First published back in August of 2020, issue nine of ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ was compiled and edited by Jack Bantry and J.R. Park and offered up another bloodbucket full of A5 black & white pages, packed with more stories, articles, reviews and interviews of uncompromisingly violent horror and gore.  The zine was made available for purchase via Bantry’s ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ website as well as The Sinister Horror Company website.

Editorials – 1 Page
British author and head honcho of The Sinister Horror Company – J.R. Park – opens up this issue of the ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ with a short introduction, waxing lyrical with the notion of performance within all mediums of art.  Park ponders the idea of how, in the literary format, the words become the paint, the narrative: the brush, and ultimately you dear reader, are the canvas upon which they are applied.  It’s a strong and incredibly well written introduction, whetting your appetite for the literary delicacies to follow.

Following Park’s opener, ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ founding creator – Jack Bantry – gives us a quick lowdown on the reasons for such a gap between issues eight and nine of the zine, before introducing his new co-editor to the cut & paste zine.

A Guide To The Apocalypse – Aaron Beat Up – 2 Pages
Aaron Beat Up (yup, that’s the name we’re given) delivers an incredibly entertaining, banter rich rundown of his top eight post-apocalyptic movies (the majority of which are low budget affairs).  From ‘Mad Max II’ (1981) to ‘Endgame’ (1983), with all the thrills and spills of the likes of ‘The New Barbarians’ (1983) and ‘Land Of Doom’ (1986) in between.  The writing itself is a joy to read, with laugh out loud moments of quick-witted casual jesting, before Aaron starts dismantling the lowbrow high-action plots of these fine examples of cinematic pulp.  An absolute joy to read.  And I couldn’t agree more with his selection.

Jack Bantry’s Top Ten Splatterpunk And Extreme Horror Novels – 2 Pages
Splatterpunk Zine curator Jack Bantry gives us his top ten splatterpunk and extreme horror novels, with an equal measure of usual faces along with some not-so-predictable additions.  Each one is given an uber-short overview, with Jack’s bubbling passion for the subgenres magnificently evident throughout.

J R Park interviews Jack Bantry – 3 Pages
Zine co-editor, Justin Park, takes the opportunity to ask fellow editor Jack Bantry a few questions on the evolution of the zine, his own work, Bantry’s own particular thoughts on splatterpunk, his inspirations and his plans for future offerings.

Performance Art – Patrick Lacey – 4 Pages
Jack was tired of all this supposedly “controversial” performance art.  He’d sat through more than enough of this shit to last a lifetime.  Jack had to get out of there.  Luckily Higgins was on the same page.  Without trying to hide their contempt for those on the stage, the two exited the gallery-cum-performance art theatre and were out in the darkened streets of Boston.  It was here and then that they were presented with a flyer for the Onyx: a performance art theatre located at the back of an all-night deli.  Neither had heard of it before.  But after the crap they’d just sat through, it was surely worth a shot.  After all, what’s the worst that could happen?...

US author Patrick Lacey opens up the fiction with a decidedly weird and downright unnerving offering, balancing a platter of contemporary art with a fucked-up Cronenberg sense of horror.  Yeah, it’s a headfuck of weirdness, scattering breadcrumbs of reality upon a slippery pathway of nightmarishly strange horror.  However, it’s with the sense of unreality that seeps through the story, where its true strength lies.  It reads like a messed-up dream sequence.  A bad trip, skirting sanity’s cliff edge, but for some reason, deciding against plummeting off the edge.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Robert Elrod.



Blue – Matt Shaw – 3 Pages
Alana had big plans for her husband’s fortieth birthday.  She had her friend, Ruby, over at their house wearing her nurses’ uniform.  The minute he returned home, Alana took control.  It was time to give Mike the time of his life.  Time to get this intimate party started.  Time to give him one hell of a blue birthday present.  Mike just had to hold it together or he’d end up blowing his load far too soon.  Or too damn much…

Shaw’s not exactly the shy type when it comes to a little literary titillation.  With a story entitled ‘Blue’, you can probably guess this little sordid treat is going to pack a saucy punch or two.  And yes indeed my filthy friends, we’re delivered an absolute bucket load of the creamy stuff.  In fact, this erotic little number might as well be modelled on the ending to ‘Ghostbusters’ (1984), only we’re not talking polazied proton fried marshmallow splattered everywhere in this case.  Nope.  Shaw puts a very different type of ‘splatter’ into ‘Splatterpunk’.  Oh the cheeky, filthy joy of it all.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Jorge Wiles.



Scratch That Itch – Daniel Eaves – 5 Pages
At the office he’s that passive, congenial guy.  The one who sits there quietly, not bothering anyone, just getting on with the menial tasks set to him.  He’s been with the company eight years.  Eight long years of complying, of doing as he’s told and following orders.  But today was different.  Today, as he’d climbed out of the shower, he’d noticed a blotch of rude pink skin around his sternum.  A rash which the minute he noticed it had started to itch.  An itch that intensified as each hour passed.  An itch that travelled across his body.  An itch that had to be scratched.  And today he’d finally be scratching that long overdue itch…

You’ve gotta love a good ‘going postal’ story.  And fuck me if this one isn’t a beauty.  Here the short is written from the first-person-perspective of our unnamed antihero.  An office worker who just flips out one day.  And we’re not talking a ‘Falling Down’ (1993) flip out.  Nah, this one’s a complete mental explosion of lunatic proportions.  It starts with a sort of gradual build-up that’s symbolised by ‘an itch that just needs to be scratched’.  And when our antihero starts scratching, man does he claw away at that bloody wound.  The end result, the mental breakdown, is monumentally compulsive reading.  And man is it well written.  Utterly engaging.  Utterly traumatic.  Proper unnerving anti-corporate splatterpunk.  It’s always the quiet ones, they say.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Dan Henk.



Cunt – C.M. Franklyn – 5 Pages
Dustycunt McCarthy just didn’t give a shit what people said, did, or what they thought of her.  If her spikey hair, bitchin clothes, or foul mouth offended them, well, their loss, dipshits.  Her art was another thing altogether.  That was for the masses.  Something she put her heart and soul into.  Every now and again the object of her next piece would present itself to her.  Make itself known with a stupid fucking comment.  Like Terrible Jerry and his questioning of her resting-bitch face.  Oh, it was a joy when they presented themselves in such as way.  The canvas would be oh so crimson…

Jeez is this one a frigging joy to read.  C.M Franklyn (aka Linda Nagle) brings the zine to a close with what can only be described as a literary feast of counterculture punk and blood-splattered art.  Yes my friends, Franklyn has fully committed to the mission of ‘Splatterpunk’, with an offering that puts one arm over the shoulder of Hubert Selby Jr, whilst cracking a Chelsea grin smile at some full-blown ‘Braindead’ (1992) era comedy-gore.  However, it’s with the prose and the street-grime poetry of the tale’s delivery where the real gem in the piece sits.  It’s as quirky as it is perverse.  It’s black comedy taken to an abattoir of strange horror.  The pieces don’t fit together, but as a whole, it more than works.  This is a story to just embrace in its celebration of counterculture and gore.  This is everything we love about this zine. This is Splatterpunk.

The story includes a full-page illustration by Jorge Wiles.