DEATH'S PARADE FILM FESTIVAL - Just in time for Halloween: Death's Parade Film Festival, a series of shorts and feature films, including gore, ghosts, killers, monsters and dark comedy. The festival runs from 2 to 11PM Pacific at the following address: Towne 3 Cinemas at 1433 The Alameda in San Jose. Enjoy the virtual world of Sansar on October 3rd, then attend the festival in person, on Saturday October 5th. I was a panel selection judge, along with judging the award for best writing. The festival is sponsored by the Horror Writer’s Association, so stop by and say hell-o-ween!
I write dark speculative fiction. #weirdfiction #darkfantasy #horrorfiction #scifi #postapocalypticfiction
Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019
IT CHAPTER TWO MOVIE REVIEW
IT CHAPTER TWO MOVIE REVIEW - This is a two-part review, see
below for an earlier post. In 2017, I watched ‘It’ on opening weekend, and also
mentioned I’d previously seen the 1990 mini-series. The film is adapted from Stephen King’s book
of the same name. ‘The Loser’s Club’ are adults now, and everyone has moved
away from Derry, except Mike. He fears Pennywise has returned, 27 years later. People
in Derry start disappearing, so Mike calls club members, and asks them to meet
up with him. It’s at this point that plot problems with the movie begin to creep in. As adults, the ‘Losers’
don’t remember the clown battle which occurred in ‘It Chapter One’. This begs
the question: Why drop everything and immediately rush back to Derry? Since
only Mike knows Pennywise has returned. The ending isn’t great either. King acknowledges
this, and it becomes a running joke. King pokes fun at himself, when he’s featured
onscreen, in a cameo appearance. I don’t like ruining movies with spoilers, so
read on at your own peril. In the climatic ending, the ‘Losers’ (or at least
Mike) know Pennywise represents their greatest fears. The solution is as simple
as: “just don’t be afraid anymore”. If it’s that easy to defeat the monster,
why not do that a lot earlier? And finally: the opening. A homophobic hate
crime occurs, that does come right out of the book. I think that scene is a throwaway which has nothing to
do with the movie. I found the scene to be a random
afterthought, unnecessarily gratuitous and not connected to the plot in any
way. The production was better, and there was less CGI than part one, but overall
there are some pretty glaring missed opportunities.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
STILL LIFE WITH SHATTERED GLASS BY LOREN RHOADS
STILL LIFE WITH
SHATTERED GLASS BY lOREN rHOADS - Horror writers are often asked – Why are
you so fascinated by the macabre? In ‘Still Life with Shattered Glass’, Loren
Rhoads explores motivations of people who share those particular predilections.
When a college junior finds herself stranded at a party, she hitches a ride and
spends the night with a photographer. It’s
a little bit sexy, with a touch of dark humor, and comes together
with a scary (of course) twist ending. A different version of this story was originally
published in Cemetery Dance #54 in 2006. Don’t forget that profits from this
anthology go to victims of California’s greatest disaster, the Camp Fire of
2018.
Want to read more? Sign up for her mailing list at https://lorenrhoads.com/.
Want to read more? Sign up for her mailing list at https://lorenrhoads.com/.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2007
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2007
An aging collector of the macabre gets more than he bargained for when he buys a heart-shaped box.
https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2017...
View all my reviews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2007
An aging collector of the macabre gets more than he bargained for when he buys a heart-shaped box.
https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2017...
View all my reviews
Thursday, September 5, 2019
THE DARK CRYSTAL
THE DARK CRYSTAL - Based on a 25-page story written by Jim Henson entitled
The Crystal, The Dark Crystal (1982) is a puppet animated dark fantasy film. A young
Gelfling goes on a quest to heal the crystal, before Thra’s
three suns align, to prevent the Skeksis from ruling Gelflings forever. Directed
by Jim Henson and Frank Oz, The Dark Crystal relied on groundbreaking
animatronic puppets instead of human actors. The most recent
installment in the franchise is entitled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
(2019), available to stream now on Netflix. Development on the new series was
based on rich notes, archival puppets and set designs, that were developed for the
original feature film. In keeping with the original, actual puppets and sets
are used, instead of CGI.
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