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Ross (3282 KP) rated Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) in Movies
Jul 12, 2019
Manages to tell the story without glamorising it
When I heard about this film, and that it wasn't your normal horror type serial killer film, I was intrigued. I like the odd slasher film but feel guilty when I find out they had been inspired by horrific real life crimes.
"Extremely ... " manages to focus on the life and relationships around Bundy without gratuitously showing his crimes. While there was a chance this could be seen as demeaning the horror these young women went through, I think it manages to avoid this ... just.
Efron ticks the boxes for the public side of the psychopath, but the darker side is not explored. Some might see this as suggesting his innocence but I see it as allowing the film to focus on how others perceived him, and show why he got away with it for so long.
The rest of the cast are strong as well.
An enjoyable different take on a horrific man.
"Extremely ... " manages to focus on the life and relationships around Bundy without gratuitously showing his crimes. While there was a chance this could be seen as demeaning the horror these young women went through, I think it manages to avoid this ... just.
Efron ticks the boxes for the public side of the psychopath, but the darker side is not explored. Some might see this as suggesting his innocence but I see it as allowing the film to focus on how others perceived him, and show why he got away with it for so long.
The rest of the cast are strong as well.
An enjoyable different take on a horrific man.
ClareR (5549 KP) rated A Certain Hunger in Books
Mar 16, 2023
Who knew that I’d enjoy a book about a food critic who branches out to the more refined tastes of cannibalism. And yet here we are.
I mean, if you’re going to murder someone, why not go the whole hog and make something nice out of their buttocks or their tongue? Yes, it’s gory, but Dorothy Daniels is such a narcissistic psychopath that it’s all done so terribly nicely.
I listened to this on audiobook as I read it, and maybe I’ve been able to take something else from this. The Narrator, Dorothy (aka Hillary Huber), sounded superior, well-educated and completely logical. Obviously she’s not - she’s writing her memoir sat in a prison cell!
What would have been the icing on the cake, would have been someone finding her memoirs at the end.
Clearly this will be a marmite book, and as someone who is usually ambivalent about marmite, I actually rather liked Dorothy Daniels and her distinctive tastes!
I mean, if you’re going to murder someone, why not go the whole hog and make something nice out of their buttocks or their tongue? Yes, it’s gory, but Dorothy Daniels is such a narcissistic psychopath that it’s all done so terribly nicely.
I listened to this on audiobook as I read it, and maybe I’ve been able to take something else from this. The Narrator, Dorothy (aka Hillary Huber), sounded superior, well-educated and completely logical. Obviously she’s not - she’s writing her memoir sat in a prison cell!
What would have been the icing on the cake, would have been someone finding her memoirs at the end.
Clearly this will be a marmite book, and as someone who is usually ambivalent about marmite, I actually rather liked Dorothy Daniels and her distinctive tastes!
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated Die For Me (Killing Eve #3) in Books
Jan 20, 2022
As with the previous book, we pick up exactly where we left off with Eve and Villanelle. On the run and trying to stay undetected, Villanelle takes Eve to her country of birth in a shipping container, and when they land in Russia it is far from smooth.
We follow Eve and Villanelle as they try to remain hidden from the Twelve’s all seeing eyes while trying to figure out what their next move should be. I really started to hope and wonder if they could manage to start a new and happy life together as things seemed to slot into place. But, obviously, things were never going to be that simple when it came to these characters. Throughout this book, Eve starts to become more and more like Villanelle, probably because she is in survival mode, the only difference being that she does feel some guilt over what is happening. I sort of saw the twist at the end of the book coming, but also didn’t want to believe that it would happen as I wanted everything to work out nicely for them.
This book, unlike the others, is all written from Eve’s point of view. This means that we get a lot more insight into Eve’s feelings and her struggle to understand Villanelle and her behaviours towards her. You can see that Eve loves Villanelle despite everything while Villanelle seems to behave in ways that will intentionally hurt Eve and then uses her diagnosis as a psychopath to excuse her behaviour. The good thing is that Eve repeatedly tells her that she can’t use it as an excuse, but at the same time she still lets Villanelle get away with the behaviour.
Overall, I would give this final instalment 4.5 stars as I really enjoyed it and didn’t put it down until I had read the very last word. I wish that there were more books coming as I have found this series really good reads (despite them being about a psychopath assassin!) and although I love them, I think the TV series is a great adaptation of them, even if they have gone in slightly different directions. I will miss Eve and Villanelle immensely now that I have finished the series.
We follow Eve and Villanelle as they try to remain hidden from the Twelve’s all seeing eyes while trying to figure out what their next move should be. I really started to hope and wonder if they could manage to start a new and happy life together as things seemed to slot into place. But, obviously, things were never going to be that simple when it came to these characters. Throughout this book, Eve starts to become more and more like Villanelle, probably because she is in survival mode, the only difference being that she does feel some guilt over what is happening. I sort of saw the twist at the end of the book coming, but also didn’t want to believe that it would happen as I wanted everything to work out nicely for them.
