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    Falconer

    Falconer

    John Cheever

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    Ezekiel Farragut is a college professor, a drug-addict and a murderer. Locked in Falconer State...

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ClareR (6062 KP) rated Ghost Wall in Books

Feb 11, 2019  
Ghost Wall
Ghost Wall
Sarah Moss | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A disturbing look at family dynamics.
This novella really packs a punch. Its uncomfortable subject matter is presented in an uncomfortable setting. Slivie, her checkout assistant mum and bus driver dad, spend their summer holidays recreating life in Iron Age Britain, along with an archaeology professor and some of his students. Silvie's dad is a very keen, knowledgable amateur archaeologist, and is well respected by the professor. However, he is an unhappy man. He seems to hate the way he lives, and takes his frustrations (physically) out on his wife and daughter. I actually thought Silvie was far younger than it transpired that she was, purely because of the way her father spoke to and treated her.
The book becomes darker as it goes on, as we see more of Silvie's dads' outdated ideas of masculinity and a woman's station in life, and the conclusion is simply stunning.
This is well worth a read in my opinion.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and fairly review.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) in Movies

Mar 4, 2018 (Updated Mar 4, 2018)  
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
1955 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
7
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The original Hammer horror movie; the studio did actually know how to spell 'experiment', but the title refers to the 'X' certificate that all self-respecting horror films had at the time this was made. Astronaut comes back from space a changed man; the rest of his crew mysteriously vanished - just what went on out there? Professor Q must figure it out before the mutation afflicting the astronaut reaches its final form.

Actually really, really tame as a horror movie by modern standards, obviously, but also of great historical interest as the birth of a legend in British cinema. One can't help suspecting the TV show was a lot more thoughtful, but this still works pretty well as an SF movie, and an influential one at that, and the juxtaposition of B-movie SF ideas and images with post-war Britain is interesting. Imported American star Brian Donlevy is not very good as Professor Q (original writer Nigel Kneale claimed he was on the sauce all the time); Richard Wordsworth is mesmerising as the doomed astronaut.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Quatermass and the Pit (1967) in Movies

Feb 13, 2018  
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
1967 | Horror, Sci-Fi
9
7.7 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The best of the Quatermass films keeps all the unsettling ideas of Nigel Kneale's original TV scripts and adds Hammer's talent for coming up with smart casting and polished production values. Weird projectile turns up buried under London; the authorities initially assume it's an unexploded bomb from the Second World War, but the presence of fossil ape skeletons in and around the object indicates otherwise, as does a history of hauntings in the area going back hundreds of years. Professor Quatermass begins to suspect that this is a relic of a highly unusual alien invasion that happened before man had even evolved...

Pretty much a perfect fusion of horror and science fiction, giving a convincing extraterrestrial rationale for various paranormal and demonic phenomena; thoughtful and disturbing rather than actually scary. Andrew Keir rocks the joint as Professor Q but is well-supported by everyone else. The sequence in which London is transformed in the final reel is also very well done. Sets the standard for intelligent British SF movies; rather influential in its own way, too.