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Posts Tagged ‘horror’

‘The Three’ by Sarah Lotz

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on March 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

When four aeroplanes on four different continents all crash on the same day, the world is stunned. The only survivors are a woman who survives just long enough to record a message which has far reaching consequences, and three young children. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these children (collectively known as The Three) become the subject of intense media scrutiny and all sorts of theories about how or why they lived and who or what they really are. Some religious fanatics claim that there are three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and a sure sign that the Rapture is soon to come. They manipulate this to their own ends, with their machinations affecting the highest powers in the United States. Others claim that the children are aliens or worse.

After opening with a vivid description of one of the aeroplane crashes, the story is then told as a series of Skype interviews with relevant parties, tweets, blogs, newsclips, online chats etc. This means that the reader is given snippets of information at a time, with differing points of view and opinions, helping to fit all the pieces together. It’s an interesting format and one I liked.

As for the story itself, the premise had me hooked from the start, and I thought the book opened really well. However, I don’t think it kept up its momentum throughout; there were some parts that I REALLY enjoyed and others which, although I didn’t actually dislike them, seemed unnecessary and dragged the story down somewhat. I think a bit of extra editing would have made a big and positive difference.

My favourite parts, without giving away any spoilers, were Paul Craddock’s sections – he was the uncle of one of the survivors and events had a huge impact on him; and the way the religious fanatics twisted events to suit their own agenda. These parts actually felt scarily realistic.

I do think the ending let the book down slightly – I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t overseen on what happened. Nonetheless I still enjoyed the book overall and definitely look forward to reading more of Sarah Lotz’s work.

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‘The Institute’ by Stephen King

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on June 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Tim Jamieson is an ex-cop on his way to a new life in New York, when he decides to literally go in a different direction and ends up in the small South Carolina town of DuPray and finds himself a job as the local Night Knocker (if you’re wondering what that job is, so was I; I Googled it and all the results were Google searches by other readers of this book! It appears to be a job whereby someone just walks around the town and checks that everything is in order, businesses etc are all locked up and safe – a nightwatchman for the entire town effectively).

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, child prodigy and telekinetic Luke Ellis is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to an isolated, secret building in Maine. He wakes up in a bedroom identical to his own at home – except that there is no escape from this institution. He and other remarkable children like him are prisoners here, and the evil director Mrs Sigsby and her sadistic staff are determined to wring every last bit of these children’s special powers for their own purposes. The children who enter the institute never get to leave it – but Luke is determined to escape.

The stage is set for a showdown of humungous proportion…

I generally make a point of reading at least one Stephen King book a year, at least for the last few years. I tend to prefer his later works, and always find myself totally drawn in. The Institute was no different – starting with Tim Jamieson’s story and then moving on to Luke and his fellow captives in the Institute. Inevitably the two stories collide later on in the book, for the thrilling ending.

However, as much as I enjoy Stephen King’s work – I always find that the first 75% of his books are better than the last 25% and I do think that was the case here too. That’s not to say the ending was disappointing – far from it – just that the journey is usually more exciting than the destination. I don’t see how he could have ended this story differently really, but what really drew me in was the all-too-scary vision of life in the institution.

I really liked Tim’s character and also the character of Sheriff John, albeit the latter was not in the story as much as I hoped. The main children in the institute all had their own distinct personalities as well, and it would be difficult not to like and root for Luke.

Overall, a thrilling book which I found hard to put down, and always looked forward to picking up again. Definitely recommended for Stephen King fans and people who like horror or dystopian/speculative fiction.

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‘The Shining Girls’ by Lauren Beukes

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on September 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

There can’t be too many books about a time-travelling serial killer, who murders women in different decades of the 20th century, but here’s one of them. Part sci-fi, part horror, part crime fiction, the books tells the story of Harper Curtis, a monster of a man who discovers a house which allows him to move through time. He goes to see his future murder victims (his shining girls) when they are children, and then comes back when they are adults and murders them. Kirby is one of his victims who actually survives his attack and determines to track down the man who almost killed her.

