The month continues to be fun. I've held up watching something nearly every day that's considered spooky. My reading has started picking up, but I'm still slow on anthology goals. The Twitter monthly read-a-longs aren't that active, I think a few of them are mainly geared toward Booktube so there aren't many posts.
The week-long and read-a-thons that are time-based are more active. Boo-a-thon started Monday fortunately, and this upcoming Saturday is the Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon, which is always a big favorite of mine. Can't wait.
There are two virtual, Twitter based book clubs also. You still have time to join if you're interested.
Live show for this book on October 31 - but it's early in the day so there's still time for trick or treating if those are your plans. Halloween is on a Saturday this year. Link goes to their Twitter page.
This looks like a cute cozy, and I've had it on my list for a few years.
Oct 27, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT is the live video show on Booktube. Link goes to their website.
Movie and Show Wise...
The Haunting of Bly Manor has been all the rage on Netflix since it was finally released as the second season of Hell House. The first season was based on the Haunting of Hill House and the second The Taming of the Shrew. I watched the show over a three day period. As some mentioned, it's not always creepy, I find it more the point of being psychologically haunting. Some called it a romance story, but that's only semi-true to me.
There is romance, sure, but it's the focus of life and having the characters fleshed out - that they'll end up in a romantic relationship eventually isn't far-fetched. I didn't find any of the romantic longings forced; they added to the shows realism and feels. It's slower paced and filled with grief. These characters did not lead pleasant lives, before or after the fact. There are chilling scenes that are both subtle and in your face - a few jump scares, but those are dialed back for psychological creepiness. Episode 8 tells the back story of the woman in the lake and makes it clear what's been going on all along.
I do recommend it. I liked the first season a little more in a few ways, but this one won in other ways. Both are well done and worth a watch.
I've also started the show on Netflix, Evil. I'm on episode four of the first season right now and find it intriguing. It was recommended by a few offline friends and I've seen it get good reviews with a few people watching it right now on Twitter.
I also finally tried a few episodes of the very old soap-opera, Dark Shadows. I did this for two reasons - one, curiosity and it's always been on my mini bucket list. Second, it fit the theme for Gothtober challenge of something to watch that fits the prompt. This show was definitely old. I made it sixepisodes. The episodes fly by, about 21 minutes each. It's during the time when acting was exaggerated and enhanced for, I suppose, live type of performances. Black and white pictures are accompanied by a pure-gothic score that's played too much. That just adds to its charm though, it's not an insult. The show isn't bad, but it's not something I'm interested in continuing. After all, isn't there over 200 episodes? I'd probably get into it more if I kept going. My point was to give it a fair sampling, and I think out of six episodes, I did. The show is so gothic that you could put a picture of the show in the dictionary by the term!
I re-watched a few Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horrors - they did not live up to my memories and I could not get into them sadly.
But I did put on some other light, young classics. I have several still planning to watch before Halloween along this vein, including the Great Pumpkin with Charlie Brown. For now I have completed Paranorman (Cute!), and aim to try "The Little Vampires" on Netflix because I saw the trailer and it just looks fun. Animated, light movies work for the spooky season based on mood and add nostalgic charm, even if they're new to me and I'm so much older now. Don't ask how much older, yikes 0_0
When my brother was younger we had a few of the Scooby Doo movies that were cute, especially the Ghoul School, which remains my favorite. I tried Scooby Doo and Zombie Island this time since it was on Netflix. I'm not that into Scooby Doo anymore, and this one was mixed. Wasn't bad, but not one of the best.
Netflix Spooky Verdict: Netflix has a host of children's and family movies well-suited for the season. Both originals and some mainstays from other networks and companies. While I think they have fallen down much over the years for the adult horror movie selection - I prefer other streaming networks for that - they have kept up the effort for fun animated movies, cartoons, series, and featured live-shows.
But it's been more than TV shows. Mainly movies. I finally got that DVD player hooked up, only took me over 20 days. Go, me!
