Horror News Roundup

Over the past week and a half, a lot of horror news has come out that I'm super excited about, so I thought I would post about it. And maybe every now and then, if something interesting is announced, I'll do more posts like this. Because these kinds of posts don't take a lot of time to put together, whereas sometimes it's hard to find time to set aside to watch a movie or read a book when I have a job and a boyfriend and Persona Q2 was just released and I haven't even started playing Persona Q yet. You know? Anyway!

Are you Afraid of the Dark is getting a reboot.

Okay, so this isn't "new" news, but we've been given more details on the upcoming reboot. The series will be back in October with 3 episodes (an hour each). The original cast isn't returning, sadly. Instead, Sam Ashe Arnold, Miya Cech, Tamara Smart, Jeremy Taylor and Lyliana Wray are playing the new members of the Midnight Society.

I still love Are You Afraid of the Dark? just as much as I did when I was a kid and I'm happy they're bringing it back in time for Halloween, even if it's only as a 3 episode mini series. I am slightly concerned that they'll try to tone down the scares a bit, but of course I'll watch it anyway.

Steven Spielberg is creating a new horror series.

First of all, let's get this out of the way. Yes, Steven Spielberg is writing a horror series for Quibi (an upcoming streaming service), after voicing his disapproval of streaming services. I love him, I love his films. He had an opinion, whether you agree with it or not, he's entitled to it. I really couldn't care less about his comments on that subject. I'll admit it seems hypocritical of him to work with a streaming service on a new project, but again, I don't care. It sounds interesting and I just want good horror content.

The show is titled Spielberg's After Dark and reports say it will run for 10-12 episodes. The intriguing thing about this series is that you can only watch it, you guessed it, after dark. (The first article I read said it's available after midnight, which had me up in arms because 1. I can't stay awake that late and 2. I kept thinking, "Well, how long after midnight do you have to watch it? An hour? Two hours?") Apparently, the Quibi app uses the clock on your phone to determine when the sun is going to set. At that point, you'll have access to the series, while the in-app clock counts down until the show is disabled for the rest of the day. (I couldn't find the specifics of this in any of the articles I read, but I'm going to assume it's disabled at sunrise.)

I've never heard of Quibi before, probably because it hasn't even been launched yet (the projected launch date is April 6th, 2020). Subscriptions are set at $4.99 a month (with ads) or $7.99 a month (ad free). Quibi is apparently short for "quick bites," with the goal of each episode on the platform running between 7 and 10 minutes long. It sounds as if it's going to be a mobile only app, but I'm not sure if it's limited to phones or if tablets are also considered "mobile."

This is a really innovative idea and if they're able to pull it off, I will 100% sign up for a Quibi subscription. At least long enough to watch Spielberg's series. They're also claiming Guillermo del Toro will be producing content for them, so Quibi definitely has my attention.

Announced at E3: A Blair Witch video game.

Apparently, we are getting a Blair Witch game. I don't know why, but we are. And I'm actually looking forward to it. This is a first person survival horror game, featuring a man, his dog and a camcorder. You play as a former police officer, searching for a missing boy. From the trailer, it looks absolutely nothing like the film (meaning things actually happen) and I'm okay with that.

I'll be honest, I saw The Blair Witch Project when I was a kid and I was bored to death by it. I think now that I'm older, and afraid of the woods, and I understand the dangers in the real world more than I did as a child, the movie would probably affect me more.

Blair Witch will be released on August 30th for PC and Xbox One (I'm slightly disappointed, as a PS4 owner). You can check out the trailer below.

Pet Sematary (Audiobook) - Narrated by Michael C. Hall

Have you ever looked at a list of Stephen King's scariest novels? I did recently, and most people seem to agree that Pet Sematary is his scariest novel yet. I usually don't listen to audiobooks because I tend to lose focus easily. My mind wanders and then I have to go back and listen all over again. This one (mostly) held my interest for the first five hours, then it began to feel long and a lot of the time I was left thinking, "Get to the point." To be honest, I don't enjoy Stephen King's novels. His novellas and short stories are great, I love some of the movies based on his work (Silver Bullet, 1408, The Shawshank Redemption...Apt Pupil wasn't "bad," but it made me sick, though not as sick as the novella) and Nightmares and Dreamscapes was a fantastic mini series, but his novels...He's too verbose for me.

