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Post by Fenril on Jun 9, 2011 19:44:00 GMT -5
Agreed on the movies, through I kind of like the Orca one. Animal attack horror movies can be a lot fun, when done well. And interestingly, I was just thinking I should read another Peter Benchley book, possibly The Island as this is the latest one I bought. Anyone has read it? Not me, the only thing I've read by Benchley is Jaws. I liked it, but most people who like the movie seem to hate the book... Read: - This perfect day. Ira Levin. More or less Levin's answer to classic Dystopsian novels like "1984" and "Brave new world"; also, one of his few novels that weren't adapted as a movie. Very good drama / thriller, with the trademark Levin dark humor and carefully planned plot twists. - Nine stories. J. D. Salinger. What the title says, nine stories from the infamous Salinger that he (re)published after "Catcher in the rye". Fairly underrated character pieces, through far too many readers seem to look for hidden meanings in this --and all of Salinger's works, as well. - The omen. David Seltzer. Seltzer wrote the screenplay for the infamous movie and this novelization that was released with the movie's premiere as a marketing gimmick. Frankly, as a novelist Selzter makes a good screenwriter, by which I mean that the novel is terrible -- all the scary bits are considerably toned down compared to the movie and this one has a rather moralistic tone that feels out of place. The characters are far less developed, even. |
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Post by Fenril on Oct 2, 2011 15:53:34 GMT -5
Read sometime in the past months:
- Night show. Richard Laymon. A teenage prankster targets a special effects designer, intent on proving he's good enough to be her apprentice... or her lover... or her replacement...
But he himself is being targeted by somebody from his past --a girl with a grudge and even deadlier agenda...
Early Laymon novel with his usual qualities and flaws: Breackneck pace, tight plotting with clever twists, obnoxious characters that grate on the nerves, lots of violence and suspense (through this novel is far less gory than his most famous works)... Very entertaining and never takes itself anymore seriously than it has to, so it never overstays its welcome.
- Nightmare at 20,000 ft. Richard Matheson. Collection of short stories from powerhouse Matheson. Includes classics like "Prey" (basis for the infamous tv movie with the Zuni fetish doll), "Wet straw", "Blood son", "Mad house" and the titular tale.
A very important writer in the story of american Horror literature (with a minor in sci-fi and fantasy). That said, his work has a rather mysoginist tone [or, more accurately, shows an enormous fear of women; decades later, Matheson admitted on a Cementery Dance interview that he was projecting several personal bad experiences into his writing] and some of it hasn't aged very well. It's still worth a look, trough.
- Black Hole. Richard Burns. The teenagers of a small town in the 70's are being stricken down by a new STD. It causes all sort of mutations, sometimes subtle sometimes hideous. Like acne in places where it shouldn't be, or growing pig's tails and horns and even mouths with a mind of their own...
Body horror comic book that, like the movies from the 70's it emulates (Carrie, early Cronenberg...) uses mutations as a metaphor for teenage isolation. Creepy and dreamlike, if slightly unsatisfying at times.
- 30 days of night. Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith. A small town in Alaska is targeted by a horde of vampires intending to take advantage of their month-long night.
The comic on which the movie was based and the first of a long-running series. Very good scary tale with interesting characters, some tongue-in-cheek dialogue and an appropiatelly bittersweet ending.
And appart from the genre:
- Faces of fantasy. A compendium of interviews with notable Fantasy writers from the USA and the UK, including Neil Gaiman, Terri Pratchett, Susan Cooper, Poppy Z. Brite and many, many more.
Very good compendium; naturally, your enjoyment of the interviews depends on whether you enjoy the author in question or not (they got some very good ones and some rather lacklustre ones). Reading their views on the genre, the craft and the assorted fandoms is quite revealing.
- Nightlife. Dale Lazarov (and several artists). Three silent stories concerning the gay nightlife in the city.
Essentially porno comic with framing stories, but it's very well done and managed to be compelling with no dialogue and a minimal premise.
Currently reading "The color purple", by Alice Walker.
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Post by Bartwald on Jan 21, 2012 10:35:05 GMT -5
Just finished Stephen King's JFK-assassination book. Pretty damn good though I think the whole "tragic love a time traveller" thread grew just a bit too fat for the book's good at some point. Still - couldn't put it down for many days!
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Post by Bartwald on Feb 15, 2012 14:01:15 GMT -5
"In Laymon's Terms" - finally got this one and it's a beautifully looking volume! I'm now on page 20 but already love the book!
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Post by Fenril on Feb 17, 2012 16:09:52 GMT -5
Oooh, "In Laymon's terms"! I've been waiting forever for this book! (Well, that and Clive Barker's "The scarlet gospels", but who knows that happened to that one).
So, did they keep the promise of mixing established authors and newbies for this?
...now that I looked up this thread, I noticed I never gave a review of "The color purple"... it's been a while, but I remember that being a great novel. Maybe a bit convenient in places, but the mix of race identity with spiritualism (not quite the organized religion kind) and the unforgettable cast definitely made up for it.
