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Nippon Horror Interlude: Yokai Smoke.
One of the best birthday presents I received this year was this set of authentic ‘Yokai Smoke’s. Apparently still available from shabbier newsagents and sweet shops in Tokyo, and featuring wonderfully...
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Deathblog Round-up: Some Summers They Drop Like Flies.
Sadly, it has come to my attention that a number of people whose work has enriched the world we like to trample around in here at Breakfast In The Ruins have passed away in the past month or so. As is...
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Nippon Horrors: Horrors of Malformed Men (Teruo Ishii, 1969)
Although it has achieved a certain level of cult notoriety in the West following its release on American DVD, Teruo Ishii’s ‘Horrors of Malformed Men’ remains largely unseen in its country of origin....
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Nippon Horrors Interlude: The Demon Samurai by Clay Grant (Belmont Tower...
Well after I read the back cover copy, I couldn’t leave this one on the shelf.As it turns out, in spite of the loopy storyline, Grant’s prose is as clunky and long-winded as any other bottom dollar...
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Deathblog: José Ramón Larraz (1929-2013)
Sad to hear today that yet another pivotal figure pivotal figure in the world of ‘70s Euro-horror / artsploitation has passed away.A Spanish comic book artist who relocated to the UK to begin his...
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Nippon Horrors: The Living Skeleton (Hiroshi Matsuno, 1968)
All four of the films included in Criterion Eclipse’s recent When Horror Came To Shochiku collection are pretty interesting and enjoyable in their own right, but for me the pick of the litter was...
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Sub-Machine Gun Hall of Fame.
As some of you will hopefully be aware, the estimable Unmann-Wittering and myself have, for the past twelve months, been polluting the interweb with a daily dose of subtitle-related ribaldry on the...
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Old New Worlds: Nov-Dec 1964.
(Cover Design: Robert Tilley)An unexpected treasure awaited me whilst mooching about in Blackheath’s charity shops last month: a stack of Moorcock-era New Worlds issues. Lacking either the money and...
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FRANCO FILES SPECIAL: Necronomicon (1967)
By designating this entry in the series as a ‘special’, I simply mean that it’s quite long, so be prepared. Unless stated otherwise, all background info and quotes are extrapolated either from the...
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Weird Tales:Jess Franco meets The Elder Gods.
Creating a timeless story or a memorable literary character is one thing, but in instigating the legend of Abdul Alhazred and the Necronomicon, H.P. Lovecraft went one step further, birthing an idea...
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FRANCO FILES: The Devil Came From Akasava (1970)
AKA:According to IMDB, original shooting title for this one was ‘Hüter des Steines’ (“Guardian of the Stones”). Upon release, most territories went with a variation on the English ‘..Akasava’ title,...
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Old New Worlds: January 1965.
With a new year beginning, and the magazine evidently pulling in enough sales to see itself returned to a monthly schedule, the editorial of New Worlds # 146 finds Michael Moorcock in a buoyant mood,...
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Halloween Mix CD 2013.
Presenting for your listening pleasure, the sixth annual Stereo Sanctity / Breakfast In The Ruins Halloween Mix!I fear this year’s comp may prove a slightly more gruelling listen that previous years,...
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ATTENTION!
I hate to disappoint loyal readers of my blather, but, as was trailed a few months back, life is busy right now. In particular, I’ve got a really thick pile of freelance work deadlines to plough...
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Nylon Nightmare by Clayton Matthews (Powell Publications, 1970)
(Cover design by Bill Hughes.)If I happened to see this posted somewhere on the internet, I’d be inclined to think it was a photoshopped piss-take or something. But I’m holding it in my hands right...
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The Clue of the Silver Key by Edgar Wallace (Hodder, 1961)
(Originally published 1930 / cover uncredited.)So, I know he supposedly inspired all those zany German movies full of villains running around in frog-masks and old castles full of neurotics being...
View ArticleOut in the Great Beyond…
Since I went cold turkey on Tumblr last year (whoever called it the blogging equivalent of crack was on to something), I often stumble upon extraordinary imagery and text elsewhere that I instinctively...
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Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (Four Square, 1961)
Not sure there’s much I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said, except:1. I picked it up for 50p in a Nottingham charity shop. Condition = WRECKED.2. The book itself may be astoundingly...
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The Three Day Alliance by Howard R. Simpson (Ensign, 1975)
From a distance, this might look the very essence of ‘70s retro-cool spy movie chic, but the closer one looks, the shoddier it gets. That one-piece, full-body knitted romper suit the girl seems to be...
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Donovan’s Brain by Curt Siodmak (Editions for Armed Services Inc., year unknown)
So this is one of the more unusual items of acquired of recent. A miniature, pocket-sized US Services edition of Curt Siodmak’s brain-swap sci-fi epic ‘Donovan’s Brain’.As you might expect, the paper...
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