"The Unsettled Dust" by Robert Aickman

Year of Publication:  1990

Length:  362 pages

Genre:  Horror, fantasy, short stories

During his lifetime English author Robert Aickman was probably best known as a conservationist, helping to set up the Inland Waterways Association to preserve canals in Britain, but after his death in 1981 at the age of 66, his reputation has grown as an author of unique skill.  The Unsettled Dust, which was published posthumously, contains eight of his forty eight horror stories (or "strange stories" as Aickman preferred to term them).  

In "The Unsettled Dust" a visitor to an old dust-shrouded English country house, finds something there even more sinister than the two creepy sisters who live there; in "The Houses of the Russians" a man recounts how he found a magical talisman on a forbidden island in Finland; in "No Stronger than a Flower" an unhappy woman undergoes bizarre changes after a visit to a sinister beautician; in "The Cicerones" a tourist comes to regret his visit to a remote Belgian church; in "The Next Glade" a woman is haunted by a strange man she meets at a party; in "Ravissante" a young artist has a disturbing experience when he visits the elderly widow of a famous painter; in "Bind Your Hair" a woman meets some strange new friends when she visits her boyfriend's family in their remote country village; and in "The Stains" a bereaved man falls in love with a strange young woman, and loses far more than his heart.

Robert Aickman wrote beautiful prose.  His stories are well crafted, with psychologically complex characters in a carefully described, mundane world, that become increasingly strange and disturbing, until the characters are trapped with no way out.  Even at the end of the stories, it's unclear whether it is really the end.  Often the darker elements in the stories are hinted at and are more ambiguous than explicit, and very little is actually explained.  The stories have a genuinely disquieting feel to them, and some of them are really genuinely scary.  Recommended for fans of intelligent supernatural horror.  

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Year of Release:  1984
Director:  Wes Craven
Screenplay:  Wes Craven
Starring:  Heather Langenkemp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
Running Time:  90 minutes
Genre:  Horror

 A group of teenage friends in a small American town find themselves pursued in their dreams by a horrifically burned figure armed with a glove which has razor-sharp blades attached to the fingers.  If they are killed in their dreams, they die in reality too.  As the friends are killed off one by one, the survivors have to stay awake long enough to figure out a way to fight their dreams.

This film is one of the most influential horror films of the 1980s and possibly one of the most influential horror movies of all time, introducing the iconic movie villain Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund), and spawning six direct sequels, a TV series (Freddy's Nightmares (1988-1990)), a crossover with the Friday the 13th franchise (Freddy vs. Jason (2003)) and a remake in 2010.  By and large the film sticks to the well-established slasher movie formula, but given a supernatural twist.  The death scenes are, by and large, imaginative and well-staged.  Another reason why the film works so well is the simple fact that everyone sleeps and dreams, and our dreams are always beyond our control, and it plays with the idea that is we are harmed in a dream we could be harmed in real-life as well (the idea that dying in a dream equals dying in real life is a very old one, and it used to be believed that this is why we wake up at the very last minute, a kind of psychological escape hatch so we don't snuff it in our sleep because we happened to have a midnight snack).  Writer-director Wes Craven was inspired by a series of disturbing real-lifer incidents from the 1970s where refugees from Southeast Asia refused to sleep after suffering terrifying nightmares, some of them subsequently died in their sleep.

The film creates a believably cluttered suburban setting, and is elevated by Craven's obvious affection for his teenage characters, who are played by a talented cast headed by Heather Langenkemp who gives a great performance mixing vulnerability and strength as the strong-minded Nancy, and a very young Johnny Depp as her boyfriend Glen.  Of course, the standout performance is Freddy Krueger who, coupled with his memorable appearance, gives Freddy a gleefully cruel wit, before the character became a pop culture joke.

This is one of the purely fun horror movies.  Full of shocks and scares and a few jokes, and nasty enough to raise a gasp, but not nasty enough to be too disturbing for non-horror fans.

Heather Langenkemp and Robert Englund in A Nightmare on Elm Street           

Lights Out

Year of Release:  2016
Director:  David F. Sandberg
Screenplay:  Eric Heisserer, based on the short film Lights Out by David F. Sandberg
Starring:  Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Maria Bello, Billy Burke
Running Time:  81 minutes
Genre:  Supernatural horror

Rebecca (Palmer) worries about her young half-brother Martin (Bateman), who lives alone with her estranged mother Sophie (Bello), who suffers from mental illness.   Rebecca soon finds out that martin and Sophie are both haunted by a powerful supernatural entity known as Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey) who only manifests in the dark, a being that Rebecca remembers from her own childhood, and that now seems to be coming after her.

Most good horror films tap into a primal fear, in this case fear of the dark, one of the most universal fears there are.  Starting out as an award winning three minute short film, this isn't a particularly good movie, it relies too much on the same scares, the characters aren't particularly well sketched out, there are few surprises and the entity and the rules by which it operates are shown too early on, which diminishes her effectiveness later on.  Having said this however, there are times when it does work, and some of the scares provide a real jolt, and as a whole there is enough entertainment to pass the time, particularly when they try and find ingenious ways to provide light.  The entity herself, a shadowy, spindly, clawed figure rising out of the darkness, is striking.

Gabriel Bateman and Teresa Palmer in Lights Out          

Blair Witch

Year:  2016
Director:  Adam Wingard
Screenplay:  Simon Barrett
Starring:  James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Valorie Curry, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson
Running Time:  89 minutes
Genre:  horror, supernatural

James Donohue (McCune) finds an online video which seemingly contains an image of his sister Heather, who disappeared twenty years previously in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while investigating the local legend of the Blair Witch.  Believing his sister may still be alive, James heads off into the woods, accompanied by his friends Peter (Scott), Ashley (Reid) and film student Lisa (Hernandez) who intends to film their search for a documentary.  They are joined by Burkittsville locals Lane (Robinson) and Talia (Curry) who uploaded the footage.  Before long a series of strange and frightening events befall them.  

