Kathryn Troy's Blog, page 13

An Imperfect Haunting: The Haunting of Hill House

Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House sucked me in with its hyper-dysfunctional family and creepy-as-sin ghosts. I watched the show quicker than I normally would because of the high quality of the production, but it was not without a few hiccups.

Dream House, am I right?But first, the good stuff. The first episode was one of the best, and it set me up to look at Steve as a primary character among his siblings, even when his own flaws (they all have them) came to light. Luke's episode was the absolute best - the ghost following him everywhere was hands down the scariest, most disturbing of the specters haunting this traumatized, broken family, and its traditional nature (in the gothic sense) really resonated deeply with me. Luke's performance was one of the most impressive as well. The set for Hill House was fantastic, and there were moments were the overlap between the past and the present, between the Crane's tortured childhood and their present, was masterful. It bent the idea of reality and of time as moving only ever forward (especially in the case of Nelly), that added another psychological layer to the drama of living in a haunted house and losing their mother. Their father Hugh was one of the most interesting characters, and I thought his performance was one of the best too, as was the incredible monologue by the groundskeeper about why his wife won't stay after dark. There was so much emotion, so much expression in that speech - I was riveted. Many such monologues throughout the show were knockouts, but that one is gonna stick with me.

That being said, the show as a whole was not terribly balanced, and my enjoyment of the show did suffer as a result. Though I appreciated things I saw both in the Cranes's childhood and adulthood, often the switches between the two were too frequent, and it felt like I was only getting nibbles at a time, rather than more developed, nuanced scenes. Additionally, because each of the episodes focused on a different character, there were some episodes I liked better than others, because there were some characters that I was drawn to more than others. And the nature of some of the hauntings felt a bit trite to me (the flapper ghost comes to mind). Don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly content with malevolent ghosts, but this one was too solid, too flippant for my taste. The ghosts that did much better in this show were the ones that flitted in and out of existence. Highlighting that semse of the ephemeral heightened the mood for me. Case in point - the clockworker. He was one of the most effective, because of how he was presented as being taken for granted, a blip of reality without even knowing it.

Despite my misgivings about certain decisions this show made, overall I'm very glad of the decision that brought this show to us, and I can only hope that more quality genre-centric programming is on the horizon. Bring me your horror, your sci-fi, your fantasy and your period pieces. I'm ready!

K Rating: 4/5

 Only you can prevent black mold. 

An Above Average Episode - My Sister's Grave

I am very selective about my picks for thriller reading - regular readers of this blog know that by now - but when your choices are limited to Prime Reading while on vacation, you take the best of the bunch. I picked up My Sister's Grave  because it had a bit more going for it than your run-of-the-mill person disappeared premise, because it was the sister of the detective who'd gone missing, and it was a years-old cold case.

The writing of the characters and their dialogue in the beginning was so bad I almost put it down, but the plot of the mystery itself was sufficient. When I say sufficient, what I really mean is it would pass as an episode on Law and Order, and therefore held my interest long enough for me to get through it. I liked the partnering of Det. Tracy Crosswhite with her childhood friend turned lawyer (and love interest), and the return to a town that would rather forget the disappearance of Tracey's sister than give her justice.

There were some flaws - the splicing of the past and present was clumsy, I didn't care so much for the sister that went missing, her "Laura Palmer-ism" felt forced, and the culmination of the mystery was a dramatic shift in the tone of the book that didn't really work for me.

But all the stuff leading up to it- clues that Tracey obsessively hoarded,butting heads with a sheriff who'd rather let it go, the legal journey of the man wrongfully imprisoned, and dealing with the ghost of her father's control over the town-that stuff all worked.

I realize this is not a glowing review, but it's not meant to be. It was fine, but I was never really invested. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. Whether or not you might like this depends somewhat on the details that make you pick up one thriller vs. another, or your tolerance for less-than-stellar writing. .Take it or leave it.

