Connect with us

News

Mike Thorn Brings Illumination to the “Darkest Hours”

Published

on

If you ever want to have a truly fascinating conversation, ask an author about his or her work.  Seriously, there are few things more riveting than listening to the inspiration and their personal process of writing, and even more, the subjects that sparked an author’s imagination that brought a story to life.  Fortunately for me, I get to do that a lot, and Mike Thorn, whose recent debut anthology Darkest Hours just released, had plenty to say about his work and his process.

This particular anthology came together for the author when he answered a call for unsolicited manuscripts.

“Most of the stories I pulled together had been written over a period of two years,” Thorn says.  “I realized that there were certain recurring fixations and thematic tones that I thought worked well together in a close, concentrated way.”

Consisting of sixteen stories, eight of which had previously been published previously, Darkest Hours was soon well on its way to publishing.  The collection delves deep into the human psyche, specifically into the realm of obsession and anxiety, with a deft and practiced hand.

“I always talk about my writing as a defensive thing,” the author explains.  “I figure if I’m feeling a certain anxiety or negative impulses then these are things that other readers can relate to, as well.  Mainly what I’m trying to do for myself and them is trying to fight off the things that terrify us.”

The author fulfills that promise sixteen fold.  Each tale pushes the reader to confront those things that make us uncomfortable with the author as our personal Virgil leading us through the Inferno he created.

Take for instance the very first story in the collection simply titled “Hair”.  It centers on a young man with an unhealthy fixation on hair.  His fetish sends him to unhealthy lengths that all begins with finding his own hair wrapped around the asparagus he’s eating for dinner.

“It came from a desire to write something that was specifically about addiction through the lens of genre horror.  Going into it, I didn’t know that it would turn into the kind of body horror piece that it became,” he says, “but I did pick up on that phobic reaction, kind of like an automatic affective reaction of finding hair in unwanted places.  And it also dawned on me that I hadn’t seen anyone deal with that before in a horror story so I thought it was a great opportunity to explore addiction in a unique and disturbing way, as you said.”

Then there’s “The Auteur” in which a video store clerk finds out what true horror is when he’s made the subject of his co-worker’s film.

“Part of that was me reflecting back on a time when I worked as a video store clerk in my teens so I wanted to write about that environment,” Thorn points out.  “The vibe of a video store is distinct and it’s now kind of a relic and so I wanted to write about that, but I also wanted to write about my love for horror films.  I think there was also an unintentional homage to a Kathe Koja novel called The Cipher in there, as well.  I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but looking back, it’s definitely there.”

The author has a whole host of writing influences and authors who inspire him.  From obvious choices like Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe to the reclusive Thomas Ligotti and the prolific Joyce Carol Oates, the great authors have informed his work and yet his voice is entirely unique.

Darkest Hours is currently available on both digital and paperback formats from a whole host of online sellers including Amazon and you can keep up with all the latest updates from the author about his future work as well as his own critiques and reviews of horror films and fiction on his website.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

on

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

on

Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading