Search

Search only in certain items:

The House on Cold Hill
The House on Cold Hill
Peter James | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Actually creepy, had to switch on lights
It takes a lot to usually scare me, but I am rather impressed by Peter James' first venture into the spine-chilling horror genre. There were actual moments where I had to turn on lights and look over my shoulder.

There are several moments in particular that makes your heart leap as the suspense builds, one near the beginning with Jade and her friend on Facetime, two near Chapter 42 and the vicar, and three with a scene containing a sledgehammer.

And while I feel there is little resolve, not really understanding what happened to the male protagonist in the end, it's helpful to remember all classic horrors end with a sense of unease.
  
40x40

Benjamin Wery (8 KP) created a post

Aug 28, 2019  
So today I finally got round to watching 'Split' and found it entertaining.

James McAvoy as always is a brilliant actor and each personality he plays is perfect.

The lovely Anya Taylor Joy portrays a beautiful scare girl who has a history and her interactions with McAvoy are joyous (sorry for the pun) and kept me gripped.

The overall feel of the film, kept me gripped and has made up for M.Night Shyamalan terrible films between this and Unbreakable (especially The Happening - that was terrible).

Of course it wouldn't be one of his movies, without him playing a small part.

I recommend this film to others and look forward to waching the sequel 'Glass' shortly.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4972582/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
     
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
2019 | Horror
Yesterday, I saw the movie based on the series of short story collections that inspired future makers of horror. It affected me so deeply that I decided to skip a Rifftrax screening. The actual film collects multiple horror tropes: haunted house, creepy hallways, reanimated corpses, spiders, supernatural serial killer, books. Most of the stories startle, but never terrify. The creature designs are phenomenal. The ending is kind of a letdown after all the thrills. However, one story completely disturbed me. Not the story or the creature, but the style. It used a lot of anticipation and narrative, but never showed much of the horror. It just built up tension and had one huge scare leading to a horrifying "ending" for one of the characters.
  
MT
8
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don't know the precise reason why I actually requested The Summoning in the first place. I do know that I must have been really intrigued by the idea of a retelling of Bloody Mary and maybe just wanted a break from the influx of YA books that have some type of romance running about. Or, I just wanted to measure Hillary Monahan's debut novel with a scare-a-meter.

The first in the Bloody Mary series follows Shauna O'Brien, who decides to join with her 3 friends, Jess, Anna and Kitty to summon Bloody Mary, a legend that has been around since the 1960s with rumors that the person is someone who died near the end of the Civil War by the name of Mary Worth. As a result of summoning Bloody Mary, the spirit manages to go free from its rightful place within the boundaries of a mirror and begins to haunt the 4 girls, Shauna being her main victim.

Possibly what Mary so scary is the very fact she pops out everywhere almost and locks doors/windows. As the author so puts it in a sentence...
<blockquote>Mary was appearing without a summoning, manipulating objects, haunting glass, and skipping from surface to surface.</blockquote>
I did have a problem with Mary's abilities though. While it certainly puts a wow to the scare factor, Mary seems a little... too powerful. Reflective object manipulation? That's almost everything if you ask me. Computer/Tablet screens, washers/dryers, refrigerators, windows, doorknobs, lambs, flash drives, scissors, transportation, sinks, etc. So not only does the haunted have to live in isolation to protect everyone they love, but s/he have to live smelling like poo and crap for the rest of their lives because they can't take a decent shower?
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nfP1y5PZpOs/U49rNV8em4I/AAAAAAAADZo/XHTD2iwNTxs/s1600/giphy.gif"; border="0">
Somehow, I don't think Mary qualifies as a ghost now. More like a demon in my humble opinion. While that may scare readers at first, eventually some will catch on and Mary won't be as scary.

The Summoning is basically the ultimate friendship test for the main characters – Jess, Anna, Kitty and Shauna have been best friends for quite awhile, so when Shauna begins to see Mary everywhere, they have to try to work together to get rid of the ghost. <spoiler>Apparently this test failed, because Anna gets taken. Once you're gone, you're technically gone. It's not like doing anything would have brought Anna back. Although I did like her, so it was actually sad to see her get taken through the mirror by a ghost.</spoiler>

So the ultimate question from the beginning: how well can Hillary Monahan scare me? Quite well, but I managed to sleep very well. While I'll certainly applaud on what a chilling twist on an urban legend The Summoning was, Mary needs to be toned down a bit to make her more believable.
----------------
Advanced Review copy provided by Disney Hyperion for review
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Original Review posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/arc-review-mary-the-summoning-by-hillary-monahan.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5gfBqJVzk/VA5BIojjZ9I/AAAAAAAAD1g/7srLUfpAGEU/s1600/banner.png"; /></a>
  
40x40

Scott Tostik (389 KP) rated Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) in Movies

Mar 11, 2018 (Updated Jan 10, 2019)  
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
2018 | Horror
Bailee Madison is a bad ass (2 more)
Great storyline
A sequel that doesn't ruin the original
Some jumps and gasps and WTF's... fun for the whole family
Going into a sequel that is ten years after an origin film is dangerous water to tread into for any horror film fan. Raised expectations can drown out what you are hoping happens and it takes the fun out of the movie for you.
The second installment of The Strangers was not a fun movie... for poor Bailee Madison. She is stabbed sliced and beaten up like she has never been before. Everyone remembers her as the little girl in Guillermo del Toro's Don't be Afraid of the Dark. But in this film she really establishes herself as a young Scream Queen in the making. Defining the Final Girl role in spades.
The Strangers themselves are all terrifying giving the viewer jump scare after jump scare by just popping up at random throughout the movie, causing scream after scream in the filled theatre I was in.
Though I am positive that there will not be another installment in this mini franchise. It would not surprise me in the least to see Pinup Girl, Dollface and The eerie monster, Man in the Mask once more.
If not... the writers have done a great job keeping my interested in what happens in this movie to satisfy my taste buds for gore blood and story... and I hope in all honesty that they don't go to the well again expecting clean drinking water.
8 out of 10 knives to the back with a special twist for good measure.