This book, unlike the others, is all written from Eve’s point of view. This means that we get a lot more insight into Eve’s feelings and her struggle to understand Villanelle and her behaviours towards her. You can see that Eve loves Villanelle despite everything while Villanelle seems to behave in ways that will intentionally hurt Eve and then uses her diagnosis as a psychopath to excuse her behaviour. The good thing is that Eve repeatedly tells her that she can’t use it as an excuse, but at the same time she still lets Villanelle get away with the behaviour.
Overall, I would give this final instalment 4.5 stars as I really enjoyed it and didn’t put it down until I had read the very last word. I wish that there were more books coming as I have found this series really good reads (despite them being about a psychopath assassin!) and although I love them, I think the TV series is a great adaptation of them, even if they have gone in slightly different directions. I will miss Eve and Villanelle immensely now that I have finished the series.
Merissa (11619 KP) rated Tainted Lives in Books
Jun 20, 2017
Tainted Lives by Mandasue Heller
I started off disliking this book intensely, there didn't seem to be anything "nice" about it at all. Very dark and gritty. The thing was, I couldn't actually stop thinking about it once I put it down. This for me is a sign of an exceedingly well written book so although I was hoping it would lighten up a bit I stuck with it.
Trust me when I say there is nothing fluffy about this book at all. There are scenes in it that are definitely not for the faint-hearted. And the only light part about the whole book is the very end!
How the characters grow and interact with each other is a joy to read. And you can completely understand the decisions and choices that Sarah makes. Vinnie is such a despicable character that you cannot help but to loathe him, but he does make an excellent villain, a true psychopath.
I would recommend this book very highly, just not for a light read.
* Verified Purchase ~ January 2013 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Trust me when I say there is nothing fluffy about this book at all. There are scenes in it that are definitely not for the faint-hearted. And the only light part about the whole book is the very end!
How the characters grow and interact with each other is a joy to read. And you can completely understand the decisions and choices that Sarah makes. Vinnie is such a despicable character that you cannot help but to loathe him, but he does make an excellent villain, a true psychopath.
I would recommend this book very highly, just not for a light read.
* Verified Purchase ~ January 2013 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) (2001) in Movies
Mar 5, 2021
A wicked cocktail of "Looney Tunes", 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵, 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬, and about 18 bags of crystal meth. Seldom has the term "bloodbath" ever been meant so literally, features perhaps the most gruesome and deeply unsettling throat slashes in all of cinema - and there's plenty of them. Remember that gag from 𝘏𝘰𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘴! 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘶𝘹 where the little body count counter was in the corner of the screen while Charlie Sheen was gunning through hilarious amounts of enemies? That's pretty much this whole movie. Has such a primal sense of hyper, grisly fun - sets up one impossibly over-the-top scenario and then immediately tops it, rinse and repeat for 130 minutes. If it wasn't already clear that Tadanobu Asano is one of Japan's coolest and most magnetic actors then this makes the case ten-fold. He plays the role of Kakihara with an effortless, ice-cold, commanding gravitas. And that wardrobe! Just sadistically entertaining up and down, the type of film that makes you think like a juvenile psychopath.
William Friedkin recommended The Night of the Hunter (1955) in Movies (curated)
So disappointed with this series. It could have been and should have been so much better., the premise was a great one.The two lead actors are well respected but were let down by bad ideas. John Sim's character can apparently "read" people better than "Lie to me's" Tim Roth. He then turns into some kind of psychopath in order to find the truth. I can understand a parent's need to want the truth but to go that far, I don't think so. He manages to firstly access the operating theatre, then get a job at the hospital and then enter a closed meeting all with ease. Then he hoodwinks the daughter and wife of the doctor to gain access to their house. The daughter apparently just stays upstairs whilst the mother is at knife-point downstairs, the mother does not back off even though he is brandishing a knife and then at the end the daughter is more angry with her father, cause of his lies, rather than the knife-wielding maniac that's just threatened them all? Just made me frustrated and annoyed. Grrr
Rachel (48 KP) rated Tortured Dreams (Dreams & Reality Series #1) in Books
May 27, 2017
Managed 17%
*Spoiler Alert*
It's really uncommon for me to start a book and just give up on it. I always endeavor to finish everything but this time I just couldn't!
I found everything about this story excruciating. The writing is all over the place, pretty much 0 description of anything. None of the characters were sympathetic in any way, I really could not have cared less about the lead character. Dialogue is stilted, not natural in any way and the actions of people were as natural as Dolly the cloned sheep.
Even though I only read 17% of the story certain thoughts, and even whole sentences, had already been repeated.
The main character is a sociopath, something that is hammered at over and over again, yet the author presents her in a totally unrealistic way.
"She couldn't have PTSD because she had no feelings for others". That is utterly wrong. PTSD has nothing to do with empathy or feelings for others - the clue is in the name.
I have a friend who is diagnosed with sociopathic personality disorder and it is a fallacy that sociopath's have no apparentlysympathy nor empathy for anyone. The way they process it is just different. They can be very dampened down, yes, but they exist!
