Dragonwyck (1946)

 

Synopsis From Rotten Tomatoes:

For Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney), moving to New York to live in Dragonwyck Manor with her rich cousin Nicholas (Vincent Price), seems like a dream. However, the situation gradually becomes nightmarish. She observes Nicholas' troubled relationship with his tenant farmers, as well as with his daughter (Connie Marshall), to whom Miranda serves as governess. Her relationship with Nicholas intensifies after his wife dies, but his mental imbalance threatens any hope of happiness. 

Here’s a weird little contradiction that lives within the recesses of my brain—a contradiction I’m okay with: I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction when it comes to reading, but I absolutely love it when it comes to my viewing habits. I’m not sure if it’s because my brain processes the information differently, or if it’s some other "defect" that alters how I interact with the two mediums. Either way, while I may reluctantly delve into a historical fiction book, I’ll jump right into the story when it’s on my screen—especially if that story is gothic and dark.

If you know me even a little, you know that I’m a sucker for classic movies and almost any film that explores the darker side of life. When those two loves come together, it’s almost guaranteed that I’m going to fall in love from the moment the title sequence starts. Dragonwyck is perfect for me in that regard.

Dragonwyck begins in 1884, two years before the patroonship system was formally abolished in the United States. Nicholas Van Ryn is one of the last patroons left and is in need of a companion for his eight-year-old daughter, Katrine. He engages a distant cousin—granted reluctant permission from her parents—to travel to the Hudson Valley and take up the governess position. It’s a world that’s privileged and opulent, yet also on life support. A world quickly dying as the Anti-Rent movement rapidly dismantles a system that had been in place since the Dutch established New Amsterdam.

I won’t go into all the twists and turns that quickly envelop Miranda, but I’ll say this: it’s a delicious gothic tale of class, tradition, obsession, and murder. Gene Tierney, who can be a little hit-or-miss for me, is cast perfectly as Miranda. She gives a terrific performance, balancing naïve innocence with a desire for more out of life. As the movie progresses, we see her mature, and by the end, she carries a strength that’s delightful to see.

It’s Vincent Price as Nicholas Van Ryn who truly steals the show. I’m sure it goes without saying—but I’ll say it anyway—Vincent Price was a master of his craft. He can be aloof and tender at the same time, and he descends into madness like no other actor could. He is both subtle and over the top, depending on what the moment calls for. He is utterly perfect in this movie, and I cannot imagine another actor in the role.

As the weather starts to cool and the nights grow longer, I’m sure I’ll once again find myself visiting Dragonwyck Manor.

The Old Dark House (1932)

 

Synopsis From Rotten Tomatoes:

Driving through a brutal thunderstorm in Wales, three travelers take refuge in an eerie house owned by the Femm family. Reluctantly admitted by Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger), the three sit down to a strange dinner. Horace is neurotic; mute butler Morgan (Boris Karloff) is an alcoholic; and Horace's sister, Rebecca (Eva Moore), raves about chastity. When the storm brings in an industrialist and chorus girl Gladys DuCane Perkins (Lilian Bond), Morgan's lust and Rebecca's ire are ignited.

Do you have those movies that, no matter how many times you watch them, you keep coming back to? I hope you do—because returning to old favorites should feel like coming home, even if they're dark, gothic masterpieces directed by the great James Whale.

I've been a huge fan of Frankenstein—Whale's 1931 classic—for a long time. So when I first heard about The Old Dark House, I knew I had to see it. I actually bought it without ever watching it first. It had just been re-released on Blu-ray, so I ordered it from Barnes & Noble, and a few hours after bringing it home, I had it in the player. Within fifteen minutes, I was completely hooked on this weird little gothic gem.

The acting is peak 1930s camp, and I love every second of it. Karloff is perfect, obviously. Gloria Stuart—decades before Titanic—is stunning and sharp. Eva Moore? She should’ve played every witch in every movie, ever. And then there’s Melvyn Douglas, who just so happens to be one of my favorite forgotten actors. Honestly, how is he not mentioned in the same breath as Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart? I’ve never seen him in a role I didn’t halfway fall in love with.

This movie is a total blast. It all takes place during one stormy night in a creepy old manor, and it’s packed with bizarre characters, buried secrets, and more atmosphere than the Titanic could handle. I’ve watched it at least fifteen times, and I’m sure I’ll be back at the Femm House a dozen more.

Binge Watch --- Supernatural

I probably watch too much TV. Actually, I know I watch too much TV. I've been this way since I was a kid, sitting on the living room floor glued to Saturday morning cartoons. Believe it or not, there was a few years where I stopped watching TV, cold turkey. I was religiously watching Grimm, Supernatural and a few other shows at the time and for whatever reason, I just stopped. I never saw Doctor McDreamy die. I never saw Rick and company leave the prison. And I damn well never saw Crowley sacrifice himself.

This year has been a year for binging, getting caught up on the shows I never finished. I've already knocked out Grimm and Bones, because that was another show I never finished, and I just finished Supernatural on my birthday, this past Friday. For those not familiar with the show, Supernatural lasted for 15 season. That means I just finished binging 327 episodes of one of the greatest TV shows of all time. 

My favorite TV show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I will be binging before the new Hulu series starts, so it should come as no surprise that I loved Supernatural from the moment it hit our television screens in 2005 on what was the WB Network. From the moment Dean showed up on Sam's doorstep telling him that their father was MIA on a hunting trip, I was hooked. Here was a show that had two hot guys fighting monsters, this was tailor-made for me to love it. Now, if that was all the show was about, I probably would have gotten bored at some point. Instead, this is a show about family and what a family does to support each other, no matter what that family looks like. It's a show about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who would literally die for the other. Most of all, it's a show that transcended genres. 

This time around, I found myself siding with Dean more than I did my first time. Honestly, Sam could be fricking whiny and annoying at times, the way a younger brother should be. I also remembered how much I wanted "Bloodlines" to have worked as a spinoff, which never happened. And speaking of spinoffs, the fact that "Wayward Sisters" never happened has me seeing red. I want more Jody, Donna, Claire, Alex, and Patience. I feel robbed now. 

As I was watching, I wanted to live in the Men of Letters Bunker, I wanted to hang out with Rowena (my favorite character from the show), I wanted to drive Baby, and I wanted to eat pie with Dean. I wanted to go out on hunts with them. Most of all, I want to see Dean and Castiel reunited. I want that confession to mean something. 

If you've never watched the show, you should. If it's been a while, give it a rewatch. I promise you won't be disappointed. 

The Conjuring 1 & 2

 

I was planning on watching the 3rd Conjuring movie, and since it's been so long since I saw the first two, I figured I'd rewatch them before diving into the new one.

