Movies
[Book Review] Small Press Roundup: ‘Red Empire,’ ‘Stainless’ and ‘By the Time’
Small press horror is always a crapshoot. Better have your lady friend kiss those dice before you roll, cause with indie fiction you never know what you’re gonna get. But for some reason, an unusually stellar streak of small press titles have arrived on my doorstep the last several weeks, and pure luck may be the only explanation. A trio of novels––by authors Joe McKinney, Todd Grimson, and J. David Osborne––really stood out of the pack. And while my expectations were admittedly low, it’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised. Whether you’re intrigued by grisly vampire romance, nature vs. human smackdowns, or the horrors of Siberian prisons (and who isn‘t really?), these guys can really bring the heat. The Red Empire and Other Stories
By Joe McKinney
Redrum Horror
January 1, 2012
Joe McKinney is the author of the apocalyptic Dead Worldseries, but there’s nary a zombie to be found in The Red Empire and Other Stories. Tales about crime dominate this 9-story anthology, which makes sense when you consider that when he’s not writing, McKinney is a San Antonio police sergeant with 15 years of law enforcement experience. He throws in a couple of ghost stories and a non-fiction piece for good measure, but the highlight of the book is the title piece. In his horror novella The Red Empire, McKinney gleefully introduces mutant red ants and an escaped convict to a rain-drenched town, and cranks the ingredients into a pulpy, page-turning stew. It’s a 1950s monster movie, in story form.
3.5 Skulls out of 5
Stainless
By Todd Grimson
Schaffner Press
January 18, 2012
Todd Grimson’s vampire novel reads like a gruesome, grown-up sequel to Let Me In…except that Stainless was published 11 years before John Lindqvist’s new horror classic hit bookstores. Along with the similarly excellent Brand New Cherry Flavor, Grimson burst onto the horror lit scene back in the mid-90s with Stainless––now getting a re-release from Schaffner––but lately his literary output has been limited to short stories popping up in an online mag here and there. Too bad, cause even 15 years later, Stainless really holds up. Justine is a 400-year-old vampire; Keith is her human familiar. Moving back and forth in time, Grimson tells the story of their grim romance, from their first meeting after Keith’s hands had been maimed by drug dealers to their final confrontation with a sadistic vampire leader. Blood will flow and heads will roll, but Grimson keeps his story grounded in emotion and reality. Some will undeniably cower away from the uber-bleak characters, but Grimson is an excellent writer, and those with a renewed interest in this increasingly popular subgenre owe it to themselves to give Stainless a look.
4 Skulls out of 5
By The Time We Leave Here, We’ll Be Friends
By J. David Osborne
Swallowdown Press
December 10, 2010
It was a short story in last year’s Demons anthology that first turned me on to J. David Osborne, and it turns out his 2010 debut novel is even better than expected. This spare, violent, hallucinatory survival piece about rival Russian gangsters in a 1953 Siberian prison reads like the hard-edged framework of a richly drawn epic. Osborne sketches a vivid outline and allows his readers to make some obvious (and not so obvious) connections on their own, while constantly allowing the threat of calculated brutality to linger in the background. Speaking of brutality, a few of his stronger scenes will make even the most jaded horror lover squirm. (Hint: tattoo removal.) By The Time We Leave Here, We’ll Be Friends is a bleary, opium-addled fever dream from a highly talented new author. Osborne is one to watch.
4.5 Skulls out of 5
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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