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Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated It (2017) in Movies

Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)  
It (2017)
It (2017)
2017 | Drama, Horror
10
7.9 (355 Ratings)
Movie Rating
My Blazing Minds review : The first thing that came to my mind while watching IT is that the movie is beautifully shot, the set pieces are framed very well in the 2.35:1 ratio screen, the colour used throughout the movie is also nicely done, especially when we see the vibrancy of Pennywise’s red balloons, dark scenes are well lit and even the terror of the old abandoned, spooky, house is nicely done with a nicely subdued colour palette. The use of the lighting and shadows to put you in a sense of insecurity works like a charm to give you those, “is something about to happen” moments.
  
The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
4
7.5 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
124 of 230
Book
The Haunting of Hill House
By Shirley Hackson
⭐️⭐️

Hill House stood abandoned six miles off the road. Four people came to learn its secrets. But, Hill House, stood holding darkness within. Whoever walked there, walked alone.

This has been on my tbr forever and yay I finally got round to it. I was expecting more I found one little part a bit eerie but other than that it was spooky or creepy or scary. I like watching the characters change but it just wasn’t enough! A classic it may be but just didn’t do it for me especially when it’s classed as a classic horror!
  
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LucyB (47 KP) rated The Raven Boys in Books

Jul 23, 2017  
The Raven Boys
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater | 2012 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
7.7 (35 Ratings)
Book Rating
Very entertaining, rich, interesting characters (0 more)
A well-plotted, fresh take on the whole magical realism genre - very entertaining!
To be honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I presumed, judging by the front cover, that it'd be some sort of high fantasy (which isn't normally my thing) and was very pleasantly surprised.

The story focuses on two main characters - Blue, a 16 year old who lives with her witchy mother and who seems to be surrounded by equally spooky aunts, and Gansey, a rich 'Raven boy' from the local public school, who is obsessed with finding the mythical Welsh king Glendower.

So far, so intriguing! And it really was. I found myself propelled through this book, eager to know what was going to happen next, which is the highest praise I can give a book really, I do love a good page-turner. I especially loved that the author so deftly avoided the boring stereotypes. The aunts are all psychic, but are they at all spooky / ethereal? Absolutely not. They're all very practical, down-to-earth, and fairly acerbic to boot. Are public school boys all over-privileged toffs? No! The characters were all impressively well defined, and I LOVED the character of Noah - I saw the twist coming, but wasn't sure how the author would pull it off. She did so, very effectively indeed.

A highly enjoyable read, and I'll be looking out for the next ones in the series.
  
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
1959 | Horror
9
6.9 (16 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The Hill House
House on Haunted Hill- is one of the best horror movies of all time. Its terrorfying, horrorfying, scary, spooky, terrorfying and more.

The Introduction by Vincent Price is perfect, he introduces the movie and tells us the viewer what were going to witness. Vincent Price's spooky and creepy introduction is terrorfying.

The Plot: Rich oddball Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) has a proposal for five guests at a possibly haunted mansion: Show up, survive a night filled with scares and receive $10,000 each. The guest of honor is Loren's estranged wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), who, with her secret lover, Dr. Trent (Alan Marshal), has concocted her own scheme to scare Loren's associate, Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), into shooting the potentially crazy millionaire. But more spooks and shocks throw a wrench into the plan.

The film is in the public domain.

The film was remade as the 1999 film House on Haunted Hill, which had a 2007 sequel titled Return to House on Haunted Hill. The 1999 film was released to middling reviews but was a box office success, while the 2007 sequel was direct-to-video and widely panned. Dont watch those films.

In 2017, another remake is in development and a prequel to the original film, which the latter will be written by Castle's daughter Terry Castle. That will be intresting if it happens.

I would highly reccordmend this movie.
  
The Plot and the Pendulum
The Plot and the Pendulum
Jenn McKinlay | 2022 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Cold Case Become Very Hot Again
It’s October in Briar Creek, and local gossip is stirring thanks to the return to town of William Dorchester whose ex-girlfriend vanished a few weeks after marrying someone else. But Lindsey Norris, director of the local library, is more interested in the books that he is donating to the library. The catch is, she needs to pack them up from the Dorchester mansion on the edge of town, a mansion that seems to be trying to creep Lindsey and her friends out even before they make a shocking discovery. Can Lindsey figure out what is going on?