I saw The Conjuring when it first came out, but for whatever reason, I couldn't remember that much about it. The little I did remember was more along the lines of how hot Patrick Wilson looked in those form fitting pants. Last night I turned off all the lights, got comfy on the couch with a blanket, pulled up Netflix, and pressed play. I tried not to think about what I was watching, and I did everything I could to get lost in the tale. I quickly realized why I didn't remember much about it the first time around the track, it just never sunk its teeth into me. On paper, I should love it. Haunted houses are my jam. I can even objectively say it's an okay movie, just maybe not for me. I did relish the sight of Patrick's ass. Big bonus.

I wasn't deterred though. I vowed to emulate Don Quixote, and finish my quest. I just decided to go to sleep first. I also ranted on Facebook this morning, went to Dillard's to buy a few shirts, stopped in at Walmart for a few toiletries, and ate a cookie at Barnes & Noble. Once I was back home, I was resolved to keep fighting those windmills. So once again I turned off all the lights, got comfy in bed, pulled up Netflix on my tablet (thinking a more intimate view might help), and pressed play on The Conjuring 2. After the whole opening segment had run its course, I realized I had in fact never bothered to watch this one. I was actually a bit relieved. I figured since I would have absolutely no memory of it, I would probably get lost in the story easier, and I would perhaps like it more. After the first 20-40 minutes, I was sure that was going to be the case. I found myself so engrossed with what was happening to this family, that my heart was doing joyful cartwheels. Then the television crew interviewed the family, and it was filmed so oddly, that it pulled me right out of the story. And it was downhill after that.

Even with my lackluster experience, I don't consider it a waste of time. Watching the two movies back to back helped me to figure out why I seem to end up so disconnected from what I'm watching. And as much as I love Patrick Wilson's ass, I'm going to have to blame the Warrens for my ho-hum reaction. It's not as if Patrick and Vera Farmiga are turning in bad performances. They are actually quite brilliant in their roles. It's more as if I'm completely disinterested in their characters. When the families, of both movies, are the focus, I'm fully immersed in their struggles and fear. When the focus shifts to the Warrens, I start thinking about fatbergs and what book I'm going to read next.  It's like I'm watching two different movies, either of which I would enjoy, but the  combination of the two just leaves me feeling disjointed and confused. I really wish they were more like Elise in the first Insidious movie or Tangina in Poltergesit, essential to the story, but not the fulcrum the action relies upon. The Warrens are the Hercule Poirot of horror.

I'm still probably going to watch the new one, especially since it has a different director. I'm just not expecting all that much.

For the record, fatberg is not a typo. Google it if you don't believe me.

February 2021 Viewing, At Least So Far

 

For those of you who may be new to Wordsmithonia, I'm a huge movie nerd. I have almost 400 movies in my personal collection, and I'm always buying more, especially over the last year. I have probably spent more on Amazon in the last twelve months, than I have over the previous ten years. If you couldn't tell by the picture, I'm an even bigger horror movie nerd. I love them. From the cheesy to the terrifying, I'm just about down for anything horror, at least once. Except for torture porn, that stuff just sucks. I didn't watch all that much in February, especially compared to the month before. 

This is what I watched:

Tenet (2020) - It was okay. I keep watching these kind of movies, hoping I'm going to come out the other side in love with what I had just watched. It's never happened before, and it didn't this time. I'm going to have to admit that I just don't dig high concept sci-fi thrillers. They give me headaches. I didn't hate it, and I enjoyed the action scenes, but it's nothing I'll watch again.  

Watched On: Vudu

Blood Fest (2018) - I absolutely love horror comedy, and I was so damned relieved when my second pick of the month, was one that I absolutely adored. It's not perfect. It had a few missteps, but they are the kind of flaws that are easy for me to overlook. The cast is, minus one, perfect. The plot is an on point send up of both horror movies and horror themed attractions. This will go on my yearly watch of Hellfest LLC, The Houses October Buillt, Haunt, and Hell Fest.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video

Fright Fest (2018) - Despite some decent casting, this was a waste of my time. It was an orgy of over the top horror cliches and one dimensional characters. I can sometimes over look those sorts of things, but if the movie doesn't scare me or make me laugh, it's not worth the pain of sitting through the whole thing.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video

21 Bridges (2019) - A heroic performance by Chadwick Boseman. Great performances by the rest of the cast. I wish I could say that the movie was worthy of it's talent, but I can't. The storyline was generic and predictable, albeit entertaining. In order for me to fall for a movie like this, I need some sort of redemptive arc, and nobody was given that opportunity. I was entertained while watching it, but it's nothing I will ever watch again.

Watched On: Vudu

Digging Up the Marrow (2014) - The best thing about this movie is the poster. 

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

The Haunting of Grady Farm (2019) - It was okay. I love found footage horror, but that love means I watch a lot of mediacore to bad movies. This was about average.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Hollows Grove (2014) - Another found footage horror, and one I genuinely enjoyed. The performances were above average for this genre, though three of the male characters oozed just a tad bit too much toxic masculinity. I actually ended up caring about what happened to the other male character, which rarely happens in these kind of movies, since the endings are always the same. My one sticking point is the way it's framed as an investigation by the FBI. Stupidest framing ever.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Ghoul (2015) - Yet another found footage horror movie, this time taking place in Ukraine. The movie is filmed in a mixture of English and Czech, so luckily there were subtitles. This followed a group of Americans as they were attempting to make a documentary about modern day cannibals. I liked it, but not enough to watch again.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

The Empty Man (2020) - Just below my love of found footage horror, sits my love of cult horror. James Badge Dale is frickin brilliant here, I just wish the rest of the cast had lived up to his performance. They weren't bad, but compared to him, they were noticeably weaker. It made for a disjointed viewing experience. The movie is probably too long as well, though it does pack in a few unsettling moments. I feel like I'm saying this a lot, but while I enjoyed it, it's nothing I'll ever need to watch again.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video (Rented)

Love and Monsters (2020) - A shit ton of fun, with some really cool looking monsters. I loved that it doesn't have the typical happy rom/com ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of comedy and scary thrills. Dylan O'Brien is an absolute treasure.

Watched On: Bluray From My Collection

Camp Cold Brook (2018) - Decent performances with an interesting storyline, but some of the writing felt unfinished and rushed. I actually think, given the plot, that it would have been better as a found footage film.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Against the Night (2017) - It was surprisingly better than it should have been. The acting was superior to what I expect from these kind of low budget horror movies. It definitely has a few flaws, and the red herrings were a little annoying, but I actually enjoyed this one. 

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

The Silence of Ghosts by Jonathan Aycliffe

Synopsis From Back Cover: 

Dominic Lancaster hoped to prove himself to his family by excelling in the Navy during World War II. Instead he is wounded while serving as a gunner and loses his leg. Still recovering from his wounds and the trauma of his amputation when the Blitz begins, Dominic finds himself shuffled off to the countrysideend by his family, along with his partially deaf sister, Octavia. The crumbling family estate on the shores of Ullswater is an old, much-neglected place that doesn't seem to promise much in the way of happiness or recovery.

Something more than a friendship begins to flourish between Dominic and his nurse, Rose, in the late autumn of that English countryside, as he struggles to come to terms with his new life as an amputee. Another thing that seems to be flourishing is Octavia's hearing. 

As winter descends, sinister forces seem to be materializing around Octavia, who is hearing voices of children. After seeing things that no one else can see and hearing things that no one else can hear, Octavia is afflicted with a sickness that cannot be explained. With Rose's help, Dominic sets out to find the truth behind the voices that have haunted his sister. In doing so, he uncovers an even older, darker evil that threatens not only Octavia but also Rose and himself. 

There is something about this time of year that has me craving a good ghost story. Halloween merchandise is lining the store shelves, the serious decorators have already started on their homes, scary movies become habitual viewing, and my reading tastes get darker. Don't get me wrong, I love a good scare anytime of the year, but this is when I want to wallow in them.

Haunted house stories are my weakness, and I can rarely pass one up. Of my favorite books of all time, at least four of them feature a house I would do anything to visit in real life. I'm not sure how I stumbled across this one, but I'm damn glad I did.

Atmosphere is the key to a well crafted ghost story, and boy did this have a suffocating aura permeating the pages. It enfolds the reader, wrapping them in dread. It crawls in through the readers eyes, burrowing its way into brain tissue. As a reader, I found myself unable to put the book down, because I did not want Dominic, Rose, and Octavia to fade away, lost amongst the depair.

Despite a postscripted ending that I could have done without, and not fully sure I truly understood, if this is typical of Mr. Aycliffe's work, I can't wait to wallow around with him some more. Now, I just need the weather man to get with the program.

Dakota Bell and the Wastes of Time by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher: 

Dakota Bell had a difficult summer - her boss turned evil, her roommates took off, and her girlfriend wanted a break. She hoped her birthday might turn things around, but the gang of identical gunmen crashing the party had other ideas. Dakota and her friends flee for their lives through a mysterious portal, leaving them stranded in their own childhoods. She'll need to save the past before she can save the future, but the present holds dangers all its own. A madman hunts her across the years, monsters wait for her beneath the earth, and Dakota's out of time...

It seems like it's been decades since I read the first three books in this series, but it's only been about a year, so I'm not feeling too guilty.  What I am feeling is annoyed that I didn't get to this one sooner. I got it at the same time I got the previous two books, but for whatever reason I got distracted, and forgot about it. And before I get started on the review, I have to say how much I love this title and the way it not only plays with word meanings, but with the actual concept of time as well. Frickin brilliant.

Like the first three books, this is a mashup of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and social commentary. This time it's blended together into a hilariously violent game of cat and mouse played through space and time. Of course you can't have time travel without paradoxes coming into play, and I like the simplistic approach the author took. If a paradox occures, the universe manufactures whatever it needs to keep it from destroying the time line. 

Character wise, I'm in love with this cast of characters even more than I was in the beginning. They all get their moments to shine, even though this book centers around Dakota. Alan is still my favorite. What he goes through in this book, makes what happened to him in the first book look like child's play. Whether it's having to confront a truly horrific episode from the past, or having to deal with yet another issue of the heart, he rises above it, and shows a huge amount of maturity at the end. Caitlin is still Caitlin, and she has to deal with where her life is heading, and what she pictures the end goal to be. Mark makes the most selfish decision he could in this book, and I applaud him for it. I can't imagine having to face the choices he had to make, or the sacrifices he chose in order to save the world. Dakota has to deal with choices made in her childhood that were not only beyond her control, but about as paradoxical as can be. And that leaves us with the evil boss. I still adore him, I still understand where he was coming from, I'm heart broken at the betrayals he has had to contend with, but I stI'll think what he did is truly horrific. He made choices that are almost impossible to defend, even if his heart was in the right place. I wish he could have been saved or redeemed, and I still cringe when I think about his ultimate fate. Since this series played with science fiction constructs, maybe there will be a fifth book that serves as his path to salvation. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Other Books in the Series:

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom 
Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell 
Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny

The Haunting of Timber Manor by F.E. Feeley, Jr.

Synopsis From Publisher:

While recovering form the recent loss of his parents, Daniel Donnelly receives a phone call from his estranged aunt, who turns over control of the family fortune and estate, Timber Manor.  Though his father seemed guarded about his past, Daniel's need for family and curiosity compel him to visit. 

Located in a secluded area of the Northwest, Timber Manor has grown silent over the years.  Her halls sit empty and a thin layer of dust adorns the sheet-covered furniture.  When Daniel arrives to begin repairs, strange things happen.  Nightmares haunt his dreams.  Memories not his own disturb his waking hours.  Alive with the tragedies of the past, Timber Manor threatens to tear Daniel apart. 

Sheriff Hale Davis grew up working on the manor grounds.  Seeing Daniel struggle, he vows to protect the young man who captured his heart, and help him solve the mystery behind the haunting and confront the past - not only to save Daniel's life, but to save his family, whose very souls hang int he balance. 

You guys know I love a good Gothic, haunted house story.  There is nothing like getting lost in an house that plays with your head, forcing you to see things that aren't there, turning you into a blithering cry baby, huddled in the corner of the smallest closet you can find. Timber Manor is as devious and mind warping as Hill House, and almost as violent and blood thirsty as Belasco House.  It's a house full of the most damming family secrets.  They are the kind of secrets that slither through time, wrapping the present inhabitants in a shroud of despair and death.  It's the kind of house that I've always wanted to live in, but I've never been sure if I would have the spine needed to do so.

Daniel is one of those guys, that as soon as they appear on the page/screen, you instantly love them. He is the guy you want to root for, the guys you pray survives until the end of the movie.  In Hale, he finds the perfect partner, someone to love and watch over him, and the guy who will protect him from the buried past roaring back through time.

The author did a freaking fantastic job at framing his story, creating a fully realized world that wasn't hard to picture in my head. This is one of those books that I would do almost anything to see adapted to the big screen.  The entire time I was reading it, every single page appeared in celluloid glory in my head.  I'm pretty sure my wishes here won't ever be realized, but a boy could dream.

Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Mark Park is model-handsome and strong as an ox, but thinking has never been his strong suit.  When everyday machinery turns murderous, Mark will have to strain his brain to keep his friends and family safe.  An amusement park holds a deadly secret and his roommates are in for the rides of their lives, but Mark will have to venture alone into a whole new world, a world where all his strength is useless and only his underused intellect can save the day. Can Mark solve the mystery of the flume before the people he loves are lost to him forever?

