CD Review: Fears in the Water by The Vincent Black Shadow

The Vincent Black Shadow is the new band formed by horror crooner Nim Vind and man, are they great! I'm telling you, this band is going to hit it big. With a sound similar to early No Doubt, but infinitely cooler, TVBS's debut album Fears in the Water is one that's constantly playing on my MP3 player. Female lead singer Cassandra Ford easily transcends the musical diversity the band pumps out, from guitar-driven rockers to mellow, lounge-esque crooners and she proves that she has the pipes to make it work. I can't think of another debut that so instantaneously grabbed my eardrums and provided them with such auditory pleasure! Fears in the Water gets ***** out of *****. Pick up your copy today, and you'll know what's hot before it even comes to temperature.

DVD Review: Big Bad Wolf

I love werewolf movies! The bad thing about loving the lycanthrope genre, is that not much good viewing or reading material comes from it. Other than the Ginger Snaps trilogy and Dog Soldiers, there haven't been many good movies about the hairy wolfman. But, thanks to writer/director Lance W. Dreesen, Big Bad Wolf can be added to that small list of worthwhile werewolf fare! I really liked this movie. The direction and acting were right on and there was enough gore to make a gorehound like me happy. The nice balance of seriousness and humor is what made this movie work. Well, that and having a cool looking werewolf! I could have had the werewolf talk a little less, but that's a minor complaint, because the overall film was very good. The story revolves around Derek Cowley and his sneaking suspicion that his step-father is a werewolf. After all, the guy has a secluded cabin in the woods and he always leaves on business meetings during the time of the full moon every month. After a rash of deaths, Derek and his friend Samantha, are left to discover the truth behind his step-father's timely disappearances. Big Bad Wolf solidly takes a place next to the other werewolf films listed above as well worth watching! I give it **** out of *****.

Book Review: Wicked Things by Thomas Tessier

Wicked Things is Thomas Tessier's first original novel in ten years. That being said, I hope he has more up his sleeve than just this story. I was really let down by this book. Oddly enough, I found myself reading and reading, even though nothing was really happening. It always felt as if something was on the verge of happening and then...nothing. The ending sort of rushes in on you and I actually had to read the last page twice to realize what happened. The story revolves around insurance investigator Jack Carlson and his investigation onto a series of strange deaths in the sleepy little town of Winship. The town is the ideal small town, but it has a dark secret. Can Jack overcome the roaming gangs, the secret religious sect, the town's red light district and the rash of murder/suicides that take place upon his arrival? In the end, reading this book gave me the exact same sensation that Jack was experiencing in the book - kind of strange, almost like a bad trip, surreal and ultimately kind of boring. Wicked Things is best left for when you're really hard up for something to read and you're too broke to go to the bookstore and the library's closed. It gets * out of *****.