Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino (Giveaway Too!)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When the nanny to the young Darrow boys is found mysteriously murdered on the outskirts of the village of Blackfield, Charlotte Markham, the recently hired governess, steps in to take over their care.  During an outing in the forest, they find themselves crossing over into The Ending, "the place for the Things Above Death," where Lily Darrow, the late mother of the children, has been waiting.  She invites them into the House of Darkling, a wondrous place filled with enchantment, mystery, and strange creatures that appear to be, but are not quite, human.

However, everything comes with a price, and as Charlotte begins to understand the unspeakable bargain Mrs. Darrow has made for a second chance at motherhood, she uncovers a connection to the sinister occurrences in Blackfield and enters into a deadly game with the  master of Darkling - one whose outcome will determine the fate of not just the Darrows but the world itself.

I have never thought about reading a slightly lighter Lovecraftian tale told within the confines of a Victorian  Gothic novel.  It's not something that I even considered before, but now that I've read it, I'm slightly confused as to the reason why nobody thought of doing this before.  Now when I say Victorian and Gothic, I'm still speaking of terms of being slightly lighter.  None of the thematic elements really dominate the structure of the novel.  Instead it's like the author used them as the basic outline of the structure, then filled those lines in with something else.  What that something else is, I'm still not sure I have a word for it.

Now despite my apparent confusion, I'm here to tell you that I actually really enjoyed this one.  Sadly, I can't really tell you the reason though.  There are sometimes, no matter how much you think about or analyze something, you can't really explain your reaction to it.  I know I liked it.  I know I enjoyed getting to know The Ending and those that dwelled inside.  I know I loved the way those denizens were structured after some of Lovecraft's well know Elder Beings.  I even liked the civil war the author forced them to fight.  I never thought of the Elder Beings as being political or of having schisms amongst themselves.  I also thought of them as monstrous beings bent on ending the world as we know it.  The author took the world of Lovecraft and made it more human, something I didn't think I would like until I read it.

I think the only thing that would have made this book stronger, at least for me, is that I would have liked to see the "romantic" elements be a bit stronger.  I guess I can't really enjoy a good Gothic novel without there being a strong romantic element.  The main "romance" was between Charlotte and Mr. Darrow.  It was never a relationship I ever bought into or liked, and it always felt as if it existed in her head more than anything else.  It was a bit too forced for my taste, and because of the direction the book took, it was doomed before it left the ground.  Similarly the minor romantic liaisons never felt all that explored and the one I liked the most was barely touched upon.  One one of their trips to Darkling, the oldest Darrow boy is introduced to a young man who belongs to a race of creatures that inhabit the world.  The particular family takes a human visage, and the two hit it off.  It's obvious from the get go that there is something between them from the start.  Of all the relationships, it was the only one that developed a real sense of affection, though it was only shown a few times towards the end.

I was going to ramble on about the causes behind the civil war, the landscape that Mr. Darrow and Charlotte traveled through on their last foray into the world, and the way Death is introduced; but I won't.  All these elements are interconnected and I think it best that a reader discover them on their own.  I was even going to touch upon the idea of a parent striking the deal that Lily Darrow made in order to see her children once again.  But her character and her motivations are, once again, best left to the reader to explore themselves.  What I will say is that whether you end up enjoying the book or not, Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling will be more than worth the time.

Now onto the giveaway.  One lucky reader will win the book for themselves, though that reader must reside in the United States or Canada.  All you need to do is leave a comment letting me in on a secret.  I want to know about a book that you liked, but can't really explain why.  You also need to leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.  The giveaway will run until 11:59 pm CST on Monday, August 13th.

Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012

Growing up I was a huge fan of shows like The Twilight Zone, Tales From the Darkside, Freddy's Nightmares, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Thankfully back then, we got to grow up on reruns of shows that aired years before.  I adored these shows because each week, they presented a story that was so out there, they couldn't be believed.  Some were funny, but most were suspenseful to down right frightening.  One of those shows that I absolutely adored was The Ray Bradbury Theater.  This was one of those shows that had me hooked from the very start.  It was written and hosted by the author, a man who even as a kid, I understood to be a genius.

Now as I was growing up, that show was my main reference point for the works of Ray Bradbury.  I knew about Fahrenheit 451 or Dandelion Wine, but that wasn't the type of book I was reading back then.  I actually didn't read Fahrenheit 451 until I was in college, and I can say it was one of those books that changed my life.  It made me really look at what I value and what I was willing to do to protect those values when they come under attack.  I'm still not sure what answers I can give you to those, hopefully I will never need to.  I'm praying that such a world would never come to exist.  But he got me to think about something outside of myself.  It's a rare feat that I wish more authors were capable of producing.  Well at least be able to entertain and make you think at the same time.

Ray Bradbury's genius will be missed and knowing that the worlds and characters that were still swimming in his head, are now lost forever.  I just hope that those who he has inspired will keep him alive by reading his books, watching the TV shows he was involved with, and by allowing his work to inspire and cause a conversation.

Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory

Synopsis From Back Cover:

In 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm.  Wrapped in the woman's arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse.  But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda - and he begins to move.

The family hides the child - whom they name Stony - rather than turn him over to the authorities that would destroy him.  Against all scientific reason, the undead boy begins to grow.  For years his adoptive mother and sisters manage to keep his existence a secret - until one terrifying night when Stony is forced to run and he learns he is not the only living dead boy left in the world.