I think most of you guys already know about my childhood years spent traveling with a carnival, so when I figured out that an amusement park is one of the star attractions of the book, I couldn't wait to dig in.  I had already read the two previous books, and I fell in love with the roommates and this weird mix of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.  The fact that the author has a twisted sense of humor that is evident on every single page, and I knew I would love this one just as much as I did the first two.  I was right.

Mark is one of those guys that can get any woman he wants, and he has, but it's not enough for him anymore.  The events over the last two books has Mark thinking towards the future, and he's tired of sleeping with random women, and not remembering their names the next day.  He's not sure what he wants out of a relationship, or even out of life, but he knows that what he's been doing, isn't working anymore.  It's with this confused outlook on life that Mark is forced to deal with yet another extensional threat to the human race.

This time around he, the rest of the roommates, and their friends, are facing another incarnation of the artificial intelligence born out of Amalgamated Synergy, except this time around "she" has a younger brother.  That's right, another company has spawned it's own mind controlling entity, and this time around he like makes machines do whatever he wants them to do.  Add in the mad scientist from the previous book who is intent on building doppelganger clones of the first mind controlling monster and a dead actress, and the roommates are in trouble.  They have to face a brain erasing carnival ride, a visit from Mark's multi-cultural family, explosions, a body count larger than the two previous books put together, out of control construction equipment, betrayals out the wazoo, and the lead human bad guy, that I'm still in love with, but just can't seem to get his act together.  I really do understand where he is coming from, and I feel so bad for the pain he goes through in this book, but what he's doing is wrong.  He's fighting fire with fire, and the fire he's using, can't be controlled.

But it's Mark that's the star of this show, and boy does he pull it off.  He tests himself in ways that I'm not sure he thought he would be able to pass.  I'm actually pretty sure he was expecting to fail this one.  He saves everyone else, and is ready to get lost in the shuffle, but he shows a strength of will that surprises everyone, himself included.  He comes out stronger for it, and he quickly became my favorite of the four roommates.
 
Other Books in the Series:

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom
Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Safety. Luxury. Manderley.

Manderley Resort is a gleaming, new twenty-story hotel on the California coast.  It's about to open its doors, and the world - at least those with the means to afford it - will be welcomed into a palace of opulence and unparalleled security.  But someone is determined that Manderley will never open.  The staff has no idea that their every move is being watched, and over the next twelve hours they will be killed off, one by one. 

I'm going to try and do this without spoilers, but I'm going to be honest upfront, and admit that I may not be able to do that. The simple truth is that I absolutely loved this book, and while I need to convince you guys to read it, I want to keep some of the book's secrets, secret.  My dilemma is this, in order to really get across why I loved this book so much, I'm going to have to talk about one particular aspect of the book, but if I do it too much, I'm going to be talking out of school, so please forgive me know if I spoil anything for you.  Now that I got that rambling out of the way, I'll continue one with my review, slash love letter to this book.

I'll be the first to admit that this book will not be for everyone.  Some of you will not want to read this, no matter how much I end up gushing about it.  In a nutshell it is a gory, violent slasher movie transferred to the page  The victims die brutal deaths, and there are a lot of bodies by the time the action is wrapped up.  Body parts are hacked off, copious amounts of blood get splashed about, and one poor sap is finished off in a clothes dryer.  The violence is not subtle, nor is the author shy in describing it.

If the violence doesn't work as an automatic turnoff for some of you, I think others may be annoyed by the storytelling technique used to relate the narrative.  Manderley, I will get to the name in a second, is a world class hotel, with world class security.  That security includes security cameras, including audio, both visible and hidden, and there isn't a square foot of the hotel they don't show.  All the action is narrated by someone who has access to those cameras, and at times the page splits into sections, as more than one camera is being spoken of at the same time.  It can be jarring at first, but as long as you pay attention to what's going on, and you notice that each chapter starts with the cameras being viewed, you will quickly catch on.

If you could see the blurb at the top of the cover, you would see that it ends with calling this book a wrenching love story.  The dust jacket calls it a multifaceted love story unlike any other.  I would call it one of the most heart breaking and, at the same time, life affirming love stories I've ever read.  It's in this aspect of the book where the spoilers are going to come into play, so I apologize once again, but I'm not going to be able to help it.  And I'm going to be rather wordy, so proceed with caution.

Part of the reason I wanted to read this book, was the reference made, not only in the title of the book, but on the dust jacket as well, to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  I've already mentioned the fact that the book is narrated by someone who has access to the surveillance monitors, and is able to see everything going on in the hotel.  In the beginning, you aren't sure what role he/she actually plays in the mayhem going on.  At first, I thought he/she was in on it, but that is disproved about a third of the way in.  It's in that nameless narration, in the secrets revealed, and in it's heartrending love story that du Maurier's influence is most heavily felt.

Our narrator is in fact the head of security for the hotel, all of  the security detail are ex special forces type individuals.  The security office on the 20th floor was actually the first spot hit by the killers, and they were all wiped out pretty quickly.  One of them escaped the office, only to be gutted like a fish not long after.  The narrator has a rather large knife nested in between two of the vertebrae in the neck, enough to paralyze, but not enough to kill.  It's through those eyes that we see what's going on, and learn about the hotel staff.  It's through those eyes that we get to see what kind of people the victims are, their back stories, their personalities, and their loves.  We get to hear the audio of their conversations, but only after it's filtered through the narrator's brain.  It's through the narrator's eyes that we see them cheat, love, and die.  It's because of the narrator that we feel anything for the victims at all.

The vast majority of the reviews I've seen, ignore the love story aspect of this book, and when they do mention it at all, it's dismissive of the relationship they are talking about.  Two of the people trapped in the hotel survive the night, and they have a long and complicated backstory. It's a story fraught with pain and regret, and when they come face to face with each other, for the first time in years, there is a lot to be worked out between them.  Their story, their love story to be precise, should not be ignored or dismissed as meaningless sex, or pushed aside because of their complicated past.  It's a powerful force for both of them, and it's what helps keep them alive.  For me though, it's not their love that drives the story.  Instead it's the love the narrator feels for one of those characters that is the core of this book, and it's the one aspect of the book I haven't seen any review touch upon.

The narrator, who truly does love the other character, is forced to watch them surrender to the love of someone else.  The narrator is given no choice but to watch them make love to someone else, and to hear their relationship described as merely physical, a way to pass the time, and one that was incapable of moving any further.  The narrator, who was thinking marriage, was confronted with the idea that they were only a placeholder.  By the end of the book, it's obvious that the character, I'm trying so hard to not name, cared for our narrator, but not in the same way.