The audiobook is narrated by Michael C. Hall and is about sixteen hours long. I listened to it in the morning while applying my skincare and makeup before work, so it took me about two weeks to finish it.

As a note before getting into the actual book, it was really interesting to hear about how Stephen King came up with the idea for this story, from his own personal experiences.

There are major spoilers for the book starting now.

Pet Sematary begins with a family moving into their new home. The father, Louis, is extremely unlikable at the start of the book. He has no tolerance for his children. Honestly, Gage and Ellie are both annoying (I think it may be, in part, because of the way they're narrated), listening to how they scream and carry on drove me crazy, too. But that's why I'm not having kids. Listening to a parent think the things that he thinks about his family is incredibly off-putting and I took an immediate dislike to him. He does get better (until he begins resurrecting dead family members) as the story goes on, but it was too late by then.

When Louis' family goes away for Thanksgiving, his daughter's cat, Church, gets hit by a truck and dies. His neighbor, Jud, asks if Ellie will be devastated by the loss. Of course she will, Church was family. Jud takes Louis on a dangerous hike through the woods, past the "pet sematary," to an old Native American burial ground. As Louis buries Church, he has a nagging feeling that something about that place is wrong. When he tries to question Jud about it, he's told he'll understand soon.

And he does. Because Church, the previously dead cat, returns home. He has blood caked in his mouth and he smells like dirt, he stumbles around like he's drunk and he isn't behaving like himself, but he's Church. When he finally talks to Jud, his neighbor explains that when he was a child, he buried his dog there. The dog came back and he was never the same, but he was a good dog and he lived for several more years. Only one pet ever came back bad (a bull) and he tells Louis he shouldn't worry too much. Louis then asks if a person has ever been buried there and even though Jud denies it, he gets the feeling the old man is hiding something.

Let's talk about the way the family treated Church when he came back because it really upset me. They pushed him, kicked him, yelled at him. Then they acted surprised when he started hissing at them, after they beat him with a vacuum attachment and threw toys at him. I'm inclined to believe these imbeciles are the reason Church turned on them. I don't know how I would react to an undead cat, but I would like to believe I would treat it better than they treated Church.

I'm not sure why Stephen King "spoiled" Gage's death before it happened, unless he felt that him dying wasn't as horrific as his father deciding to bring him back from the dead. It's hard for me to say whether or not I would have been annoyed by this since I watched the original film when I was like, five years old, so I already knew he would die.

For about five hours, I didn't take any notes. This audiobook is almost sixteen hours long and a whole lot of nothing happens for most of it. What we get, repeatedly, are Louis' little asides to himself, and they got on my nerves in a way I didn't even know was possible. I couldn't stand it. If I had to hear "Oz the Great and terrible," "What you buy is what you own," or "Hey ho let's go" one more time, I would have lost my damn mind. Get on with it already.

Anyway. Obviously, Gage comes back and tries to kill everyone. Louis knew something like this would happen, because Jud came clean about the last person who was buried in that place. I can't even feel sorry for him because he knew better and he still did it. I get it, he was grieving. Or maybe he's a doctor with a God complex. But when someone tells you, "Yeah, the last guy buried up there came back and knew things he shouldn't have known and he was probably possessed by a demon," YOU DON'T BURY YOUR KID THERE. How are you even supposed to explain that to people? Louis is the worst.

Gage and Church team up to kill Jud and Rachel, and while I'm sure this wasn't meant to be humorous, I laughed. Was Church waiting that entire time for the demon to be set free so they could wreak havoc together? I still think he would have been fine if that damn family hadn't abused him when he came back.

Throughout the end of the book, after Gage had killed Rachel, I kept telling myself there was no way Louis would make the same mistake with his wife that he made with Church and Gage. Surely burying Rachel there was just written in for the movie. As it turns out, Louis is even dumber than I thought he was. Three strikes, you're out. The book ends with Rachel coming home, so you can draw your own conclusion as to what happens next. Personally, I'd like to think Rachel killed him and put an end to his madness. Good thing his daughter was away when Gage came back, she might be the only surviving member of this family. Her father most likely orphaned her by not heeding Jud's warning.

I think I understand why most pets came back okay-ish, but the bull, the other dead boy, Church and Gage came back "bad." There's a line in there somewhere that says something like, being touched by the wendigo makes you ravenous. I believe it was also alluded to that Gage was eating Jud and Rachel after killing them. And Church was eating just about every living thing he could get a hold of. The wendigo must have found them on their way back home. I could be totally wrong, but I hope not because I really want the wendigo to have a more significant role than just some creature stomping around the woods.

