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The movie rules though, everyone should watch the movie
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Feb 10, 2018 20:58
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chernobyl kinsman posted:The book is not that great. The pacing and tension are both totally shattered by the weird shift midway through, the monster isn't as scary or interesting (it's Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of 1000 Young, which also has the effect of making the Scandinavian setting totally arbitrary), the black metal cultists are really boring and not nearly as fleshed out as the movie's forest pagans, and the four dude characters aren't as well-written as they are in the movie (the murder that opens the film and which gives movie-Luke much of his character arc is absent from the book). Also there aren't any of those crazy mummies in the attic. Nah, there's Scandinavian folklore that maps to it pretty well.
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Feb 10, 2018 21:06
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Hahaha. I read a fairly detailed synopsis of the book and it's back down the "to-read" list. It seems like everything I liked about the film isn't in the book.chernobyl kinsman posted:The movie rules though, everyone should watch the movie Absolutely! MockingQuantum posted:If you really want to read Nevill, go with House of Small Shadows. I had a chat with him at a convention last October about cults and mad bastards of that ilk and he let me have his last copy(on hand) of his first edition of "Last Days". He was a really nice dude. Shamefully I've still not read it.
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Feb 10, 2018 21:28
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Lasher posted:I had a chat with him at a convention last October about cults and mad bastards of that ilk and he let me have his last copy(on hand) of his first edition of "Last Days". He was a really nice dude. Shamefully I've still not read it. Last Days was alright, but the ending had a huge shift in tone IMO. If most of the book was like the movie Alien, then the ending was like Aliens.
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Feb 11, 2018 00:27
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chernobyl kinsman posted:The book is not that great. The pacing and tension are both totally shattered by the weird shift midway through, the monster isn't as scary or interesting (it's Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of 1000 Young, which also has the effect of making the Scandinavian setting totally arbitrary), the black metal cultists are really boring and not nearly as fleshed out as the movie's forest pagans, and the four dude characters aren't as well-written as they are in the movie (the murder that opens the film and which gives movie-Luke much of his character arc is absent from the book). Also there aren't any of those crazy mummies in the attic. Actually that last spoiler is in the book, just possibly not in quite the same spot, I can't remember exactly. And yeah, the movie is real drat good. Much better than the book.
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Feb 11, 2018 01:06
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Speaking of movies, Annihilation is out today right?
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Feb 15, 2018 16:03
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Ornamented Death posted:I find such dismissals irritating, but at the end of the day I'd rather spend my time reading things I enjoy than arguing with people over whether Ghost Story or We Have Always Lived in the Castle have any literary merit. Who the gently caress is saying that WHALITC lacks literary merit? I've heard far more arguments about whether it's actually horror than people arguing that it is and dismissing it.
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Feb 15, 2018 17:53
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Bilirubin posted:Speaking of movies, Annihilation is out today right? Next week it looks like
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Feb 15, 2018 20:23
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I just now finished universal harvester - I thoroughly enjoyed this little book, it was very creepy to start with, but I'd say it pivoted away from horror around a third of the way in. That aside, it's a great story about grief, finding your way in the world, and the idea of outgrowing your parents. Spoiler chat: my take on it was that the film's that Lisa made and cut into the vhs movies were her interpretation of the deprogramming videos that the private eyes' gave to her father - with the pillow cases on the heads of those church goers that they intercepted that time, for example - the only things I remain unclear about were Sarah's apparent willingness to move in with Lisa, and also when Lisa (?) beat up Jeremy on the tapes but he's ok with it?
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Feb 15, 2018 22:50
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General Ledger posted:I just now finished universal harvester - I thoroughly enjoyed this little book, it was very creepy to start with, but I'd say it pivoted away from horror around a third of the way in. That aside, it's a great story about grief, finding your way in the world, and the idea of outgrowing your parents. I've thought about it for a few days, since I just finished it myself... I can't remember exactly how she puts it, once it's revealed that Lisa is effectively the narrator, but there's the suggestion that the tapes (and possibly the book itself, depending on how meta you want to get) are her way of ensuring the memory of her mother lives on. Ostensibly she expects the circulation of the tapes to lead more people to learn of what happened to her mother, since she has little to actually confirm what happened to Irene. I do like the theory of de-programming being at the heart of what actually goes on the tapes though. And yeah, the book is really interesting in the tonal shift it takes. It seems super intentional (as in, I don't think it accidentally got less horror-y) and is done with a lot of careful craft.
