A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

I read Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time several years ago and really enjoyed it, so I really have no grounds for why it took me so long to come back and read his next novel, A Spot of Bother. He has such a nice voice for for his characters - they are comedic and human and frail all at the same time. They are people you think you could know.

In A Spot of Bother, George Hall is nicely settled in to his retirement. He's working around the house, nice and quiet, when one day he finds a nasty looking spot on his hip, his daughter Katie decides to marry the wholly inappropriate Ray, and all hell breaks loose. George is convinced he has cancer and is dying, Katie starts to doubt her relationship with Ray, son Jamie, the responsible one, ends up ruining his relationship, and everyone slowly starts to fall apart all while the mother of the family tries to plan the perfect wedding in the garden. It's a comedy of errors, with George trying to hide from the inevitable in bushes and hotel rooms, Katie trying to mend or not mend her relationship with Ray, and Jamie try to decide who he is after all of these years.

I really don't know how to do the book justice. It's funny and sad, truthful and joyous in all of those ways that families can be but in an entirely British sort of way. It's Teas and Tescos. It's like you see your own crazy family in the Halls every step of the way as they fall apart and find themselves joined as a tight family unit somehow in the end in a way you hoped for but didn't really expect. Sort of like you do when the life you planned isn't how you ended up, but you are all the more complete because of it.

You should try one of Mark Haddon's books and see how you like it. He's refreshing, a voice of craziness and sanity all in one shiny package, and an author who is able to show you the not so nice sides of humanity without removing the humanity, if you follow. I need to add his next books to my wish list. I don't think I will wait as long to read them this time.

 Rating: 4 Purrs for a delightful, easy read that made me think a lot about how to cope with realities without trying to make the rest of my days by hiding in bushes. Here's to crazy families!

The House at the End of the Street

 If you know me at all, you know that I will watch just about any horror movie there is. When I saw that Jennifer Lawrence and Elizabeth Shue were in The House at the End of the Street, well, I figured, sure. Why not? JudoMaster is out of town so let's go see a scary movie! I don't care that it's not getting great ratings. Let's see it anyway!

In The House at the End of the Street, Sarah (Elizabeth Shue) & Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) are just moving in to a new neighborhood and it's pretty obvious that there is some estrangement between the two. The new house is right on the edge of a national forest and right next to a spooky house where no one is supposed to be living,because of course, something really bad happened there. Like some family was killed sort of bad. So when Momma Shue sees a light on in the upstairs late, late one night, she's gotta wonder, who's in the house? Katniss, I mean Elissa, is curious and stumbles upon the son of the family who lived there, who of course the whole community hates because the tragedy has lowered their property values (thank you shallow middle class folks for being so considerate and caring and two dimensional). As you would expect, Elissa just can't believe that this good looking older yet weird guy could be bad in any way, so against Momma Shue's orders, she starts sneaking around to see him. Then the real fun begins. Then you get to find out what really happened in the house all those years ago when the daughter murdered her parents and the son came home. It's not as straight forward as you might think. The ending - twisty. I'd compare it to another movie that shocked the pants off me, but then I'd spoil it for ya, and who wants that?

Let's be honest here. THatEotS is really more of a thriller than a horror movie. It's a good thriller, better than say, an awful Ashley Judd movie I paid to see in the theater called Twisted. It's not Black Swan worthy, but it does have a tense ending that you don't see coming until they start to play it out. I figured it out after one scene towards the end, but  until then I was clueless. Jennifer Lawrence is good with what she has to work with, as I would expect. (Seriously, I was so happy when I saw Hunger Games to see that they cast someone who could do more than stare at the camera with one expression.) And she sings! What a lovely voice she has. And who doesn't love seeing Elizabeth Shue? I wish we saw a bit more of her but she & Ms. Lawrence played off each other well. Max Theroit as the boy next door was a decent vulnerable, hated by the world pariah but I didn't think he had much chemistry with JL. Could be because I had a hard time forgetting My Soul to Take and his dorky character Bug.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed in seeing it, but I wasn't blown away either. I'd probably watch it again when it comes out on cable but I wouldn't buy it. Not sure it would be as good if you already know the ending.