If I were to list my five favorite authors of all time I have a sneaky suspicion that Daryl Gregory would make that list.  He has, so far, only 3 books to his name, but every single one of them blows me away.  He has a knack for combing his limitless imagination with American pop culture in such a way that sometimes it's a little hard to tell where that boundary lies.  Like his previous books, Pandemonium and The Devil's Alphabet, that manipulation is on display for all to revel in it's glory.

I'm going to be honest, I'm about as burnt out on zombies as I was on vampires.  They are great for a while, but there is only so much that can be done with them.  In Raising Stony Mayhall, I felt as if I discovered zombies for the very first time. Imagine something for a minute.  What would society be like if George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead was a documentary instead of a horror movie.  What if instead of a crashed, contaminated satellite causing the outbreak, there was something the government didn't want you to know.  What if they knew the early stages of of the infection resemble those the documentary filmmaker captured, but the later stages resemble something more akin to the life we are all familiar with.  What if those who survived the government's response to the initial outbreak have bee living in hiding, waiting for the day they can fight back.

This is the world that Stony Mayhall had to grow up in.  A young man, who really wasn't alive but his body still grew despite its deadness.  He is forced to remain in hiding, thinking that he was the only one, a freak of nature.  He is well loved by his mother and three sisters.  And they have even befriended a neighboring family who for whatever reason agree to keep their secrets.  When Stony's life is tore away from him one night, a night of mistakes built on top of mistakes, he is forced into the great outer world.  What he discovers is a that he isn't alone, that there are other living dead people out there.

But even in this world, Stony is still alone.  He is the only one to have "grown up" the rest are stuck the way they were when they became infected.  Stony is advised to not divulge the secret, lest he be pressed into service by those who need their own Messiah.  The living dead are not sitting idly by while the government slaughters them.  They are starting to unite, though not all of them are on the same page.  Some wan to initiate a plan that will wipe out the entire human race and replace them with more of their own.  Others want to recruit those who willingly joint their ranks.  Regardless of their approach, they all are scared of one thing though, extinction.  They are threatened when a species is threatened with annihilation, they get dangerous.

It's within these political waters that Stony must learn how to swim, a lesson he learns over a period of many years.  A period of time where is mother is jailed for hiding him, he himself is captured and studies, he loses one maybe two of his sisters.  It's not a period that ends well for anyone involved.  There is no happy ending for Stony, though there is some closure for him.  His final decisions all lead up to an event that will change the course of human and undead life.

Monsters of L.A. by Lisa Morton

Part Of The Synopsis From Back Cover: 

Frankenstein, Dracula, Mr. Hyde, the Phantom, the Hunchback... they're all here, the ones you grew up watching on the silver screen.  But these monsters aren't lumbering across a for-shrouded moor or clambering along the ramparts of a Gothic castle; no, they're here, in sunny modern-day Southern California, in place you know and may have visited.  That homeless vet with the rebuilt leg longing before the liquor store in Santa Monica - could that be Frankenstein's monster?  The eerie host making promised at the end of an Orange Country amusement park ride - is he really the Devil?  Some of these monsters you might recognize instantly - it's hard to disguise a Giant Monster, after all - but you'll never know what to expect in these stories that range from black humor to the farthest extremes of extreme fiction.

I've been on a huge short story kick this year, hopefully it will be a trend that continues into the next as well.  When I agreed to review this book, I wasn't sure what I had to look forward too.  Part of me was thinking that it would simply take the monsters I'm already familiar with and put them into L.A.  I really wasn't expecting what I got, though after reading the book, I'm doubly glad for it.

What Lisa Morton managed to do was way beyond what I thought this book would be about.  She was able to breathe new life into twenty staples of horror Hollywood.  Some of them are given new life by reinterpreting their original story.  Others are given the typical Hollywood treatment, but put into a situation that is new and fresh.  If you were reading her version of "The Phantom", you wouldn't recognize the character, but you would the basic concept behind it.  "The Haunted House" gives new meaning to the entire concept of what it means for a house to be haunted.  By the way, I want to move into that particular house.  "The Creature" is simply what it is, taken out of the Black Lagoon and inserted into the La Brea Tar Pits.  It's short and sweet and reminds me of the best moments in those old black and white movies.  "The Killer Clown" scared the hell out of me, of course it doesn't hurt that I'm petrified of the damn things.  The longest story, which is also my favorite, "The Urban Legend" was simply brilliant.  It took the legend of a race of lizard people living beneath the city and brought it to life through character and story.  It was a brilliant example of this authors work, work that I would love to read more of at some point in time.

Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco

What Marian Rolfe really wants, more than anything else, is to get out of New York City for the summer.  She doesn't want to deal with her neighbors, the heat, or same daily routine she's been doing the previous summers.  When she talks her husband, Ben, into looking at summer homes to rent, she really lays it on thick.  She finds a old country estate on Long Island that seems to be perfect for them.  Maybe a little too perfect, considering the price is only $900 and they are able to stay for the entire summer.  Against his better judgement, Ben packs up his family, including their son David and Ben's elderly aunt, Elizabeth.

Once they arrive, the rundown manor quickly grows on them and they settle into a comfortable routine.  Their idyllic oasis is hiding a ton of secrets though, secrets that may kill them all in the end.

Two years ago, around Halloween, I caught the movie version of this on TV.  Since I had nothing else to do at the time, I settled in on the couch and got lost in what turned out to be a cheesy, but scary movie.  Ever since then I had wanted to read the book, but trying to get a hold of it proved to be harder than I had first thought it would be.  I finally found it at the flea market last year but had not time to read it until recently.  I have to say, that now that I'm done, I loved it even more than I thought I would.