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Feb 16, 2018 02:51
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MockingQuantum posted:I've thought about it for a few days, since I just finished it myself... I can't remember exactly how she puts it, once it's revealed that Lisa is effectively the narrator, but there's the suggestion that the tapes (and possibly the book itself, depending on how meta you want to get) are her way of ensuring the memory of her mother lives on. Ostensibly she expects the circulation of the tapes to lead more people to learn of what happened to her mother, since she has little to actually confirm what happened to Irene. I do like the theory of de-programming being at the heart of what actually goes on the tapes though. Yeah agreed, I think the author was shooting for this from the off. I like how the late 90s setting and the technology central to the story (VHS tapes, analogue photographs, the Tripod website) mean that her mission to preserve her Mothers memory and the way she goes about it end up being for naught because the technology medium became obsolete - I think there is a mention towards the back end how one of the VHS tapes ended up in a Goodwill store, and nobody will ever buy it or watch it.
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Feb 16, 2018 12:31
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Knocked out a couple of horror-y books this weekend. I finished Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman, which I honestly didn't think was very good at all. It might be that I read Bird Box in recent memory, and that book really impressed me, but Black Mad Wheel just felt disjointed and vague in a way that didn't serve the book at all. Add to that a protagonist that wavered between being kind of dislikeable and barely there, and a romance subplot that felt entirely tacked on for the sake of ??? and you end up with a bit of a wet fart. It had some creepy moments, but honestly the ending was a big let down for me and felt like Malerman couldn't figure out what the hell he wanted to say other than "war bad, creation good." That said I guess I don't regret reading it, or at least not enough that I won't read his next book pretty much as soon as it comes out. The other book was Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (of Paperbacks from Hell) which was fun, quick, and kind of clever. It was by no means earth-shattering, and the story itself wasn't all that unique, but the combination of being breezily written and shorter than you'd expect, due to the design of the book, it doesn't overstay its welcome. I also really love when writers do little design and metatextual things to make a book into a prop or artifact of its own, and it was well done in this case. A couple of sections dragged a little bit, since a lot of the punch of the story comes from the initial reveal, and once that happens, the book tries a little too hard to set up some predictable scares. They were brief though, and overall I had fun with it.
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Feb 19, 2018 19:27
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MockingQuantum posted:Knocked out a couple of horror-y books this weekend. I finished Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman, which I honestly didn't think was very good at all. It might be that I read Bird Box in recent memory, and that book really impressed me, but Black Mad Wheel just felt disjointed and vague in a way that didn't serve the book at all. Add to that a protagonist that wavered between being kind of dislikeable and barely there, and a romance subplot that felt entirely tacked on for the sake of ??? and you end up with a bit of a wet fart. It had some creepy moments, but honestly the ending was a big let down for me and felt like Malerman couldn't figure out what the hell he wanted to say other than "war bad, creation good." That said I guess I don't regret reading it, or at least not enough that I won't read his next book pretty much as soon as it comes out. I had a hell of a time trying not to cast people from that Superstore show in my mind when I read Horrorstör.
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Feb 19, 2018 22:33
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Are there any other Ikea-related horror works? I know of Horrorstör and Mieville's The Ball Room (which is exceptional).
a foolish pianist fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Feb 20, 2018 |
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Feb 20, 2018 00:27
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MockingQuantum posted:The other book was Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (of Paperbacks from Hell) which was fun, quick, and kind of clever. It was by no means earth-shattering, and the story itself wasn't all that unique, but the combination of being breezily written and shorter than you'd expect, due to the design of the book, it doesn't overstay its welcome. I also really love when writers do little design and metatextual things to make a book into a prop or artifact of its own, and it was well done in this case. A couple of sections dragged a little bit, since a lot of the punch of the story comes from the initial reveal, and once that happens, the book tries a little too hard to set up some predictable scares. They were brief though, and overall I had fun with it. Weird, I just picked this up and read it last week on a whim. I really liked the design and premise, it starts surprisingly strong and just sort of ....fizzles out.