Rating: 3.5 Purrrss. Momma Shue! Katniss sings! Surprise ending and good tense final scenes, but not as tightly put together as I'd like.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is one of my very favorite writers. She writes stories of broken, imperfect people who just don't care that they are broken. They accept that they will never be super models, never find Prince Charming, and probably never be anything but that crazy mix of imperfection that they are. Most of the time, they aren't even what you would call "likable." Even so, she takes all of that and creates a set of characters that you get wrapped up in, despite the fact that you may not like them all that much. To me, that's talent. These aren't lovable Dexter-type characters that make you like them with their hidden hearts of gold. These are people you have a hard time even seeing a glint of shine anywhere, even in their decent moments. Gone Girl is the third book I have read by Ms. Flynn. From page one I was riveted. I could not read it before bed because if I did there was no way I was sleeping before I finished it. I loved the story so much I wanted to drag it out some, chapter at a time. Otherwise it would be too long a wait until her next one and the story would end too soon.

Gone Girl is about Amy and Nick. It's their 5th wedding anniversary, and Nick comes home to find Amy missing and the house a mess. Did someone take her? Did he kill her? The story is broken up into the two viewpoints and time lines, separate books and sections that take you though the first moments of Nick & Amy's relationship all the way to the end. My advice is to not read ahead on those, let the story unfold on its own without any clues. Hear Nick's voice as he discovers Amy gone and hear her voice in her diary pages. Slowly uncover who these two people are to each other, who they were, and where they go. Seriously, it's like peeling an onion,and each layer is full of things you are happy to learn but also wish you didn't know. You start off in the first section with all of these doubts, and every page after that just  brings more doubt, darkness, and twists so that you really don't know where you will end up. I've never been so manipulated when reading a book, well, since Will Lavender's books (his books are what made me add the "mindf*ck" tag to this blog), and I loved every freaking second of it. I want to say more, but I don't want to give anything away. Just know that the Nick & Amy you meet at the beginning are not who you end up with at the end. And seriously, I didn't see it coming. Not by a long shot. But I do think it's one of those imperfect, perfect tales that show no matter how well you think you know someone, or know some one's relationship, you can never truly know what's in their hearts & minds.

I love Gillian Flynn. I love what her amazing brain comes up so much I almost don't want to read her books just so I can read them for the first time. I only wish she could write faster so I could read something new from her every month. 

Rating: 5 Purrrrrs. More Please!!

Sinister

It's October. That basically means 31 days of as many horror movies as I can squeeze in as possible. It's horror movie lovers Christmas time, and my poor JudoMaster endures it well. Case in point, today we ventured out to see Sinister. Sometimes I get lucky and find a scary movie that he thinks is more scary than silly. Sinister is one of those movies.

What made me happiest about Sinister is finally someone made a scary movie that they didn't completely ruin in the trailer or make you think you were getting one thing and end up getting another. I'll try to do the same, because frankly this sort of movie relies so much on not knowing too much, so you uncover the truth along with the protagonist. Knowing too much will destroy the tension the movie builds, and it does build that tension very, very well. So much so that I felt like a tightly wound spring by the end.

So what's it all about? Ethan Hawke (who would make me happy just reading the back of a cereal box) and his family are moving in to a new house, a house where something Really Bad happened. Something that seems to happen to children. Apparently, Hawke is a true crime writer, and he's moved in to that house where the Really Bad Thing happened to write about that Really Bad Thing. (It's obvious he is a writer - he's wearing a neutral cable knit sweater and has glasses. He drinks whiskey and smokes. He has a Mac. Of course he a writer. ) He discovers this box of Super 8 films in the attic and very quickly discovers that that Really Bad Thing is something that's Really Not Normal and has been happening for a long time to not just one family. According to Vincent D'Onofrio AKA supernatural crimes professor at the local college ( because there is always one of those in a small town, right?), Ethan Hawke's Really Bad Thing happens to be some sort of weird pagan deity that likes to eat children for breakfast.  Maybe literally. He's Mr. Creepy and he likes to move around in pictures like those Harry Potter folks. Things start to go bump in the night, kids start doing creepy stuff, and naturally the wife isn't too happy to see everything falling apart. Soon I was on the edge of my seat trying not to yelp out loud in the movie theater because even though little scares kept happening to break the tension, it just didn't let up even at the end. Which I won't tell you about. Trust me, you want to put two and two together on your own.