I haven't watched the original Pet Sematary in years, so maybe I'm wrong, but from what I remember, it seems like a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. Of course they cut some things out, some characters don't exist in the movie, but Stephen King drones on for five hundred years (usually about trivial things that don't affect the plot) and a movie is usually between an hour and a half/two hours, so I think they did a good job with the time they had.

Conclusions on the audiobook...I know most people really enjoyed Michael C. Hall's narration, but I found it grating. Jud was the only character that didn't bother me, his voice was perfect. I would like to reiterate that I really enjoy Stephen King's short stories and novellas, so I'm honestly not trying to insult him or his work. His novels just aren't for me and I won't attempt to read another one.

John Dies at the End - My First Ever DNF

I'd been considering reading John Dies at the End for years, but I didn't want to read This Book is Full of Spiders (the sequel) because, like any sane person, I hate spiders. I ended up buying the entire series anyway (I put a book cover on TBiFoS), half because of the reviews and half because I'm somewhat antagonistic and my boyfriend's name is John.

John Dies at the End is not an easy book to take notes on. I didn't know how to go about it. How do you even begin to explain this story to someone? Dave's friend, John, goes out and parties one night and calls Dave over in a panic. Dave arrives, finds John in bad shape, grabs the syringe John probably injected himself with and puts it in his pocket (bad place for it), ends up accidentally injecting himself with the weird drug (Soy Sauce) and now...He can see ghosts? He can "read minds." He knows exactly how many grains of rice are on a person's plate (5,829) and where it was grown (Arkansas). Reading that back to myself, I'm thinking, this is the worst plot summary I could have possibly written, but at least it's accurate.

So here's the thing. The book is kind of gross and early on, I found myself thinking, "I should have waited before buying the other two books in this series." I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not really my particular kind of humor. The book has great ratings and most people seem to love it, so this is one of those times where it really is personal to me and what I like and dislike, and not the overall book*

*That was the last thing I wrote in my notes before I decided to DNF the book. One of the patrons where I work told me her mother always said that life is too short to read a book you're not enjoying when there are so many other books out there. She's right. As much as it pains me to do it, I have to stop forcing myself to read books that I know I'm not enjoying. I made myself finish reading House of Leaves and I was miserable. I wanted to love John Dies at the End like everyone else does, but the humor isn't my style and I'm kind of put off by it. Trying to force myself to read it so I could write a post about it killed any motivation I had to work on this blog at all. I'm not saying it's the book's fault, I'm not saying the book is bad (there must be a reason it has so many positive reviews, right?), I'm saying John Dies at the End isn't my kind of story. Maybe I'll pick it up again one day and enjoy it, but right now, I'm done.

With all that being said. I've been really good about updating this blog for the past month, but I'm taking a break for a week or two to watch K-dramas, read romance novels, play video games with my boyfriend and work on more posts. Because it takes time to watch movies and read books. I'll be back with Pet Sematary, The Monster Squad and Resident Evil soon. I also kind of want to do an "I watched this terrible movie so you don't have to" kind of thing, but I don't think I hate my life that much.

The Folio Society

About a month ago, I did a google search for Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I was really hoping to find a nice edition of it because I only have a cheap paperback version and I just...Wanted something better. I love Ray Bradbury because, as I've said 57 million times already, he really understood fall and when I read his stories, I can feel the season. I feel the chill in the air, I hear the crunching leaves. Something Wicked This Way Comes reminds me of going to Oktoberfest as a child. It transports me back to that time of fall festivals and all the fond memories I have of them. So yes. I wanted a nicer edition of it.

Luckily for me, the search turned up an image of a beautifully illustrated cover, an edition from The Folio Society, a company I had never heard of before. My brain kept telling me that something that well designed couldn't possibly be easy on my wallet. And it wasn't. I didn't care though, this was what I was looking for. 

Browsing through Folio Society's website, I found about 10 different novels I would have loved to purchase, but they are pretty expensive, so I'll have to add them into my collection little by little. Their books are worth the price though. Each one comes with a slipcase, a cloth cover, and the binding is sewn in 16 page sections. They include several stunning illustrations exclusive to FS's collection. Most books are in the $50-$80 range, but there are some that cost significantly more. The company is based in the UK and when I received my orders (in New York), they arrived in a small box, inside a huge white bag (about the size of a large garbage bag). I've read from several people in the US that they had issues with their orders arriving damaged with that packaging, but I had no problems myself and both orders arrived within around 2 weeks.

