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The House of Ashes
7.0
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Sara Keane's husband, Damien, has uprooted them from England and moved them to his native Northern...
Ross (3284 KP) rated Insidious (2010) in Movies
Nov 27, 2017 (Updated Nov 27, 2017)
The idea (1 more)
The creepy assortment of ghosts
With my wife out for the night and the kids all tucked up in bed, I decided to treat myself to a horror film, and Insidious was what I opted for (having watched the set of Sinister films a few months ago).
The film follows a fairly similar trajectory: weird things happen, the house is haunted, no its not the house its the child that's haunted, demons, triumph, happy ending. I don't think that's a spoiler as it describes 90% of the recent horror films.
A family with three young children move to a new home and soon one of the children bumps his head and ends up in a coma. From there some weird things start to happen.
Rose Byrne is excellent as the housewife struggling to raise her three kids and write music to kickstart her new career. It is her who experiences most of the unpleasant visitations, being stuck at home all day with the baby and her son in a coma. In one particularly creepy scene in the new house, she plays the role superbly (and I will never again listen to Tiptoe through the Tulips without shivering).
As with most decent horror films, this doesn't try to do anything new with the bulk of the film, but has an underlying new idea shaping it (and revealing that would be a spoiler!) that looks to explain the haunting.
Apart from Rose Byrne, I found the rest of the cast really quite poor, but they're acting during the haunting scenes didn't manage to spoil them too much.
Overall, a great creepy film that ticks all the boxes and leaves you wanting to watch the sequel.
The film follows a fairly similar trajectory: weird things happen, the house is haunted, no its not the house its the child that's haunted, demons, triumph, happy ending. I don't think that's a spoiler as it describes 90% of the recent horror films.
A family with three young children move to a new home and soon one of the children bumps his head and ends up in a coma. From there some weird things start to happen.
Rose Byrne is excellent as the housewife struggling to raise her three kids and write music to kickstart her new career. It is her who experiences most of the unpleasant visitations, being stuck at home all day with the baby and her son in a coma. In one particularly creepy scene in the new house, she plays the role superbly (and I will never again listen to Tiptoe through the Tulips without shivering).
As with most decent horror films, this doesn't try to do anything new with the bulk of the film, but has an underlying new idea shaping it (and revealing that would be a spoiler!) that looks to explain the haunting.
Apart from Rose Byrne, I found the rest of the cast really quite poor, but they're acting during the haunting scenes didn't manage to spoil them too much.
Overall, a great creepy film that ticks all the boxes and leaves you wanting to watch the sequel.
Jamie (131 KP) rated The Grave Tender in Books
Jul 30, 2017
A haunting southern gothic
The Grave Tender is a haunting and beautifully woven southern gothic about a broken family and the love that binds them together. The story starts slow as the story introduces Hadley, her friends, family, and their small town which on the surface seems idyllic. It’s the sort of town where everyone knows each other over generations, but the smiling town hides many secrets.
What I loved most about this book was how it dealt with matters of appearance. It’s easy to point fingers and blame those that look the most guilty, who are the most eccentric. It’s the folly of letting appearances dictate our perception of the people around us. Evil is committed every day by seemingly normal people, and true monsters masquerade under the guise of banality.
The book deals with some of the most horrible situations a person can go through with extreme delicacy. Not everyone has a happy ending, sometimes there are crimes that go unpunished, sometimes victims never receive justice, some wounds heal but many more never do. I cried so much while reading this book because of how close to home it hit for me, I was honestly touched.
I can’t say much more about the book because it’s really the sort of story that needs to be experienced without spoilers. I will however note that the content in this book is difficult to stomach. For a survivor of abuse it can be either cathartic or utterly horrifying, which is why I’ve added a trigger warning in the list of warnings below. I cautiously recommend this book for those ready for a poignant and unflinchingly honest exploration of domestic abuse.
What I loved most about this book was how it dealt with matters of appearance. It’s easy to point fingers and blame those that look the most guilty, who are the most eccentric. It’s the folly of letting appearances dictate our perception of the people around us. Evil is committed every day by seemingly normal people, and true monsters masquerade under the guise of banality.
The book deals with some of the most horrible situations a person can go through with extreme delicacy. Not everyone has a happy ending, sometimes there are crimes that go unpunished, sometimes victims never receive justice, some wounds heal but many more never do. I cried so much while reading this book because of how close to home it hit for me, I was honestly touched.
I can’t say much more about the book because it’s really the sort of story that needs to be experienced without spoilers. I will however note that the content in this book is difficult to stomach. For a survivor of abuse it can be either cathartic or utterly horrifying, which is why I’ve added a trigger warning in the list of warnings below. I cautiously recommend this book for those ready for a poignant and unflinchingly honest exploration of domestic abuse.
Incredibly haunting
I won’t be the only one to admit that I know little about the real detail behind the incident at Chernobyl, so for me this series was a true eye opener and not a particularly pleasant one. Whilst I don’t doubt that some of this may have been embellished a little like most tv productions, I really think that most of this is the real truth behind Chernobyl.