What I was most worried about was that Sinister would be just another Insidious. And while there were similarities, they really are two different, good at what they do, horror movies. Both had a haunted house, family in danger, creepy noises go bump in the night, and even the supernatural element. One word titles. Creepy bad guys with weird faces. Spooky children. But Sinister was slower, sometimes maybe a little too slow, and never ended up with the weird gadgets and medium, a la Poltergeist. You have this nice wrapper story with the Ethan Hawke family around those genuinely disturbing Super 8 films, all slowly building into this ending that I really didn't see coming. I know I won't forget it quickly, but I'd certainly watch it again. Just not at night, alone, in the dark. Not a chance in Hell.

Rating: 5 Purrrrrs for a movie that's going to make it hard to sleep tonight.

Wow. It's been over a year.

I find it sort of disturbing that I got so far behind on my blog here, but more disturbing than that, I see that the last review I posted was for Insidious. Today we saw Sinister. Both were creepy, creepy horror movies that  I loved. Both were similar, family haunted and in danger movies that made it hard to think about sleep.  Both were one word title horror movies.

Coincidence...or fate? You decide...

Insidious

Matt & I saw Insidious last weekend because I was too excited to wait another week. I am a fan of the guys who started the Saw franchise (if not a fan of the movies past maybe the second one...you know when they stopped being about the horror and all about the gore) and their other venture, Dead Silence, so when I saw they had this one coming out I was pretty excited.

Insidious is about a family that is settling in to a new home, unpacking, getting used to the things that go bump in the night in a new home. Unfortunately something does really go bump, it's not just weird noises or critters in the walls.

The movies goes from traditional haunted house, to weird, off-beat horror, to almost carnival tricks at the end. It's a wonderful mix of the unexpected. There were many scares and jumps to be had (ask Matt how many times I jumped) and I was engrossed for the entire movie.

I don't want to say too much and give anything away, because you really need to go into this with a blank slate as much as possible. Just know that it is an awesome blend of Poltergeist (references abound), goofy 70's horror, and even more traditional haunted house stories like Hill House.

Rating: 5 purrs...loved all of it


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Devil

For some reason I am a true sucker. Ages ago, everyone talked about The Sixth Sense. They talked about how original it was & the twist. I figured the damn thing out in about 5 minutes. Ever since then, I continue to try M. Night Shalamalan movies, in hopes that one day he will actually live up to some of the style and imagery you occasionally get glimpses of.

So once again I took a chance. (This is even after I watched The Happening. If you need to take a guess at how much I didn't like that one, well...take a look here.) We rented Devil- a "supernatural story set in the modern world." Five strangers walk into an elevator after another man jumps off the 32nd story of the same building. One by one they are attacked. Who or what is doing it? According to the security guard (whose grandmother just happened to tell him a conveniently related folk tale), it's...The DEVIL!

Is he right? Or is it an elaborate plan of one of the strangers to murder a particular target? It's up to the cop with a past to figure out.

Of course there is a twist. But really, I jumped several times, and the opening credits are quite disconcerting. Overall, I'd say it wasn't a bad Friday night rental, but I would never watch it again.

Rating: 3 1/2 Purrs for not restoring my faith as much as just being better than The Happening, Signs, and so many of his others.


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Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Oh Jasper Fforde, how I love your books. You have had me since The Eyre Affair, and I continue to devour any of your new books as quickly as you can write them. (I mean, Richard III as a rocky horror type event? It's a lit geek's dream come true.) Your stories are always so fun and imaginative; they truly are like dream exploded in my head.

Shades of Grey does not disappoint. Eddie Russett lives in a world where what color you see designates your place in society. Eddie's a Red, and a middling Red at that. He's sent to the Outskirts to take a chair census as a sort of punishment, and while there becomes enamored with a Grey named Jane (Greys see no color.) Poor Eddie soon gets over his head when he starts questioning why things are the way they are. Why is it no one sees in the dark? What really happened Before?

