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Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"I didn’t know there were films that represented the things represented in this film. I didn’t know you could do that. People didn’t think you could do that when this film came out. I always ask myself: how macabre can we go, how graphic can we go, how dark can we go. And the commitment of these actors to the horror that they’re subjected to in this film—you can’t fake that stuff; it’s happening. This nudity is happening, this scatological stuff . . . I don’t know how much of that stuff was happening, but it’s just pure terror and pure excess. There’s also something unwittingly seductive about the beautiful, heightened elements of the film. There aren’t many films that communicate the dangers and trespasses of fascism better than this one. The terror is not in some externalized war story, it’s something that is very domestic and very tangible. You can’t forget a film like Salò, and the shock and the horror of it make such an effective medium for its serious political themes. I think it kind of shares that with Assassination Nation."

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Terror by Night: the true story of the brutal texas murder that destroyed a family, restored one man’s faith, and shocked a nation.

by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence

Genre: True Crime, Christian, memoir

Rating: 5

My summary: Terry woke up one night and saw his daughter’s ex-boyfriend standing in front of him with a gun. Charlie shot him several times, killed his wife, then him and his friend brutally killed his two sons. They set the house on fire, thinking everyone was dead. Terry managed to escape by God’s life-preservation alone, and made the long trek through the woods to the neighbor’s house. All Terry wanted was to die and live in Heaven with his family. But he stayed alive through sheer will-power and God’s grace. He made it to the neighbor’s house, identified the killer, then colapsed, hoping never to wake up again.

He woke up.

and He has to live with what happened for the rest of his long life.

Terry suffers from suicidal thoughts and depression, overdoses on his drugs, and can’t sleep at night because of his fear.

But God can take any situation and turn it around… Terry went back to where his house was to have a heart-to-heart with God. Terry found something there that was preserved through weeks of rain and wind, and yet was still readable. It was a page from James Pence’s novel Blind Sight (though he didn’t know it at the time) and the first lines he read were these: “I couldn't understand why You would take my family and leave me to struggle along without them. And I guess I still don’t totally understand that part of it. But I do believe that You’re sovereign; You’re in control.” Terry eventually found out through some hard hunting that the character in the book who was speaking had lost his wife and children. It was as if that book was written about him.

Terry’s life changed drastically. He went into ministry, he got re-married… and he learned what unconditional love, forgiveness, and trusting God really meant.

Review: Terror by Night was an absolutely stunning book in every sense of the word. The awful things that happened to Terry, and how God restored him, are amazing. Terror by Night is like Job all over again. God took everything away from Terry—his family were dead and his house was charcoal. Terry suffered tremendously, but God restored him. God used him to restore other people. And God blessed him and gave back what he had taken away.

This book is a testimony of how God can take anything and turn it around for good, how everything that happens is His will, and how He is the one and only thing we can always trust.

A powerful message, an amazing testimony, a picture of forgiveness, uplifting, encouraging, and brutally beautiful, Terror by Night will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Content: 100% clean

Recommendation: I whole-heartedly recommend Terror by Night to everyone over the age of 14. Terror by Night is extremely emotional, several times I had to stop and put it down. There were also some disturbing images of how the children were killed. It would probably make you cry if you read it in one sitting. However, I still think everyone should read it.
  
The Municipalists
The Municipalists
Seth Fried | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller
8
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The end (0 more)
I really enjoyed reading this book set in 'the near future'. The main character is a by-the-books government worker that's sent to investigate terror incidences in the city of Metropolis with an alcoholic AI. It kept me engaged the entire time, until the end. The end just fell flat for me. The ending is what knocked my rating down, sadly.
I still recommend this book for people that enjoy near future stories with a healthy dose of sci-fi.
  
Villians Don't Date Heroes!
Villians Don't Date Heroes!
Mia Archer | 2017 | LGBTQ+, Romance
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
As a former comic book geek this story drew me in. I have read other books by this author and they were great in their sweet simplicity. This was a bit more complicated. I loved Night Terror she was the perfect villian but her main love interest seemed a bit blah. Iwould have liked to see more verbal and mental sparring. That said I did enjoy this book and will read the next one. The uniqueness of it is a draw in itself.
  
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
1966 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"In film school, I took a critical-studies course on Bresson. He's a filmmaker I'm certain I would never have experienced if I hadn't been forced to. And I really fell in love. This is my favorite of his films. There's a distance in his filmmaking, an artifice in his staging, that makes it feel mythic. This story felt so familiar to me, like it echoed my own teenage experience of being a girl, the terror of sex, puberty, love, industrialization, cultural apathy."

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