In addition to Something Wicked This Way Comes, I bought a few other books. It was hard to narrow down which ones I wanted, but in the end, I decided to go with the ones I didn't already own copies of. I purchased Rebecca and Jane Eyre, both of which I had been meaning to read at some point. I also bought a copy of The Hobbit for my boyfriend.

I love the artistry that goes into The Folio Society's collection and even though they're pricey, I do recommend their books. These books make beautiful gifts, so if there's a book lover in your life, I definitely suggest browsing their website.

Beetlejuice The Musical - A Show About Death

Yesterday, I went to see Beetlejuice on Broadway. Full Disclosure: I didn't like the movie and I didn't expect to like the musical because of that. I only bought tickets for it because I was going to be in the city anyway (to see A Musical About Star Wars with my boyfriend) and I've been dying to see Kerry Butler in something, anything, for years. That being said...

I. LOVED. IT. This was the most fun I've ever had at a Broadway musical (and I've been to Legally Blonde three times, as well as Rock of Ages) and you could tell the rest of the audience felt the same way. I think that added a lot to it, too. It was the cast's perfect comedic timing and the audience's laughter that made the entire experience so enjoyable. Beetlejuice is absurd and ridiculous and out of control, and I mean that in the best possible way. It 110% deserves all 8 of its Tony Award nominations, as well as a few others it didn't receive (like Sophia Anne Caruso for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, it's a crime that she didn't receive a nomination for her performance). This is in my top 3 Broadway shows of all time, and that's a big claim to make because I've seen and enjoyed a lot of them. I would go back to see Beetlejuice over and over again.

I obviously went to see Kerry Butler and she was beautiful and so talented and so committed to her role. But the entire cast was wonderful. Alex Brightman made Beetlejuice likable and he was incredibly funny. John said he's very "genie-esque" (Aladdin - Broadway), and I fully agree, he's like a dark, twisted version of him. He's adorable, too! I'm really glad they didn't make him repulsive like Beetlejuice was in the film. (I know, I know, he's supposed to be repulsive, but I didn't like the movie, remember?) And Sophia Anne Caruso? When she opened her mouth and started singing, I couldn't believe it. As soon as her first song was over, I looked at John and said, "She's really good." That's such an understatement, she's so far beyond good, I don't even have a word for it. They were all so perfect, the entire cast is amazingly talented.

And they're not the only ones. The crew, the orchestra, the lighting and set designers, the costume designers, the writers...They put together such an awesome, fun, weird musical. The sets and lighting are spectacular. And the puppets! I loved the sand worm, I think that was one of my favorite things about the entire production, as well as the skeleton costumes. I don't have one bad thing to say about this show, and that's so rare, I almost never give rave reviews about anything, I can always find something I don't like, or something that could be improved. But Beetlejuice is perfect exactly as it is.

I recommend this show for anyone, except small children (kids under the age of 4 can't get in anyway) because there are a lot of sexual jokes and some cursing and you may not want them to hear that. But it's funny and weird and even cute and surprisingly heartwarming. I can't wait for the cast album to be released on June 28th, as well as the souvenir book (I collect them from each show I go to, they said it should be out within a couple months). I hope Beetlejuice will have a long, successful run at the Winter Garden Theatre and I hope I'm able to see it again soon.

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society was "founded" in 1986 by Sean Branney, when during a LARPing session on a college campus, people who were unaware of what was going on called the campus police. Sean explained the incident away by saying the group was the HPLHS, and from there, it became a real thing, started by himself, Andrew Leman and Phil Bell. Now that you know how they started, here's some of what they have to offer, my personal recommendations and a little bit about their store.

When I visited California last summer, I went to the HPLHS storefront with my boyfriend. The man working that day was very kind. I felt a bit uncomfortable though because we were the only people in the store and I have social anxiety, so I felt...Awkward hanging around, like I was being a nuisance. Again, the man working there couldn't have been nicer and he didn't make me feel that way at all, that's all my brain's fault. The point I'm getting at is, they have so many amazing things in that store, including props from their films, and I really wanted to stay and look around forever, but my brain hates me, so I left pretty fast after purchasing the one DART episode I didn't already own. Even though I was there for such a short time, it was the highlight of my trip.

