tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60476328004468834202024-03-13T01:01:48.973-06:00Shadyside SnarkCome visit Fear Street ... IF YOU DAREA. M. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13571875837458105129noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-81525851024016668442023-10-20T10:44:00.001-06:002023-10-20T10:44:03.677-06:00Halloween Update<p> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello my spooky friends,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's no new content on the Fear Street front (unless you consider the re-release of the Evil Cheerleaders series in a fancy new package from Simon & Schuster, which I absolutely do not). I swear, Goosebumps gets all the love. I am always keenly watching to see if the fourth Fear Street movie will ever be made by Netflix, but seeing as it's still kicking around in pre-production, I'm not holding my breath.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am still trying to convince AM Stine to watch and recap the 2nd and 3rd movie installments ... but she's scared. It didn't help that I told her the 2nd one (1978) is the scariest (who's with me?) Perhaps she needs a bit of encouragement.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But, if you need a shot of horror in your life, this writer has her own horror anthology <i>Then She Said Hush</i> available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Then-Said-Hush-Cordelia-Kelly-ebook/dp/B0C1HJDCZ7?ref_=ast_author_mpb">Amazon</a>. And for the month of October, the ebook is being given away if you sign up for <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/contact/">my newsletter</a>. Check it out here. Free horror for Halloween? That's almost enough to give me Goosebumps.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>I also have some published horror shorts available: “Inside Me” is a short story appearing in </span><a href="https://www.backroadsliteraryreview.com/" tabindex="-1" target="_blank"><span>Back Roads Autumn Literary Review</span></a><span>. This is my first piece appearing in a literary magazine, and of course it was going to be horror. The story is about a lust spell gone wrong at a high school party, with some serious </span><em><span>The Craft</span></em><span> vibes. While there is nothing particularly graphic, I do have to warn that there is some light cannibalism. Still can’t believe they actually published it!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span><span>The story “Dare to Survive” will be appearing in horror anthology </span><em><span>Dark & Stormy.</span></em><span> Love the name, and I love the entire anthology. There are some incredibly creepy stories in here, “The Old Man on the Porch” kept me up at night! My story has been described as “edge-of-your-seat”, set in a near-future world. Contestants on a game show compete in Fear Factor-type challenges. The prize? Saving the life of a loved one on death row. Failure means immediate execution, and perhaps the loss of the contestants life as well. By far the darkest thing I’ve written (</span><em><span>yet</span></em></span><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">), this is definitely not for kids. The anthology is set to be released November.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Until next time, keep things creepy.</span></span></div>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-18369600216997230552023-04-14T09:53:00.000-06:002023-04-14T09:53:07.387-06:00<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Wr9ehcpz82WMQS6yNaC_7exUiUaxX_vrcwdQVv1HRBytGgi99l1fJQ8EFltiMtUovSGcvtPvdWyZQPHZlY-YmfmOhwcaIybotcXr6gOFKhvQYkJahxZxn63zCq-V7S1_krecdWR8hphIgN6sb3Q9ECQE7voqVWEwmoxvvFavpuu0nfQpNv3cPlaU/s2551/Lauren%20Barr%20v3%20ebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2551" data-original-width="1651" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Wr9ehcpz82WMQS6yNaC_7exUiUaxX_vrcwdQVv1HRBytGgi99l1fJQ8EFltiMtUovSGcvtPvdWyZQPHZlY-YmfmOhwcaIybotcXr6gOFKhvQYkJahxZxn63zCq-V7S1_krecdWR8hphIgN6sb3Q9ECQE7voqVWEwmoxvvFavpuu0nfQpNv3cPlaU/w259-h400/Lauren%20Barr%20v3%20ebook.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> Hello horror-loving friends! I have exciting news - I've just released a collection of short stories in my horror anthology <i>Then She Said Hush</i>. Is it as good as Fear Street? I mean, can anything be? But these are some spooky, and occasionally silly stories I've written, including the award-winning <i>Unfreeze. </i>If you like tales of witches and survivalists, or if saunas really freak you out, then this is the book for you.</p><p><i>Then She Said Hush</i> is available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Then-Said-Hush-Cordelia-Kelly-ebook/dp/B0C1HJDCZ7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10OE3U8NFJLTQ&keywords=then+she+said+hush&qid=1681487447&sprefix=%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, but for a short time, I am giving away the ebook for free on my website! Check it out at <a href="http://cordeliakelly.com">cordeliakelly.com</a>!</p><p>The stories in <i>Then She Said Hush</i> were written with a campfire in mind. There is nothing so delightful, or primal, as gather closer to feel the heat and the light on your face while the darkness gathers at you back, and tell tales. Everything is spookier when there's nothing but open emptiness behind you, and the ancient dread of the unknown creeps down your spine. You force yourself not to glance over your shoulder. Is there any moment quite so frightening as when somebody freezes and whispers: <i>What was that?</i></p><p>Enjoy. And bring a flashlight.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-79109131894132785102023-04-03T10:03:00.009-06:002023-04-03T11:18:38.850-06:00The Midnight Club, or "Come for the Horror, Stay for the Enlightenment"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixA5bpmUXiagbn8xwc-bT5lDYDQy3LjvRCYX7ZA5ocUY1BlDv3uuD8RCgh92ZmQmWEpZILjA4D64ZxEaejC83yYunE_90DNXyiFAHBEMX1RnkzImdbiGia8vgb676BItxTtT5RGwgX2zJERqJe8LAPEwIIt_LSBl-GGG3k891eEV4SLS5wJPRaMjkp/s4032/MidnightClub.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixA5bpmUXiagbn8xwc-bT5lDYDQy3LjvRCYX7ZA5ocUY1BlDv3uuD8RCgh92ZmQmWEpZILjA4D64ZxEaejC83yYunE_90DNXyiFAHBEMX1RnkzImdbiGia8vgb676BItxTtT5RGwgX2zJERqJe8LAPEwIIt_LSBl-GGG3k891eEV4SLS5wJPRaMjkp/w400-h300/MidnightClub.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">I have never recapped a Pike book, though I used to read his books almost as religiously as Fear Streets in the ‘90s. Pike is a philosopher king compared to R. L. Stine. Fear Street is all slasher-gore horror but doesn’t come with tons of depth (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) Pike, however, seems to start off down on your typical horror road, then it spins out into something extravagantly weird, like “but we were actually ancient pagan gods and live in another dimension” kind of stuff. Pike’s books were pretty trippy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But my attention was caught by the Netflix series based on his book <i>The Midnight Club</i>. It looks scary, and I thought it might be something fun to recap, seeing as I’ve been enjoying recapping R. L.’s shows. With that in mind, I’ve read The Midnight Club. It is … not at all what I expected. Although perhaps I should have, since it is classic Pike. And now I’m even more curious about The Midnight Club series. Does it follow the same path as the book? Does it take a creepy concept (dying kids make a pact to reach out to others after death) and take it in a whole different direction? Let me know if you’d like to see the recaps of the show here! Also if you're looking for more horror, check out my new blog post on <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/2023/04/03/scariest-monsters-in-lit/">The Scariest Monsters in Literature</a>.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On to the recap: Ilonka is dying of cancer. She lives in Rotterdam Hospice, a very fancy mansion that has been repurposed for children receiving end-of-life care – no treatments, only pain management and whatever comfort they can find in a cool old place and each other. It used to be the home of an oil tycoon, set on the Pacific Coast in Washington State.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka has a remarkably upbeat attitude to keep on living life right to the end. Her roommate, Anya, feels otherwise. She lives in excruciating pain from her bone cancer and likes drugs and not much else. Her leg has been amputated and she can barely move for the pain. She reads the Bible by day and tells scary stories at night. She also tells hard truths, like the fact that Ilonka is obviously in love with Kevin, another guest at the hospice, which is super awkward since he has a devoted girlfriend.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka is aware of all this. She hates Kevin’s girlfriend, thinks she’s insipid. She loooooves Kevin and believes her connection to him has to do with the ancient past. Whoof, it didn’t take long to get to the esoteric stuff Pike loves so much!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She takes like 6 T3s to forget about the girlfriend and push the pain away. These kids take a lot of drugs.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka is awoken by Sandra to make the next meeting of the Midnight Club. It’s a group of five kids who meet in the library at midnight to tell each other stories. Ilonka is happy she didn’t sleep through it because she has a tale to tell.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spence is the fifth member of the club, and is a bit of an energetic trickster. He tells a bloody, gory story, which is typical of him. Then Anya tells a disturbing story about doppelgangers and deals with the devil.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka starts her story, about a past life – 20,000 years ago in Egypt. Delius is the follower of a divine Master and had a good friend, Shradna. It’s a sad story, because Shradna’s daughter dies, then Delius and Shradna fight and fall out. Also, Ilonka believes that she is Delius, and Kevin is Shradna, though she leaves that last part out.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kevin goes next. He tells a story of an angel who falls in love with a human and becomes mortal to be with her. Ooh, what could this mean?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The next day, Kevin’s girlfriend Kathy comes to see him. Ilonka takes her aside and tells her Kevin is going to die, that’s why he’s in a hospice and she’s only hurting him by talking about their after because they’re not going to get an after. Kathy leaves in tears and Ilonka feels terrible. It’s the worst thing she’s ever done because she only did it because she wants Kevin so bad.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka has been eating only fruits and vegetables and taking lots of vitamins, so she doesn’t listen to her own advice that she’s in a hospice and there’s only one way out of a place like that. She thinks she’s getting better and demands to be taken to get an MRI to prove it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before the next Midnight Club, Anya shares a story for only Ilonka. It’s a real story. She was in love with her boyfriend and thought it was too good to be true. She fucked it up because her love freaked her out so much, and gets caught cheating with another man. She had made a sculpture of two lovers together for her boyfriend, who threw it to the ground when he finds them. The woman’s leg breaks off, right where Anya’s is amputated. She wonders if it means anything, as she got sick not long after that.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At the club, Spence is all kinds of mischievous and has wine for all of them. Ilonka takes only two small sips, thinking the wine tastes funny. Anya is in a remarkably good mood, maybe because of the wine and morphine mix. They talk about trying to reach out to each other when they’re gone, to show them there is an afterlife. Only this is not scary at all, but peaceful and sweet, a way to comfort each other.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spence has another bloody gory story that is short and entertaining. Ilonka goes next, and it’s another of her past lives, this time in India. She went against her caste to marry and has a child who will/did become a divine prophet called the Master, so that guy’s always mixed up with her lives. Pike always does spiritual stuff like that.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At this point, I am so curious what the show is actually like because we are ¾ of the way through the book and the only plot so far basically is: dying teens tell rambling stories.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka falls asleep hard that night and has more and more past-life dreams. In these, it appears she’s being led by Jesus, who speaks of God’s love, but she refers to him as Master. She begs him to bring back her dead husband, and she basically tells her she’s not very enlightened.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When she wakes Anya is dead. She wonders whether something happened to her (besides, you know, the bone cancer that was actively killing her). The doctors assure her of course her body had reached its end naturally and there would be no autopsy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then a powerful rumour spreads through Rotterdam: one of the guests there has been misdiagnosed. One of them is not condemned.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka is sure it’s her because she had her MRI the other day. She’s happy and goes for a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>walk with Kevin. He knows he was in her past lives, and he tells her the story about the angel was about them, too.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But then Ilonka sees Sandra packing her stuff.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nobody packs their stuff here, that’s done for them after they’re gone. So Ilonka realizes it’s not her that gets to leave through the front doors. Her new diagnosis is much worse – she has maybe a couple of weeks.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kevin finishes his story of the angel for her and it’s about love and acceptance and death. She tells him she loves him, he feels the same way, and they sleep together (though neither has the energy for actual sex, they’re together emotionally). She dreams of other past lives – one where she is a king, tempted by a woman who knows the secret of powerful addictive sex act called The Rapture.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then in the next life she’s a poor, sick, bald milkmaid in Scandinavia, unloved and unlucky. She learns a different addictive sex act, called The Seedling, which forces others to be with her and she becomes promiscuous. A wizard gives her the power and now he wants her to use it to seduce and kill a count. She prays to be released from this and she is found by the young man she loved her whole life. He loves her too. They run away together but the wizard finds her and stabs her in the guts. Before she dies, the boy says he’ll find her again. She says she has many sins to pay for, but he says he’ll take them on as well so he might be with her.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka wakes up, her stomach burning with the same pain as from the other life and realizes this is the price she paid for wicked deeds before. But she wakes up in Kevin’s arms, so that’s okay. They kiss and tell each other they love each other, and he dies in her arms.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After that, it’s just her and Spence left. He admits to drugging Ilonka the night with the wine and then smothering Anya at her request. She asked him to do it because he believes he already killed someone, so his karma could take it. Spence is dying of AIDS, and he never told his partner he had it, though he hadn’t known he was infected when they first got together.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ilonka tells him he’s forgiven, but if he would like, she’ll stay with him for the next life and share in whatever payment that comes with his sins, as Kevin did for her.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She goes into the stars after that.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wow. I mean, it’s a sweet story. There is nothing scary here. Even the kids who are dying are given the comfort of future lives to look forward to. It’s not Fear Street, that’s for sure. Essentially, it’s a story of divine love. I'm not sure how to rate this, but I'll go for 7 raptures out of 11.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-35760805150314513452023-03-24T09:48:00.002-06:002023-03-24T09:48:14.099-06:00The Treehouse: A Just Beyond Recap<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia;">Song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmhV5ZiS1F8" target="_blank">Perfect World</a></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Treehouse is the highest-rated of all the Just Beyond episodes, so I was curious: was it sweeter, or was it scarier? Read to the end to find out!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam has just purchased a mint copy of a comic book – Commander Canada, with his maple syrup blaster. That is hilarious. Sam is kinda a nerdy kid with a great best friend, Mason, and they’re so excited about their new purchase. Then this mean kid Tommy grabs it from him and throws it in a puddle, so it’s no longer mint.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Mason is sweet, tells Sam he knows what that comic would have meant to his dad, but Sam doesn’t want to talk about it. He goes home to his mom, who tells him they need to move on and have a normal life again, but Sam doesn’t want to – he doesn’t want to forget his dad died. Oh, my heart just broke.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam goes out to the treehouse he made with his dad before he died, and reads comics, but a vicious storm blows in and the treehouse is struck by lightning and collapses.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He wakes up in bed, but it’s not his bed or his room. It’s beautiful and huge. He’s in sports photos with town bully Tommy and it appears they are best friends. Downstairs, he realizes he’s in a mansion, and the people calling him son aren’t his mom and dad. They’re concerned that he doesn’t know them, but not too worried because he had a soccer injury that apparently could lead to memory loss.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam runs the hell away from his Stepford fake family to his real house. His mom is there, but she has no idea who he is. And then – biggest heartbreaker yet – his dad is there. In this reality he’s alive, and he doesn’t know Sam. They’re talking about calling the police, but nicely, so Sam runs away.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oh, but in this new reality, he keeps flashing to a grisly wasteland that sort of overrides the lovely neighbourhoods around him, so you get the sense that if things aren’t put back into place, things are going to get apocalyptic. So Sam goes to Mason to get his help. But it turns out new Sam is actually a total bully and Mason hates him.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But Sam tells him a bunch of weird stuff about him he shouldn’t know and tells Mason to trust him. Since Mason of this world is also still into comic books and other dimensions, he’s easy to convince. He tells Sam the fact that he’s glitching isn’t good, and if he doesn’t get out of new reality he’ll end up being stuck in the wasteland. How to get out of this reality? He’ll have to get a new treehouse from his old dad.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So Sam also tells his dad weird stuff he shouldn’t know – and this dad in the new reality begins to be convinced a little bit too.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The world glitches again, and it’s really creepy. Sam goes back to his fake house and wonders if he’ll just wake up and everything will be normal. But then he thinks, he’ll never be able to see his dad again, and I have a lump in my throat.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam wakes up in the alternate dimension. He goes to his real dad’s and they start talking treehouses. He’s so kind. The mom thinks they’re both crazy, but dad figures – if Sam is right then he’s helping his kid get home and if he’s wrong, then he’s helping out a lonely kid. Besides, he’s always wanted a treehouse, and he and his wife start to think about maybe having kids. She might be starting to believe him a little bit too. They go as a family to a diner and a lumber yard, and I love this family bonding. I do wonder what his fake family is thinking, like “Sam has a head injury and has completely disappeared – shrug.” Sam is better off with these awesome human beings.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tommy the bully wonders what’s up with him, and Sam gives him an excellent burn. He’s having so much fun being with his complete family again. But then he glitches in the backyard and he sees the wasteland – where the treehouse is collapsed and his mother is screaming for him. Creepy.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So they’ve made an amazing treehouse in like a day – I’m impressed. A crazy storm is blowing in and Sam knows this is his chance. The three of them carve their initials into the ladder. He says goodbye to his mom and goes into the treehouse. His dad waits with him. His dad says he’ll see him in another life. Sam breaks down and tells him he’s not in the other reality, he died, and he doesn’t want to go back to a place where he’s gone. Dad doesn’t want to know how it happens but tells him he needs to go back to be with his mom. Sam tells his dad he loves him and they hug and his dad is so so kind.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Are you kidding me with this? I’m not crying, you’re … no, I’m definitely crying. Just Beyond has made me openly cry. A lightning flash.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam wakes up in the hospital, his real mom is there waiting for him. He’s been out since the treehouse collapsed. He tells his mom he saw his dad and he helped him find his way back, and there I go again. This is so sad and sweet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sam inspects the wreckage of the treehouse later, and he finds the initials that his alternate family carved into the ladder.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oh man, this show legit made me cry, and not just because I miss my dad, or maybe exactly for that reason. I loved it. 9 broken-hearted alternate realities out of 9.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-38544667713465246782023-03-17T11:55:00.006-06:002023-03-17T11:55:53.102-06:00Standing Up For Yourself: A Just Beyond Recap<p><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px;">Song: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4GZJIZRaAk" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px;">Break My Stride</a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px;"> (honestly this video could not possibly be more '80s, it has to be seen to be believed)</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Welcome to Larkinville, the best small town in the world. Except for Trevor. Trevor’s kind of a dick. No, scratch that, a major dick. Not only is he the worst, but everyone is scared of him. He’s only a teenager, but adults are cringing away from him, letting him get away with whatever he wants. Why? Oh, because he’s Trevor <i>Larkin</i>, and his daddy owns the town. Basically entirely – he employs everyone, and is everybody’s landlord. And he is like King Dick, so Trevor comes by it honestly.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At high school, all the kids are essentially his servants or toadies – the nerdy kids do all his work. Anything that isn’t perfect for him, he’ll hit someone. So, Trevor is a psycho. He breaks a kid’s nose in dodgeball, and the mother of the child is out for blood. But he can’t be expelled because … they would all be fired. Principal warns the mom not to do anything – not only will she be fired, her family will be evicted.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A new kid comes to town. He’s like bully-fodder – he is slight and seems nerdy, he has a fake leg and his name is Burger. Trevor is delighted and immediately starts to harass him. The other kids warn the new kid, Evan, to just do what he says. “Welcome to the resistance.”</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Trevor demands Evan empty his backpack, but turns out new kid has a spine, and says no. Trevor threatens him, but Evan warns him he’s making a mistake. He gets fully pummelled by Trevor.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A few hours later, Evan is brought to Trevor’s house by his grandmother, who doesn’t really speak English but demands an apology. Nobody is surprised when Trevor is a dick to her, too. The grandma starts chanting – that’s never a good sign. I’m getting Beauty and the Beast vibes here. Everything goes dark and Trevor is actually spooked. A new wind blows through Larkinville, and everyone looks up for a moment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That night, Trevor has dinner with his dad, who is unsurprisingly horrible. He laughs about how he did in fact fire and evict the mom whose son’s nose Trevor had broken. Trevor’s mom (stepmom because she’s pretty young?) seems scared of her husband and feels sorry for the family they just destroyed. Is she nice? But then she’s super inappropriate at the dinner table with her husband, and both Trevor and I are horrified. She does offer that Trevor shouldn’t be so aggressive, but the Larkin men agree that if you’re not stomping on others, they’ll be stomping at you. A spooky wind blows things against the window.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Trevor wakes up the next day, he’s a little kid! He goes into town and the townspeople aren’t scared of him anymore, he’s not getting away with anything. Then they realize it’s him because of a scar on his face, and they’re even less scared. In fact, there are several adults who are looking for a little payback. This is kinda scary, actually, and Trevor runs away. He’s literally being chased by townspeople and dogs, and kinda deserves it.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oops, none of the kids in school are scared of him either. Nor are the teachers or the principal. It looks like he’s going to be actually ripped apart but new kid Evan stops them. He says if they continue, then they are as bad as Trevor is.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Trevor escapes and goes to the old lady’s house, the witch who put this spell on him. He begs her for forgiveness, and she tells him: L<i>ove others and you love yourself. Hurt others and you hurt yourself.</i> He says he understands, and she says when he wakes up, the world will be as it should. He has the chance at a new life.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oh no, Trevor, listen to her language! But he goes home to bed, and when he wakes up, he’s back to his massive bullying self. Has he learned a lesson? Of course not! He storms out of bed in the mood for some payback.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But as he tramples the flowerbed like he always does, the gardener speaks out against him – oh, and it’s his dad! The world really has changed overnight. Evan and his family live in his old mansion and they own the town now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Only Evan is kind. And the world is a much better place now.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Aww, loved this ending. I felt Trevor shouldn’t have gotten off too easy, and he didn’t. Now he’ll have to work in this new life to be better. Perfect. The message we learned? I’ll repeat the witch: Love others and you love yourself. Hurt others and you hurt yourself. An excellent way to live life, no matter who you are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not the scariest of shows by a long shot, but gosh darn it I’m being swayed by all this good messaging. Am I becoming a better person? 8 angry mobs out of 10.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-88761813138051905742023-03-10T10:58:00.008-07:002023-03-10T10:58:49.687-07:00We've Got Spirit: A Just Beyond Recap<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">Listen to: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-p4dl6sr9Y" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">Dancing Under the Stars</a></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Get your jazz hands ready for this one! I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy Just Beyond as much as I did. I certainly wasn’t expecting them to be so heartwarming; this one could be enjoyed with a cup of cocoa. Or maybe some popcorn, as it takes place in the theatre.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ella, a surly teen is on her way to school. She’s having a hard time there, as her best friend Zoe ditched her last year and she’s having trouble getting over how much that hurt. They are both in performance class together, where the teacher demands they all lay their souls bare, which Ella is clearly not in the mood to do.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They take a field trip to the Fox Theater, housed in a beautiful turn-of-the-century building. I had to look up this place, and it turns out Just Beyond was mainly filmed in Atlanta, and the Fox Theatre is a real place there (and also might be for real haunted!) Booking ghost tour in Atlanta immediately.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The fictional Fox Theater is also supposed to be haunted, as it burned down in ’38, taking with it the lives of the theatre troupe rehearsing at the time. The tour director plays it up, staging a bit of a haunted moment where the lights go on and off, and the script of the play they were rehearsing appears on the table (<i>Unfinished Business</i> – a little on the nose!). Ella is overwhelmed in this space, and her former friend Zoe isn’t helping – what a bitch! She runs away from the field trip to avoid having to perform, and ends up falling asleep on the couch in a tucked-away room.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First rule in horror shows: one should never go off alone in creepy haunted theatres. But unfortunately for Ella, she gets left behind and locked in the building. She wakes up to a dead phone and barred doors, and wow is she taking this better than I would!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The chandeliers sway in a ghostly breeze and everything is v. creepy – good job on giving me the chills. Just when everything goes quiet again, doors open and slam on their own and a ghost swishes right by her. Ella is about ready to faint, and the whole ghostly theatre troupe appears in front of her. They look her over and say they want to transform her.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Don’t worry, though, they don’t want her as a ghost, they want her to be an actress! They’ve been looking for someone to help them rehearse a play because they’re down an actor. They’re dead, but they’re not scary – so they say. They’re sweet and sassy, straight from the dirty thirties. And they demand that Ella get over her stage fright right away.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She doesn’t have anything better to do so she tries to run lines with them, but Ella sucks. One of the ghosts possesses her to show her how it’s done, and good job actress for the dual body stuff, very cool. She’s angry about the possession, but just then a terrifying ghost skull shows up to attack them. They warn her to run – apparently, even ghosts are scared of some things. This skull used to show up a lot, but hasn’t happened in a long time. They figure it’s because Ella is there, and they need to get her out.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She goes upstairs to a room that has the blueprints of the theatre and smashes the case – Quiet Ella feels frocking awesome about smashing things up! Girl needs to come out of her shell. One of the ghosts gives her the backstory about the overbearing actress who possessed her – she had been fighting with a young actress the night of the fire, Dolores, who ran away before the fire. Just after he shares this, the ghosts disappears and the slurpee machine in the concession oozes over the top. The ghostly tension builds up, until a ghostly hand grabs Ella, holding it over her mouth. She dashes for the door to the basement, but it’s been bricked over. Ghostly writing appears on the bricks: Please stop.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Damn. That was scary. Now she’s exploring the theatre with a young ghost her age who appears to have a crush on her, it’s adorable. She tells him her story about her friend Zoe, how they used to sing and songwrite together, but then Zoe didn’t want to hang out anymore. She wrote a song for her, telling her how much she missed her, and sent it to her. Zoe, that bitch, shared with the whole school and everyone laughed at her. Ella hasn’t been able to perform since Zoe did that, and I kinda can’t blame her. She says she feels like she’s stuck in limbo, and ghost can agree with that. She sings for him, and he gives her the keys to get out. He had them the whole time, he just wanted to hang with her for a bit.