So put yourself in our narrator's shoes.  You are paralyzed and playing possum, sitting in a room with one of the killers, who is also watching the video cameras, and you are not only watching your love slip through your fingers, but you are forced to watch the person you love, fight to stay alive.  You would rage at the unfairness of it all, you would probably shed a tear or two, and your heart would be breaking into a million pieces.  I think a lot of us would have given up, moved the distance needed to finish the job the killer started, and slip into oblivion.  Instead, our narrator does everything they can to help the other two characters out, not only helping them to survive the night, but to have the love and life together that the narrator once dreamed of.  By the end, the narrator has surrendered the life they once dreamed of, so another can have it.  I would like to think I would have done the same thing, that I wouldn't have given into my pain and rage at my world crumbling down, but I'm not sure I would have the strength of character to do it. The narrator is a true example of what a literary hero is supposed to be, and I'm so glad I met them. By the end of it all I was more than half in love with our nameless narrator.  This is a character that will always stay with me, they are snugly nestled in my heart and mind, and I'm more than okay with that.

Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Caitlin Ross is on track to be the action star she's always wanted to be.  She's go the lead in a new play at a downtown theater, she's got a handsome, successful boyfriend, and she's picked up some killer new martial arts skills.  But after a missing teen reappears outside her theater, disfigured and violent, Caitlin finds that there's more to being a hero than just throwing punches.  When mysterious portals start hurling her friends around New York City and into danger, Caitlin will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe.  If she survives long enough to discover the truth behind their teleporting tormentors, can Caitlin avoid the monstrous fate awaiting her in the theater's basement?

Where Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, opened with a scene direct from a slasher movie, Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell, opens with a scene direct from the type of  science fiction horror movie that gave me nightmares as a kid.  I saw The Fly once as a kid, and I have yet to be able to sit down and watch it since.  Because of that movie, we all know what happens to someone when their body is transported from one container, into another container that contains another live body.  So you can imagine what happened to the kid mentioned in the synopsis, when the evil scientist kidnapped him, put him in a transporter type pod, and tried to transport him to another location, using a dog as the other test subject.  Here's the rub, in order to transport someone, you have to break them apart at the atomic level.  In order to recreate them, you have to have some sort of building blocks in place, otherwise the body can't be reconstructed.  It's a gruesome and bloody process, and the horrors of it are on full display, more than once.

There is a lot going on in this book, and once again the action is split between the four roommates.  They have tried to move on from the nightmares created by the artificial intelligence, Amysyn, that tried to kill them in the previous book.  They thought they had beaten her, but humans being the fallible creations that we are, a character you badly want to be a good guy, ends up resurrecting a part of it, in order to try and defeat other intelligences as they develop in the future.  He has his heart in the right place, but the actions he takes, in conjunction with the scientists he partnered with, do so much more harm than good.  One is an egomaniac, willing to sacrifice anyone in order to reach his goals.  The other, is a grieving mother who just wants her daughter back, a daughter who died as a result of her research.  Both of them are bat shit crazy, and blood thirsty in their attempts.  As a reader, you don't realize that he is responsible for all the pain and death that is inflicted in this book, and there is a lot of both, until the end.  And even then, you still want to like him.  The roommates still want to like him, and in many cases, they find that they can forgive him, if not totally trust him.

Between the wormholes opening up, hurtling subway cars to the ground, and old men into shark infested water, to the horrific consequences of the transportation machines, there is a ton of science run amok in this book.  Sometimes the "scientific" aspects of the book felt heavy at times, but the author, doesn't bog the action down with overly elaborate explanations or descriptions.  And while I know this is all science fiction, it fits so well into the world the author created, that none of it felt too far out there.

There are also a lot of new characters introduced, and others that are more fully developed in their second outing.  Certain side characters are turned into heroes, and characters you thought may stick around, end up being cowards, or dying in ways I wouldn't wish on those I dislike the most.  None of them are superfluous, as they all seem to enhance the action, rather than take away from it.

Overall this was a fast paced, humorously bloody and violent romp through New York City.  It was a terrific second book to the series, and it keeps strengthening the four roommates as individuals, and as a team.  I can't wait to read the third and fourth books now.

The Broken Hours by Jacqueline Baker

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In the cold spring of 1936, Arthor Crandle, down on his luck and desperate for work, accepts a position in Providence, Rhode Island, as a live-in secretary/assistant for an unnamed shut-it. 

He arrives at the gloomy colonial-style house to discover that his strange employer is an author of disturbing, bizarre fiction.  Health issues have confined him to his bedroom, where he is never to be disturbed.  But the writer, who Crandle knows only as "Ech-Pi," refuses to meet him, communicating only by letters left on a table outside his room.  Soon the home reveals other unnerving peculiarities.  There is an ominous presence Crandle feels on the main stairwell.  Light shines out underneath the door of the writer's room but is invisible from the street.  It becomes increasingly clear there is something not fight about the house or its occupant.

Haunting visions of a young girl in a white nightgown wandering the walled-in garden behind the house motivate Crandle to investigate the circumstance of his employer's dark family history.  Meanwhile the unsettling aura of the house pulls him into a world increasingly cut off from reality, into black depths, where an unspeakable secret lies waiting. 

I haven't read a lot of H.P.  Lovecraft's writing, nor do I really know much about his personal life, so when I stumbled upon this book in the store, and was captivated by the cover, I knew I had to give it a shot.  Once I got it home, it stayed on my bedside table for a few days, but once I picked it up, I was lost in a world of Gothic madness and fear.

If you have seen the movies Thr3e or Dream House, you will quickly catch on to what's going on, and you will definitely get a good understanding for the title of this book.  If you haven't seen those movies, I'm not going to spoil the book, or the movies for that matter, by explaining what they all have in common.  Just know this, even though I was able to figure out the twist of this book about half way through, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of it, nor did it keep me from buying into the story of Arthor Crandle and his employer.  The clues are there for you to pick up on.  As long as you are paying attention to the side characters, and how they interact with Arthor as he encounters them, you won't stray too far into the woods.

This is one of those books where the atmosphere is everything.  This is a book that you feel enveloped in from the moment you first crack it open.  It's heavy and oppressive.  You feel like you are drowning underneath a layer of unease and tension.  From the moment Arthor appears on the page, you know he is not going to have a an easy time of it, and that he is hiding from his life  The tension and unease all stem from him, like a miasmatic fog wafting over a fetid swamp, you know he is the source of it all.

Of course, like any good Gothic story, the house plays a big role in the tone of the book.  It's falling apart, full of memories and ghosts, and presents the perfect backdrop for Arthor and his secrets.  It's a confusing labyrinth of secretes and misdirection, all built around the goal of playing games with Arthor's, and the reader's, mind.  It's hard to put a finger on what's real, and what's not.  But, as long as you follow the trail of bread crumbs the author leaves behind, I'm sure you will be able to figure it out for yourself.  If you can't, I'm sure Arthor will help you feel at home.