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Feb 20, 2018 00:39
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Dienes posted:Weird, I just picked this up and read it last week on a whim. I really liked the design and premise, it starts surprisingly strong and just sort of ....fizzles out. Yeah I don't disagree. It kinda manages to create a cool atmosphere and a decent build up, but the scares work the first time, then just... keep hitting the same notes over and over for a while. I actually think the book peaked too early, I think there was room for the mystery and the hints about the Beehive's true nature to develop. It kind of makes the mistake of showing you the proverbial zipper on the monster costume too early. In other news, goddamn [b]The Grip of It[/s] is good so far.
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Feb 20, 2018 03:04
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The Annihilation movie seems to be getting good write ups, which is encouraging. Looking forward to seeing it here in the UK on 12th March.
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Feb 22, 2018 14:56
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Sucks that its going straight to Netflix here. I wanted to see it on the big screen.
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Feb 23, 2018 09:01
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General Ledger posted:The Annihilation movie seems to be getting good write ups, which is encouraging. Looking forward to seeing it here in the UK on 12th March. We're seeing it tonight. I haven't read the trilogy yet - is Annihilation a pretty self-contained story?
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Feb 23, 2018 14:29
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General Ledger posted:The Annihilation movie seems to be getting good write ups, which is encouraging. Looking forward to seeing it here in the UK on 12th March. I've heard its a very loose adaptation which makes sense considering the source material.
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Feb 23, 2018 16:08
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If the Crawler in the Annihilation movie isn't portrayed with the whole LSD sequence from A Space Odyssey, but with Starfishes and the Lighthouse Keeper I will be very disappointed. But yeah, I'd say the book is a pretty self-contained story.
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Feb 23, 2018 16:58
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hopterque posted:I've heard its a very loose adaptation which makes sense considering the source material. I saw it last night - "loose" is the perfect word to describe this particular adaptation. The book appears to be a jumping off point, with most major plot points changed, cut or combined. For instance (adaptation spoilers), the tower and the lighthouse have been merged into one structure. The Crawler is gone, but appears in spirit in a seriously intense sequence. The words on the walls are gone as well - the closest we get is a character reciting scripture-like verses. The ending has been changed completely, all of the characters have names and the biologist's relationship with her husband becomes the central thread that moves the film along. If you're worried about this being cliche or boring (pining wife misses her dead military husband) don't worry about it - I found it to be natural, intimate and believable. More has been changed but I think those are the broad strokes. Just know that the plot structure doesn't really mirror the book at all. . I loving loved it. It's totally different from the book and yet very similar - the book wouldn't have stood on its own as a film nearly as well as this does. It's shot beautifully - the greens of the forest are lush, with rays of light featuring prominently as a character of their own. The sense of location, space and dread is palpable. I dug the soundtrack despite it being, um... not really what I had in mind. Also, the third act is fuckin bonkers. Think "Under the Skin" or even the Alex Garland-written "Sunshine". It's a serious goddamn ride and I highly, highly recommend it to everyone in this thread. Even if you don't like it I think you'll appreciate having seen a movie that tries something very strange and unique compared to most boilerplate scifi films that are released today.
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Feb 23, 2018 17:48
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The Clap posted:Also, the third act is fuckin bonkers. Think the Alex Garland-written "Sunshine". I can't really afford a tenner for a movie-script right now. Any chance of a quick run-down on how it differs from the film? I love Sunshine, even the tonal shift at the end and I'd love to know more.
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Feb 26, 2018 10:17
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Drunken Baker posted:I can't really afford a tenner for a movie-script right now. Any chance of a quick run-down on how it differs from the film? I love Sunshine, even the tonal shift at the end and I'd love to know more. Sorry, do you mean how the film's third act differs from the book? I think that's what you meant but I could be misinterpreting your question.
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Feb 26, 2018 17:25
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Yeah! Sorry, I've seen the film and love it, was just wondering what was different in the script version of the 3rd act. Just how bonkers does it get?