It's a fun start to a new trilogy,and if you like the idea of a Wizard of Oz type world fused with our own, then you should check it out.

Rating: 4.5 Purrs. It's not quite The Eyre Affair, but it's a very fun read.

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Killers & Date Night

Ok, so I don't usually watch romantic comedies. I like them, they just never make it to the top of my list. This weekend though, somehow I ended up watching Killers and Date Night, both of which I would classify as rom coms. They were both pretty funny, but overall nothing to write home about.

Killers felt a lot like Mr. & Mrs. Smith crossed with Grosse Point Blank, with a little Sandra Bullock thrown in for color. Ashton Kutcher plays it with the right amount of seriousness and silliness, and well, Katherine Heigl is in her element playing the lovely wife who discovers her hubby is a contract killer. Date Night felt a lot like Adventures in Babysitting, only with married people. Of course, both movies had decent acting, and well, Steve Carrell & Tina Fey are the awkward comedy masters. They do know how to make you laugh (seriously watch the takes in the credits- hilarious!).

They were both fun, and worth a rental, but I would never watch them again. I don't think either would hold up to a second viewing.

Rating: 3 1/2 purrs for some laughs and general goofiness

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The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

When I started The Omnivore's Dilemma, I was warned that it might turn me vegetarian. I figured that nothing could do that. If Fast Food Nation couldn't do it, nothing could. I seriously considered it though for a few chapters here and there after reading even more about factory farming, the copious amounts of corn and soybeans grown to support the food habits of Americans, and the slaughter of animals. Then Mr. Pollan sums up the book with The Perfect Meal, a meal harvested, hunted, and grown by him and shared with others. He sums it up with such a lovely thought. It's not just what you eat, but being conscientious about where it came from. Thinking about what it is you are eating, and celebrating it, enjoying it, be responsible for it.

The bulk of the book walks through three types of meals: the corn-fed beef meal, the organic and sustainable farm meal, and the hunter/gatherer meal. What I like about Mr. Pollan is that he thoroughly pokes about at all of the theories. Corn and corn syrup and corn-fed beef, the farming industry and how it has changed over the years. Organic farming and the fallacy of big organic. The spiritual aspect of being a responsible eater.

Michael Pollan has several more books that related to the topic of food and responsibility. I am adding them to my reading list because frankly, he has made me think about what I eat, and done so in such a way where I never felt preached to or talked down to. I too want to eat responsibly, and enjoy every bite.

Rating: 5 purrs...thanks Matt for recommending this one.


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Piranha (2010)

I finally got to the theater to see Aja's remake of one of my all time favorites- Piranha. (I watched the original on Bruce here on the way back to DFW Friday, so the it was fresh in my mind.) To sum it up- it was one of the funnest, goriest, boob-fests I have seen in a very long time. From the very opening scenes with a clap-worthy homage to one of my other favorites, Jaws, to the hilarious and somewhat gratuitous "wild wild girls" & the spring break partiers, to Jerry O'Connell eating up the screen as the soft-core porn producer, it seriously was just so much fun. Even the various comments from the Tweens in the row behind us could dispel the fun.

Elizabeth Shue plays the town sheriff with a teenager who shirks his babysitting responsibilities to give the wild wild girls a tour of the best spots to film. This filing includes a lovely amount of nakedness, including an underwater ballet scene that had me tears and wishing we had seen the movie in 3D after all. Dina Meyer has about 2 seconds in the film, along with Ving Rhames. I kept seeing people and saying- hey look at that, there's so and so (including Eli Roth, who seems to be cameoing in every movie rather than hurrying up and filming Thanksgiving. Dude, hurry up.) the plot is still pretty much the same as the original, you know, hungry fish attack people in an Arizona lake. Lots of chomp chomp. Lots of blood. Lots and lots of gore. Plucky heroine, wry humor from the main hero.

I have really liked Aja and what he has come up with, even Mirrors, so when I saw he was remaking Piranha, I knew it was in good hands. I was not wrong.

