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Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Better Homes and Hauntings in Books
Feb 21, 2018
This was a quick, fun read. Deacon Whitney, heir to what remains of the Whitney fortune, assembles a group of people to help him revamp his family's ancestral home, located on its own island off the New England coast. His family has been plagued by bad luck and financial misfortune through the years, but Deacon is a successful software engineer and has the funds available to redo the old family home. Joined by a cousin who wants to find out who really killed their great-great grandmother years ago and hopes to break the family curse, an old friend, a landscaper, and an organizational expert, Deacon and his new found friends encounter ghostly presences and jealous ex-business partners. There are some spooky moments, some humor, and plenty of romance along the way.
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David McK (3496 KP) rated The Addams Family (2019) in Movies
Nov 7, 2019
Altogether now:
"They're creepy and they're kooky
Mysterious and spooky
They're all together ooky
The Addams family …"
It's now over 20 years since the Addams Family last big-screen outing (in 1993), itself only 2 years after their previous outing in '91.
That means that there is an entrie generation that hasn't seen the Addams Family on the big screen: something that this (animated) film attempts to put right.
And, to damn somewhat with faint praise: this is OK, but doesn't do enough (in my opinion) to really stand out from the crowd, to really be all that memorable: there's no equivalent, say of Wednesday Addams creepy smile ("Stop it! She's scaring me!") in The Addams Family Values, say, or even of the amnesiac Lloyd Fester in the original.
"They're creepy and they're kooky
Mysterious and spooky
They're all together ooky
The Addams family …"
It's now over 20 years since the Addams Family last big-screen outing (in 1993), itself only 2 years after their previous outing in '91.
That means that there is an entrie generation that hasn't seen the Addams Family on the big screen: something that this (animated) film attempts to put right.
And, to damn somewhat with faint praise: this is OK, but doesn't do enough (in my opinion) to really stand out from the crowd, to really be all that memorable: there's no equivalent, say of Wednesday Addams creepy smile ("Stop it! She's scaring me!") in The Addams Family Values, say, or even of the amnesiac Lloyd Fester in the original.
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Sun Down Motel in Books
Mar 19, 2020
I actually read Simone St. James’ incredibly spooky ghost story—set in a creepy motel—in a rather drab hotel room and boy did it scare me! The tag line: The secrets lurking in a rundown motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before...
This was such a great book. It features a hard to put down mystery with excellent characters and some downright terrifying scenes! The book is packed with twists and turns, and it's absolutely captivating.
The parallelism between Viv’s story—set in the 1980s—and her niece, Carly’s, in present-day, is excellent. I was so attached to these tough women and their stories. The 1980s piece really grabbed me; St. James really captures the era so well.
This was such a great book. It features a hard to put down mystery with excellent characters and some downright terrifying scenes! The book is packed with twists and turns, and it's absolutely captivating.
The parallelism between Viv’s story—set in the 1980s—and her niece, Carly’s, in present-day, is excellent. I was so attached to these tough women and their stories. The 1980s piece really grabbed me; St. James really captures the era so well.
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Brian Fallon recommended track Crime Scene Part One by The Afghan Whigs in Black Love by The Afghan Whigs in Music (curated)
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Halloween Chase
Games and Entertainment
App
RUN!!!! The zombies are chasing you! Can you outrun the hoards of zombies in this fun and cartoony...
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Bubble World Mania
Games and Entertainment
App
Help, these birds need to be rescued! Only YOU can save them! Your target in Bubble Worlds is...
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Disney Manga: Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas
Book
Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King, the ruler of Halloween Town and master of all things creepy...
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Girls of Brackenhill in Books
Nov 5, 2020
As a kid, Hannah spent several summers at Brackenhill, her aunt and uncle's beautiful mansion in the Catskills. Joined by her older sister, Julia, they enjoyed a peaceful time away from their troubled mother and her boyfriend. But that final summer, Hannah made the journey home alone after Julia disappeared. Now, seventeen years later, Hannah is back at Brackenhill, accompanied by her calm and steady fiance Huck, to deal with the aftermath of her Aunt Fae's death. Her uncle Stuart is quite ill and Hannah must handle the necessary affairs. But once at Brackenhill, long buried memories flood to the surface, along with some undiscovered family secrets.
"She'd escaped Brackenhill once. She could do it again."
