glitter_n_gore | Entries tagged with horror

This is probably a good time to mention, while I am focusing on the 90s for the next couple of posts, this is not a strictly linear retrospective. I haven't forgotten Dio, I haven't forgotten Iron Maiden. There's a method to my madness, so bear with me.

In the hazy space between Hair Metal and Grunge, a LOT of different sub-genres, fusions, and crossovers were taking shape to create the general atmosphere we call "Alternative." Hip-Hop fused with rock to become Funk (Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2 Skinnee J's, Rage Against the Machine), old-fashioned brass band swing music mixed with punk turned into Ska (Save Ferris, 311, early No Doubt), and Metal dropped the soaring, intricate melodies of its signature guitar solos in favor of heavy, chugging rhythms and distorted guitar tones.

That, more or less, is Thrash Metal. Everything's loud and droney, with some really interesting melodies and less adherence to the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus song structure. Metallica is one of the best examples of this, although they also brought in some classical influences to create a more complex overall style. Put a pin in that idea though, because I'm coming back to it later.

Industrial is what happened when Thrash blended with Shock Rock and Goth, layering in sounds with a darker tone on those synths I love so much. This music had a beat you could dance to and a grim, sometimes nihilistic vibe that recalled the horror movie influences that first showed up in the 60s. Only this time, the demons were personal or sociopolitical, not fictional . . . some of the time. Everything's filtered through a dystopian, cyber-punk lens. Unlike Alice Cooper singing about Universal movie monsters, or Mötley Crüe posing as biker gang vampires, the message behind Industrial bands seemed to be: "We have seen the future, and it's bleak and terrifying."

There are reasons this stuff still resonates. Fright makeup is still common, but it's very different from the more cartoonish, playful look we'd seen before. Not for nothing, this is the era I grew up in, and finally includes bands I got to see live. I am HOME.

Warning: These videos are no longer Safe For Work. No nudity or violence, but uncensored swear words. FYI.

( This is the first day of my last days. )

(Cross-posted to

rhoda_rants.)

Current Music: Nine Inch Nails, "Gave Up"

Studded leather. Hairspray. Fright makeup. Gang vocals. Welcome to the era of Glam Metal.

Also sometimes called Hair Metal, but there are a few subtle differences between the two. What you need to remember is this is when image started to become important. The aesthetic of Glam is almost as central to the genre as the sound itself. IMO, Hair Metal is what happened when the image overtook the sound entirely. To simplify things, let's just call this the Bill & Ted era. If Wyld Stallyns had their t-shirt, it goes in this category.

Bill & Ted playing air guitar with text "EXCELLENT!"
Source.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Remember what I said in the intro post, about Screamin' Jay Hawkins creating a wild, over-the-top style to go with his sound? That tendency towards flamboyant excess was brought to 11 with Glam Metal. Again, the influence of horror movies cannot be overstated. But who says you can't scare people and look good doing it?

( I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night )

(Cross-posted to

rhoda_rants.)

Current Music: Guns N Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine"

Hi There.

I mentioned this briefly on the Twitters, but basically the purpose of this blog series is to a) gush shamelessly about my favorite genre of music, and b) create a curated list of some less intimidating starter songs/artists to ease into it. I say "less intimidating" because much of the buzz around Metal seems devoted to Death Metal and Black Metal, and honestly? Those subgenres are not for everyone. It can push people away. And that is the last thing I want.

Metal comes in many different flavors--the aforementioned Death and Black Metal, but also Sludge, Doom, Power, Glam, Speed, Symphonic, Metalcore, Grindcore, Progressive, Industrial--and it takes some digging to decide which one is for you. They are as varied--and sometimes as divisive--as the many variations between New Wave and Emo. Woe betide the newbies and casuals who get it wrong.*

*Let the record show I think people need to chill out on the territorial hair-splitting here, but that's not what this post is about.

I am not going to get into ALL of the subgenres I just mentioned. But I want you to know what you're getting into. This territory is vast. Here be monsters. I'm just one guide of many, and we all walk very different paths. This is mine.