K Rating: 2.5/5

Lovecraft in Action: The Void

There are not as many straight Lovecraft adaptations in the cinematic world as there should be, and even less of them that are good. Thankfully, the stars aligned to give us one more good one with The Void . While focusing on no Lovecraft story in particular, the feel of an eldritch story was just right in this action-oriented horror film where the world goes to shit, with a mysterious cult watching.

The Void didn't pull any punches - it starts right off with a rather grizzly murder scene, and the narrative tension crescendos to a frenzied pitch in very short order. They don't spare you the gory details, which I love, and the over-the-top effects and scenarios where unspeakable horrors invade a nearly abandoned hospital really worked in such a beautifully organic way to convey the bizarre and dire turn the world has taken.

The physical traumas inflicted in the film (there are many), were compelling, as were the characters behind them, but what really clinched it for me was when the movie showed simultaneous restraint. I refer to the very powerful imagery associated with the cult itself. Its presence was more static in nature, at great odds to the urgent momentum of the characters, and it was all the more menacing for it. It gave just the right impression of all-seeing all-knowing power without turning the cultists themselves into maniacs. And we have one very intriguing character who is a hint of a bridge between the unknowable intentions of the cult and the monstrous events infiltrating the hospital to add that extra layer of intrigue.

It reminded me very much of the atmosphere of a Lovecraftian video game-a perfect balance between pulse-pounding action and the cosmically horrific. I highly recommend this to all fans of the Cthulhu mythos, as well as those who love a little blood and guts. Or a lot. You'll be satisfied on all fronts.

K Rating: 4.5/5

Mmm... maybe you don't want to open a portal to other worlds. Just sayin'

Slasher Justice - Le Chalet

The title sequence's changing model of the town was
creepy & awesomeI knew that Le Chalet was a slasher from the minute I watched the trailer - an isolated French village gets even more isolated when the bridge out of town dramatically collapses, and the people inside are picked off one by one. What else could it be?

But this new French production takes some tried-and-true tropes of the slasher to the extreme, will chilling effect. I don't want to give away details - that would spoil the fun - but never have I seen a group of people who deserve what happens to them more. That old adage that only the sinful, only the deserving fall victim to the wrath of a homicidal maniac is driven home in Le Chalet, where so much time is spent detailing the past disappearance of a young family, slowly revealing how they disappeared, why, and who was responsible. The storytellers did a great job of mixing the storylines of the past and the present, focusing both on the children (who are grown adults in the present, returning to this "edenic" place), and their parents, who have aged and will suffer terribly for their past misdeeds. The mystery of what happen unravels at a slow, gripping pace, but once you know what happened...it's despicable. That's really the only word for it. Rarely do you actually "root" for the killer, but it's merited. Well merited. So you definitely come away from this with some unique emotions for slasher-watching.

Second, the isolated setting is damn near perfect, in every sense of the word. The town was isolated to begin with - in the middle-of-nowhere France, surrounding by forest. It's a small town that everyone tries to leave, but of course so many people sadly never do, which screws with their sense of normalcy. The characters already get piss-poor cell service, but when you take out the bridge to town, you also take out the landlines, and any other communication to emergency services that you're gonna need.

What I really loved about this show was the tight focus on the victims as "hunted." How they are deliberately cut-off, herded down dangerous pathways to find a way out of the village to help, and pitted against each other. The closer you come to understanding the past, the tighter the net is cast around them. The more you understand the need for retribution, the more you're behind it, even as they show the grey moral areas of murdering your enemies. It's brilliant.

I recommend this show for all slasher fans, but it will also have a broad appeal for people who like dark or psychological thrillers. You won't regret it.

K. Rating: 5/5

Nobody's Perfect - The Ambassador's Mission

I think I may have read Trudi Canavan's best works first (Thief's Magic, The Black Magician), and it has given me out-sized expectations for her writing. It's not realistic that every work of hers ever would change my life, and it's not fair to her either. She's a spectacular storyteller, and an important voice in fantasy.