This book is perfect for its October release day. It’s got a spooky edge to it, but fans of the series don’t need to worry, we still have plenty of laughs and fun with the characters we know. I appreciate how the large cast is balanced with some of them given more page time, but everyone making an appearance. The pacing of the plot was a bit uneven, with a bit too much set up leading to an abrupt climax. Still, along the way, we get some fun surprises and suspects. As always, we get some good extras for a book club meeting like Lindsey hosts at the library. If you are looking for a slightly spooky book filled with fun, be sure to pick this one up.
  
The Forgotten Child (A Riley Thomas Mystery #1)
The Forgotten Child (A Riley Thomas Mystery #1)
Melissa Erin Jackson | 2018 | Horror, Mystery, Paranormal
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well Written Characters (1 more)
Spooky Scenes
Pointless Sex Scenes (1 more)
Cheesy Dialogue at Times
A Spooky Read
The synopsis for The Forgotten Child by Melissa Erin Jackson really drew me in. It was one of those books that I knew I had to read. I even pre-ordered the book. Luckily, I won it on a Goodreads giveaway, so I had the chance to read it before it was released.

I found the pacing to be fairly consistent for The Forgotten Child. For the most part, it was a fast paced read which I thoroughly enjoyed! There were a few times that the pacing slowed down a bit, and I was wishing for it to speed up again. However, those moments weren't very often.

The plot for The Forgotten Child has been done before, but Ms. Jackson made the story line interesting enough for me to enjoy the story. Riley, the main character, gets roped in to going to a house that has been featured on a popular ghost hunting show and known to be very haunted. It was also the site of some very brutal murders. Riley is reluctant to go due to her ability to see and interact with ghosts and because of something that happened when she was 10 years old involving a spirit. While there, she interacts with the ghost of a little boy as well as the infamous serial killer who used to live there. After getting completely freaked out by a ghostly encounter with the serial killer's ghost, she leaves early to go back home. However, the ghost boy has followed her home. She feels sorry for the little boy and vows to find out what happened to him. Finding out what happened to him won't be easy, and it will put her in grave danger. While trying to uncover the mystery of the little boy, she also is juggling her love life with her new boyfriend. I felt like there were no plot twists, but there were plenty of spooky moments! There was one point in the story where I was really regretting my decision to read The Forgotten Child late at night due to a very spooky scene! Even though this book is part of a series, there were no cliffhangers. All of my questions were answered by the end of the book which I was thankful for. I wish this focused more on Riley's abilities and on the ghostly aspect instead of Riley's relationship with Michael, but that's just a personal preference. I also could have done without the sex scenes between Riley and Michael as I felt like they didn't really fit the tone of the book. Perhaps that's just a me thing though.

The world building for The Forgotten Child was written fairly well. There were some times where I was wondering about the dialogue in the book. Some of the choices of phrases used were a bit cheesy. I hadn't heard anyone use some of the phrases used in the book ever! However, the dialogue was still very believable for the most part. I loved the way some of The Forgotten Child was set a creepy ranch in a spooky house. I do wish more of the action took place here, but I still enjoyed the book.

I enjoyed the characters in The Forgotten Child. Melissa Erin Jackson did a fantastic job in making each character feel like a real person. Not one of the characters was lacking. I found each one to be interesting. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Riley and Michael. I enjoyed their banter a lot even if I wish the book would have focused less on their physical and romantic relationship. I also enjoyed reading about Jade and Riley's friendship. You could feel how strong their friendship was. I loved how Miss Jackson wrote about Orin and Hank. I could feel the evilness of both Orin and Hank oozing from the pages! Both of them made fantastic evil characters.

Trigger warnings include a lot of swearing, violence, a few graphic (but not too graphic) sex scenes including a non-graphic rape, murder including child murder, drinking, an evil spirit, and other scenes dealing with the occult.

All in all, The Forgotten Child was a good read. I loved how spooky it was as well as how great the characters were written. I would definitely recommend The Forgotten Child by Melissa Erin Jackson to those 18+ who love a good paranormal mystery. I will definitely be reading the next book in the Riley Thomas Mystery series.
  
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to read this book because the title reminded me of a John Bellairs book and then i found out it was based on the Robert doll!

So thanks, Jolly Fish Press, because it was an absolute delight!

Al for some reason taunts a doll in a museum and starts to see spooky things. Nothing too nefarious, thought, because this is a middle grade book.

The atmosphere is wonderfully creepy as Al wonders if he's really being haunted or losing his mind.

I really liked the illustrations. I feel they added a lot to the atmosphere of the story.