Another mind-bending mystery from the author of Strange Pictures... This time, old house plans reveal something very odd linking two separate houses and a mysterious death. Uketsu does 'unsettling' right: the sinister implications that the two main characters uncover does all the work without any linguistic fanfare. Along with diagrams of the floor plans in question, this makes Strange Houses really quite accessible – which seems deliberate [1]
It's set up for a shocking, unusual reveal, though I still found it hard to suspend disbelief. Still, worth reading for the creeping atmosphere.
For me, it brings back memories of a misspent youth seeking out the creepiest horror comics/manga/novels, and occasionally finding something that sticks with you for a long time.
A woman on a night out gets stuck in Charing Cross station with someone/something murderous. Apropos for a station with abandoned platforms and tracks used for training. We have a classic Karen screaming main character, yet again, generally recognised even by critics to be unlikeable.
I do enjoy the environment though – the Underground has plenty of mysteries and perils all on its own even without a serial killer on the loose.
Found footage/mockumentary – a film maker and cameraman crew get locekd in with the inhabitants of a doomed apartment building. We have here a rather panicky, shouty protagonist with a sidekick who truly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. The horror itself: classic base under siege material. People turn on each other as they try to make it out, so on and so forth.
A horror fanatic gets caught up in a realistic horror film experience – basically becoming the protagonist of about six different horror films, having to use all his knowledge to survive. This is a deeply unlikeable protagonist, for whom it is difficult to summon symptoathy for his trials and tribulations... and eventual outcome.
I guess if you really liked Ready Player One, and a certain flavour of American horror films (Final Destination, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), then you'd like this. Unfortunately, I didn't.
The first in a whole franchise. Summer camp slasher flick, where the unremarkable main character gets bullied by The Popular Girls. Plenty of setups which show you the payback almost immediately. This is not a good movie, mind you. Worse so given the dramatic reveal, right at the end, of the transfem protagonist?! With absolutely zero buildup!
Cornish folklore turns surreal. A lone volunteer tasked with making wildlife observations of a rare flower starts losing her grip onf realitiy. Remember that 15th Doctor episode 73 Yards? Yeah. Like that, but Cornish instead of Welsh. Bit of claustrophobia/agoraphobia. Body horror features amongst a carousel of disjointed images.
If this was aligned with a Magnus Archives fear entity, it'd be The Lonely.
A woman befriends a couple of teenagers, but this quickly turns into a deadly obsession.
So I was excited when I saw Octavia Spencer was in this. But the climax which reveals Ma's motivation fell flat. With an almost naive
Parts of the storyline just hang a bit loose. It's the story of the evil Black woman in a nice white town, and I don't even think this is too spoilery. There are truly bizarre torture scenes which are nonsensical rather than terrifying.
Same as the novel, the Creed family moves house, where they discover a burial ground near the house with a secret.
The same human urges: abhorring death and clinging to life, exceptionalism (“it won't happen to me”, “it'll be different this time”)
Pet Semetary treads very well-established ground for King stories. The conduit of evil is the American, white, middle-class man with repressed emotions and a Troubled Past; horror is tied up with disability*; an overwrought ending.
I enjoyed reading the book, but seeing it in movie format makes it lose a little of its shine.
SPOILERS BELOW THIS CUT
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In particular, one of the characters' driving source of fear centers around her disabled, bedbound relative. But it's not so much about her guilt for wanting that relative dead – although that was explicitly stated – it focused more on the physical aspect. A scene leading to the climax has that character seeing herself become that relative. The creators of this film used physical disability as shorthand for horror and “unlife” – as with “undead” – and that is unacceptable.