The overall storyline itself is pretty simple.  A brother and sister who own a sprawling, occasionally rundown, country estate rent it out for the summer every few years to a "deserving" family, the bigger the better.  All they ask is that their elderly mother, who stays in her own room and will never be seen, be allowed to stay there.  All the renters need to do is bring a try to her sitting room three times a day.  What the siblings don't tell their renters, is that the house and it's grounds can only come back to life by draining the life out of them.  With each act of violence, each drop of blood spilled, or with each death, the house is rejuvenated and comes back to the glory of it's heyday.  What they really don't want to tell them is the wife, will by the end of their stay take the "mothers" place in that lonely room.

Now, that may sound pretty cheesy, and it is, but the way this horror wove the story together is brilliant.  There are so many creepy factors, like the emotionless pictures on display in the mother's sitting room.  The growing fascinating and love that Marian starts to have for every aspect of the house.  The violence in the pool when Ben came close to drowning David.  The mysterious illness and wasting away of Aunt Elizabeth.  The fact that nobody else on the island is willing to admit that they have even heard of the house or it's family.

The atmosphere this author was able to pack into the book is simply amazing.  There is a lingering sense of danger on every page, but it's a danger that lays just beneath the surface.  It's not visible all the time, but it's presences is felt with every word.  This is what horror should be like, not the crap that gets spoon fed to us now days.  This will be a book that I read over and over again when I need something to give me nightmares.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Micki Foster

I guess I'm still in a spooky sort of mood and I was thinking about some of my favorite paranormal TV shows, which of course lead me to some of my favorite characters from those shows.  Well today's character is that of Micki Foster who for three seasons tried to recover cursed antiques on the show Friday The 13th: The Series.

When Micki inherited her late uncle's antique shop, little did she know that she was about to put her life in danger for the next three years.  When Micki, along with her cousin Ryan, first inherit the shop, all Micki can see is dollar signs.  She's not exactly the strong, independent, kick ass woman that she becomes later on in the series.  She eventually talks Ryan into reopening the shop and selling off the contents.  Little did they know that the former owner, their uncle, had made a deal with the devil to sell cursed objects. Objects that granted their owners certain powers for the exchange of human lives.

When Micki and Ryan learn what their uncle did and their role in making the problem worse, Micki realizes that they need to do everything they can to recover the objects.  Over the next three years Micki grows into a woman that is still at the core fragile but has a tough outer skin that allows her to deal with the horrors that she sees everyday.  She had to deal with losses along the way, Ryan being turned into a kid with no way back and ever her own death, but through it all she came out the other side a stronger more confident person.

I really wish this show would have lasted longer than it did, but I'm grateful for the three seasons they allowed Micki to become a character that I would not only like to be friends with but one I know would have my back regardless of the circumstances.

Bless The Child by Cathy Cash Spellman

Part Of The Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

What if your drug-addicted daughter left a newborn baby on your doorstep and disappeared?  What if she came back three years later and took the child you love into a satanic cult?  And, what if that child turned out to be mankind's last hope in the war between good and evil? 
Would you risk your soul to save her?

Maggie O'Connor is about to answer these questions...maybe with her life.  A vibrant, attractive, recently widowed partner in a Manhattan antiquities shop, she is too young to be a grandmother.  Yet the love and the bond between her and her little granddaughter Cody is deep and rare enough to make her fight - not just for custody, but for the child's life itself.

The law won't back her up.  But the exorcist priest believes.  And the rabbi who practices Kabbalah knows too much not to believe.  And ancient, raging memories of an Egyptian prophecy are rising within her own terrifying dreams.

When I saw this book at the Friends of the Library Bookstore, sometime last year, I knew the title was familiar but couldn't remember why.  I went ahead and bought the hardcover, for $1, and took it home.  It's been sitting on my shelves ever since, but since this was Halloween month, I wanted to get it read.  Once I started reading it, I realized why it was so familiar.  This was the book the Kim Basinger movies, of the same name, was based off of.  Luckily for me, the book was way better than the movie, which was mediocre at best.

I'm going to be honest with you right up front, this won't be a very detailed review, I have been trying to figure out what I can say about the book without spoiling the surprises, and I've decided that's not very much.  If you have seen the movie, which for your sake I hope you haven't, you'll know the basic plot points already.  If not, I apologize now for what will probably being a boring review.

What drove this book for me were the characters.  Lead by the strong willed, Maggie, the entire cast seems to be ready made for the big screen.  There is the fiercely loyal cop who not only falls for Maggie, but is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her and Cody.  There is the priest who was sent into exile for his views, he too falls for Maggie, but it's the memories of the past and a crisis of faith that help him put that into context.  The white witch, bookstore owner, proves to not only be a powerful ally for Maggie, but a good friend as well.  Maggie also has a martial arts master, her friend and business partner, and her housekeeper that will do what needs to be done to rescue Cody.  I'm not even getting to the FBI agent, the rabbi, or the various international agents that all, in some way, help Maggie along the way.  It's a large cast of characters, not one of them was weakly drawn.

What I was really impressed with is that Cathy Cash Spellman manages to mix in Christianity, Satanism, Egyptian Mythology, Kabbalah, and a few other disciplines and make it work.  Nothing feels forced or out of place.  She was able to create a seamless narrative that allowed me to believe in the Isis Messenger and the amulets.  I actually was hoping they were true, but alas they weren't.

I'm not sure what else she has written but I'm curious enough about her writing style to do a little more digging into her other books.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Frederick Loren

This will be my last Halloween Favorite Fictional Character post for they year, and I think it would be a sacrilege to not have a Vincent Price character at some point.  The problem is he had so many awesome roles that deserve the attention.  Last year I posted about Dr. Phibes, a character he played in two movies.  This year I wanted to go with a more human, relatively speaking, villain.  One of my all time favorite movies is the 1959 version of The House on Haunted Hill.  Vincent Price plays the main villain of the piece, Frederick Loren.

