Welcome to (for want of a better title) Review Corner. With the permission of our esteeemd editor in chief Eric I will be posting up reviews here of recent Blu ray and DVD releases plus sometimes delving into the world of online streaming on the likes of Amazon Prime which seems to be stuffed with cheesy classics from bygone days and even maybe delving into the ‘why isn’t this available’ world where you have to search out those elusive titles… Whilst I will be talking about any extras on said disc releases I won’t be going into the minutiae of the quality of the transfer, like black crush etc. but will endeavour to mention the overall quality of the source material used.
But who am I? My name is Steve Kirkham, some of you may know me as the designer of all the We Belong Dead publications and also books like those from Peveril Publishing. I have been a genre fan since probably the late sixties, and like many of you discovered horror movies through the the famous Beeb Double Bills and buying such publications as Monster Mag, House of Hammer, World of Horror, Monster Times et. al. And not forgetting books by Denis Gifford, Alan Frank and Carlos Clarens.
Of course it helped back then that I had an older brother who was also into movies and encouraged me to go to the flicks with him (taking me to my first X film when I was 14). In the past I have published fanzines that nobody really saw, written a review column of VHS releases for a couple of local newspapers way back when, worked in a video shop during the whole video nasties debacle and generally continued my journey through the ups and downs of our beloved branch of movie madness. Obviously in recent years I have been able to turn my design skills to the service of the films I love with designing books, magazines and even trading cards within the horror and sf genre.
Whilst mainly sticking within the remit of We Belong Dead I may well sneak in the odd science fiction film and even (but keep it quiet and don’t tell Eric) some modern movies.
I hope you enjoy my little write ups and feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with my viewpoint.