So it's okay when I say some of her less-than-spectacular qualities rule the day in The Ambassador's Mission , the start of the Traitor Spy Trilogy that follows her Black Magician Trilogy, which I hold near and dear to my heart. This story starts decades after the end of The High Lord - Lothen, son of Sonea and the late High Lord Akkarin, is a young man, and ready to depart on a mission to Sachaka, the very place that enslaved his father and produced a rebel band of black magicians that knocked Imardin on its ass, saved only by Sonea & Akkarin in the dramatic finale of the first trilogy.

I remember how thrilling it was to read The Magician's Guild, the first book of the Black Magician trilogy. It was full of tension and action, and I completely missed dinner that day (though I was sitting at a table full of relatives). I sadly did not have that feeling this time around. The premise given on the back of the book (basically what I just summarized above), constitutes the whole of the book. It was an extremely slow and expected start, without a whole lot of twists and turns along the way. The characters who have aged (Dannyl, Rothen, Cery), felt stale, with younger characters added in to very transparently keep the story fresh. I liked Cery's storyline, but it did feel like more of the same. The development of Regin, the arch-enemy in The Novice, was interesting, and I'm intrigued to see where his improved maturity will take him. But Sonea, who was full of fire and wit - she struck me so much like Rielle in Successor's Promise, Book 3 of Canavan's Millenium's Rule Series. She became less active, more constrained by social propriety, and burdened by overthinking every decision to the point of boredom, rather than tension.

This was the case for Lothen and Dannyl as well, even as they are travelling to the most dangerous place in the Allied Lands. The pace was plodding when it should have been riveting. And, I'm sorry to say, I don't care for the characterization of the Traitors, the new Sachakan rebel sub-set that Lothen has fallen in with.

The characters continually make stupid decisions, but not for reasons that feel authentic to their characters. The progression of the plot becomes forced because what Lothen and Sonea and Dannyl do seems only to work because the author is trying to push them to get to a particular place. The narrative lost a sense of organic flow, and that nail-biting expectation got demolished along the way.

My only hope is that the next installment, The Rogue , will be better.
K. Rating: 2/5

King Slasher - The Best of the Genre

With the release of the latest Halloween installment, the slasher is king again. And this one was really perfect - it hit the exact right tone to put you right back into the story that started thirty years ago, without having to worry about every single thing that has happened since John Carpenter first released Michael Meyers into the world. At the same time, it didn't feel like a time-capsule: the characters were fresh and authentic, and it made my stomach churn when a high-school student acknowledges all that has changed in the world, that what used to be America's worst nightmare: a man kills five people with a knife, pales in comparison to at AR-15 laden reality.

Curtis was brilliant. I didn't expect anything less, but still - her performance had such magnificent power to it. The portrayal of the final girl's rest of her life rang so very true, and my heart ached to see her dynamic with her family shift and turn with the plot, showing her as determined and strong one moment, and broken down with fear the next. It was moving.

I can also praise this film for being incredibly female-forward. We have three generations of female leads in this film, all fully developed, and all bound to have their moment with Michael. They were all strong in timely and relevant ways, (god I loved Laurie's house -what a great use of a single set). Even the unfortunate supporting females who don't make it to the end of the film demonstrate their autonomy - none are there to get drunk and get naked. For a genre that has always been slammed (wrongly, most of the time) for being misogynistic, this was an accomplishment.

Let's talk about Michael for a minute - he was stellar. He was everything he was always meant to be-no more, no less. No cheesy one-liners, no pandering to the reporter (and the crowd, by extension, who have seen more than one slasher ham it up). And after some middling contributions in the middle of the franchise, and the whole Rob Zombie thing, it felt like a breath of fresh air. True to form, Michael is even more dangerous than he was before, killing creatively and with abandon, sometimes off-screen, a master stroke, but always with just the right amount of gore. My personal favorite was watching him stalk the neighborhood in that oh-so-long shot, where you really feel the scope of his menace, and just how many are vulnerable to his whim.

Halloween (2018) gets top stars from me, but that's not the only reason I've summoned you here. If you're like me, and you grinned from ear to ear with your skin tingling at the end credits (and the beginning - let's not joke) you're in the mood for more slashers this Halloween. I've got you covered. Take it from someone who quite literally is 90% of the way there to "seeing them all" - this short list is the best of the best.