( First, a history lesson. . . )

Current Music: Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze"

For those of you who don't know: the original Jacob's Ladder, released in 1990 and directed by Adrian Lyne, is my favorite horror movie. One of my favorite movies of all time, period. I'm also a big fan of the Silent Hill videogame franchise, which was hugely influenced by this movie. So I was bound to go into the remake a little biased.

Watch on YouTube

Honest opinion: It's . . . fine. Not great, not terrible. Just . . . fine. A little boring and predictable, maybe. But the acting is solid across the board, the cinematography is clean, the pacing is balanced, and it kept my attention for the duration of its runtime.

However. Because I am coming at this as a fan of the original, I was definitely paying WAY more attention than I needed to.

( Let me explain. )

Current Music: Emilie Autumn, "306"

Often by the time people who watch / judge award shows catch wind of certain actors and filmmakers, or start paying enough attention to go, "Hey, they're pretty good," the horror geeks among us have already been following them for awhile. This happens ALL the time. Parasite is part of a long-standing tradition of the general public glomming onto inventive, terrific filmmakers who have been circulating horror blogs for like ten years. It's a weird trend, but one I've come to expect.

So, since many of us are in binge-mode, I made a list! Also, I highly recommend YouTuber Screened's video essay on why Korean horror is the way it is. It contains SPOILERS, so be careful with that one.

On to the list!

( More. . . )

The Final Four! If you missed the earlier entries in this set, here's Part 1 and Part 2. I hope I've boosted some titles you may not have heard of before. That's one reason I make lists like this: to create a fandom around a thing that I wish more people had heard of. (Someone please love Twixt with me!)

That said, there aren't many surprises left in this batch if you've been following me for awhile. Here goes!

4 - Sleepy Hollow (1999)
One of a handful of movies I simply must watch every October if I have the time. (Yes, I rewatched it this year already.) I have grown a little weary of Tim Burton's signature German Expressionism Lite style, and my feelings towards Johnny Depp these days are . . . ambivalent at best, but none of that has dampened my love for this movie a bit. This has little to do with Washington Irving's story apart from the legend itself, in which the horseman was a prank without any supernatural trappings. In Burton's version, the ghosts and magic are all real, and Ichabod Crane is now a squeamish forensic detective instead of a gangly school teacher. The colors, apart from a few splashes of bright red, are so washed out it's almost in black and white, and a sickly fog permeates every inch of the Western Woods. This is the only Burton movie that both legitimately scares me, and makes me laugh, sometimes in the same scene.

"Sleepy Hollow (3/10) Movie CLIP - First Encounter on the Bridge (1999) HD" (Watch on YouTube)

( 3 thru 1 here )

Since I had so much fun doing my Top 13 Scariest Episodes of Doctor Who countdown last year, I decided to do something similar with my favorite sub-genre of cinema: the Gothic movie. Big difference is this time I'm not opening it up to a poll. Nope, instead I'm going to talk about my personal favorites, and I'm counting down from 13 to 1.

Now, when I say "Gothic," I'm not always entirely sure how to verbalize what that means to me. I don't necessarily mean "horror," although the two often coincide. There's a certain interplay of darkness and romance, always underscored by style, that conveys "Gothic" without always adhering to the expected tropes. In other words, love and monsters. It's lavish atmosphere, a sense of opulence masking death and decay, and a creeping dread. What it means is atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere. And that's what all these films offer in the best, and most brutal, ways.

Ready? Let's do this!

13 - The Moth Diaries (2011)
This adaptation of Rachel Klein's epistolary novel of the same name is equal parts Dracula and Girl, Interrupted. Brought to life by the same writer/director team behind American Psycho, this is the story of the intense, sometimes suffocating, and often possessive nature of friendships between teenage girls. The atmosphere lies in the school itself, with secrets lurking beyond curved corridors or inside locked roomsl. Everyone in the school seems to have a story, and the stories are both terrible and fascinating at once. This movie is criminally overlooked, even with Lily Cole as the probably-a-vampire exchange student, Ernessa. There's also a lot of great meta-commentary in the literature class about why Gothic stories are important. Word to the wise: If your name is "Lucy," don't hang out with vampires. It will not end well for you.