This is the second sequel to the influential The Blair Witch Project (1999), following the unsuccessful Book of Shadows:  Blair Witch 2 (2000).  As with the original film, this is a "found footage" movie, where everything is allegedly filmed by the characters on screen.  While in the original this was novel and innovative, here it looks kind of tired, due to the flood of found footage films that unleashed themselves after the success of Blair Witch Project.  By and large this has the same basic structure as the original, except everything is bigger: instead of the original trio, here there are six people lost in the woods; whereas in the first film they had a couple of cameras, here they have an arsenal of DV cameras, spy cameras, ear-mounted headset cameras, and a drone.  Also, while the original film thrived on subtlety and ambiguity, there is nothing subtle here, with sudden jump scares, loud noises, crashing trees, and tents, equipment and people shooting into the sky and crashing back to earth.  This turns it into a fairly conventional horror film, also, unlike the original, you are left in no doubt that the threat is supernatural, and the Blair Witch feels thoroughly demystified by the end.  There are some tense scenes and some elements, such as the way time and space become distorted, are quite effective.  However, the characters are pretty much one dimensional and spend most of the time bickering or screaming.  The found footage style quickly becomes tiresome and frustrating, with the jerky, grainy images.

Valorie Curry runs afoul of the Blair Witch

          
  

"End of Watch" by Stephen King

Year of Publication:  2016
Length:  351 pages
Genre:  Crime, mystery, thriller, supernatural

This novel concludes the trilogy that began with Mr. Mercedes (2014) and continued with Finders Keepers (2015).  In this book, retired cop turned private detective Bill Hodges and his friend and associate Holly Gibney investigate an apparently simple murder/suicide case.  However there are odd details about the case.  It turns out to be simply the first in a series of suicides, all apparently connected by an outdated handheld games console, and all seemingly linked to serial killer Brady Hartsfield.  However, Hartsfield has been in a coma for the past six years, despite this there have been many reports of strange paranormal phenomenon surrounding him, and he seems to have some kind of malevolent influence over some of those treating him.  One thing is for sure, that Hartsfield is not nearly as dormant as he appears, and for Hodges time is running out, in more ways than one, when he learns that he has a terminal illness.

This is a real page-turning thriller and thoroughly entertaining.  Unlike the other books in the series, there is a strong supernatural element, which brings it closer to the more traditional Stephen King style, however this isn't really a horror novel.  Stephen King has always had a gift for depicting the details of the prosaic details of the real world, and making even minor characters feel real, as with the others in the series, this is a tightly written tale that moves well, and keeps the reader engaged.  The plot sometimes suffers from too many unlikely coincidences, but it's always enjoyable.  I would recommend that you read it after the other books in the series, particularly Mr. Mercedes because this is a direct sequel to that book.

As with quite a lot of Stephen King's recent work, a strong theme in the novel is ageing, and that, along with the theme of suicide that also runs through the trilogy, give the work an even darker, more melancholy hue than is usual for King.

 

Ghostbusters

Year of Release:  2016
Director:  Paul Feig
Screenplay:  Kate Dippold and Paul Feig, based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters by Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
Starring:  Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth
Running Time:  116 minutes
Genre:  Comedy, action, science-fiction, supernatural

This is probably the most controversial film of the year.  Ever since it was announced, it has fired up the more misogynist corners of the internet.  Every time there is a remake of a beloved film, and the 1984 Ghostbusters is seen as a modern classic, than there will be controversy, but there is an additionally ugly side to the hatred directed at this, because a lot of people are angry about the fact that the Ghostbusters are all women.

Dr. Erin Gilbert (Wiig) is a professor of physics at Columbia University and is hoping for tenure.  However, a book that she has co-authored with fellow scientist Dr. Abigail Yates (McCarthy) stating their belief in the supernatural, and which Gilbert has since tried as hard as possible to distance herself from, has reappeared on-line.   Gilbert approaches Yates, who is studying the paranormal at a technical college with eccentric engineer Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon).  After the trio witness a ghost for themselves, Erin excitedly affirms her belief in the supernatural on camera, and the clip is posted online, resulting in her getting fired.  Yates and Holtzmann are also fired when they ask their Dean for more money.  They decide to go into business for themselves  as paranormal investigators dubbed "Ghostbusters", alongside ex-subway worker Patty Tolan (Jones) and dim-witted receptionist Kevin (Hemsworth).  However as the number of paranormal occurrences in New York City increase, the Ghostbusters soon realise that something very bad and very powerful is being released.

This is a hugely entertaining film, and very funny, probably funnier than the 1984 original which, good as it is, really hasn't aged very well.  The film references the original frequently and many of the stars of the previous films appear in cameo roles, however it stands on it's own and is a very different film entirely.  The special effects are spectacular and the film is well acted with Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon being especial standouts.  Some of the pacing is a bit uneven and Kristin Wiig in particular, could do with more jokes.    

This is an important film because it is a mainstream action franchise with all-female leads that more than passes cartoonist Alison Bechdel's test for female representation.  It's great that this film is out there and I think that in thirty years time this may be seen by women with the affection that the original is seen by men.  

Some people have commented that since there is an all-female Ghostbusters there should be an all- male one.  Well, there are two already from 1984 and 1989.  Which are still readily available, for fans of the originals, fear not, the remake hasn't spirited them away.

       Who you gonna call?  Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones in Ghostbusters.