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She thanks the whole troupe and is about to leave when a message from Dolores appears and the horrible skull appears and chases the ghosts away. Ella makes a decision and goes after the actors. She has figured out that Dolores is the demon skull – that she never left the theatre and was caught in the fire same as them. Ella speaks to the skull, understanding how it feels to be cast out, felt like nobody wants them. They make the mean actress apologize to the skull, but the demon ghost is still angry. So Ella tells her (nicely) that she just has to get over it.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then skull becomes Dolores again, and she says it’s good to let go of the anger she’d been holding for nearly a century. The cast puts on their show, finally, for Ella. As they bow, they then ascend into the light. Their unfinished business was finally completed.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ella’s parents come to rescue her and she gets out of the theatre. Next time she’s in performance class, Ella gets up and bares her soul, getting her whole class into her song. Even Zoe starts to groove to it (I’ll still be mad – don’t you dare, Zoe). Ella’s moved on, and it’s very moving.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Points for being both cute and at times kinda scary. The message we learned: We need to let go of our anger and move on from things that have hurt us. I’ll give that a standing ovation. 5 demon ghost skulls out of 6.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-17986363101066954082023-03-03T13:47:00.009-07:002023-03-03T13:47:56.076-07:00Unfiltered, a Just Beyond recap<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Unfiltered caused some rage to build up in me, so just be warned I might get kind of ranty here! Also, for lovers of all things lit and horror, I'm written a blog post on <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/2023/02/25/immortality-blessing-or-curse/" target="_blank">immortality in literature</a>, and whether it's a blessing or a curse (spoiler alert: for me, immortality will always fall under the horror genre). Check it out at <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/2023/02/25/immortality-blessing-or-curse/" target="_blank">cordeliakelly</a>.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">Listen to: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+picture+perfect+sedona&sxsrf=AJOqlzVxh1KN4uV03LS50n56fRlkUp9w2w%3A1677876234972&ei=ClwCZOWEO-aG0PEP0LeP6AI&ved=0ahUKEwjlsdmH0MD9AhVmAzQIHdDbAy0Q4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=youtube+picture+perfect+sedona&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABOgoIABBHENYEELADOgYIABAWEB46CAghEBYQHhAdOgUIABCGAzoHCCEQoAEQCjoECCEQFUoECEEYAFCOA1iWZGCHZWgLcAF4AIABmQKIAfwIkgEFMy41LjGYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5655fa1d,vid:40ln1sj_iJg" target="_blank">Picture Perfect, Sedona</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">Lily is crazy smart and awesome and as we watch her through the day, we see she’s confident and so full of potential. But, like many teenage girls, she’s also obsessed with selfies and influencers, judging her self-worth based on her looks. She hates her nose, and her glasses, and sometimes wishes she wasn’t a nerd. She confesses to her equally nerdy friend that she wants to be hot, not smart, just once, and go to a party with cute boys. As she says, she wants to be just a touch closer to perfect.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A new crazy-hot teacher breezes into the art class, being all awesome and beautiful as she tells them all to just paint something. Lily’s crush approaches her and she gets her hopes up as he tells her about this party he’s having … and he wants her to tutor him because if he fails his upcoming test, his parents will make him cancel. Lily is crushed that he only sees her as a nerd.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">New hot teacher overhears, and tells Lily that it’s hard being pretty too. Okay, no one asked you, hot lady, and I’m offended for Lily that she’s getting involved. Ooh, but now she’s sharing this awesome new beauty app that’s invite-only and I’m realizing that hot teacher is in fact very, very sketchy.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lily is skeptical, but the beauty app works. As in, it changes her actual face. So she gives herself the nose job of her dream and her face is now perfect.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When she comes to school the next day, she’s just like one of the cute girls.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Except, let’s just get into this here right now: she could have always worn cute clothes and like, brushed her hair. Self-grooming is okay. Nerds don’t have to only wear oversized flannel.) But whatever, changing her nose and putting on makeup has allowed her to become a changed person.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, she’s actually a changed person, because as she’s talking to her very smart friend, it’s clear she’s gotten dumber. She looks at the app, that’s flashing a warning sign that side effects include permanent changes in personality.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Except, except, being pretty, wearing make-up or clothes that you like doesn’t actually make you dumb. It’s not an either/or concept, and I’m not loving that this is how it’s being portrayed. It’s a little heavy-handed.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So she ditches her sweet friend to go hang with the popular girls who are into her now that she’s wearing contacts and a crop top. And now she’s chatting with her crush and her real friend is genuinely crushed. The popular girls are kind of mean, though, and they tell Lily she couldn’t land her crush and needed to manage her expectations.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So Lily takes things even further with the app until she doesn’t even look like herself anymore. She also turns into a flaky bitch. She completely fails at the quiz bowl she’d been studying before she got popular, and her friend calls her basic. She will not be accepting calls anymore.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But, things are going Lily’s way because her crush invites her to his party, and I cannot even handle her lips. How does one even speak out of those? I also can’t handle her new, seriously mean attitude. She’s so shallow even her crush can’t handle her, so she frantically goes to upgrade her face again. But she goes too far. She’s turned into one of those weird plastic surgery cat-ladies, it’s a horrifying mess. The whole party goes silent at her face.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She runs to the hot teacher’s house, the one that got her into this hot mess in the first place. It’s weirdly empty and ominous, so obviously she just lets herself in. Hanging in the room are mirrors, where living people are trapped.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hot teacher finds her there and gets mad. By now we all know she’s a witch (but not an adorable one) and explains that the people’s spirits are trapped there. They traded their souls to be pretty, because when they have the choice, people will choose outer beauty over inner beauty every time. And she calls Lily out for being shallow.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lily gets mad and starts smashing the mirrors, realizing that it hurts the witch. She smashes all the mirrors and the souls are released. The witch turns old and ugly, and Lily gets her old face and her old personality back.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First stop, Lily makes up with her friend, who at first plays she’ll never forgive her, but takes her back readily enough. And they walk away with the knowledge that inner beauty is the best. But also apparently that nerds must never think of their appearance because we are only allowed to have one dominant personality trait, and if you want to be smart, that’s it.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let me finish my rant that wearing makeup doesn’t make women evil? And that wanting to look your best doesn’t actually detract from your other qualities? I get not overdoing it, I get not being swayed by influencers and apps that make it seem like we should all be perfect, but for me, Unfiltered did not hit that mark. 3 hot lips out of 7.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-88665012699752982482023-02-25T08:26:00.000-07:002023-02-25T09:42:15.250-07:00My Monster: A Just Beyond recap<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">Listen to: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZjFGbKegmQ" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">So Good</a></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">A teen is watching TV at night during a storm, when she hears creepy carnival music from outside. This is giving me Scream flashbacks and I love it. She gets up to look for the source of the music, and I’m actually pretty creeped out. The tension builds, until in a flash of lightning she realizes a horrifying man-like monster is behind her. A cat looks on as she screams.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wow, first jump scare of Just Beyond. Did things just get real? Or am I going to learn something about myself?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A girl (a different one) wakes up from a nightmare. There are strange noises coming from her closet, and she leaves her light on. She’s super scared.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She is Olivia, and she just moved into a new town to a new (to her) house. It’s actually her mother’s old house, and her parents are recently divorced. Olivia is like supergirl, incredibly helpful and optimistic to make sure her mom feels okay. Then it flashes to her falling apart, having a panic attack, clearly not really okay at all. And my heart is now with Olivia, who is putting on such a brave face while actually so scared of everything.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She meets her next-door neighbour, Graham, who is an absolute delight. With no concept of boundaries, he invites himself over and makes himself at home, being both obnoxious and awesome at the same time. He thinks her house is creepy, and is into it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As a side note, I like how the teens in Just Beyond look like actual teens, not attractive thirty-somethings. But I just looked up Megan Stott and she must have been 17-18 when this was filmed. I would have guessed 14, so I guess everyone looks younger on film?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Anyway, that night there is a lightning storm, and Olivia hears the creepy carnival music. Guys, this is bad, really bad, and genuinely scary. Finally, after more build-up than my poor heart can take, she sees a flash of the masked man in the suit, same as the one that attacked the other girl!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Next day, Graham continues to be awesome and supportive and snarky at the same time and brings her to meet the popular cheerleader girls of the school, who are into her because Olivia is also a cheerleader. She gets invited to a party at an amusement park (an elite invite) but is freaked out about going on the really sketchy terrifying roller coaster. She hears the carnival music in the school. It’s not the house that’s haunted – it’s Olivia!!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’s trying to research the monster that’s stalking her with Graham in the library, when he has to go. She hears the music again, and follows it deep into the stacks. I’m still finding this so creepy! Why is there a basement in the library? Why are you going down there, little girl? This is the time when you say NO THANK YOU and leave the creepy music alone.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She goes into the basement. Of course the door slams shut behind her and of course she’s trapped. Now the murderous masked man appears at the end of the hall and he’s all stretched out like slim man and I can’t handle this. He sprints towards her and she cringes away. Just before he gets her, the lights go back on and he’s disappeared.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Olivia next has cheerleader practice, and I’m surprised she can move at all. She’s not doing well. She’s sort of thrown into it, everyone telling her she can handle it. But she’s a flyer and they’re flipping her around all over the place and I can see how this would suck for her. Then she looks down and everything goes dark and the monster is standing under her. She falls hard.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Despite her struggles, Graham continues to be the bright spot in all this. He tells her she must go to the amusement park party and ride the roller coaster, because risking her life this once is worth not having a Siberian social life.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Her mom is going out for the night and leaves Olivia with a babysitter – you think she’d be happy to not be alone, but she complains like a teen. But it turns out it was an old babysitter of her mothers, and she had tea to spill. Olivia’s mother used to claim the house was haunted … and that she would hear music. And good god there are a lot of lightning storms here. Climate change?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Olivia confronts her mother, who sighs when she realizes her daughter is afflicted as well. The monster appears when she is nervous. She calls him the squeamer. And by the way, he never goes away. You just have to make friends with him. She tells her daughter with a hug it’s okay to be scared and have bad days and not be perfect.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So creepy monster is the embodiment of Olivia’s fear. And she must accept him as part of his life. I thought that once we learn this lesson, all the scariness would be over, but not really. Olivia gets up that night for some water, and hears heavy footsteps overhead where her little brother is. My god there are so many jumpstarts here.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The monster appears to be going for her brother and she steps in front of it, telling it to back off. She finds her courage, and takes off the monster’s mask. We don’t find out what he looks like, but Olivia is satisfied.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Olivia goes out to that amusement park party and goes on the terrifying rollercoaster (the only one banned by the UN, ha). The masked monster sits next to her, but she tells him the seats already taken. Graham hops in with her and they go for a ride (but you can see the monster’s taken a different seat!)</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We learned it’s okay to be scared and we better get comfortable not being perfect all the time. 11 out of 11 lightning storms for serious scare points here!</p><br /><p></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-58183483540282722322023-02-17T09:40:00.006-07:002023-02-17T09:40:30.002-07:00Which Witch: A Just Beyond Recap<p><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Listen to: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGZOmPdOCMg" target="_blank">Stars Across the Sky, Bien</a></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Entire concept of this is so cool, and relevant to kids these days! Fiona is a real effing witch, (well, half-witch) sitting in the cafeteria with her friends. Her friends are telling her that witches like her need better representation, but Fiona demurs, saying she’s barely a witch anyways because she’s only half. She hides her tarantula lunch from them because she hates feeling different.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It looks like Fiona’s crush on Emilio might be reciprocated, but then mean girl Madison comes up to break her heart, because Emilio is going to the dance with HER. When one of Fiona’s friends makes a thoughtless comment, her other friend grabs her and asks if she’s dehydrated. Snort. This is going to be my new burn.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fiona goes to the bathroom to drown her sorrows. And also to munch on her tarantula sandwich, because she loves that thing. We discover in this world that witches are real, it’s a thing, and some people are awful to her about it. While others are overly woke about how accepting they are, and it’s pretty cringy too.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then miracles happen and Emilio stops Fiona in the hall and asks her to homecoming in the most awkwardly adorable way. Except she’s also having a conversation with a weird cat in her head at the same time, making her seem like a weirdo. This actress is good, she made me laugh. The cat offers to scratch Emilio’s face off and Fiona makes it go poof, then floats a little as she says yes to him.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At home, she takes off the makeup that makes her seem more human. She’s got magical eyes and a big ol’ wart and is still adorable. All she wants is for her parents to be more normal and not act like witches at all. 100% this is exactly like a second-generation kid wishing her immigrant parents could just fit in. Unfortunately for that dream, Fiona finds out that her cousin Luna is going to be staying for some months with her, and this is terrible because Luna is “fresh off the broomstick.” As in, she acts like a total witch.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Luna shows up in a purple tornado and they all cackle, which is also adorable. Fiona clearly loves her cousin but is torn because she knows she won’t help her fit in.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At school the next day, Fiona’s friends are super into Luna and want to know everything about being a witch because Fiona never tells them anything. Meanwhile, mean girls are mean, and Luna calls them trolls. Ha. Luna is English, and she also makes a pointed comment in class about it not mattering about bringing dangerous weapons into school in the States. Ouch. And her teacher is so woke it is painful.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The night of homecoming Fiona dresses very human and refuses to take a broomstick. She’s super happy to be with Emilio, but then he refuses to take a photo with her, and she’s sure he’s embarrassed to be seen with her. And she just takes the disappointment. Then he asks her to slow dance and explains he can’t take photos due to eye sensitivity, and all of a sudden I’m thinking he’s a vampire.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Meanwhile, mean Madison steals Fiona’s wand and conjures up cockroaches everywhere. Everyone, including her friends, thinks that Fiona did it and this is genuinely upsetting to me that they didn’t have her back. Crushed, she leaves all the screaming kids in the gym.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Luna finds her in the hallways and apologizes for pushing her out of her comfort zone, but Fiona says she needs to apologize for being embarrassed about being a witch. She sees that no matter what she does, everyone is going to only see her as a witch. Luna, who is a full witch, speaks about how lonely it must be to be a half-witch, as you don’t quite fit in anywhere.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fiona squares her shoulders. If they’re going to see a witch, then let them see a gd witch – she’s not going to hide anymore. And now she has a saucy hat to go with her cackle and I love her.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Emilio is super in her new look (vampire) and her friends rush up to apologize, and she forgives them, especially because she never really gives them a chance to know what a witch is. Then she takes her wand back from Madison. She doesn’t get revenge, just tells her she has an ugly personality. Then she takes care of the roaches and conjures up a cool galaxy for the dance. Cue song: Stars Across the Sky.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She and Emilio float up into the sky and they kiss. He flashes some fang and I was so right about him being a vampire! I always find them! Then they fly on a broomstick across the moon, E.T. style, and guys I love everything about these shows right now.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What did we learn: Accept your family as they are and don’t be ashamed of where you come from.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">9 out of 9 saucy hats for extreme cuteness and message of acceptance.</span> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-9125541179607972792023-02-10T13:23:00.000-07:002023-02-10T13:23:14.152-07:00Parents Are From Mars, Kids Are From Venus: A Just Beyond recap<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;">Listen to: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Ov5jzm3j8" target="_blank">Old Town Road, by Little Nas X</a></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Jack and Ronald are just two ordinary teens, complaining about how weird their parents are. They enter a curiosity shop where the guy behind the counter knows them and starts going off about a conspiracy theory on a race of aliens. The boys look at him like he’s insane and skedaddle.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Their parents are best friends and the two families do everything together. At a backyard barbecue, the parents just don’t get their kids, who find everything they do cringey. I found this whole scene hilarious because the things the parents were into that made them so out of touch included basically all things I love: solar panels, talking about saving money, what wood chips to use in the smoker, matching pyjamas and trying to talk like my kids. So, I am from Mars and I recognize that cringey look that comes over my kid's face when I say “no cap.” I’m dead.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">The boys are groaning because the two families will soon be going on a camping trip, and they don’t want to be stuck with their lame parents. Oh, and the parents are having a “Games Night” that night, so the boys know to make themselves scarce.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Jack’s dad comes in to have a talk with him, and by that I mean “the talk” about changes to his body and how he can talk to him about anything. He says he loves him and is super supportive, while Jack is kind of a shit to him.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">That night Jack and Ron are playing video games, moaning about what happened because they both had talks with their dads. They also both have weird rashes on their arms. But even worse, they have to go get something at the other house where the parents are. They are sneaking around because they don’t want to play games night, but then they see their parents in robes, performing some kind of cult ritual and levitating stuff. So, are they in a witch cult?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Boys go on a fact-finding mission and find weird robes and rocks in their closets. Jack’s dad nearly catches them, but acts normal. Or is he already suspicious?</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">They go to the paranoid guy at the curiosity shop, because he seems like a good person to get solid answers. He gives them the terrible news that their parents are aliens. The town is a hotbed. The aliens come and take parents, putting in replacements and waiting for their kids to mature. The rashes on their arms are signs that the boys are being prepped for extraction. He gives them tinfoil hats to protect their thoughts because if the aliens know they know, they’ll eat them right away. Nothing says subtle like a tinfoil hat. He also gives them what looks like old spaghetti sauce, saying that if their parent’s hair changes colour while suspended in that, then they are for sure aliens.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Both of their mom’s hair changes colour in the sludge, so they know they have to spy on another game night/alien cult fun times. Here they get definitive proof when Jack’s mom reaches for a chip – with her tentacle!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Knowing your parents are aliens but unable to tell them for fear of being eaten puts a kid in a difficult position, and they find themselves on a road trip in a van. Jack and Ron sit uncomfortably in the back with their tinfoil hats, while their parents awkwardly sing “Old Town Road,” and once again I am dying.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">That night, the parents want the boys to join in on games night. They exchange wide-eyed looks, figuring that the parents know they know and now they are going to eat them. They tentatively start playing crazy eights, when Jack’s dad exclaims he forgot the knife. He grabs an enormous carving knife – when his wife chides him that it’s way too big for the cheese. He’s a cool dad though and cuts his brie with a carving knife.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Then someone does get crazy eight, and runs over to grab an axe. The boys make a break for it. They grab the car keys and hop into the van, running it straight into the camping cottage because they have no idea how to drive.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">The parents haul the boys into the kitchen. The boys confront them with their knowledge – they know their aliens. Ronald hilariously moans <i>why did you take my parents? They have terrible bodies</i>. His parents get offended because they are aliens, but so are Jack and Ronald. They are just a happy pod of aliens, and the rashes on their arms show that their tentacles are ready to come up.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">The parents are so loving and accepting as they show their children how cool being an alien is. Then their tentacles come in, and the boys think it’s pretty cool too. Then the van turns into a spaceship and they all jump in, heading towards the star they came from. Everyone is so happy. Down on earth, paranoid guy waves at them – with his tentacle because he’s an alien too! They really are everywhere.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">We fade as the parents start singing Old Town Road again.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;">Um, this show was hilarious. What did we learn today? Accepting that you might be similar to your parents is okay, and maybe even a good thing, even if they seem like total aliens to you sometimes. This is a show I clearly need to watch with my own kids. I give it 5 out of 8 tinfoil hats.</p></div><p><br /></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-34138803100597002822023-02-03T10:13:00.003-07:002023-02-03T14:19:28.140-07:00Just Beyond: Leave Them Kids Alone<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtqozimebCov0D3O9W9odbVZbzT8QH4zXL12KB3TENWZZa4bd_KscUN8vj7GBVsa42LRdwOYwBv9zzyaAsMk0Jwae0V3MnxnMZytYvxBcl4-36uKajXoE4SfOCDIH5Mu_S6wj6nuVImlp2H9XqcJ386ep_bMpAmxI9FLMO9nHf-ZEzggIGEmCDolg/s4022/JustBeyond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2563" data-original-width="4022" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtqozimebCov0D3O9W9odbVZbzT8QH4zXL12KB3TENWZZa4bd_KscUN8vj7GBVsa42LRdwOYwBv9zzyaAsMk0Jwae0V3MnxnMZytYvxBcl4-36uKajXoE4SfOCDIH5Mu_S6wj6nuVImlp2H9XqcJ386ep_bMpAmxI9FLMO9nHf-ZEzggIGEmCDolg/w320-h204/JustBeyond.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Just Beyond</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I just can't get enough of R. L. Stine. I was so happy when Disney+ same out with a new series, Just Beyond, based on R. L.'s graphic novels by the same name. I wasn't the only one - I know some of you are into these recaps.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The most tragic thing about me finding these graphic novels is, it wasn't me but my son eagerly reading them. I am now the mother of a horror-loving middle grader and my work writing middle grade horror is making me feel old. Or maybe just that the cycle of horror continues.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />Just Beyond is closer to Goosebumps than Fear Street. Unlike Netflix's movie trilogy released in 2021 (you can find my recaps here: <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2021/09/fear-street-1994-or-normal-bitches-dont.html" target="_blank">1994</a>, <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2021/09/fear-street-1978-or-outhouses-are-not.html" target="_blank">1978</a>, <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2021/10/fear-street-1666-or-to-carrie-is-verb.html" target="_blank">1666</a>), this series did not manage to give me the chills. There was no gore, no deaths and no obsessive stalkers. Despite this, I was happy to dive into recapping these shows because they are mainly sweet and usually made me laugh. Every show is its own contained storyline, and each of them has a message with heart (unlike Fear Street, which never really had a message beyond "your boyfriend wants to kill you" or "all twins are at least half evil.") But these messages are relevant to kids of the now.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Hilariously, I often found my life perfectly related to the characters in the show - as the lame parents, obviously. Thank you, Just Beyond, for making me feel both loved and irrelevant at the same time.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><u>Leave Them Kids Alone</u></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Listen to: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5dN7F9DV0Qg1XRdIgW8rke?highlight=spotify:track:11I3KKHv7g2pXiuqRDabRA" target="_blank">Green Day Give me Novocaine/She's a Rebel</a></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We start the very first episode of Just Beyond, “Leave Them Kids Alone,” wandering through your typical high school. There are all kinds of kids doing all kinds of things, listening to all kinds of music. I enjoyed the concept of basically “music as personality.” The pink-haired punk queen is listening to punk riffs, the track-suited guy with oversized beats is listening to rap. For the nerdy flannel guy, a podcast on botany. For the dude in a trucker hat, country.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Then we pan to Veronica, being hauled into the office, as Green Day’s Give Me Novacaine/She’s a Rebel plays. She interrupts a girl bubbling to her about texting a guy she likes in the best way possible: “Robin, our planet is dying. Get your head in the game.”<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I already love Veronica, she’s giving me major Anna Kendrick vibes. We find out she’s a good girl gone “bad” because she’s interested in climate change. This time she’s suspended for calling for a protest on hamburger day. “One person can make a difference.” Unfortunately, her parents aren’t down with saving the world and they send their activist daughter to a boarding school.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Miss Genevieve’s School for Difficult Girls specializes in girls who “think” and “have ideas.” (how dare they). The school itself is a gothic institutional monstrosity and, unsurprisingly, Veronica doesn’t like it. All the girls walk around with the same sunshiney attitude, and they are all dressed identically in matching pinafores. Everyone’s hair is flipped out 50’s style.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Veronica shows her rebellious nature with gum – go girl! She’s not going to conform. But the headmistress is ominously sure she’ll be able to break her spirit. She says there’s no girl she can’t bring around to their way of thinking.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Her roommate is amazingly creepy in a Stepford way, which makes me wonder. Are they all robots? She is definitely not okay with Veronica’s rebellious tunes “Music is strictly forbidden.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Further forbidding elements in the school – they eat tons of meat and nobody knows what vegan means. And her history teacher is super into girls being put on trial for witchcraft if they are disobedient. When Veronica speaks up about oppression, the other girls in her class get nervous but the teacher just chuckles, saying she hasn’t had her hair appointment yet. Ooh, creepy, a flipped bob is definitely something bad here, and Veronica is just figuring that out.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">She tries sneaking out that night, and runs into a mysterious girl who, despite her hair, still looks like she has thoughts. Claire knows her way around the school and shows Veronica how to travel through the vents. She takes her to the hair treatment area and they watch as another girl gets a “hair treatment.” At first she’s tied down and screaming, but by the end of the process, her personality is gone. The struggling “bad” girl is quite suddenly docile, brainwashed.