Movie Review: Bad Biology (2008)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer

Frank Henenlotter returns to the horror scene in top-notch form and with guns blazing!! Two questions for Mr. Henenlotter: Where the hell have you been; and why did it take you so long to come back? If you’ve read my review of Henenlotter’s Basket Case you already know that I love not only his movies but Henenlotter himself. Henenlotter is a no-holds-barred filmmaker who hasn’t compromised his vision or style over the years. He’s a throwback to the …

Horror Book Review: First Time Dead 2 (2011)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Anthology books, like films, are a mixed bag. Sometimes it takes me a loooong time to get through anthologies. With a novel you can get into the characters and before you know it read 75 pages at one sitting. In anthologies you never get that consistency of characters because after 10-15 pages the story is over and you need to “get into” a new plot with all new characters. Luckily with FIRST TIME DEAD 2 I didn’t experience that. Sure we …

Star Wars: Death Troopers (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Well I couldn’t leave well enough alone. After reading the zombie-STAR TREK
convention mash-up NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES, and loving it (see review
here) I had to try out the STAR WARS-zombie mash-up DEATH TROOPERS. DEATH
TROOPERS is written in a very different style than TREKKIES but is still a really fun
read that has a few surprises.
DEATH TROOPERS, which takes places about 19 years before STAR WARS: A NEW
HOPE, opens up on the Purge, an Imperial prison barge that is transporting 500 of the
galaxy’s most …

Quarantined (2009)
Author: Joe McKinney
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
He did it again. Joe McKinney, author of QUARANTINED, once again managed to write yet another novel with great characters, a fast-paced plot, and this time even throws in a conspiracy. This is the third novel I’ve read by McKinney (his other two are DEAD CITY and APOCALYPSE OF THE DEAD) and I’m amazed with everything I read by him. The previous two McKinney novels I read were two of the best zombie books I’ve read in a really long time. DEAD CITY (2006) tells …

End of the Line (2007)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
The second half of the previous decade brought with it an important resurgence of the slasher sub-genre. Such flicks like Hatchet (2006), Laid to Rest (2009), and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) took the tired and clichéd slasher sub-genre and gave it a much needed shot in the ass. Hatchet director Adam Green took us back to the basics and gave us an old school-1980’s slasher flick full of gore and overall fun (Green even casted Kane Hodder as the …

Night of the Living Trekkies (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
I am totally geeking out here everyone. I fully embrace that when it comes to the horror genre I’m a complete geek. I could care less about the Tom Cruises of the world; just give me Sid Haig, Doug Bradley, or Pascal Laugier and I’m a happy man. But the novel I just finished, NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall, is perhaps the biggest geek merger of all time. Now I must say for the record that …

The Dragon Factory (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Well I’m doing a great job at keeping my New Year’s resolution of reading and reviewing more horror books for http://www.anythinghorror.com. But even though I’m getting through a bunch of novels this isn’t to say I’m staying current on recent releases. THE DRAGON FACTORY, written by Jonathan Maberry, came out last year and is the second book in his “Joe Ledger” series. The first in this series was PATIENT ZERO (2009) and introduced the character of Joe Ledger and the uber-secret …

Horror Book Review: Dead City (2006)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Expectations. Sometimes expectations can really ruin your day. I first heard about DEAD CITY (first published in 2006) around 2008 and was really eager to read it. It’s written by a San Antonio police officer Joe McKinney and San Antonio is a stone’s throw away from where I live (Austin). But besides the geography I wanted to read DEAD CITY because I heard it was a bad ass zombie novel. So I went to my local Barnes and Noble; nothing. I went to …

Insane (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
I think it’s now safe to say that I just don’t enjoy horror flicks from snow-bound foreign
countries. I absolutely hated COLD PREY; DEAD SNOW had great gore but such
a slow pace that I almost turned it off before we even got to the gore; and HIDDEN
offered nothing new and was also hindered by a terribly slow pace. Now we get
INSANE coming at us from Sweden that again offers us nothing new and in fact
parallels the story of COLD PREY a little too closely to not warrant suspicion.
Stop …

Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys (2010)
Reviewed by Scott Shoyer
Pretty bizarre title, isn’t it? Well guess what; it’s a pretty damn bizarre novel as well!! If you remember way back in June 2010 I reviewed a novel titled ASS GOBLINS OF AUSCHWITZ by Cameron Pierce. ASS GOBLINS was part of a sub-sub-genre called “Bizarro Fiction,” in which stories have a strong focus on weirdness. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE FLYING ZOMBIE DEATH MONKEYS isn’t as crazy as a novel in the bizarro fiction genre, but it carves out it’s …