Frederick Loren is an eccentric businessman, with a mean streak a mile wide.  He probably killed his first 3 wives and it looks like he's on his way of getting rid of his fourth.  He has rented a old haunted house, with a very violent past,  to throw her a birthday party, but he didn't invite any of her friends.  Instead he invited 5 complete strangers and offered them $10,000 to spend the night.  The only hitch is that the electricity will be turned off and all the doors and windows will be locked after midnight.  Anyone who is still alive will get the money.  Of course, the demented man had a reason for inviting each of the people he did.  He plays a sick game in the movie, one that he makes sure to win.

What I loved about the character is the sheer genius of the man.  For those of you who have not seen the movie, I don't want to ruin it for you, but I have to tell one key point of the plot in order to gush about the character.  He is able to take a situation, where he was the intended target and turn it around.  Instead of being the victim (which he deserved to be) he got the people who were trying to get him.  And he did it in such a way, that they had no clue.  The were in the middle of celebrating when the tables get turned, loved it.

There are times when I want the bad guy to win, this movie is one of those cases.  Though I must say, there is more than one evil person involved.  I think Vincent Price, as usual, brought such a quiet menace to the role that as a viewer I loved to hate him.  I relished every minute he was on screen.  If you haven't seen this movie and his performance as Frederick Loren I would highly encourage you to do so.  Skip the remake.

I managed to find the full movie on youtube if anyone is interested.

I Have A Guest Post At Wag The Fox

Gef, over at Wag The Fox, asked me to review one of my favorite monster movies.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do at first, but after lots of thinking, I went with Brotherhood of the Wolf.  For those of you not familiar with it, it's a terrific French movie with lots of action and a great cast.  Please go on over and read my review of it.

The 3rd Annual Top 10 Sexy Vampire List

I've done this last for the last two years, so how could I pass it up this year.  It seems there is a never ending supply of eye candy when it comes to vampires.  Be they men or women, some gorgeous actors have taken on a role involving fangs and blood.  If you are even a bit curious to see who made the list in 2009 and 2010, please be my guest and go gaze on some undead beauty.  As far as this year, let me introduce you to ten of the hottest vampires around.  But be careful, you may find yourself offering your neck or other place for them to sink their teeth.

THE MEN

Mick St. John, as played by Alex O'Loughlin in the TV show Moonlight.  I'm a sucker for a sexy private eye, there is just something so intriguing about the job.  If you need a private dick to help you out, I'm sure Mick would be glad to lend a hand.

Dracula, as played by Dominic Purcell in the movie Blade: Trinity.  Dracula is a character that should ooze sex appeal, this version does that in spades.  All the other vamps want his blood so they can walk in daylight, here's hoping that if they all look like this, that they succeed.

Aaron Gray, as played by Adrian Paul in the movie The Breed.  Aaron is trying his hardest to stop a war between vampires and humans.  He's in league with a hunky human cop, trying to figure out why a vampire killed a human and if that has anything to do with a virus that can wipe out all the vampires.  It would be a shame for a vampire that looks like this to die any kind of death.

Cash, as played by Channon Roe in the TV show Kindred: The Embraced.  Cash is the Toreador Primogen of Los Angeles and this guys likes it rough.  He wears leather, rides a motorcycle, and is very in touch with his primal side. 

Marius de Romanus, as played by Vincent Perez in the movie Queen of the Damned.  For a man who is over 2000 years old, Marius is looking better than ever.  He is the kind of man that can sweep you off your feet, enchant you with his art, and make you forget the rest of the world even exists.

THE WOMEN

The Countess, as played by Lauren Hutton in the movie Once Bitten.  Being 400 years old is starting to wear on The Countess a bit.  She needs to find a virgin to feed off of in order to stay looking this good.  So if any of your are in the L.A. area, I would advice you to make sure you don't remain a virgin much longer.

Elisabeth Nodosheen, as played by Ingrid Pitt in the movie Countess Dracula.  The bloodthirsty countess has no problem bathing in a tub of virgin blood.  I could show you the picture of her doing just that, but I would have to place a warning on the blog.

Katrina, as played by Grace Jones in the movie Vamp.  The owner of a strip club, Katrina rules her little kingdom with a iron hammer.  She's a tough, dominating woman who doesn't take kindly to being told no.  Her raw sexuality puts her into a class all her own.

Cym, as played by Phina Oruche in the movie The Forsaken.  Cym follows Kit wherever he goes.  She is his lover and his strongman and will do anything for him.  She's tough, sexy, and just a little scary.  If you happen to run into her, run the other way.

Nyssa, as played by Leonor Varela in the movie Blade: II.  Nyssa is a take no prisoners kind of gal.  She's handy in a fight and know her way into a man's heart.  She is destined to rule the vampiric world someday, now she just needs the right man by her side.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Roderick "Rick" Fitzgerald

I am going to try my hardest to keep this post about the character, not the movie he's in.  That's going to be really hard for me because The Uninvited is by far, my favorite ghost movie of all time.  The movie is brilliant and still sends chills up my spine every time I watch it, despite it being made in 1944.  The cast is brilliant, the cinematography is award worthy, and the story itself is superb.  So I'm going to try and separate Ray Miland's character, Rick Fitzgerald, from the rest of the movie.