With this done, I rewatched my favorite werewolf horror movie ever, the original Howling. Dee Wallace has always been my favorite scream queen. Her acting is phenomenal in this one, as well as Critters, Popcorn, Halloween remake, Cujo, etc, etc. She's just great. The storyline is well done. Yes, it ages, yes some of the effects are cheesy, but no matter. Popping in the old DVD with the animated menu that kept playing "howling" in the background was a nostalgic dose of delight. Agreeing with most, I despise the sequels --- except part 5. It's so bad it's great. An old crumbling castle with a who-is-it mystery wrapped into a cheesy movie --- fun. I plan to rewatch that one sometime too, but it's best suited for night.
Now You See Me, Now You Don't...
With the DVD player hooked up, I whipped out some of the Universal monster sets. I plan to watch a lot of these, we'll see. Right now I got to the original Invisible Man. With my Legacy Set I see there are five of them. I know I never watched all of them, perhaps 2, perhaps 1. Eeek. I rewatched the original, which may have more obvious humor at the beginning than most of the other original monster feature films, and some of the extra feature on the DVD, "now you see me." The Legacy Collection menu sound effects sounds suspiciously similar to the Creature's. The Creature having this sound effect makes sense because of picturing underwater caverns and caves with echoing effects, but it doesn't fit Invisible Man. I think Universal just lazily compiled the same sound effects with the menu animation for all the Legacy sets? I'll have to pay attention when I pop in the others. So, hopefully I get to them and provide experiences in the next update. My son is turned off by the old stuff so I get him coming into the living room with commentary, "Ugh, what are you watching?" kind of stuff.
The movie is a good one, perhaps even better than the book, which I reviewed here. They did a good job bringing it to the silver screen.
I watched the remake with my son, who had seen it before and recommended it. I really enjoyed it! The main character got on my nerves, first she wasn't that bright, then she was smug, but otherwise I like the different view for the remake and it sure was tense. The Invisible Man suit concept was a worthy one, makes more sense than a magic potion causing the entire body to disappear. I'm betting the man was mean and mad before the science in this case, though. The cop and his daughter were great side characters. The score was well done, subtle when it needed to be, instrumentally intense in the other direction.
If you like thrillers, you should like this one. The cast, directing, premise, these all worked together to make an enjoyable two hours.
Speaking of movies made from books, I also finally watched Doctor Sleep. Loved it! I had put off watching it for some reason, dont' ask me why. No, I haven't read the book either. The plan to has been bumped up on my TBR list since I enjoyed the movie so much. Fascinating and intense, disturbing without being gory (but sad, poor kids), the story was creative tie-in with the shining bringing up brand new villains while including the old ones.
I got all giddy when the Overlook popped up and that drive with a rescore of the music started up. Be still my heart! My son told me that when he watched it in the theater, the audience started cheering in enthusiasm, clapping, stomping, and going all out crazy during this scene. I can imagine, would have been joining in. It's especially potent for people of my generation who grew up on the Kubrick version. Stephen King's quips about the film aside, I've always loved the original Shining, even more so than the book, which I've reviewed here. The second adaptation was more faithful to the source material, but I found much less creepy, less artfully directed, and melodramatic.
If curious, I did a Book to Film comparison for the book and the original movie a few years ago here.
So, if you've been hesitant to watch it and you are a fan of the book or movies, trust me - try it. You may be pleasantly surprised as I was.
With all my plans to watch these horror movies and shows while doing day-to-day life stuff, sometimes I enjoy putting on movies I've seen a few times for easy rewatching without having to dedicate my full focus and attention. Enter movies like the classic Witchboard, which I love for some reason. Acting is iffy but that doesn't matter. Plotline is cheesy but no matter, there are twists and turns, the pacing was well done for this type of story and it's never dull, there's some humor, it's just great. Sometimes there are movies that stand the test of time for you and you're not even fully sure why. Witchboard is just one of these. If you've never seen this slasher classic, do yourself a favor and watch. Jim and Brandon's relationship is especially interesting.
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