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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated A Dog's Heart in Books
Sep 2, 2017
Fabulous Russian tale about human ethics
What a fantastic satirical book. Think about crossing Frankenstein with My Fair Lady, and then setting it in Soviet Russia. This book is about how human beings are essentially more enslaved to systems than a dog is. A doctor decides to do a science experiment, putting the pituitary gland and testicles of a man into a stray dog to see the results. Instead they end up with a man wolf, who is rude and obnoxious, and demands the same rights as a human being. No sooner is he a man, he is forced to be registered and take part in rebuilding the nation after tsarist Russia. However, as a man he's still treated as a lowly pauper or a dog by the doctor. So who is more free - the dog having to raid bins to search for scraps or the one owned by the doctor and the government? Fabulous little tale.
Lorraine Christine Robson (1 KP) rated Devil's Cry : Shade of Devil Book 2 in Books
Dec 6, 2019
The Devil of New York is back!
Contains spoilers, click to show
Sooo many things to love about this book. I mean. Shayne Silvers has found a way to bring Jekyll and Hyde into it. So, we have Olympian forces, Victoria Helsing, Dracula, Doctor F.Stein and Jekyll and Hyde! Some of the most memorable characters from literary history given new life! (He is the Doctor Frankenstein of story writing).
What can I say about Devil's Cry? - I didn't see that coming! Shayne has outdone himself as I found myself immersed in the story to the point I could feel the dirt beneath my fingernails as I read a particular scene in Central Park. As with most vampire stories, things get a little heated. Things get sexy. And there is blood. And magic. I still can't get over how much I am enjoying a Vampire story!
Sorin Ambrogio is no ordinary vampire.
He is the Devil, and he has enraptured me.
What can I say about Devil's Cry? - I didn't see that coming! Shayne has outdone himself as I found myself immersed in the story to the point I could feel the dirt beneath my fingernails as I read a particular scene in Central Park. As with most vampire stories, things get a little heated. Things get sexy. And there is blood. And magic. I still can't get over how much I am enjoying a Vampire story!
Sorin Ambrogio is no ordinary vampire.
He is the Devil, and he has enraptured me.
Summer in the Shadow of Byron
Book
Villa Diodati. 1816. In a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and his...
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Wolf Man (1941) in Movies
May 8, 2021
The first Universal werewolf film to really make an impression doesn't have the same iconic status as either Frankenstein or Dracula, but is still a much more proficient movie in purely technical terms. Larry Talbot is plunged into a world of misery and horror when he returns to his family home in Wales; many visitors to the principality will probably empathise, but his experience is particularly bad when he is bitten by a gypsy and becomes a werewolf.
Solid story, decently structured; the wolf man make-up is honestly not that great, and neither is Chaney's performance, but the rest of the cast is decent and the plot rattles along. Notable as the film which established the 'rules' of lycanthropy as far as mainstream cinema is concerned. As ever, probably more interesting from a historical point of view than as a genuine piece of entertainment, but still a film which has deservedly resonated in the culture.
Solid story, decently structured; the wolf man make-up is honestly not that great, and neither is Chaney's performance, but the rest of the cast is decent and the plot rattles along. Notable as the film which established the 'rules' of lycanthropy as far as mainstream cinema is concerned. As ever, probably more interesting from a historical point of view than as a genuine piece of entertainment, but still a film which has deservedly resonated in the culture.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Phantom Creeps - Feature Version (1939) in Movies
Oct 21, 2020
Expirment Gone Right
The Phantom Creeps- is a really good horror film.
The Plot: Mad Dr. Zorka uses his arsenal of bizarre inventions to conquer the world in this feature-length version of the serial.
I like when Bela Lugosi plays as a mad scientist. He does a excellent job when plays as a mad scientist.
A 78-minute feature film version of the film, cut down from the serial's original 265 minutes, was released for television showing in 1949. Which is the verison i watched.
The serial contains some similarities with the earlier serial The Vanishing Shadow, such as an invisibility belt and a remote-control robot. Stock footage was used from The Invisible Ray, including scenes of Dr. Zorka finding the meteorite in Africa. As with several Universal serials, some of the stock music came from Frankenstein. The Phantom Creeps' car chase was itself used as stock footage in later serials.
Its a really good film.
The Plot: Mad Dr. Zorka uses his arsenal of bizarre inventions to conquer the world in this feature-length version of the serial.
I like when Bela Lugosi plays as a mad scientist. He does a excellent job when plays as a mad scientist.
A 78-minute feature film version of the film, cut down from the serial's original 265 minutes, was released for television showing in 1949. Which is the verison i watched.
The serial contains some similarities with the earlier serial The Vanishing Shadow, such as an invisibility belt and a remote-control robot. Stock footage was used from The Invisible Ray, including scenes of Dr. Zorka finding the meteorite in Africa. As with several Universal serials, some of the stock music came from Frankenstein. The Phantom Creeps' car chase was itself used as stock footage in later serials.
Its a really good film.
My Name is Monster
8.8
Rate It
Book
After the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities,...