Rating: 5 Purrs: Really, seriously you should just go see it. It was awesome. I might even see it again in the theater.

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Under the Dome by Stephen King

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I pretty much grab up the newest Stephen King books right as they hit the shelves. I am a bit of an addict that way. Under the Dome was no exception, except in one small way. It took me forever to finish it.

So what's it about? One day the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine is going about its business like any other day when all of a sudden something unusual appears (if you guessed a gigantic dome, you get a cookie). The town is completely cut off from the outside world. People die. What happens to a small town where everyone knows each other but now they are cut off? Do they trust each other? Do they help each other out? Not if you are in Stephen King's world.

It's not that I didn't enjoy it. I really did, once I got about half-way through. It was getting half-way that was the hard part. Well, that and the fact that the book is impossibly huge, and when you like to take the book you are reading everywhere, well, War and Peace sized books just don't get put in the computer bag. It took awhile to get the story rolling, and honestly i kept getting flashbacks to The Stand. (Cell did as well but it seemed to not bother me as much.) I actually put it aside for awhile and came back to it after a month or two. When I came back to it, I sped through it. Maybe it was just timing. It also felt a lot like this old movie I saw when I was younger, but to say any more would give away the twist, and I just can't do that.

I would recommend this if you are a King fan, but if you are looking for an end of the world type tale, I would say check out The Stand first. It's still my favorite.

Rating: 4 Purrs

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Taroko Gorge by Daniel Ritari

Taroko Gorge is another one of those books I was lucky enough to get via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers group. There are good things and bad things about this group, and Taroko Gorge is definitely one of those good things. When I read the write up, I thought this sounds like Picnic at Hanging Rock. I love that movie. While Taroko Gorge didn't end up being a retread of Picnic after all, it still ended up being a very worthwhile read. I was surprised that this was a first novel. In fact, when I saw that it was, I lowered my expectations a bit. I shouldn't have. It was quite good.

Taroko Gorge has many narrators, all telling their version of events leading up to and after the disappearance of three Japanese schoolgirls at the Taiwanese state park Taroko Gorge. Did they fall into the gorge, down a hole, were they murdered? You have the two Americans, one a reporter and his photographer who seem to be the last to have seen the girls, the Japanese class rep who had a crush on one of the girls, a girl who lived in their shadow, and the Taiwanese detective who leads the search for the missing girls all telling the story from their perspectives. Where did the girls go? Are they alive or is all hope lost?

I really liked the different voices, the multiple nationalities all dealing with various prejudices and traditions in hopes of doing what is right. It felt very true, well researched, and the mystery kept me interested until the very end. In the end, found or not, everyone will be changed just from being there,waiting to see. It was a nice mix of traditions, how they can lead to prejudice and misunderstanding, and a mystery. The setting was interesting but not quite enough of a character to be the mysterious Hanging Rock. The characters were developed but not overly so. I knew enough in minimal discussion enough to care about them and their actions.

Overall, I liked this book quite a bit. I read it quickly, not because it was overly simple, but because I wanted to find out what was happening next. I wanted to find out about those girls, because in those short few chapters, I cared.

Rating: 4 Purrs for drawing me in and keeping me guessing. For showing the turmoil of teenage life and the human existence. For giving a very good first novel when expected far less.


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Avatar

"I'm probably just talking to a tree right now..."

Really, that sums it up. Avatar is Ferngully with really nifty computer animation. Everyone is cardboard. The hero is heroic, the anthropologist is a tree hugger, and the big company and big army evil doers are well, evil.

Yeah, the plot, is all about your stereotypical big bad company finding an untouched, misunderstood wilderness and looking for ways to exploit it. If that means running out and massacring all of the locals by making them out to be savages, well even better. My favorite part was when the bad guy runs out into the unbreathable atmosphere without his oxygen mask to shoot the tree huggers and HOLDS HIS BREATH. Oh, and the slow motion action scenes. Let's not forget when the whole end of the movie was telegraphed, um, from the minute she talked about the legend of the Braveheart guy who brought all of the clans together.