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Claire explains how it is. Parents know what happens at Miss Genevieve’s, but they don’t question it. They send their daughters there because they’re scared. Their little girls are growing up, they’ve stopped listening to them and they don’t want to deal with it. Parents can’t deal with the issues of the world, or their children pointing them out to them, so they prefer to pretend everything is okay. Very on point.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Claire came to the school because her sister is there, only she’s been brainwashed and doesn’t know her. Claire pretends to be the same in order to keep herself intact - she wasn't brainwashed because she has a plate in her head. Veronica suggests maybe the salon could give her personality back, but Claire is worried – what if it makes her worse? But V comes back with what’s worse than not knowing who you are?<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Next morning V looks over the sheep around her and starts to whistle the Twilight Zone, which is pretty funny, but she draws the ire of Miss Genevieve herself, and is hauled into her office. Miss G is uber creepy and talks about breaking all the little brats. After this, V runs into Claire, and it’s clear she was caught and brainwashed the night before. She talks about how everything feels so clear, so light now.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Veronica gives up. She starts to think it might be nice to be brainwashed. She asks her roommate what it’s like not to care about anything. She’s starting to crave the clarity, the thought that the world is a great place she used to have when she was younger. Ready to be brainwashed, she gives her roommate her stereo as a farewell gift.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But roommate seems to be fighting something, and slowly pressed the music on. “She’s a Rebel” blasts out and roommate screams in agony. V turns it off but the damage has been done. Her roommate is changed – she’s back. She doesn’t know what happened and is horrified by her hair.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">V goes to the office, with a plan. She tells Miss G she’s ready to be brainwashed, calling her out on the whole plan. Miss G smirks and tells her no parent’s ever complained about her methods. Their choices are taken away from them, and V thinks it’s because the grown-ups are scared. Miss G tells her today’s children are lazy and full of themselves.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">V gestures to the office, where roommate has snuck in, and starts playing She’s a Rebel over the loudspeaker. All the girls screech in agony, then look around in disbelief. V has given them their personalities back.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The last shot is all these bobbed, pinafored girls running through the field. Let the rebellion begin.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Loved it. Was Leave Them Kids Alone scary? Well, obviously the concept of grown up trying to control the thoughts of their children because they don’t like what they have to say is insanely creepy, there were no jump scares. Will Miss G perhaps sneak her way into my nightmares? Very possibly.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Message learnt: Be true to yourself and your personality, and never stop asking the hard questions. I give Leave Them Kids Alone 6 bobbed personality-less hairstyles out of 7, for being charming and essentially heartwarming.<i><br /></i><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>She’s a rebel, she’s a rebel, she’s a rebel,<br /></i><i>and she’s dangerous</i></span></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-65471370432396914522022-10-24T11:49:00.001-06:002022-10-24T11:49:07.751-06:00<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qcU2kyHFffKsl5FL547zipkqJjzwCFJTeM2LHUB4UsAHTf1jHIRNtbg1YsiEWrIXqHaobXEIYSyp0kzmHtd7kcZC2AQrpVAT3AAFT3GDIEYMKh1Qb5cT-5zKkhahoovEx1FcnT1ONRYXx4g2h6tw5KpCWuPpo_DC92WK1P_nKAbPxRZCSHcGsXAG/s2240/Scary%20Stories.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2240" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qcU2kyHFffKsl5FL547zipkqJjzwCFJTeM2LHUB4UsAHTf1jHIRNtbg1YsiEWrIXqHaobXEIYSyp0kzmHtd7kcZC2AQrpVAT3AAFT3GDIEYMKh1Qb5cT-5zKkhahoovEx1FcnT1ONRYXx4g2h6tw5KpCWuPpo_DC92WK1P_nKAbPxRZCSHcGsXAG/w400-h225/Scary%20Stories.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>It's time for scary stories. Not <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/2022/09/23/sweet-books-for-spooky-season/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">the cute ones</a>, not the ones that give you warm fuzzies. These are stories that made my spine tingle.</p><p>This is a post from my other blog, <a href="http://cordeliakelly.com">cordeliakelly.com</a>, which you can check out for all kinds of book recommendations. But for my horror-loving crew over here, I thought you would be interested in my favourite scary books I've read over the past few years. And I'd love to hear about your favourite horror novels too, whether written by R. L. or not! Put them in the comments - new, old, the terrifying and the kind of fun, let me know, I'm always interested in more horror.</p><p><!-- wp:paragraph -->
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<!-- /wp:paragraph --></p><p>Also, if you're looking for some proper goosebumps, also check out <a href="https://jezebel.com/scary-story-contest-submissions-2022-1849609558" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Jezebel's Scary Stories Contest</a>. People write in their real-life stories of paranormal terror that actually happened. They will keep you up at night. Every year, they never fail to get under my skin.</p><span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVD3DRZVIT5Lt7RJoHAs0RB6-6pt72AKoD10UWms4wjYVo2TZlENv8Jim94aQymSEVTM0J54Jm1loP-LKiVKP5wHhqbXW82kWlIrtDGgy3ofI7CSNA_RsMiMeix8NZXMFnKvYGpfwOJeIBVQss7ZySXwgc-1t4JtyvLH6xpC4mmmTzVvIVyzLSTqyy/s4032/ScaryStory_Haunting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVD3DRZVIT5Lt7RJoHAs0RB6-6pt72AKoD10UWms4wjYVo2TZlENv8Jim94aQymSEVTM0J54Jm1loP-LKiVKP5wHhqbXW82kWlIrtDGgy3ofI7CSNA_RsMiMeix8NZXMFnKvYGpfwOJeIBVQss7ZySXwgc-1t4JtyvLH6xpC4mmmTzVvIVyzLSTqyy/w400-h300/ScaryStory_Haunting.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p><em>The Haunting of Hill House</em> captures the true spirit of psychological terror. And you can tell me about all the jump scares you've ever seen in your life, but nothing is as truly terrifying as a story that inhabits your mind. <em>What you can expect from a Shirley Jackson story is one that will follow you through your lifetime, often because they have no resolution</em>. I actually wrote that line before I read <em>The Haunting</em>, and it's spooky how exactly right this is.</p>
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<p>In researching this book, I came upon a definition of the difference between horror and terror, of which I wasn't aware, which seems like an oversight being a writer. I liked this definition from Wikipedia: "<em>Terror</em> is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that <em>precedes</em> the horrifying experience. By contrast, <em>horror</em> is the feeling of revulsion that usually <em>follows</em> a frightening sight, sound, or otherwise experience." Jackson, of course, delights in terror, and we the reader delight in being terrorized by her.</p>
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<p>It creates its own darkness, a book like this. While reading this book, I expected doors to slam behind me and disembodied whispers to follow me. Words are powerful, and if you believe that, then you can believe that books can cause madness. Jackson's books always toe that line, where not just the narrator but the reader herself questions her sanity.</p>
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<p>The house is a living, breathing character, and its dark humour follows nearly every scene in the book. The madness scares us because it happens gradually, insidiously, in a way that we believe it could happen to us too. We attach to Eleanor as the narrative voice, and are chilled when the house gloms on to her as its next victim. Poor little Eleanor, never loved, never loved, she is vulnerable and becomes prey. However, if you see how Eleanor is first introduced in the book, it is to declare that which she hates. She has lived a small life of hate and resentment, and that is why I believe she is the weakest link.</p>
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<p>One of the elements of the house I found the absolute creepiest is how every time, after being completely terrorized, the inhabitants find themselves feeling happy, even joyful. Each morning they rose excited and happy for the day, even though they were praying for death the night before. It's not so much that they forgot what happened, but the relief of not being terrorized right at that moment was euphoric, like in an abusive relationship. When in fact they should be getting the fuck out of that house right now and never coming back. I spent most of this book silently yelling: Get out now!</p>
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<p>Although the house didn't actually harm anyone physically, it attacked the mind until everyone questioned their sanity. This trope frightens the crap out of me because it seems more present, more real, than say, zombies. We fear losing our minds or our control over our thoughts more than anything, because we perceive it as a reality.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph --></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNT1D1iJ3_8Y0_kbRDk73VUPpx2YyzpFw2Rn_Qzb2wqPEIi-gdJJ-UWdmraYQcvw73LJ82Z1F71RHBtRNrHlaTpPouBnahR14bbeDB-fRlE31dURTYYCApL8yjkY-Q_j7pU1QafGEKIKfwgknF1tqhRzb1GYXEkUdND6hfzpjMg24ORo7AuPXow7f/s3752/ScaryStory_MagicToyshop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2814" data-original-width="3752" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNT1D1iJ3_8Y0_kbRDk73VUPpx2YyzpFw2Rn_Qzb2wqPEIi-gdJJ-UWdmraYQcvw73LJ82Z1F71RHBtRNrHlaTpPouBnahR14bbeDB-fRlE31dURTYYCApL8yjkY-Q_j7pU1QafGEKIKfwgknF1tqhRzb1GYXEkUdND6hfzpjMg24ORo7AuPXow7f/w400-h300/ScaryStory_MagicToyshop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Magic Toyshop, by Angela Carter</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>This dark and twisty tale is a deliciously monstrous gothic read, told in the tradition of a Victorian fairytale (or nearly). There are orphans and incest and poverty, and a house that may or may not be haunted. In the creepy confines of the toyshop, it seems a place where fairy tales themselves will come to life. Carter actually references many gothic tales, like Bluebeard and Jane Eyre, so we are meant to be thinking along those lines.</p>
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<p>Melanie is fifteen when she realizes she is a woman - and her world falls apart. Her wealthy parents are killed in a plane crash, leaving Melanie and her two younger siblings destitute. They are cast out of their sheltered upper middle-class life into deepest South London, to live with their reclusive uncle, a toymaker and puppeteer. They meet their in-laws, the extremely Irish Jowles family, and eventually join forces with them against their villainous uncle.</p>
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<p>Although the book is set in 1960s London, it's easy to be confused and think that it's set much earlier. Throughout there is a strange otherworldly feel, hard to ground it in the real world. Also, Uncle Philip runs both his shop and household like a throwback to the good ol' Victorian days, which is quaintly charming in terms of his shop and avidly not in terms of how he terrorizes his family. This out of joint with reality feeling is also due in part to the Victorian style of the novel: a plucky girl becomes an orphan, miseries befall her, she struggles to find a way to survive in the cold hard world.</p>
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<p>The other major aspect of The Magic Toyshop is that this is a coming-of-age novel, in a subtler, more eerie way than other similar novels introduced at that time. We begin the book as Melanie wanders into the family garden wearing her mother's wedding dress, and there she discovers herself, and discovers the universe, and discovers that she is not ready, entirely, for either of these things.</p>
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<p>Her relationship with Finn swings back and forth between it being her worst nightmare, and that which will save her. It takes absolute catastrophe in order to get her there to the other side, to a place where she is ready to play at mother, but at fifteen she still hardly has the maturity to be a matriarch. All her and Finn have in the end is wild surmise, a romantic prospect that I quite liked.</p>
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<p>I enjoyed <em>The Magic Toyshop</em> immensely, but I think you need to be in a specific mood for its nebulous, fantastical feel. This is the book for those who love gothic novels and are looking for something a little bit different, with heaps of gorgeous writing.</p>
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<p><em>Mexican Gothic</em> is just so beautiful. I mean, just look at this cover. I've always thought it was the loveliest cover ...</p>
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<p>Beyond that, Morena-Garcia's creepy tale is both weird and wonderful, a shot of magical horror I didn't know I needed in my life today. Noemí, a kickass character who grows from socialite to rescuer, goes deep into the country to find her cousin, who had sent out a bizarre plea for help. There, at her cousin's new husband's manor, she finds a deeply creepy family where something is very very wrong, although she couldn't say for sure what.</p>
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<p>The dread builds with precision and mastery until you absolutely must know what is lurking behind the walls of the haunted house, although you are sure you don't want to know. An excellent, if disturbing, read. If gothic is your thing, jump on this!</p>
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<p>This is one of those books that plays with reality and makes you question your sanity – as do all the characters in the book. It is about an evil tree and the people who become obsessed with discovering its secrets. An artist takes up residence in the old house near the tree and discovers the unfinished manuscript of the tree’s most recent victim. She gets sucked into the legend of the tree and desperately tries to unearth its secrets before losing her sanity.</p>
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<p>Every step of the way you must question what is real and what is only in the mind, and who is creating what. Not only is this book a trip, but it became extra creepy for me because for some reason I had forgotten to document when I read this book (perhaps I didn’t want to remember because it scared me). All I could remember is it was a book about a red oak, and it didn’t exist in my GoodReads list where I keep track of everything I read (no matter how embarrassing). And when I looked up <em>The Red Oak</em>, the book didn’t exist and I started to think that I made the whole thing up, and was going completely insane just like the characters in the book … but then I found it under <em>The Red Tree </em>so all is well. Read at your own discretion.</p>
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<p>The slightly less well-known book from the original horror triad of <em>The Exorcist</em>, <em>Rosemary’s Baby</em>, and <em>The Other,</em> this book is no less masterfully done or essentially creepy as its more famous brethren. (And I would argue that the book itself was as well-received as the other two books, but the fact that the film didn’t go on to become horror canon in the same way means it’s less integral to the horror cultural landscape.)</p>
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<p>Set in a small town in Connecticut in the 1930s, the book follows twin brothers who share a very close connection – and several grim secrets. Have you read this book yet? I would love to hear what you thought.</p>
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<p>It is probably quite clear at this time that I unabashedly adore Halloween. I love the atmosphere, the costumes, the autumnal foods, the spooky. And a book about the origins of this very ancient holiday is of course going to become a fast favourite of mine, as Bradbury weaves lyrical narrative and poetry together effortlessly.</p>
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<p>The story is a child's tale but a dark one, deals for the soul and all, but maybe in fact it's perfect for children with its dark enigmas and also glorious fun of Halloween. It certainly stayed with me for a long time. </p>
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<p>A group of boys find themselves on a wild ride through time and space - an adventure to save the life of a friend who is sick and fading fast. Under the guidance of cadaverous Mr. Moundshroud, the boys explore the origins of Halloween, but when they must face the reality of the situation, they realize that the night's journey was not all fun and games. At times spooky, creepy, delightfully fun and informative, I loved every page of this spell-binding book.</p>
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<p>And when I speak of Halloween being an ancient holiday, I really do mean ALL the way back ancient. Halloween has existed, in one form or another, since humans have been able to contemplate their own death.</p>
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<p>One of the blessings/curses of our ability to shelter in comfort was the leisure to begin turning thoughts over in our heads. And in the autumn, as the leaves fall from the trees and it seems as though the world is dying, what perfect time to stop and reflect on how we, too, will go the way of so many before us, into our own eternal slumber. "Memories, that's what ghosts are."</p>
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<p>The celebration of Halloween, which has had many different names during the existence of humanity, changes hands from empire to empire - from the pagan druids to the Christian ways of worships, the honour of the dead and our forecoming doom has always been a part of our life.</p>
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<p>Bradbury is masterful at creating a spellbinding tale through human history. After watching over Roman hearth fires and delving into Druid rites, Moundshroud explains what witches were and why they were persecuted in middle ages Europe, as they continued to practice the old ways and Christianity was not having any of it.</p>
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<p>As their journey continues, the boys must face their greatest fear, and a terrifying bargain is made in order to save their friend. Hardly an innocent caper at last, the night ends with a deal with the devil.</p>
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<p>And so, this magical book effectively shows that there is no such thing as monsters or witches, but Halloween lingers in the human spirit and forever will as it is nothing more or less than the manifestation of our understanding of our personal doom. The book is brilliant and poetic, and will be reread every October as a holiday favourite.</p>
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<p>A horror classic, and not to be missed. You’ve probably seen the movie, but did you ever read the book that inspired it? Originally published in the 1960s, <em>Rosemary’s Baby</em> captured the fear of satanism that rocked the nation at that time, and influenced a new surge in horror writing – the golden age of horror.</p>
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<p>Rosemary moves into an upscale New York apartment with her husband, and soon discovers she has strange, cult-y neighbours. After she becomes pregnant, she suspects that she is surrounded by a group of devil-worshippers who wish to claim her baby. Or something like that.</p>
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<p>One thing I’ve always found interesting is that movies become dated – but books never do. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? Creepy and forward-thinking, Rosemary’s Baby is a must-read for all horror lovers.</p>
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<p>Libba Bray created the perfect Halloween read. It is creepy and funny with lovable characters, and at times verging towards wanting to stash the book in the freezer scary, but I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to true horror stories.</p>
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<p>Set during the Jazz Age, when an obsession with spiritualism brought the creepy. <em>The Diviners</em> starts with an unspeakably terrifying Ouija board session. From there, we meet the sweet and sassy cast of “Diviners,” young people with special gifts. They come together and start ghost hunting, being romantic and sexy with each other as they go. And all the while there is a horrifying evil presence hovering somewhere in Midwest America that makes me think of a scarecrow, and evil scarecrows are one of my biggest phobias. (Is there a name for that phobia?)</p>
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<p>As she goes further into the series, Bray delves into what is at the heart of the American dream: so many people hoping for a better life, but in reality, America was created on the back of unspeakable horrors. It wasn't just old-fashioned values and hard work, but also slavery and genocide.</p>
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<p>I’m getting into politics. Before you think the book is all dull and preachy, let me stop you right there, because it is anything but. The Diviners is creepy and FUN, and funny and flirty, and I defy you to not fall in love with the heartfelt characters.</p>
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<p>Come for the horror and the fun, stay for the very important social messages on tolerance and acceptance! This book is one of my top recommendations, ever.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph --></div><br /><p><br /></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-42081933170653523962022-09-17T07:34:00.000-06:002022-09-17T07:34:26.868-06:00A History of Horror: Paperbacks from Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBUe0GAtyFYkIqe7uhMN7kXqmfcJcbLMisUbTAv_l0mNxfVcW6g6gzB6Jao7VUa-4ZN6mlO3DY9x2vImchGh803cRjvVltChdXtL1zEkwgOMWr0q-hVe29o_c7c_yM_IVwOSWncxGA9oXYuiGehjSpMzH9UpNvICxHfC8JlJRCNXrmABKD7mmvldQ/s2240/A%20History%20of%20Horror.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2240" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBUe0GAtyFYkIqe7uhMN7kXqmfcJcbLMisUbTAv_l0mNxfVcW6g6gzB6Jao7VUa-4ZN6mlO3DY9x2vImchGh803cRjvVltChdXtL1zEkwgOMWr0q-hVe29o_c7c_yM_IVwOSWncxGA9oXYuiGehjSpMzH9UpNvICxHfC8JlJRCNXrmABKD7mmvldQ/w320-h180/A%20History%20of%20Horror.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><b>A History of Horror: Paperbacks From Hell</b></p><p>R. L. Stine has not published another Fear Street (as far as I know - you'll let me know if he did though, right?) But I read a lot of horror, including books about horror, and when I came across this absolute gem, I thought it was only fair to share with you guys!</p><p> I've somehow become a horror writer myself, which is still surprising. Although maybe not so much, considering: this blog. If you want to read some of my horror stories, or get more info about some of my work soon to be published, check out my website at <a href="http://cordeliakelly.com">cordeliakelly.com</a>. And if you'd like me to post more here on Shadyside Snark, I'd love to hear what you're interested in! I see that R. L. has a new TV series coming out on Disney - if anyone wants me to recap that, let me know in the comments! </p><!--wp:paragraph-->
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<p>I randomly came across this absolute gem of a book <em>Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction</em>. It's written by Grady Hendrix, a horror writer himself and obviously a great lover of the genre. He began collecting vintage horror paperbacks in the remote recesses of used bookstores, to the great delight of anyone who can't get enough of these covers. Not that I know anything at all about random collections of obscure horror ...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj602hoHnOtDs6pxINj5D6rnCDtRFLc3srWb22BqNheTY4acnyuYBbWME-Nh5sIAn8FfR6j-SaLcJP4mFEeARgpIv89Btsj2hZg142xTDvMpn7p_xPln7WON8ka_jfPrzBt5peX0ZPJ9OX-HlizT-K_FNRhFJtS2VmzvFfkSYoSSztAsLyceaKHRzi7/s3042/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2282" data-original-width="3042" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj602hoHnOtDs6pxINj5D6rnCDtRFLc3srWb22BqNheTY4acnyuYBbWME-Nh5sIAn8FfR6j-SaLcJP4mFEeARgpIv89Btsj2hZg142xTDvMpn7p_xPln7WON8ka_jfPrzBt5peX0ZPJ9OX-HlizT-K_FNRhFJtS2VmzvFfkSYoSSztAsLyceaKHRzi7/w320-h240/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<p>Hendrix separates these vintage horror books into categories, from Satan's spawn to evil animals to splatterpunk (ugh, not my vibe). His collection is vast, these covers are beautiful or grotesque or cheesy, or sometimes, somehow, all three. And he is also very, very funny. I especially love when he would offer life advice throughout:</p>
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<p>"Even if, despite [all] precautions, you have given birth to the spawn of Satan, all is not lost. Look on the bright side: deadly children are the best-dressed children."</p>
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<p>Truth. I enjoyed reading about a general history of horror, which began in early days as gothic romances, which are essential adult dark fairy tales (think <i>Jane Eyre</i>, <i>Frankenstein</i> and <i>Rebecca</i>). But the '70s style of cheesy horrors began with a set of intensely creepy novels that captured the world's imagination by storm in the 1960s: <em>Rosemary's Baby</em>, by Ira Levin, <em>The Other</em>, by Thomas Tryon, and <em>The Exorcist</em>, by William Peter Blatty. These books were commercial successes and some went on to become very successful films. But if you love horror, you've probably seen <em>Rosemary's Baby</em> and <em>The Exorcist</em>, still terrifying in this day and age.</p>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuqWfEfR5ngTclr8ELMdtQJFEPKBagh-l6JlQmB1vOrlr2cYcQ2_dQMn9Vz8eP4mqcE2WrnAvpiSWPJV8Z4cNzAXIUyMQhSr5pKhhOfT0luR7bDdBFReAHeJtwVfOLb3Fq5Gz9UIDd4ulymQhyazGonS4xgCZKOUXRBqZ2uhgivUuFkhj5P1cORuY/s3064/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell3.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="2298" data-original-width="3064" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuqWfEfR5ngTclr8ELMdtQJFEPKBagh-l6JlQmB1vOrlr2cYcQ2_dQMn9Vz8eP4mqcE2WrnAvpiSWPJV8Z4cNzAXIUyMQhSr5pKhhOfT0luR7bDdBFReAHeJtwVfOLb3Fq5Gz9UIDd4ulymQhyazGonS4xgCZKOUXRBqZ2uhgivUuFkhj5P1cORuY/w320-h240/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;">Once it was established that people wanted to buy novels like this, there was no holds barred on what was published over the next 25-ish years. It includes the good, the bad, and the bat-shit crazy. Some were intriguing and well-written, most were not, and it provides excellent entertainment looking back on these books. The cover art alone is breathtaking, with some of the best artists of the day creating gorgeous paintings designed to make the book jump off the shelf. Contrary to the old adage, we do absolutely judge a book by its cover, and cover art is almost the most important element to book sales! When the cover artist is paid more than the author, you know there's a reason why.</span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CcQZWUI0Y6cOUQc4MALyx9_p0RA6MulF118zm8UpSVcl-52nDEivNKkIJf-eQlVgsPw8WU2ON9ebBedmCDpWaq9SqUKoK-MV-L20m0c5R_CjXfHoPL_7sJkD2bC4b95Du6uwy7gm5Qmvl8YTOOejXlknidTaIH_5NzMGDyV0SXPLMJ3bN9aZdYm3/s3225/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2419" data-original-width="3225" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CcQZWUI0Y6cOUQc4MALyx9_p0RA6MulF118zm8UpSVcl-52nDEivNKkIJf-eQlVgsPw8WU2ON9ebBedmCDpWaq9SqUKoK-MV-L20m0c5R_CjXfHoPL_7sJkD2bC4b95Du6uwy7gm5Qmvl8YTOOejXlknidTaIH_5NzMGDyV0SXPLMJ3bN9aZdYm3/w320-h240/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Of course, I was most interested in whether Hendrix covered my one-and-only when it comes to horror, and he did not disappoint. However, horror for a younger audience arose from the ashes of the adult horror boom. With the spectacular success of <i>Silence of the Lambs</i>, adult horror made the shift from overtly cheesy to the more subtle label "thriller," and the early '90s spelled the end of many horror publishers. Right at the time, though, the horror industry saw a massive revival with a younger generation, with Point Horror novels and Christopher Pike's horror-philosopher craziness. And of course, our darling R. L. Stine, who broke into the horror scene with the first Fear Street novel in 1989, <i>The New Girl</i>.</p>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtP9r7xJCMbqYTNJSF_zDDy1BsaEi94ngkNAS19A878oBnmDNxBFqdxYG7fq4rNTTB8hFltB9J2zsQCH5Pz9TREwHYWsP2Hsy5nhS4_1VwAnGGvdpM0xuHef38rVHC55u1T9pV38gchMXn8tX9xZI7LLGt-Y7UtjSRDkwHhsm-ld5OYEyrMcrbVkku/s3200/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtP9r7xJCMbqYTNJSF_zDDy1BsaEi94ngkNAS19A878oBnmDNxBFqdxYG7fq4rNTTB8hFltB9J2zsQCH5Pz9TREwHYWsP2Hsy5nhS4_1VwAnGGvdpM0xuHef38rVHC55u1T9pV38gchMXn8tX9xZI7LLGt-Y7UtjSRDkwHhsm-ld5OYEyrMcrbVkku/w320-h240/Books-Horror-Paperbacks-Hell5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I love reading about the sequence of horror books, and I wonder where things will go next. There's no doubt our appetite for horror isn't going anywhere!</p>
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<p>If you're into vintage horror, check out the <a href="http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Too Much Horror Fiction</a> blog, by Will Erickson, who in fact co-wrote <em>Paperbacks From Hell</em>. </p><p>If you're looking for even more horror book reviews, I review witchy books every week - you can see that here at <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/blog/" target="_blank">Curl Up With a Good Blog</a>!</p>