The Possession

Year:  2012
Director:  Ole Bornedal
Screenplay:  Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, based on the Los Angeles Times article "Jinx in a Box" by Leslie Gornstein
Starring:  Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Madison Davenport
Running Time:  91 minutes
Genre:  Horror, supernatural

This film is based on the allegedly true story of the so-called "Dybbuk box" which is an old wine-chest which is said to be haunted.  Basketball coach Clyde Brenek (Morgan) and jewellery designer Stephanie Brenek (Sedgwick) are in the process of getting divorced.  The couple have two young children, Em (Calis) and Hannah (Davenport).  During a weekend with their father, Em asks him to buy her a strangely carved wooden box.  That night she manages to open the box, with difficulty and finds that it is full of strange old objects.  Before long Em starts hearing voices and manifesting disturbing changes in personality and violent behaviour, as well as bizarre supernatural phenomenon.  Clyde soon becomes convinced that there is a force in the box that is trying to take control of his daughter.

This is a decent slice of supernatural possession horror.  There isn't much here that will surprise fans of the genre, and the film is very obviously influenced by The Exorcist (1973) but there are a few good jolts and the film creates a creepy, downbeat atmosphere, anchoring the supernatural events among the all too real horrors of divorce.  It also manages to be fairly subtle for the most part which makes it all the more effective.  The performances are good throughout, particularly from Natasha Calis as the tormented Em.  While, as I said, there is nothing particularly new here there is still enough to make it worth watching, just don't expect anything spectacularly amazing.

What's in the box?  Natasha Calis in The Possession      

The Woman in Black

Year:  2012
Director:  James Watkins
Screenplay:  Jane Goldman, based on the novel The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Starring:  Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey, Misha Handley, Liz White,
Running Time:  95 minutes
Genre:  Horror, thriller, supernatural

This film is basically a good old-fashioned ghost story.  Based on a 1983 novel by Susan Hill, which has already been adapted as a long-running stage play, a made-for-television movie and two radio plays, the story is set in England, sometime at the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, and tells the story of young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who has a four year old son, Joseph (Handley), and is still grieving for his wife Stella (Stuckey), who died in childbirth.  Arthur's firm sends him to a remote village called Crythin Gifford to handle the estate of Alice Drablow, who owned a nearby manor house called Eel Marsh House.  The locals are very unwelcoming, but Arthur does beforend wealthy landowner Sam Daily (Hinds) and his wife, Elizabeth (McTeer).  At the cluttered, decaying mansion, Arthur soon finds himself haunted by the ghostly figure of a woman clad head to to in black.  He also quickly discovers that whoever sees the Woman in Black summons a dreadful curse.

This genuinely creepy film relies on chills rather than shocks to scare it's audience.  There is no real blood or gore here, but the film has a powerfully oppressive doom-laden atmosphere, with washed out colour and the bleak, featureless countryside where it's set.  It also features a superb performance from Daniel Radcliffe as the grief-stricken young lawyer, who hints at rivers of pain beneath his straight-laced, quiet exterior.  The rest of the cast are good, but don't really get much of a chance to register as this is very much Radcliffe's show, with the film focusing entirely on his character.  The story sticks fairly closely to the traditional ghost story and the script effectively builds up the atmosphere.  The whole thing is played very seriously and is all the better for it.  It deals with some very serious subjects aside from the supernatural elements.  Ultimately the theme of the movie is grief and how it can dominate or destroy people's lives.  Sticking to the traditional spook story formula does mean that there is little that will really surprise fans of the genre, and, despite being admirably restrained for the most part, the film-maker's can't resist a few over the top CGI moments.  Also some viewers may be put off by the film's slow-burning, chilly approach and lack of conventional horror movie shocks.  However, this is a welcome example of traditional ghostly chills and might provide a few restless nights.

                                       Daniel Radcliffe in The Woman in Black
 

Demons 2

Year:  1987
Director:  Lamberto Bava
Screenplay:  Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Franco Ferrini, from a story by Dardano Sacchetti
Starring:  David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Asia Argento
Running Time:  91 minutes
Genre:  Horror, supernatural, zombies

In the original Demons film, the audience at a preview screening of a horror movie are attacked by toothy monsters.  This time round, the events are set largely within the confines of a luxury high-rise apartment complex in an unnamed German city over the course of a single night.  As the residents prepare for their various evening activities, a horror movie plays on TV, apparently set in the aftermath of the original film, about a group of dim-witted teenagers investigating a walled off section of the city for remnants of "demons" (kind of zombie-like creatures), and accidentally reanimate one.  The reanimated creature then literally emerges from the TV set of spolit rich birthday girl Sally (Cataldi-Tassoni), and attacks her.  Of course anyone who is injured by a demon in any way, sooner or later becomes one themselves.  Sally turns all of her party guests into blood-crazed zombies, and they soon turn their attention to killing or infecting the rest of the building's population.

The film was co-written and produced by horror legend Dario Argento and features his then ten year old daughter, Asia Argento (who has since gone on to become an acclaimed actress and director), in her film debut.  The movie starts off well, but falls apart once the demons are really on the rampage, when it basically becomes a typical zombie monster mash full of increasingly shoddy special effects.  The film within a film provides an interesting dimension but it's not really explored, and becomes one of  a number of sub-plots which are raised only to be completely forgotten.  The acting is pretty dire (although this is an Italian film, and it is fairly obvious at least in the version that I saw, that most of the dialogue was dubbed - badly - into English) throughout and the film lacks any real conclusion, it is also full of plot holes large enough for you to throw a flesh eating zombie demon through.  Also the zombies with their green faces, bad teeth, long fingernails and wildly bulging, glowing eyes (who can not only run but turn somersaults) are more funny than anything, and when a more conventional demonic creature bursts out of someone's chest, it looks more like the puppet monster sidekick from a kid's TV show. 

However the film does have it's plus points.  There are plenty of creepy moments, when the characters are picking their way through the deserted, ruined apartments, and the opening, with it's slow character development is strong.  The soundtrack, which features mainly British New Wave bands such as The Smiths and The Cult, is good (although sometimes the pounding music coupled with the frequent billowing smoke and backlighting makes the film look like a music video).  Also the sequence where the demon initially emerges from the television set, which seems to be a homage to the David Cronenberg film Videodrome (1983), is very effective with some good special effects.  Speaking of David Cronenberg, the film with it's high-rise setting is reminiscent of Cronenberg's Shivers (1976).   

