Search
Search results
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Desperation in Books
Aug 16, 2019
Rather creepy
Stephen King is known for his scary and horror filled stories, but it isnt often that I find them to be like this. Desperation however is the first story I've actually found to be rather unsettling and really quite creepy.
This is one of King's good multiple character driven books, told from the point of view of each of the well developed yet flawed characters. You can say what you like about King, but he knows how to write to keep you reading. The plot is bonkers but full of unsettling creepiness and gore that you can't help but imagine. It may be slightly too long and drawn out in parts, and I'm not a big fan of the religious aspects. However it's still a very enjoyable tale. I had worried I wouldn't like this as much having already read The Regulators, but both books have their own merits and whilst related, still stand distinctly separate. The character names might be the same, but fortunately as the personalities and appearances were changed so drastically in The Regulators, it makes it much easier for Desperation to stand apart as the original story.
This is one of King's good multiple character driven books, told from the point of view of each of the well developed yet flawed characters. You can say what you like about King, but he knows how to write to keep you reading. The plot is bonkers but full of unsettling creepiness and gore that you can't help but imagine. It may be slightly too long and drawn out in parts, and I'm not a big fan of the religious aspects. However it's still a very enjoyable tale. I had worried I wouldn't like this as much having already read The Regulators, but both books have their own merits and whilst related, still stand distinctly separate. The character names might be the same, but fortunately as the personalities and appearances were changed so drastically in The Regulators, it makes it much easier for Desperation to stand apart as the original story.
Lenard (726 KP) rated Child's Play (2019) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019 (Updated Jul 2, 2019)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I saw the film opening weekend and sat next to an eight-year-old boy who was going to his first horror movie. Considering the original Child's Play was the first horror movie I watched after being scarred by It and The Shining, I could appreciate how this film would effect that boy. As a gateway to the genre, Child's Play is and will serve a purpose. The scares are simple and the terror tame. In this iteration, a doll with built-in artificial intelligence and wireless connectivity names itself Chucky after being given to the solitary Andy. The doll had been given a bug right before the worker who built him committed suicide (not an important plot point). Chucky imprints himself onto Andy and all he wants to do is please his best friend. Unfortunately, Andy is a little weird and doesn't make friends easily. But he does make friends with two neighbor children who expose Andy and Chucky to gore. A murderous plan is set into motion and the only person who can prevent a Robopocalypse before the Buddi2 dolls are put onto market is Andy.
Ten Eternal Questions: Answers to the Deepest Questions - from the Wise and the Celebrated
Book
Ten Eternal Questions makes compelling reading for everyone looking for answers to life's biggest...
The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy
Book
Collected here for the first time are all James Purdy's short stories-fifty-six-including seven...
The Serpent Sword
7.0
Rate It
Book
AD 633. Beobrand is a young man with a shadowy past. As an outsider in the kingdom of Bernicia, he...
Chloe (778 KP) rated White Lines in TV
Jun 27, 2020
Story (2 more)
Characters
Setting
Too much artistic license (1 more)
Big continuity errors throughout
Good story
Contains spoilers, click to show
This had the potential to be absolutely excellent, the characters are great and the story really keeps you hooked. The relationships between characters are explosive and your letting wanting to watch another.
Loved the gore and cut throat atmosphere that adds a layer of danger throughout.
I think someone was given way too much artistic license with this, there were lots of concentration face cuts, scenes taking through glass, underwater, starting the episode with the end scene etc etc. When that may not have been needed.
One scene was filmed in golden hour or supposedly. The sky was blue but to romanticize the burying of the body the actors/actress were bathed in golden light that, shadows were all wrong and didnt match the lighting.
There were several continuity errors, I dont particularly look out for them but these were quite big.
The reveal if the "whodunnit" could have been orchestrated better and the overall events could have been more intricate. Especially as the death involved several different methods/equipment there was potential that several of the cast could have been involved.
Loved the gore and cut throat atmosphere that adds a layer of danger throughout.
I think someone was given way too much artistic license with this, there were lots of concentration face cuts, scenes taking through glass, underwater, starting the episode with the end scene etc etc. When that may not have been needed.
One scene was filmed in golden hour or supposedly. The sky was blue but to romanticize the burying of the body the actors/actress were bathed in golden light that, shadows were all wrong and didnt match the lighting.
There were several continuity errors, I dont particularly look out for them but these were quite big.
The reveal if the "whodunnit" could have been orchestrated better and the overall events could have been more intricate. Especially as the death involved several different methods/equipment there was potential that several of the cast could have been involved.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Jigsaw Man in Books
Feb 21, 2021
This is a gruesome and dark thriller and it's great!!
I must say though that if you're a bit squeamish and don't like graphic descriptions of murder, then don't read this. If you do or don't mind a bit of gore, then crack on.
The characters are great, the plot is absorbing and complex and the ability of the author to capture the feelings of the various protagonists is excellent.
I absolutely love a good "baddie" and Nadine Matheson has created one such character in Peter Olivier; he is deliciously evil, extremely charming, highly intelligent, an excellent manipulator and everything you would want in a (fictitious) serial killer ... think Ted Bundy crossed with Jeffrey Dahmer and you have a pretty good picture.