<!--/wp:paragraph--></div>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-5403744299946930272021-11-04T09:43:00.001-06:002023-02-04T10:25:24.613-07:00Drop Dead Gorgeous or "You Don't Want to Drink Blood With Me? Ugh, Such a Square!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXc7pa4BPSjwk08404VrlC_EaAvISMhJbLL8adnBM6f4J3saeEBeAJSMimkzYszC3JR6F55dSSAjliQCQMLMKudJ7wot21ORdcrAFUs3cEkE-l4vX1hrOcOVfmIfEPOjaG6-CzJEOXi4Y/s475/37868571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXc7pa4BPSjwk08404VrlC_EaAvISMhJbLL8adnBM6f4J3saeEBeAJSMimkzYszC3JR6F55dSSAjliQCQMLMKudJ7wot21ORdcrAFUs3cEkE-l4vX1hrOcOVfmIfEPOjaG6-CzJEOXi4Y/s320/37868571.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9a2c045c-7fff-3c4e-b7cc-171d965d8a6d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am back with the recap of the third book in this new Fear Street Series, <i>Drop Dead Gorgeous</i>. Full disclosure, I had to return this book to the library immediately after I finished it, and about two weeks before I wrote this recap. Safe to say... my memory has failed me in some parts. Also, when I went to check Goodreads for some background info, the book description was just wrong? They mention a boyfriend named Ben… who does not exist in this book. Is there another Fear Street book out there brewing? One can only dream!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Drop Dead Gorgeous</i> starts out on a high note with a diary entry - always one of my favorite Fear Street tropes. The writer self-describes herself as a dead girl looking for a fresh start. Aren’t we all.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We meet our main characters in the first chapter: Julie (pretty/regular Fear Street girl), Amber (bad hair and smart), Liam (nondescript boy), Zane (quiet and shy), and Delia (small and mousy) and Winks (Delia’s boyfriend). They have met at a comedy club because even though Zane is shy and quiet, he’s suddenly decided to go into stand-up comedy and it’s an open mic night. This sounds like a legit nightmare. They’re sneaking wine (!) and Delia and Winks are arguing, which is apparently their thing. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Zane is doing his set, all the boys (including Zane!) get distracted by the most gorgeous girl in the world coming into the club. Winks is essentially drooling which makes Delia upset. (This new girl is described as having (of course) the most beautiful red hair. R.L. loves his redheads and I was pleased one was included!) One of the guys invites her over to their table and Julie thinks about how she doesn’t like this new girl, haha.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New girl might be super hot but she’s also super weird! She makes them oddly guess her name, which turns out to be Morgan Marks. Julie thinks she is flirting with all the boys, but in a weird way. She won’t tell them anything about herself like where she’s living or where she’s from. Morgan tells them all she doesn’t get jokes - so why was she in a comedy club then? “Fresh blood”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In an interesting turn, the next chapter is done from another persons perspective - Bernie, a veteran comedian who was on after Zane. He describes the most beautiful redhead coming up to him and then… sinking her teeth into his neck! Vampire book! L.K. Stine will be SO jealous! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan starts at their high school that week and Delia and Winks are already fighting over her. We find out a little bit more about these characters like that Julie has been into Zane for a while now but hasn’t told him, and that Liam is super into frisbee. Cool. I really wish I had the book to reference right now, because I have a note that says “blood buddies!” and have no idea what that’s about. Oh well!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, the four boys (Winks included) make a bet to see who can get Morgan to "fall" for them first. Julie’s mom is the principal, and through her we find out that Morgan doesn’t have a school record. Dun dun dunnnn.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Winks sees Morgan walking home and picks her up. Instead of going home, she suggests they get to know each other and they head to the make-out spot of town. Love it. While making out, Winks actually passes out (?) and realizes he needs to get to his job before he gets fired? So strange and he is so relaxed about losing consciousness. When he finally gets there, he’s assaulted by a man named Cal who claims to be Delia’s step-brother, who tells Winks to “stay away from her”! Delia or Morgan? It’s unclear… Either way, bad day for Winks as he gets fired for being late and also making a mess while being beaten. Harsh!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few days later, Morgan is hanging out with Liam at his house. They’re making pizza when Liam cuts himself. Obviously, Morgan does the rational thing of licking up his blood. When I read that, I suddenly realized I had read this book before! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Except no, I hadn’t. I was remembering one of my last recaps of <i><a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-lost-girl-or-someone-gets-stabbed.html">The Lost Girl.</a></i> It also features an unusual new girl who tricks boys about her name (weird), refuses to tell anyone where she lives (weird) and also pricks their fingers and whispers “now we’re bloods” (WEIRDEST). I felt like I was going a bit nuts for a second, but luckily my recap set me straight. But what’s up with the character repeat? So strange.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we also find out via Julie and her principal mom that Morgan Marks apparently died five years ago. When Julie confronts Morgan about it, she laughs it off because she is very clearly not dead. But we also find out that Morgan is from... Shadyside! That would have been a cool reveal if I hadn’t assumed that this book was taking place in Shadyside, whoops! I think we also find out that her real name is actually Morgan FEAR at this point but I forget when that comes up. There is another girl named Morgan Marks from Shadyside. Surprise ruined, maybe!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan hooks up with Winks again, and makes out with him until his lips bleed. Like a true R.L. character, he likes it. Cal shows up again and threatens Winks so Winks goes to Delia’s house. Delia is weirded out, both by Winks swollen and bleeding lips (wtf) and by the story Winks tells her about Cal. Because she doesn’t have a step-brother! Which feels like something her boyfriend should know about her. Damn, Winks is a bad boyfriend.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But a good cousin! Winks goes to babysit his little cousin Spencer, as he does every Thursday night. Morgan shows up even after her told her not to, but he forgets all about that because she is there to hardcore make out. Bring on some bleeding lips??</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unfortunately for Winks, while they are making out, Morgan suddenly becomes very old and decrepit. She attacks and bites him all over and he attempts to run out of the house and escape to his car (I guess f*ck his little cousin Spencer, amirite?).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Delia is hanging out with Julie and is getting worried about Winks. He always calls her once Spencer is in bed, and tonight he’s not picking up his phone. The girls decide to go over to Spencer’s house to check. When they get there, they see that Spencer’s parents have come home and are freaking out because the door was wide open and Winks is gone. Spencer is thankfully alive.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Delia goes outside to call Winks again when she trips over his body. Dun dun dun! The police are called and a police officer says that the crime scene is already polluted so it doesn’t matter if more people come to the house. If that isn’t some classic Fear Street detective work… The coroner also casually tells the girls that there were two sets of bite marks. Hmmm, two vampires??</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan arrives at the scene of the crime and is ultra dramatic - like falling to her knees and crying/screaming. Listen, I don't want to tell anyone how to grieve but that's a bit much for someone who just met Winks (oh and murdered him). We cut to Cal who is creepily watching them all.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next chapter is a Morgan FEAR chapter! Amazing! She is apparently a super goth and BFF with the other Morgan in town, Morgan Marks. The two Morgan's spend a lot of time at the Shadyside Mall because what else are two goth girls going to do? They unfortunately get bullied and egged one day by a bunch of boys, so Morgan Fear does some fancy family magic to make the boys all itchy. Some pretty wholesome magic for a Fear, I gotta say.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Original Morgan Marks (OGMM) has a terrible boyfriend and Morgan Fear is out to prove it to OGMM. Turns out it's not so hard. See, OGMM's boyfriend is a tattoo artist and he invited her to his studio to get a tattoo for her birthday. Except when they arrive, he's making out with another girl. Dude wants to be caught at this point! The girls don't say anything and leave to plot their revenge. Like all Fears, Morgan Fear has some ideas. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And oh boy, is <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear's</span> revenge plot super weird. The girls go back the next day and are all "oh OGMM wants her tattoo and <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> also wants a tattoo. We're going to choose them for each other!". So <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> goes first and gets her tattoo and then when it's time to tattoo OGMM, <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> does a spell that knocks out the boyfriend. My notes finally tell me his name is Lanny. The girls revenge is they are going to tattoo Lanny while he's unconscious! Couldn't they have...just knocked him out when they came in? So strange. I guess <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> got a free tattoo.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> goes to tattoo Lanny and somehow screws up so royally that he starts to bleed profusely. And her solution is to... lick up the blood? Uh. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OGMM is also as disturbed as me, but <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> keeps going and actually just starts drinking all his blood until he's drained dry. (A human stomach couldn't hold that much blood, right? Ugh, revolting). The girls leave and OGMM yells at <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> for killing her boyfriend and also being a horrifying vampire. <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> tells her "you're just paralyzed to try anything new" which seriously made me howl with laughter. "You don't want to drink blood with me? Ugh, such a square!"</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay so the next part makes the least sense. The girls get into a horrible car accident and they both die. But somehow <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Morgan Fear</span> is thinking "I'm dead! I know how to cheat death!" Then reaches into her purse (?), takes out a syringe of something (??), and takes it and all her bones un-break and she becomes alive again (???). But it makes her a blood thirsty creature? Or was she already because she just killed Lanny. In no world did it make sense! Anyways, she flees the scene, OGMM dies and Morgan Fear takes her identity.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back to now. The group is talking about poor Winks and how he was drained of all his blood. Meanwhile, a lovely lunch lady (who happens to be Liam's mom) gets into a small disagreement with Morgan. Later that night Morgan kills and drinks her blood as revenge. K.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Liam can't find his mom so he and Zach go to the school to look for her. They find her (dead) as well as (an alive) Cal lurking around the cafeteria! They knock him out and call the police. When he comes to, he shows them all his card that says "Professional Vampire Hunter". Hahaha! I'm so into that. Why don't more homicidal maniacs try that plan?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's a weird diary sequence where the vampire goes to Liam's mom's funeral and eats the funeral director.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During this time, the teens have been working to plan the 25th high school reunion for the class of 1995. It's actually a great idea by R.L. because it means that he gets to pepper the teens discussions with 90s trivia, truly where he lives. Although somethings are off, like the dance has a poster of Rugrats? Odd.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, Liam and the girls are working on the invitations for the reunion and he starts to tell them about how Morgan one time licked up his blood and maybe they should consider her being a vampire? Morgan, of course overhears and goes so hard into denying it, she makes a joke about Liam's dead mom. WTF Morgan. They also find out that the funeral director was murdered and just keep on working. I guess they weren't really close to him, but it still seemed a bit callous. So much murder!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This book is too long. This recap is too long. I'm gonna speed it up to get to the weird ending! This are the notes I took until the ending:</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zane and Julie kiss (aww)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cal is at door</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan and Zane talk - she invites him over</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan tried to feed off Zane but Delia interrupts</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cal tells the group that Morgan is the vampire (but is she a vampire…?)</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems like the next day is the reunion dance party, which I know is insane because they were just making the invitations. Listen, if you want a story to make sense chronologically, you're gonna need to take your business elsewhere. Anyways, the dance is getting going and then…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan arrives and brings zombies?! There's a big fight between a bunch of zombies and these poor people who just wanted to dance to "Waterfalls" with their high school friends. It's so weird because it comes out of the blue! Why does Morgan bring zombies to kill everyone?? What's the point?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan and Delia have a tussle and Morgan bites her...but doesn't like how Delia tastes. Hmm. Delia cuts off Morgans head and kills her. The best is the description of the zombies after that as they "murmur and look around". Do they just shuffle out awkwardly?? WHAT IS HAPPENING.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, the rest of the gang survives and we (the reader) find out that Delia is also a vampire and was the one that killed the funeral director as well as Winks after Morgan started to eat him. She caught him in the driveway and finished him off.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The end.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just… What?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know I'm probably more confused than I should be because I can't go back and check the book and my notes are extremely poor. But there was some truly insane stuff.</span></p><br /><ol style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Was Morgan a vampire?? She took some special Fear serum so she wouldn't die (or maybe came back from the dead? It's very unclear to me). I think she would maybe decay without blood… but why did she drink that guys blood before she died?! Just a Fear thing?</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What's up with that zombie attack? It totally blew Morgan's cover. Why wouldn't she just continue slowly eating her friends and their families then move to a new town? It's like she doesn't even want to be a successful vampire.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I saw the twist of Delia being a vampire but her killing Winks makes ZERO sense. She was with Julie the whole time and then they found his body together. I think that was maybe just poor editing.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm sure I have another million questions but I just can't with this book anymore.</span></p></li></ol><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope you enjoyed this lengthy, meandering recap that has lead to so many questions. I give <i>Drop Dead Gorgeous</i> 12 maybe-vampires out of 18. Honestly, points off for gaping plot holes!</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>A.M. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395528280768213616noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-73269863485619222752021-10-26T09:23:00.000-06:002023-02-04T10:26:04.526-07:00Fear Street 1666, or "To Carrie is a Verb, Right?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGk6bctymWrC1SPZ0vlHZhnWVmfPCMTgde4_NoVQzsPJZsW6DHOjtV3DIHS1_KTUXXFBxCF7LYQBlYx_wiD4gro3YVURUtqPFnaGKR7DNplgYv_VpxZhdnfJPp8PdKguRqgpqlmnDz5gs/s2048/FearStreet1666.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGk6bctymWrC1SPZ0vlHZhnWVmfPCMTgde4_NoVQzsPJZsW6DHOjtV3DIHS1_KTUXXFBxCF7LYQBlYx_wiD4gro3YVURUtqPFnaGKR7DNplgYv_VpxZhdnfJPp8PdKguRqgpqlmnDz5gs/s320/FearStreet1666.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Time for the third installment of the Fear Street trilogy, and I am so excited to see how this creepy story wraps up! So far, things seem dire. Just when Deena and Josh think they can end the Shadyside curse, Deena is pulled into Sarah Fier's life more than three centuries ago!</p><p>Deena <i>is</i> Sarah, but when you see reflections of the character, it's a different, although similar woman, so Deena is experiencing what happened to Sarah. Amazing, I love this concept! She's living on a homestead, in the small settlement of Union, birthing pigs and being sassy. This is not a hounded witch, but a member of the community. She tells her father she won't marry Solomon Goode (!), despite the fact that his wife is dead and he is possibly interested. Another potentially evil Goode?</p><p>Oh my goodness, Kate and Simon are here! While they have different names and speak in English-y accents, they clearly remain Deena's naughty friends. All the characters in Union are played by characters from the first two movies, and I love this continuity. Constance and Abigail are Cindy and Ziggy from Camp Nightwing. And then Hannah Miller shows up and ... it's Sam! Sarah Fier and Hannah Miller are clearly as in love with each other in this time as they are in the '90s. I'm swooning, this is all very romantic.</p><p>Hannah is the pastor's daughter. Thomas (who played Tommy/Burlap Head in other films) is a creepy religious guy portending doom. Sarah is bringing a piglet to Solomon Goode, who is played by Sheriff Goode. They're friends, and Solomon seems kind.</p><p>Lizzie (Kate) is bringing Hannah and Sarah into the woods to visit the widow who lives outside the settlement, and apparently practices witchcraft (even though Soloman warned Sarah not to be out that night). The widow essentially knows Indigenous medicines and handles abortions for women, so obvs she's "evil." When the full moon rises before the sun sets, she's open for business, which does seem to be a bit of a sketchy time, although I think I want to put that on my business card.</p><p>When they arrive at her hovel, the widow isn't there but Sarah finds her grimoire. She reads a spell about Satan before the widow arrives and knocks the book away (hi, Nurse Lane!) Sarah shouldn't be messing with things she doesn't know about. Lizzie manages to find the "berries" she had come for (which is a cute nod to the fruit codes she put on her drug business in the first movie). The girls go to a clearing where the young people gather and eat crazy berries and it's a pilgrim party.</p><p>A grabby guy tries to feel up Hannah (her vanilla boyfriend!), and Sarah defends her. They run into the woods and have a hot and sweet makeout session. But somebody sees them! Hannah says they'll be hung for what they did, but Sarah says let them because she was never alive before now. Swoon!</p><p>Next day, everything is wrong. The pastor is behaving weird, and Sarah's father denounces her as an abomination. All of the food spoils suddenly and the happy Mama pig eats all of her babies. Sarah kills her with an axe. Something is stuck in the well, and it turns out to be the corpse of Sarah's dog.</p><p>Thomas has told everyone about Sarah and Hannah and says the devil has come. Wow, the whole town atmosphere changed from contented to messed up overnight. Solomon comes to find Sarah, and she confesses she's not sure it isn't her - because she loves Hannah! Solomon is sweet and comforting, telling her she can't be evil without inviting it in.</p><p>Screaming. Pastor Miller has locked all the children in the church and mothers are desperate to get to them. Sullivan breaks down the door. All the children are motionless in the pews. Oh god, and there's ... entrails on the floor? Oh no, it's eyesballs. All of their eyeballs.</p><p>The town goes into riot mode. Isaac (Simon) tries to tell them all they just drank apple jack and danced like fun-loving teens, but Hannah's ogre would-be boyfriend accuses Hannah and Sarah of laying with the devil. The town runs after the two girls who had been listening at the window. Only Hannah is caught by a mob, while the womenfolk look on terrified and baffled as the men go effing nuts.</p><p>Sarah comes to rescue Hannah, but Hannah tells her to run, there's no saving her. They've already decided she's guilty. Sarah decides she'd actually rather make a deal with the devil. I love this! <i>If they want a witch, I'll give them a witch.</i> But when she gets to the widow, she finds her murdered and someone has stolen the grimoire. Sarah thinks someone else has already made a deal with the devil, and Solomon believes her.</p><p>The men search Solomon's house while Sarah is there, so she hides in his cellar. Only it leads to the caves with the witch's mark! And the grimoire! It's all Goode! I knew he was evil! (Seriously, I was so excited at this point). Solomon was the one who saw Sarah with Hannah in the forest all along.</p><p>The disgusting pulsing thing emerges. Solomon has already sacrificed Pastor Miller, giving his name to be possessed by the devil. One person every few years for the price of power - that's how the Shadyside curse works. Solomon wants Sarah and tries to bring her to the dark side, but she stabs him. Reasonable.</p><p>She flees through the twisting caves, where she comes to the ... outhouse exit? I don't know how else to describe it. She tries to climb out but Goode gets to her. He tells her he loves her while attacking her, then cuts off her hand. She manages to crawl away and finds her way to the meeting house. Solomon is right behind her, claiming he found the witch.</p><p>There is a very disturbing torch-wielding mob. I feel like you're probably never on the right side of history if you are wielding a torch in your hand. Like, just don't. The girls are shackled, while their friends look on, horrified. </p><p>After a lingering look, Sarah confesses to witchcraft to save Hannah, saying she used witchery on her as well. As Solomon wraps her in chains, she says the truth will come out, and she will shadow him forever.</p><p>She is hung. Her friends dig up her body and move it to the forest, giving her a proper burial. Sarah Fier was good and she was loved. The truth is her curse to Goode - she would follow him forever until everyone knows. This was a devastating scene, and my god this movie is tragically romantic. Also, feminist, thank god. I have such issues with the "evil witch" trope, which was my one hold-back from loving the first two movies, that all the horror comes from an evil woman. Now that I know it comes from a long line of evil men, well. That makes more sense.</p><p>Part Two (haha, this is in like, every Fear Street book)</p><p>Back to 1994, Deena comes back to herself with all these memories. And, oh shit, Sheriff Goode just pulled up. He pulls a gun on them. Can I just say I called it FROM THE START. Sheriff Motherfucking Evil. The teens do what anyone would do in this situation, and steal his car.</p><p>So to recap within my recap, the Goodes of Sunnyvale trade Shadysiders to the devil. That person is possessed by the devil who kills and feeds off of that murder - and the Goodes get whatever they want. And this also means that - Nick Goode was the one who named Tommy Slater. The Sheriff was the cause of the Nightwing Massacre. When they tell Ziggy, she's horrified. Nick Goode might actually love her, but he is hella fucked up.</p><p>Now, all of the killers are going to be after the small group of people trying to stop them: Deena, Josh, Ziggy, and a zombie-esque Sam who is still growling in chains. They need to kill Nick Goode. And they're going to need help.</p><p>Then the best line of the entire trilogy comes up when they pull up in the yard of Martin, the guy they helped escape from jail in the first movie.</p><p>Josh: Want to help us kill Sheriff Goode?</p><p>Martin: Let me get my coat.</p><p>Ha.</p><p>I'm going to reiterate that it's messed up they kept the hanging tree as the centrepiece of the Shadyside Mall, but what else are you going to get in Fear Street? Deena gives an inspiring speech that they're doing this for all their loved ones, and prepare the Mall to some wicked Offspring beats. The plan: they will use Deena's blood as a lure to get each of the killers into a different mall store, then release the gate and lock them in.</p><p>Only they are stopped by the mall cops! This isn't going to go well, as the demonic killers begin to arrive. The psycho mailman stabber gets there first. I'm surprised Ziggy doesn't have a PTSD breakdown from seeing the thing that knifed her to death before, I think she's awfully resilient. The killers walk right by Josh and Ziggy and Martin, following Deena's blood tracks. Ooh, Ruby Lane hasn't shown up yet, she's the creepiest. She needs her own show.</p><p>The plan is working, some of the killers are locked away, but then they go still. Ziggy says it's <i>him.</i></p><p>She faces Sheriff Goode down at the hanging tree and Carrie's him, dousing him in Deena's blood. Then they release all the killers, sending them after the man who raised them. But Nick grabs Ziggy as a shield, so maybe he doesn't love her all that much, god, so Deena slices her hand to distract them. She runs to a back part of the mall and finds a grate that leads to the cave system. Goode has been stabbed but follows her down.</p><p>Upstairs, the remaining team covers the killers in Deena's blood and they go after each other. Only Sam gets free and goes downstairs too. The malformed child and Ruby just showed up, and they are out for blood. Only Josh is ready to fight them.</p><p>Deena finds the pulsating evil, only to be tackled by Sam. Before she hurts Deena, though, Sam stops, as though remembering her, and Deena knocks her out. Nick is there and stabs Deena, but before he can kill her, she forces his hand on the pulsating evil.</p><p>Sarah Fier comes back, making him see all his victims from the start to the end. Then she possesses Deena's body and stabs him in the eye.</p><p>The killers explode and the pulsing evil is finally gone! Sam is back and they kiss. More happy news: Deena wasn't stabbed! She had made a stab-proof vest out of Fear Street novels and duct tape. My god, I love this movie!</p><p>The carved names on the wall disappear, as does the witch's mark. Sam and Deena leave the cave together, to a weird house mounted with goat heads everywhere. Yup, that would be the Goode house.</p><p>Bad things start to happen to Sunnyvalers. The Sheriff is named the Shadyside Killer, and Shadyside starts to feel hope again. Ziggy goes to find Nurse Lane, and they reconcile. Josh meets a cute nerdy girl. And Deena and Sam go to Sarah's resting place, where the carve: <i>Sarah Fier, the first Shadysider.</i> And they kiss! It all ends happily ever after. I love this so much. Nothing will destroy my happiness that ... oops, somebody left that pesky grimoire lying about. And in the credits, somebody reaches out and snatches it!</p><p>Guys, how much did you love the Fear Street trilogy! I got over my fear of horror movies to see this through, and I was not disappointed. 18 out of 18 tragic love stories that finally get their sort of happy ending!</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-4056671773111054702021-10-04T13:06:00.003-06:002023-02-04T10:27:26.580-07:00Return to Fear Street: The Wrong Girl, or "Overreacting Teens, Overreacting"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSG1sEFgGHVPY_jbBbgL4mbktPo1LcY7a9uwZNfa_8fk7yA4kDtf0wYyymG9iYgrOZ4nElHN7qjzLnO28y2PH2Zq5_ioHAnQa1bMSbqtvHaqdqqLI-S2jIyj1mk_8gZLmBhG-FHhJhoHo/s2048/20210910_150601.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSG1sEFgGHVPY_jbBbgL4mbktPo1LcY7a9uwZNfa_8fk7yA4kDtf0wYyymG9iYgrOZ4nElHN7qjzLnO28y2PH2Zq5_ioHAnQa1bMSbqtvHaqdqqLI-S2jIyj1mk_8gZLmBhG-FHhJhoHo/s320/20210910_150601.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>This second book in the revamped Fear Streets was reminiscent of the series I know and like to snark on. A group of teens get into trouble, and things spin out of control on Fear Street. My issue was the POV kept on changing, and I had trouble keeping up!</p><p>Part One: Six weeks before the Robbery</p><p>Poppy is a bored teen poet and pretty whiny at that. She meanly describes all the other kids in her group of friends, including Keith, her boyfriend she is so over. Others she snarks on include bestie Ivy, her boyfriend Jeremy, and Manny. They are SO BORED at the mall, and I remember when I had all that time on my hands. Must be nice.</p><p>But then Poppy sees new kid Jack, who is attractive and intense. Also, we know he's a badass because he has an earring AND a tattoo. He convinces them to play a prank, letting in a bunch of stray dogs into a pet store. Keith is out, and Poppy thinks he's so lame. The rest of them get the whole thing on video and post it on YouTube, becoming internet darlings. Poppy lets Jack drive her home, and they make out. I guess she's really over Keith and into dangerous guys.</p><p>Heather, Poppy's sister, is furious Poppy didn't invite her in on the prank, but Poppy can't really stand her lame younger sister and tells her she doesn't have any friends of her own. Ouch, Poppy is just plain mean.</p><p>The next day, Poppy auditioned for the school play, up against her arch-nemesis Rose, a beautiful bitch. Poppy craps on her audition and is upstaged when her sister shows up and stabs herself in the heart. Obviously, it's with a stage knife and, like, super melodramatic.</p><p>We change to Ivy's POV, thinking about how her boyfriend is a Martian. Does anyone in this book like who they are dating? It's just like high school! Jeremy is super allergic to everything. Keith calls Ivy to see what's going on with Poppy, and Ivy is uncomfortable because she can see the writing on the wall with Keith. When Ivy goes to Poppy's that night, Jack is already there, and she thinks Keith doesn't stand a chance.</p><p>Rose very bitchily tells Poppy she didn't get any part in the play, and Poppy shows off her impressive temper. She stabs her ... but of course not for real, just a fantasy. Classic Fear Street.</p><p>Poppy has her friends over that night to plan their next prank, to cheer her up from being such a bad actress. She wants to target Rose, like putting a laxative in her drink. Jack pooh-poohs (see what I did there?) the idea. Instead, he suggests a fake car wreck, staged at an intersection near the school so no one can get there to watch the play. They're all in and name their prank group Shadyside Shade. Ooh, guys, how great would it be if they had called it Shadyside Snark? I would die.</p><p>Now Keith's POV. He's a stressed-out boy. He goes to Poppy's to find comfort but instead finds her with all their friends and Jack, and he didn't get an invite. He races home, downs some rum and starts cutting himself. Whoa, Keith has demons.</p><p>It's the day of the big play, and Poppy has just broken up with Keith (and kinda broke him). She and Ivy are on their way to the staged accident, where they lightly bump their cars together, blocking the intersection. Then, for greater effect, Poppy puts a smoke machine in Ivy's car. Except it actually set fire to the car, which then explodes. Whoops.</p><p>The cops investigate, and one of them is Manny's brother. Poppy agrees that all of this is her fault and is ready to accept the consequences ... just kidding! Ivy is in super trouble because it was her parent's car that exploded, and she's furious with Poppy. And Keith is feeling pretty good about being dumped and losing all his friends - not! He goes to buy beer with a high school dropout who works at the Pic-n-Pay, who confesses to stalking girls. Then Keith cuts himself. This book should come with a trigger warning.</p><p>Poppy is now working at the hamburger joint, Lefty's. Ooh, Rose comes in with Heather. Maybe they formed an I Hate Poppy Club. In a massive overreaction, Poppy smashes a burger into Rose's face. Ooh, that temper! And yeah, she's fired.</p><p>Heather's POV: she's hanging with Rose after the burger incident. Rose says she's never taken Poppy seriously, which is such a burn because, as Heather says, Poppy is obsessed with Rose.</p><p>Jack gets the gang together, telling them the best thing to do would be to rob a store as a prank. Poppy is in, mainly to impress Jack. He's targeted the Pic-n-Pay, the same place with the creepy guy who stalks girls - so that's not great. They all agree, then Jack and Poppy make out, like, a lot.</p><p>Ivy, Poppy and Jeremy case the joint. Run by a guy named Harlow, who seems really nice - but it's okay, he'll be in on the prank because it's good publicity. There's a moment where they discuss Oreo flavours and how they keep on coming up with new ones and nobody likes them - it's true. Do Carrot Cake Oreos actually exist? Ew. Poppy runs into stalker guy in the storage closet. He's so creepy, and her gut instinct tells her to run away, and then he calls her by her name, which is devastating. How did he know?</p><p>They prepare for the prank, but just before they go into the store, Jack hands Poppy a gun, telling her it's real but loaded with blanks. But when they hold Harlow up, he doesn't act like he's in on it and tries to discourage them. Then he reaches for his gun, and Jack screams at Poppy to shoot.</p><p>She freaks out and shoots him in the head. Holy shit, the whole thing is caught on camera. Jack laughs until he realizes Harlow is actually dead.</p><p>Part Two</p><p>Poppy stops to vomit everywhere as they flee. Her mom comes home from her fascinating work experimenting with giant hornets (oh god, this was written before the murder hornet crisis, right? Did RL know something?). Poppy confesses what she did, but her mom didn't hear her, so that was a lot of nothing.</p><p>Manny calls Poppy because she needs to turn herself in, he accidentally posted the video, and it's everywhere. If she goes to his brother, he'll be kind to her. Poppy arrives there by herself and confesses. The cop takes her to the crime scene.</p><p>Harlow is there, and he's fine. Everybody's laughing and cheering. It was all a prank ... on Poppy! Jack orchestrated it all because ... he's actually with Rose and had been stringing Poppy along as a joke. That's black, man; I don't condone that. Was Rose cool with him making out with her all the time? Wtf?</p><p>As to be expected, Poppy loses her exceptional temper and vows revenge on all of them. Again, massive overreaction. I think it would be appropriate to be happy you are not, in fact, a murderer, and the nice man you thought you killed was still alive? But no. Poppy is all me me me.</p><p>Part Three</p><p>Poppy is feeling sorry for herself - she has such mean friends! Ex-friends, now that she refuses to speak to any of them. She's working as a taxi dispatcher now, and when she leaves, she is stalked by extremely creepy stalker guy. He is intensely rapey but finally lets her go. This scene was genuinely terrifying because most women have been in this position at one time or another. Was this written by a woman? I'm getting that vibe. Anyways, Poppy backs up over the stalker, and I approve.