"The Moth Diaries Official Trailer #1 - Mary Harron Movie (2012) HD" (Watch on YouTube)

( 12 thru 10 here )

(Cross-posted to

rhoda_rants.)

As a library lady, people occasionally ask me for reading recommendations. As a horror geek, my coworkers will sometimes ask for me specifically if one of our patrons wants to read something scary. It's a great question, one of my favorite duties at my job, because I love talking about scary books. Narrowing things down by age group, scare-meter, and sub-genre is part of it--"What's Your Monster?" is a good place to start. (And I highly recommend NoveList's excellent webinar on this topic if you're not already a horror geek like me.)

HOWEVER.

I thought I'd do something different for Gothmas this year, and just give you some of my personal favorites. Not in any particular order, just a list of solid, scary books. Some of these you've probably heard of. Others I hope will be fresh and new and exciting.

1) Boring Girls, by Sara Taylor
This fell onto my radar purely by fandom association; the author is also the lead singer and lyricist of The Birthday Massacre. I wrote a lengthy review for this book already, so I'll try to keep this brief: teenage heavy metal fan, and her best friend, get violently assaulted at a show and swear revenge. It's tense, gruesome, tragic, and impossible to put down.

2) The Women in the Walls, by Amy Lukavics
Occasionally, I will check out a book just because the cover looks intriguing, and sometimes it turns out great. This was one of those times. The women in this family have a history of vaguely defined mental illness that might also be demonic possession, and is tied to the disappearance of the main character's mother before the start of the novel. Falls into the same realm of "RICH PEOPLE ARE SO WEIRD" as Ready Or Not, but with less humor and more Gothic atmosphere.

3) This Monstrous Thing, by Mackenzi Lee
If Mackenzi Lee isn't already on your automatic "YES" list, do something about that, because she is fabulous. She's gotten some buzz recently for her Gentleman's Guide series, and for her Loki Investigates Murder In Victorian London book (it's even more rad than it sounds), but this one fell to the bottom of the pile somehow. And that's a shame, because it's a steampunk reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, with Shelley herself as a major character. Revolution, mad scientists, automatons--it's great!

4) The Children's Home, by Charles Lambert
Another one I picked up because the cover was interesting. This is such a bizarre piece of work. It's told from the point of view of a kindly caretaker whose home gradually, mysteriously fills with lost children. The children are uncommonly intelligent and erudite. There's a shady organization searching for them. The revelation at the end completely blew my mind. More conceptual than some, and more literary than my usual, but sticks in the brain like a nightmare you can't quite remember.

5) And the Trees Crept In, by Dawn Kurtagich
This comes across like a standard family curse story, until it doesn't. The most effective monsters are those that blend supernatural threats with real-life horror, and that's where this operates. The formatting and layout are disorienting on their own, and I had to read between the lines and seek out other reviews to piece together what had really happened. This book is upsetting in so many ways. Don't read after dark.

6) House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski
Speaking of disorienting! All you need to do is flip through this a little bit to know you'll be in for a very unusual ride. It took me a year to read this. Yes, an entire year. With breaks for less confusing and dense books in between. I'm not kidding. This book made me feel like I was being watched, like there was something peeking out from between the pages. It was worth it, but I don't think I could read it twice.

7) Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire
Technically Book 2 in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, also technically a prequel focused on Jack and Jill, but easily my favorite of the bunch. All the Wayward Children books are wonderfully bittersweet. This one just happens to be set in the sort of Graveyard Gothic fantasy land I'd most like to visit myself, all vampires, crumbling castles, and haunted moors.

8) The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
I know it's not new, but it is a classic, and I will always include it on lists like this. A lesson that we as a society seem to keep relearning is that wealth, class, and beauty are NOT signifiers of moral character. This book was a scathing critique of so-called Victorian values in its time. The fact that it stays relevant is scary all by itself. It is my very favorite book, and I reread it every single year.

9) The Girl from the Well, by Rin Chupeco
You've probably heard of Koji Suzuki's Japanese horror series, Ringu, or at least the various movie adaptations, but you might not be familiar with the legend of Okiku's Well that inspired it. This book not only introduced me to that unsettling true story, but gave Okiku a voice, generating empathy for a vengeance ghost without sapping any of her terrible power. The sequel, The Suffering, is pretty great too, but I'm more attached to the mystery in this one.

10) Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer
The first in the Southern Reach trilogy, and the basis for the cosmic horror film starring Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson, this short but riveting novel is a strange wild beast. I give credit to the filmmakers for evoking a similar mood, but the original story has a lot of memorable imagery we never seen on screen. The tower, the writing on the wall, and the lighthouse keeper's diary are all iconic stops along the biologist's journey. If you've seen the film and want more--or even if you haven't--read this.

There's another terrific article going around about Ari Aster's latest brain-crunching horror film here. That review gets into many of the reasons I found it so moving--yes, moving--but not all of them.

"MIDSOMMAR | Official Trailer HD | A24" (Watch on YouTube)

( Read more. . . )

Boy, have I had a time trying to watch this movie. I missed seeing it in theaters. I forget why. Although this came out last October, so I might've just been burned out on movies in general. Of course, when there's something on my list that I don't catch in theaters, the assumption is that I'll be able to watch the DVD later.

Except, the DVD does not exist.

It's only available on BluRay and streaming, which I have ranted about elseweb, so I won't repeat it here. There's a tangential rant to be made about the choke hold certain streaming services have on their viewers nowadays, but . . . later.

Someone suggested I check Red Box. I did. Couldn't get it there either. One wonders if the Red Box even had the standard DVD at one point, or if it would've turned out to be the BluRay as well. At some point I resigned myself to waiting for it to come to Netflix, which it would have to eventually, but probably not anytime soon.

Then I made the mistake of watching Nyx Fears' vlog review. She made it sound awesome, and I always agree with her, so I HAD to see it after that. Finally made the decision to just rent the damn thing on iTunes.

Had to change my password, because of course; had to update my billing info, because of course; had to commit to watching it in brief, 30-to-50 minute chunks at a time, all within 48 hours, after which it would disappear from my rentals, because OF COURSE.

After the absolute CHORE that it was to get my eyeballs on this movie, all I could think when I finally hit "Play" was, "This had better be worth it."

Readers, it is worth it.

"Suspiria - Official Trailer | Amazon Studios" (Watch on YouTube)

( This is what happens when you ignore the three-fold law. )

I missed seeing Jordan Peele's previous horror film in theaters, and I was not about to make that mistake again--even though this is a little after the initial release. Also, half my workplace has been going, "Have you seen Us yet???" for weeks because I'm one of the known horror aficionados there. I'm excited to finally gush about it.

Us, in a nutshell, is about a family of four being stalked by another family of four who look exactly like them. As plot hooks go, that's enough to get an audience into seats. But, as you can imagine, there is a lot more going on under the surface. I'm still struggling to make sense of it. I mean that in the best possible way.

"Us - Official Trailer [HD]" (Watch on YouTube)

( Once upon a time, there was a girl. . . )

HELLO! We made it to 2019 somehow! High-fives all around!

As usual, I'm recapping all the movies I saw in theaters in 2018. As a reminder, this is not a Top Ten, or a Rhoda's Faves list, but every single thing that I saw in theaters. I'm also including Netflix releases that I saw during the week of their initial release, or at least close to it, because well, "new" movies come in multiple formats and access points these days. Which I'm in favor of, by the way!

As is becoming more usual, I saw a few of these on my own this time. I'm slowly getting over my weird hangups about not wanting to go to the theater by myself, and my viewing experience is shinier for it. Huzzah! Actually, going through this list is making me want to rewatch a lot of things, because there were SO many good ones.

Without further ado. . .

( Rhoda's 2018 Movie Wrap-Up Post )

The Final Four! First, I want to send out a huge thank-you to everyone who participated in the polling process. It was a new experience for me, and I think it would go smoother once I have a better handle on exactly how to rank things. All things considered, I feel good about the way this countdown turned out. I hope you've all enjoyed reading my thoughts on these episodes as much as I've enjoyed watching and recapping them.

Without further ado, here is the final batch, numbers 10 through 13!

( Hell is just Heaven for bad people. )

Everyone take care of yourselves this coming Halloween. And if you're in the US, VOTE!

