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Ring
Koji Suzuki, Glynne Walley and Robert B. Rohmer
9.0
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Stunning Japanese thriller with a chilling supernatural twist. The novel that inspired the cult...
Unbreakable (The Legion, #1)
7.2
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Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in this action-packed paranormal thriller, the first book in a...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Blood Red Sky (2021) in Movies
Aug 1, 2021
Blood Red Sky is a movie that has some decent ideas, and some great performances, but is sadly bogged down by a whole lot of waff.
Honestly, it's a shame that the marketing for this gave away the whole vampire aspect. Had it been advertised as a airborne hijack thriller with hints of a supernatural element, then the twist could have hit the same way that it did back in the 90s, when I was but a young boy innocently watching From Dusk Till Dawn, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
The pacing is so so. The narrative premise is a good and straightforward one, but it's dragged down by constant flashbacks that feel unnecessary and like padding. Whenever things get interesting, another flashback is thrown in. It's frustrating, mainly because everything surrounding these negatives are solid! The vampires themselves are brutal, and reminiscent of the creatures seen in 30 Days of Night. Lead actor Peri Baumeister puts in a fantastic performance, as does her onscreen son, Carl Anton Koch. The two of them make proceedings relatively impactful, especially during the closing moments. The whole climactic scene is pretty entertaining to be fair, and goes some way to making up for all of the faffing about.
Blood Red Sky isn't half bad overall, but it's could have done with dropping all of the unnecessary exposition and ultimately achieving a shorter runtime.
Honestly, it's a shame that the marketing for this gave away the whole vampire aspect. Had it been advertised as a airborne hijack thriller with hints of a supernatural element, then the twist could have hit the same way that it did back in the 90s, when I was but a young boy innocently watching From Dusk Till Dawn, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
The pacing is so so. The narrative premise is a good and straightforward one, but it's dragged down by constant flashbacks that feel unnecessary and like padding. Whenever things get interesting, another flashback is thrown in. It's frustrating, mainly because everything surrounding these negatives are solid! The vampires themselves are brutal, and reminiscent of the creatures seen in 30 Days of Night. Lead actor Peri Baumeister puts in a fantastic performance, as does her onscreen son, Carl Anton Koch. The two of them make proceedings relatively impactful, especially during the closing moments. The whole climactic scene is pretty entertaining to be fair, and goes some way to making up for all of the faffing about.
Blood Red Sky isn't half bad overall, but it's could have done with dropping all of the unnecessary exposition and ultimately achieving a shorter runtime.
They Stay (They Stay #1)
8.0
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For fans of Stranger Things comes a suspenseful YA mystery about a missing kid, a girl who can see...
Supernatural Mystery Young Adult Thriller
Midge (525 KP) rated The First Time I Died in Books
Feb 4, 2019
Captivating An Engaging
I was completely (and unexpectedly) bowled over by this book! Why you might ask? It leapt out at me to be read as it is a thriller which is one of my favourite genres. My enjoyment was unexpected as I am usually wary of anything to do with the paranormal, but not on this occasion. It is not a crime novel where the reader is buried under loads of supernatural information. The thriller and mystery parts are well interwoven along with the paranormal aspects and as a result, I was hooked from the very beginning!
Garnet McGee returns to her home-town in Pitchford, Vermont, at the suggestion of her college professor, who thinks she needs some time away from her studies so that she can re-evaluate what she wants to do with her life. Whilst there, she vows to solve the mystery of a murder which shattered her life ten years ago. But after dying in an accident and being brought back to life, she starts hearing voices, seeing visions and experiencing strange sensations. Are these merely symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and an over-active imagination, or is she getting messages from a paranormal presence?
This is the first of Jo Macgregor’s novels I have read and as always when reading a mystery, I started guessing who the main suspect was. Well, I was wrong because it was someone else…
THE FIRST TIME I DIED is unusual in that I had imagined that it would be about Garnet's death, but it was, in fact mostly about someone else’s. I found that this gave the novel an edge that was both engaging and enjoyable. I found it easy to empathise with Garnet and I wanted her to succeed in what she was looking to achieve.
I loved Jo Macgregor’s writing style and some of her descriptions in the novel were so atmospheric, especially those about Plover Pond. The first half of the novel is written in alternating chapters of time, giving the reader clarity, which really worked for me. "Then" referred to a time period of ten years ago, when Garnet was a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl.