I read this completely captivating thriller in one breathless day. It's such a wonderfully eerie and ghostly mystery that excellently captures the spooky atmosphere of Brackenhill. I'm all for a read with a creepy castle, ghostly happenings, and a history of missing girls. Told in a then (Hannah and Julia's summers at Brackenhill) and now format, Moretti sucks you in from the beginning, making the reader feel as if they are a part of the haunted happenings at Brackenhill.
"The Ghost Girls of Brackenhill are an urban legend."
The result is a twisted and dark story--a true Gothic ghost tale. I figured out a few pieces, but still found this impossible to put down. Moretti excels at weaving in the devastation of family secrets and small town mystery. As Hannah unravels the mystery of her family history and her sister's disappearance, we do as well, and you'll share her sense of dread and the overall foreboding that sweeps across the pages.
I wished the ending offered a bit more resolution, but this is an excellent, haunting, and spooky supernatural read. You'll be madly flipping the pages (with the lights on)! 4+ stars.
"She'd escaped Brackenhill once. She could do it again."
I read this completely captivating thriller in one breathless day. It's such a wonderfully eerie and ghostly mystery that excellently captures the spooky atmosphere of Brackenhill. I'm all for a read with a creepy castle, ghostly happenings, and a history of missing girls. Told in a then (Hannah and Julia's summers at Brackenhill) and now format, Moretti sucks you in from the beginning, making the reader feel as if they are a part of the haunted happenings at Brackenhill.
"The Ghost Girls of Brackenhill are an urban legend."
The result is a twisted and dark story--a true Gothic ghost tale. I figured out a few pieces, but still found this impossible to put down. Moretti excels at weaving in the devastation of family secrets and small town mystery. As Hannah unravels the mystery of her family history and her sister's disappearance, we do as well, and you'll share her sense of dread and the overall foreboding that sweeps across the pages.
I wished the ending offered a bit more resolution, but this is an excellent, haunting, and spooky supernatural read. You'll be madly flipping the pages (with the lights on)! 4+ stars.
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs in Video Games
Nov 14, 2020
Scary and Spooky
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs- is a terrorfying, horrorfying, spooky, scary, creepy game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.
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Eleanor (1463 KP) rated The Whisper Man in Books
Jul 11, 2019
Spine chilling atmosphere set up (1 more)
Jake the cool if spooky kid
Not much mystery in the crime (1 more)
Poor police characters
If you leave a door half open, soon you'll hear the whispers spoken.......
This book got off to a great start with a really creepy feeling to it. A spooky kids rhyme will always get the chills going.
Jake and his father Tom are struggling with life after the death of Jake’s mum and a fresh start in a new house doesn't lead to the new start Tom hopes for when Jake continues to keep saying freaky stuff and knowing things he couldn’t possibly know. There is a very supernatural feel to the beginning of this book that is well done, and how that is wrapped up is also well dealt with.
However I felt the crime plot let this book down, the killer was obvious to me as soon as they were vaguely mentioned but the police detective Amanda Beck just seemed flat out incompetent. I nearly screamed out loud at her when she gave herself the proverbial pat on the back for a job well done. Staying up all night because a kid has gone missing does not in itself make you a good cop - doing some good old style investigating that actually gets results does.
I liked the complex relationship between Jake and Tom but a lot of the other characters left much to be desired for me. Reformed alcoholic cop Pete Willis; haunted by his past felt like a character I have read/ seen a hundred times before. And the reporter with morals seemed a stretch.
All in all I’d recommend coming to this book for the chills but don’t expect the crime mystery to knock your socks off.
Jake and his father Tom are struggling with life after the death of Jake’s mum and a fresh start in a new house doesn't lead to the new start Tom hopes for when Jake continues to keep saying freaky stuff and knowing things he couldn’t possibly know. There is a very supernatural feel to the beginning of this book that is well done, and how that is wrapped up is also well dealt with.
However I felt the crime plot let this book down, the killer was obvious to me as soon as they were vaguely mentioned but the police detective Amanda Beck just seemed flat out incompetent. I nearly screamed out loud at her when she gave herself the proverbial pat on the back for a job well done. Staying up all night because a kid has gone missing does not in itself make you a good cop - doing some good old style investigating that actually gets results does.
I liked the complex relationship between Jake and Tom but a lot of the other characters left much to be desired for me. Reformed alcoholic cop Pete Willis; haunted by his past felt like a character I have read/ seen a hundred times before. And the reporter with morals seemed a stretch.
All in all I’d recommend coming to this book for the chills but don’t expect the crime mystery to knock your socks off.