Evil Dead III - Army of Darkness. Film.
AoD is probably the best film ever made, combining the wit and slapstick gore of it's predecessors, with bigger budget effects. Bruce Campbell is Ashe, a hapless shop assistant, who finds himself in medieval England, fighting hordes of Deadites, who he unwittingly unleashed upon the country. The horror has been washed down from the gorefest of Evil Dead 2, but has been replaced by a large quota of humour. A horror film that is genuinely funny, or a comedy that is quite frightening, take your pick.

Lord of the Rings. Book.
Voted the book of the 20th century and deservedly so. The epic tale of the destruction of Sauron’s all powerful ring, has kept the genre fans happy for over forty years and influence countless other books. Frodo Baggins is a hobbit, a small humanoid creature, similar to a Dwarf, inherits a funny little ring from his uncle Bilbo, which can make you invisible. Little does he know that the dark lord Sauron, a necromancer, is the true owner of the ring and he desperately wants it back to make himself all powerful. The free people of Middle Earth have one chance, destroy the ring, or face the terrible consequences of living under the yolk of the evil one. Unfortunately, the only way to destroy the ring, is to throw it into Mount Doom, the volcano where it was forged, an right in the midst of Sauron’s dark domain. It is amazing that a book such as LotR which is held in such regard, has also faced some terrible criticism, for me it is without doubt the best book ever written. For not only is it a tale of heroism, sacrifice and the triumph of good over evil, it is also a message that no matter how small, or insignificant you think you are, if you try hard you will succeed. Everyone should read this book at least once.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. TV.
If ever something has overcome it’s ridiculous title and becoming a work of art, then BtVS is that something. A programme with a silly title, Buffy the what? And made from a risible film starring some b actress and the bloke from 90210, it had no chance, did it? Or so we thought, thanks to Joss Wheldon’s, the creator, writer, director, supreme overlord, vision and obvious love for the series, we have been treated to a programme that has been the toast of the 1990’s and even spawned a Spin off that is just as good. The premise, Buffy Summers, a sixteen year old high school student, who kills vampires and other assorted evil, in her spare time is highly original. The acting is never less than convincing, Sarah Michelle Gellar is particularly good as Buffy, so much so that you have to worry for the fear of typecasting, the other supporting actors are also impressive, and the characters they play are convincing, realistic and fleshed out. The real joy of BtVS is that at the end of every episode, is you really believe that high school life in America is just like that. A joy in every sense.

The Death and Life of Superman. Graphic novel. When the word got out that Superman had been killed, battling against Doomsday, a foe bred sorely over generations for nothing else other than killing, most of the comic reading world muttered Gimmick for surely the world’s most famous superhero could not die. Of course we knew that it was a sales gimmick, but that did not stop our enjoyment of the series which introduced such memorable new characters as Steel, the Cyborg and Superboy. The graphic novel begins after Superman has died, along with Doomsday, on the steps of the Daily Planet building and the world is morning. Out of the ashes though come four new superheroes. A Cyborg who claims to be superman rebuilt using Krypton technology, a visor clad dirty Harry type vigilante claiming to be Superman reborn, a clone of Superman named Superboy and Steel, a former scientist turned crimefighter. Of course, none of these are the real McCoy, and it isn’t long before Cyborg has shown his true colours and Superman has to kick his butt. The Graphic novel reads very well, despite the obvious different styles of writing and art, the art stays consistently high through out and although you know that Superman will triumph in the end, the ride is well worth it. Even if you are not a comic fan, I suggest you give this novel a quick look.
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The Brentford Triangle. Book.
What can you say about Robert Rankin? He is probably the funniest writer working today, even better than Terry Pratchett. And the Brentford Triangle, a story of how two drunken layabouts, defeat an advancing alien invasions fleet, has to be read to really appreciated. James Pooley and his best friend John Omally are the aforementioned boozers. Whilst playing allotment golf at night, after being banned from all the golf clubs in Brentford, spot what they think is a council inspector, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Jack Palance, spying on them. When they get near enough to him to question him though, the man has disappeared. It is not until later that more of film star look-a-likes are spotted. Professor Slocombe, local borough wise man and powerful mage, realises that aliens are heading towards Earth. Meanwhile local inventor Norman Hartnell is working on a plan to tilt the Earth’s axis so it’s a bit hotter in Brentford during the summer, and the borough's martial arts expert Archroy, has found Noah’s Arc on Mount Arratt, and is attempting to bring it home. Rankin’s book is a joy to read, from the opening paragraph to the last word, apart from being side splitingly funny, he pokes fun at science fiction, horror and everyday clichés and sets it all off against the thoroughly mundane borough of Brentford. If Rankin is not the funniest writer alive today then I’m a clog dancing Dutchman.

