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Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna (Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery, #3) in Books

Feb 21, 2018

Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna is the 3rd book in the Fairy Tale Fatal series, set in 1867. I love cozies and historical fiction, and this story was a wonderful mix of the two. Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax finds herself at a hunting party in France, pretending to be someone she is not, and trying to figure out how to avoid getting herself married to the Compte de Griffe. When an unexpected guest turns up dead after a string of petty thefts, she must try to find both the thief and the killer to get herself out of more than one entanglement. I absolutely loved the colorful characters, the time period, and the setting in this story. I plan on going back soon to read this series from the start!

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Kudos

Vegas (725 KP) rated Friday the 13th (1980) in Movies

Oct 25, 2018

The suspense (2 more)

Violent deaths

Not too much splatter

Acting sometimes a little wooden (0 more)

Classic Slasher

It has been a very long time since I watched this, back in the day I always preferred The Nightmare on Elm Street series. So I went into it almost with fresh eyes, not really remembering too much.
I now wonder why I didn’t like it more at the time, the gory deaths were not over done as in some modern films (eg. Saw series) there was the right amount of suspense and anticipation was cleverly filmed... some of the later scenes once the killer is shown especially the close ups and later struggles remind me for some reason of the style of Hitchcock in psycho.

This is how horror should be done. Maybe some of today’s excessive gore fest films (which I don’t actually dislike) should learn from it - sometimes less is more.

Kudos

Andrew Kennedy (199 KP) rated The Girl With All the Gifts (2017) in Movies

Dec 10, 2019

In this modern age the market is saturated with zombie films and TV shows. With all of this choice a good one needs something different to stand out from the pack.
The Girl with all the gifts is one such film that stands out even with a limited budget. However, all the leads give solid performances and the story refreshingly doesn't rely on the same old tired zombie tropes that bog down other genre fare.
There is some prime story telling and the acting of young Sennia Nanua is by far the best thing, going from sweet young child to blood crazied killer in a heartbeat.
The film also looks superb wether it's tight claustrophobic interiors or zombie infested streets the cinematography is a joy.
This may be as good or better then fellow Brit zombie flick 28 days later even if it does lend from Danny Boyle's film in places.

Kudos

Barry Newman (204 KP) rated The House That Jack Built (2018) in Movies

Feb 8, 2020

My first experience of a Lars Von Trier film and I certainly have mixed feelings. The film is undoubtedly technically well put together and Matt Dillon makes for a creepy and convincing serial killer (the kill scenes are very graphic and unsettling). Despite being 2.5 hours long for the most part the film actually managed to hold my interest in part due to Von Trier’s unique visuals and the numerous WTF? moments. Unfortunately there is little in the way of actual plot and the film tries to be some big profound work about seeing art in death but ultimately just comes off being pretentious .The final half hour in particular is completely baffling leading to an unsatisfactory ending. I also don’t know what would possess talented actresses like Uma Thurman to agree to appear in this solely as one dimensional victims either. Not a film I can see me watching again.