(Cross-posted to

rhoda_rants.)

In case you haven't heard, there is a new adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House out on Netflix, directed by rising horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan. There have previously been two movie adaptations of this story, one of which is more or less faithful to the original novel, and one of which is . . . not.

Flanagan's take on this classic haunted house story is an unusual and highly creative approach. It reminds me of NBC's Hannibal in a way, taking advantage of the fact that the target audience is probably familiar with the source material, and using that familiarity to subvert and exceed expectations at the same time. It's very different from anything I could've expected, but stays true to the Gothic spirit of the original story beautifully.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Now, one thing you may have also heard is Flanagan suggested viewers stop mid-season, and go back and rewatch the first five episodes before moving on. In that spirit, I'm going to review the first half of The Haunting of Hill House, then go back and review the series as a whole. At this point, I have not watched further than Episode 5, "The Bent-Neck Lady."

There will be vague SPOILERS in this post, but only for the first half of the series.

( Come home, my love. )

Hey gang! I am not caught up entirely, but I have been introduced to Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, and I loooooove her! Not surprised, but very much impressed. I have a good feeling about this coming season. I hope it doesn't let me down. So far though, so good!

But we're here for a countdown, so let's get into it. This was where it started to get tricky. There were a lot of episodes on the lower end of this list where the numbers were tied, and I had to make a decision. Tried to stay as unbiased as possible, but it wasn't easy. That said, here's 7 through 9!

( He is awake. )

Next time: The Final Four!

(Cross-posted to

rhoda_rants.)

Current Music: The Dreaming, "Let It Burn"

Greetings! It's been a Hell of a week. Who could use a spooky, fandom-centered distraction? I sure could. So here I am with the next part of the Top 13 Scariest Who episodes! Now we're getting into the less obvious shoo-ins for a list like this, the ones that actually needed to be tallied and arranged after consulting the greater fandom. Well, at least those in the greater fandom who responded to my polls. (Speaking of, random shout-out to the one person who actually voted for "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" which did not end up making the cut--I see you, and I appreciate you!)

As before, there will be mild spoilers for the following episodes, although I will not give away the actual endings. Also, as a courtesy, I haven't seen the new one yet, so please don't spoil that for me. Also-also, by pure coincidence, these are all Steven Moffat episodes this time.

Onward!

( What's that footstep following, but never passing by? )

Next time: picks 7 through 9. See you then!

It is Gothmas season once again, and I'm doing something a little different this year: tallying up the 13 Scariest Episodes of Doctor Who! Why 13? Because we're up to 13 Doctors. (Yes, technically fourteen because of timey-wimey stuff, but never mind that right now.) I polled people on Twitter, and Dreamwidth, and at my work, and this is what we came up with. All episodes were suggested by others and then ranked by vote. I spent the past several weeks reacquainting myself with episodes I already knew and loved, and catching up on the ones I hadn't seen yet.

Note: I didn't specify episodes from the 2005 reboot onward, that's just what people replied with. Which is fine I guess. The older show was playing to a different demographic, even though some episodes were definitely terrifying, shoestring budget effects notwithstanding. (Am I the only one who really loves "Paradise Towers?" Anyone else? Just me?) I might have to do another list at another time just for Classic!Who.

As always, remember that fear is a subjective emotion, so while there is some consensus here, a lot of this is based on individual tastes, phobias, and stuff with a Gothic flavor that's just inescapably cool. Because I did this by polling instead of going with my personal favorites, some that I would've put on my own Top 13 list didn't survive the elimination rounds (such as "The Crimson Horror" and "Under the Lake"), while others wound up a lot higher ranked than I expected.

There were a few clear frontrunners, so I put those at the top of the list. We'll get into the more obscure choices later. Obviously these posts will include SPOILERS spanning all of the New!Who era, although I won't be giving the actual endings of individual episodes away.

All right, let's do this!

( Are you my mummy? )

I'll be back next week with numbers 4 through 6. Happy October, everyone!

Back to the Pride Watch! Today I'm talking about The Neon Demon.