Rick Fitzgerald is a London based composer, but makes his living as a music critic.  On vacation, with his sister, they fall in love with Windward House.  I don't blame them really, it's a lovely old house sitting on a bluff overlooking the sea.  The decide the best thing to do is buy the house, move to the country, and start life all over again.  Rick hopes it will give him a fresh start on his music.

Once they are settled in, they meet the granddaughter of the man who sold them the house.  Through her, they learn of the home's tragic past and her connection to the home.  Rick and the young woman, quickly form an attachment, one that you could easily see going towards the romantic side.  Their relationship is the first real glimpse into Rick as a human being.  He's a gentleman through and through, the kind the we all dream about meeting ourselves one day.

He's driven, but easily distracted.  He's considerate, but once he has his mind on something, he will do what needs to be done.  He plays the gallant well, when the young lady gets into trouble, Rick rides off like a White Knight.  He handles the paranormal with a bit of skepticism at first, but allows himself to belief once he has no choice.

I think that it helps he was played by Ray Miland, who was such a gorgeous man.  He had a air of distinction around him that highlighted all the best traits of the character.  If any of you have not seen the movie, please do so.  Discover for yourself what a truly scary ghost story should be like.  Hopefully you will enjoy Rick and the rest of the characters as much as I do.

10 Giant Monsters Whose Feet You Should Avoid

I had a lot of fun with these lists in 2009, but for whatever reason, I only did one last year.   I've been watching a lot of monster movies for another project and for whatever reason, quite a few of them had some really LARGE monsters in them.  Most of them I had met before, for a few this was the first time they sent me running.  I thought I would share some of these monsters of ginormous size, mainly so you know to run the other way if they ever visit your town.

The Kraken, from the 1981 version of Clash of Titans, will never bother any of you who happen to be landlocked.  It's those of you who live on the coastlines that need to worry about this one.  Then again, he only devours virgins, so at least you now how to prevent him feasting on you.

The giant mutated ants from the 1954 classic Them! aren't going to raid your picnic for your packed lunch.  They have something a little bit larger in mind for their midday snack.  Don't know if they make Raid cans big enough for these guys.

Sadly, if Cthulhu show up, there isn't a damn thing you can do to save yourself.  This alien dark god who has been lying dormant in the Pacific Ocean is going to wake up one of these days.  Hopefully it's well after I'm already gone.

The "impossibly tall creature" from the 2007 movie, The Mist, is just one of many creatures that came from another dimension because the military was playing around with things they shouldn't have been.  It's not only  the biggest, it's also the ugliest.  A hard feat to achieve given the circumstances.

Poor Nancy Archer, the star of the 1958 classic, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.  She has everything a girl could want, well maybe she doesn't.  What this wealthy heiress has, is philandering husband, who would like nothing better than Nancy out of the way.  When she encounters an alien in the desert and is transformed into the 50 Foot Woman, her husband and his mistress better watch out.  If she shows up, let her know where Harry is hiding, and tell her to stay away from power lines.

You can take all your stupid remakes and give me the original King Kong any day.  This 1933 classic is still the only one I will watch.  I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for him, and I do.  But if it comes down to him trampling your city or him taking a rather large concrete dive, if you are smart, you will go with option 2.

The only air powered force of destruction to make this list is Rodan, the aerial frienemy of Godzilla, who will make an appearance later on.  This flying terror made his debut in 1956, starring in his own movie, aptly titled Rodan.  He has been on the side of good and chaos in the past.  But either way, if you see him flying above your neighborhood, just remember one thing.  No matter where he goes, cities get destroyed.

I know Cloverfield is one of those movies you either love or hate, I love.  Either way, the idea of an adolescent monster rising from the oceans and wreaking havoc in New York City is just awesome.  He has no agenda, no goals in life.  He's a scared, hurt kid who doesn't understand what's going on.  The fact he takes out most of city, bites the head off The Statue of Liberty, and kills hundreds of people is just a bonus.

Godzilla, the biggest example of a monster who can't make up his mind.  Sometimes he's good, fighting other monsters.  Sometimes he's bad, leveling cities with his feet, tail and fire breath.  Either way he's a lot of fun to watch, though I don't think I'll be moving to Japan anytime soon.

The hilarious hit of 1984, The Ghostbusters, brought the wonderfully cute Say Puff Marshmallow Man.  The fact he could crush you beneath his gooey foot and may end up putting you on a stick over the campfire, made him even cuter.  If you run into him and don't have a rather large bonfire going, run the other way. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Eleanor Lance

I'm a sucker for a good ghost story, it's even better when it's on film.  I can sit on the couch, turn off all the lights, maybe eat a bit of popcorn, and get lost in the fear that, hopefully, oozes off the screen.  So for the rest of the month I will be highlighting some of my characters that have graced some of  the best ghost stories of all time.  This will I will be introducing Eleanor Lance, playing by the wonderful Julie Harris, in the 1963 version of The Haunting.

Eleanor Lance, "Nell" to some, has not had the easiest life.  As her sister left the home to start her own family, Nell was left behind to care for the tyrannical, ailing mother.  Needless to say it was the ideal situation for a young woman.  As a result she has turned into a rather mousy woman who is unsure of her place in the world.  Other than some psychic phenomenon early in life, nothing exciting has ever happened to bring Nell out of her funk.  When her mother finally dies, Nell is forced to move in with her sister's family.  She rents out the living room couch and shares half the car.  Nell was afraid that her life would remain the same for the rest of her life, it may have been better if it had.

