Book versus movie: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjpA6IH_Skc The book is by far superior. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Okay, I know I should probably go into a little bit more detail than that. So, I was visiting family in my delightful (note the slight sarcasm) hometown of Lincoln the other week and while having a wander around the …

Review: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Ira Levin

Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor-husband, Guy, move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbours Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome them; despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband starts …

Review: ‘The Troop’ Nick Cutter

He felt something touch his hand. Which is when he looked down. For the scouts of Troop 52, three days of camping, hiking and survival lessons on Falstaff Island is as close as they'll get to a proper holiday.Which was when he saw it. But when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for …

Review: ‘The Final Girl Support Group’ Grady Hendrix

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her? Lynnette Tarkington survived a massacre twenty-two …

Review: ‘Stolen Tongues’ Felix Blackwell

High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix celebrate their new engagement. But soon, a chorus of ghastly noises erupts from the nearby woods: the screams of animals, the cries of children, and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices. A dark figure looms near the windows in the dead …

May in books

May was a pretty good month in terms of reading. I read five books; two horrors, two paranormal romances and one true crime. My enjoyment of these five reads varied, with Thin Air getting five stars and Night Train getting a measly two. All of the books that I read are listed below. To read …

Review: ‘Night Train’ David Quantick

A woman wakes up, frightened and alone - with no idea where she is. She's in a room but it's shaking and jumping like it's alive. Stumbling through a door, she realizes she is in a train carriage. A carriage full of the dead. This is the Night Train. A bizarre ride on a terrifying …

Review: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Shirley Jackson

Alone in the world, Eleanor is delighted to take up Dr Montague's invitation to spend a summer in the mysterious Hill House. Joining them are Theodora, an artistic 'sensitive', and Luke, heir to the house. But what begins as a light-hearted experiment is swiftly proven to be a trip into their darkest nightmares, and an …

Review: ‘Monster, She Wrote’ Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

Meet the women writers who defied convention to craft some of literature’s strangest tales, from Frankenstein to The Haunting of Hill House and beyond.Frankenstein was just the beginning: horror stories and other weird fiction wouldn’t exist without the women who created it. From Gothic ghost stories to psychological horror to science fiction, women have been primary architects of speculative literature of …

A horror book club, anyone?

I've been debating for a couple of months whether or not to start up a horror book club. With everything going on right now, it would obviously be a virtual club, with online meet ups happening once a month (or even once every two months, depending on people's schedules and availability). A virtual club would …