Gareth Wood
@garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
68 followers 84 following 150 posts
Back from the ether. Blue City born. SFF/Folk Horror writer. ‘At Night, White Bracken’ out now from Stairwell Books, ‘To Those from Below’ coming April 2026.
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This morning’s film…’Return of the Living Dead.’ Well and truly back into classic territory. Nothing not to love. Good old Muckman, the tragic torso and her post-death agonies, trap-laying zombies and the worst first day any job’s ever seen. Love every single second of this.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s film… esoteric lonely hearts, schnapps-addled wizard mutates forlorn hidden witch into cutest four-legged murderer around. Bloody sleighs, acute face acting, snow-covered merriment and wonderful photography of the heartsick doomed and the incredible landscape.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s film… ‘The Ambulance’, 1990. Once more into the Cohen-verse, gloriously tilted dialogue in non-stop sinister urban paranoia territory, James Earl Jones chewing gum with a dagger in his chest, Eric Roberts mullet jitterbug, Megan Gallagher holding it all together. Diabetics beware.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
I’m very proud to be taking part in this panel at the upcoming World Fantasy Con in Brighton. I’ll also be reading live on the Friday evening. It’s a stacked weekend programme with some unreal guests, including Ramsey Campbell, Joe Hill and Suniti Namjoshi. A massive privilege to be part of this.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
This morning’s film… Brilliant collision of ‘Elm Street’ and ‘Candyman’ with a Fritz Lang undead noir dream freak monster. Has the feel of a film which deserves to be bigger. Jittery somnolent fun, wonderfully shot, some fantastic moments, overall blast.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Tonight’s film… less ‘Blade’ more silver spoon, the foppy horror show, stylised enough to be flash, restrained enough to be somewhat charming, with some deadpan hits and likeable supporting characters treading the gory boards. Not for me overall, but far from shite.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s film… game of two halves, started out as creepy question time in occult property, but dropped off like a guillotined bonce at the midpoint, becoming a meandering, tension-free scrape through pointless rooms and stabby jumps. The three leads were great throughout.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s film… “i’m runnin this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!” Powerhouse Joe Pilato nearly steals the show from Tom Savini’s uber-tier grue, but it’s Romero - as ever - who bosses the work with increasingly claustrophobic feels and bigger questions uttered through gory art. Never tires.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Five days barging with my loves. Fantastic trip, with head-whirring aqueduct crossings and tunnels within which to vanish. Lit by the Hunter’s super moon.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s watch… protagonist and antagonist splendour in coke-wild collision of sound image and lunacy, Chopper Hopper adds to the wonderful oddities, Tobe made a great flick here, taken too long for many to dig, Stretch for President.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Tonights film, ‘Scanners’, well into classic land, nefarious heads blown to smithereens, nihilistic dream logic in shopping mall psychic dystopia, Ironside of a thousand celluloid deaths, ‘Cronenberg’ is an anagram of ‘whatafuckinfilm.’
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Last night’s film: ‘The Old Dark House.’ They don’t come more classic than this; storm-driven strangers, the Femm’s like gin and spuds, social commentary by the fire, pud-faced Morgan’s got the horn, don’t let Saul out for fucks sake. As good as it gets. Lovely.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
This morning’s watch: ‘V/H/S Halloween.’ Only actors who can hyperventilate need apply, all blender cam and CG-eye, loud gobs for shocks, schlock-bottom with copy and paste pensioner teens who are easy to hate, no stakes all sauce. Hypnotoad it ain’t.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Breakfast horror today: ‘Werewolf’s Shadow’ aka ‘The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman’. Naschy’s Daninsky in full-moon punch-up with soft-focussed fang maidens in euro-dubbed arid seventies fur sleaze. A blast.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Tonight’s film was ‘Frewaka.’ Tragic, eerie, beset with strikingly effective imagery and paced for kinetic nightmares, entire cast delivered the devil-horned goods, with special recognition for the wonderful Bríd Ní Neachtain. Piss under the door to keep them out.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Started the day with ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters.’ A favourite Fulci, unforgettably blessed with splinter-popped eyes, shark versus zombie slow-mo coral brawls, genuinely rotten undead wormy at the stroll and Fabio Frizzi’s sinister head-nodder. The balls.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Next up was ‘Halloween 4.’ Pure Haddonfield pulp, with carrier-bag-masked Myers wreaking stalky havoc on easily assembled boozer mobs and forty-something shampoo teens. Autumnal as it gets, with rusty leaves aplenty and some gnarly gore. Worth the 90 minutes, fun throughout.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
The best month begins; 31 days of horror films. Started with ‘Return of The Living Dead Part 3’ this morning. Brekkie and immense prosthetic gore; doomed love via torn-out spines and exo-skeletal dosser zombies. Cracker.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Ronald Kray (24 October 1933 – 17 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 1933 – 1 October 2000) were English gangsters or organised crime figures and identical twinbrothers from Haggerston who were prominent from the late 1950s until their arrest in 1968.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
I think everything in there predates the current nationalist malarkey.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
20km return wander today for a single pint at Three Kings Inn, Church End. A curiously ancient boozer, nestled in a pocket of the past, merrily haunted by a century of clinks and pours.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Lunch with Godzilla at the top of the town.
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
Bass in the snug
Books on the brain
Bats in the belfry
garethwoodwrites.bsky.social
As am I! It’ll be my first.