</p><p>She goes to Ivy's, who's been begging her for forgiveness. Poppy uses her washroom, then tells Ivy she never wants to see her again. Poppy, get over it. I wouldn't forgive Jack because he was a creep, but her actual friends should be given a pass. Oh, god, Poppy does not forgive. Instead, "someone" put acid in Ivy's shampoo, giving her horrific burns and causing all of her hair to fall out. Ivy had perfect hair, so this is huge.</p><p>Swing over to Jeremy's POV, who's having an asthma attack as he gets the horrifying news from a sobbing Ivy. It's at that point he realizes his bedroom is filled with hornets. They attack, and Jeremy falls over, unable to breathe ...</p><p>Cops come to Poppy's house to investigate since she did vow revenge on the victims just the other day. Heather unhelpfully points out that Poppy uses a strong acid to clean jewelry. And when they go to look, the bottle is gone! Now Poppy is suspect #1! She's also a real piece of work and showing a shocking lack of empathy towards Ivy. They get the news at that point, Jeremy died in the hospital from the hornet stings. Now Poppy's mom even thinks she did it because Poppy knew about her experimental hornets.</p><p>Now, at first, I thought this next chapter was in Poppy's POV and thought she was psychotically un-empathetic, but then I went back to realize it was Keith. Keith is shockingly nonempathetic, and apparently, he overdosed once and spent some time in a hospital himself. This is why he pretends to be boring, but he's actually hardcore.</p><p>Poppy remembers she saw her mom's hornets WITH KEITH - and all of a sudden remembers he threatened her after they broke up. So, of course, she goes to confront him. And HE LIVES ON FEAR STREET. And her stalker is stalking her. And Keith isn't home, but his mom says he has "episodes."</p><p>Poppy returns home to find her rabbit cuts to pieces in her bed. No, that's awful and way too personal. Now I actually suspect her weird sister.</p><p>Part Four</p><p>Poppy doesn't want to go to school because everyone thinks she's a murderer, but her sister says she'll sit with her. Okay, it was definitely the sister. It's the day of the school play, which they had missed because of the fake/real car wreck, and the curtain rises on Rose, tangled in ropes and strangled with Poppy's scarf. It's for sure the sister, right? Angry that Rose dropped her once Jack got rid of Poppy?</p><p>Everyone's a suspect, everyone's sketchy, and I still think it's the sister. All parties are gathered in the music room by the cops, and apparently, Poppy figures something out. She dramatically confesses. Which infuriates her sister, who angrily reveals it was actually her. Heh. I knew it.</p><p>But then she stabs Poppy, and Keith confesses for real - wait, what? He rips his shirt to show off his cutting scars to show how angry he really is. Poppy and Heather congratulate themselves on their excellent acting - it was a fake knife all along. They figured if they confessed, the real killer would want to confess. But ... that's stupid, even though it worked. If I were the killer, I'd be like ... yeah, it was them! Luckily, Keith isn't too sharp, and so the investigation wraps up. O ... kay.</p><p>I wasn't very into this one. It was a bit long, and all the teens were pretty whiny. I kinda wished that Poppy actually was the murderer; that would have surprised me. On the other hand, points for the realistic uber-creepy stalker, and there were some creative deaths in there. I'll give it three murderous hornets out of seven.</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-57598075173204447682021-09-27T11:19:00.002-06:002023-02-04T10:26:15.540-07:00Fear Street: 1978 or "Outhouses Are Not Good Places for Sexy Times"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBIRTUSTDNEIctmAQFo8SFUtotZqrRRfgxK-qIDgtHwHuXH_i9L8lSbaJmC4L3fJZGF6TRpw_d0ZyyvOeZO360UlhVS2aMeTjUPsNY3b49H1PCPViBTZwkmf0kVysMW2uiofblhfGWWQ/s2048/FearStreet1978.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBIRTUSTDNEIctmAQFo8SFUtotZqrRRfgxK-qIDgtHwHuXH_i9L8lSbaJmC4L3fJZGF6TRpw_d0ZyyvOeZO360UlhVS2aMeTjUPsNY3b49H1PCPViBTZwkmf0kVysMW2uiofblhfGWWQ/s320/FearStreet1978.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The second movie of the Netflix Fear Street trilogy basically picks up where the first one left off. You need to watch these in order - it's all connected!</p><p>The camera pans through a super dated home as the radio plays the news of Shadyside's latest terror - the Mall Massacre, so we know we're in 1994. We meet a new character, who has some real issues re: locks and clocks. This woman lives in anxiety. She nearly vomits in fear when she's woken by desperate banging.</p><p>It's Deena and Josh, trying to break into her house. Mystery woman nearly knifes her, before Deena pleads for her to listen ... they called her! She was the survivor from the Camp Nightwing Massacre of 1978. They beg her to help them - they have a possessed Sam tied up in their truck, and mystery woman nearly faints, but eventually gives in to tell them her story. So they sit as she reminisces back to the old days ... at Camp Nightwing.</p><p>As one would expect from a camp set between Sunnyvale and Shadyside, things are fucked up. A girl flees through the woods, before being caught by a group of vicious teens. They string her up to the hanging tree, where Sarah Fier once dangled, and burn her arm.</p><p>Some councillors run in to intervene. Strung-up girl is Ziggy, a Shadysider camper with a chip on her shoulder and a laundry list of strikes against her. She is nearly expelled from camp, but one of the councillors speaks up for her - it's Nick Goode, potentially evil future sheriff of Shadyside. He expects gratitude from her, she tells him to go fuck himself. I like Ziggy.</p><p>Her older sister Cindy is an uptight councillor with control issues, desperately trying to get the outhouses clean. She has a Shadysider boyfriend Tommy who tries to get sexy with her. No. Outhouses are not good places for sexy times.</p><p>She goes to find the other Shadyside councillors, and walks in on them graphically banging while smoking joints. Cindy nearly has an aneurism as Alice, the girl, taunts her. Clearly they have history.</p><p>Ziggy goes to the camp nurse to get treatment for her burn. The infirmary is empty and Ziggy finds a journal with all kinds of information about Sarah Fier and the Shadyside curse, including stuff about the most recent Shadyside serial killer, Ruby Land. And Nurse Lane comes in, and we realize she was Ruby's mother. And has researched the curse non-stop since it took her daughter. And is pretty intense about it.</p><p>Ziggy and Cindy have a massive fight - these sisters could not be more opposite, and Ziggy is so bitter it's epic. She accuses Cindy of trying to get out of Shadyside by being perfect, but joke's on her because no one gets out of Shadyside.</p><p>An aside, but I love these clothes so much. '70s camp clothes = style goals. Also, where do I get the playlist?</p><p>Cindy and Tommy are still cleaning when Nurse Lane comes into the mess hall with a big ass knife. She apologizes to Tommy, saying she can't save him, but she might be able to save others, since his name is on the wall. One way or another, he's going to die that night. He fights her off, but everyone is freaking out.</p><p>Cindy obsesses over the reason Nurse Lane snapped, so that evening while the campers are playing colour wars (Sunnyvale vs. Shadyside, of course), Cindy and Tommy break into the infirmary to go through Nurse Lane's stuff for answers. Alice and her boyfriend Arnie also break in, to steal drugs. They read Nurse Lane's creepy journal about Sarah Fier. <i>She emerged from the meeting room missing one hand. Though she was hung and buried, without her hand her grip on the land will remain forever. When she is near, blood will fall, and the curse will last until body and hand are reunited. </i>Lane also has a map of the camp, which is right over the old Shadyside settlement from 1666. It shows where Sarah Fier's house was, so they decide to explore. In the dark they stumble over graves. They realize Nurse Lane has been digging holes, trying to uncover Sarah Fier's hand!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Nick Goode tries to befriend Ziggy, helping her come up with a plan to bring down one of her tormentors. She starts to soften towards him. Not evil sheriff?<p></p><p>Councillors go into the ruins of Sarah Fier's home, and the witch's lair is amazingly terrifying. Tommy looks unwell. They see a light from beyond her fireplace; when they crawl through, they find a flame lit within carved markings on the ground - the witch's mark! Someone's been there recently. Names are carved into the wall, centuries' worth of Shadyside serial killers. Underneath Ruby Lane, a new one has been added: Thomas Slater. Tommy!</p><p>Oh my god, he has an axe. I just remembered about the man with the giant axe in the last movie. Oh god, he just axed Arnie in the head, that's not pretty. Alice and Cindy flee deeper into the caverns, Tommy right behind them. But a cave-in stops him from getting them. Now the girls are stuck in the cave, and he's free to murder campers. Tommy goes straight for the sweet nerd camper. No, don't kill him! This is very upsetting.</p><p>Meanwhile, Ziggy and Nick are having shenanigans. They lure Ziggy's tormentor into the outhouse on the promise of sexy times (again, outhouses aren't sexy. Am I wrong about this?), then cover her in spiders and cockroaches and lock her in. They flee to the camp's - I want to say vivarium? Reptile house? - giggling, and proceed to have a very cute kiss.</p><p>Down in the caverns, Cindy and Alice are not getting along. Cindy still refuses to believe in the witch's curse, while both me and Alice think she's delusional. Cindy storms away but marches around in a circle - they are super stuck down there. Until Cindy realizes the caverns are shaped like the witch's mark and they can follow it like a map.</p><p>At the centre they find - oh god, I don't know, a pulsating, fly-covered organ? Dear god, don't touch it! But Alice does, and hallucinates victims of the Shadyside killers, and she's surrounded by pilgrims missing their eyes. She freaks out and horrifically breaks her ankle, gross.</p><p>Murdered camper has been found. All councillors still alive are trying to track down the campers still playing colour wars, while Nick is being all manly and protective with Ziggy. Then she remembers she'd locked a girl in the outhouses and runs to get her.</p><p>Cindy finally gets tough and splints Alice's horrific break with a comb, confessing she had narc'ed on Alice back in middle school because she wanted to get out of town. The friends reunite, ready to take on the gd witch.</p><p>Then there is just so much graphic axe murdering. I found this upsetting: stop killing kids, goddammit! I'm not a horror film aficionado, but there's a reason why this is so disturbing. Fear Street 1978 broke a very basic rule of horror movies: thou shall not harm innocents. Jason, who Tommy is fashioned after, never hurt a child. But Tommy does! It's stomach-turning. Also, I didn't realize this until later, but only Shadysiders are murdered ...</p><p>Ziggy lets her tormentor out, then hears her sister underneath her. Alice and Cindy are under the outhouses. They try to climb up, and I know this isn't important to the story, but this is really gross. And then Tommy comes in and decapitated one of the councillors and the body falls into the cavern.</p><p>Nick and Ziggy hide from Tommy in the reptile house. Nick is stabbed saving Ziggy.</p><p>Alice and Cindy find a clue that Sarah's hand laid to rest on the stone right in front of them, and then emerged from the meeting hall - which is now the mess hall. Cindy follows the map to find the mess hall.</p><p>Tommy follows Ziggy into the mess hall, and that's where they all meet. Ziggy tries to trap Tommy in the pantry and stabs him, but he's too strong. As he strangles her, she wraps a burlap sack around his head - and now he's Burlap Head! Cindy jumps in, stabbing her boyfriend repeatedly until he is dead.</p><p>Alice emerges from hole, bearing the hand of Sarah Fier! All they have to do is put the hand with the body, and this nightmare will be over. Sarah was buried under the hanging tree, so they have all the pieces right there!</p><p>But then Ziggy gets a nosebleed all over the bones of the hand, triggering the curse. Shit, Burlap Head is going to come back, isn't he?</p><p>Now, wtf is the pulsing grossness? Oh, that's where the former serial killers are regenerated, and I think I'm going to puke.</p><p>Alice is so ready to end all of this, until Tommy revives and murders her. Sad, Alice was awesome.</p><p>Ziggy and Cindy run to the hanging tree and start digging like mad, as the serial killers surround them. I don't know who's the most disturbing. Ruby Lane is terrifying, the deformed child in a mask with a bat is also. The grinning deranged milkman is not my favourite. They find Sarah's grave, but her body isn't there. They look at each other, realizing it's over.</p><p>Tommy gets to Cindy and starts hacking into her, as the deranged milkman stabs Ziggy. I found this scene so disturbing. The sisters are looking at each other as these men violate and destroy their bodies, and it is so visceral. They die under the hanging tree, and the killers disappear.</p><p>But then Nick somehow survives and resuscitates Ziggy. She's taken away in a stretcher, and nobody believes her, maybe not even Nick. Although he clearly stayed close to protect her? And now here she is, 16 years later, crazy lady living behind a wall of locks and alarms.</p><p>Deena and Josh realize they have all the items they need, if they can get Sarah Fier's hand. It was left buried under the hanging tree, which is now ... the centre of Shadyside Mall's food course. Of course it is, all roads lead back here. They unearth the skeletal hand.</p><p>Deena gets to the woods where Sarah's body is, and reunites hand with body. Her nose starts bleeding, something that happens when the witch is near.</p><p>Then ... Deena is pulled into the past, and she's in Sarah Fier's body!</p><p>I am SO excited to watch the next movie, which will presumably give us all the details on how Sarah Fier went evil! Stay tuned ...</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-58097362189309046642021-09-21T16:52:00.000-06:002023-02-04T10:28:37.922-07:00Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill the Bride, or "Fear Street Meets Twilight Zone and They Have a Delightful Love Child"<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6w_Rel0324us_22XeT_0DOhc14JilFHAXYrbX18gfGfYjmqIcQ9S8XL1CODwGOPiOlIsTovGtPm4YbPtpeFeYjPL_0qIS3fbK9mIroTqRkhj3X8HT8smuwVQKPiEkIeqKVRvaQzd-3A/s2508/Untitled+design.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="2508" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6w_Rel0324us_22XeT_0DOhc14JilFHAXYrbX18gfGfYjmqIcQ9S8XL1CODwGOPiOlIsTovGtPm4YbPtpeFeYjPL_0qIS3fbK9mIroTqRkhj3X8HT8smuwVQKPiEkIeqKVRvaQzd-3A/s320/Untitled+design.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></span></div><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Hello Fear Street lovers! Watching the spooky Fear Street trilogy on Netflix has inspired AM and I to recap more Fear Streets, and as it happens, there are three newer books we've never read. Hooray!</span><p></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Now, obviously our recaps of Fear Street will be finite, because there's only so many of these RL can pump out, but don't fret because we have other content out there. I am in the process of compiling a list of witchy book reviews at my website <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/" target="_blank">Cordelia Kelly</a>. I you love books about witches as much as I do (and I love them a lot), then you should check it out at: <a href="https://cordeliakelly.com/reviews/" target="_blank">Book Reviews But Make it Witchy</a>!<br /><br /></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Now, back to Fear Street, and the first in the new line of Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill the Bride. Ooh, a book about weddings? I’m immediately curious – how old are these characters? Fear Streets (the books, not the movies ahem), rarely have any romantic interactions beyond a chaste nacho-flavoured peck on the lips. And now we’re talking marriage? I think the only wedding in a Fear Street until now was a disturbing child bride scenario in <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2008/08/bad-moonlight-or-child-bride-of.html" target="_blank">Bad Moonlight</a>.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>Part One</b></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Ruth-Ann Fear is being strangled from behind by Peter Goodman. Oh, no, wait, this is sexy strangling, so it’s okay. Dear lord. It’s only page 1!</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It’s 1923. We know this because Ruth-Ann Fear just got her hair bobbed, and they say “the bee’s knees” a lot. RA always comes in second to her perfect older sister Rebecca, who gets absolutely everything, including cute boy Nelson Swift. But Peter is RA’s boy she caught all on her own. RA actually thinks that he’s kinda dumpy, so he’s perfect for her! Unfortunately, Rebecca doesn’t want RA to date Peter for some reason, which makes RA angry. So she deals with her anger in a secret Fear attic full of secrets. Well, that can’t be good.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">RA inherited the Fear family spellbook – and also being evil, apparently. She casts a spell, dancing naked in candlelight while delighting in her ability to control people. Except … her powers didn’t work out all that well because Peter (who she magicked into loving her) decides to go for perfect Rebecca instead. Damn!</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">One year later, it’s Peter and Rebecca’s wedding. It is happening on a mountaintop in Colorado, where the Fears apparently own property. Nelson Swift, Rebecca’s former boyfriend, shows up to make a scene. RA herself is pretty calm; she feels like she’s over it.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">When it’s time to kiss the bride, Peter lifts Rebecca into his arms, kisses her, and with a blank look on his face, throws her off the cliff. Ooh, didn’t see that coming. Was Peter under the control of someone else? Or murdering of his own volition. Which of the suspects is truly evil? Peter, RA or Nelson?</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Obviously, the murder results in complete pandemonium. RA’s father blames her. He knows about the attic; she was so obvious with her witchy spells. In fury, RA breaks free, runs, and also plummets over the cliff.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">And the evildoer was … Peter! He was actually Peter GOODE, longtime enemies of the Fears, who continues the cycle of hate by murdering the Fear daughters.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>Part Two</b></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Cut to modern times, on the same mountaintop in Colorado. We have a bunch of new Fears: Harmony, with her perfect older sister Marissa. Hmm, I’m seeing some connections here.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">But Harmony also has a twin, Robby, whose sole characteristic is apparently obsessed with his girlfriend Nikki Parker, who is referred to as shallow and dumb. Harmony is way too boy-crazy to settle on one guy, while Robby is a shy nerd.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Marissa is about to marry Doug, a humourless bull nobody likes. Their obnoxious Uncle Kenny tells obnoxious jokes at the rehearsal dinner, then starts to vomit chicken feathers. It’s probably a bad idea to piss off the Fears; you never know what kind of crap they’re going to do to you. At the rehearsal itself, everyone is attacked by zombie squirrels. You know, normal wedding stuff.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Old Grandpa Bud calls out Harmony – apparently, she’s taken up the mantle of family evil and casts minor spells. He accuses her of wanting to disrupt Marissa’s big day and warns her off.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">In a huff, Harmony goes to the bar to pick up guys, but that’s when she sees Aiden, Marissa’s former boyfriend and the REAL love of her life.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Flashback to Aiden stuff:</strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> He was the college boyfriend Marissa was never supposed to have. She brings him home for Thanksgiving, despite not breaking things off with her high school guy, Doug. Everyone is confused, except for Harmony, who immediately lusts after him. Marissa warns Harmony off.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">But Harmony doesn’t listen. She’s drinking beer with her friends and decides to do a little woodworking, as one does. Somehow Aiden ends up in the basement with her, and she tries to make out with him. He turns her down, but then there is a horrific cabinet-making accident where drunk Harmony runs a drill through his hand. Aiden, who had plans to be a surgeon, was significantly upset.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Back in the present, Harmony tracks Aiden down, speaking to several hotel workers to wiggle out his room number. She demands to know why he’s there. Predictably, since she mangled his hand, he doesn’t want to talk to her.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The following day, the bride can’t be found. Her hotel room is empty, with only a note for Harmony: DON’T LOOK FOR ME.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>Part Three</b></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Everyone is frantic, and the wedding is called off. Harmony goes looking for Aiden, only the hotel room he was in the night before is occupied by someone else. Most of the hotel workers she spoke to didn’t actually work there. Hmmm.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">She’s confused until she sees a photo of the hotel staff from 1924 – the people she spoke to were in that photo! She’s even more confused now, but I am jazzed – this concept is kinda cool, a twilight zone time warp, I’m into it. Harmony thinks she’s losing it.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>Part Four</b></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">There is a search to see if they can find Marissa, who has completely disappeared from the face of the earth. They do a helicopter search and find a body … only it is Taylor, Marissa’s best friend. The Fear family is falling apart; Mom is spiralling and drinking until she’s catatonic. Dad stays in Colorado to help with the search while everyone else goes home. Robby accuses Harmony of wanting to destroy Marissa’s wedding and calls her evil.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">In a weird subplot, Robby goes to see his girlfriend Nikki, but her Mom says she’s gone camping and not to call her. Robby calls anyways, and Nikki answers, telling him she’s at home. When he’s like – you clearly are not – she hangs up and ghosts him.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Harmony is Facetiming with her Dad, who is sitting in the lobby of the Colorado hotel. Over his shoulder, Marissa appears and looks straight at Harmony. But when Dad turns around, she’s gone. Ooh, cool, Facetiming ghosts just gave me the creeps. Totally loving the vibe of this book; with the hotel, it reminds me of something a bit old-school like The Shining or Tower of Terror (which I realize is a ride, but still). I actually got goosebumps, and I’m loving this.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Harmony immediately heads back to Colorado. In the hotel, she hears her sister in the room next door! She tricks the night manager into letting her in, but there is no one there. But when she sneaks in later, she finds Marissa! She’s having a girl gab with Rebecca and RA. They all confirm that they are indeed dead. </span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Right here - this is where the book hit its best part, I think. This is all cool. But things sort of unravel, with loosely wrapped up plot points and a rushed ending. But lots of points for this neato plot. Might I even say it's the bee's knees?</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The ghosts explain. There is a curse on the Fears and the Goodes that they can never marry. Because Peter Goode actually married Rebecca, he set the curse in motion. So the Fears are doomed to haunt the hotel for eternity. And Marissa was killed by Aiden, who is out for revenge. He’s been working with Nikki, his actual girlfriend, who he met at the Thanksgiving of terror. I’m confused about how he ended up being in the other time, though?</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Harmony needs to make things right. She’s been researching some spells in this and can go back in time, and she stops the original wedding from ever taking place. Rebecca and RA are no longer trapped in the hotel, and Harmony ends up in a staff photo from 1924, then goes back to real-time and saves the day.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I really enjoyed the setup. I was impressed by the nuanced connections between the two times, nearly a century apart, and felt like a really cool world had been established. The end was rushed and confused and ended kinda like a typical Fear Street, which was okay. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from these new Fear Streets and was pleasantly surprised. I give this 7 haunted hotels out of 11.</span></p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-19544870998895299572021-09-13T10:29:00.001-06:002023-02-04T10:26:54.376-07:00Fear Street Part One: 1994 or "No One Was Ready for the Meat Grinder"<p><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay so, unlike L.K., I didn't take any notes. I have a newborn and didn’t think I could completely devote myself to a Fear Street movie series like I could have before. But I wrote this down the next day before I forgot. Just like old times - writing a recap completely based on my terrible memory! It's actually pretty long, but mostly just ramblings.</span></i></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ba0e9463-7fff-b014-cbef-a9b1b8a46454"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First thing to know: I don’t like horror movies. I’m okay with slasher flicks (love a classic 90s Scream movie) but I haaaate paranormal/ghost movies. So after the first scene, which is very Scream-y, I said out loud “Oh good, it’s a slasher movie!” Readers, I could not have been more wrong. What followed was the most bat-shit crazy movie full of horrifying paranormal stuff, with a huge amount of gore thrown in. It was truly an on-point homage to Fear Street: Insane and grotesque. I both loved and hated it. Let’s get to my vague memories!</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Starts with a massacre in a 90s mall (did they use the same mall as Stranger Things? Google says no, but The Watchmen and Zombieland 2 were recently filmed there!). The killer wears a skull mask and stalks the few people left in the mall after closing. Brutal, gory killings which ends with the teen murderee, ripping off the killer's mask to reveal her friend, who is immediately shot in the head by a security guard or maybe a cop, I forgot. Could have used him earlier, either way.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cut to: intros of our main characters, Deena, and Josh, siblings with absentee parents. Deena is mega upset about a recent breakup with Sam, and Josh is a computer geek. Got it</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So the girl that was murdered at the mall last night (Heather) went to Deena’s school. Deena arrives at school and is greeted by the most CALLOUS high school students of all time. While there is a little locker shrine, these kids are TERRIBLE. There are a lot of jokes about murder and the curse of Sarah Fier, a witch from the 17th century. Which actually tracks really well from the Fear Street books. Those kids were always so strange about the murders happening in their town. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We meet the other main characters, Kate and Simon, who are delightfully weird and sell drugs to other kids in the hopes of leaving town after graduation (if you have read enough Fear Street, I think you know that’s a big ol’ red flag)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They go to a football game in another town and Deena confronts Sam - who is a GIRL!? I do not believe an LGBQT character appeared in any of the original Fear Street books so this was a pleasant departure from canon! In any case, they get into an argument. On the bus ride back to their town, Sam and her ultra-jock boyfriend follow the Shadyside bus and throw stuff at it - sure. Deena and her friend open the emergency exit and are holding a giant cooler of ice out the door… then Deena gets a nosebleed. This distracts her, and she throws the cooler on the windshield of the car, which then crashes. She’s horrified but like… what was her plan? Weren’t they going to throw it anyways?</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, Sam gets out of the car all woozy with a *nosebleed*. She wipes her blood on the ground and gets these crazy flashes of red, and scenes of a witch. Very spooky! Deena comes to check on her and the police come, yada yada yada.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We decided that the police chief looks like an older BJ Novak, and is very useless, just like in the books! Love the continuity. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next day, Deena and Josh are home alone (sidenote: there are almost no parents in this movie, which was also very on-point for Fear Street. Let these teens run wild!). They see the skull guy from the massacre outside, but assume it’s Sam’s new boyfriend trying to scare them because he’s a dick.They decide to go to the hospital to confront Sam about her shitty boyfriend (his name doesn’t matter).</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sam is pissed to see Deena there and tells her that her shitty boyfriend has been there all night. Shitty BF arrives just then, and is almost immediately stabbed from behind! He dies, and the girls take off with the skull killer chasing after them. They see he’s murdered a bunch of people, and in a fight, Deena rips off his mask to see… it’s the same mass murdered from the night before! But now he’s dead with a bullethole in his forehead. So that’s weird.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My recollection gets fuzzy here. Deena and Sam go to the police station and Kate, Simon and Josh steal an ambulance at some point. Incompetent sheriff/police chief doesn’t believe the girls (and somehow they haven’t heard about the second massacre at the hospital?! There were so many people who should have/could have called it in. He killed like two nurses. What about literally any other doctors/nurses/patients? None of them called 911??). Anyways, the girls leave, and Deena steals one of the cops’ guns.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which was good because Simon wandered off from the ambulance (WHY?) and is attacked by a creepy teen girl singing a real creepy old-timey song. Deena shoots her in the back/head, but she just regenerates, and they realize they are in deep shit. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Josh is obsessed with all the mass murders of Shadyside (who wouldn’t be?), and realizes that was the zombie of a mass murder from ‘63. He tells them all about the other mass murders in a truly horrifying cut scene (“Deformed child bashes heads in” I think was one of the newspaper headlines). Josh puts it together: Sarah Fier possesses people every so often to commit mass murder. Sam bled on Sarah Fier’s grave the night before with her nosebleed of doom, and this disturbed her. They decide to go back to her grave to… I'm not sure what. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, when they get there, they discover her bones essentially lying underneath a small layer of fluff and attempt to rebury her and whisper “sorry”, haha. This shockingly doesn’t work and a NEW mass murderer, the Killer from Camp Nightwing (hello movie part 2!) charges out of the forest to kill them. Except he runs past Josh, and goes straight for Sam. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Side note: I enjoyed how each of the killers had their own creepy stalk. Skull Killer has the quick walk of 90s slasher killers, 60s girl does that broken-down doll walk, and Camp Killer just fucking all out runs (which is the scariest, obviously).</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They put it together that the killers are just hunting for Sam and her blood. They decide to set a trap which was admittedly pretty cool! For unknown reasons, they go to the school, where they smear Sam’s blood on the floor in trails to the bathroom. