The CinemaChords Podcast

Matt Dinniman  is the anarchic architect behind  Dungeon Crawler Carl , a series that’s catapulted into quite the cult phenomenon — selling more than six million copies and spawning plans for a television adaptation, graphic novels, audio programmes, a card game and even a tabletop role-playing game. Fans can’t seem to get enough of its gleefully unhinged mash-up of madcap satire, wildly inventive...

Chris Panatier  is a genre-bending American author whose work ranges across dystopian science fiction, dark fantasy, horror, and speculative short fiction. He burst onto the scene with his 2020 debut  The Phlebotomist , a near-future dystopia steeped in blood politics and societal collapse, and quickly earned a reputation for imaginative, boundary-testing storytelling. His 2022 space opera  String...

Michaela McManus  and  Stella Marcus  star in  Redux Redux , the inventive, tautly wound sci-fi thriller from brothers  Matthew and Kevin McManus , which navigates myriad parallel universes while keeping its focus firmly on the human stakes, giving the story real punch. Releasing in theaters this Friday, February 20 via  Saban Films , the film follows a grieving mother as she navigates alternate r...

Matthew and Kevin McManus , the filmmaking siblings behind  Funeral Kings  and  The Block Island Sound , return with  Redux Redux , a tense, inventive sci-fi thriller that traverses parallel universes while keeping its focus firmly on human stakes. The film, released in cinemas this Friday, 20 February 2026, via  Saban Films , stars Michaela McManus, Jim Cummings, Jeremy Holm and newcomer Stella M...

This Is Not a Test is a 2025 apocalyptic horror-thriller from writer-director Adam MacDonald, starring Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, Carson MacCormac, and Luke MacFarlane. Adapted from the 2012 novel by Courtney Summers, the film follows Sloane and a group of classmates as they barricade themselves in their high school to survive a suddenly apocalyptic hometown. Set for release in the United States...

After a whole decade off the radar,  The Enemy  are back where they belong: on the road, selling out venues, and with a new album incoming. Coventry trio Tom Clarke, Andy Hopkins, and Liam Watts release  Social Disguises  on February 20, their first record since 2015’s  It’s Automatic . Since reforming in 2022, they’ve barely had a moment to breathe: headline shows, festival slots, and the Indie T...

Geoff Zanelli is an American composer whose work spans film, television, and video games. Early in his career, he contributed additional music to scores by Hans Zimmer , Klaus Badelt , John Powell , Harry Gregson-Williams , Ramin Djawadi , Danny Elfman , and Steve Jablonsky before moving into solo projects. He won a Primetime Emmy for his score to Into the West and now brings his experience to Gor...

Catriona Ward  is widely regarded as one of contemporary horror’s most distinctive voices, known for her bold, inventive storytelling and her ability to consistently upend readers’ expectations. The American-born British novelist has won three British Fantasy Awards and a Shirley Jackson Award, and she became the first woman to receive the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel twice, for  Raw...

Johnny Compton is bringing a hard-edged noir sensibility to supernatural horror with Dead First, his new novel publishing February 10 via Putnam. The story follows private investigator Shyla Sinclair as she’s hired to investigate a baffling subject: billionaire Saxton Braith, a man who appears incapable of dying. What begins as a routine case quickly draws Shyla into a world of occult forces, buri...

Roadside Attractions  and  Saban Films  have now released  King Ivory  on digital platforms (VOD). The latest film from award-winning filmmaker  John Swab  ( One Day as a Lion ,  Little Dixie ) delivers a gritty, unflinching look at the deadly realities of fentanyl trafficking in the United States. Based on extensive research with law enforcement, gangs, inmates, migrants and addicts, King Ivory p...

The world of  28 Days Later  has always been one of brutal, unrelenting dread. From the moment  Cillian Murphy ’s Jim awoke in a deserted London, audiences have been gripped by the terrifying reality of the Rage virus. The franchise was brought back to life last summer with the release of  Danny Boyle  and  Alex Garland ’s  28 Years Later , which picked up nearly three decades on from the original...