Jo Macgregor brought everything together for a fabulous conclusion even though I never did manage to accurately guess who was behind the murder. I haven’t got anything negative thing to say about this book. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author. THE FIRST TIME I DIED is an exciting and action-packed crime/thriller that I highly recommend.
Thank you to Hidden Gems and the author for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.
Garnet McGee returns to her home-town in Pitchford, Vermont, at the suggestion of her college professor, who thinks she needs some time away from her studies so that she can re-evaluate what she wants to do with her life. Whilst there, she vows to solve the mystery of a murder which shattered her life ten years ago. But after dying in an accident and being brought back to life, she starts hearing voices, seeing visions and experiencing strange sensations. Are these merely symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and an over-active imagination, or is she getting messages from a paranormal presence?
This is the first of Jo Macgregor’s novels I have read and as always when reading a mystery, I started guessing who the main suspect was. Well, I was wrong because it was someone else…
THE FIRST TIME I DIED is unusual in that I had imagined that it would be about Garnet's death, but it was, in fact mostly about someone else’s. I found that this gave the novel an edge that was both engaging and enjoyable. I found it easy to empathise with Garnet and I wanted her to succeed in what she was looking to achieve.
I loved Jo Macgregor’s writing style and some of her descriptions in the novel were so atmospheric, especially those about Plover Pond. The first half of the novel is written in alternating chapters of time, giving the reader clarity, which really worked for me. "Then" referred to a time period of ten years ago, when Garnet was a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl.
Jo Macgregor brought everything together for a fabulous conclusion even though I never did manage to accurately guess who was behind the murder. I haven’t got anything negative thing to say about this book. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author. THE FIRST TIME I DIED is an exciting and action-packed crime/thriller that I highly recommend.
Thank you to Hidden Gems and the author for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated The Better Part of Darkness (Charlie Madigan, #1) in Books
Apr 27, 2018
THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS by Kelly Gay
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Crime Thriller, Romance
Rating: 5/5
My Summary: Charlie isn’t your average detective/police officer—she works for the new futuristic law enforcement department called ITF. The world has changed since the other dimensions have been discovered. Aliens (who hate being called aliens) now live on earth with humans, and some humans possess supernatural powers. Charlie and her Siren-partner, Hank, have been working on a disastrous case—trying to track down the source and destroy a new drug that is putting people all over Atlanta in comas. But after they begin digging deeper, they discover a whole new level of their assignment: one that puts Charlie, her ex-husband, her daughter whom she loves more than anyone or anything in the whole world, everyone in Atlanta, and the rest of the world, at stake… and only Charlie Madigan can save them.
The Better Part of Darkness is a fast-paces riveting debut novel that holds you by the neck until the last page. I’ve never enjoyed science fiction so much in my life.
This book had the perfect combination of sci-fi, crime, thriller, and romance to make it an addicting read to lover of any genre. The writing makes it wonderfully plausible and incredibly witty, and the characters were the kinds that you cheered for.
Charlie was my kind of girl—totally kick-butt in every way, shape, and form. She was tough as nails, rock-hard, dedicated to her job, but she had her soft spots for those that she held closest to her.
I will be sitting on the edge of my seat for the sequel of this book, titled “The Darkest Edge of Dawn.” 5 stars and two thumbs up to you, Kelly Gay: you just made my bookshelf.
Content: This book is not for the easily offended. There was language and sexual aspects of the book that make it an adult novel, though there were no sex scenes.
Recommendation: Ages 17+ to anyone who wants to read a really exceptional book.
**Thank you to Sarah from pocketbooks for supplying my review copy!**
~Haleyknitz
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Crime Thriller, Romance
Rating: 5/5
My Summary: Charlie isn’t your average detective/police officer—she works for the new futuristic law enforcement department called ITF. The world has changed since the other dimensions have been discovered. Aliens (who hate being called aliens) now live on earth with humans, and some humans possess supernatural powers. Charlie and her Siren-partner, Hank, have been working on a disastrous case—trying to track down the source and destroy a new drug that is putting people all over Atlanta in comas. But after they begin digging deeper, they discover a whole new level of their assignment: one that puts Charlie, her ex-husband, her daughter whom she loves more than anyone or anything in the whole world, everyone in Atlanta, and the rest of the world, at stake… and only Charlie Madigan can save them.
The Better Part of Darkness is a fast-paces riveting debut novel that holds you by the neck until the last page. I’ve never enjoyed science fiction so much in my life.
