Film, TV & Music • Independent • Forming the Future
Author Archives
Mike Thorn
My fiction has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including DarkFuse #5, Turn to Ash Vol. 0, and Straylight Literary Arts Magazine. My criticism has appeared recently in MUBI Notebook, The Film Stage, and Vague Visages. Darkest Hours, my debut short fiction collection, is slated for a November release with Unnerving. Connect with me on Twitter @MikeThornWrites.
“Taken as a whole, ‘Too Old to Die Young’ is a summative statement on genre, aesthetics and the crumbling American psyche, delivered with a fury sublimated in neon glow. It is a major work of art.”
“Under its brutal dissembling of anthropocentrism and customary moral divides, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ points to the terror of a harsh and uncaring universe.”
“Davis’ mandate has always been to offer solace for sad kids, but his lyrics reside more often in the inescapable experiences of pain, isolation and frustration than in the pursuit of recovery.”
“While ‘The Black Cat’ does not share many explicit connections with Poe’s 1843 story, both texts use archetypal symbolism to explore painfully intimate experiences (in Poe’s case, addiction and mental disarray, and in Ulmer’s case, psychological trauma).”
“‘Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers’ succeeds not only as a realist narrative about family, loss, sex and death, but also as a quietly reflexive genre piece.”
“Ultimately, it seems that the film’s pleasant and inoffensive affect is exactly what Roth intends. The work is unassuming, competently handled and ably colored within its established lines. It aims clearly and unwaveringly to please a young target audience.”
“This filmmaker’s oeuvre has never been a showcase of ‘good taste’ or conventional demonstrations in character/story development, so why should we expect him to play by the rules now?”
“By constantly re-emphasizing Jacalyn’s inability to confront the undeniable horror of the unfolding scenario, Rocksteady achieves a powerfully oneiric tone throughout.”