October: 31 Days of Horror

[dannyboy121070]

That's too bad HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS didn't do it for you. That one was my favorite of the year I read it, and it remains one of the few books in the last couple decades that actually periodically gave me chills...very rare occurrence after reading this horror stuff for 30-plus years. Notably, Scott Smith's THE RUINS did it as well last year...but that's, what, two books in the last half-decade...? I get it, though...I often seem to be at odds with what's popular and hyped at any given time. Case in point: Tremblay's other book, THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD -- while I generally enjoyed it, I didn't quite get the adoration this book was getting at the time...even still, it is, for me, a lesser work than, say, HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS or SURVIVOR SONG, but I can appreciate why people loved TCATEOFTW...just wasn't my kind of book, I guess.

Having finished A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS on my lunch break today, I have to again shake my head and wonder what I missed. I keep hearing fans talk about how scary/creepy/chilling it was, and I didn't get any of that. I will say that it was a very readable book, and I blew through it in no time at all. So would I tell people to read it...? Yeah, probably. It was well-written, engaging, I cared about the characters...It just didn't wow me the way I had hoped.

To add to my disappointment.....when I read on my Kindle, I always keep an eye on the little corner clock that tells you "1 hour, fifteen minutes left in book". The counter said that I had sixteen minutes left, and I turn the page and....the book was over! The rest was a preview of another Tremblay book. So I was expecting to get some kind of semi-concrete answer, and book just stopped. I don't really have any ambiguity about what I believe occurred, but I was hoping for some validation. I would LOVE to get into the weeds with people about this book, because there sure was a lot to chew on.

[dannyboy121070]

Day seventeen:

Slow Horror day! I read some more UNTCIGAHUNK and A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS (See above post for my thoughts), and continued the interminable shadow-creature vs giant scorpion in the CONAN omnibus. Nighttime brought a new OSBOURNES WANT TO BELIEVE episode, featuring a decent little video of my favorite Cryptid, Bigfoot.

The month is almost over...I need to pick up the pace. More Horror!!!

[mhatchett]

Finishing up A Night in the Lonesome October. Usually I pace it out all month, chapter a day. Couldn't wait LOL!!

[dannyboy121070]

Days eighteen through twenty-one:

Work and home life have kept me from posting and/or remembering what I watched/read/listened to over the past few days, so this may be missing a few things.

I finished A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS. Very well-written, but failed to raise one single goosebump. I feel like I missed something, especially with all of the praise this one has gotten.

Finished UNTCIGAHUNK. The short stories are excellent, the novel dreadfully boring. Oddly enough, you get more of the title creatures in 100 pages of short stories than you do in the 500 page novel.

Finished THE MOUNTAIN KING. Nowhere near as good as the high-water mark for Bigfoot novels, DEVOLUTION, but worth reading. I'll say this for Huatala...He gives zero fuck about endangering and/or killing kids. NO ONE is safe in his stories. There's some really nasty, horrible stuff in this book that will stick with me for a LONG time.

Continued on with THE BIG BOOK OF NECON, and I'm amazed at how many non-Horror stories are in this one. Jack Ketchum's story is one of those non-Horror entries, but his mundane little tale hit me like a kick in the sack. God, that man could write.

I started IN THE SCRAPE, by James Newman and Mark Steensland, and I was duped! I assumed this was a Horror novella, and it isn't. The fact that it is an amazing coming of age tale is easing the pain, though. Anything Newman touches is well worth reading, and this is no exception.

I floated back over to the first book of WE ALL HEAR STORIES IN THE DARK, and read the creepy story BLOOD, that was, as usual, excellently written, but left me unsettled and bewildered in the end. I've been reading these three books since July, and I just hit the 1/3rd mark....onward.

My wife and I are about halfway through THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, and I don't get the hate that this one had heaped on it. We're both enjoying it, although some of the acting choices/tics of the main actress are getting on my nerves big-time. My poor wife is absolutely terrified by stuff like this, but HILL HOUSE, MIDNIGHT MASS, and DOCTOR SLEEP made her a fan of Mike Flanagan, so she keeps watching.....

I've been catching up on this season of ELI ROTH'S HISTORY OF HORROR, which I'm enjoying very much, and I watched BURNT OFFERINGS on TCM, which made a big impression on me as a kid. As an adult, I found it very slow and overlong, but shit, did it kick into high gear at the end. A nasty piece of business, this film. Oliver Reed is a blast to watch in anything.

[Martin]

Universal Monsters Disc 3: The Mummy
I do not think I have seen this movie since I was a child. I think my memories of The Mummy are tainted by the sequels as I found the movie to be better than I expected.

Extras:
Documentaries:

• Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed
  • This one is about the Mummy franchise and re-enforced why I did not like most of the Mummy movies. Mummy burned to death in the last movie. No problem, he is back for the sequel with no explanation.
• He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce:
  • Very informative piece about the creator of the most iconic monsters in history. Great documentary.
• Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy:
  • An analysis of how the early Universal monster movies brought us to the current Mummy movies. Interesting doc.
• 100 Years of Universal: The Carl Laemmle Era:
  • Interesting piece about Carl Laemmle.

The Mummy Archives: Photos of The Mummy promotional materials
Trailer Gallery: Original trailers for all Mummy movies from universal.

[Martin]

Finally got back to the Universal Classic Monsters set.

Disc 4: The Invisible Man
I had actually seen this movie a few months ago. I found it was available on demand. This has always been one of my favorites from the Universal Monster movies because it blends the monster theme with humor real well.

Extras:
Documentaries:

• Now you see him: The Invisible Man revealed:
  • Really enjoyed this one. It delves into the changes the movie made from the original book. A book I have to admit I have never read. They explain how they achieved the visual effects which were very advanced. Brief reviews of all the sequels was included. I had no idea there were that many sequels, I had not heard of many of them.
• 100 Years of Universal Characters:
  • This one was a waste of time. It shows a few seconds of several Universal movies with a voice over talking about the characters. Basically it was an ad for Universal DVD/Blu Rays.

Trailer Gallery was rather disappointing as it only had trailers for 'The Invisible man Returns' and 'Invisible Man'. Neither made me want to see the movie and the second one look atrocious.

Production Photographs contained stills from the movie. Nothing of real interest.

The extras on this one was disappointing with the exception of the first documentary.