Full of unintentional humour and buckets of gloopy gore there is some fun to be had with this film, but there is plenty of better stuff out there.  It's probably best viewed late at night, when you've got your friends around, and you're all drunk and fancy a bad, gruesome movie to laugh at.



        

Revealed:  What TV show hosts look like without their make-up in Demons 2

Paranormal Activity 3

Year:  2010
Directors:  Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost
Screenplay:  Christopher D. Landon
Starring:  Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden
Running Time:  84 minutes
Genre:  Horror, supernatural, mockumentary

This movie has already broken records.  It holds records for the highest ever midnight opening for a film ($8 million), the best opening day for a horror movie in the United States ($26.2 million) and the highest opening for any film in October.

Essentially it is a prequel to the two previous Paranormal Activity films.  It opens in 2005 with the discovery of a box of videotapes.  The rest of the movie consists, allegedly, of the footage on the tapes.  In 1988, Dennis (Smith) decides to set up video cameras to record the strange events occuring in the house he shares with his girlfriend, Julie (Bittner) and Julie's two young daughters, Katie (Csengery) and Kristie (Brown).  The events appear to centre on the two girls, in particular Kristie who holds long conversations with her invisible friend "Tony".  Over the subsequent nights the severity of the events quickly escalate and Dennis comes to realise that he and his family are in serious danger.

The set up of the scares in the Paranormal Activity movies mostly consist of long periods of silence and inactivity as the cameras record the characters sleeping, and then a sudden SHOCK as a door SLAMS SHUT or something FALLS or is THROWN.  It is very simple, but it is quite effective, because it is startling to have a sudden loud noise after a long period of total silence.  This is of course a trick that horror film-makers have known for years.  The cameras are set up in a way to give the widest possible field of vision, so I found myself scanning the image constantly on edge for something to happen.  it is the fact that you are constantly expecting something.  The horror events when they do come are quite subtle, for example a figure draped in a white sheet appears behind the babysitter late at night.  You might think it's one of the two girls.  Suddenly the sheet falls to the floor, as if whatever was inside it has vanished into thin air. 

These "fake documentary" films really divide audiences, because a lot of people find them terrifying, whereas a lot of others don't find them scary at all.  I think if they are done well they can be very effective.  Personally I quite enjoyed Paranormal Activity 3, and there were a couple of really effective scares.  One sequence in particular drew a lot of gasps and screams from the audience I saw it with, which very rarely happens with horror movies.  However, it does suffer from a few long patches of dullness.  Also there is not much of a story here and what there is is hardly original.  However, there are just enough jolts to make it worthwhile checking out. 

Sleepless nights in Paranormal Activity 3                

Wake Wood

Year: 2009
Director: David Keating
Screenplay: David Keating and Brendan McCarthy, from a story by Brendan McCarthy
Starring: Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle, Timothy Spall, Ella Connolly, Peggy O'Shea
Running Time: 90 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural

This movie has the distinction of being the first home-grown feature film from legendary horror studio Hammer in thirty years since they, as in most of their best known films, rose from the grave.
Set in Ireland, the story revolves around grieving couple, Patrick (Gillen) and Louise (Birthistle), who move to the small town of Wakewood to get over the tragic death of their young daughter Alice (Connolly), who was killed by a dog. While Patrick works as the local vet and Louise gets a job in the village pharmacy, they learn about a pagan ritual performed in the village that could bring Alice back from the dead. However, if they agree to the ritual none of them will ever be able to leave the village, and Alice will only be resurrected for three days. You don't need me to tell you that it all goes badly and gruesomely wrong.

This is often a genuinely disturbing and eerie horror movie. The basic theme is disturbing enough, but the film also creates a powerful sense of disquiet through the sombre and sedate pace. It also features many evocative and beautifully shot images of the Irish countryside which really put the movie into the sub-genre that Mark Gatiss referred to as "folk horror", in which the horror arises from the British (or, in this case, Irish) countryside and the old traditions of the inhabitants. The movie deals with some very heavy themes of love, loss and death.

However the film doesn't neglect the gore fans and pretty much ladels on the blood and guts, particularly in the final half where it moves from a dark exploration of love and grief into full-blown supernatural gross-out horror. It also suffers from the irritating but seemingly inevitable horror movie habit of referencing other movies (in particular Pet Sematary (1989), The Wicker Man (1973) and Don't Look Now (1973)).

The film features some great performances especially from Aidan Gillen (who is probably best known as sleazy politician Carcetti in The Wire (2002-2008)) and Eva Birthistle as the tormented couple. They get good support from the always reliable Timothy Spall as the creepy head of the village.

While some might be put off by the unrelentingly bleak tone and gore, this is a powerful and atmospheric horror movie which, while it doesn't really deliver any big scares, is creepy and atmospheric enough and lingers in the mind after the credits have rolled.

Although, to be honest, how many variations on the "creepy small town with a dark secret" theme can horror movie makers and writers come up with?