The Troll Hunter
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie in a really long time as I had with THE TROLL HUNTER. This Norwegian film takes the familiar set-up of the “found footage” genre and really does it right. We may not get a genre-defining film here but we get a hugely entertaining mock-doc filled with great acting, an incredibly well thought out story, and fantastic special effects.
I’ve been following THE TROLL HUNTER for quite some time now from first hearing about it, to …

Shellter (2009)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Wow.  My head is still reeling after watching this one.  SHELLTER took me completely by surprise and is easily the most disturbing, violent, hateful, bloody, and intense film that doesn’t offer even one thin gimmer of hope … and I fucking loved every second of it.  Written and directed by Dan Donley (who also did the cinematography), SHELLTER is a well acted and well paced horror film that will have you shocked at how evil human beings can be towards each other.
The story starts with Zoey (Cari …

Horror Book Review:  Apocalypse of the Dead (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer 
It’s amazing how one writer can “get” what makes the zombie novel so goddamn enthralling while other writers, talented writers, completely miss the mark.  Not too long ago I posted my review of Joe McKinney’‘s DEAD CITY (see review here) and praised it for capturing the elements that makes the zombie novel so much fun.  I also appreciated that McKinney only had about 2-3 main characters (by my count at least) and had the entire novel take place during one horrify …

Book Review: Ass Goblins of Auschwitz, by Cameron Pierce (2009)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
Wow; what a truly bizarre read. I must thank author Cameron Pierce for doing
something that I thought was impossible. Pierce introduced me to a new sub-genre
within the world of horror; the world of Bizarro Fiction. I’m gonna first talk a little about
this sub-genre and then get to Pierce’s novel, Ass Goblins of Auschwitz.
Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre (it can be traced it back to 1999 with
the origin of Eraserhead Press) in which …

Horror Book Review:  The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse! (2010)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer
I know when I posted my first book review of 2011 that I resolved to read and review more books, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job sticking to it.  But I didn’t realize that the stack of books I have on my refrigerator are ALL ZOMBIE BOOKS.  Seriously; all I have are zombie short story anthologies and zombie novels.  What can I say?  I really love zombies.  I’ve been really lucky in that the last two …

Season of the Witch (2011)
SEASON OF THE WITCH gets the distinction of being the first film made/released in 2011 that I’ve seen and reviewed.  I’ve been reading about this one for a while now and considering I’ve been getting a ton of updates on it it was released with very little fanfare.  It’s always a warning sign when a big studio tries to slip one in past the goalie and release a film with little promotion.  Are they embarrassed by the final product?  Are they unsure of how to promote …

Horror Book Review: Angel of Vengeance (2010)

Author: Trevor O. Munson

Reviewer: Scott Shoyer

I think by now it’s no mystery that I absolutely hate the sparkly, depressed, goth-like vampires of the TWILIGHT series. No mystery right? Well in general vampires have never really been my thing. I love the original FRIGHT NIGHT, NEAR DARK,
Carpenter’s VAMPIRES, and maybe a handful of other vampire flicks, and absolutely love Brian Lumley’s vampire series NECROSCOPE. But this contemporary view of the vampire is lame, limp, and lethargic. So when …

Street Trash (1987)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer

Grindhouse Cinema. If you’re reading this blog then I bet you’ve heard of it. But for younger readers who think this is only the title of a joint venture between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez then let me take a second and talk about this genre. Grindhouse flicks are, simply put, exploitation flicks that contain all or any of the following elements: Loads of nudity; excessive violence; explicit and extreme gore; and plots based on ideas that the mainstream wouldn’t dare make a movie about.
“Grindhouse” is …

Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011)
Reviewer: Scott Shoyer of www.anythinghorror.com
Well it’s finally here!! I’ve been covering MEGA PYTHON VS. GATOROID (premiered on Saturday, January 29th at 9pm ET/PT) since the early summer, 2010. We all know it stars former teen pop idols Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, has a Monkee in it, and has a gaggle of large-ass snakes and gators … but does SyFy pull off “the television movie event of 2011,” as the press release promises, or are we left feeling disappointed and let down (kind of like we were …

I’d like to welcome and introduce you to Horrorphilia’s newest reviewer, Scott Shoyer from www.anythinghorror.com. Its a genuine pleasure to have another writer on staff  of his caliber. In the upcoming future he will be providing Horror Book and Movie Reviews and also some awesome Interviews. Stay tuned for all this killer content and much more, so make sure you check out his horror site www.anythinghorror.com for even more horror awesomeness. First though, check out his first reviews for the site, two book reviews by novelist Joe McKinney.

Horror Book Review: …