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John Berendt recommended Exquisite Corpse in Books (curated)

 
Exquisite Corpse
Exquisite Corpse
Poppy Z. Brite | 1997 | Horror
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Call it Extreme Southern Gothic, New Orleans division. The protagonists of this dark French Quarter novel are knee-deep in murder, torture, sex and cannibalism. The story is unabashedly grim (or as Brite himself puts it, “twisted, horrific”), but Brite’s prose is crystal clear, and his literate tone is sufficiently wry and ironic that it creates a sort of safety zone in which readers not normally drawn to this sort of stuff (myself included) can take refuge while they read. But even arm’s-length readers are apt to find themselves being drawn further and further into the story—seduced in spite of the themselves. Material that would be merely sick, disgusting, and unreadable in the hands of a lesser writer is, with Brite at the controls, surprisingly erotic and captivating. It’s a tour de force, in a literary category all by itself."

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The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
1932 | Classics, Drama, Horror

"Made on the wonderful jungle sets of King Kong while that epic’s special effects were being finished, this is one of the great action-horror films and has provided a template for many “rich sicko” melodramas—the entire “torture porn” subgenre springs from the obsessions of its villain, Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks). Adapted from a short story by Richard Connell and codirected by Kong’s Ernest B. Schoedsack and character actor Irving Pichel, it has one of the most perfect plots in horror: a big-game hunter (Joel McCrea) changes his mind about how much fun his preferred sport is when he’s shipwrecked on an island where a mad Russian who’s grown tired of lesser game has opted to hunt human beings. Fay Wray, another Kong holdover, screams on the sidelines, and a pack of baying hounds provides additional menace."

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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated The Sham in Books

Jan 12, 2018  
TS
The Sham
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
[Ellen Allen] in [The Sham] leaves you questioning throughout the story what is really going on. None of the characters in this book would be considered 'normal' but some are more malicious than others.

The story begins with Emily having a run in at the local park with some "mean girls", one who is her step Aunt Becky. The four girls have brought a young boy to the park and proceed to torture him. Em wants to stop them but is frozen. Out of nowhere comes Jack to stop the girls. Seems like a clear case of good vs. evil right? Not quite, Jack has his own secrets.

Soon the girls involved in the attack begin disappearing. They whole small town is in a panic. Who is to blame?

[Allen] does a fantastic job of creating a twisting story with an ending that you never see coming.
  
H(
6
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Haunted was an interesting book, but it suffered from one major flaw - it's excessive length. There were just too many passages that could be trimmed for the better and I found myself glazing more often than not closer and closer to the end. The book isn't all bad, there are quite a few clever things, but it felt more like filler than an actual entry into the series. Ms. Armstrong would probably been better off taking out a few of her ideas and saving them for another book. Oh, and what does she have against cats? It's seriously disturbing. The other stuff I can handle, I can somehow separate myself from it because I know it's fiction. But there's something about animal torture, mutilation, etc., even in a fictional book that just creeps me out and makes me sick. Not my idea of fun reading. *shudder*