Eva Birthistle, Ella Connolly, Aidan Gillen in Wake Wood

"Harbour" by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Year of Publication: 2008
Number of Pages: 650 pages
Genre: Horror, supernatural, drama

Summary: Every year Anders and his wife Cecilia and six year old daughter Maja go on holiday to the island of Dommaro off the coast of Sweden, where Anders and Cecilia spent summers as children. However tragedy strikes when Maja vanishes in plain sight and in broad daylight. No trace of her is found and there is nowhere she could have fallen or hidden, it is simply as if she disappeared.
Two years later, Anders' life has fallen apart. Divorced from his wife and drinking heavily, he is lost in guilt and self-pity. Finally realising that he has hit rock bottom, he returns to Dommaro where his grandfather Simon, a one-time magician, still lives.
Returning to his old holiday home, Anders attempts to find out once and for all what happened to his daughter. However, he quickly comes to believe that Maja's still there and trying to communicate with him. However, Dommaro, which has a long and disturbing history of strange occurances and disappearances, is plagued by bizarre happenings as malevolent ghostly figures cruise around on mopeds, mysterious acts of arson flare up all over the island, and the residents begin to act in increasingly strange and violent ways.
Anders and Simon soon find themselves pitted against a powerful and ancient force lurking in the waters around the island. A force which demands sacrifice.

Summary: This is the third novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist to be translated into English following Let the Right One In (2004) and Handling the Undead (2006). After dealing with vampires and zombies in his previous works, Lindqvist here deals with old superstitions and traditions dealing with the sea, as well as ghosts and spirits.
The main narrative of the book covers a number of weeks but is full of flashbacks, and digressions. It has a pretty epic scope and covers a large number of events and characters. The main flaw with the novel is that not all of the digressions and sub plots work and some of it take away from the pace of the novel. Mostly however it works well and the novel is a tense and at times genuinely chilling piece of work. Many of Lindqvist's characters and events are pretty memorable, with the ghosts riding mopeds and talking in quotes from The Smiths being a special standout (Lindqvist himself is a huge Morrissey fan).
Lindqvist has been described as "the Swedish Stephen King" which isn't really very fair, because his style and plots are very much his own. What he does share with King though is a real feel for the rhythms of daily life and an understanding of character.
Delivering traditional gothic horror thrills, with a uniquely contemporary Scandinavian flavour, Lindqvist is one of the most important new writers to emerge in the field of horror in the past decade and is well worth checking out, if you haven't already.

The Amityville Horror

Year: 1979
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Screenplay: Sandor Stern, based on the book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
Starring: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton
Running Time: 117 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural

Summary: Amityville, Long Island, 1974: A young man brutally kills his parents and his siblings in a large house by the river.
A year later, George Lutz (Brolin) and his new wife Kathy (Kidder) buy the house, attracted by the low price. They move in with Kathy's three children and start trying to settle down, however they soon become plagued by a variety of bizarre occurances: An upstairs room is infested with flies, black goo oozes out of the toilets, objects mysteriously go missing, certain people become nauseous or overcome with fear in the house or even when they get near it, the family dog is forever scratching at a certain patch of wall in the basement, glowing eyes are seen from the windows in the middle of the night, the youngest daughter (Natasha Ryan) makes an imaginary friend who may be real, and George starts to undergo disturbing changes in personality.
After a disturbing experience in the house, the Lutz family priest Father Delaney (Steiger), becomes convinced that there are demonic forces at work in the house.

Opinions: This film was based on a best-selling horror novel by Jay Anson which detailed the allegedly real-life experiences of a family living in a haunted house. The book's claims to be factual made it very controversial in it's day, and the debate is still ongoing.
Whether or not the film is based on real events isn't really the issue, however. The movie is a fairly turgid spook house ride which goes through all the motions of a traditional haunted house story. The film is badly paced and full of stretches where nothing really happens. In the last half hour or so there is some tension generated, but it's all gone by the frankly ridiculous ending. It never really strikes to life and never manages to generate either scares or any real excitement. On the plus side James Brolin and Margot Kidder both turn in very good performances and when the film does work it is generally down to them. Rod Steiger carbes out massive slices of ham for himself overacting so wildly as the family priest that you can almost see the teethmarks in the scenery.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of the film is the emphasis on the financial consequences of the ghostly goings-on. Stephen King, who discusses the film at length in his 1982 non-fiction book Danse Macabre suggests that part of the reason for the enormous success of the film was the way it tapped into very real economic concerns of the time. I certainly think that he has a point with that. The characters frequently discuss money and business, and in one scene Kathy's brother, who looks all of about 15, is getting married and they lose a large sum of money which they need to pay the caterer's and George practically goes beserk trying to find it, practically tearing the room apart and screaming. As he puts it early in the film "this house'll nickel-and-dime us to death".
At it's core though it is a very traditional haunted house story which could, with very few changes to the plot, be a campfire ghost story, and the Amityville hauntings have already entered modern American folklore. Whatever the reason, for all it's flaws, the film was one of the biggest box office hits of 1979 and spawned to dateseven sequels, and itself was remade in 2005.


"I am not some pink-cheeked seminarian who doesn't know the difference between the supernatural and a bad clam! I am a trained psychotherpaist! I wnet into that house and what I saw there was real, what I felt there was real and what I heard there was real! Now, gentlemen, I have a family in my parish that's at great risk! They're facing real danger."
- Father Delaney (Rod Steiger) staes his case in The Amityville Horror




James Brolin and Margot Kidder in The Amityville Horror

Stormhouse

Year: 2011
Director: Dan Turner
Screenplay: Jason Arnopp, from a story by Dan Turner and Jason Arnopp
Starring: Katherine Flynn, Grant Masters, Patrick Flynn, Grahame Fox, Munir Khairdin, Martin Delaney, James Capel
Running Time: 88 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural, military

Summary: Stormhouse Military Base, England. May 2002: The British Army invoke and imprison a supernatural entity. Several months later, New York psychic and "ghost whisperer" Hayley Sands (Katherine Flynn) is brought to Stormhouse to try to contact the entity. However she finds that the base is running at a skeleton staff and the pressures of controlling the entity are starting to show on the soldiers and scientists working there. Hayley soon discovers that the entity, though contained, is very active and extremely dangerous and will stop at nothing to free itself and take revenge against those who captured it. At the same time, hard-nosed Major Anthony Lester (Masters) has his own plans for the entity.

