Cinema Knife Fight co-founder and editor L. L. Soares has announced over the weekend that his long-running, and horror sci-fi movie review staple, Cinema Knife Fight, is closing (or at least going on a long, indefinite hiatus). The decision was, admittedly, aided by a major technical crash of the website itself, but he had been considering ending the 10+ year run of this project for some time now, to allow more room for his other writing (and perhaps a little more sleep).
He and co-founder Michael Arruda began CFK as a column for the Horror Writers Association newsletter, where they would banter back and forth about various new or classic horror films, Siskel and Ebert style. Eventually they started their own website devoted to the column, and produced reviews every day, Monday through Friday. Of course the task was daunting, for something which was truly a for-the-love endeavor (ie, no money coming in), so they brought on others to write specific columns, and the staff grew until in early 2010 when I joined the merry band of film baristas with a review of the new disaster flick 2012. I continued as an occasional science fiction reviewer these past six years, and loved every moment.
I grew up turning first to the arts & entertainment section (or the comics, depending on my mood) instead of the usual sports sections, and scanned films reviews, learned quickly not to read too much of any for a film I wanted to see and not know the ending! When At The Moves (with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert) hit the TV airwaves, I was hooked. I soon discovered if Roger Ebert liked a movie, so would I. Aside from writing in general, doing movie reviews was always on My List, and suddenly I had a reason to do just that when Lauran invited me to contribute.
I still plan to write reviews, and will start looking around for someone in need of this kind of content, but for now, you can find all my reviews from the beginning at
www.dankeohane.com/reviews
It was a pleasure being a part of something so cool, and consistently entertaining, and working with some awesome writers. In a genre where magazines and sites come and go like the wind, CKF was a well-produced and informative resource for all films speculative. Hats off to misters Soares and Arruda for sharing Cinema Knife Fight with all of us for so long!