The HPLHS sells a wide variety of merchandise. Their movies are great (I wish they would film an adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth), and they're filmed as if they were made in the 1920's/1950's. The Call of Cthulhu is a silent film and The Whisperer in Darkness is very reminiscent of 50's sci fi movies.

Where they really shine is their Dark Adventure Radio Theatre episodes. I own all of them (as of the time I'm writing this post) and I enjoyed listening to each of them. The standouts for me are The Shadow Over Innsmouth (of course), The Haunter of the Dark and A Solstice Carol (which includes an adaptation of The Outsider, one of my favorite Lovecraft stories). Each DART episode includes several props and the HPLHS released a really nice binder to store all the props in, with sleeves featuring artwork from each episode. If you need a way to store your CDs, they also have cute old-time radio cases that can fit 4 standard CD cases.

DART prop binder

Newspaper prop from Dagon: War of Worlds

They have also released an audiobook of Lovecraft's complete fiction. These aren't radio plays like the DART episodes, they're just narrating his stories in this collection. The packaging is beautiful, it looks like a library book.

The HPLHS also sells books, replicas of Weird Tales magazine (I believe these come from an outside source, but I'm not sure), Lovecraft inspired albums, apparel (including a varsity jacket that you can buy pins for) and more. You can see how much love the people who run the HPLHS have for Lovecraft's work when you take a look at everything they've worked on.

Decoder pin

They even have memberships available to purchase. You can pay annually ($20 a year) or become a lifetime member, like I am. If you become a lifetime member (a one time payment of $100), in addition to a certificate proclaiming your membership, you'll also receive a "passport-style membership card." For me, it was more than worth it to become a lifetime member of the HPLHS. Their products are such good quality, I wanted to be able to support them and thank them in some way for all they do.

Membership certificate, membership card, varsity pins and membership pin

If you're a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, or horror, or even audiobooks/radio plays, I cannot recommend the HPLHS enough.

(As of the time I'm writing this, a new DART episode, The Lurking Fear, is available for pre-order. DART episodes are no longer going to be released in jewel cases, instead they will now come in cardboard cases and you'll receive a prop sleeve with them. I've already pre-ordered my copy. The Lurking Fear is expected to ship in June.)

Horror Themed Board Games

This is going to be a long post. I'll keep it as short as I possibly can, but it's still going to be long, despite my best efforts. Here we go.

I don't like competitive games, usually. And by that, I mean games where everyone is competing against each other. (Well, of course that's what you mean by competitive. Competing against. :eyeroll:) I'll elaborate. I love co-op games where everyone is working together. And what I love even more than co-op games are betrayal games, where you have to work as a team, but you also have no idea who in your group is about to screw you over. I've gotten pretty good at One Night Ultimate Werewolf (I owe a lot to BouncinMouncin's Youtube channel), I've become a fantastic liar. In games, I either want to help you, or I secretly want to kill you. I'm not into openly competitive games. Take a look.

Many of these games can be played solo, and that's why I bought them. Aside from my boyfriend, the only people I know who like board games are my dad and his wife. Unfortunately, they're more like...Monopoly/Clue kind of people and I don't have the patience to explain more complicated games to them. If I want to play a board game, I'm pretty much on my own. (Except for Mysterium. That one is pretty easy to pick up and they were able to learn how to play it quickly.) I have all these games and so many expansions for Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror LCG, but I honestly rarely ever get to play them because I don't usually have the time to set three hours aside (yes, three hours) for a board game and when I do have the time, this happens and I just want to give up on life.

I'll give brief descriptions of the games I actually own (when I have more time to play around with them, I'll write dedicated posts about each individual game), what kind of people might like them, and add any insight I may have into them. Let's start with all the Fantasy Flight Games Arkham Horror Files games. And just so you know, with FFG, you're probably going to lose at least...75% of the time, so if you're one of those people who can't handle that, especially when you're averaging three hours per game, I don't think these are the games for you. However, if you're in it for the experience, these are some great options.

The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Slip-Cased Edition

Several years ago, I purchased The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. (I actually bought it twice, not realizing the second copy was the exact same book with a different cover.) It's a really beautiful book, with a cloth cover, ribbon bookmark and a slipcover. Basically, the perfect collector's item. I tried to read the stories in that book, but as you can imagine, it's huge, with over 1,000 pages and that made things difficult. That's the only complaint I have about the collection.

