The future history of post-2019 BHFs is in doubt, as MJ Simpson is ending his 'British Horror Revival' blog on Dec 31st. We're doing our best at Marmalade to keep chronicling the new films, but it's quite a task, and it's impossible to go into the sort of detail MJ has featured on his pages. He's writing a four-volume book on BHFs of the 21st century up to 2019, and will continue to watch and review later films, but isn't going to be the chief archivist any longer. A sad day for BHFs. You may not care about the new stuff being archived, but future researchers will suffer from a lack of contemporary records. MJ's full statement is well worth a read:
I think all we can do is post stuff on here as and when we see and find it, and the great Sir Darrell of Buxton can bung it on the Marmalade list as and when he can.
There is a mass of stuff out there and looks as good as an early 70's TV monster. good luck to anyone who tries to do this.
Moo.🐮
I'd be tempted to take on MJ's mantle- but I too have other things I want to watch, write about and do!! And yes, the lack of quality control due to the free availability of digital media has resulted in an utter deluge of productions of EXTREMELY dubious status that frankly, I can't be arsed with cataloguing- even if doing so would undoubtedly unearth a few "diamonds in the rough" I think this is going to be a several-person project...and even then, it may be unmanageable.
Here's the problem: film-making has been democratised by the availability of cheap equipment; distribution via e-tailers and the internet means there is no quality control. There are people who want to make films who have no talent and no originality but that is not a barrier any longer. So we get the likes of Andrew Jones, Steve Lawson etc. turning out even cheaper and worse copies of films that were cheap and bad to begin with. Trying to be a gatekeeper to this deluge of crap to find anything worthwhile seems a thankless and, sad to say, pointless task. Let's let this age of too-much-product fade and die. If in 50 years time anybody surviving on nuts and berries on what's left of our scarred world looks over the parched land to an uncertain future and thinks "I wonder what KillerSaurus was actually like" then it will at last have proved to be of some interest to someone.
Ooh, I've managed to log in. Can't say I really blame MJ for retiring. There's just so much new product. And to be honest a lot of it is not very good and can become a bit dispiriting to even the most avid completest. I've become selective in what new Brit horrors I now buy.
That is indeed a shame, MJ was a splendidly exhaustive and enthusiastic BHF chronicler. I've discovered many an enjoyable obscurity thanks to his site. It's true that trying to keep tabs on every single BHF production in the digital era is a monumental task given the sheer volume of stuff being churned out and personal satisfaction is practically the only reward for undertaking such an endeavour, since positive feedback and encouragement scarcely exisits for the researcher into such micro-niche areas of interest.