Film Review: Into The West (1992) *** out of *****

Written by Oscar nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan, and directed by Mike Newell, the director of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, Into The West (1992) , released in 1992, is a charming little family film that comes across as something Anthony Trollope might have written, with a dash of magical realism thrown in for good measure.

The story follows two young boys, Tito and Ossie, and their adventures when a beautiful white pony suddenly emerges out of nowhere and into their lives.

This was Director Mike Newell’s first foray into fantasy, years before finding massive success with Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005).

The film’s first half is almost flawless, depicting the poor with humor, humanity, and a dignity rarely seen in mainstream movies and the score by Patrick Doyle is gorgeous. But the second half stumbles quite a bit, with the villains coming off as mere caricatures, and the plot getting more and more far fetched and lazy.

But this is a sentimental, warm-hearted film for all the family, and one which has many moments of true magic.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

Watch/Listen to the video version:

Book Review: STORIES. Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. *** and a 1\2 out of *****

I fell out of love with short story anthologies a long time ago. There are dozens of them published every year, and only a handful that are worth the paper they are printed on. The deciding factor, always, is the editor. Stories, an anthology of tales that span many genres, but with a special focus on the fantastic, and edited by author Neil Gaiman and author and veteran editor Al Sarrantonio, is, for the most part, one of the better ones.

In his introduction to the collection of stories, Neil Gaiman says that all good stories, regardless the genre, have to have this one factor: While turning the pages, the reader has to keep asking him/herself, "And then what happened?". Out of the 27 stories included here, 16 had me asking that question as I lost myself in the tales. 16 out of 27 ain't bad, right? So, in my book, that makes this collection a success.

Out of these 16 stories, stand-outs include "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains" by Neil Gaiman, a thrilling story of revenge and magic; "Unbelief" by Michael Marshall Smith, a clever little tale about a hitman, with a neat twist; "The Stars Are Falling" by the incomparable Joe R. Lansdale, a touching and highly atmospheric story about a man who returns from a war to discover that the life he left, including a loving wife and a son, no longer exists; "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" by Jeffrey Ford, a wonderfully weird tale about two lovers stuck in time, that hops genres with astounding ease; "Leif In The Wind" by Gene Wolfe, a disturbing Sci-Fi tale that manages to pull off in 13 pages what many writers fail to achieve in a novel; "The Therapist" by Jeffrey Deaver, a clever tale about a psychopath who thinks he's possessed; "Parallel Lines" by Tim Powers, an entertaining ghost story; "The Cult Of The Nose" by Al Sarrantonio, a superb psychological horror story, and the best tale included here; "Stories" by Michael Moorcock, a touching and compelling tale about the lives of writers; "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon"  by Elizabeth Hand, a wonderfully moving story about a group of friends who set out to recreate a film for a dying friend; and "The Devil On The Staircase" by Joe Hill, a frightening tale about a boy from a poor village who comes face to face with a devil, and how that encounter changes him forever.

So if you are in the mood for a bunch of good short stories, some of them true examples of the art form, then look no further. Stories is it.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2013 - 2021.

Video Version:

 

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

The Dark Fantastic is sponsored by VHS Books:

Quick Review: THE OA: Season 1 (2016)

Another high-profile, critically-acclaimed Netflix original series, The OA: Season 1 (2016) is a massively disappointing foray into psychological Sci-Fi, with heavy-handed dialogue, humorless performances, and lackluster plotting.

It is all the more disappointing since the pilot is so impressive and visually majestic, right up to the final shot. But as the series progresses, the story gets thinner, the characters more annoying, and the tone more pretentious. It all leads up to an unrewarding and terribly exploitive finale, which is borderline insulting to viewers who'd stuck with it till the end. Avoid.

All episodes written by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij. Directed by Zal Batmanglij.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2017

Book Review: RUNNING WITH THE DEMON (1997) by Terry Brooks

Brook's finest work, Running With The Demon is the best dark fantasy/horror novel you've never read. The prose is lean, the autumnal atmosphere hypnotic, and the evil strange and frightening. This is a grand tale of good versus evil, with terrific characters and a whopper of an ending. Unmissable.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2015-2016.

Book Review: THE LEFTOVERS by Tom Perrotta

Original Book Cover

Stephen King described it as reminiscent of The Twilight Zone. Well, not quite. The premise of an unexplained mass disappearance of millions of people around the world (the Biblical Rapture, more or less) and how it affects the leftovers, or those who were are behind, is endlessly intriguing, and Perrotta gives us a cast of interesting, if not fascinating, characters to follow. And while his portrayal of religious cults is interesting and the overall atmosphere of the novel somber and hypnotic (his prose is lean and highly readable), there are passages that are annoyingly pretentious, and the hugely anti-climactic ending is a major disappointment. Still, this is an original tale, well-told, even if it's ultimately a bit underwhelming.

N.B. The novel is the basis for the HBO series of the same name, though the series continue the story past the events of the novel.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2015-2016.