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Feb 27, 2018 09:06
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Drunken Baker posted:Yeah! Sorry, I've seen the film and love it, was just wondering what was different in the script version of the 3rd act. Just how bonkers does it get? Gotcha, no worries. So there's several fundamental differences between the book and the film that are outlined in my previous post. I'm gonna try my best here to describe it, but I will tell you now that it is 1000x better to see it. It's loving incredible. The film's overall plot is like a condensed, simplified and streamlined version of the book's plot. The lighthouse and the topographical anomaly are mashed into one structure, the Crawler and words on the wall are gone, and the primary goal of the film is for the expedition to reach the lighthouse because it is known to be the epicenter of the Shimmer. The expedition is picked apart on the way to the Lighthouse and along the way they hypothesize that all DNA that enters the Shimmer is subject to "refraction", which basically means their DNA is being combined and remixed with all living things around them (including each other). Lena (the biologist) reaches the Lighthouse and finds a charred body in front of a camcorder. She watches the video, which shows her husband giving a little speech (in a newfound, VERY unsettling and strange Deep Southern accent) about existence and the nature of Incendiary grenades before asking "Are you me?" and pulling the pin. A duplicate version of her husband walks around the camera into the frame. Lena descends into the film's version of the tower (a simplified, strangely vaginal/orifice-like descending tunnel) and encounters the Psychologist, who had abandoned the expedition earlier. She's on her knees reciting scripture-like verses (the closest we get to the Living Words in the film) and it appears that her face has a greenish tint and her eyes are gone, skin grown over them. She's praying. When she turns to Lena, her face is normal again and she says more along the lines of what she was saying before until finally.... "Annihilation". The psychologist bursts with multicolored light, a jet streaming from her mouth and eyes. It swirls around her. Eventually, this gives way to what is essentially the film's version of the Crawler. A vast, amorphous blob of floating mass (mostly green, but all colors too) changes in front of Lena, eventually forming a sort of hole or crevice as she gets closer. Blood seeps from her face in a small glob and floats into the crevice. We see the blood very close, like atoms, and the blood glob splits into two. It has multicolor spikes bursting from it. A faceless greenish-multicolor "blank" stands where the sorta-Crawler just was. It is slender and tall, it's face more of a formless block resembling facial features than an actual face. It's whole body is made of the same greenish-multicolor material. It looks at Lena. In defiance and maybe confusion, she sprays automatic gunfire at it. It absorbs the bullets and the blank's body shoots small tendrils out the back of itself where the bullets traveled (very cool effect). Lena runs up out of the tunnel and the blank is waiting for her in the entrance to the lighthouse. Lena and the blank do a sort of "dance" - the blank mimics her actions. It's all very surreal. At one point Lena tries to leave and the blank pins her against the door with its body, pressing harder and harder against her. It's horrific and kind of beautiful in a strange way. I should point out that the score during this section is loving incredible - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T26fm-2Z7eg. Lena ultimately picks up another incendiary grenade and as she's about to pull the pin, the blank takes on Lena's features until it looks exactly like her. Lena hesitates, pulls the pin and hands it to New Lena, which takes it willingly. The grenade blows up and the blank is on fire. If I remember correctly, it reverts to the blank form after the grenade explodes. The blank sort of examines itself before walking slowly over to the plant-like, veiny, flesh-colored "growth" that climbs the wall of the lighthouse and lighting it on fire by holding its hand to it. The lighthouse goes up in flames and Lena watches it burn. The crystallized trees that surround the lighthouse also go up in flame, seemingly of their own volition as opposed to the flames from the lighthouse actually reaching them. Back at the Southern Reach, Benedict Wong tells her that the Shimmer has fallen. Government teams went to the lighthouse and found nothing but ash. All is well? Kind of? Lena goes to see her husband Kane, who has recuperated since the Shimmer fell. Lena asks him, "Are you Kane?" He says, "I don't think so. Are you Lena?" She doesn't respond. She moves to him and they embrace. Close up on his eyes - a shimmer around his pupils. Cut to reverse shot, a close up on Lena's eyes - a shimmer around her pupils. ANNIHILATION (with some really fuckin cool gfx accompanying the credits) If you can't tell, I really loved it. I was pretty enamored by it in the moment, so if I flubbed any details or left anything out someone let me know.
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Feb 27, 2018 19:06
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Oh man, I'm so sorry dude... I meant the difference with the script in the 3rd act of SUNSHINE.
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Feb 28, 2018 10:25
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Drunken Baker posted:Oh man, I'm so sorry dude... I meant the difference with the script in the 3rd act of SUNSHINE. Dog are you high? He was never talking about how the script of Sunshine differs from the film, he was talking about the film, which Alex Garland wrote. If you've seen Sunshine you know what he's talking about. Log off. chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Feb 28, 2018 |
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Feb 28, 2018 14:33
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chernobyl kinsman posted:Dog are you high? He was never talking about how the script of Sunshine differs from the film, he was talking about the film, which Alex Garland wrote. If you've seen Sunshine you know what he's talking about. Log off. yo don't get confused about stuff on chernobyl's watch, he'll give you the sideeye clapback and tell you to delete your account
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Feb 28, 2018 17:18
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chernobyl kinsman posted:Dog are you high? 1 week sober.  The Clap posted:Also, the third act is fuckin bonkers. Think "Under the Skin" or even the Alex Garland-written "Sunshine". Sorry, I read this as the "Written version of Sunshine" and I knew the script for Sunshine differs enough from the film (and there's a book release of it) that I thought maybe originally it got way weirder (and cosmic) than the slasher 3rd act twist that we got.
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Mar 1, 2018 10:19
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The Clap posted:I loving loved it. It's totally different from the book and yet very similar - the book wouldn't have stood on its own as a film nearly as well as this does. It's shot beautifully - the greens of the forest are lush, with rays of light featuring prominently as a character of their own. The sense of location, space and dread is palpable. I dug the soundtrack despite it being, um... not really what I had in mind. I just got back from seeing it and agree with you 100%. It's pretty much everything I was hoping for when I first saw the trailer. Even though it was a bit different, Garland really captured the insane feel of the book.
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Mar 3, 2018 06:16
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Can anybody recommend some weird fiction or horror with a heavy American West feeling to it? Not necessarily like golden-age western, just something inspired or influenced by them. Doesn't need to be set in the 1800s either. I get the sense that Brian Evenson has at least a good handful of stories that have some western elements but I haven't read much of his, so if he's a good fit I'd definitely take a recommendation on where to start. Broadly speaking, I'd also take recommendations for any sort of western novel that's even just particularly dark or sinister/eerie, even if it's not outright horror. Basically I want something to tide me over til Read Dead Redemption 2 comes out.
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Mar 7, 2018 19:44
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MockingQuantum posted:Broadly speaking, I'd also take recommendations for any sort of western novel that's even just particularly dark or sinister/eerie, even if it's not outright horror. Basically I want something to tide me over til Read Dead Redemption 2 comes out. Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
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Mar 7, 2018 19:47
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MockingQuantum posted:Can anybody recommend some weird fiction or horror with a heavy American West feeling to it? Not necessarily like golden-age western, just something inspired or influenced by them. Doesn't need to be set in the 1800s either. I get the sense that Brian Evenson has at least a good handful of stories that have some western elements but I haven't read much of his, so if he's a good fit I'd definitely take a recommendation on where to start. When you’re done with Blood Meridian try the Half-Made World by Felix Gilman.
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Mar 7, 2018 19:55
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Some horror westerns I've liked: Walk the Sky by Robert Swartwood and David Silva Seven Buried Hill by Kristopher Rufty Grim Riders by Tim Curran Dust Devils by Jonathan Janz
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Mar 7, 2018 20:45
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Liminal States by SA's own Zach Parsons has the first third of the book take place out west.
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Mar 7, 2018 21:33
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Definitely check out Joe R. Lansdale, I believe he’s got lots of Western stuff but the only one I can instantly remember and vouch for is his Jonah Hex comic book mini-series.
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Mar 8, 2018 15:32
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How the gently caress did I forget Lansdale  .Get Deadman's Road.
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Mar 8, 2018 15:40
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chernobyl kinsman posted:Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy General Battuta posted:When you’re done with Blood Meridian try the Half-Made World by Felix Gilman. Ornamented Death posted:Some horror westerns I've liked: Ornamented Death posted:How the gently caress did I forget Lansdale Thanks for these! Blood Meridian has been on my to read list for ages, I'll bump it up to the top though (I'm well aware it's like, the banner example of a deconstructed, dark Western novel, I just haven't yet gotten around to it for one reason or another). I too was wondering why nobody said Lansdale, heh. Glad to have a starting point for him, I've only ever read a random short story or two. I'm excited to get to these, just gotta finish John Dies at the End first.
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Mar 8, 2018 16:32
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MockingQuantum posted:Thanks for these! Blood Meridian has been on my to read list for ages, I'll bump it up to the top though (I'm well aware it's like, the banner example of a deconstructed, dark Western novel, I just haven't yet gotten around to it for one reason or another). It's also an extended Gnostic parable
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Mar 8, 2018 16:51
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