So I was really excited when I was browsing on Amazon a few weeks ago and I saw a "new" set that was released about a year and a half ago (how did I miss that?), The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Slip-cased Edition. According to one of the reviews, this set includes all of Lovecraft's stories, with the exception of one collaboration he did. And the best thing about it is that it's broken down into 6 separate volumes, which will make it so much easier to read than the larger book. I ordered it immediately.

Size comparison between The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and the Slip-cased Edition.

Someone said these books use the Spongebob font and I can't unsee it.

If I had to buy one set...I wouldn't. I would buy both, honestly. That's the collector in me. Both editions are beautiful and deserve a spot on my already crammed shelves. I can't say one is better than the other.

Also worth nothing is that The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (another must-have) is receiving a followup in September - The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham. I've already pre-ordered my copy and I'll be counting down the days until it arrives on my doorstep.

The Hunter (The Forbidden Game Series Book 1) - L.J. Smith

The Forbidden Game series is written by L.J. Smith and is comprised of three books: The Hunter, The Chase and The Kill. And if you're anything like me, it's one of the best things to ever happen to young adult fiction because it's about a group of friends who play a board game that preys on their greatest fears. (Remember that game Nightmare that came with a VHS tape? It's even worse.) I love board games and I love being scared, throw the two of those things together and you've got my approval, no matter what else happens on those pages.

About what happens on those pages though...Before I started reading Ready Player One, someone gave me the disclaimer (multiple times) that it "doesn't have the best writing." "It isn't Shakespeare," he said. I don't even think he likes Shakespeare. Anyway. To me, "good writing" isn't about browsing through a thesaurus to find new descriptive words to replace everything with. It's not about writing something that sounds like a thesis. It's about having the right tone for the characters you're writing for. In that respect, I thought Ready Player One was very well written. The characters spoke exactly the way I would expect them to, and I really enjoyed the writing style. It was like listening to people I would want to be friends with, and because of that it held my attention. Again, not the point, but I wanted to explain my point of view on this subject before saying this next bit...The Forbidden Game series does not have good writing. Even The Secret Circle series (also by L.J. Smith) did not have good writing. Teenagers don't exclaim, "Oh, Tom!" every time they're exasperated, like a 1950's TV housewife. To be honest though, I don't really care about the writing at all because The Forbidden Game and The Secret Circle series are some of my favorite books from when I was younger and I still love them now, I still go back and reread them every few years.

This will have to be a three part series. I want to talk about everything because let me tell you, The Forbidden Game is a roller coaster ride.

The Hunter starts off with our protagonist, Jenny, trying to find an interesting board game to play during the birthday party she's throwing for her undeserving boyfriend, Tom. She just happens to randomly stumble into a game shop she's never noticed before (no big deal), the kind that carries games like Jumanji. Weird, one of a kind games that you probably shouldn't ever play, considering the plot of this entire book. I wish it existed in real life. Here, Jenny meets an employee so beautiful, she literally forgets her boyfriend's existence. Seriously, the book says, "She forgot Tom's existence." So you know that relationship is rock solid. (In Jenny's defense, Tom is a dick.) The extremely beautiful man offers Jenny The Game. "Mystery. Danger. Seduction. Fear. Secrets revealed. Desires unveiled. Temptation." (Whoa, calm down there, this is a party for HIGH SCHOOLERS.) He hands her...A plain white box, the size of Monopoly. Maybe Jenny should just cancel the party. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But no, she decided to take her chances with the box that gives no clue as to what's inside. Is it empty? Is it actually Monopoly? Are there spiders inside? Is Tom even worth all this trouble? (No, he is not.) Jenny pays $20 for The Game and heads home. (Imagine paying $20 for a game. I paid around $100 for the Dark Souls board game.)