Currengly reading "Che: a graphic biography", by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón. It's exactly what it says on the cover, a biography of Che Guevara told in comic book format. Not the best comic out there, but the historical research presented here is quite interesting.
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Post by Bartwald on Feb 23, 2012 16:28:28 GMT -5
Fenril - I'm taking my time with "In Laymon's Terms" and so far the book mostly covers established authors like Jack Ketchum or Bentley Little, usually mixing short "remembrance pieces" by them with their stories written in the vein of Laymon's own. But yeah, some less known writers are present here as well. Love the idea, really!
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Post by Fenril on Mar 7, 2012 22:46:12 GMT -5
Finished "Che"; very informative, could have used a little more mork on the art.
Currently reading "Doomed", a miniseries published by IDW that adapts assorted stories from Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, David J. Schow and F. Paul Wilson to comic book format.
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Post by Fenril on Mar 18, 2012 23:22:46 GMT -5
Finished "Doomed"... pretty entertaining, if not quite on par with classic horror comic book anthologies [Like Vault of horror or House of mistery, which this one seems to emulate. But their "Lady doomed" is no Cain or The hag]. Of the few stories I have read on prose I can say they were quite well adapted to this format, so I asume that's the case with the rest of them. How good the stories themselves actually are depends on the original author: IMHO Robert Bloch's were by far the best, through some of them are a bit dated; Richard Matheson's are very well-ploted, F. Paul Wilson's are fairly clever and David J. Schow's... try very hard .
Currently reading "Floater" by Gary Brandner. So far it's very entertaining, if not exactly clever.
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Post by Fenril on Mar 24, 2012 16:25:19 GMT -5
Finished "Floater"... not that bad pulp, through overall it was pretty meh. The plot concernes three old acquaintances forced to return to the small town they grew in on the anniversary of a classmate's death. A death that they all had a hand in.
High points: The dying small town is a pervasively seedy scenario which works well for this kind of story. One of the characters works for a Law firm called "Koontz & Laymon" which is a cute wink [that the lawyers in question are called "Dean Laymon" and "Richard Koontz", on the other hand...]. The flashbacks explaining what happened to the dead classmate are fairly believable (without giving too much away, it's one of those "high school prank gone horribly wrong" scenarioes that is actually believable).
Low points: The characters are utterly bland and, with one exception, quite unsympathetic. For that matter, there's really only four characters, with the rest of the cast being living props. While it's nice to see the death of a given character have repercussions, it's weird how one dead teenager more or less destroys an entire town (as in, drives a lot of adults to alcoholism, nervous breakdowns and suicide, sometimes all three at once). And finally, this book is just not scary enough --the ending provides some appropiately gruesome scenes, but by then it's just too little too late.
Overall: I still want to read "The howling", but this didn't exactly made me a Gary Brandner fan --he seems much more Koontz than Laymon, so to speak.
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Post by Fenril on May 2, 2012 13:21:12 GMT -5
Read a couple Chilean horror comics that are also adaptations of local horror movies:
- El modelo de Pickman, by Gabriel Aiquel and Cristian Luco. A reporter investigates the grisly murder of a colleague that is somehow linked to the works of New england artist Pickman, whose work has been dubbed "snuff painting" by the local art critics. Fairly smart adaptation of the classic Lovecraft story with modern touches. Adapts the movie "Chilean gothic" [released internationally as "Pickman's model"], from director Gilberto Vilarroel, 2011.
- Ángel negro, by Venus Astudillo and Andrés Cortes. Ten years after a Prom night incident that resulted in a classmate's death, five former friends are being killed one by one by a masked woman with an uncanny resemblance to their deceased schoolmate... Good slasher tale with the usual trappings (a masked killer slashing people left and right, secrets from the past, a twist ending, etc.) sucessfully translated to a Latinoamerican setting. Adapts the movie "Ángel negro", from director Jorge Olguín, 2001.
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Post by Bartwald on May 19, 2012 0:58:36 GMT -5
I'm currently reading King's "The Wind Through The Keyhole" - it's a sentimental journey more than anything else, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
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Post by Fenril on Jun 22, 2012 19:13:48 GMT -5
Read "The October country", by Ray Bradbury (it seemed a good time to revisit his works). An early short story collection that reelaborates Bradbury's first published work, "Dark carnival" -- Bradbury often did that, updating old works and polishing them whenever possible. In my opinion, he was one of the few writers good enough to afford that kind of luxury (most writers who do that have a tendency to destroy their own work).
Anyway, "The October country" is a collection of short stories, some of them horror, some fantasy, some just plain weird. All imbued with a certain childlike (but not puerile) sense of wonder and menace. An excellent work from a great writer who will be missed.
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And interestingly, I was just thinking I should read another Peter Benchley book, possibly The Island as this is the latest one I bought. Anyone has read it?