Gore Verbinski ’s ( The Ring ,  A Cure for Wellness ) latest sci-fi thriller  Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die   dares to confront a world hurtling toward extinction, effortlessly mining hilariously nihilistic humour from the collapse.  Briarcliff Entertainment   will release the film exclusively in theaters on February 13, 2026, boasting a cast game-for-a-laugh and all-in on the absurdity that incl...

Luc Besson  ( The Fifth Element ,  Taken ,  The Professional ), is taking a fresh approach to gothic storytelling with  Dracula , a romantic reworking of  Bram Stoker ’s classic novel. The 15th-century-set film stars Caleb Landry Jones as the tragic prince, pursued by Christoph Waltz’s priest, and is supported by Zoë Bleu, Matilda de Angelis, Guillaume de Tonquedec, Ewens Abid, and Raphael Luce. B...

Luc Besson   ( The Professional ,  The Fifth Element ,  Anna ) is venturing into gothic territory with  Dracula , a romantic revamping of  Bram Stoker ’s enduring myth.  Caleb Landry Jones  ( Get Out ,  Antiviral ) takes the title role opposite  Christoph Waltz  – fresh from Guillermo del Toro’s  Frankenstein  – with  Zoë Bleu ,  Matilda de Angelis ,  Guillaume de Tonquedec ,  Ewens Abid , and  Ra...

Neil McRobert  is no stranger to the macabre. As a writer, academic, and host of the  Talking Scared   podcast, he has spent years in conversation with the titans of horror fiction – listening, learning, and, it would seem, nurturing a few dark ideas of his own. Now he steps out from behind the microphone with  Good Boy , his debut novella, published on 9 October by  Wild Hunt Books   as part of t...

Few writers navigate the boundaries of genre – or deliberately dismantle them – with quite the same ease as  Joe R. Lansdale . Best known for  Bubba Ho-Tep  and the  Hap and Leonard  series, Lansdale is a World Horror Grandmaster and an eleven-time Bram Stoker Award winner whose work melds Southern Gothic grit with dark humour, unvarnished realism, and a fearless embrace of the uncanny. The Essent...

As Ned Crowley’s haunting Western Killing Faith prepares to hit theaters this Friday via Shout! Studios, CinemaChords’ Ashley Northey dives deep into the film’s soul with two of its powerful leads — Guy Pearce and DeWanda Wise. Set in the scorched isolation of 1849 Arizona, Killing Faith defies the gunslinging clichés of the genre to explore something far more unsettling: a land ravaged not only b...

Bleecker Street’s Bone Lake has just been unleashed in theaters — a slow-burning thriller in which a seemingly perfect lakeside retreat unravels into a sinister, serpentine web of secrets and survival. Featuring Maddie Hasson, Marco Pigossi, Alex Roe, and Andra Nechita, the film explores complex relationships, manipulation, and psychological tension beneath the surface of a postcard-perfect settin...

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne  is rapidly staking her claim as one of contemporary horror’s most compelling voices. Her writing cuts deep with sharp psychological insight and a refusal to flinch in the face of trauma. Her debut novel,  Such Lovely Skin , examined themes of beauty, shame and family legacy through a gothic lens. Now, with her second book, she turns her focus to something even more unsettlin...

In the horror world,  Philip Fracassi   has already built a reputation for delivering deeply human stories that aren’t afraid to push into the grotesque, the uncanny, and the emotionally raw. With  The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre , his latest novel, he does something bold, unexpected, and wholly refreshing: he asks the reader, What happens when the Final Girl collects a pension? Instea...

Michael Wehunt has become a distinctive voice in contemporary horror, with short fiction featured in some of the genre’s most respected anthologies. His debut collection, Greener Pastures , earned wide acclaim—finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award, shortlisted for the Crawford Award, and winner of Spain’s Premio Amaltea. On 30 September, he publishes his first novel, The October Film Haunt , a ch...