Ken and Robin Consume Media: Deathstalker, Two Thrillers by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and the Queen of Indonesian Horror
April 14th, 2026 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
The 5.18 Mystery (Fiction, J. Jefferson Farjeon, 1929) A young man falls for a woman on the train to Norfolk and blunders into the middle of a kidnapping plot. Edgar Wallace-style (or Hitchcock-style, in film) thriller rather than an actual mystery keeps the plot moving propulsively despite a delightful authorial tendency to wander from the point and chat with the reader. This “amiable fathead” sort of hero also helps keep the suspense far more real than the competence-porn rescuer a thriller has to have nowadays.—KH
Deathstalker (Film, Canada, Steven Kostanski, 2025) An act of murder hoboism binds a sword-slinging adventurer (Daniel Bernhardt) to a cursed amulet from a doomsday prophecy, sending him on a quest accompanied by a good-hearted thief (Christina Orjalo) and semi-competent kobold wizard (Patton Oswalt/Laurie Field.) Spoofy celebration of VHS-era sword and sorcery flicks loads up on gloriously gory and gruesome creature effects.—RDL
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer (Television, US, Hulu, Abigail Fuller, 2024) Three-part true crime docuseries surveys the multiple careers of soft-spoken juggernaut Ann Burgess, who put the science in the FBI’s Behavioral Science (profiling) Unit, centered victims in the study of sex crimes, and helped bring down Bill Cosby.—RDL
Good
The House Opposite (Fiction, J. Jefferson Farjeon, 1931) Ben the tramp sees strange happenings in the house opposite the abandoned house he’s squatting in, but it’s a girl in danger that spurs him to interfere. The first half of this crime thriller follows Ben’s viewpoint (with plenty of Farjeonian discursion), the second half follows the people in the house opposite and fills in the blanks. Intriguing format and a welcome lower-class hero; somewhat marred by the villain being an entirely stereotypical Indian.—KH
The Queen of Black Magic (Film, Indonesia, Liliek Sudjio, 1981) When the rich louse (Alan Nuary) who seduced her accuses her of witchcraft and rouses a mob to kill her, a young woman (Suzzanna) learns black magic for real and exacts visceral revenge. Root for Indonesia’s answer to Barbara Steele or Robert Englund as she dishes out inventive no-budget kills.—RDL
Okay
Berlin Express (Film, US, Jacques Tourneur, 1948) An assassination attempt on a Berlin-bound train sets an American nutrition consultant (Robert Ryan) and an ad hoc party of his fellow Allied occupying officials in pursuit of revanchist plotters. Interweaves expressionistic spy thrills with invasively narrated quasi-newsreel segments on the state of postwar Germany.—RDL
The Secret Bride (Film, US, William Dieterle, 1934) Dedicated attorney general (Warren William) and devoted governor’s daughter (Barbara Stanwyck) conceal their marriage while they race to clear her father of bribery charges. Plot-driven legal thriller confines its stars to expository dialogue.—RDL
