Reed Alexander
Bio
I'm a horror author and foulmouthed critic of all things horror. New reviews posted every Sunday.
@ReedsHorror on TikTok, Blue Sky, Instagram, YouTube, and Mastodon.
Check out my books at reedshorror.com
Stories (317)
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Reed's Literary Horror Review of 'Magpie Coffin' (2020), by Wile E. Young
The protagonist of this book, Black Magpie, kinda reminds me of The Killer of Saints, from Preacher. He's entirely unlikable and that's the whole fucking point. He's grim, cruel, and far too willing to kill innocent people. If anything, Black Magpie is far less indestructible than Killer of Saints. Basically, from the setup, if you try to shoot him, you will miss due to a spell warding him from bullets. This leads to collateral damage as often people trying to shoot him will shoot others around him by accident. It's a nifty ability that doesn't make Magpie overly invincible but convinces a lot of people that he is. Basically, drop the gun and try your luck with a bowie, if you got brass balls the size of cantaloupes. That, or get your hands on the one gun that's specially warded to shoot him (this will come up later).
By Reed Alexander4 years ago in Horror
Reed's Literary Horror Review of 'Fright Train' (2021) edited by Charles R. Rutledge and Scott T. Goudsward
Opening with a run-on sentence is a baller move. It's the reader's introduction (well... past the introduction anyway) to the anthology. That's a seriously "high risk" maneuver that could instantly throw off any reader. For me, it had damn well better be a declaration of how amazing every word that follows is. It stuck out so much I had to include it in my review.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed's Horror Review of 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch' (1982)
I feel like it's impossible to talk about this movie without talking about the fact that Michael Myers isn't in it... So let me be very clear about this... WHO FUCKING CARES. Jesus fucking christ, every goddamn slasher is just another stale knockoff of another slasher going back decades. GOD FUCKING FORBID a writer or director try to do something unique and interesting without every fucking fanboy of the goddamn franchise whining like a little bitch.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Sputnik' (2020)
You know what I found to be particularly disappointing about this movie? It wasn't an Alien (1979) ripoff like I was promised. I was told this would have elements of The Thing (1982) and even Life (2017), in the good old-fashioned tradition of Russian Knockoff films. What I got instead, was an intelligent, interesting, and even complex, standalone film that holds itself upon its own merits. I was expecting Xtro 2 (1990) at worst, and Leviathain (1989) at best. I wasn't expecting this to actually be GOOD.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Anything For Jackson' (2020)
Shudder is starting to up their game with their exclusive content. This is good, because so far I've been pretty unimpressed. Out of the several selections I've already viewed, most of them were boring or outright bad. But I can honestly say that Anything For Jackson (2020) is damn good. Good enough, where I'm sure it will find a spot somewhere on my top 50. Not high, but on there, and that's an impressive feat.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed's Literary Horror Review 'At The Gates of Chaos' (2021) Edited by Scott Dyson.
I think the first thing that was really fetching about this anthology wasn't just the solid collection of stories, but also the fantastic collection of artwork proceeding each story. Kinda gives it the feel of a Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark, except for adults. The artwork was fascinating and I appreciate the added effort.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Stir of Echoes' (1999)
In my review of White Noise (2005), I asked the question, "why watch that when you can watch this instead?" They were very similar in style and even plot, but White Noise was pretty lame. I mean, it was okay, but not really worth the watch. This one is so much better AND it has Kevin Bacon in it.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Gretel and Hansel' (2020)
I suppose it wasn't bad. I have a lot of the same complaints about this movie as I did The VVitch (2015). Visually, this movie was stunning. Though it wasn't quite as beautiful as The VVitch the director put the same level of effort into making every scene a work of art. I think it even works a little better than The VVitch, even if the quality wasn't quite as good. This movie is more of a psychedelic horror like Argento's Suspiria (1977). It's visually stimulating and deeply unnerving, likely in an effort to get the audience to trip. It even used synth music in the same stylings as the old horror movies to assist in making every scene discomforting.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Blood Vessel' (2019)
A Russian, an Aussie, a Brit, and an American, bord a ship... Idontfuckingknow, maybe don't start your movie like a bad bar joke? It doesn't even make any god damn sense. On what ship, would American, Russian, and Aussie soldiers be together with British Intelligence? It's a small complaint, and really, the movie was pretty good, so it was also a complaint that I can forgive. It just annoyed me for some reason.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed's Horror Review, Castle Freak (1995) and (2020), a Comparison.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the original Castle Freak (1995) but it never really merited a full review. Compared to the other works of H. P. Lovecraft that got turned into movies (Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dagon (2001), Color Out of Space (2019)), it’s just ho-hum. The other movies are balls-out bonkers and way more entertaining. Effectively, for Castle Freak (1995), there is nothing to review.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Sinister' (2012)
Yeah, you know this movie really wasn't that bad. It got a lot of shit for shameless jump-scares and thoughtlessly rehashed tropes. Even Stephen King should be mad at this movie for stealing his "obsessed writer gets caught up in horror" trope. I kid but honestly, this did have a similar feel as dozens of Stephen King adaptations because of how often he uses the obsessed writer trope.
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'The Shed' (2020)
So far, I've been pretty disappointed with the majority of Shudder Originals, save Mayhem (2020), which was a fucking hoot. Basically, Shudder is 1-3 here and Mayhem doesn't quite make up for the other three films. However, if you want the 'too long; didn't read' version of this review, it would be "Watch Mayhem instead."
By Reed Alexander5 years ago in Horror