This definitely isn’t a nice watch. Right from the first episode it’s harrowing and frankly frustrating and maddening to see how people initially reacted to the incident, and it doesn’t get any easier as the episodes go on. I just cannot believe the denial and actions (or lack of) of those I’m charge. By the end of the final episode with the clips and video of the real events and people, I was virtually in tears it was just so haunting. For me I’ve learnt so much watching this about the true events, and it was good to get the updates on the real life situation and people, with even some good news thrown in amongst the somber. My only criticism is that whilst the cast is fantastic and there’s a lot of recognisable faces that pop up in this even briefly, is that I don’t understand what’s with all of the English accents? It got a tad irritating after a while and surely some attempt at a Ukrainian accent would have been better?
That said, this is a truly harrowing yet informative show and I think everyone should watch this and learn a think or two. I definitely have, and I’ll now have a whole new understanding and appreciation of the true magnitude of the situation when I visit Chernobyl in October.
This definitely isn’t a nice watch. Right from the first episode it’s harrowing and frankly frustrating and maddening to see how people initially reacted to the incident, and it doesn’t get any easier as the episodes go on. I just cannot believe the denial and actions (or lack of) of those I’m charge. By the end of the final episode with the clips and video of the real events and people, I was virtually in tears it was just so haunting. For me I’ve learnt so much watching this about the true events, and it was good to get the updates on the real life situation and people, with even some good news thrown in amongst the somber. My only criticism is that whilst the cast is fantastic and there’s a lot of recognisable faces that pop up in this even briefly, is that I don’t understand what’s with all of the English accents? It got a tad irritating after a while and surely some attempt at a Ukrainian accent would have been better?
That said, this is a truly harrowing yet informative show and I think everyone should watch this and learn a think or two. I definitely have, and I’ll now have a whole new understanding and appreciation of the true magnitude of the situation when I visit Chernobyl in October.
Albert & Otto
Games and Entertainment
App
In this first installment “The Adventure Begins” the player is thrown headfirst into a haunting...
The Buddha in the Attic
Book
Read our exclusive interview with Julie, in which she talks about the sentence that made everything...
Elizabeth is Missing
8.1
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Book
Sunday Times Top Five Bestseller Elizabeth is Missing is the stunning, smash-hit debut novel from...
Jordan Binkerd (567 KP) rated Ad Astra (2019) in Movies
Sep 27, 2019
The cast (3 more)
The score
Realistic science
Beautiful VFX
Anticlimactic/possibly unreliable ending (3 more)
Awkward voiceover
Pacing? Some would disagree....
Action scenes are kind of shoehorned in
Beautiful and haunting
First off, you've got to see this in the theater if you're going to see it. The sparse lunar and Martian vistas, not to mention the star-strewn expanses of space, will be so much less impressive on your living room television. The cast is amazing, though there's not nearly enough Tommy Lee Jones or Donald Sutherland. The tone is haunting and uncomfortable, aided by a subdued score that at times seems to pay tribute to the soundless vacuum in which parts of the film are set. The science is up to date, in that it accurately reflects the fact that after getting sidetracked for a decade or four, we're back to using rockets to explore the solar system. The plot is at heart an exploration of humanity, our needs, drives, relationships and obsessive stubbornness, and dips somewhat into questions of sanity and mental health, again sometimes uncomfortably, though the slow-burn pacing is not for everyone. There are occasional action sequences, but they often feel disconnected and shoehorned in. The ending was a little anti-climactic, and I'm not entirely sure it actually happened - it's barely a spoiler to suggest that the protagonist is in danger as the ending nears, and everything that follows his return to Earth could easily be a dream or dying hallucination (and in fact if argue that this would be a stronger ending). The voiceover was a bit awkward, and would have benefitted from an in-story justification such as the character journalling or leaving a sealed log of some sort. Basically, I think it was worth seeing, but it's not going to be for everyone.
Book Divas (227 KP) rated The November Girl in Books
Dec 11, 2017
A Well Written Story with Stunning Characters
The November Girl is beautiful and yet a dark and eerily haunting story. I felt both a warm and cold embrace as I found myself falling into this tale that kept me second guessing myself not only with Hector but also with Anda as well. I would often stop reading so I could close my eyes and envision what Anda would look like and many times I scared myself because I could see her raw power as she was a force to be reckoned with. Hector brought out the motherly side of me and I just wanted to put my arms around him and reassure him that he was safe.
This was a well-written story with absolutely stunning characters and this tale will haunt me for a very long time.
This was a well-written story with absolutely stunning characters and this tale will haunt me for a very long time.
Andy K (10823 KP) rated Suspiria (1977) in Movies
Oct 19, 2018
The colors, the colors, the colors....
I had heard about this film most of my adult life, but had never seen until tonight.
Boy, was it worth the wait.
I would say after watching, the film is difficult to describe and must be "experienced". The plot, dialogue and acting are all secondary to the wondrous use of color, the beautiful musical score and set decoration of this visual art.
The score especially is mesmerizing and I indeed rewound a few scenes so I could hear the transfixing melody again and again.
The stylized horror has some gruesome moments, but overall fits the unraveling story well as we discover the world of the haunting ballet studio when a young American girl arrives to begin her instruction.
Any true film fan has to see this!
Boy, was it worth the wait.
I would say after watching, the film is difficult to describe and must be "experienced". The plot, dialogue and acting are all secondary to the wondrous use of color, the beautiful musical score and set decoration of this visual art.
The score especially is mesmerizing and I indeed rewound a few scenes so I could hear the transfixing melody again and again.
The stylized horror has some gruesome moments, but overall fits the unraveling story well as we discover the world of the haunting ballet studio when a young American girl arrives to begin her instruction.
Any true film fan has to see this!