Don't get me wrong. The CGI is amazing, if you can get past the fact that it glows like a velvet Elvis painting under a blacklight. But really, even bells and whistles do not a Oscar winner make. Thank god. Because let's face it, The Hurt Locker- that had action, character development, visuals that made your blood chill, and enough tension that I couldn't keep my hands unclenched. Oh yeah, AND it had a point to make too, Mr. Cameron, without beating me over the head with it.

Rating: Bah. It's no wonder there's a RiffTrax. It's the only way I will watch this again.
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Location:On my couch in the she-cave

Splice

I have been pretty excited about Splice for awhile, from way back when I first read about it in EW ages ago. When I saw it was coming to a theater near me, I was thrilled. I ended up pleased but not overwhelmingly so. It was good, and had potential, but it wasn't the movie I had in my head.

Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody are two rock star geneticists. They create some weird creatures that create proteins for a pharmaceutical company, and they want to go on to splice with the human genome. When told no, they do what normal movie scientists would do. They go there. As these things go, of course it was a bad decision. Regret and bloodshed ho!

All in all, I loved the ultra trendy scientists, the idea, etc., but it felt slow towards the middle. I expected more action and bloodshed a la James Cameron's Aliens and instead got slow burning drama a la Ridley Scott's Alien. It's not a bad thing, I just expected something different. Sarah Polley was a wonderful cross between Lady MacBeth and Dr. Frankenstein. I loved the mixed parallels. It telegraphed too much though, so when it went full throttle to the end I knew fairly well how this would play out.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a horror movie that didn't tread a whole lot of new ground but did make it fun while it lasted.

Horrorfest 4

This year's entries into Horrorfest have been much better than past years.

• Dread: This one based on a Clive Barker story and stars a Cullen, but man it sure was icky. These college kids decide to run an experiment investigating people's biggest fears. Problem is, the ringleader just happens to be nuts, and he decides to make people face their biggest fears in hopes of learning how to cure his own. The paintings in this one were beautiful.
  
• The Final: The opening says this was based on a true story and it was filmed in McKinney and area up here in North Texas, so I can't help but like the story of a group of tormented high-schoolers who turn the tables on their bullies in most gruesome and psychological ways. One even wears an Audition costume, so of course I like it.
  
• Kill Theory: A group of long-time college friends head out to the lake to celebrate graduation, only to find themselves trapped by a psycho who says they must kill each other one by one and have one left standing at 6 AM or he will kill them all. This one was quite good. I can see why maybe it didn't make it to the theater but it is definitely worth a watch.
• The Graves: Sisters Megan and Abby Graves are taking a cross country trip before Megan starts a new job in New York. On the way, they decide to check out the road-side attraction called Skull City Mine. As these things go, they find something not so pleasant. Slicing and dicing and spooky stuff happens, and things get a bit disjointed towards the end, but I can't help but love a movie that has two goth girls who love comics and can kick ass.
  
• The Reeds: A group of Londonites take a weekend trip through the reeds of Norfolk on a hired boat. From the start, things get creepy, with the crochety old boat guy and the pesky teens that keep popping up here and there. It ends up in disaster and blood, and a mystery to be solved. It was quite good.
  
• Lake Mungo: A somewhat slow, creepy supernatural movie that deals with an Australian family's grief at losing their teenage daughter to drowning. It's shot documentary style. I was watching it by myself and I got a bit creeped out, so stick with it.
  
• Hidden: The foreign film entry into this year's horrorfest. A guy goes back home after his mother's death and faces the fears from his childhood. Someone is murdering people- is it a ghost, is it the boy from his childhood? It was spooky in places but also very slow.
  
• Zombies of Mass Destruction: Zombies! Need I say more? Yes, well then - zombies started by terrorists in a small town, gore and hilarity happens, boy comes out to mom, girl comes to term with her roots, brains get munched on.
  

Sumner Island by Michael Cormier

I got a copy of Sumner Island by Michael Cormier as an early reviewer's copy. It's a first novel, and honestly, it wasn't too bad. I thought I was getting a spooky ghost story, but what I got was more like a cross between Somewhere in Time and The Sixth Sense. In fact, I spent the majority of the first part of the novel trying to convince myself it wasn't a retread. Luckily, it picked up towards the end and I got absorbed into the story along the way.