A week after finishing this book and I am still not sure what to make of it. I sort of enjoyed it, but in parts it was slow and seemed repetitive. I liked Kirby’s character although I did think she was slightly cliched. Harper was irredeemable, horrible, and had not one tiny bit of anything remotely good about him. As bizarre as the idea is, it’s quite appealing in some ways, and I think if the book had been about 100 pages shorter, I would have enjoyed it more. It’s not really the kind of book I ordinarily got for though, so I may not be the best person to ask for an opinion.

A word of warning if you are thinking of reading this – some of the murder scenes are particularly gruesome and there is a scene of animal cruelty, which had I known about beforehand would probably have put me off reading it altogether.

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‘The Outsider’ by Stephen King

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

A young boy is violated and murdered in the most horrific manner, and all the DNA, eyewitness and fingerprint evidence points to the culprit being much loved sports coach Terry Maitland. But Terry has a rock solid alibi. Detective Ralph Anderson is tasked with finding out the truth behind the matter, but one huge question confounds him at every turn – how can one man be in two places at exactly the same time?

As always with Stephen King (especially his more recent books), this novel is compulsively readable and hard to put down. The first part reads more like a straightforward murder mystery, but things take an even darker turn in the second half when evil forces outside of our realm come into play.

King has a knack for making his stories flow, and also for creating a ripple effect – the horrendous crime committed in the book is shown to affect those not in it’s direct trajectory, and has a knock-on effect upon the people living in the town, who are shocked that such a despicable person could live in their midst.

This does feature characters from the Mr Mercedes trilogy, which I have not read, but you certainly don’t need to have read those to enjoy this. The socially awkward investigator Holly is one of my favourite characters from this story, as well as police officer Yune Sablo, but all of the characters are distinctive and well drawn.

This novel has very much got Stephen King’s stamp on it, so if you like previous books of his, I would certainly recommend this one too.

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Maggie (2015)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on October 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This film was something of a departure for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was previously always known as an action star with the occasional foray into daft comedy (Twins, Junior). This is a post apocalyptic horror, slow moving but thoughtful and poignant.

The world is consumed by the Nercoambulist virus which turns those afflicted into violent ‘zombies’ 6-8 weeks after infection. Wade’s (Schwarzenegger) daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) has been infected but has not yet turned violent and he is determined to bring her home and look after her until such time as she turns violent and becomes a threat to their safety.

There are a few scary ‘made you jump’ moments, but this is not really that kind of a horror film. Instead, it’s more about watching someone die slowly, knowing that they will become a danger to their loved ones. It’s set in the present day, but the world has been ravaged by the virus. Wade loves his daughter but has to struggle with what he knows is to come.

I enjoyed the film, although it was by no means a relaxing watch. Schwarzenegger put to bed any suggestion that he can’t act – clearly he can, and while he might not be Oscar winning level, he is as good in this role as many other talented actors would be, and you can see the pain on his face.

My only complaint about the film is that it is just so dark. I don’t mean figuratively – it’s certainly that – I mean quite literally. A lot of the scenes are so dimly lit that it was sometimes difficult to make out what was happening. This reflected the tone of the film but at times became slightly frustrating. On the whole though, if you like a more thought provoking type of zombie movie, you might want to watch this.

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‘The Stand’ by Stephen King

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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The book – one of King’s most beloved works – is essentially a story of good vs evil, in a post-apocalyptic setting. It was initially published in 1978 and then reissued including parts that had been cut from the original publication (for financial reasons). In the later version, the setting was moved from 1980 to 1990. It was the later, bigger edition which I read, which came in at over 1300 pages. So a big brick of a book!

The books starts with a man made plague sweeping the earth and killing most humans, although a few remain immune. After the plague come the dreams – people dream of a faceless man who terrifies them, and an elderly lady who they see as a saviour. Two groups form – followers of the faceless man – Randall Flagg, and of the elderly lady – Mother Abagail.