Salma Hayek. Actress.
Beautiful in the extreme, in three of my favourite films of the last decade, she can even act, okay she is never going to win an Oscar, but she is a damn slight better than the likes of Elizabeth Hurley and Penelope Ann Miller. Hayek first came to the US from Mexico, where she was a top soap actress, but she wanted to make it big in Hollywood. Naturally, things weren’t that simple, but after a turn in From Dusk till Dawn, and as the star of Desperado with Antonio Banderos, she had arrived and was in fact the first Mexican actress to be the lead in an Hollywood film for forty years. She then followed these up with a string of flops, Fools rush in, with Matthew (Friends) Perry being the best of a rum bunch. Recently though she was managed to get back into the swing with a medium sized part in sic-fi hit the Faculty, and a major role in big budget Will Smith vehicle, Wild Wild West. We look forward to seeing a lot more of Ms Hayek, the cigar clomping queen of the screen. Finest moment, Her snake dancing scene in From Dusk till Dawn, must be.

The Demolished Man. Book.
Alfred Bester was by no means a prolific writer, especially by the standard of some of today’s authors, but he was one of the best. All right, his later work was very much poorer than his early stuff, but even they were not completely without merit. TDM was the standard Bester set, along with The Earth my destination, and compared to those most books would suffer comparisons. TDM is concerned with murder, or rather the hiding of murder, Ben Reich is a successful business man, who suffers from terrible nightmares. Convinced that it has something to do with his main rival, he kills him and sets up a complicated alibi, it is only when his victims daughter unwittingly sees him does it all fall to pieces. From then on, it is Reich against the world as Psychic cop Lincoln Powell sets about to bring Reich to justice. The book works on so many different levels, too many to go into in such a small piece. It is probably one of the great books to come out of that period in time (the 1950’s) But don’t take my word for it, just read the book and see for yourself.

Terry Pratchett. Novelist.
Probably the most famous living author in the country at the tail end of the 20th century, and into the new millennium. Pratchett is definitely the best selling, and it is easy to see why. After modest success (very modest) with his first few novels, Pratchett first gained a little popularity with the Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic followed this and also got him noticed. These books were the start of the Discworld series, stories from a flat world, carried through space on the back of four elephants, on the back of a huge turtle. I couldn’t say when exactly but at some point in the course of the next twenty books, Pratchett mania exploded. Now every new Discworld book sells around 400,000 copies and there are endless spin off merchandising. Having discovered Pratchett on book six (the Brilliant Wyrd Sisters ) I await every new book with bated breath, and lucky the prolific author shows no signs of slowing down, he also seems to have a very good quality control, as the standard also shows no sign of slipping. I just wonder if he will keep going until he drops, I hope so, I also hope he lives to be two hundred years old.

Robocop. Film. They don’t come any better than this classic from the corporate beating eighties. Peter Weller is Murphy, a good cop who is killed and brought back to life as a Cyborg law enforcement officer, Robocop. What follows is a violent, satirical film that perfectly sums up the late 1980’s and along with Total recall and Starship troopers proves that Paul Voerhoven can direct a good film when he wants to. It also proves that the man who also made the awful Basic Instinct and the worse Showgirls, is also a bit of a loon. To watch Robocop now, after the violent and so-so sequel, then the crap third instalment and the kid orientated series, it is easy to forget how good the original was. The violent is just right, the effects still seem quite good, Weller is prefect as the emotionless machine who slowly begins to regain his humanity. Forget the lamebrain sequels and TV, watch the original again. Go on, you know you want to.

The Scream Trilogy. Film.
An obvious choice maybe but the original Scream movie redefined the horror movie for the last part of the nineties. And okay, maybe the fad for knowing, wink wink, horror movies died as fast as it started, but that doesn’t take anything away from the movies. The original is the best, not surprisingly, with genuine shocks and the biggest name getting killed pre-titles. The ending is still one of the best surprise endings in the horror genre, and Courtney Cox, what more can I say than wow, Monica never looked this good. The first sequel (imaginatively entitled Scream 2) was more of the same, and perhaps a little bit extra. It was a very impressive sequel, which never quite managed to live up completely to its predecessor. It still had the shocks, it still rocked, but it was not that much different from the first one, although it was still a very good film in it’s own right. By the third instalment, the trilogy was beginning to look a little bit stretched and although the stunningly titled Scream 3, was by far a better film than 99% of the horror trash that has been released, it paled in comparison with it’s two cousins. Having said that it does make a rather nice end to the trilogy and it is probably without doubt the best horror second sequel ever made. Put all this together and you have three films, all very good, and an excellent original that would complete any self respecting horror buffs completion. A must have for the DVD generation horror fans.

Likewise with everything else here, if you have any better ideas, let us know at craig@steelscaves.com