Apparently another character - who is a psychopath - managed to somehow beat all of the psychological testing and is part of the FBI! This character apparently secretly gives the sociopathic character money to live on. Why would a fully blown psychopath do that? There is nothing in it for him and it wouldn't even feed his narcissism as it's not a public spectacle.
Now our 'sociopath' character somehow manages to recognise serial killers/rapists from across crowded bars, they are magically drawn only to her, so she let's them follow her home and she kills them. Isn't that convenient?! Oh - she also has a serial killer stalker who writes her letters detailing all 200 of his murders.......
Then homeland security turn up - they somehow know all about her and her magical murdering skills - and need her to help in a case that involves mediaeval torture. Luckily she owns an extremely rare book that answers their most burning question's so she is asked to join a taskforce. Which just happens to be made up entirely of emotionally and psychologically damaged men.
Because that is what every law service desperately wants.
I could go on but I'm just getting annoyed again as I write about it! Honestly, save your time and money and get something more realistic. A comic book of Tom and Jerry perhaps
It's really uncommon for me to start a book and just give up on it. I always endeavor to finish everything but this time I just couldn't!
I found everything about this story excruciating. The writing is all over the place, pretty much 0 description of anything. None of the characters were sympathetic in any way, I really could not have cared less about the lead character. Dialogue is stilted, not natural in any way and the actions of people were as natural as Dolly the cloned sheep.
Even though I only read 17% of the story certain thoughts, and even whole sentences, had already been repeated.
The main character is a sociopath, something that is hammered at over and over again, yet the author presents her in a totally unrealistic way.
"She couldn't have PTSD because she had no feelings for others". That is utterly wrong. PTSD has nothing to do with empathy or feelings for others - the clue is in the name.
I have a friend who is diagnosed with sociopathic personality disorder and it is a fallacy that sociopath's have no apparentlysympathy nor empathy for anyone. The way they process it is just different. They can be very dampened down, yes, but they exist!
Apparently another character - who is a psychopath - managed to somehow beat all of the psychological testing and is part of the FBI! This character apparently secretly gives the sociopathic character money to live on. Why would a fully blown psychopath do that? There is nothing in it for him and it wouldn't even feed his narcissism as it's not a public spectacle.
Now our 'sociopath' character somehow manages to recognise serial killers/rapists from across crowded bars, they are magically drawn only to her, so she let's them follow her home and she kills them. Isn't that convenient?! Oh - she also has a serial killer stalker who writes her letters detailing all 200 of his murders.......
Then homeland security turn up - they somehow know all about her and her magical murdering skills - and need her to help in a case that involves mediaeval torture. Luckily she owns an extremely rare book that answers their most burning question's so she is asked to join a taskforce. Which just happens to be made up entirely of emotionally and psychologically damaged men.
Because that is what every law service desperately wants.
I could go on but I'm just getting annoyed again as I write about it! Honestly, save your time and money and get something more realistic. A comic book of Tom and Jerry perhaps
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Virtuosity (1995) in Movies
Jun 4, 2020
Inside Your Head
Virtuosity- is a intresting sci-fi action thriller. Where Russell Crowe was the villian. He was so insane and crazy in this movie, i loved it. The only downfall was towards during the 3rd/the final act, it got so insane and crazy that I had no idea what was going on and i would have to watch it again. So if your going to watch this movie, be warned you have to do a second viewing cause of how insane and crazy it gets.
The plot: A former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is recruited to test out a new virtual-reality program where the goal is to apprehend a computer-generated being called SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who has been modeled on hundreds of deranged criminals. When SID manages to escape into the real world, Barnes must capture or destroy him before the soulless entity can go on a killing spree.
It mixes sci-fi, action, suspense and crazyness into one movie. A must watch if you haven't heard or seen it.
The plot: A former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is recruited to test out a new virtual-reality program where the goal is to apprehend a computer-generated being called SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who has been modeled on hundreds of deranged criminals. When SID manages to escape into the real world, Barnes must capture or destroy him before the soulless entity can go on a killing spree.
It mixes sci-fi, action, suspense and crazyness into one movie. A must watch if you haven't heard or seen it.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1) in Books
May 3, 2020
Two days to save her . . .
For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive.
One day . . .
As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows that even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own.
Zero.
With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out as the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave in this masterfully written fast-paced thriller.
I actually found this quite chilling! It was very well written especially the diary chapters! I honestly didn’t see that twist coming! I kept swapping my rating from a 4 to a 3 and vide versa as I’m not sure where I wanted it to go! I really enjoy J D Barker and look forward to the next book!
For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive.
One day . . .
As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows that even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own.
Zero.
With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out as the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave in this masterfully written fast-paced thriller.
I actually found this quite chilling! It was very well written especially the diary chapters! I honestly didn’t see that twist coming! I kept swapping my rating from a 4 to a 3 and vide versa as I’m not sure where I wanted it to go! I really enjoy J D Barker and look forward to the next book!