When Nell receives her letter from Dr. Markway, she feels as if that "thing" she has been waiting for has finally arrived.  When her sister won't let her take the car, Nell steals it and goes anyway.  The entire time she is driving to Hill House, Nell is psyching herself up about the life she is about to lead, she imagines her life once she leaves the house, how this is the turning point in her life.

Once at the home, surrounded by those who will be joining her in the house.  Nell seems to split between two people.  One is confident in her role in the house, the fact that she belongs there doesn't seem to leave her mind.  The other is still that scared timid Nell who was dominated by her mother.  It's fascinating to watch that struggle happening inside of Nell's mind as the house seems to take a life of it's own and the strange events start to happen. 

Some may decided Nell is schizophrenic or, at best, slightly disturbed.  It would be fairly easy to just throw that out there and let that color the her as a character.  I think there was more to it though, I think that enough of her was fully aware of what was happening around her and what was going to happen to her.  I think, that despite the fears such a fate would create, it was the first time she felt she truly belonged to something.  By the end, you know she is scared to death but determined to see the thing through till the end.

I would love to say that she had her happy ending, but if you have ever red the book, seen this movie, or even it's horrible remake, you know she doesn't have that.  What I do think, after many viewing and many readings, is she has the end that she wanted.  She can finally say she's at peace and in the only home her heart ever desired.

She is a wonderfully complex and emotional character that just allows the viewer/reader to be drawn into her life.  There are differences between the movie and the book it was based off of, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, but both versions offer up such a gloriously rendered, three dimensional character that it's hard to notice those differences.  Both are great, both should be devoured by those who are not familiar with them.

Here is the trailer to the 1963 version of the movie.  One of these days I will do full reviews of both this movie and the book, but this trailer will have to do for now.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Michael Meyers (Repost)

I apologize for resposting a Halloween FFC from two years ago, but life has been a little chaotic lately.  Work has been crazy this week, we have the VP in town and we are doing inventory.  On top of that, I haven't been feeling well the last few days and I'm not getting much sleep.  That's part of the reason you aren't seeing a lot of new posts the last week.  I have a few books finished to review, I just need to find the time and energy to do them.  Hopefully next week will be better and you will start to see more reviews going up soon.  In the meantime, please enjoy an introduction to Michael Meyers, the coolest killing machine to ever be created.

I will pass on Jason and Freddy. Laugh at Chucky and Pinhead. Oh, but Michael Meyers is another story. Now I know this isn't the best picture of my silent, slasher hero but it will have to do for this post.

Of all the great unstoppable killers in the history of cinema there is no other that even holds a candle to him. The star of 9 films (2 of them really bad Rob Zombie movies) and a body count any psychopath can be proud of he is a star of the silver screen.

The first time I saw the original Halloween movie it scared the crap out of me. I was 13 years old and really didn't want to watch it at the time. Not because I would be scared, quite the opposite actually. I didn't think it would scare me at all. I remembered watching the firstFriday the 13th movie and the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie and neither one scared me one bit. To me it was a human killing other humans, nothing all that scary. My mom made me watch it though and it terrified the hell out of me. There was something so creepy about Michael.

Jason Voorhees was just as silent as Michael but he wasn't as scary. Michael has a presence about him that is amazing. Whether it's the way he cocks his head or the way he walks he is a killing machine that oozes terror.  I never get tired of sitting on the couch, all the lights off, the jack-o-lantern glowing in from outside, and watching Michael as he does his thing.

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

Synopsis From Back Cover:

For Rent:  Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds.  No broker's fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric.  And the elderly handyman drops cryptic remarks about the basement.  But the rent is so low, it's too good to pass up.

Big mistake.  Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs...or is it?  She awakens every morning with fresh bits, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt.  An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing.  The landlady insists her building is clean.  Susan fears she's going mad - until a more sinister explanation presents itself:  she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

Normally I love to read horror books once the weather starts to get a little chillier.  There is something about having that nip in the air and the shorter days that makes me want to curl up on the couch, with as little light as possible, and delve into something that will scare the hell out of me.  Sadly, due to time constraints, I had to read this one when it was over 100 degrees outside and not getting dark until after nine o'clock.  For once, that didn't bother me, I was still able to forget about my surroundings and get so lost in the story, that I would be checking my pillows for any scurrying creatures before I would set my head down for bed.

I'm addicted to a lot of the horror novels written in the 60s and 70s, and this one has that retro vibe for me.  Two of my favorites,  Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin and The Sentinel by Jeffrey Konvitz, even start off the same way.  Young couple/single woman moves into a new apartment and everything seems to being going right at first.  Of course there are always subtle hints that not everything is as it should be.  Eccentric neighbors always seem to be around, strange occurrences that only happens to one of them (normally the woman), and a miasma that seemed to hang in the air, slowly suffocating the inhabitants of the apartment.

This book had all of that and so much more going for it.  The author had an almost supernatural ability to balance the home life of the Wendt's with the growing sense of apprehension.  A lot of horror books I've read will sacrifice the characters for the story.  Thankfully Bedbugs isn't one of them.  A story that asks the reader to believe in something so personal as a malignant presence that attacks you in the bed, has to have characters that you not only believe, but care about it.  As a reader, you have to be able to relate to them.  Susan, Alex, and Emma are fully functional, 4D characters that were a treat to know.

The horror was built slowly, it worked it's way towards a simmer, and then boiled over in such a way that the sheer violence of the climax left me holding my breath and gasping for proverbial air.  I was horrified, and thrilled by the conclusion even though I saw it coming a mile away.  A good horror book doesn't have to throw out an ending that comes out of left field.  A good horror novel will allow the reader to figure out the ending, but still horrify them in the end.  It's needs to be believable no matter how outlandish the plot points.  It's hard to write a credible story that will leave a reader altering their bedtime habits. Bedbugs not only pulls it off, but it pulls it off in such a way that you won't know what hit you until you are going to bed the night after and you are still checking for telltale signs of an infestation.