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the killers find them, all of them need to clean Sam’s blood off themselves so they won’t be tracked too. This leads to a steamy sex scene between Sam and Deena, a weird kiss between Kate and Josh, and Simon pleasuring himself in a bathroom. Gotta respect Simon’s stamina. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once all three killers conveniently wait until the teens are done getting off and arrive, they follow the blood into a bathroom. Once in, the other kids light the bathroom on fire. It works! The three killers explode into goo. Which is weird? Doesn’t seem like how fire normally works. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it doesn’t actually work, and the three regenerate from goo. Kate and Simon decide that they’ve tried enough stuff and want to throw Sam out to the killers. Deena is obviously upset but Sam agrees. But then! They discover that there was a survivor from the Camp Nightwing. The only way for Sam to survive is for her to die...and be brought back. Since she’s already given up on surviving, she’s into it. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They go to Simon’s workplace, a supermarket, and Simon and Kate put their drug dealing knowledge to good use! They give her a bunch of pills and the order to take them in, and set off to distract the killers while Deena helps Sam die then hopefully revives her with some epi-pens. It’s...a plan.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Josh, Kate and Simon are chased around the store by the different killers. Kate is caught first by the Skull Killer who stabs her and then SHOVES HER HEAD THROUGH A MEAT GRINDER. Holy shit was I not prepared for that. I know that Fear Street murders are pretty gruesome (hand in garburator, face being ripped off, etc.) but we just read those! Very different to WATCH the horrificness. Ugh. Also, we all knew poor Kate was going to die. She was too callous about death, and also had “big plans”. Never dream big in a horror film, guys. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Simon suddenly is axed in the head by Camp Killer. It was also gruesome and horrifying! I did expect him to die too, but not quite so back-to-back with Kate. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deena and Sam are disturbed by one of the killers and Sam doesn’t take all her death pills. (note: she’s attempting to swallow like 30 pills at a time DRY. Couldn’t stop thinking about that. There must be bottled water everywhere there). Deena has a better plan, and shoves her lover’s head into a lobster tank until she drowns. Jesus.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It happened at a good time though, because Josh was about to be taken out by the Skull Killer and Camp Killer was running down the girls as well. The killers just disappear.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Josh and Deena thankfully revive Sam, and the incompetent police come. They blame Kate and Simon’s murders on their drug dealing ways, saying that tweakers killed them. Harsh.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, I forget when this happened, but incompetent police chief goes to someone’s broken down house and slips a note in their door: “It’s Happening Again”. So he’s this incompetent WITH background knowledge? Dude. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sam and Deena are all loved up the next day when Deena gets a call from the woman that survived the Camp Nightwing massacre. She basically says it will never end and Sam will always be hunted by Sarah Fier. Deena looks up to see that Sam is in front of her… and has brutally stabbed her with a broken drumstick! The girls fight and Deena wrassles her up in the telephone cord. Deena gets Josh to come help and they both look down on an obviously possessed Sam writhing to get free and kill them. Deena promises her that she’ll “get her back” and the movie ends. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What! </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the other two movies go back in time, I’m assuming we get no more resolution than that. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, again, pretty on-point for Fear Street. R.L. LOVED a good ending jump-scare with zero resolution and a million questions to be answered. </span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t think I have too many questions but there were some things I loved. </span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Loved Simon - excellent random boy character and I would watch a full movie just about him, although he had way too much chest hair for a teen boy (he’s 21 in real life, so I guess just a hairy guy).</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Loved that the teens didn’t look too old - they looked pretty high-schooly.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Loved Deena’s nose - so perfect! </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Loved that the opening scene was in a bookstore, and they had all the Fear Street books on display, written by a “Robert Lawrence”. So 90s! </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So these movies were actually supposed to be released in theatres, one at a time, with a month between them. That would have been super cool, although I’m glad I didn’t have to go to a theatre and watch this - a bit embarrassing to be a grown woman peeking through my fingers in public. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Legit don’t know if I will be able to watch the other two. I definitely stayed up an extra hour or so, just reading happy things, and waiting for my husband to be ready for bed so I didn’t have to go to sleep alone. Will L.K. be on her own for the rest? Probably not. But we’ll have to see if I have any nightmares!</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Score: 21 dry pills swallowed out of 30</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>A.M. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395528280768213616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-62847729235310132782021-09-07T08:58:00.001-06:002023-02-04T10:26:47.063-07:00Fear Street: 1994, or "Normal Bitches Don't Bleed Black Blood"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8mSViQqqNIj7sLi1oVwUjP6TcqJmhtyoC951mjbu-uZw7ht4BR8HWFtUIWLAHr9VQHsY9lt-RYvcjEmu06MB98zwzGiCXTlU1EtBcmP8sVq36f26F9HDxufK9TWSt48Z0wzuFLD3JDE/s2048/Untitled+design+%25283%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8mSViQqqNIj7sLi1oVwUjP6TcqJmhtyoC951mjbu-uZw7ht4BR8HWFtUIWLAHr9VQHsY9lt-RYvcjEmu06MB98zwzGiCXTlU1EtBcmP8sVq36f26F9HDxufK9TWSt48Z0wzuFLD3JDE/w320-h180/Untitled+design+%25283%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Hey guys. It's been a long time. I thought we were done with Fear Street. But every time I think I'm out, R. L. Stine pulls me back in …</p><p>It wasn't that long ago that somebody shared with me a Fear Street movie on Netflix. My initial reaction was, of course, you're joking, but turns out, not only is there a Fear Street movie on Netflix, there are THREE Fear Street movies on Netflix.</p><p>Of course, A.M. and I immediately decided we needed to have a movie party. We didn't watch all three movies, don't be ridiculous; we're super old now and have kids and stuff. Just sitting down for the length of an entire film is a luxury I haven't taken in years, so that was amazing. Together with a friend, we watched Fear Street Part One: 1994.</p><p>As the music started, I had a horrible thought. The thing is, I am a wimp when it comes to horror movies. Hocus Pocus is about as scary as I like to go. What was I about to watch? "Wait, is this movie scary?" I was reminded it was a horror movie. "Yeah, but like, Fear Street horror, right?" Fear Streets rarely scare me. Except <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2013/12/lk-stines-favourite-fear-streets.html">sometimes</a>.</p><p>I might be a lousy radar for this, but the answer is yeah. Like, pretty effing scary. Another question I had was: Is this going to be gory? 6 minutes 35 seconds in pretty much answered that. So buckle up; this was one hell of a ride. </p><p>I haven't recapped anything in years, so I decided to take notes. I'm such a good student, right? Except all my notes look like this: Good Music! Old BJ Novak! Oh god, this is so disturbing. I am so scared. At one point, I wrote: NOOOOOOOOOO, meat slicer! It was like a stream of consciousness Blair Witch Project.</p><p>Just be aware, all of the spoilers are in here, so if you haven't watched yet, go do that first!</p><p>The opening scene starts at Shadyside Mall, and already I feel like I am back in my childhood, with the one crappy town mall. Heather is working in the bookstore there, and she is one disenfranchised youth. There is some amazing attention to detail – all the books on the shelves were from that year. A woman buys a Fear Street book (<a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2008/09/wrong-number-or-rescuing-puppies-isnt.html">The Wrong Number</a>) and calls it trash!</p><p>While closing up, Heather is drinking an Orange Julius. Is Orange Julius still a thing? I don't think I've had one since 1994. She's sorta flirting with the guy from the costume shop. Ryan, I want to say? Let's go with Ryan because half the boys from the '90s were named Ryan. And he seems normal, except a spider is crawling on his neck, which is not normal at all.</p><p>Cue creepy music and building tension, and then Heather is chased down by a creep in a skull mask and a big fucking knife. Then … massacre. She pulls away his mask to unveil Ryan, who was her friend up to a few minutes ago.</p><p>The opening credits are insane and brilliant. I think I'm into this movie.</p><p>We go to angry Garbage playing while Deena scrawls out a hate note to someone named Sam. Oh my goodness, I'm getting Elisha Dushka vibes from her. Does anyone else immediately think "Faith"? Also, comment if you know what the hell I'm talking about.</p><p>Sheriff Nick Goode! The struggle between the Goodes and the Fiers (aka the Fears) is Fear Street canon! PLEASE tell me this is going to be the basis for the movies. So, Nick Goode is evil, right? Also, tell me he doesn't look like an older BJ Novak.*</p><p>*Double checks Nick Goode is not, in fact, BJ Novak doing some weird career thing. Discovers actor playing Nick Goode is younger than BJ Novak. Also younger than self.</p><p>Flash to Deena's younger brother, Josh, huddled over his computer on an AOL chatroom, going over the conspiracy theories of Shadyside's history of mass murders. Every fifteen years or so, there is another serial killer. Each of them is suspected of being possessed by the spirit of Sarah Fier, the one-handed witch … Ryan is only her newest victim.</p><p>Nirvana, Sophie B. Hawkins, this music is amazing. Have I kareoked to Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover? More times than I can remember.</p><p>Okay, so in school, the mass murder at the mall the night before, which included the horrific murder of one of their classmates, is treated as entertainment by the students of Shadyside High. Does no one care? Massacres are not fun? This is super disturbing. Deena's friends shove her into the bathroom, where they creepily recite a rhyme about Sarah Fier: </p><p>She reaches from beyond the grave</p><p>To make good men her wicked slaves</p><p>She'll take your blood, she'll take your head</p><p>She'll follow you until you're dead</p><p>Simon, typical stoner, and Kate, overachieving drug dealer, think it's funny. But Deena reminds them that every Shadysider is cursed. Nobody gets out of the town.</p><p>That night is a football game between Shadyside and Sunnyvale. Ooh, Sunnyvale is the rich neighbouring town, where people are going places. Classic struggle between rich and poor. Sunnyvalers imply Shadysiders deserve to be murdered on the regular; Shadysiders threaten to share some of that murder around.</p><p>A full-scale riot during the candlelight vigil is underway when Deena spots a couple making out – a generic jock type with a cute blonde cheerleader. Is that Sam? He seems rather vanilla for Deena's obsessive teen angst, but you know. We were all there once.</p><p>Deena's moping outside the stands when Sam comes to find her, and … Sam is the cute cheerleader! I didn't see that coming. We've always said there was never an LGBTQ character in Fear Street, but the 2020s have finally updated the series! Also, I'm way more into this coupling, and it all makes sense. Deena calls out Sam for moving to Sunnyvale and pretending to be straight to get by in the world.</p><p>After the game, Sam's vapid boyfriend follows the Shadyside bus, honking and wearing a skull mask, which is super inappropriate. Sam looks extremely uncomfortable next to him. Deena goes berserk and starts to throw a water cooler out the back of the bus at them. Her nose starts bleeding, and the cooler is thrown of its own volition. The car goes off the road into the woods. </p><p>Sam crawls from the car, bleeding and has creepy visions. Oh, man, is Sam going to be possessed? Everyone tries to help Sam, and she vomits blood everywhere. Things are not going well.</p><p>The next night, Deena and Josh are being stalked by a creep in a skull mask. Across the street, Kate and Simon are babysitting, and Kate uses her charges to count and baggie pills for her. I love her. I love that she uses My So-Called Life as a reward. Whatever happened to My So-Called Life, besides Jared Leto becoming a bit creepy? Is it streaming somewhere? I wonder how it held up … The problem with these fab '90s references is that I keep on falling down rabbit holes…</p><p>The Skull face creep is also stalking Kate and Simon and is smelling their laundry? This is weird. Everyone is on edge, and Kate brings the twins she's sitting over to the neighbour. This is, like, the first grown-up in the show. They decide to go to the hospital and confront Sam because it must be her boyfriend creeping them.</p><p>Kate, of course, has contacts at the hospital, as in, her supplier. But he gets them in to see Sam. Nerdy Josh is in love with Kate and impresses her with his drink machine hacking tricks.</p><p>Sam's boyfriend has been at the hospital the whole time. After some subtle oral sex entendres, boyfriend is knifed down by Skull Face. Chaos ensues. Are there no adults in this town? Zero adults is so classic Fear Street. Oh no, wait, they're all murdered. Our intrepid group steals an ambulance and goes to the Sheriff's Department.</p><p>Sheriff Nick Goode mocks them, then a constable throws them out with such a misogynistic insult I actually gasped: "Go find your boyfriends. Tell them you need to relax!" But, in the meantime, Deena stole his gun, so it's cool. Good police work, all around. And I'm convinced Nick Goode is Sheriff Motherfucking Evil.</p><p>At this point, the horror rackets up to a new level, as Simon finds a girl singing weirdly in a deserted street. Wtf is this terrifying girl. He just has enough time to process the ghoulish scars on her face before she goes after him with a switchblade. Holy shit. She has him down on the ground, about to slash his throat when Deena shoots her through the eye. Normal bitches don't bleed black blood. As they flee terrifying girl, she starts singing again as her eye regenerates.</p><p>Josh, who knows all the conspiracy theories, recognizes her as Ruby Lane, the Shadyside Killer 30 years ago. He explains about the repetitive mass murderers in Shadyside, how they are possessed by Sarah Fier. Now that they've seen for real that dead people are after them, the rest of the group are fast believers. They figure out that Sam disturbed the witch's grave when she bled all over the forest, so the witch is after her. Specifically, her blood, which they are all covered in thanks to last night's vomit fest. They unearth her body, and at that point, they realize all of her serial killers through the ages are coming for them.</p><p>Oh my god, now an axe-killer whose face is wrapped in burlap is after them. Holy shit. Everyone is going to die. They get to the ambulance, but for sure, everyone is going to die. Oh no, the dead serial killers just want Sam as the initial grave disturber. They set a trap, using Sam as bait, to get all the killers in one place.</p><p>They decontaminate from Sam's blood, and as they do so, they all have teenage sexy times. Kate doesn't want to be alone and asks Josh to inspect her for blood spatter; meanwhile, Deena and Sam have an intense makeout session. Also, Simon has one last hurrah with himself. The movies are much sexier than the Fear Street books ever were. Also, Deena and Sam have such heart. I want them to make it so badly!</p><p>So, they're in the school, and they set a trap to blow up the bad guys. And it works like a charm! After a horrifying chase scene, Sam crawls through a vent, trapping Skull Face, Ruby Lane, and Burlap Head in the bathroom, where they've built a bomb. And the three blow up with a screech. No time to celebrate, though; they immediately begin to regenerate in the most horrifying way possible. My nightmares thank you for that image.</p><p>Apparently, the dead serial killers aren't going to stop until Sam is dead. She bravely starts to sacrifice herself, but then Josh discovers that one person survived the last massacre … by dying, then being revived. They come up with a new plan. They also try to call the last survivor, but there is no answer.</p><p>Sheriff Nick Goode being shifty, writes someone a note that "it's happening again."</p><p>The new plan is they go to the grocery store, where they raid the pharmacy for pills. Kate and Simon have all the knowledge they need for what Sam needs to take to die, plus a gazillion EpiPens to come back to life. Then Sam starts swallowing. Only, they didn't give her any water? Why are they forcing her to dry swallow these horse pills? This is the most horrifying part of the movie.</p><p>Serial killers break up the party, and everyone scatters. There is a lingering shot on the meat slicer in the deli, and my stomach bottoms out. IN HIS BOOKS, R. L. Stine would write about really creative, gruesome deaths; <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.com/2013/10/awkward-kisses-terrifying-garburators.html">see here</a>. But they're not going to actually do that on film, are they?</p><p>Cue me with my hands tight to my eyes, screaming: NOOOOOOOO! Guys, they fucking went there. I knew it when the camera panned to a side shot of the meat slicer. You could see what someone looked like going in … and coming out. I fucking knew it. Good god, that is the most gruesome thing I've ever contemplated.</p><p>The stoner and the overachiever don't make it. Josh is about to be knifed, so Deena goes and drowns her girlfriend in the lobster tank. As soon as Sam dies, serial killers disappear. A sobbing Deena begs her brother for help as she stabs Sam over and over with EpiPens, trying to get her heart to start. She finally starts CPR, and Sam chokes and wakes up. Yay! Except for Kate and Simon, that's sad.</p><p>Deena and Sam agree they have to blame everything on Kate and Simon, even if it's actually tragic that two people who wanted so badly to get out of this cursed town were killed so epically. Deena makes an excellent speech about it. And Sam agrees she's going to come out and be Deena's girlfriend. They're cuddling that night when Deena gets a phone call – from the survivor of the last massacre. She tells her it's never over. That's when Sam stabs Deena …</p><p>Holy shit, guys, I thought this was too scary for me, but it turns out I have to know what happens. I give Fear Street: 1994 eight meat slicers out of nine. Stay tuned for the next recap …</p>L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-63011256226611996612018-07-16T03:32:00.000-06:002018-07-16T03:32:47.789-06:00Give me a K-I-L-L or “The Violin Death of the Decade"
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I just
wanted to say that it’s a trip that AM and I are still writing this blog, since
we starting snarking on Fear Street nearly 10 years ago! (cue spit-take). I’m
sure you Shadyside Snark fans can appreciate that we’re at different places in
our lives, both physically and figuratively, but it’s awesome that I still get
to sit down every once awhile and rip apart some fantastically cheesy teen
horror books. As long as RL is prepared to pump out the rebooted Fear Street
series, the Shadyside sisters will (eventually … after a very long time) blog
about them. I should point out it takes less time for RL to write the books
than for AM and I to blog about them.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m not sure who comes out looking worse in this scenario.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">To the
book. I didn’t hate it. Actually, it is definitely my favourite book of the
Relaunch series so far. Obviously it has to do with cheerleaders, my favourite
horror trope. To those new to our blog, AM insisted on taking all books that had
to do with zombies, and I insisted on the Cheerleaders saga. Clearly we all
have our triggers as to what we find the creepiest. For AM it’s zombies, for me
it’s cheerleaders. Haha, guess who was less popular in high school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Part One: We
start with Gretchen Page, our heroine du jour. Btw, Gretchen? Such a great
name. It’s becoming so much more popular now and is totally NOT what you would
expect from a cheerleader (from the 80s-90s that is, because they were, like,
all named Jennifer and Ashley). One of the characters even comments on this,
all, I didn’t expect someone named Gretchen to look like you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">As for how
she looks, Gretchen is cute and blonde and pretty stereotypically cheerleader,
and she considers her overt cuteness to be tragic. She is on the phone with one
of her friends from back home, Polly, and my Spidey-senses were immediately up
because her friends wasn’t responding back in the dialogue, it was just
Gretchen talking into the phone. Gretchen talking to someone who is
dead/doesn’t exist? This is a very common Fear Street plotline. Except, then
Polly did respond. So I was a bit spun. Also, Polly is described as looking
about 12 with a deep sexy purr of a voice, which also spun me. Who describes
their friends like that? Well, at 16 anyway. So, we’re going with Polly IS
alive. But then Gretchen hides the fact that she’s talking to Polly from her
mom, so maybe Polly is dead? I don’t know but I will expend all my energy while
reading this book to try to guess before the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So actual suspense was created, well done RL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Things to
know about Gretchen: she’s new to Shadyside, desperate to make it on the
cheerleading squad and a complete bitch to her recently-divorced mom. She goes
to an appointment with the cheerleading coach at the school. While there, she
meets Sid, the cheerleading equipment manager, who hits on her. Then right
after she meets his girlfriend, Stacy, the cheerleading captain. Then she goes
into the meeting with Coach Walker, only to discover she had just given the
last spot of the cheerleading squad to another girl, Devra Dalby!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Redheaded
Devra Dalby is clearly going to be the mean girl in this book. Fear Street
aficianados will recognize the Dalby name – from Dalby department stores, and
Reva Dalby, OG mean rich girl from the Silent Night Super Chillers. I was SOOOO
hoping that Reva would make an appearance as Devra’s mom or something. But no
such luck. All Devra talked about was how “Daddy” owned the biggest department
store in town and that made her the shit. So, Devra IS Reva, with a very minor
name change. (AM: Did Reva end up dying? Is Devra her rich father’s
later-in-life replacement?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Devra has
the last spot on the squad, but the coach watches Gretchen’s highlight reel
from her old school and sees that she’s great, so decides to pit the girls
against each other. I know literally nothing about cheerleading besides you
will probably be murdered, but couldn’t they just … add another spot on the
squad?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, Gretchen is pumped
she gets to try out because she’s sure she’ll win. Then she gets into a minor
car accident – her tire blows out which OF COURSE sounds like a gunshot – and
her reaction is major, and she talks herself down from the horrible nightmares
that threatened to come. Some intriguing back story? Involving mysterious
sexy-voiced Polly?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Then we go
to Devra’s point of view where she is pouting to her Daddy that she would have
to try out for the cheerleading spot. The whole point of the scene is that
Daddy Dalby will make a call to the school to ensure her spot on the team, but
I spent the entire time trying to find evidence of Reva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Gretchen
meets the girl next door, Madison, who is a fantastic violin player and they
click, becoming fast friends. Gretchen runs into Sid, the cheerleader equipment
manager/obvious adultering boyfriend at the mall. He looks at her intensely
then they start making, which is a little quick but hey, teen hormones I guess.
And Gretchen catches a glimpse of Devra glaring at them. Ooh, the drama!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Devra
surprises Gretchen by joining her at a booth at the local diner and showing her
the terrible acid burns she has on her hands. I immediately thought they were
bonding over acid, but in fact Devra was just there to request that Gretchen
back off for the year. Since Devra was a senior, Gretchen could be the
alternate and would have an automatic spot next year. Gretchen declines the
offer and makes a lifelong enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The day of
the tryouts, Gretchen is pumped and intense. Devra tries out first and Gretchen
mentally tears her apart, saying she’s not terrible but certainly not up to her
calibre. Then Devra goes in and nails her much more complicated routine. She
then gets violently disgustingly ill, and the squad realizes her water bottle
had been poisoned. Sid comes over to comfort her, and shortly after that she
receives some threatening text messages – SOMETIMES CHEERLEADERS DIE and GIVE
ME A K-I-L-L. The messages are from Devra, which is pretty ballsy, I have to
say. Everyone else thinks so too when Gretchen shows the to the cheerleading
coach. Devra immediately claims her phone was stolen and accuses Gretchen of
sending them herself. Also super ballsy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Fear
tactics aside, Devra wins. The principal, Hernandez, calls the coach and the
captain in to tell them that Devra’s dad called in a favour and insisted that
Devra be on the team or else he would pull funding from the school. Money
always wins and the cheerleading squad doesn’t have a choice. Gretchen was
eavesdropping and heard the whole thing. She goes to drown her sorrows with
Madison at the Cheesecake Factory, where Gretchen starts to murmur stuff about
a knife. Weird.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">She gets a
text message from the cheerleading captain to meet at the gym for a night
practice. Except it was an evil set up and someone just attacked her in the
dark. Someone who smelled like Devra’s perfume. Also, her new uniform comes in
covered in cockroaches, ordered from Dalby’s Department stores. Gretchen’s
starting to get frustrated with the abuse since Devra already won.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">And then we
get to the fire batons. Do you think if you lived in Shadyside you would ever
touch a fire baton? Or, like, set a fire ever? Fire means automatic horrific
death or at least horrific maiming. If you gave me a pack of matches I would
immediately hurl them from my body and cut you out of my life completely. And
yet, Gretchen as the unlucky alternate will stand there and light
kerosene-soaked fire batons for all the cheerleaders. NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO
WRONG! And yet, at the next game, when Stacy takes the baton meant for Devra,
she is almost immediately doused in flames. Yup, saw that coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Part Two:
Stacy survived but her arms are covered in burns and her nerves are badly
damaged (horrific maiming). Gretchen is now being questioned as to whether she
sabotaged the baton, and is up in arms that Devra is acting like a victim in
all of this. Gretchen is now on the squad for reals and that gives her a motive
to have committed the sabotage. But the squad continues on with their cheers
and want to use Gretchen’s superior skills to show off, which involves a double
somersault something where Devra has to catch her. Gretchen assumes Devra will
try to kill<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her but it all goes
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Meanwhile, Gretchen’s
violin-playing friend Madison desperately wants to tell her something, but
Gretchen never gets a chance to hear what it is. When Madison performs Mozart
with a string quartet in front of the school, she starts screaming horribly and
her neck explodes with blood. Turns out her violin had been dipped in hideous
acid that ate away her neck and burned through her aorta. Madison does not
survive. Holy crap, that is an explosive murder, RL! I am impressed and
thoroughly terrified. I will also avoid all stringed instruments from here on
out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Sid
(cheating boyfriend) and Gretchen get closer, and she learns his out of work
dad is kind of abusive and also that he is poor (therefore will die and/or be
the murderer). He helps her clean out her garage, and there he finds a jar of sulphuric
acid, like the kind that killed Madison. But Gretchen knows that Devra has some
kind of acid, so she makes a plan with Sid to break into her house and find it
as some kind of proof that Devra is responsible for the murder. They manage to
find the workshop where Devra had been working but she only got burned by
Muriatic Acid, which was not the right kind. Hmm, still not sure who the
murderer is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">And now
there is the inevitable Cheerleading camping weekend in Fear Woods. DO PEOPLE
NEVER LEARN! After Gretchen leaves for the trip, her Mom goes in to clean her
room and discovers Gretchen left her phone behind. While not normally the
snoopy type, her Mom goes through her phone and discovers something TERRIBLE!
She immediately goes to Principal Hernandez to get him to stop the bus but it
has already left. She tells him she discovered Gretchen has been making almost
daily calls to Polly Brown … the girl Gretchen killed two years ago! I knew it!
Polly was totally dead! And yet, sometimes she would answer Gretchen, which
kept me guessing. Well played, RL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Part Three:
Gretchen’s Mom explains that Gretchen had been driving the car that was in an
accident that killed her best friend Polly. Since then her grasp on reality has
been tenuous. When she starts to call Polly, it means she’s slipping. And at
her old school, she had picked out a girl on her squad and started to make it
look as though that girl was harassing her, as if she was a victim. Also that
she carried a hunting knife. Mom and principal quickly agree they have to get
to the cheerleaders right away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Meanwhile
at the cheerleading camp, Sid and Devra are screaming at each other. Gretchen
gets spinny and confused and goes to get her knife to put an end to things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Mom and
principal arrive at the camp in time to see Gretchen running into the mess hall
with a knife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Gretchen
runs into the kitchen, brandishing the knife. She confronts Sid, who is holding
Devra against him with a knife held to her throat. Gretchen warns Sid to let
Devra go, while he screeches that it was Devra who was supposed to burn, not
Stacy. Gretchen tries to keep him talking, so inevitably he exposits that he
really loved Devra and thought they had a connection, but then she had his
father fired at the shoe department of Dalby’s. Now Sid’s family is ruined and
he snapped. Everything he had done to torture Gretchen was to make everyone
hate Devra and ruin her too. And he killed Madison because she had a video on
her phone of Sid clearly wiping kerosene on the offending fire baton. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Sid goes to
slit Devra’s throat, but Gretchen tosses her knife away and dives across the
floor, barreling into Sid. She elbows him in the stomach and uppercuts his
chin. Kinda badass. Sid goes down and Devra is able to get away with only a cut
only her neck, not deep. Gretchen and her Mom hug, then Gretchen goes to
apologize to Devra for being a jerk to her. They make up because Gretchen did
after all save her life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">After that,
life gets better for Gretchen. Her therapist is on call to see how she is after
the incident, to see if there’s any trauma, but Gretchen feels great. She’s
feeling great. And then she gets a text from Polly …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Totally fun
Fear Street book! It has some of the well-known story lines – like talking to
dead people on the phone (or facetime or text), and poverty creating murderers.