The scene is set for an epic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil; between God and the Devil or certainly at least between their emissaries on earth.

The story has everything – the supernatural, horror, human relationships and the gamut of emotions – there is love, hate, fear and despair, hope and friendship. There are unlikely heroes and tragic villains. It’s epic in every sense. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although on balance I still prefer Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King, which I read earlier this year.

The Stand is a wonderful book though which really drew me in, and I really came to care about a lot of the characters. Stu Redman was my favourite character in the whole story and I also have a soft spot for Nick Andros. It took the me the best part of two months to read, which is a LONG time for me! But it was worth it. Highly recommended.

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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , on September 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Year of release: 2016

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

Writers: Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, Damien Chazelle

Main cast: John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

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Genre: Horror, thriller, mystery

Highlights: The acting for all three of the main cast (and for the most part, this is a three-hander) is superb throughout. The first 90 minutes of the film is full of tension, atmosphere and an underlying sinister tone and I loved it

Lowlights: The last ten minutes. WTF?

Overall: Brilliant – if it had finished ten minutes earlier!

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‘The Fireman’ by Joe Hill

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on October 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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The world is burning, civilisation is collapsing and the human race is in danger of being wiped out…a mysterious disease known as Dragonscale is sweeping the planet – nobody knows how it started, but everyone thinks it will end with the destruction of mankind. The disease starts out as swirling patterns on the sufferer’s skin, and eventually those with it burst into fire and are literally burnt to death. It doesn’t take long before vigilantes roam the streets killing those affected in an attempt to rid the world of the disease.

Harper Grayson finds out that she has Dragonscale at roughly the same time as she discovers that she is pregnant. Her husband Jakob abandons her, and in fear of her life, Harper flees to try and find a place of safety. She is taken under the collective wing of a group of fellow sufferers who have set up their own community known as Camp Wyndham, where they believe they have found a way to, if not cure Dragonscale, at least control it and even use it to their advantage. One of the group is John Rookwood, known as The Fireman. Enigmatic and single-minded, John protects the group and has special skills of his own for using Dragonscale to defend his community. But danger and hysteria lurk within the camp…

I had previously only read one book by Joe Hill – Heart Shaped Box – which I thought was okay but not brilliant. I would probably not have bothered with any more of his novels except that dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels always intrigue me, so I gave this one a try. And wow! am I glad that I did!!

It’s a big brick of a book, at just shy of 750 pages. Sometimes I can get a bit impatient with such long books, but I seem to have got lucky with a couple this year (earlier in the year I read Donna Tartt’s ‘The Goldfinch’ which I also loved), including this one. The writing is engaging and there’s always something to tease you into reading just one more chapter, and oh go on there, just one more…

Some scenes were particularly poignant – crazy as it sounds, one of the scenes that sticks in my head is when Harper gets brief access to the internet after weeks of having none. She goes to Google only to find that it is no longer there.

There’s a lot of characters in the book – some I loved, and some I absolutely detested, as I am sure was the intention of the author. Harper was a feisty heroine – the best sort actually, as she only realised her own strength of character when the chips were down.  found her obsession with the film Mary Poppins a bit odd but I’ll let it go!! The Fireman was exasperating and antagonistic, but fiercely protective of those he cared about, and his bravery knew no bounds.

The story seemed to move quite quickly for me – that is there was always something happening and it didn’t lag at all. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but I liked it although I know some reviewers were disappointed.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes dystopian novels. It’s well worth your time reading!

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Rosemary’s Baby (2014)

Posted in TV/Film adaptation reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

This adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel seems to have attracted some negative reviews, but I liked it.  This may be in part due to the fact that I haven’t read said novel (horror is not really my genre), and neither have I seen the acclaimed 1968 film adaptation, starring Mia Farrow (because, well…horror is not really my genre).  I only watched this latest adaptation – released as a two-part mini-series (four parts in the UK) because it starred Jason Isaacs, who I always find to be a very talented and versatile actor, but I enjoyed the production on its own merits too.

