Emily Writes: The best spooky TV to binge this Halloween weekend

Are you excited about spending Halloween on the couch this year? So is Emily Writes, who has some suggestions for a weekend of spooky streaming. If 2020 hasn’t been scary enough for you and you’re looking to be terrified this Halloween, there’s plenty to watch on all of the streaming services. Binge away and add … Read more

Watching a book: How The Outsider nails the Stephen King adaptation game

On the heels of the arrival of The Outsider on NEON, Jean Sergent explores how screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work are able to take on a life of their own.  Stephen King, the 72 year old horror author from Portland, has a better work ethic than you or I and that’s just science. The … Read more

Review: Imaginary Friend, a blood-soaked novel that recalls Stranger Things

Twenty years ago Stephen Chbosky had a massive hit with coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Now the director/producer/scriptwriter is back with an epic, kid-centric horror.  Early on in Stephen Chbosky’s frustrating new horror novel, Imaginary Friend, its seven-year-old protagonist Christopher is sitting down to watch his favourite cartoon, Bad Cat. Christopher is … Read more

A new horror: Thomas Harris’s Cari Mora, reviewed

Crocodiles, gold bars, birds of prey… and boobs. Erin Harrington, an academic specialising in horror and film, reviews the much-hyped new novel by the man who gave us Dr Hannibal Lecter.  Cari Mora is Thomas Harris’s first novel in 13 years, and the first since his 1975 debut Black Sunday that doesn’t feature his most … Read more

Review: Jordan Peele triumphantly drags The Twilight Zone into 2019

The new Twilight Zone updates the style of the ’60s classic while keeping its deeply moral core, Adam Goodall writes. In ‘Replay’, the third episode of the new Twilight Zone, a young black man wonders why his mother doesn’t want to visit her brother. “Damn, Mama,” he asks, put out, “aren’t you interested in me knowing … Read more

Remembering Freaky, New Zealand’s most traumatic kid’s show

Goosebumps had nothing on this one. Tom Augustine looks back at the Kiwi kid’s horror series that scarred a generation: Freaky. When I was a kid, there wasn’t much I was banned from watching – my mum, bless her, was of the ‘better you do it in the house’ variety – but one such ban came after … Read more

The worst ever Red Dead Redemption 2 fishing trip

The Spinoff’s gaming journalist morbid_angel_69 still can’t tear himself away from RDR2. In this video he goes on a not-at-all stressful fishing trip into the hills to hunt for the Legendary Rock Bass. (NB: This video contains end story SPOILERS) morbid_angel_69 plays Red Dead Redemption 2: Watch more The Red Dead Redemption 2 hat shooting … Read more

Fright Club: a week of terror at The Spinoff

The Spinoff spent a week scaring the shit out of each other. So we made our own horror movie.  Giving someone a great fright is an art. It takes preparation, patience, and innovation. It can be as simple as finding someone vulnerable, headphones on, deeply invested in their work and creeping into their blind spot; … Read more

The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #48: the scarecrows of Hamilton Gardens

We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, José Barbosa suffers pure horror in the form of Hamilton Gardens’ trauma-inducing scarecrows.  Hamilton gets ribbed a lot, but the city has at least two things going for it: 1) the mighty Waikato River (why was the city built … Read more

The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #47: Our first ever horror festival

We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Casey reviews Halloween night at Horrorfest NZ. Say what you will about Freddy Krueger, but the man is very well-situated to point out a toilet at a crowded event. Our gazes followed his long, sharpened knife finger all … Read more

Spookfest ‘Channel Zero’ will chew its way under your skin this Halloween

Craving some spooky TV that isn’t soaked in 80s kitsch? Try the bone-chilling Channel Zero: Candle Cove, writes Aaron Yap.  Syfy, look at you! First The Expanse, now Channel Zero? It’s like I might have to start paying attention to your shows or something. Where the former – a superb piece of serious, high-end science fiction … Read more

The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #43: Is ‘It’ really as scary as people say it is?

With It smashing box office records and filling pants everywhere, a bunch of Spinoff clowns went to the flicks to put the horror film to the test. This is their story. Huge horror fan Madeleine Chapman was not scared at all even in the slightest I don’t watch horror movies because I’m scared of them … Read more

Monitor: Resurrection Man – Bruce Campbell is Back in Ash vs Evil Dead

In Monitor this week, Aaron Yap takes a look at The Evil Dead’s first foray into television. Almost 35 years after the franchise made its cult classic debut, has the magic survived the move to the small-screen? Those who defend Hollywood’s obsession with churning out sequels like to reassure you that sequels don’t – and … Read more

Monitor: Supernatural Pulp Meets Gothic Splendour in Penny Dreadful

For Monitor this month, Aaron Yap argues why you should bravely enter the “alluringly sensual and generously gory universe” of Showtime’s Victorian horror Penny Dreadful.  It’s a pretty good time for TV horror fans at the moment. If you have a favourite type of monster, it’s likely being catered to. The Walking Dead has zombies, The … Read more