Opinions: This low-budget British horror movie opens with a title card claiming that it was "inspired by true events". According to the director, the film was inspired by the rumours and folklore surrounding the old military base where the film was shot. The film is set almost entirely in the dimly lit, claustrophobic environment of the base. The fact that the nature of the entity itself isn't explicitly revealed on-screen works pretty well since the characters are never sure exactly where the thing is or what it is doing, until it strikes out. The tensions of life on the base are well-depicted and the rigours of military life add to the claustrophobic tension. However the military characters aren't explored very much, and another problem is that the film is frequently shot so darkly that it can be difficult to make out what is going on in places.
The film has a slow, deliberate build-up and for the most part keeps itself fairly low-key, coming across initially as almost a military version of Paranormal Activity (2002), with the amount of quiet surveillance camera footage and sudden loud noises after long periods of silence. However the low-key approach is put aside in the blood-drenched climax.
It's worth checking out for horror fans. It plays with a straight face and provides plenty of shocks and tension.



Katherine Flynn enters Stormhouse

Inferno

Year: 1989
Director: Dario Argento
Screenplay: Dario Argento
Starring: Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Sacha Pitoeff, Alida Valli, Veronica Lazar
Running Time: 107 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural

Summary: New York City: poet Rose Elliot (Miracle) is fascinated by a book called The Three Mothers by alchemist and architect Varelli. Varelli's book tells of three evil forces living in three houses in three different countries: Mater Suspiriorum (the Mother of Sighs) lives in Germany, Mater Lachrymarum (the Mother of Tears) lives in Italy and Mater Tenebrarum (the Mother of Darkness) lives in the USA. Rose becomes convinced that the old building she is living in is the home of Mater Tenebrarum.
She writes a letter to her brother Mark, a music student living in Rome. Mark's friend, Sarah (Giorgi) becomes fascinated by Rose's letter and decides to investigate the book The Three Mothers for herself. A decision she very quickly regrets.
Mark travels to New York and discovers that his sister has gone missing. As he investigates her disappearance he soon learns that the legend of the Three Mothers is far more than just a legend.

Opinions: This film was concieved as the middle part of a trilogy about the "Three Mothers", the first part was Suspiria (1977) and the trilogy concludes with Mother of Tears (2007), although Argento has stated that he has not ruled out making a fourth film in the series. The idea of the Three Mothers comes from a piece called "Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow" from a book called Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey, published in 1845.
As with Suspiria this film is more of a fairy tale for adults. It has a striking visual style, with swooping, mobile camera movements, bizarre angles and luridly coloured lighting. It also features many of Argento's trademark elaborately choreographed and gruesomely violent set-pieces. The production design is very impressive with the interiors of the old New York building a mix of bright red and gold walls and polished black wood. Despite being filmed mostly on studio sets in Rome, there are some location scenes filmed in New York.
The sheer strangeness of the film's look and frequent sudden bursts of violence and gore, along with the loud score which combines weird electronic music from Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame) with music from a Guiseppe Verdi opera, makes for a very disconcerting experience and for the most part the film is genuinely scary, particularly if you are frightened at all of either cats or rats. It certainly delivers plenty of shocks. Some scenes are also genuinely beautiful, for example during a memorable underwater sequence featuring Irene Miracle ina submerged ballroom.
The movie suffers from stilted performances at times, in particular from Leigh McCloskey, and sometimes the special effects aren't equal to Argento's ambition. As with many other Argento films, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then that doesn't really matter. It's not about the story, it's about the mood conjured up by sounds and images.
The film was shot under difficult circumstances. Daria Nicolodi came up with the basic story, but decided not to seek credit due to her miserable experience trying to get a writing credit for Suspiria. Argento was severely ill most of the time they were filming. Also the film was made for the major Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox who were so unhappy with the finished film that they did not release it in the USA until 1985, five years after it was made, and then direct to video. It did have a limited theatrical release in the US the following year though.
In recent years, though the film has been reassessed and has become something of a cult classic. In 2005 Britain's Total Film listed it as 35 in their list of the 50 greatest horror films of all time.
This is a startling and nightmarish movie that is definitely worth checking out.



Sacha Pitoeff and Irene Miracle in Inferno

Book of Blood

Year: 2008
Director: John Harrison
Screenplay: John Harrison and Darin Silverman, based on the short stories "The Book of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street" by Clive Barker
Starring: Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward, Paul Blair, Clive Russell
Running Time: 100 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural, drama

Summary: Mary Florescu (Ward) is an American parapsychology professor who is teaching in Edinburgh, Scotland. A highly successful author of non-fiction books on the paranormal, her great ambition is to uncover evidence for the existence of the supernatural. She learns about a house which has a history of violent, and apparently supernatural, deaths, with the worst disturbances happening in an upstairs bedroom. Mary enlists the help of a mysterious student, Simon McNeal (Armstrong), who claims to be psychic and who Mary believes has genuine psychic ability, added to that is the fact that she is instantly attracted to him. With the help of her pragmatic assistant, Reg Fuller (Blair), Mary installs Simon in the upstairs bedroom and sets up a battery of monitoring equipment in the rest of the house. While Mary believes in Simon, Reg is convinced that he is a fraud. However it soon becomes obvious that there is something very powerful in the house, a place where the highways of the dead have an intersection, and they do not take kindly to being mocked. Before long the experiment spirals violently out of control.