We're introduced to Jenny's friends at this point, but who cares? None of them are that fascinating and the dialogue is mediocre at best, so they're not worth elaborating on. Instead, let's focus on the fact that Tom gave Jenny a stuffed rabbit with the words "I love you" on it, but he won't tell her he loves her in public. "The fact that he wouldn't say the words in public just made this secret confession all the sweeter." Jenny, you idiot. And let's also focus on the fact that Jenny feels the need to wear a long skirt and pull her hair back, like she's living on the damn prairie, because that's what her boyfriend likes. It's important to acknowledge this because it's the only reason she changes her previous outfit and the way her hair was already styled. Tom tells her how to dress and how to wear her hair because he's controlling and wow do I hate this guy (for many reasons, including the fact that he calls Jenny stupid and never considers her feelings, instead worrying about his own). Maybe if he weren't so self-involved, Jenny wouldn't have felt the need to play The Game and the entire thing could have been avoided.

Tom decides to open the box and check The Game out. Inside, the contents are rather surprising. There are pieces to a 3-foot-tall Victorian paper house, furniture, blank paper dolls (that should be drawn to represent each individual player) and also paper dolls of the Shadow Man (who looks exactly like the employee from the game store) and his friends the Creeper (a snake) and the Lurker (a wolf), cards to tell them what actions to take and instructions which state you'll run into a different nightmare in each room as you attempt to reach the top floor, all while avoiding the Shadow Man. If you run into him, "he'll bring to life your darkest fantasies and make you confess your most secret fears." Each player has to draw their nightmare on a piece of paper, then they're shuffled and placed face down in each room, to be looked at upon entering. The final part of setup requires dimming the lights and reciting an oath, swearing that they're playing of their own free will and the game is real.

...Anddd because they're all stupid enough to follow through on that last step, they're sucked into the paper house. Here, they meet Julian, whom Jenny recognizes as the employee from the game store. He informs the friends that they are playing against him and if he wins, his prize is Jenny. The friends vanish to separate areas of the house and Jenny is left alone in the parlor with Julian. (I acknowledge that Julian is probably a psychopath, but if forced to choose, I would rather be stuck with him than Tom. At least he's interesting.) Julian explains that the door back to the real world is on the top floor of the house and if Jenny makes it there, she can leave, along with any friends she finds along the way. He also warns her that if you die in the game, you die for real. And with that, the game begins!

Spoilers after the jump.

Us (2019)

I went to see Us over the weekend because I loved Get Out and this movie looked really creepy. I wish I didn't have to write about it from memory because I can't be as thorough as I could if I had a DVD that I could pause and take notes while watching it (though I do have the Blu-ray pre-ordered, so maybe I'll come back to this in June).

If you've seen the trailer, you know that Us is about a family being terrorized by a group of people who look identical to them. I don't want to get into the specifics of it because I think this is one of those movies that benefits from you going into it and not really knowing much. It's more unsettling that way.

There was a full theater for the showing I went to and it was interesting to see and hear the audience's reaction throughout the film. People were laughing. A lot. And the movie was humorous, I laughed, too. But every time something made me laugh, I would think to myself, "Yeah, this is funny now, but if I saw people acting (and more specifically, moving) this way in real life, I would cry." I don't think Us is necessarily scary, but it is genuinely creepy and intense. The actors (especially Lupita Nyong'o) were all incredible in their dual roles. There were many times throughout the movie that I turned to my boyfriend and mouthed, "What the ____?" because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And I glanced over at him a few times and the expressions on his face were pretty priceless.

The score for this film is amazing. It really adds to the overall tension in many of the scenes. I'm just going to say it, Us has the best horror movie soundtrack since Goblin's score for the original Suspiria. I bought it on the train ride home.

The film's ending was somewhat predictable. It had crossed my mind early on that it may potentially happen (I'm trying to be super vague here, sorry if it comes across as nonsensical), but I kept second guessing it. Thinking about it now, I don't know how anyone could miss it, it's right in front of your face for most of the movie.

I feel like this is one of those films that's probably really divisive and people will either love it or hate it. I loved it, it's now three days later and I still can't stop thinking about it. I ran to Reddit and looked at all the theories people have come up with because I wanted more. But, for example, I know this is a movie my mom would absolutely hate because not everything is laid out for you. (I'm not calling her stupid, for the record. She just prefers clear cut endings.) And my dad...He'll definitely either love it or hate it, I'm just not sure which it will be, he surprises me sometimes. He likes some of the worst B-horror films ever made, yet he hated In Fear. I'll never understand him.

I highly recommend Us if you enjoy horror films that leave you thinking about them long after they've ended. I'm still unsettled by it and I have no intention of looking out my windows at night any time soon. The rational part of me knows there's probably nothing out there, the other part of me doesn't want to take the chance of being proven wrong.