The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The vampiric virus is spreading and soon will envelop the globe.  Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather - head of the Centers for Disease Control's team - leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters.  But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master's horrific plan, a war has erupted between Old and New World vampires.  Caught between these warring forces, powerless and vulnerable, humans find themselves no longer the consumers by the consumed.  At the center of the conflict lies an ancient text that contains the vampires' entire history... and their darkest secrets.  Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and ultimately, the fate of us all.

Before I sat down to write this review, I went back and read the one I did for The Strain.  I realized, after reading it, that I didn't love this one as much as the first book.  I still loved how evil and inhuman the vampires were, but I just didn't feel that same sense of giddiness that I did the first time out of the gate.

The good news is that I think I know what the problem was, and I think it will be fixed in the last book of the trilogy.  Like a lot of middle books, this one got bogged down in too much back story and plot devices.  Everything in The Fall is designed to take us into the third book, which I think will be nonstop, pounding action.  I know all the back story is needed to set up what's to take place later on, it's just always hard to get through it all.

I'm not saying this book didn't have a lot going for it, because it did.  I loved the character development and the arc some of them are taking in their lives.  Their decisions are starting to have real life consequences, some of which I didn't see coming.  The action is extreme and a lot more violent than in the first installment.  I think that has a lot to do with the fact the vampires are actually starting to seem like vampires to me.  I'm no longer annoyed with the fact that they seemed to be more like a generic 28 Days Later kind of monster, they are starting to have fangs now.  I just wish The Master would take care of the Cullens for me.

I'm looking forward to the final book in the trilogy when everything comes to a head and makes this book, more than worth the read.

Other Books In The Series:

The Strain

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The Passage is the story of Amy - abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions.  But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her.  As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape - but he can't stop society's collapse.  And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

What started off as a scientific trip into the jungles of South America turned into the end of the world for North America.  When they discover that the vampire myth is real, instead of running away, they all get killed except for a few.  One of those survivors was already infected and since the military needed new recruits, they decide to bring him back and use him to start project NOAH.  With NOAH they use death row inmates, shoot them up with the "drug" and turn them into blood thirsty monsters they hope they can learn to control.  None of these men had living ties to the outside world anymore, so when they are pronounced dead, nobody really looks into it.

Brad Wolgast, the agent in charge of talking the inmates into signing their life away, is good at his job.  He is able to find just the right thing to say to get these men to crumble and agree to the experiments.  When his next assignment is to pick up a six year old kid from a convent, he starts to doubt the mission.  On the trip back, both he and his partner, are torn by what it is they are being asked to do.  They don't know what the real goal of Project NOAH is, but dragging a kid into it, doesn't sit well with them.

It's only after he delivers Amy to the military does he realize what's going on.  Both the inmates and Amy have been turned into vampires, but in Amy the changes are different.  She only gets the immortality, not the blood thirst or physical changes.  When the experiment goes horribly wrong, Brad and a few friends do everything they can to get Amy out of there and to safety.

That one night of blood and death turns into a world ruled by the virals (vampires.)  About a hundred years later, there are only small pockets of humanity left.  The rest of the world has abandoned the continent to die a slow, agonizing death.   They work everyday to make sure the lights stay on at night and that they don't become the virals next meal.  This is the part where the book blew me away.  I was expecting a story that deal with Amy, not a large cast of survivors who I would grow to care about and hold my breath for when they were in danger.

This is a story about human survival and hope in the face of certain death and annihilation.  The small group of men and women we meet who are doing their level best to stay alive are wonderfully fleshed out individuals and I can't wait to find out what happens next.  I wish I had the skill to describe to you all the wonderful people the author created to tell this story.  They are an amazing group, without a weakly drawn one in the bunch.

I do want to mention that the other aspect I wasn't expecting when I finally picked this book up, was how beautifully the story would be told.  I didn't think a story like this could be told in such a lush, descriptive way that would move me as much as it did.  He was able to capture every moment, every location with such fully realized way that, at times, I felt as if I had been transported into the action and I could see, hear, and smell everything the characters did.  The author's love of what he was writing is obvious on every page.  Every detail is there, every character is fully realized, and every element I want in a post apocalyptic, vampire massacre is told in technicolor.

Monsters - 2010

Official Synopsis:

Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system.  A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America.  Soon after, new life forms started to appear there and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone.  Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain the "creatures"... 


I don't remember when I first heard about this movie, or even how I heard about it.  What I do remember, is watching the trailer for the first time and falling in love.  Then I read more about the movie, saw a clip of it and decided I had to watch it.  For the most part, I'm not a huge fan of sci fi movies.  Generally, especially newer ones, tend to be epic special effects orgies that sacrifice the story for the visuals.  I'm sure we can all think of more than one example that fits that.  What I loved about everything I discovered about this movie was that this looked more like a love/road story set against the backdrop of a alien monster invasion.  The creatures and the devastation they wrought was there, but they weren't the overriding story.  Thankfully, what I thought I was getting, I got.

The story takes place six years after the probe crashing back to Earth.  Somehow those samples sprouted new life in the form of giant octopus like monsters, think Cuthullu but smaller, that the governments of the U.S. and Mexico are trying to contain in the top half of Mexico.  The U.S. has built a massive wall along it's entire Southern border and nobody is allowed to cross over that wall.  Photojournalist, Andrew Kaulder, has been south of the infected zone trying to capture that one shot that will make him money.  After the hotel the daughter, Samantha Wynden, of his boss was staying in was attacked by one of the creatures, Andrew is tasked with getting her to the coast and on a ferry back to the U.S.  The movie really tells the story of Andrew and  Samantha's journey.