De Niro: A Biography
5.0
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Book
This is the life of the elusive actor Robert De Niro. A pre-eminent Hollywood character performer of...
biography film
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) in Movies
Apr 12, 2022
Nobody is saying that the sequels that followed the original Lake Placid are good, but to their credit, all of them are tongue-in-cheek and come across as self aware to a certain degree. Lake Placid: Legacy ditches that, and plays it straight. Everything is super serious, and it's a putrid pile of utter shite.
Every character is insufferable to the point I didn't even want them to get eaten. I wanted to crocodile to physically manifest itself in front of me so i could be eaten instead. The very same crocodile that somehow looks the shittest it's ever been in this entire franchise, which is quite impressive to be fair. Furthermore, the piss awful script has the audacity to compare Legacy to not only Frankenstein, but also to the Ancient Greek fable of Theseus and The Minotaur, in a completely unironic way.
Categorically, one of the worst films I've ever sat through. I think I actually hate movies now. Thanks.
Every character is insufferable to the point I didn't even want them to get eaten. I wanted to crocodile to physically manifest itself in front of me so i could be eaten instead. The very same crocodile that somehow looks the shittest it's ever been in this entire franchise, which is quite impressive to be fair. Furthermore, the piss awful script has the audacity to compare Legacy to not only Frankenstein, but also to the Ancient Greek fable of Theseus and The Minotaur, in a completely unironic way.
Categorically, one of the worst films I've ever sat through. I think I actually hate movies now. Thanks.
Our Hideous Progeny
10.0
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Book
Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious...
Historical fiction Retellings
ClareR (5596 KP) rated Frankissstein in Books
Aug 6, 2019
A novel with a lot to think about!
I feel a sense of satisfaction having finished this book. I loved it, and I can really see why it has made the Booker Prize longlist (2019).
It is set in two different timelines. The first begins in 1816 with Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley (actually, before they were married), Lord Byron, Mary’s stepsister and Byron’s lover, Claire Clairmont and Polidori, Byron’s doctor. During a particularly wet two weeks on Lake Geneva, Byron sets them all the task of writing a horror story. And so Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is born.
In the modern day, we follow Ry Shelley, a transgender doctor, Victor Stein (a ‘mad’ scientist), Ron Lord (a very successful sexbot producer), Clare (a staunch Christian, who seems to be working undercover in the most unlikely places!) and Polly Dory (a journalist for Vanity Fair. Do you see what she did here? It took me a couple of ‘chapters’, sadly! This is the Frankenstein of the modern age. Where Mary Shelley was terrified at the idea of creating a living man from parts of the dead, Victor Stein in the present day wants to preserve the brains and thoughts of the dead - and it’s equally terrifying.
Mary Shelley and Ry Shelley are very similar (the same, but in different times?) characters, even though they are in two very different times. Mary is at the mercy of her female body - she falls pregnant and loses two babies before she has the third who survives. Ry is trying to change his body from female to male so that he has control over it. But society has very fixed ideas about these characters in both timelines.
It’s a very current book with mention of Brexit and Trump, but I think it will hold up well in the future because it is so well written, and it has a lot to say about society and gender.
I thoroughly enjoyed it - and now I’m going to go and find more books in Jeanette Wintersons back catalogue!
Many thanks to Penguin Random House/ Jonathan Cape and NetGalley for a copy of this book (which I actually went and bought as well - it needs to be sat on my bookshelf!)
It is set in two different timelines. The first begins in 1816 with Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley (actually, before they were married), Lord Byron, Mary’s stepsister and Byron’s lover, Claire Clairmont and Polidori, Byron’s doctor. During a particularly wet two weeks on Lake Geneva, Byron sets them all the task of writing a horror story. And so Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is born.
In the modern day, we follow Ry Shelley, a transgender doctor, Victor Stein (a ‘mad’ scientist), Ron Lord (a very successful sexbot producer), Clare (a staunch Christian, who seems to be working undercover in the most unlikely places!) and Polly Dory (a journalist for Vanity Fair. Do you see what she did here? It took me a couple of ‘chapters’, sadly! This is the Frankenstein of the modern age. Where Mary Shelley was terrified at the idea of creating a living man from parts of the dead, Victor Stein in the present day wants to preserve the brains and thoughts of the dead - and it’s equally terrifying.
Mary Shelley and Ry Shelley are very similar (the same, but in different times?) characters, even though they are in two very different times. Mary is at the mercy of her female body - she falls pregnant and loses two babies before she has the third who survives. Ry is trying to change his body from female to male so that he has control over it. But society has very fixed ideas about these characters in both timelines.
It’s a very current book with mention of Brexit and Trump, but I think it will hold up well in the future because it is so well written, and it has a lot to say about society and gender.
I thoroughly enjoyed it - and now I’m going to go and find more books in Jeanette Wintersons back catalogue!
Many thanks to Penguin Random House/ Jonathan Cape and NetGalley for a copy of this book (which I actually went and bought as well - it needs to be sat on my bookshelf!)