This book had the perfect combination of sci-fi, crime, thriller, and romance to make it an addicting read to lover of any genre. The writing makes it wonderfully plausible and incredibly witty, and the characters were the kinds that you cheered for.
Charlie was my kind of girl—totally kick-butt in every way, shape, and form. She was tough as nails, rock-hard, dedicated to her job, but she had her soft spots for those that she held closest to her.
I will be sitting on the edge of my seat for the sequel of this book, titled “The Darkest Edge of Dawn.” 5 stars and two thumbs up to you, Kelly Gay: you just made my bookshelf.
Content: This book is not for the easily offended. There was language and sexual aspects of the book that make it an adult novel, though there were no sex scenes.
Recommendation: Ages 17+ to anyone who wants to read a really exceptional book.
**Thank you to Sarah from pocketbooks for supplying my review copy!**
~Haleyknitz
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Midsommar (2019) in Movies
Jul 5, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
This will contain spoilers
A group of friend's travel to a remote Swedish village to study their ancient midsummer festival and, let's be honest, if you've seen more than a few horror moves you know it's not going to go smoothly.
Midsommer is a film by the same people who made Hereditary and, almost from the start you can see the similarly in tone, theme, music and cinematography. Midsommar shares some of the same themes as its predecessor, touching on mental illness and ramping up the drug use but it's main focus is on family, customs and tradition.
Midsommar is different film to Hereditary being more of a thriller in the style of 'the Wicker Man' than an out and out horror, relying more on a growing tension than on any outright supernatural threat. People die but, with only one exception you never see them killed and, in most cases the deaths are not treated with much importance (except where there is specific plot relevance).
As I said, Midsommar is similar to 'The Wicker Man' but only in the same way the film 'Battle Royal' is based on 'Lord of the Flies', the film has taken some of the basic ideas and updated them leaving us with an atmospheric thriller with traces of slasher (with no slasher) and psychological movies which works to create a beautiful, disturbing movie which takes you on journey of friendship, love and family.
There are moments in the film which point to the strangeness to come but, unlike Hereditary there are some moments where the tension lets up (If only for a few minutes) most of which are provided by the character Mark who i found seemed to be slightly out of place. He didn't seem gel with the other characters well and, I felt he would have been more at home in a traditional slasher.
I found that there was a familiarity to Midsommar, influenced as it is by 'The Wicker Man' but, with a run time of almost 2 and half hours there is plenty of time events to play out how they do.
A group of friend's travel to a remote Swedish village to study their ancient midsummer festival and, let's be honest, if you've seen more than a few horror moves you know it's not going to go smoothly.
Midsommer is a film by the same people who made Hereditary and, almost from the start you can see the similarly in tone, theme, music and cinematography. Midsommar shares some of the same themes as its predecessor, touching on mental illness and ramping up the drug use but it's main focus is on family, customs and tradition.
Midsommar is different film to Hereditary being more of a thriller in the style of 'the Wicker Man' than an out and out horror, relying more on a growing tension than on any outright supernatural threat. People die but, with only one exception you never see them killed and, in most cases the deaths are not treated with much importance (except where there is specific plot relevance).
As I said, Midsommar is similar to 'The Wicker Man' but only in the same way the film 'Battle Royal' is based on 'Lord of the Flies', the film has taken some of the basic ideas and updated them leaving us with an atmospheric thriller with traces of slasher (with no slasher) and psychological movies which works to create a beautiful, disturbing movie which takes you on journey of friendship, love and family.
There are moments in the film which point to the strangeness to come but, unlike Hereditary there are some moments where the tension lets up (If only for a few minutes) most of which are provided by the character Mark who i found seemed to be slightly out of place. He didn't seem gel with the other characters well and, I felt he would have been more at home in a traditional slasher.
I found that there was a familiarity to Midsommar, influenced as it is by 'The Wicker Man' but, with a run time of almost 2 and half hours there is plenty of time events to play out how they do.
The Strings of Murder
8.0
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A spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror - perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and...
The Abdication
Book
The town of Unity sits perched on the edge of a yawning ravine where, long ago, a charisma of angels...
Supernatural Thriller
JT (287 KP) rated Mama (2013) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
When a film is presented by a well-known director it initially has a certain weight to it that will place it above the shoulders of others. In the case of horror/thriller Mama it has the backing of Spanish director Guillermo del Toro which is a certain plus point for any one who is a fan.
However, any big name attachment is probably there to push the marketing of the film, sadly this one doesn’t quite do itself much justice and falls some way short of achieving any greatness.