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Alan Lennox has been assigned yet another soul-crushing temp job, keeping him from his first loves - drinking, playing video games, and looking for a boyfriend.  But Alan's new job proves to be anything but boring when his co-workers start turning up dead.  The mysterious megacorporation Amalgamated Synergy has taken a deadly interest in Alan and his three roommates, and the hapless quartet are woefully unequipped to deal with the psychotic secretaries, murderous middle managers, and villainous vice-presidents hunting them down.  Their investigation leads them deep into Amalgamated Synergy's headquarters, but can Alan and his friends stay alive long enough to discover who - or what - waits for them on the top floor?

Picking a book, totally on a whim, can have it's drawbacks.  Often times, especially if it's a book you haven't really heard of before, a synopsis can sound promising, but the book itself leaves you cold.  You end up kicking yourself in the ass for even giving it a try, and swear with your last breath, you will never be so reckless is choosing your next read.

Then there are those rare times that the whim pays off, and pays off in spades.  I'm not even sure how I ended up spotting Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, but it's not something I would normally give a second glance to.  I've had mixed results with urban fantasy, so I tend to stay clear of it, unless it's series or author I'm already familiar with.  There was something about this cover, and yes, I'm going to blame the cover, that just grabbed me.  It also helps that the book was free at the time, so I figured what the hell, it won't be like I'm out any money.  So I downloaded the book, started to read, and didn't put it down until I flicked past the last page.

The book opens with a classic horror scene.  A single, lonely individual, stuck at work in her Tokyo office building, long past the time when her coworkers have left for the day, is staring at her computer screen.  Naturally she's not working, rather playing a game that simulates working at an office job.  What's better than being an office drone, than playing a game as an office drone?  When she finally shuts off the computer, ready to go home, she is startled to see the reflection of her manager in the dark screen.  Next thing she knows, she is being chased through the building by her murderous boss with a baseball bat, and I'm pretty sure you can figure out the rest.  From Tokyo, the scene shifts to New York City, where the rest of the action takes place.

Alan, the hero of this book, has just stormed out of another boring temp job, and insists on meeting his roommates for a drink at their favorite lesbian bar.  This scene sets up the group dynamic, though we have already met them separately.  Dakota Bell is the ambitious girl, plugging away at her first job out of college, working for Amalgamated Synergy.  She's been there for months, but has never been given a task to do.  Mark Park is a personal trainer, more concerned with picking up women and setting up Alan with a hot client, than he is anything else.  By the way, Amalgamated Synergy is at work in his life too.  The gym he works at is owned by them, the hot chick he picks up is a VP for the company, and the client he sets Alan up with, is lawyer involved in a lawsuit on behalf of a certain game developer.  You know, the game the office drone in Tokyo was playing, right before her brains were bashed in, the game every single character in this book is playing.  Then there is Caitlin Ross, the struggling actress, hellbent on finding the next big gig.  She gets suckered into working for Amalgamated too, as a voice actress.  No reason is given, the director of the shoot has not clue why they are doing it, neither does the corporate exec who shows up to supervise.  And that's sets the scene, though I'm leaving a whole bunch of details out.

What follows is a hilariously gruesome, workplace killing spree.  It takes a satirical look at the modern workplace, poking fun at the size of global corporations, and the hive like mentality they instill in their employees.  Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, also plays with the precepts of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.  It blends the genres together, breaking all the rules, and has a ton of fun at the same time.  In that regard, it reminds me of Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix, poking fun at not only modern society, but the genre(s) the book is being written in.

I'm hoping the remaining three books of the series, each one features a roommate as the main character, are half as good as this one.  From what I can tell, though the nightmarish situations change, each book will find the roommates fighting for their lives, surrounded by satire and gore.  I can't wait to dive into them.  This was definitely a whim that paid off.

The Children's Home by Charles Lambert

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In a sprawling estate, willfully secluded, lives Morgan Fletcher, the disfigured heir to a fortune of mysterious origins.  Morgan spends his days in quiet study, avoiding his reflection in mirrors and the lake at the end of his gardens.  One day, two children, Moira and David, appear.  Morgan takes them in, giving them free reign of the mansion he shares with this housekeeper, Engel.  Then more children begin to show up. 

Dr. Crane, the town physician and Morgan's lone tether to the outside world, is as taken with the children as Morgan is, and beings to spend more time in Morgan's library.  But the children behave strangely.  They show a prescient understand of Morgan's past, and their bizarre discoveries int he mansion's attics grow increasingly disturbing.  Every day the children disappear into the hidden rooms of the estate, and perhaps, into the hidden corners of Morgan's mind.

Every once in a while I come across a book that is almost impossible to review, not because it's horribly written or boring to read, but because it defies description.  The Children's Home is one of those books that no genre label is really going to fit.  There are elements of horror, fairy tale, fantasy, and science fiction.  Throw in generous helpings of the Gothic and psychological, and you may be able to grasp the sort of book this is.  I'm going to assume, if you were to look for this in your neighborhood bookstore, it would be shelved under the generic Fiction label.  At least that's where I hope you find it after you read this review, and take a car trip to get your own copy.

My reaction to this one, is as close to my reaction to Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, as I've had since then.  I'm gong to simply tell you guys to read this book, pray that you do, and give a big "I told you so", once you do it.  But if I'm expecting you guys to just do what I say, maybe I should try to get across why I loved this one as much as I did.

In Morgan, we are given a narrator who is both deeply flawed, and extremely likable. Morgan is one of those characters that I could easily see myself spending time with, holed up in his mansion, floating from conversation to conversation.  He has a painful family past, and no true familial relationships to ground him.  He is a passive participant in life, though I'm not always sure of that, as glimpses of a "real" Morgan do appear from time to time.  At first, he lives alone, except for some nameless staff, on this massive estate, closed off from the outside world.  In a very Shirley Jackson style way, we are given to know that maybe this is for the best, and that outside those walls, society is falling apart and isn't a place anyone in their right mind would want to be.  His household grows with the inclusion of his housekeeper Engel, who is definitely not all she is purporting to be.  And then the children start to arrive.  And that's when the Shirley Jackson aspects of this book, really start to kick in.