Also unbelievably creative murders. So, hope you liked this one too. Tell me
why you thought it was cheesy. Six exploding aortas out of seven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-29589931441928004802018-02-19T16:20:00.000-07:002018-02-19T16:25:15.101-07:00The Dead Boyfriend or "Just Don't Date Guys Named Blade"<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Basically the entire time I was reading this book, I had Garbage’s iconic song “Bad Boyfriend” running through my head, except I had replaced the word “bad” with “dead”. I didn’t realize until later that Garbage probably didn’t write a song about a dead boyfriend, no matter how grunge they were. Bad boyfriend works in this instance too though. Now enjoy that songworm in your ear for the rest of this recap :) </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-bb4ce771-b058-9a65-9926-7028ad0e1de2"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, The Dead Boyfriend was kind of a trip. A lot of times, I thought we were going to be faked out with a classic Stine dead-body-falls-out-of-a-closet and then it’s revealed it was a mop. True story: happened in our FIRST recap ever “<a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.ca/2008/06/he-was-hunk-of-trouble-or-new-boy.html" target="_blank">The New Boy</a>”</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But most of the time, crazy stuff was actually happening! I always appreciate that. And then the end happened. You’ll just have to wait and see that insanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our main character is Caitlyn and almost the whole book is a diary entry. She calls her diary her friend, which is a huge red-flag in my books. Like all of the relaunch Fear Street Series books, she kinda discusses her family, and then they never have anything to do with the plot. She has an older sister named Jen! She is never mentioned again!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, Caitlyn emotes to her diary that she just hasn’t been happy since her boyfriend, Blade died. You guys. That name. OMG that name slays me every time I think about it! It’s like when Fear Street hunk Bobby Newkirk had a band named “The Cool Guys” and then he changed it to “Bad to the Bone”. RL Stine is 74 but internally has been 104 since the 1980s. I love it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn takes us back to the first time she met Blade, at Lefty’s diner. She was hanging out with her friends Julie (her descriptor is funny and mean) and Miranda who *could* be attractive but has glasses. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn runs into Deena Fear as well and they have a very weird interaction. It’s the first time they ever meet and Deena seems vaguely...threatening? Must be the Fear in her. Caitlyn then sees a guy staring at her. Props to Caitlyn though, she puts an end to this mystery very quickly by going over and seeing what this creep wants. Except he’s not creepy, he’s dreamy. And named Blade, which also seems to be his given name, not a nickname. He says his parents wanted him to be “sharp”. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No. Don’t do this, parents. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They get to talking and hit it off, so Blade asks if she wants to hang out and they leave together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are very teenage-y and just wander around talking until they come upon a house party and decide to crash it. They don’t know anyone and are trying to slip some beer (classic teens) but then Caitlyn sees Deena. And she is super pissed that Caitlyn is at the party with Blade! Deena hisses that she “saw him first” - a dibs! That’s more pre-teen behaviour I feel. Also, meaningless to Caitlyn since she met Deena that night and isn’t friends with her. Dibs don’t count if you aren’t friends, obvs. Deena makes this interaction even weirder by blowing on the silver bracelet that Caitlyn wears. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The host of the party catches on that Blade and Caitlyn aren’t real guests. Before they get kicked out, Caitlyn suggests they make out in front of everyone as a “joke”. It’s as weird as you are imagining. Once they are done “jokingly making out” (remember teen hormones?) they run out of the party laughing. They don’t get too far though, before Caitlyn’s wrist starts hurting. She looks down and realizes that her bracelet is burning hot - and melted to her skin! WTF. This was one of those times that I thought we were in for a fake out, but the next chapter starts, and no, the bracelet actually melted and fused together - although I was unclear whether it was melted to her skin or just melted together... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few days later, Caitlyn is working at her job at the movie theater, slinging popcorn, when Deena comes in. Deena wants to be friends because she’s worried something bad will happen to Caitlyn. Ummm… aren’t you the reason her bracelet is now fused to her body? Deena also wants to talk about Blade, but Caitlyn isn’t really interested. Deena gets all creepy looking and then the machines in the concession go hay-wire shooting out popcorn and pop all over the place. Caitlyn wonders if this is a warning from Deena. Ya think?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next is a really weird chapter where Caitlin is grabbed by a man in a parking garage and mugged, which I really thought would be an RL fakeout, but wasn’t! She was really mugged and broke his nose to escape! And then went and bought a knife for protection, which seems like a weird thing to do, and also, no one ever mentions this mugging again. I can tell you, if I ever got mugged and fought my way free, I would literally not stop telling people about how amazing I am. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What her friends do talk to her about though, is that she’s rushing into things with Blade. I guess they’ve been spending a lot of time together and things are moving quickly. Caitlyn throws out the classic teen line “yall are just jealous” and for some reason her friends don’t abandon her like I would have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Right on cue, Blade starts acting shady. He cancels a date unexpectedly and when Caitlyn goes to hang out with Miranda instead, she spots his car on her drive over. She obviously decides to follow his car. She watches as Blade goes to the FIRE DANCE CLUB (another amazing name by RL) and sees he’s brought another girl! She watches them kiss outside the club and goes to confront him. She’s interrupted by Deena who’s all “Blade betrayed us!”. Caitlyn actually pushes her out of her way - amazing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inside FIRE DANCE CLUB, Caitlyn confronts Blade. He tells his date, Vanessa that Caitlyn is “nobody, a friend from school” and denies ever saying “I love you” to Caitlyn. Harsh. Caitlyn leaves and almost crashes her car. Then like a completely sane person, she goes to Blade’s house and waits for him to come home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When he does, they get into an argument with Blade saying they were just “having fun”. You know what? Don’t say that to very angry girls - because they will lose their minds. Like Caitlyn does! First she attacks him with her big purse, and then threatens him with that giant knife she bought after her mugging. And then she slices his palm and stabs him in the stomach. WHAT!?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PART TWO</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I really thought that would be a rage-blackout-fake out, but nope, Blade is dead. Caitlyn drives home and immediately thinks she’s caught because the police come to her door right away. But they were just coming to let her know she left her house door open. The first true fake out of the book. Weird!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blade’s funeral is sometime soon, and Caitlyn attends with Julie and Miranda. It seems like a dream since there are only 19 people in attendance? A high-school boy, MURDERED in his driveway? Yeah, right. That would be huge news in any town! I guess Shadyside has its fair share of murders, but I feel like the funerals described in other books had a lot more guests…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anywhoo, the funeral gets a whole lot effing weirder when Blade suddenly blinks and sits up in his coffin. Everyone shrieks and rushes to Blade, calling for a doctor (at this 19 person funeral? Not likely.) Caitlyn looks around and sees Deena Fear is at the back of the room, and appears to be controlling Blade’s body with a spooky amulet. We know which one! She suddenly passes out, and Blade’s body also slumps over, apparently dead again. After a doctor has appeared and declared Blade dead again (doctor, or funeral home director?) the funeral continues. Over the protest of Blade’s parents, who obviously want to ensure that Blade is actually dead. Certainly the most awkward ending to any funeral that I could imagine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deena texts Caitlyn later that night and wants her help. Apparently Blade hasn’t been buried yet and Deena is keen on bringing him back to life - with the help of Caitlyn! Caitlyn isn’t that jazzed on the plan - mostly because she murdered him and doesn’t want to get caught. She ends up going to Deena’s place anyways. She tells Deena she’s crazy for thinking it’s possible to bring someone back from the dead. So Deena shows off her necromancy skillz by killing her parrot in front of Caitlyn and then bringing him back to life. Poor bird! That has to be traumatizing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We get to the real deal of why Deena wants Blade brought back to life. Deena thinks it’s her turn to be with Blade. Like… what? It’s very unclear whether Deena and Blade had ever even met before so what’s with this obsession? The guys name is BLADE for gods sake, he cannot be worth all this killing/reanimation. Caitlyn is equally weirded out by Deena and tries to run out of the house, but somehow gets lost. Is Caitlyn...a moron? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She ends up in a room with two middle-aged people, who she assumes are Deena’s parents. She’s half right since they are Deena’s parents, only… they aren’t alive. They’ve been taxidermied! Deena comes in and calmly explains that she murdered and stuffed her parents. She also tells Caitlyn that she made Caitlyn kill Blade through mind control, and demonstrates her other talents by forcing Caitlyn to do cartwheels. For some reason, this convinces Caitlyn to go with Deena to reanimate Blade. Whatever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They sneak into the funeral home only to discover his body is gone! Dun dun dunnnnn!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PART THREE</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn is picked up by the cops to answer some questions about Blade’s death. They know about the FIRE DANCE CLUB and the fight that Blade and Caitlyn had. Probably because it was directly in front of that other girl, who would have obviously told the police. They let Caitlyn go and seem to believe her story that she went right home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn meets up with Julie and Miranda to watch the basketball game at school. There are a bunch of fakeouts in this chapter: the cops arrive looking for her! No, they are just there to watch the game (in uniform?) and were pointing to open seats near Caitlyn. She sees Blade at the game and goes to chase him! Just kidding, he wasn’t there, and now Julie and Miranda kinda think she’s nuts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But twist! Turns out Blade really was there, and now he’s waiting for Caitlyn at her car. She blurts out “You’re dead!” and he just shrugs. Ha! Such a teen. He also gives her an angry cold kiss</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">which Caitlyn is horrified by. Why? Didn’t you love him so much you rage murdered him in jealousy? "He pressed his lips against mine in a hard kiss. An angry kiss. He held me there, held my face against his, pressed his lips, so hard and cold, against mine, grinding them against my lips until my mouth ached [...] And then I uttered a horrified gasp - </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>His lips were still sewn together</i></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." Best kiss scene ever?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn escapes from his gross make out and slams his hand in her car door. She drives home in such an adrenaline rush she doesn't notice that...his hand came off when she slammed the door! And she drove home with it in her lap. She thinks to herself “He’ll want his hand and he’ll want revenge!” which is pretty hilarious and probably true. Caitlyn throws the hand in her front yard, because that is a great way to get rid of evidence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blade does come up, and casually picks up his hand. He sees Caitlyn staring out the window and shows her a knife - then uses it to slice open his lips! (sidebar - I don’t think funeral homes SEW PEOPLE’S LIPS SHUT, but correct me if I am wrong) He yells out he’ll never leave her now, which is creepy whenever anyone says it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn tries to find Deena at school but can’t and then there is this whole undramatic scene when she find out Deena isn’t registered there! So she goes to Deena’s house who is like “yeah, I’m homeschooled” - cool subplot? I guess her parents taught her until she killed them? Anyways, while she’s there, Caitlyn notices that Deena somehow has Blade’s hand, and she is trying to necromancy that thing hard. She says she’s going to use it to bring Blade to her house so “[she] can have a turn”. BLECH. The spell doesn’t work and Deena tells Caitlyn she’s on her own, now that Blade is kind of alive and also looking to murder her. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn, who can’t seem to do anything on her own except murder, immediately calls Julie and tells her the whole story about Blade and how he’s now back from the dead. Julie tells her to stay calm and meet her house in 30 minutes. Of course when Caitlyn gets there, both her parents are there. Julie obviously didn’t believe Caitlyn and they have a little intervention about how worried they are for her.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn quickly peaces out and runs away from the world’s weirdest intervention. Pretty soon she sees Blade walking with his back to her. She recognizes his sweatshirt. She comes up to him and stabs him in the back in a blind rage! I think you know where this is going… it’s not Blade. It’s some different teen boy that she’s just killed. WTF Caitlyn, get your life together!</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She’s unsurprisingly upset that she’s killed the wrong person (or surprisingly? Caitlyn is kind of terrible), and yells about how Deena must be controlling her. Real Blade picks this moment to come out of the shadows and say that it's time for them to go to the grave forever! I remember thinking at this point: Yeah, she’s murdered two innocent boys in cold blood. Thats a hard rap to beat. I think I’d just shrug my shoulders and go with Blade. So much easier. (I was very tired reading this, fyi) </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn does not choose the easy way out, and instead starts to fight Blade and tries to kill him again. That is until Deena comes up and Blade is slighted distracted, and Caitlyn obviously takes this opportunity to stab Blade, again. He just kinda slumps over - it was oddly anticlimatic. So was Deena actually controlling him? Deena takes his body away to “bury”, alright, whatever. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caitlyn comes home and manages to convince her parents she’s not nuts, she just told Julie a bad joke. She is really on edge and everything is freaking her out: woodpecker tapping on her window, can’t concentrate at school. She decides that she needs to go to the funeral home and confirm that Blade is really and truly dead. Only when she gets there… Blade’s body has been stolen! Dun dun dunnnnn!</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay here is where the book goes from mildly weird to epically/amazingly confusing. Caitlyn goes home and finds her parents with her diary. They also call her Cathy Ann, which for a few seconds I thought was a really weird typo. It turns out… the diary was a novel! Cathy Ann wrote in her diary all this crazy stuff as a novel and she hopes to become a published author. With that above story. Girl, you need to write 100+ books over decades before someone will publish a story as batshit as that. R.L. put in his time!</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apparently Blade is a real boy who died drowning the previous year, and Deena Fear is made up. Everyone else in the story was real, but none of it ever happened. Caitlyn/Cathy Ann’s parents are concerned for a bit - it’s a really weird story and violent and why did she have to use a boy who really died as inspiration? But they get over it quickly, decide their daughter is a genius and send the diary away to be published! </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A year later, Cathy Ann is at a book signing for her mega-popular book. She’s all happy and excited to be in Shadyside on her book tour until… BLADE shows up!</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s it. That’s where the book ends. W.T.F.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So many questions remain, most pressingly: Did the stuff in the “diary” happen? Or did it not?! Cathy Ann’s parents said Blade the Real Boy, drowned so did Cathy Ann do that somehow? Is Deena Fear a real person or not? Who brought Blade back to life? Did Cathy Ann really stab a second boy and noone noticed? WHAT IS HAPPENING? </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was so annoyed by this ending. I typically love a twist ending in R.L.s books but this one was just too big of a leap. Four stabbed boys named BLADE out of eleven. </span></div>
</div>
A.M. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395528280768213616noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-30281813683193122312017-02-07T06:56:00.004-07:002017-02-07T06:56:58.396-07:00Can You Keep a Secret? or "Random Acts of Werewolf"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Okay, it’s definitely harder to blog when
you are not doing it often, like once a week the way we used to. Now that RL
has his new line of Fear Streets coming out, it takes me approximately the same
time to write a blog that it takes him to write a novel. I’m not sure what that
says about either of us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, we’ll start with the cover, definitely
good and creepy, a knife jammed into a tree carved with a heart. It’s simple,
it’s mysterious. It doesn’t have any goofy kids from the 80s in various states
of open-mouthed astonishment, as per the old books, so the cheese factor is way
down. Also the tagline is fantastic: “or are you dying to tell?” I love it!
I’ll admit that I feel the revamped Fear Street got off to a rough start, but
this one has already captured me. I’m always willing to give RL one more chance,
but then again I am an eternal optimist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Part One</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There is a spooky dream with lots of moon
and wolf imagery. Omg, is this book about werewolves? I think I LOVE
werewolves, which were surprisingly underrepresented up until now in the Fear
Street omnibus. I can only think of that one Super Chiller, <a href="http://shadysidesnark.blogspot.ch/2008/08/bad-moonlight-or-child-bride-of.html" target="_blank">Bad Moonlight</a><span id="goog_155591000"></span><span id="goog_155591001"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>. Come
to think of it, that’s a shocking lack of werewolf books. I mean, vampires and
zombies are everywhere, but where’s the love for the humble lycanthrope?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So anyway, in this dream, the girl and the
wolf have the same startlingly blue eyes, then the girl becomes the wolf. The
girl wakes up from her nightmare, then wakes up her sister, Sophie. Sophie goes
to comfort Emmy, the shaken dreamer. Emmy is horrified to see her sheets are
completely shredded.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emmy is the elder sister, at 17, and Sophie
is 15. I love a good sister drama, doncha think, AM? They have the same black hair
and blue eyes, but Sophie cut her hair extremely short because she was sick of
being constantly confused for her sister. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emmy has been having wolf dreams since she
was five, when she was visiting her creepy great aunt Marta in Prague and was
bit by a dog, although she doesn’t remember it. Ooh, Prague, v. old world.
Definitely about werewolves! On that note, there is a news report that a dog
had been torn apart by a black wolf in Shadyside Park.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Enter Emmy’s new boyfriend, Eddie. Emmy’s
mom doesn’t like him – he is the best friend of Emmy’s ex, and he is POOR. A
fatal flaw in Shadyside. His stepdad is a cop but suspended from the police
force for beating a teen, charming. Eddie works at a pet cemetery, which is
awfully convenient.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emmy goes to visit Eddie at his work and
smells something evil in the air, feels strongly that Eddie should probably get
a new job. Of course Eddie is at the moment burying the recently killed dog.
Emmy sees the corpse and takes off running, as the thing had been skinned.
Blerg. They then change the mood entirely and discuss doing something naughty
that night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Part Two</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Ah, so naughtiness is an all-night party in
the Fear Street Woods – always a terrible idea. Eddie is in a frisky mood,
wants to play his favourite game, Can you keep a secret. Doesn’t sound like
much of a game, you have to reveal your deepest darkest secrets for the other
to keep. His secret is that he lost his drivers license (he tells her as he
drives her mom’s car). They then start making out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They are terrified when they are attacked –
nope, just surprised by Emmy’s ex Danny and his new girlfriend Callie.
Apparently Danny has a temper and Emmy really likes Callie and thinks she’s
good for him. Riley and Roxie round out the crew. Riley is a huge football
player and Roxie is tiny and cutesy, so they make a mismatched adorable couple.
I like how Emmy is very open about how great the other girls are, no jealousies
there. And my my what’s with all the names ending in -y or –ie? How bout we get
a names book or something.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They unload the beer because this is Fear
Street of the twenty-first century! Now Eddie brings out his next secret of the
night. Oh look, he stole a gun from his stepdad. Well that’s not going to end
well. Emmy questions her judgment at being with Eddie, because he has a temper
and is poor. The gun would have done it for me, but whatevs. Then Emmy sees the
black wolf and Eddie shoots it. Oh, it was only a raccoon. But Emmy is back to
loving Eddie again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Everyone else is fighting so they take off.
Eddie pulls her to a clearing and calls it their secret place. He then creepily
pulls out a knife … and carves Eddie heart Emmy. How sweet! The tree, of
course, turns out to be hollow and housing a briefcase full of cash. Emmy is
all: peace out, put it back, but Eddie thinks that she’s nuts. Before they
resolve this, everyone else finds them. The boys are crazy happy with their
luck, the girls are not and want to take the money to the police.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Inevitably, a fight ensues, Eddie and Danny
grapple and the gun comes out. Danny gets shot … oh no wait he just crumpled in
fear when the gun accidentally went off. They all vote, and since only Emmy and
Callie want to take the money to the police they decide instead they should
hide the case at the pet cemetery until they know where it came from.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sophie calls Emmy just then in a panic,
saying she saw the black wolf on her way home. Emmy gets all dizzy and wants to
howl at the moon. Callie grabs her, breaking her out of her trance, but Emmy
decides to go home. The sisters are emotional together, laughing and fighting,
and Emmy feels guilty that she’s not more supportive of Sophie.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The guilt doesn’t last that long, because
she goes to Eddie’s house for dinner the next night instead of Sophie’s track
meet. Eddie’s stepdad tells them of the robbery. It was a few nights ago, a hit
on an armored truck, one guy with a gun. Emmy and Eddie go for a drive where
Emmy finally figures out the inevitable – the robber with the gun will come
after them, since their names are carved on the tree where the cash was hiding.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Part Three</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Eddie and Emmy freak out and decide to put
the cash back in the tree. They go dig up the grave and of course the case is
gone. They go to Danny’s, where Riley shows up and they all fight a lot about
who took the money. Secrets and greed are tearing the group apart!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sophie is still awake when Emmy gets in.
Emmy caves and tells her everything. Emmy dreams that night she’s a wolf and
wakes up howling. Also, there’s a letter from Czech Republic – Great Aunt Marta
is coming to visit. She has some suspiciously convenient timing. I’m kind of
feeling that this book is disjointed. There’s two entirely different things
going on, sort of smushed together. There’s the werewolf thing, then the
money/greed thing, which is actually a really common theme in Fear Street
novels (along with crazy people taking over other’s identities). I’m just not
sure that the two plots have anything to do with each other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Eddie and Emmy go through the cemetery
security footage the next day, and are surprised to find that it’s Riley who
took the money. Their plan is to let everyone else know then all go to confront
Riley. Emmy goes with Sophie, but starts to feel funny then blacks out. All of
a sudden she’s in someone’s yard, and Riley’s body is draped over the hedges,
clawed to pieces.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The official story is that he’d been mauled
by a rabid wolf. There is a v sad funeral, everyone is traumatized but are
still fighting about the money. Roxie finally gives Eddie and Emmy the
briefcase and tells them she wants nothing to do with it, or them. Eddie
reburies the case in the cemetery.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Great Aunt Marta comes. She is very old and
mysterious, talking of the magic of the old country. She wakes Emmy up out of a
wolf dream to tell her she’d been bitten by an immortal wolf creature in Prague
and now she is wolfen. Emmy realizes she killed Riley.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Part Four</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emmy wakes Sophie up to ask her what
happened at Riley’s. Apparently Emmy made Sophie drop her off and told her to
leave, Sophie started to go home but then came back, and at that point the cops
were already there. Emmy runs out into the night, where she is joined by wild
dogs. They freak out when she stops though and turn on her. It’s Sophie who
runs out and shoos the dogs away, saving them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Great Aunt Marta leaves after a day. She
literally just came to wake Emmy up in the middle of the night to tell her
she’s a werewolf, with zero advice or anything. Great Aunt Marta sucks. She
could have sent a letter. Or, like, a text. (Guess what, u r a flesh-eating
werewolf, lol). That is the amount of useful she is.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After school, a man is waiting for Emmy and
Eddie at her car, knows who she is and she figures he’s the robber. They take
him to the pet cemetery. Eddie pulls his gun on the man, who asks him if that’s
the gun he used to hold up the armored truck. Oh noes, looks like Eddie’s
stepdad was very naughty and used his cop knowledge to knock off the truck. The
man who took them to the cemetery by gunpoint is in fact a federal agent
looking into the robbery. They dig up briefcase, but it is full of newsprint.
Oops. They go to confront stepdad, because that’s how things are done
officially in Fear Street, and he confesses and is arrested. The federal agent
lets them know that the sentence will be reduced if the money is found, so the
kids try to find it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They figure it is the owner of the pet
cemetery who has it. Sophie comes with Emmy and Eddie on this adventure. They
search his apartment attached to the office at the cemetery, and find the
money. Unfortunately, he surprises them. At gunpoint he forces them into a
disgusting pit, filled with animal corpses. The guy had been taking people’s
money, then just throwing the carcasses of their beloved pets into a pit behind
his apartment. Gross, but also why did he hire Eddie to dig the graves then?
Doesn’t make tons of sense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sophie turns into a wolf then. She leaps
out of the pit and mauls the pet cemetery owner. She tells Emmy that she was
the one bitten all those years ago, but started changing a few months ago.