Opinions: The two stories which were adapted for this low-budget film make up a framing narrative for the Books of Blood, a six volume short story collection by Clive Barker, which were published between 1984 and 1986. This is the sixth of seven films to date to be based on stories from Books of Blood (the others being Rawhead Rex (1986), Candyman (1992), Lord of Illusions (1995), Quicksilver Highway (1997), The Midnight Meat Train (2008) and Dread (2009)). The movie, which is also known as Clive Barker's Book of Blood, follows the plot of the stories fairly closely. The problem is that while the two stories work well on the page and make for a fine frame narrative for an anthology, there is not enough to them to work as a self-contained feature. The film adds a lot to the plot, most notably a romance between Mary and Simon, but it still feels stretched out. Another problem is a prologue which pretty much reveals key details about the end of the film.
Shot in muted colour, the film makes good use of it's gloomy, atmospheric locations (it was filmed in Edinburgh and Glasgow). Even if in a couple of places it's so murky it's hard to see whats happening. The acting is at best enthusiastic, with English actress Sophie Ward (best known for her role in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)) playing an American character whose accent keeps drifting back and forth across the Atlantic. Jonas Armstrong (best known as the lead in the BBC television series Robin Hood (2006-2009)) tries hard with an underwritten role, but doesn't manage to make Simon either a likeable or sympathetic character. However Clive Russell makes the most of a small role.
The special effects, which are mostly computer-generated, range from the good to the truly terrible. Although there are some good make-up effects, and gore fans should be satisfied with the amount of blood in the film.
The film has a few really effective moments, and a few good shocks, but not enough and it never manages to be particularly scary. The film is very slow-moving, again the problem of trying to pad out two slim short stories to a feature length film. Clive Barker fans are likely to be disappointed.



Sophie Ward in Book of Blood

Poltergeist

Year: 1982
Director: Tobe Hooper
Screenplay: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor, from a story by Steven Spielberg
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O'Rourke, Martin Casella, Richard Lawson, Zelda Rubinstein
Running Time: 114 minutes
Genre: Horror, supernatural

Summary: The Freeling family, estate agent Steve (Nelson) his homemaker wife Diane (Williams) and their children sixteen year old Dana (Dunne), eight year old Robbie (Robins) and five year old Carole-Anne (O'Rourke), live in a bland quiet California suburb where kids play with remote control cars on the streets, guys have their friends round to drink beer and watch the game, family breakfasts resemble a warzone and the parents indulge in a nice relaxing toke of weed when the kids are in bed.
However, Carole-Anne seems preoccupied by the ghostly "TV People" which only she can see and hear in the static of the family's television sets. Eventually the seemingly benevolent ghosts emerge from the TV set and enter the structure of the house. However one night, during a thunder storm, Robbie is attacked by the strange old tree in the front lawn and the ghosts snatch Carole-Anne, taking her through a portal in her closet. However, her family can still hear Carole-Anne's echoing voice through the static of their TV set.
With the family constantly plagued by a barrage of supernatural forces they become increasingly desperate in their attempts to save their daughter and put an end to the strange events.

Opinions: This movie is credited as being directed by Tobe Hooper (best known as the director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)) however it is widely believed that the film's co-writer and co-producer Steven Spielberg also acted as co-director. Over the years members of the film's cast and crew have claimed different things as to how much of the film, if any, was directed by Spielberg and how much was Hooper's. Whatever the truth of the matter, this is a Steven Spielberg film. Everything about it has his stamp: The cluttered seemingly safe suburban environment, the mix of sentiment and horror, the sense of playfulness with the thrills, the otherworldly forces being viewed with a genuine sense of wonder as well as fear and also the John Williams score. In fact the film could be seen as a darker companion piece to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), another Steven Spielberg film about an otherworldly visitor encountering a suburban family, however while the alien in E.T. is friendly, the ghosts in Poltergeist most definitely aren't. In fact the two films were released a week apart in June 1982.
This is horror as a ghost-train ride. It's fun, there's intentional humour, there are plenty of thrills. The special effects are good and it's scary enough for the duration of the movie, but it's unlikely to prey on anyone's mind much once the credits have rolled. Also, although there is some gore, things never get too nasty (presumably due to Spielberg's influence). In fact, possibly the most Tobe Hooper sequence is the one where rotting cadavers and skeletons pop up out of the ground.
The film's storyline bears some slight similarity to a 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone called "Little Girl Lost" written by Richard Matheson, about a young girl who slips into another dimension and, in her house, her parents can hear her calling, but can't find her.
Part of why the film is effective is the fact that the long opening passage, before the supernatural elements kick in, while a little too cutesy, does establish the background and the family dynamic. The film was a huge success, and in my opinion part of the success was due, as with Stephen King novels, to the fact that the horror elements were moved to an instantly relateable and recognisable world. Instead of a creepy, decaying old mansion, the haunted house here was an ordinary non-descript suburban family home in a new, pleasantly dull housing development.
The film has become notorious for being supposedly cursed after several cast members of this film and it's two sequels, including Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke, met untimely deaths. Some have attributed the curse to the fact that real skeletons were used in a scene. Of course it is all more likely to be just a tragic coincidence.
Howeverm the film remains an enjoyable and entertaining chill ride for fans and non-horror fans alike.



Zelda Rubinstein prepares to face a nasty Poltergeist

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits

Written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by William Simpson, Mark Pennington, Tom Sutton, Malcolm Jones III
Year of Publication: 1996, first published monthly as John Constantine, Hellblazer issues 41-46 in 1991
Number of Pages: 160 pages
Genre: Graphic novel, horror, supernatural

Summary: Working-class sorcerer John Constantine is dying. However it is not due to mystical forces, demons or other supernatural enemies, instead it's because of Constantine's habit of smoking thirty cigarettes a day, which has given him terminal lung cancer. Constantine is determined not to die, especially since he has tricked the Devil himself once too often, and who now can't wait to get hold of Constantine and exact revenge for the rest of eternity. Rapidly running out of time and options, Constantine has to play the most dangerous game there is with the highest stakes there are.