It’s a film of two halves, which as the second and third acts take shape becomes more and more ridiculous.
The film is brought to the big screen by director by Andrés Muschietti who also helmed the short three minute piece. It follows the story of two girls Lily and Victoria who are taken away by their father Jeffrey after he goes a bit doolally and offs his co-workers and wife.
When the car they are travelling in crashes they take shelter in a house deep in the forest, riddled with guilt Jeffrey then decides to enter into murder suicide, but something supernatural stops him and the girls are left to fend for themselves.
Move ahead five years and Jeffrey’s brother Lucas continues his search for the girls hiring a couple of hicks to trail the forest looking for the derelict cabin. When they are finally found the girls are practically feral and need psychiatric supervision as they are welcomed back into society.
Lucas and his grunge girlfriend Annabel are given custody as well as a nice new house for them to live in, all under the watchful eye of Dr. Dreyfuss. Once inside the house its clear to see that the girls have brought something back with them, something that doesn’t want to let them go.
Mama starts well enough, with a frenetic opening that glimpses the supernatural entity through blurred vision it moves from eerie strength to strength building tension and then unleashing it in small doses not giving the audience long enough to draw breath.
Of course it sticks quite closely to now tried and tested horror clichés, with things lurking in the shadows, children talking to imaginary nothingness and the so old “what’s in the closet” routine?
Then the director, whether bored with just giving us tit bits of the mother like antagonist, decides to reveal ‘it’ in all its glory. It then moves from scare mongering horror to poorly constructed ghost story in the space of a few minutes.
The acting is nothing to write home about, Jessica Chastain while so dominant in Zero Dark Thirty is flat and a little off the mark here, why the need for the grunge look is beyond me. Maybe it was in keeping with the Gothic back story?
The young girls do well, sweet and innocent yet dependable when needed, the rest of the cast pretty much fall by the wayside. The ending was for me beyond ridiculous and undid most if not all of the good work the start gave us, although saying that it was pretty much on the decline when Mama herself becomes much more of a central character.
It’s not as main stream a horror as you would expect, but the protagonist shadows the central figure that graced the god awful Darkness Falls and that is one supernatural entity well worth staying away from.
However, any big name attachment is probably there to push the marketing of the film, sadly this one doesn’t quite do itself much justice and falls some way short of achieving any greatness.
It’s a film of two halves, which as the second and third acts take shape becomes more and more ridiculous.
The film is brought to the big screen by director by Andrés Muschietti who also helmed the short three minute piece. It follows the story of two girls Lily and Victoria who are taken away by their father Jeffrey after he goes a bit doolally and offs his co-workers and wife.
When the car they are travelling in crashes they take shelter in a house deep in the forest, riddled with guilt Jeffrey then decides to enter into murder suicide, but something supernatural stops him and the girls are left to fend for themselves.
Move ahead five years and Jeffrey’s brother Lucas continues his search for the girls hiring a couple of hicks to trail the forest looking for the derelict cabin. When they are finally found the girls are practically feral and need psychiatric supervision as they are welcomed back into society.
Lucas and his grunge girlfriend Annabel are given custody as well as a nice new house for them to live in, all under the watchful eye of Dr. Dreyfuss. Once inside the house its clear to see that the girls have brought something back with them, something that doesn’t want to let them go.
Mama starts well enough, with a frenetic opening that glimpses the supernatural entity through blurred vision it moves from eerie strength to strength building tension and then unleashing it in small doses not giving the audience long enough to draw breath.
Of course it sticks quite closely to now tried and tested horror clichés, with things lurking in the shadows, children talking to imaginary nothingness and the so old “what’s in the closet” routine?
Then the director, whether bored with just giving us tit bits of the mother like antagonist, decides to reveal ‘it’ in all its glory. It then moves from scare mongering horror to poorly constructed ghost story in the space of a few minutes.
The acting is nothing to write home about, Jessica Chastain while so dominant in Zero Dark Thirty is flat and a little off the mark here, why the need for the grunge look is beyond me. Maybe it was in keeping with the Gothic back story?
The young girls do well, sweet and innocent yet dependable when needed, the rest of the cast pretty much fall by the wayside. The ending was for me beyond ridiculous and undid most if not all of the good work the start gave us, although saying that it was pretty much on the decline when Mama herself becomes much more of a central character.
It’s not as main stream a horror as you would expect, but the protagonist shadows the central figure that graced the god awful Darkness Falls and that is one supernatural entity well worth staying away from.