Silent Night Deadly Night (1984)
With decorations in every story since last Tuesday, how can you miss the fact that Christmas is right around the corner? This psychotic and hauntingly authentic take on some of the holiday's most beloved staples will make you think twice about leaving free food around on December 24.


The Burning (1981)
It has everything you expect out of slashers - snarky teens at summer camp, a local legend, and some wickedly creative death scenes-all done to perfection.

April Fool's Day (1986)
I was skeptical going into this other holiday-based slasher the first time, but boy did I misjudge. Again, a knockout in terms of creativity and camerawork. No shortage of psychological thrills here either!

Prom Night (1980)
No list is complete with Jamie Lee Curtis. Once more we have high-schoolers struggling with adolescence and criminal culpability for past misdeeds. Creativity is key, as always, and from the kills to the twists, you'll never feel safe in your tropish expectations

Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Some of the most incredible themes that rise out of the blood and guts of the genre are packed into this film, with an artistic sensibility that still boggles the mind and disturbs the sleep. If you haven't seen this one yet - that is your mission.

Halloween (1978)
Yeah. You know it is, and always will be. And sure, Jason and Freddy bring a lot to the genre - that goes without saying, and so are under-represented here in favor of the hidden gems that should be more widely seen. But nothing beats that first scene of the original Halloween, nothing comes close to giving me that eerie feeling when I hear those notes play. It wouldn't be Halloween without it.

                                      

DNF Horror Film??? - The Devil's Candy

Wow. A horror movie I didn't finish. That's so rare and unusual, it was worth recording for posterity. It only happened once that I can remember. It was Cannibal Holocaust , and it was because it was so damn good at what it does that I had to turn away.

But The Devil's Candy  is on a whole other plane of existence. I just couldn't watch it anymore because it was so freaking bad. When the filmmakers think the simple image of an upside-down cross does their work for them, boy, you've got a problem.

That cuts right to the chase, really - they were phoning it in. Sure, the images created by the artist possessed by the devil were creepy, and sure, the psychologically/developmentally challenged killer does terrible things to children. But that's so tropey it hurts. On top of all that, "the devil made me do it" is not sinister - it actually elides how monstrous humans can be, and misses the whole point of the horror film-to show us the darkest parts of ourselves.

I think I'll just go back to watching people chop the heads off turtles, thanks.

A Destabilizing Thriller - One Way

Sci-Fi is not my thing, but I'm willing to venture into space if there's something else in it for me. That was the case for One Way , which was touted as Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None on Mars.

What a trip. S.J. Morden, the bona-fide scientist turned novelist, threw all the technical details at me that I could handle - which was good, because I'm not a scientist and I don't read sci-fi - and it made the whole tale really accessible to me, and I was able to envision all the settings properly in my head, which I probably couldn't have done without guidance.

One Way had quite an impact on me, especially the first few days on Mars. They were terrifying, and showed with cold, perfect clarity just how hostile another planet can be to Earth life, never mind that some of the deaths seem to be done with human hands. Just what you need when you're struggling not to starve or freeze to death, right? The best way I can describe this book's influence on me is "destabilizing" - scenes of deathly illness and complete isolation from anything familiar resonated deeply, and as a person who suffers from vertigo, I know that dizzyness, nausea, confusion, and paranoia are no joke. Add in that you're on another planet, and may never feel right again? Shiiiiit.

From a cerebral point of view, I appreciated the parallels with our nation's own colonial history. It wasn't heavy-handed at all, and I doubt it would be noticeable to most non-history-oriented people, but I liked the treatment of the labor force and the questions of prisoners vs. slaves, and the value of the lives of the people put in charge of building the first permanent base on Mars. The high expectations for labor paired with the bare-bones supplies and resources felt really authentic and organic.

The interspersed memos from the planners and funders of XO's Mars base added another important, sinister layer, that of corporate greed and immorality, and I was left wanting more - which I think is where the sequel, No Way , is headed. Let's hope so.