Briefly, the story – which apparently does have some differences to both the novel and the 1968 film – revolves around a young woman named Rosemary Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana), who moves to Paris with her husband Guy (Patrick J. Adams), after suffering a devastating miscarriage.  They become friends with a wealthy and influential couple named Roman and Margaux Castavet (Jason Isaacs and Carole Bouquet respectively), and suddenly their lives seem to take an upward turn.  However, when Rosemary falls pregnant again, matters take a sinister turn…

I thought the cast were all very good, although the stand-outs were definitely Jason Isaacs and Carole Bouquet, who both had just the right mixture of charisma and menace.  Zoe Saldana was great as Rosemary (and looked incredibly beautiful), and Patrick J. Adams did a fine job as Guy.  I also particularly enjoyed Olivier Rabourdin as the Police Commissioner, who Rosemary enlists for help.  Christina Cole was good (as ever) as Rosemary’s friend Julie, although she did not have as much to work with as some of the other characters.

Paris was the perfect setting for this mini-series (although I understand that the neither the novel nor the 1968 film were set there).  The dark atmospheric filming made it both creepy and beautiful, and on a personal  level, I am very fond of Paris and always enjoy looking at it and seeing it in films or television shows.

Having read other reviews, it seems that this series was better received by people who are not familiar with the book or earlier film, so if you haven’t read/seen these, I would definitely recommend that you give this production a go.  The only thing that let it down slightly for me was that a few plot points in the last hour felt a bit rushed, but overall I liked this a lot.

Year of release: 2014

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Producers: Zoe Saldana, Mariel Saldana, Cisely Saldana, Andrew Balek, Robert Bernacchi, Joshua D. Maurer, Stephane Sperry, David A. Stern, Alixandre Witlin, James Wong, Tom Patricia

Writers: Ira Levin (novel), Scott Abbott, James Wong

Main cast: Zoe Saldana, Patrick J. Adams, Jason Isaacs, Carole Bouquet, Christina Cole, Olivier Rabourdin

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The Gathering (2003)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This is a fairly low-budget British ‘horror’ film (albeit light on the horror aspect), which Cassie (Christina Ricci) is a young woman knocked over by a car in the sleepy town of Ashby Wake.  When she recovers, she has lost her memory and cannot remember what she is doing in the town.  The woman who knocked her over lets Cassie stay with her and her family, and Cassie forms a bond with the young son, Michael.  However, she is curious and concerned about the strangers who she keeps seeing in the town, but who seem oddly familiar to her, and she enlists the help of a man named Dan (Ioan Gruffudd).  Meanwhile, a buried church is discovered underground, and various members of the Anglican church in the neighbourhood are anxious to discover the mystery behind it.

I watched this film for the sole reason that Ioan Gruffudd was in it.  Horror is not really a favourite genre of mine, and religion is not a subject which would normally draw me to a film.  Nonetheless, I actually found this entertaining enough, despite a few plot holes and unresolved questions.

Christina Ricci was fine as the lead character, although some of the choices that character made seemed unlikely.  Ioan Gruffudd (who surely must have an ageing portrait in his attic, as he looks no different eleven years later than he does in this film) was also good as Dan – actually the best thing about the movie, from  my point of view.

In all, while this film does present more questions than it answers (or more truthfully just leaves some plotlines dangling), it’s an undemanding, slightly hokey experience, and not bad if you are a fan of the genre, or any of the main actors.

Year of release: 2003

Director: Brian Gilbert

Producers: Patrick McKenna, Pippa Cross, Rachel Cuperman, Marc Samuelson, Peter Samuelson, Steve Clark-Hall

Writer: Anthony Horowitz

Main cast: Christina Ricci, Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane, Kerry Fox, Simon Russell Beale, Peter McNamara

 

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