Mitch Lambert is a history professor who, while writing the biography of Maria Boudreau, falls in love with the long-dead heiress. His book increases interest in Maria, and soon people are seeing her ghost walking the island where she was murdered. Mitch believes the man who was accused of her murder was innocent, and is determined to discover the real killer when a psychic comes to the island to have a seance. Along the way, Mitch begins to see things he shouldn't, a sort of time-travel thing, and plays detective. Will he solve the mystery? What do you do when you love someone who has been dead for years?

It wasn't bad, it wasn't mind-blowing. I felt like the ending was a bit of a let down, too neatly tied up I guess. I can't say for sure, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had gotten what I was expecting - a haunted house story. Instead I got a supernatural romance thriller, which was a good read, just not what I was looking for. Go into with the right frame of mind and I think you would enjoy it.

Rating: 3 1/2 Purrs

The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan is one of those authors that captures a moment in time so well and creates such a feeling of place and character. I read The Speed Queen first, because my other half bought it way back when we were in college and he said I really needed to read it. I read Last Night at the Lobster, and it too was perfection. The Night Country wasn't a disappointment at all, although I am not really sure why people classify it as horror.

A year ago, a group of teenagers died in a car wreck on Halloween. Their spirits live on, haunting those they left behind: the cop who has a secret, the survivor, the mother of the survivor marred forever by the wreck. As the anniversary of the wreck draws near, you learn how their lives have changed and know that each is trying to commemorate it in his or her own way. In some ways, they are trying to move on, in others, they can't.

O'Nan creates this world where it makes sense that ghosts are along side us, whispering in our ears. He's able to include those voices without seeming silly or hammy. His characters are sympathetic, and all of the story leads to this reveal at the end that I literally couldn't stop reading. It's touching, life-affirming, and terribly tragic all at once, all without ever being cheesy or resorting to the stereotypical. It's lovely.

Rating: 5 Purrs

Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)

The original Nightmare on Elm Street scared the hell out of me the first time I saw it. Freddy Krueger was terrifying. The idea of being attacked in your dreams, unable to wake up, unable to fall asleep because you might die. Yikes. The remake doesn't change much of that formula, which was nice, but it changed enough that it wasn't a complete retread.

Things I liked:

• I jumped several times in my seat. Sure it might have been because of the loud Boo! music, but I jumped.
  
• Kellen Lutz! The opening scenes with him are tense.
• They didn't puss out with Kreuger. I thought they were going to, but they didn't. If they had, I would have not liked this movie at all.
• Jackie Earle Haley. Wow. While he was pretty much replaying Rorschach, he does it well. Creepy.
• There were plenty of homages to the original, but not complete re-dos.
  

Things I didn't like:

• Why oh why don't they use real special effects any more? Why do movie makers these days feel so compelled to CGI the shit out of everything? I want real fake blood people. Not CGI blood. It never looks real.
  
• Why oh why does Nancy have to be emo chick? Why can't she be the sweet, scrubbed up teen like the first one?
  
• I hated her little booties she wore. Ugh. I know, I know. A shoe complaint in a horror movie. I'm a girl. Sue me.
• No Johnny Depp death scene. Not even close. Dang it.

Overall, it was a decent remake. You can't recreate the atmosphere of the original, no matter how hard you try, but these guys did a decent job of remaking Texas Chainsaw Massacre and they did a decent job this time. I would of paid full price for this one, but I am a bit of a horror junkie, as you know.

Rating: 4 Purrs

The Losers

"Did you know that cats can make one thousand different sounds and dogs can only make ten? Cats, man. Not to be trusted. " - Jenson

I loved The Losers. I loved every second of the cheesy 80's action movie-ness of it. The one-liners, the explosions, the gun fire, the hot chick...Jeffery Dean Morgan (yum), Chris Evans (yum), Zoe Saldana (yum). Really, what's not to like?

It's a movie that never takes itself too seriously. I laughed out loud. I loved the explosions. I don't know why more people didn't see it, but you should have.