K. Rating: 4.5/5

Shoulda Been a Movie: The Graveyard Apartment

The Graveyard Apartment had all the earmarks of the Japanese horror cinema that I love so much. There's a strong sense of isolation as the Kano family moves into a new apartment complex across from a graveyard, and quickly become its only occupants as strange, dangerously violent things occur with increased frequency. There's the haunting aspect of the past as Teppei Kano's first wife killed herself upon learning of his affair with Misao, his current wife and mother of his child, AND an abandoned underground road that runs under the cemetery connected to a Buddhist temple but leads to nowhere, ending at the steel frame of the apartment building. What's not to love?

The circumstances of the Kanos are unique despite the story being placed in a very solidly established genre of Japanese horror. I really enjoyed that aspect of the story- that I knew something was going to happen, but I didn't know what. I also appreciated the insight into both Misao and Teppei, both together and apart from each other. It amplified the feelings of stress, loneliness, and ostracization they have felt as a result of their relationship's origins, and added a compelling human element of despair and loneliness ontop of the supernatural forces at work here.

Little Tamao, their daughter, was perhaps the best character of the lot - she experiences the worst of the horrors the complex has to offer, and her fear and unease throughout the story was told in a genuine and compelling fashion.

If it were to be adapted into a video game a la the Fatal Frame franchise, I'd be pissing my pants right now. The Graveyard Apartment could very easily be among my top favorites in Japanese horror films. Except for one glaring thing.....

It's not a film. It's a book. And while I could easily see how all the terrors written on its pages would electrify the silver screen, the writing itself does not have the heft to carry that emotional weight. In so many ways, there is a distance in the story that keeps me from feeling the Kanos' fear. The events are related in a matter-of-fact style that robs so many of these scenes of their power, and stops me from experiencing these scenes with their full force. There is just no sense of mood in the writing whatsoever and it is a terrible, crying shame, for so much else about this story had the potential to be outstanding, if only conveyed with more passionate, more compelling words. If this thing gets adapted, I'm gonna be the first in line to see it.

K Rating: 3/5

This is what this book needed more of - visual OOMPH

DNF: When is Enough Enough?

I recognize that I've been slower in posting new material lately. That's for a few reasons: more work at work, more writing less reading, but most importantly, less reading to completion. I have a policy of only reviewing stories that I have read all the way through. The problem with that is that this is an increasing phenomenon in recent months where I have relaxed my usually quite stringent standards in favor of trying new authors and branching out into genres that I don't read as often.

Why don't I finish a book? The most basic, inherent answer is: it didn't interest me enough. So many aspiring writers talk about not getting a fair shake: from prospective readers, agents, and publishers. "If you only got to a certain part where it really picks up, then I'd have you!" But let's be blunt: if I'm 75, 125 pages in and I still don't give a rat's ass about what happens next, you've got a problem, and I'm done wasting my time. But that can happen for lots of reasons. So for the sake of having a discussion about the failings of writing, and to maybe serve as a lesson to writers everywhere about how not to lose readers, here are the books that I put down in the last month and the reasons why in a nutshell.

My Cousin Rachel (Daphne duMaurier) I loved Rebecca. But this story wasn't going anywhere I couldn't foresee in the first five pages. The writing style itself was still fine, if stiflingly boring. It was all very safe and expected.

The Book of Kells (R.A. MacAvoy) I hated the characters. They were dislikable in their temperament, and I couldn't relate to the choices they made. The dialogue was crude and forced. And, a young Irish girl who traveled through time would not be attracted to a man twice her age or more after just being raped. Sorry. Stupidity makes me angry.

The Wolf Gift (Anne Rice) I picked it up because I enjoyed The Mummy despite some writing hiccups. This one had all the hiccups and then some - the characters were flighty, pretentious, and (again) unlikable. And it didn't offer any new twists or wrinkles to the werewolf tropes. So no plot to hang in there for, and definitely not doing it for the characters.

So what's the takeaway here? I need originality, even within established genres, I need characters that are believable and relatable (villains can be hated, but "love to hate" is the goal) and are not complete effing idiots. I don't need things that don't make any goddamned sense. Is that so much to ask for?

[image error]Don't make me make this face