryan and his constant mockery. They just need a diversion. I always enjoy this scene as Joe books it for the barn and Spoon shouts out a challenge to the wolves, flare held defiantly. Things, of course, do not turn out well. Joe makes it to the barn in time to watch Terry die and barely escapes in the car. The animatronics on the werewolves is done well, and the use of blood and gore is not overdone. It is done well considering the age of the film and the use of practical effects rather than CGI. Unfortunately for Joe, another werewolf is in the back of the landrover, and he meets his death with a knife in hand.

    The events leave them suitably demoralized, and we get more hints to the background of the werewolves as another interrogation of Ryan begins. The scene plays out well, as Cunnigham is both mocking and manipulative as he works around Cooper's questioning before finally giving them the answers they seek. He explains how this entire situation came about, how he led the team to take a werewolf captive and return it to the research division, how he used Cooper's squad as bait in retaliation for Cooper's strike against him in selection. Sarge and Cooper don't handle this well, and Ryan is knocked to his knees. Here we see him begin his change, infected by the injuries he had taken in the first attack, and I love how everyone reacts with fright to his sudden reemergence from behind the table. Now we know that anyone can be turned if injured by the werewolves, and not solely from a bite. Things escalate further as a desperate attempt is made to take out all the wolves at once, Megan providing the idea that they may all be using the barn as a sort of den. It turns out that this is nothing more than a deception, and she has been one of the pack this entire time. Here on out, it is a fight to survive for our three remaining soldiers. Spoon makes a desperate last stand and does well for the most part, but he is soon brought down and torn to pieces. Sarge and Cooper move from one room to the next as they try to survive until Sarge makes a stand and forces Cooper into the cellar, the change fighting to overtake him. It is fair to say that Sarge goes out with a bang. Here we have a final confrontation between Cooper and Ryan, the werewolf smacking the soldier about before Sam comes to his rescue, the dog attacking the werewolf just long enough for Cooper to find his salvation.

    I have to say that I love the action, the humor, and the interplay that dominates this film. It will remain one that I can happily watch over and again. Pertwee and Cunningham are good in their roles, but this film is dominated by McKidd's Cooper. Thankfully it is carried well, and it flows effortlessly from scene to scene. It is a good mix of humor and horror, and the very Britishness of the film is what makes it work for me. I would highly recommend this film to any horror fan, more so to those that enjoy a splash of humor and easy banter in their films. So if you haven't seen this film yet, what are you waiting for?

      I give this film an easy 5 out of 5. Watch the damned thing! Let me know what you think and what your take is on this blend of comedy and horror.