As the reader, you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that something is definitely off about the whole thing.  The children range in age from newborn to early teens, and they just show up.  Some appear on the doorstep, others emerge from the lake, and some just appear out of thin air. You are really never sure, including after the bizarre ending, who these kids are, or where they are coming from.  Are they the ghosts of kids sacrificed for the family fortune? Are they time travelers from the past and future, trying to prevent an even more heinous outcome? Are they from another reality all together, trying to save some aspects of this one?  Regardless of who they are, or where they come from, the bigger question is why are they there.  After the ending at the factory, it's safe to say we know the answer to that, but I'm not totally convinced.  There is an almost dreamlike quality to the scene, I'm not sure if Morgan, Dr. Crane, or I as a reader, can truly trust everything that happened.

With any good Gothic story, there needs to be an element of romance, and we have that with Morgan and Dr. Crane.  The author does a terrific job of navigating their relationship; keeping it on the purely platonic level, but allowing a reader to infer what is really going on between them.  As with the rest of this book, their relationship is open to interpretation.  I can almost bet, 50 of my friends could read this one, and not pick up anything of a romantic nature between the two characters, but it's all I noticed when they were together.  Maybe it's because, after all he's been through, and after the children leave, I want Morgan to have a solid future.  It doesn't have to be a blissfully happy life, but I need for him to be on solid ground, sure of his place and of those in his life.

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Ten year old Harvey Swick is as bored as only a kid can get.  The dullness of February is eating at him, and he doesn't know what to do. Whether it's school or home, Harvey is bored beyond belief and nothing anyone can do, can make it better. Or so he though.

When a strange looking man, going by the name of Rictus, appears at his window, promising to fulfill his wish for fun, he jumps at the chance.  Rictus takes him to Holiday House, where all four seasons take place in a day; and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all happen within 24 hours.  It's a place where dreams come true, every gift is available, and everyone is just a tad bit creepy.

If Harvey was just a little older, and wiser for that matter, he may have realized that if something is too good to be true, it probably isn't, and that everything has a price.  The question is, will Harvey be able to figure that out before it's too late. 

I've talked about this before, but one of the worst aspects of book blogging has been my inability to go back, and reread some of my favorite books. Preblogging days, there were books I would read at least once a year, never getting tired of them.  The characters were long term friends, and getting another chance to delve into their worlds, was like a homecoming for me.  The Thief of Always by Clive Barker has been one of those books for me for a very long time, and it's one that I've sadly neglected since I've started blogging.

Don't get me wrong, it's not one I've forgotten about.  It's actually appeared on the blog twice now. The first time was in 2012, when I chose to examine the main villain of the piece, Mr. Hood, as part of my Favorite Fictional Characters feature.  One day, young Harvey Swick will be joining him in that feature.  The second time was in a post I did last year, where I looked at how some of my ex-boyfriends have influenced my reading.

When I decided to come back to blogging, I made a promise to myself, that I was gong to start rereading some of my favorites.  And this was the first one I felt I needed to pick back up.  Being able to escape along with Harvey to Holiday House once gain, was so much fun.  I reveled in his playing, lazing in the hot summer sun, dressing up for Halloween, gorging on all his favorite foods, and opening his Christmas presents.  I felt his desire to get lost and embrace the culture that Holiday House seemed to offer.  I shared in his growing sense of distrust, as he realized that things weren't quite as good as they seemed.  My heart broke, along with his, when he realized the full price he has to pay for his freedom.  And I cheered for him as he fought back against Mr. Hood, to reclaim his life, and the lives of so many others.

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Old vampires, roused from deep slumber in the earth, are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn their kin in cities across the globe, from Paris to Mumbai, Hong Kong to San Francisco.  Left with little time to spare, a host of familiar characters, including Louis de Pointe du Lac, Armand, and even the vampire Lestat, must embark on a journey to discover who - or what - is driving his mysterious being. 

Right from the get-go, I'm going to say exactly what I thought of this one.  I'm not in love with the book itself, but I'm once again in love with Lestat.  I can't rightly remember the last time I picked up any of the Vampire Chronicles books, though I know it was before I started blogging, as I felt myself losing interest in them long ago.  For whatever reason, I picked this one up from the store, Target to be specific, and once I finally got started on it, I was hard pressed to put it down.

I found myself getting lost in the character of Lestat, a character I fell in love with at an early age.  There were a few books, Memnoch the Devil comes to mind, where while I didn't care for the plot all that much, the character kept me engaged and reading.  With Prince Lestat, a book I never though would even be written, that love came back tenfold, and the storytelling, while not on par with the first few books in the series, seems to have returned some of the luster to the series, at least for me. At times it felt a bit jumbled, and a ton of new characters were introduced, but none of it seemed to bog down the story.  It was nice to see the return of some of my favorite characters like Gabrielle and Daniel, and catch up on some of the smaller characters from the series, like Flavius and Bianca.

The author, who has always been good at characterization, has given me new character to love, though none will hold a place in my heart the way Lestat and Louis do.  A previously unnamed character, Antoine, may be up there for me now, but I would want to see more of him.

If another Vampire Chronicles book is forthcoming, I know I will be quicker to read it now that I'm back under Lestat's spell.

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Miriam Blaylock, rich and beautiful, lives life to the fullest - a house in Manhattan's exclusive Sutton Place, a husband she adores, priceless antiques, magnificent roses.  But then John Blaylock, like all Miriam's past lovers, suddenly beings to age.  Almost overnight, his body reveals the truth: he is nearly two hundred years old!

Fearing the terrible isolation of eternity Miriam stalks a new lover.  She is Sarah Roberts, a brilliant young sleep researcher who has discovered the blood factor that controls aging and thus may possess the secret of immortality.  Miriam desperately wants Sarah, for herself and for her knowledge.  But to win her, Miriam must destroy Sarah's love for Dr. Tom Haver, who learns that his enemy is like no other woman who has ever lived... now or forever 

You know the old adage that the book is always better than the movie?  This is one of those times where it comes really damn close to being false.  I fell in love with the movie adaptation of The Hunger the first time I saw it.  It stars the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock, David Bowie as John Blaylock, and Susan Sarandon as Dr. Sarah Roberts.  T he movie is about as sexy and horrifying as a movie can be.  The tension, of all kinds, oozes off the screen, all of which can be attributed to the way Catherine Deneuve embodied the character of Miriam Blaylock.  It's a beautiful movie to watch, and my love for it, is what kept me putting the book off for as long as I did.  I didn't want to fall in love with the book, and have a movie I love, suddenly start paling in comparison.

I finally picked a hardcover edition up at a used bookstore for about $5.  It still took me a few months before I was willing to read it, but once I did, I fell in love with Miriam all over again.  The sensuality of her character, which is nailed by Catherine Deneuve, is a bit subtler here, but just as effective.  This is still a story about lust and love, and how those two things can become so twisted and blurred, that it's hard to tell them apart.  It has vampiric wrappings, and after Lestat de Lioncourt, she is about the sexiest vampire to ever be dreamed up.  She is not afraid to draw blood and to use violent means to get what she wants.  But outside of that, and sort of hidden among the obsession, is a story about a woman who is trying to find a home.  More than anything Miriam Blaylock wants that forever home, just in her case it would really be for forever.

