When the Ending Changes Everything

Last month, I binged on all things – books, movies, TV shows - creepy. The results? I yelled at two terrible movies, spent enjoyable chunks of time with solid entertainment, and was blown away by one movie and one book. 

 

Hunter Hunter is my kind of movie: dark, disturbing, tense. I was uneasy the entire time I watched it, gaze riveted to the screen. Until the ending. It was so gory I had to look away over and over. And, yet, the ending absolutely fits the story so well that I can't call it gratuitous. It haunts me to this day. (I don't usually talk trigger warnings, but this ending is not for the faint of heart.)

 

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi is a horror novel for people who don't like horror. In fact, I'd call this more mystery with paranormal elements than anything else. It's atmospheric, creepy, heartbreaking and lovely. Though parts of it felt kind of slow, it still stayed a solid 4 stars for me. Until the ending. When I got there, I gasped then flipped back through the book, re-reading certain moments with fresh eyes. The ending added a whole other layer that had me in tears. It leaped to 5 stars and is easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

***** 

 

How was your October/Halloween? Anything you read/watched that you'd recommend? Are there any endings that haunt you from books/movies/TV shows? What's next for you in November?

Who Needs Sleep?

I love to read at night. You'll often find me curled up in a chair with a hot cup of tea, the house quiet, the blinds closed against the dark sky and all the slithering shadows. I'm also most likely reading something creepy, dark, scary. And while this absolutely goes against my cowardly, chicken-like nature, it gives me a delicious thrill that I refuse to give up.

So, when I came across this article - 11 Creepy Lines from Horror Books that are Honestly Terrifying - I couldn't read it fast enough. Here are some of my favorites:

"THERE WERE WORSE THINGS THAN CRUCIFIXION.

THERE WERE TEETH."

(The Stand by Stephen King)

"THE LAST MAN ON EARTH SAT ALONE IN A ROOM.

THERE WAS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR . . . "

(Knock by Frederic Brown)

"I HAVE NO MOUTH,  AND I MUST SCREAM."

(I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison)

Go ahead, read the whole article. But maybe wait until daylight. Or when you're not alone. Oh, you are alone? Um . . . then who or what (gulp!) is that creaking across the attic, right above your head . . . ?

*****

Do you enjoy reading at night? Are you a fan of creepy stories? Any favorites - books, TV shows, movies? Can you read/watch them before bed or is that just a nightmare waiting to happen? 

The Horror! The Horror!

The Plan: Buy this book - Frightlopedia: An Encyclopedia of Everything Scary, Creepy, and Spine-Chilling, from Arachnids to Zombies by Julie Winterbottom - for my nephew and niece for Halloween. They love to read, and they're pretty okay with scary things. Besides, each section in the book has a Fright Meter to gauge the scare-factor. 

What Actually Happened: Aunt Madeline decided she did not want to be responsible for terrifying her nephew and niece. (Adults, on the other hand, are fair game.) So, at great sacrifice to her own sanity, she read it instead and promptly freaked herself out.   

(To be fair, the kids might've been fine with it. It's just you never know what will trigger a nightmare, a fear, a phobia, especially when you're young. Take it from someone who was scared so badly by an innocent Popeye cartoon that she had bad dreams for a week.) 

All that being said, I really did enjoy the book. It's creepy, with photos that haunt me still, but it's also entertaining and informative. 

Did you know . . . about the waste water treatment center where scientists found 107 million spiders had woven a four acre web - the size of four soccer fields! - inside the building? 

Did you know . . . that claustrophobia is the fear of enclosed spaces, but cleithrophobia is the fear of being trapped? Check out these two real-life situations:

- A man got stuck in an elevator for two full days with nothing to eat but Rolaids.

- A woman got stuck in her bathroom for 20 days. She banged on the pipes, but neighbors thought the noise was construction. She lived on nothing but water.

And finally, a place I will NOT be going to on my next vacation:

Gomantong Caves is on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It houses two million bats. The cave floors are ten feet deep in guano, but you can't see any it because of all the cockroaches. Yep, a giant mass of cockroaches feasts on all that poop, along with the occasional bat that falls from the ceiling. And you can watch it all from the wooden walkway that will supposedly keep you safe from all but the errant cockroach and the three-inch-long centipedes that crawl along the handrail. 

Yeah, my sister should sooooo thank me for not sending this book.

*****

So, what scared you as a kid? What scares you now? Plan on taking a trip to those caves? If so, please don't bring me back a souvenir . . . . 

*****

(I talked about this book purely because I enjoyed it. I didn't receive any compensation, etc.)