This is a gripping read which although starts a little slow, it builds in tension and action as you turn the pages culminating in an exciting finale which definitely leaves the door open for a sequel and the intriguing backstory lends itself to a prequel ... well I would certainly read either or both!
Thank you to HQ (an imprint of HarperCollins UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
I must say though that if you're a bit squeamish and don't like graphic descriptions of murder, then don't read this. If you do or don't mind a bit of gore, then crack on.
The characters are great, the plot is absorbing and complex and the ability of the author to capture the feelings of the various protagonists is excellent.
I absolutely love a good "baddie" and Nadine Matheson has created one such character in Peter Olivier; he is deliciously evil, extremely charming, highly intelligent, an excellent manipulator and everything you would want in a (fictitious) serial killer ... think Ted Bundy crossed with Jeffrey Dahmer and you have a pretty good picture.
This is a gripping read which although starts a little slow, it builds in tension and action as you turn the pages culminating in an exciting finale which definitely leaves the door open for a sequel and the intriguing backstory lends itself to a prequel ... well I would certainly read either or both!
Thank you to HQ (an imprint of HarperCollins UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Antebellum (2020) in Movies
Mar 7, 2021
A Jordan Peele movie wouldn't have made the third act gore so tame, just sayin'. In fact there's a lot wrong with this movie, including but not limited to tacky dialogue and the fact that there's not really an actual plot that happens. But it's definitely weird, ambitious, attractive, and intriguing enough to suffice. Jack Huston and - in particular - Gabourey Sidibe are great in it too, and honestly listening to her talk about what the film represents and how much it means to her (https://youtu.be/qDDBc1eD0P8 [8:07]) was very powerful and sort of solidified my positive rating for it in the end. Because on the one hand I think what this movie tried to convey is both admirable and depressingly timely - just muddled a ton by its scattershot approach. Though on the other hand I kind of feel as though its bizarre narrative structure gives it some nuance that it otherwise would have missed out on in the age of slow-burn horror indie clones. It's impossible to talk about this comprehensively without blowing its twist - and it's a good one - but just know this is a vastly better Janelle MonΓ‘e slave movie than ππ’π³π³πͺπ¦π΅.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Re-Animator (1985) in Movies
Oct 31, 2020 (Updated Oct 31, 2020)
Schlocky horror picture show. Mad-scientist-in-training Herbert West is partially successful in raising the dead (which is to say he's successful in resurrecting various body parts, not always connected tin the original manner). One of the better-known H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, though the short story in question is hardly Lovecraft's best work (and the writer would probably have hated this movie too).
Not actually that scary, but contains jaw-dropping quantities of gore, all the more startling because the film is clearly being pitched as a knockabout black comedy as well as an exploitation movie. Starts off relatively restrained, but by the climax I was regularly thinking 'I can't believe they got away with that'. Nicely pitched performance from Jeffrey Combs, interesting turns from people who end up having to play either deranged zombies or severed heads in trays. (Slightly distracting soundtrack, mainly because it brazenly rips off the score from Psycho.) Any film which features a main character wrestling with a hostile lower intestine has got something to offer the world; movies like this are the reason we have the term 'splatstick'.
Not actually that scary, but contains jaw-dropping quantities of gore, all the more startling because the film is clearly being pitched as a knockabout black comedy as well as an exploitation movie. Starts off relatively restrained, but by the climax I was regularly thinking 'I can't believe they got away with that'. Nicely pitched performance from Jeffrey Combs, interesting turns from people who end up having to play either deranged zombies or severed heads in trays. (Slightly distracting soundtrack, mainly because it brazenly rips off the score from Psycho.) Any film which features a main character wrestling with a hostile lower intestine has got something to offer the world; movies like this are the reason we have the term 'splatstick'.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Chernobyl Diaries (2012) in Movies
Nov 23, 2020
Contains spoilers, click to show
There have been a few things set in Pripyat, the abandoned town where the workers of the Chernobyl power plant used to live and almost all of them rely on dogs as a big/main threat. After a slow start 'The Chernobyl Diaries' looked like it was going to follow this pattern, however, the dogs soon give away to a bigger but mostly unseen threat.
I found that the film was predictable in parts both in the action and in some of the scenery used, you know that something was going to happen to the van, you can work out who is going to go missing and anyone who knows anything about Pripyat knows there will be at least one scene with the ferris wheel. However there are still plenty of good jump scares and the fact that we never get a clear view of the killers (although one did remind me of the 'Toxic Avenger')
All in all the 'Chernobyl Diaries' is a slightly above average slasher in the vain of 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Wrong Turn' with some creepy moments, not to much gore and a plausible set up.
I found that the film was predictable in parts both in the action and in some of the scenery used, you know that something was going to happen to the van, you can work out who is going to go missing and anyone who knows anything about Pripyat knows there will be at least one scene with the ferris wheel. However there are still plenty of good jump scares and the fact that we never get a clear view of the killers (although one did remind me of the 'Toxic Avenger')
All in all the 'Chernobyl Diaries' is a slightly above average slasher in the vain of 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Wrong Turn' with some creepy moments, not to much gore and a plausible set up.