Watch on YouTube

There's a scene in the beginning of this movie where our four central characters--Jesse (Elle Fanning), Ruby (Jena Malone), Sarah (Abbey Lee), and Gigi (Bella Heathcote)--are discussing lipstick colors. Ruby says that, according to market research, women are more likely to buy lipsticks if the name evokes either sex or food. They then ask Jesse what her color would be: "Are you sex, or food?" This is more on the nose on the second watch, by the way.

But just for fun, let's go through Rhoda's favorite lipstick colors and see if this is true:

-Air Kiss (hot pink, glossy)
-Pink Passion (Barbie pink, glossy)
-Red Velvet (classic red, matte)
-Sugar Plum Fairy (deep purple, matte)
-Dare Devil (black, glossy)
-Cherry Bomb (classic red, glossy)
-Gladiolus (classic red, glossy)

...and one with the label worn off that I can no longer read. So, about half and half. Although, fun story: I once got a pack of lip gloss that had NO names, and immediately went through them and gave them names like, "Victorian Seance" (iridescent gold), "Ectoplasm" (no-tint shimmer), and "Carrie's Prom Dress" (shimmery pink). I am still searching for a red lipstick called "Blood of My Enemies." It's out there somewhere. I shan't give up!

This movie's . . . weird. However, I think it’s pushing the proverbial envelope about half as far as it could have. That line where Jesse talks about being a “dangerous girl” is mostly symbolic in context. She’s “dangerous” not because of anything she’s done, but because people become envious, insecure, possessive, and suspicious just by her merely existing as a stunning natural beauty. In other words, Jesse has very little agency. She’s young and beautiful, and people react to her being young and beautiful. Which disappoints me, because I was hoping for a Dorian Gray or Elizabeth Bathory type situation where she had done something unspeakable--and possibly supernatural--to stay that way.

The queerness comes into it when Ruby confesses her feelings for Jesse, but then Jesse doesn’t reciprocate, and that’s when it starts to get ugly. Which is so disappointing, because I was hoping they would actually get together, and I don’t know why director Nicolas Winding Refn decided they shouldn’t. To be fair, changing Ruby and Jesse’s relationship so the attraction isn’t one-sided would completely change the ending, and I do rather like the ending, but here’s the other thing: I’m convinced there are at least two movies in this movie. One is about a young girl trying to make her way through the cutthroat fashion industry, and finds happiness in a sweet romance with a tough and wise makeup artist. The other is about a struggling but ruthless supermodel who devours her competition to stay on top. Literally. I would watch, and love, both of them, but I’m not sure they belong in the same movie.

The Neon Demon is highly stylized and was met with sharply divided opinions when it came out. I’ve watched it twice and I’m not done unpacking it yet. Check it out, and see what you think.

Don't watch this with your family.

Alternatively: Do, but beware that it might be cathartic, or profoundly triggering, depending on what your relationship with your family is like. Either way, this movie will stick to your brain for days.

Also, I think writer/director Ari Aster might share my bizarrely specific fear of open car windows.

Watch on YouTube

The line between "homage" and "derivative" is entirely dependent on the skill of the artist wielding the tools. As is the line between "newcomer" and "dedicated genre scholar who did some serious legwork to debut with something this good." This director knows what he's doing, and it's apparent in his rigid story structure that both adheres to a lot of classic horror tropes, and subverts them at the same time.

( Read more... )

Current Music: My Chemical Romance, "Mama"

God, this movie. . .

Where to begin? It's The Craft, but with dudes. Underworld, but without vampires or werewolves. Supernatural, but not funny. It's also the only chance you'll get to see Gambit fight the Winter Soldier. I have watched this hot mess five times. As a result, this review is probably five times longer than it needs to be.

Watch on YouTube

The story is compelling enough on paper: Four founding families of the Ipswich colony in Massachusetts, plus one that was banished for ~Reasons, are powerful witches who created a covenant of secrecy around their powers so they wouldn't be hunted and burned at the stake. The present day descendants of these founding families all happen to be uniformly good-looking teenage boys all nearing their 18th birthday, after which they will "ascend" to their full powers. This would all be fine except for two things: 1) Magic is highly addictive and takes a physical toll every time they use it, and 2) The descendant of the long-lost banished family is back, and out for revenge.

( Read more... )