She’s the one who makes Emmy have weird dreams and blacks out sometimes. She
basically blames Emmy for everything wrong with her life. Oh, yah, and she
killed Riley because he knew her secret. Wha? That’s a little lot random. When
did this come up? Why would he not have said anything? Anyway, Sophie runs
away, and soon after Emmy and Eddie are rescued by some confused cops.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In the end, Mac survives the attack (will
he be a werewolf now? This doesn’t come up at all), the money is returned and
Eddie’s stepdad gets a lesser sentence. Emmy and Eddie get a $5000 reward,
which just goes to show you that trying to steal lots of money really does pay,
just less than you expect.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emmy gets home exhausted, never expecting
to see her sister helping to make dinner as always. Sophie says she doesn’t
want to live in the woods forever (if I had been her, I would have taken all
the money for myself and lived in the Bahamas forever, but whatever, I’m not a
15-year-old werewolf). Sophie approaches Emmy very intensely and asks her if
she can keep a secret.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My issue with this book, besides the fact
that RL seemed like he could not be finished quickly enough and threw in some
random explanations at the end to just get out of it, is what I mentioned
before, that it was kind of two unrelated books shoehorned in together. I would
have loved to have something that focused entirely on the werewolf thing. I
mean, Bad Moonlight was cheesy, but it was fun and loads better than this. I
give this five gaping plot holes out of twelve.</span></div>
L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-27460153436752825462016-12-14T20:15:00.003-07:002016-12-14T20:15:52.315-07:00The Lost Girl or "Someone Gets Stabbed Through the Eye With a Flaming Candle, No Joke."<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to Fear Street y’all!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Turns out that R.L. Stine is publishing the new Fear Street books pretty fast and furious. Nothing like he was in the 90s (approximately 400 per year) but he’s been publishing one every six months since 2014! We have some catching up to do, clearly.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am back with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lost Girl,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and boy, what a return to form it was! Like all great Fear Street novels, this one starts with a prologue and jumps back and forth between 1950 and 2016. The prologue is actually pretty long (like 8 chapters!) and focuses on Beth and her Italian family.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beth’s family is finally opening their own stable. Beth’s father, Angelo Palmieri, worked as a stable hand for a prominent Irish family, the Dooleys, basically his whole life. (My immediate thought was they are all in Italian/Irish gangs! I wasn’t that far off). He’s finally saved enough money to open his own stable, and today is the opening day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The whole family is ridiculously happy, although there is some tension between Beth and her mom. Beth is mad because her mom grounded her from last Sunday’s sock hop since Beth failed geometry. Beth thinks “Everyone knows girls aren’t good at math. Why does mom expect me to be special?” This has nothing to do with the plot, I just loved that these types of lines were thrown in. Classic Fear Street.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another Fear Street classic is coming up - Beth is being stalked by Aaron Dooley, of Dooley Stables fame. Well, he’s the nephew of the stable owners. He follows Beth around, trying to convince her to kiss him. This is on page 8: “I tried to squirm free, but his gloved hands were inside my open coat and he tightened them around my waist. ‘Aaron, get off’ I snapped. ‘Get your paws off me. I’m in a hurry.’. The icy blue eyes flashed with excitement. He tightened his grip and pulled me to the side of the apartment building. ‘I’m tired of playing games with you,’ he said.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WTF. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yes, it only gets worse! Assaultist Aaron pins Beth down and covers her face with kisses (weird), until Beth reveals the trick up her sleeve - she’s telekinetic and is mentally choking Aaron out. She says “Why Aaron, you seem to have swallowed your tongue”, which admittedly, is a pretty bad ass thing to say while you’re choking someone. Beth doesn’t kill Aaron, but instead leaves him in the snow, feeling very satisfied that he is now afraid of her. She’s not any worse for wear for the horrifying assault, as she laughs at how scared Aaron is, so that seems about par of the course for Shadyside women. She continues on her way to her dad’s stable opening and has a fine afternoon. Could RL have picked a less awful way for Beth to demonstrate her skills?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Martin Dooley, proprietor of Dooley Stables, shows up after the stable opening. Beth obviously stands around to eavesdrop, like all good Shadyside characters do. Martin accuses Angelo of betrayal for opening a competing stable, although how could he not have noticed this earlier? Like, when Angelo quit and built the stable? Maybe he has a flair for drama. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While threatening Angelo about the business, Martin brings up Beth and how she “thinks she’s too good to go out with a Dooley?” Uh, yeah Martin, even Beth, the math dunce, is too good for Aaron. Anyways, Angelo and Martin get into a fight about who’s junk is bigger (I can only assume) and Martin leaves after threatening Angelo. The chapter ends with a classic “Two days later, my life ended.” OOOOOOOOOOHH.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two days later, Irish thugs come and kidnap Angelo from the stable, while Beth looks on in horror from the office. She goes after the cars with her father in it, in the most boring and slow car chase. It is literally during a traffic jam. The thugs take him to Dooley’s Stables, of course, where he’s tied up on the ground between two stakes. Beth tries to do some telekinesis magic spell, but it doesn’t work. Beth kinda sucks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows here though is quite possibly the most INSANE Fear Street death. Martin Dooley comes out and covers Angelo in honey and oats (delish!) and then releases...the horses? Yes friends, Angelo is savagely ripped apart when the horses are let loose and they eat the honey and oats, and I guess just keep on eating and kill Angelo? What? Is this something that horses do - eat their food and then just keep eating whatever’s beneath it until they’ve tunneled through to the centre of the earth? I actually googled “horses eat human flesh?” (note the incredulous question mark there). All I found is Greek mythology and a list of 10 countries who eat horse flesh. Maybe it was a revenge murder then.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyhoo, Beth has been watching this happen from behind a building. Since she kinda sucks, when she turns to run and get help, she runs the wrong way, and is quickly seen by the murderous irishmen and their band of flesh-eating horses (huh). Oh, Aaron has shown up now too. They chase her into the woods and she crawls into a cave, hoping to hide from the absolute insanity she just saw. As she rushes deeper in the the cave she suddenly feels like she’s falling…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Present Day</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We now meet Mike. Mike’s dad owns the snowmobile store and rental place in Fear Street which is pretty cool, and he has a girlfriend named Pepper who has fiery red hair - OF COURSE she does. We’ve discussed how Shadyside seems to have the highest proportion of redheads in the world, yes? I guess due to all the Irish gangs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, he’s out grocery shopping for his mom when he spots the most beautiful girl - he describes her as looking like Emma Stone. Interesting. I think given our knowledge of RL’s love of redheads, we may have stumbled across his celebrity crush! Mike is watching her so intently, he also watches her steal a bunch of food. Odd. They talk outside the store about Mike’s dog and two weird things happen: she knows his name without him telling her; and he apparently wandered out of the store without his groceries and has to go back in. She introduces herself as Mindy Barker. Get it together, Mike. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next chapter introduces the rest of the characters: Gabe is Mike’s best friend, who loves video games. Diego is the big athlete, and Kathryn is the small artsy one. Pepper rounds them out. When Mike runs into Mindy in the hall and introduces Gabe, she laughs at Mike and tells him her real name is Lizzy Walker. Mike is embarrassed for some inexplicable reason - how would you know this random new girl would give you a fake name?? This had no impact on the plot. So weird!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, the name Lizzy? Are teens slower than they were in the 80s and 90s? Or does RL want people to catch on early? If you don’t understand my meaning, I’m sure you’ll catch up soon.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mike runs into Lizzy again that afternoon - she tells him she’s LOST. Get it? He points her in the right direction and she attempts to hold his hand. Actually wait. She holds his hand, then pricks his finger with a thumbtack, pricks her own and pushes them together before Mike can react. WHAT?! She whispers “now we’re bloods.” Please tell me what your reaction would be if a person did that to you. Because holy crap, how Mike is not terrified for his life is beyond me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He thinks very little of this extremely distressing incident and then goes to work on the yearbook with Pepper. Pepper saw him with Lizzy earlier in the day and is jealous (of course) but he tells her she has nothing to worry about. As he has Lizzy’s blood coursing through his veins! Scandalous!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That night, Lizzy wanders over to his house out of the blue claiming she got *lost* and also doesn’t explain how she knew where Mike lived. Super weird. His mom invites her in for dinner where she eats like a feral animal that’s been caught in a cage for weeks. She hears that Michael and his friends are going snowmobiling the next day and begs to come. When he says yes, she kisses him on the cheek out of happiness! Which is totally something new friends do... Of course Pepper comes over right then to see Lizzy eating at the dinner table with the family, also kinda kissing Mike. With Pepper super pissed off, Lizzy wanders off into the night again, in the wrong direction. Classic Lizzy!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most surprising part of the snowmobile day is that the kids are drinking again! I mean, I’m not surprised teens are drinking, but it was very rare for Fear Street kids to drink in the original series, but it seems like they drink in every book now. It’s Mike, Pepper, Lizzy, and their three friends whose name I can’t bother looking up right now. Diego and so and so.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, after downing a few beers, they start snowmobiling. Everything is going well; Pepper even promised to try to be nice to Lizzy since she’s new in town - probably a bigger person than me. Mike is snowmobiling down a path and … someone starts to cross in front of him. Mike feels like he can’t move his arms to swerve, or hands to brake! He runs over the guy, and then is able to get his body under control. Too late - he's dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone is freaking out. Lizzy says that she knows him - his name is Angel and he almost beat two kids to death! They all agree that he was bad news, and should probably just leave him there. Wha? Luckily, Mike has a change of heart before they get back to his dad’s shop. He realizes that it clearly looks like Angel was run over by snowmobiles, so it probably won’t take too long for (even) the Shadyside police to put two and two together. So even though their change of heart was more based on logistics than morality, they troupe back to the scene of the crime to call for help. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Except.. The body is gone! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part Two- 1950</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been a few days since Angelo was murdered by flesh-eating horses, and Beth is still missing. I guess the Irish gang dumped Angelo in the forest as the police tell her they think he was eaten by wolves. Nice police work there. Beth’s mom, Gina, decides to have a double funeral. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the funeral Martin Dooley comes to pay his respects, which does not sit well with ol’ Gina. She stabs him in the eye with a goddamn candle, which lights his face and head on fire. Gina does NOT eff around! This is how she reacts after she sees Martin Dooley go up in flames: “Gina crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched.” Bad ass.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part Three - Present </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course the Shadyside teachers take their students grave rubbing. Reminds me of the teacher in Hocus Pocus who is way to into the Sanderson sisters. Like, I get it, you live in a creepy town. You don’t need to drag children to cemetery on a dreary day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lizzy conveniently finds Beth and Angelo’s graves to do rubbings on. Weird. Weirder still, when Michael is by himself, he sees Angel climbing out of a grave! His friends think that Angel must be alive then, that Michael didn’t kill him in the snowmobile accident. So...the theory is that Angel is fine, but just hangs around in open graves…? I mean, it’s Shadyside, so this might be a valid theory.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lizzy on the other hand thinks that Angel is dead (she claims he was real dead when she examined him at the accident) so it must be an evil ghost. I guess as equally likely a theory. Lizzy is very scared, so Michael gives her a hug. As he’s hugging her, this happens: “I held onto Lizzy. Her tears felt hot against my cheek. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Am I becoming obsessed with her</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?” Hahaha WTF. By the way, the italics were R.L.s, not mine! Classic Fear Street fear boner. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, Pepper sees this hug and dumps Michael, thank goodness. What a wang. He gets a threatening phone call that night and the caller claims that Mike killed him. Mike refuses to go to the police, which is probably fair enough. I mean, this guy made a threatening phone call, but Mike had previously run him over. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Confession time: At this point in my recap, I put the book down and didn’t pick it up for 2 months. My recollection is hazy and my notes aren’t that good. Luckily, this recap is already super long so I don’t feel guilty with how poorly I will recap the rest of the book. This is only halfway!)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next day, Lizzy gets knocked out at school and although she (unsurprisingly) doesn’t see her attacker, he whispers in her ear “one by one”. Much to Mike’s delight, Lizzy kisses him later that week at his house. Much to my disgust, she reminds him that they’re “bloods”, as in, remember that time I pricked your finger and gave you a blood-born illness? After she leaves his house, his mom is missing her special amethyst ring. Mike is flabbergasted by what could have happened to it!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Obviously, Lizzy is wearing the ring and telling everyone Mike gave it to her. He’s so mad he thinks about how he is actually seeing red! A little bit of a rage issue, like all good Fear Street men. Before he can confront Lizzy, he is given a paper bag full of red hair by a random student - Pepper’s hair! Mike doesn’t know what happened to Pepper, so he and Gabe rush to the hospital. On the way, their car is chased and rammed from behind. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mike wakes up in hospital. Gabe was crushed to death. My next notes says “Confesses all to cops. Asks about zombies?” I don’t remember that, but I really liked that note, so there you go. Even after all that has happened, Mike is still mostly thinking of Lizzy. The police visit him a few days later to ask about Lizzy, since they’ve discovered there is no Lizzy Walker in school. Mike thinks about how he doesn’t know anything about her and “Maybe she’s poor…”. Worst case scenario for any Shadysider, I know. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lizzy comes to find Mike and begs for his help. When he tells her to go to the police she is certain that Angel would kill her for doing that, and insists she needs the help of her “blood”, gross. She makes out with Mike then asks him to kill Angel for her (specifically, tomorrow night). Mike agrees and Lizzy says she’ll get a gun. That was fast.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In an interesting way to spend their time, Mike and Diego decide to continue filming a class project. Macbeth, to be exact. Diego wants to film it in the boiler room of their school, for unknown reasons. Mike agrees but when he goes down, Diego has been tied to the boiler, and when Mike releases the ropes, all his skin slides off his back. Barf. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Diego is surprisingly alive, although probably wishes he wasn’t. Pepper (who is fine, just got knocked out and had her head shaved) and Mike try to work on the yearbook to take their minds off their dead and maimed friends. They make an interesting discovery - in an old 1950 yearbook, there is a Beth Palmieri that looks identical to Lizzy! Pepper also points out their names are the same. Mike remembers he saw something like that in the cemetery and they go confirm that, yup, Beth Palmieri is buried there. They don’t know what to make of this. Pepper asks to hang out that night but Mike says no, thinking about how Lizzy is getting a gun.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He goes to meet Lizzy that night at the spot of the old Fear Mansion. He can’t find Lizzy so he just wanders around the Fear Street Woods (at night in winter) until Pepper comes up behind him. She followed him because he’s been such a weirdo. Lizzy comes then and flies into a rage when she sees Pepper there. She uses her telekinesis (which I kinda forgot about) to freeze Pepper in place. Lizzy excitedly tells Mike that he’s here so she can kill him. Angel steps out of the woods too. It is actually Aaron Dooley for some reason? They are working together?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So apparently Lizzy has been lusting for revenge on Mike because (surprise!) Mike is Martin Dooley’s grandson. Martin Dooley has been dead for years (probably because his face caught fire), but Lizzy doesn’t let that satisfy her. Lizzy and Aaron lead Mike to the cave that she used to escape in 1950 and explains it’s actually a time travelling tunnel back to that year. She also explains that Aaron followed her through the time portal, (most likely, because he was/is a stalker who is obsessed with her). Aaron claims he was disgusted by how his father killed Beth/Lizzy’s father and he was too scared to move when it happened. That doesn’t explain the assault from the beginning of the book. Oh here it is: “We...had a bad time before...A bad moment a few days before. I actually hated him. But I was wrong about him. He loved me. He loved me so much, he followed me into the cave.” God dammit R.L. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lizzy and Aaron go to shove Mike through the time travelling cave where they say he will cease to exist (although I should mention that if they travelled from 1950 to 2016 and stayed 16, Mike would travel to 1950 and also remain 16. If they didn’t age, he wouldn’t anti-age into non-existence. The physics is all wrong!). Luckily Pepper comes out of her frosty spell and screams. This moment of distraction allows Mike to shove Lizzy and Aaron into the cave where… they age 70 years very rapidly (I don’t think this is how time-travel works). Also, they age until they are an old pile of bones, which I think if very unfair to 86 year olds. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The books of course ends with Mike doing a grave rubbing of Beth Palmieri’s grave, because why the eff not. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alright, this book was waaaaayyyy too long and also, didn’t make the best sense. Putting the issues with time-traveling caves aside, I don’t really get Lizzy and Aaron’s plan. Okay, they wanted to torture Mike for what his grandfather did. Did they have to kill and maim multiple innocent others? Also, why did they have to run Aaron/Angel over with the snowmobile?? Couldn’t they have just started stalking Mike out of the blue? Aaron seemed great at that! </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-82f38930-004f-2c83-49b6-9d1636a5a204"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, there you have it. The Lost Girl by R.L. Stine. I can’t say that I loved it because it was a little crazy in a bad way. Seventeen flesh-eating-horses out of thirty-two.</span></div>
A.M. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395528280768213616noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047632800446883420.post-24798804207715344072016-08-30T11:47:00.000-06:002016-08-30T11:49:00.025-06:00Don’t Stay Up Late, or “Crazy Things Happen to Crazy People”<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Time for another new Fear
Street! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">I am liking the new Fear
Street relaunch, in theory. The new books definitely look appropriately scary,
anyways, and Don’t Stay Up Late is no different. Girl alone in a darkened room,
horrifying shadow pressing in behind her. It’s creepy. Even the title, Don’t
Stay Up Late, gives a shivery warning, which makes it feel just a little bit
naughty. The tagline: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the dead of
night, the evil one awaits.</i> That is effing creepy. So far I’m impressed.
Does the substance of this newer, sexier Fear Street live up to its shiny
wrapper? Wait and see …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><b>Part One<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Oh, lordy yes! Already
divided into parts. This used to be how you could tell a super chiller from a
regular Fear Street, it was separated into parts. Now, all the books have
parts? We will roll with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Enter Lisa, our heroine of
the novel, who is new to town and self-identifies as a twisted psycho. An
interesting way to introduce yourself, she’ll fit right in at Shadyside High. Lisa
has been at school for a month and already she has a best friend (Saralynn) and
a boyfriend (Nate). Nate and Lisa met when she (accidentally) pushed him down a
flight of stairs. It was love at first assault. They also have another friend,
Isaac, who is described as chubby and funny, which pretty much ensures his
death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">She explains the night of
the accident started off like any other. She was out with her friends at the
local burger joint as Saralynn tells them that she wants to make a horror movie
for a class project. And it just so happens that Nate is a horror film nut,
with tons of movie posters and costumes in his attic. They all agree to be in
this film. I love it, I can already see how things are going to go south here,
crazy boyfriend, film becoming much too realistic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">While they are chatting,
Lisa confesses she snuck out of the house to be there as her parents are super
overprotective. This is just as her dad comes storming into the diner and
forces her to leave, causing her to die of embarrassment. Lisa behaves exactly
like any other teen ever, and is a brat, fighting as they drive home. Her dad
loses control of the car and they have a horrific accident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">When Lisa wakes up, she’s
in a hospital bed. Her father is lying next to her, the steering column jammed
through his skull. As she starts screaming again, her mom and nurses appear to
calm her down and explain she’s had some head trauma that is causing
hallucinations. But she was right about one thing – her dad is not okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Well, that is effing
horrible. Rarely do Fear Streets start off with such genuine grief and horror.
I’m feeling for Lisa. On top of losing her father, she’s going to see horrific
visions due to the brain trauma. That’s just peachy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><b>Part Two</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa has started to see a
psychiatrist to help deal with her grief and hallucinations. Dr. Shein doesn’t
think she’s up for school yet. Just as an aside, I’m impressed that they all
seem to be coping with their dead dad/husband quite well, as in their actually
trying to deal with their loss. Like, she’s having nightmares of his death
after two weeks? No problem, that’s normal. In old Fear Streets, you were
supposed to get over death instantaneously. Grief must expire at the funeral,
otherwise everyone acts like there is something wrong with you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Late one night, Lisa hears
a dog howling under her window so goes out to find it. The world looks strange
at night, and she sees a shadowy creature – standing on two legs, skinny, bald,
with red glowing eyes, pig ears and snout and a row of fangs. Lisa figures she
must be dreaming but she can’t stop screaming, and the shadow creature grabs
her …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">It was her mom, who’s
frantic that her daughter’s sleepwalking in the middle of the night. Lisa
wonders if she’ll be crazy forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">The next morning she goes
to Nate’s and starts screaming because she sees a hideous green creature. It
comes towards her and grabs her around the waist – it was Nate and he’s all
pleased with his joke, as Lisa is like – yup, I’ll be crazy forever. They are
filming Saralynn’s horror film, using one of Nate’s many horror costumes. Hmmm
… like maybe with a weird pig mask with red eyes? Lisa gets a funny feeling
that Nate and Saralynn are keeping something from her. Like how they are trying
to make her even more crazy by torturing her with monster costumes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa sees her shrink again,
who lets her go to school and encourages her to get a job. She knows of a woman
looking for a babysitter for her little boy, which would be perfect for Lisa.
And they live on – dun dun DUN! – Fear Street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><b>Part Three</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Isaac tries to convince her
not to take the job. She’s at his house, waiting for her other friends to
arrive, listening to his horrible band rehearse. Isaac is wearing a (pop
culture reference!) Vampire Weekend tshirt. Yay! I don’t remember that many pop
culture references from the older books – maybe I just didn’t get them. Isaac
stresses how much she should not go to Fear Street. He even gives a brief run
down of the Fear/Goode curse and that they learn about it in school! Awesome.
Lisa is mad that Isaac is such a downer. Then he behaves as all Fear Street men
do and leans in to kiss her after trying to scare her. Nate arrives just then
and Lisa doesn’t know if he saw the kiss or not, but he doesn’t mention
anything. He does say that Brendan Fear is a good guy and Fear Street isn’t so
bad. He drives Lisa to meet her new boss, Brenda Hart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">The babysitting job isn’t
hard – she’s to pick up eight-year-old Harry from his aunt’s house (where he’s
homeschooled) three days a week when Brenda has to work late, and the job pays
really well. There are some signs that Harry is different – he’s super self
sufficient, there’s no sign of a kid in the house, and he goes to bed very
early. Brenda stresses how important it is that he doesn’t stay up late. </span><span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa thinks Harry is adorable,
but Brenda warns Lisa to NEVER let Harry stay up
late. She’s very intense about this. Her reason is because he would be cranky
the next day. Haha, as a mom, I totally get this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa gets a call from
Summer Lawson, Nate’s ex. Summer warns Lisa that she’s in
lots of trouble because of Nate, then hangs up. Alright, Lisa is getting creepy
on all sides here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">The next day she goes to
pick Harry up, first day on the job, and once again thinks how angelic he is.
Lisa hears what sounds like sobbing from Harry’s aunt’s basement, but the aunt
says it’s just the cat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Nate calls her while she’s
babysitting to see how it’s going and Lisa tells him about the weird call from
Summer. Nate gets cagey when she asks him where he is and he just says “out.”
Hmmm, following his cheating heart or getting ready to terrify his girlfriend?
Given that it’s Fear Street, I’ll take door number two …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa drifts off on the
couch as she does her homework, only to be awoken by tapping upstairs. She sees
a figure at the top of the stairs – she chases it to Harry’s room where it
jumps out the window. It looks up at her and she sees the same demon face as
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Harry isn’t in his room and
she’s full out panicking, until he makes a noise at the front of the house. He
was hiding in the front closet all along. Lisa doesn’t tell Brenda about the
demon intruder because she doesn’t want to lose the job. That’s some crazy
logic. I’d be like: fuck you and this crazy house, I am out of here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">She does tell her mom,
Nate, and her shrink about what she saw, and not one of them believes her. Dr.
Shein wants to put her on medication for her hallucinations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Friday night, she goes to
hear Isaac’s band playing. They talk about their fake IDs and their club
outfits – the place is open to teens because a teen band is playing, but Nate
has to use his ID to get beers. Nate snuggles into Lisa’s neck and it sends a
chill down her spine, but in a good way, I guess? Lisa likes that kind of
thing. Saralynn cryptically tells her there’s a lot she doesn’t know about
Nate. To reiterate this, Summer Lawson approaches her and warns her about Nate,
but Lisa thinks everyone is just jelly. She’s the only one who’s getting his
spine-chilling caresses! Nate comes to kiss her again and she gets another
chill when his cold lips find hers – Fear Street is so hot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Summer calls her again when
she’s babysitting, but she doesn’t answer. Later on Lisa hears footsteps in the
kitchen and freezes in fear – the demon! She goes to call 911, but her cell
phone is dead – of course it is! Half of horror stuff can’t happen when there’s
proper communication. She makes a mental note to ask Brenda for an iPhone
charger. Then she goes back to being terrified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Never mind, it was just
Nate, creeping around. He wanted to make her feel better about the intruder
last time by breaking in himself. Good to know some things haven’t changed in
Fear Street and boys still behave like stalkers. Lisa goes to check on Harry,
and when she comes back down, Nate is gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">The only person there is
the demon creature! It spit green goo at her and runs out the back door. She
hears screaming outside but doesn’t see anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">When her babysitting shift
is over, Nate comes back to pick her up. He has blood and scratches on his face
he can’t explain. As they leave, they see something across the street. It’s
Summer Lawson’s body, her stomach ripped open and bite marks all over her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><b>Part Four<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">At the police station, Lisa
is told Summer was torn apart and eaten by a human, yuck. Lisa tells the police
about the creature and is shamed by everyone, because they are all a bunch of
assholes. But Lisa is beginning to suspect that Nate is into more than just
horror movies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Once she has Harry again,
it is reiterated that he absolutely can’t stay up late. Now they’re telling her
he gets seizures if he doesn’t have enough sleep. You would think that’s kind
of pertinent information.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">When Harry is in bed, Lisa
peeks through some family albums on the shelves and finds a photo of a family
reunion that includes both Saralynn and Nate. She calls Saralynn with the evidence
and Saralynn confesses they are all second cousins, Nate just didn’t want to
tell her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">On Friday, she picks up
Harry, and this time her friends come over and they study together – I guess
it’s okay because they are related to Brenda and Harry? Nate leaves to see if
he can find Isaac. Right after that, Lisa sees the creature, but Saralynn
calmly tells her nothing is there. She’s totally gaslighting her, right? Lisa runs
to check on Harry – he’s gone too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">As they search for him, she
hears a fight outside, then screaming and runs out to see the creature running
away. It left something behind – Isaac’s mangled body, half-eaten. Yuck again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">At the police station, once
again no one believes her and call her crazy. Saralynn explains she didn’t see
a creature. But, like, there was still the body, right? A hallucination didn’t
do that. Dr. Shein thinks that Lisa should be better by now – ouch. She puts
her on medication and threatens her with a mental hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa has had about enough.
She doesn’t take the meds and decides that Nate is the killer. Just then Brenda
calls, because she needs an overnight sitter. Lisa thinks she can find
something at the house. She searches all the photo albums for clues, and finds
a letter from Harry’s former babysitter, Joy, explaining she was having
nightmares from her time at their house and had to quit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa goes to see Joy from
the address on the letter, only to be told she was at a mental hospital. Damn.
Joy looks normal, but freaks out when Lisa mentions Harry. She keeps shrieking
“he’s a demon,” while Lisa is like “oh, so you know Nate?” Lisa is not exactly
the sharpest tool in a Fear Street mental institute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">The next day with Harry,
because Lisa keeps going back despite the pile of disemboweled bodies, he
forgets his backpack at his aunt’s house so Lisa goes back to get it. She hears
screaming at the aunt’s house, and follows the sound to the basement, where
there are three creatures like the one she saw, in cages. So, it’s a family of
demon breeders? She’s all like, yay, proof, but doesn’t take an effing picture,
because that would be too easy. She gets Harry home, calls the police, then
leaves Harry by himself to go see what happens at the aunt’s. But when she
arrives, there’s nothing in the basement and everyone is pissed. Lisa realizes
she’s about thisclose to rooming with Joy. She lets Harry stay up late and
that’s when the shit hits the fan. His eyes glow and roll back in his head as
he turns into the demon and tries to eat her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Brenda comes home and is
remarkably calm, is just mad at Lisa for letting Harry stay up late. She can’t
let Lisa go, now that she knows about their family and how they raise demons.
There is no explanation as to why they are raising demons. Or why they would rely
on a bunch of teenage girls to keep these demons in check. Seriously, what is
Brenda doing on those nights that’s more important than not letting the demon
out? Anyways, Harry is special because he can take human form. Brenda then
tries to stab her in the chest. Nate comes in and saves her and Lisa escapes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Lisa is at Dr. Shein’s,
telling her everything. Of course Shein is in on the whole thing and plans to
have her institutionalized because she knows too much. Lisa was chosen for the
job because she was already hallucinating since her accident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">But, haha, Lisa was on
FaceTime the whole time with all of the police officers outside the door, and
they watched Shein’s entire confession. FaceTime ftw! Lisa had figured out
Shein’s involvement because she had referred her in the beginning. Lisa and her
mom get to go home. Nate and Saralynn disappeared in the night, as does anyone
else in connection with the demons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">All is well in the world.
Lisa gets a job at a daycare and really likes it. Until one day an angelic
little boy comes in, looking exactly like Harry. He’s not Harry, but he does
want to stay up late …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Okay the final word on this
is that it started off with such promise, and ended up being really cheesy. I
mean, the whole demon breeding thing doesn’t make any sense. I guess I’m
expecting too much, but I think the whole thing would have been much creepier
if her friends had actually been trying to drive her crazy while filming it.
That would have been genuinely horrifying. And while little kids can be uber
creepy, once Harry turned into a demon, all I could imagine was some kind of
cheesy old school horror movie, like creature from the black lagoon, especially
with the spitting of green goo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<span style="font-family: "geneva"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But hey, I’m just happy that there are new Fear Streets out there! I
give this book 4 cheesy swamp monsters out of nine. </span><!--EndFragment-->L. K. Stinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01169995941058521382noreply@blogger.com5