Scavenger Hunt by Christopher Pike

Synopsis From Back Cover:

School was almost over.  A secretive club on campus had organized a scavenger hunt for the entire senior class.  In small groups, and with the help of cleverly planted clues, the kids are led throughout the city, and then deep into the nighttime desert.  The sponsoring club has promised a wonderful prize for the first group to reach the goal of the hunt.

But for Carl Timmons, a troubled young man who has recently lost his best friend, the hunt will become a nightmare. Led astray by his love for a strangely beautiful girl, he will wander far from the other, and back into a haunted past, where the line between the living and the dead is blurred and broken.

The other day I was wanting something easy, quick, and fun to read, but I didn't feel like hunting something down in a bookstore or browsing through the NOOK store.  So I went to the greatest resource every bibliophile has, my own bookcases.  To tell you the truth, I almost forgot I owned this book, especially since I was never a huge Christopher Pike fan.  I think this is the only book of his I've owned, let along kept all these years later.

It's probably been at least ten years since I've picked it up, and it was exactly what I was needing at the time.  It had been long enough that I forgot some of pertinent details of the plot and found myself engaged from the get go.  I still really enjoyed Carl and his friends, and the journey they were forced to undertake was suspenseful enough to keep me interested.

If you are familiar with Christopher Pike's books, and a lot of you should be, you know he was good at plotting, and was decent at character development.  I think Scavenger Hunt is one of his best, and I know I'll be picking it up again sometime in the far future.

Urban Legend - 1998

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When New England college student Natalie finds herself at the center of a series of sadistic murders seemingly inspired by urban legends, she resolves to find the truth about Pendleton's own legend - a twenty-five-year-old story of a student massacre at the hands of an abnormal psych professor.  As the fraternities prepare to celebrate the macabre anniversary Natalie discovers that she is the focus of the crazed killer's intentions in the ultimate urban legend - the story of her own horrific murder. 

I'm a sucker for horror movies, and I tend to enjoy them as long as there are no huge gaps in the story line or over the top gore.  You cold argue that some of the jumps that happen in Urban Legend could be huge gaps, but for whatever reason I choose to ignore them with this one.  And thankfully, this movie was made before the Hostel or Saw movies, so the gore is kept to what's necessary.

I'm almost positive that I saw this one in the theater, and I know I saw the first sequel the same way.  Like most horror franchises, with the exception of the Scream movies, the first is really the only one worth watching.  It took me a few years to finally buy it on DVD, and then it took me a few more years to finally watch it at home.  Since then, I've seen it about a half dozen times, and I find myself enjoying it every time.

This was back in the day when Jared Leto was still hot, Tara Reid was still somewhat sane, Joshua Jackson still looked like a little boy, and Rebecca Gayheart was still "The Noxzema Girl" to most people. It was a time when the slasher genre was on a rise, and horror movies seem to have become just a little tongue in cheek.

Urban Legend is nothing to write home about, but it's not a bad movie either.  It's fun to watch, has a decent plot, and the acting isn't horrible.  As a matter of fact, Rebecca Gayheart is amazing in the movie.  Her performance, and yes, this will be a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, as a psychotic college student bent on revenge, is spot on.  I don't think many actors can hold a handle to her when she goes totally batshit crazy.  During the unmasking of the killer scenes, you kind of forget that you are watching a performance.  She does such a bang up job, you really think she's lost it.  Hands down, she is one of the best horror movies villains around.

I know a lot of you guys don't like horror movies, but if you haven't seen this one yet, you should.  I promise it's not over the top scary.  The way the killer takes the victims out, using urban legends, is so ridiculous, that is allows a little levity to enter into those scenes.   Yeah, you are watching someone get killed, but it's done is such bizarre ways, your brain will not allow you to think what you are watching is real.  It's only when Rebecca Gayheart's character is revealed as the killer, that any sense of "reality" will settle in.  Her performance alone is enough to watch this one.  Promise.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos.  Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child's arrival even as society dissolves around her.  Kittridge, know to the world as "Last Stand in Denver," has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far.  April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned - and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind's salvation... unaware that the rules have changed.  The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man's extinction.  If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

It's been a little over three years since I read the previous book in this series, The Passage, and lord only know when I will get to the third book, The City of Mirrors.  It's not even out yet, it comes out later this year, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fit it in anytime soon.  It won't be through lack of desire, because I really do want to read the final chapter on this story.  It's more of the fact that while I loved The Passage, I didn't love The Twelve.  I like it well enough, I'm still enjoying the characters, but I didn't feel that invested in this one, at least at the level I had with the previous book.

I'm even willing to admit that part of it may be my fault.  I may have waited too long in between books, which forced me to feel as if I was playing catch-up for a bit.  I was having to remind myself of who some of the characters were, at least in terms of the relationships between them.  Once I was able to get that all sorted out in my head, I was actually able to relax and enjoy the story.

The rest of the issues I had though, while still personal to me, had more to do with the story, than they did anything else.  I've always had an issue with authors who introduce strong "hero" characters, only to have them killed off half way through the book.  It happened with Brad Wolgast in The Passage, and it happened with Bernard Kittridge in The Twelve.  Both are men that I grew rather fond of, almost from the start, only to have them cut down mid story.  They are noble characters, and in my opinion, they deserved more than what they got.  Especially since they died, doing almost the exact same thing, protecting a child.

And that brings me back to the biggest bone of contention I had with this book, the way Brad Wolgast was brought back in this book.  I understood the point of it.  I even understood the "nobility" of what his role was in this book, but that doesn't mean I like it.  Given the sacrifice he made in the previous book, I think it was a discredit to the man, for him to become what he was.  I understand that for the end of this book to work the way it did, and for Amy to develop into the woman she needed to be, that Brad had to play the role he did.  He had to be what he was, I just wish that weren't the case.

As far as Peter, Alicia, Sara, Michael, Amy, Hollis, and Greer goes, I still love them.  They have all changed so much since the previous book, which is to be expected.  From what I can tell, the books take place five years apart, and for the most part, the friends have gone there own way.  They all meet up for the end though, and it's nice to have them all back together.  They are joined by a couple of new friends, Eustace and Nina.  I wasn't sure what I thought of them at first, but by the end, I really liked them.

There are a lot of changes in store for the characters, at least that's what is implied by the end of this book, so I'm looking forward to seeing the directions they continue to go in.  I'm curious to see how it all ends, how the new characters introduced in this book change along with the old characters, and whether or not humanity ultimately survives the viral plague, though I'm pretty sure I already know that answer to that one.