Opinions: This book is a powerful and often moving piece. Outside of the supernatural horror elements, it deals with the cynical and guilt-ridden John Constantine coming to terms with his life and death. The writing is intelligent and often darkly humorous, and complemented by impressive artwork. The book's main skill is that it manages to imbue a storyline which could seem cliched or like a bad TV movie with genuine heart and compassion. One of the things that is so good about the Hellblazer series is it's realism which makes the supernatural elements all the more effective. In all of the darkness and horror, the book celebrates life, and the simple joys of friendship and life itself. However it is still Hellblazer and as such features plenty of gruesome monsters and gore.
The Dangerous Habits storyline was one of the main sources for 2005 film Constantine, the movie adaptation of Hellblazer.

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Original Sins

Written by: Jamie Delano, illustrated by John Ridgway and Alfredo Alcala
Year of Publication: 1992, first published monthly as John Constantine, Hellblazer issues 1-9 in 1988
Number of Pages: 256 pages
Genre: Graphic novel, horror, supernatural

Summary: John Constantine is at first glance an ordinary working-class Englishman from Liverpool. However he is a powerful magician and exists in a shadowy world of black magic, demonic forces and the ghosts of old friends and lovers. Here Constantine finds himself pitted against a grotesque hunger demon bent on consuming the inhabitants of New York, yuppies from Hell who are buying and selling with human souls as currancy, Vietnam ghosts attacking the inhabitants of a small town in America, and sinister religious cults at the vanguard of a catastrophic war between the forces of Heaven and Hell. Through it all only Constantine can save the world, providing he's stocked up on cigarettes and can get down to the pub before it shuts.

Opinions: John Constantine was originally created by Alan Moore in 1985 in the ground-breaking The Saga of the Swamp Thing comic-book series. The Swamp Thing itself, by the way, has a brief cameo in this book. Constantine came about because the artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, who were both fans of the rock group The Police, approached Moore with the desire a character who looked like Sting. In 1988 Constantine made his debut in his own monthly comic-book John Constantine, Hellblazer which has been published continuously since. Incidentally, the title was originally going to be Hellraiser but was changed to avoid confusion with the 1987 Clive Barker film of the same name.
This book contains the first nine issues of Hellblazer. The book mostly consists of one or two part stories but soon introduces an overall story arch linking them. This is as good an introduction to the Hellblazer universe as anything, although one of the advantages of the comic series is that it is very accessible to newcomers. The series belongs to the genre of urban horror. It takes place in a recognisable time and place, and deals with a lot of the real world political and social problems. It was orginally published in the late 1980s and there is a lot about life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain. Constantine himself is a very morally ambiguous character. Essentially a good person, with a conscience, he tries to do the right thing but is severely flawed and is not averse to using his friends and lovers even if it costs them their lives, and lives with horrible guilt because of it. He is also cowardly and something of a con-man.
The stories are well written and witty and complemented by some decent artwork.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Year: 1994
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenplay: Anne Rice, based on her novel Interview with the Vampire
Starring: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, Stephen Rea
Running Time: 122 minutes
Genre: Horror, drama, epic, supernatural

Summary: San Francisco, present day: Malloy (Slater) conducts an interview with Louis (Pitt), who claims to be a vampire. Louis narrates the story of his existence as one of the Undead, beginning in Louisiana, 1791, when, suicidal after the death of his wife in childbirth, Louis is attacked by a powerful vampire, Lestat (Cruise). Lestat teaches Louis how to survive and hunt for blood, while the conscience-stricken Louis turns to feeding on animals in order prevent having to take human life. Fearing that Louis will leave him, Lestat turns a young orphaned girl, Claudia (Dunst), into a vampire, believing that their new "daughter" will encourage him to stay. However, as time passes, resentments between the three grow stronger, with Claudia in particular growing to hate Lestat for trapping her eternally in the body of a child, while Louis becomes pre-occupied by the search for other vampires that might explain their condition.

Opinions: This film is one of the most visually lavish horror films ever made. A full-blown gothic film it revels in the sumptiousness and decay of 18th and 19th Century New Orleans and Paris. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series of books, which currently totals ten novels in the main sequence and two in the linked but sepearate New Tales of the Vampires series, have been bestsellers worldwide, and the novel Interview With the Vampire, first published in 1976, was the first in the series. The film mostly follows the book very closely, and manages to eep the novel's strong homoerotic undertones largely intact.
Initially Anne Rice was very vocal in her objection to Tom Cruise playing Lestat (claiming that he was "no more my vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler"). Her choice for the role was Julian Sands, but the studios wanted a bigger star for the role. After seeing the film, however, she was happy with Cruise's performance, and apparently wrote him a letter of apology. The original choice to play the interviewer, whose name is never mentioned on screen but who is referred to in the credits and in the books as Malloy, was River Phoenix who tragically died four weeks before filming began. Christian Slater, who replaced Phoenix, donated his fee for the film to Phoenix's favourite charities, and there is a dedication to Phoenix at the end of the film. Brad Pitt has the lead role of the tortured Louis and although he never manages to convey Louis constant inner torment, he is suitably melancholy throughout (apparently he hated making the film). The big revelation in the film is Kirsten Dunst, who was twelve years old when the film came out, as the vampire child Claudia. She gives a great performance with a difficult role of a character who, while physically a child has the mind and feelings of an adult.
The movie is slickly directed and has enormous style. The thing is that while it is beautiful to look at and has plenty of gory thrills it is rarely particularly scary. it also moves at a fairly sedate pace. However it is powerful and involving enough to keep the interest of viewers, and not just horror fans. It also has a strong seam of welcome humour.
The film, in keeping with the book, depicts the vampires as dangerous but also glamorous and seductive and not necessarily evil. The main conflict in the story is Louis reluctance to feed on and kill humans versus Lestat's whole-hearted embrace of the vampire state. The Vampire Chronicles really popularised the concept of the darkly romantic, ambiguous and tormented vampires which have become so familiar from Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series and Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries (which were the basis for the TV series True Blood).



Kirsten Dunst, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire