Daniel Stalter's Blog, page 13

PHANTOM OF THE AUDITORIUM

Goosebumps #24: Phantom of the AuditoriumSpoiler-Free Review

Phantom of the Auditorium is one of the more solid Goosebumps books I’ve read so far, though it is not without significant flaws. It had a few scary moments, but it mostly kept things light-hearted. I would say it was more entertaining than truly scary. It was even surprisingly sweet at times. I liked the character dynamics of the kids, even though it was way too easy for them to break into their Middle School at night. The sloppies...

THE STEPSISTER

Fear Street #9: The StepsisterSpoiler-Free Review

The Stepsister was a twisted one. I figured out the big plot twist about a third of the way in, but I still enjoyed seeing it unravel. I think part of that is just me getting better at Stine’s particular use of misdirection in these books. Regardless, this was a solid psychological horror story. Emily was made to feel like she was losing her mind piece by piece. Looking back after finishing the book, this was probably the most unsettling bit o...

RETURN OF THE MUMMY

Goosebumps #23: Return of the MummySpoiler-Free Review

Return of the Mummy picks up one year after the events of Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb and sees Gabe returning to Egypt to visit his archeologist Uncle Ben and know-it-all cousin Sari. It’s got some good scares like the first book, and the setting lends itself naturally to a sense of adventure. There were some good comedic bits in there, too. I really liked the fake mummy who was there to shoot a gum commercial. The core characters had a goo...

STAY YOUNG

It’s the start of another new year. The clusterfuck of 2020 is over. And while the pandemic is still raging, there is an end (hopefully) in sight. This is the time of year when we typically see people signing on gym memberships, starting diets, and buying fashionable new workout gear. Things might look a little bit different this year, but I expect that many of us are still making some New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it’s because my birthday is right on the heels of the holiday, but I’ve always ha...

FAVORITE BOOKS 2020

I read a lot of good books and comics this year. I even made my goal of 100 in the GoodReads Challenge. I had to leave off a lot of good books, but I think I managed to narrow it down to the best of them.

 

10. Heavenly Blues

by Ben kahn & Bruno Hidalgo.

I tabled next to Ben at Flame Con in 2019, but only got around to reading Heavenly Blues this year. This book is a whole hell of a lot of fun, pun intended.

 

9. American Rule

by Jared Yates Sexton.

I listened to this as an audiobook. It provi...

FAVORITE ALBUMS 2020

I’ve been doing these lists since 2009 over on my old tumblr. I’m still very slowly migrating those lists over to this blog. As with every year, a lot of these albums came out way before 2020. These are just my favorite albums that I’ve found over the course of this year. It’s been a shitty year, but at least there’ve been plenty of good tunes to get me through.

In addition to this list, I’ve also made a Favorite Songs 2020 Playlist that’s streaming on Apple Music and Spotify.

 

10. Judas Pries...

SILENT NIGHT 2

Fear Street Super Chiller #5: Silent Night 2

 

Spoiler-Free Review

I was a fan of the first Silent Night, but the sequel was a bit of a letdown. I was annoyed that Reva simply went back to being terrible. It would have been more compelling if she tried really hard to be a better person, had it blow up in her face, and then said “fuck it, why bother?” Instead, Reva’s character just felt like more of the same. I did enjoy the comedic angle of the delusional and incompetent kidnappers. It was the ...

GHOST BEACH

Goosebumps #22: Ghost Beach

 

Spoiler-Free Review

Ghost Beach was almost as creepy as I remembered it being. It did a great job of making the beach scary, built an excellent atmosphere, and delivered some truly spooky scenes. That being said, the overall concept ended up being half-baked. Jerry and Terri were two strong main characters, but almost every other character had really unclear and contradictory motives. I was reminded of Welcome to Dead House, where I was left wanting a better expla...

LEANING INTO MY FEARS

Or: Get me drunk at a party and I will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about plane crashes.

 

Ive run out of plane crash documentaries to watch on all of the streaming apps I have. That includes all 13 seasons of Air Disasters, which I burned through in less than a year. The obsession started after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. I had been flying a lot for work, most of it overseas, and the brutal nature of this particular crash shook me. When it was...

THE LOCKER

The Locker

by Richie Tankersley Cusick

Spoiler-Free Review:

The Locker is everything I want from a pulpy teen horror novel. It has a creepy atmosphere, a solid cast of characters, and a tightly executed plot. The gloomy feel of early spring in the deep woods of rural Missouri really permeated through from the first page. Even though it wasn’t the most original concept, it was well constructed and rich in its details. It had some excellent scary moments with Marlee’s visions and it had some tru...