Author | Critic
Niall Howell’s Only Pretty Damned is a seriously impressive debut, showcasing a sophisticated sense of craft and a deep understanding of its genre’s genealogy. Centered on a traveling circus making its way through the unforgiving environs of post-WWII America and Canada, Damned is steeped in richly detailed sociohistorical texture.
My debut novel Shelter for the Damned is scheduled for a February 26, 2021 release through Journalstone.
More updates to come!
Today on Ink Heist, we are excited to welcome author Mike Thorn to the site with a list of his 50 favorite Horror films from the last decade. If there is one thing we love as much as dark fiction here at Ink Heist, it’s dark films. We watch a TON of movies throughout the year, and it seems like every time we hit our streaming services, we struggle to find things we haven’t seen. That’s where Mike’s list comes in handy and another reason why it’s so interesting. There is a good balance of more well-known mainstream films mixed with titles that are a little more obscure. A huge thanks to Mike for sharing this list with us. Not only did we find a lot of films we want to check out, we think it will generate a good discussion. What are some of your favorite Horror films?
“This is a duo of brutal stories from writer Mike Thorn. Tied together by the theme of fulfilling a debt to a supernatural creature, the stories differ on their endings between hope for the future and dread.”
“Exhumation started off creepy, progressed to f***ed up and stayed firmly in that position until the very end.”
BOOKS
Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers, by Erin Emily Ann Vance (2019)
And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, by Gwendolyn Kiste (2017)
Arctic Smoke, by Randy Nikkel Schroeder (2019)
Autobiography of Childhood, by Sina Queyras (2011)
Burqa of Skin, by Nelly Arcan (2011)
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, by Thomas Ligotti (2011)
Daddy Love, by Joyce Carol Oates (2013)
A Dark Matter, by Peter Straub (2010)
Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King (2010)
Full-Metal Indigiqueer, by Joshua Whitehead (2017)
Home, by Toni Morrison (2011)
Horror of Philosophy, vols. 1-3, by Eugene Thacker (2011-2015)
Monoceros, by Suzette Mayr (2011)
Oil on Water, by Helon Habila (2010)
On an Ungrounded Earth: Towards a New Geophilosophy, by Ben Woodard (2013)
Only Pretty Damned, by Niall Howell (2019)
Open City, by Teju Cole (2011)
Point Omega, by Don DeLillo (2010)
Son of a Trickster, by Eden Robinson (2017)
Strange is the Night, by S. P. Miskowski (2017)
The Streets, by Robert Dunbar (2015)
The Thing: A Phenomenology of Horror, by Dylan Trigg (2014)
What is Not Yours is Not Yours, by Helen Oyeyemi (2016)
Where the Sun Shines Best, by Austin Clarke (2013)
The Wilderness Within, by John Claude Smith (2017)
FILMS
4:44 Last Day on Earth, dir. Abel Ferrara (2011)
Almayer’s Folly, dir. Chantal Akerman (2011)
The Assassin, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien (2015)
Bitter Money, dir. Wang Bing (2016)
Blackhat, dir. Michael Mann (2015)
Cityscape, dir. Michael Snow (2019)
Cosmopolis, dir. David Cronenberg (2012)
Crazy Horse, dir. Frederick Wiseman (2011)
Djinn, dir. Tobe Hooper (2013)
J. Edgar, dir. Clint Eastwood (2011)
Jauja, dir. Lisandro Alonso (2014)
Journey to the Shore, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2015)
Knock Knock, dir. Eli Roth (2015)
Like Someone in Love, dir. Abbas Kiarostami (2012)
The Lords of Salem, dir. Rob Zombie (2012)
Mekong Hotel, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2012)
The Other Side of the Wind, dir. Orson Welles (2018)
People That Are Not Me, dir. Hadas ben Aroya (2016)
Shutter Island, dir. Martin Scorsese (2010)
Stemple Pass, dir. James Benning (2012)
Three Landscapes, dir. Peter B. Hutton (2013)
A Touch of Sin, dir. Jia Zhangke (2013)
Twin Peaks: The Return, dir. David Lynch (2017)
Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey, dir. Terrence Malick (2016)
ALBUMS
★, by David Bowie (2016)
Bring on the Sun, by Laraaji (2017)
Circle the Wagons, by Darkthrone (2010)
Concrete Desert, by The Bug vs Earth (2017)
Conversations with Myself, by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (2011)
Conversion, by Jacob Kirkegaard (2013)
Copper Lock Hell, by Khost (2014)
Destiny Calls, by Chevalier (2019)
Ett, by Klara Lewis (2014)
Every Day I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came, by Jesu (2013)
Firepower, by Judas Priest (2018)
Heaven Upside Down, by Marilyn Manson (2017)
Lost Themes II, by John Carpenter (2016)
Lulu, by Lou Reed & Metallica (2011)
NV, by Gnaw Their Tongues & Dragged Into Sunlight (2015)
Ornitheology, by Chubby Wolf (2010)
A Paean to Wilson, by The Durutti Column (2010)
Post Self, by Godflesh (2017)
Posthuman, by JK Flesh (2012)
Pylon, by Killing Joke (2015)
Skeleton Keys, by Steve Roach (2015)
Tempest, by Bob Dylan (2012)
Universal Themes, by Sun Kil Moon (2015)
Utilitarian, by Napalm Death (2012)
Yeezus, by Kanye West (2013)
The folks at Cinematary invited me to submit a ballot for their Best Films of 2019 Critics Survey; their rules were different from Seventh Row‘s, so my list was also different.
The folks at Seventh Row invited me to submit a ballot for their Best Films of 2019 Critics Survey.