This is a love story more than it is anything else, both of these characters are in Southern Mexico because they are running away.  She is trying to hide from a fiance that she really isn't in love him.  He is trying to escape the pain of finding out his son, really wasn't his.  They are both damaged people who learn to trust each other and fall in love on the way home.  Their physical journey home, and this may sound cliche, mirrors their emotional journey with each other.

For a budget of just around $15,000, the monsters and the wreckage they leave behind is almost breathtaking in scope.  Entire towns are seen in ruins, with abandoned buildings being taken back over by the jungle.  They resemble ancient temples that serve as lasting reminders of a people who have vanished long ago.  There are some beautiful shots in this movie that I really wasn't expecting to see in such a low budget.  The director has an eye for setting the mood and framing in a way that keeps the eye's attention.  The monsters themselves, especially the end sequence are gorgeous.  Probably some of the most beautiful creatures I've seen on screen for a long time.

I really can't grouse about much of anything with this movie.  The film is a visual treat, the acting is subtle and believable, and the storyline kept me engaged the entire time.  My one quibble, and it is a very small one, is that I'm not a huge fan of tying the opening scene in with the closing scene.  I don't like to know what will happen before it does.  I know this is a trend in both movies and TV, but I wish it would go away.  It didn't take away from what I was watching, especially since I didn't realize it until the end, but it was slightly annoying anyway.

I would strongly encourage everyone to see this movie.  Just don't expect large explosions, 20 minute scenes of monster carnage, or overly gorgeous actors trying not to look too dirty while they are on the run.  If you like well told stories told against a backdrop a little out of the norm, I think you will love it as much as I did.

Rotters by Daniel Kraus

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Grave robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It’s true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey’s life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.

Everything changes when Joey’s mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey’s father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey’s life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.

Since I started book blogging back in 2009, I don't think I've ever been happier to not be a paid reviewer.  If I were, I think I would be racking my brain for days for something to say about this book that would be worthy of being paid for it.  I'm not sure I'm capable of ever expressing how much I loved this macabre blend of my childhood fears of being buried in the ground along with all the adolescent pain and longing for home that so many of us experience.

When Joey's mother dies in a freak accident, he is cast aside by the state and forced to go live with a father he never knew he had, let alone wanted.  He is set adrift in a new town, without his best friend, and forced to deal with a father that seems to be not only cold but just so happens to be the town pariah.  Unfortunately for Joey, this is one case where the sins of the father comes crashing down on the son.  When the kids in his new school find out who his father is, he is never allowed to know a day of peace ever again.  Relentlessly bullied, he is forced to withdraw further and further into himself in order to not feel the pain the building isolation is forcing upon him.  When he does take that all too painful step of reaching out, even in the smallest way, those who reached back are punished by his tormentors.  This causes Joey, like so many others, to continue to pull within himself in order to deal with the pain.  He is a young man who has lost his home and his identity which is enough explanation for what comes next.

Part of Joey's problem is the way he smells.  For weeks, he has been living in what can be called a shack, if you want to be generous about it.  He can't wash his clothes or from what I could tell bathe all that often either, there is such a cloying stench of decay in the house, that it seeps into his pores and never really leaves.  The stench and stigma that comes with it though are fitting, it's almost like the outward symptom of what is happening inside of him.  Between the horrific changes that ripped him away from the only home he knew and the constant pressure squeezing him at all times of the day, the slow decay of his soul and spirit match up with the sweetish, pungent odor of death.

Is it any wonder that when Joey discovers his father's secret, he grasps at that world with all the strength he has left.  Maybe in the world of rotting corpses, long nights, and constant death; Joey will be able to find a place to call his own once again.  His father, reluctant at first, takes Joey under his wing and starts teaching him about the world of grave robbing.  His father, like many before him, view the life in an almost noble, romantic way.  By the time he is done with him, Joey feels the same way.  They are serving a higher purpose by what they do, even it it's misunderstood by the general populace. 

Now if this book was just about grave robbing, as seductively written as it was, I'm not sure I would have loved it as much as I did.  The world of grave robbing though served a bigger purpose.  It served as a comparison for what happens, all to often, when life rips away someone's identity and sense of self worth.  This was a book about a young man who loses everything and through some rather unconventional ways discovers more about himself and his family than he ever wanted to know.  By the end of it, and there is some great action I never even hinted about in the middle, he has picked up the pieces and has maybe found that balance within himself once again.

Now if 6 months ago you would have told me that I was going to read a YA book about grave robbing, written by an author I never heard of before, I would have told you to go away.  It wasn't that I would be turned off by the idea, instead I wasn't sure a YA author could pull it off.  It sounds more like something Poppy Z. Brite would do, and better than anyone else.  Now that I've read Rotters though, I can happily say that Daniel Kraus holds his own against Brite, who was really the first author I read that could make this type of topic both seductive and mesmerizing to the point I would not be able to stop myself.  I don't think she could have told this story any better. 

Rotters is a story of the desire we all have to be somewhere we feel "at home."  It just happened to be told in such a way to keep me up at night with nightmares of a digger in the future bringing up my body and mutilating my corpse for the treasure buried with me.  I've always wanted to be cremated, this book cemented that decision in stone.  This was a world of pain, yearning, and rotting flesh that I would never hesitate to visit again.