What Is Horror?

Spoiler alert: You won’t find out by reading this post. If you were expecting an actual answer, John, you’re going to be very disappointed. I’m sorry. This is the best I could come up with because the more I thought about it, the more I realized there’s almost no logic behind my thought process.

My boyfriend has asked, on several occasions, what defines something as “horror.” I think it started when we watched the first season of Westworld together. All hell broke loose and he asked, “Is it horror yet?” No, it’s still sci-fi. He then asked why, and I guess “It just isn’t” wasn’t a satisfying response because this continued with Ex Machina and Sunshine (more on that later) and my answer, of course, was still no. These are not horror films. At one point, he asked me if Prey is considered a horror game and I was at a loss, partially because I haven’t completed the game and I need to experience the story and the overall mood/tone in its entirety before I can come to a conclusion, and also because based on my first impressions, I think it equally qualifies as sci-fi and horror. After he’d asked me enough times about this subject, I even started asking myself, okay, what makes something “horror” then?

Until John started questioning me about it, I never really thought about what makes something a horror film/game/show. Is it the overall tone? It can’t be dependent on whether or not it manages to scare me because there are so many movies that I consider horror films and they didn’t even make me flinch. John brought up this “What is a chair?” exercise that perfectly relates to the problem I started having when I initially wanted to describe what I think a movie needs to include in order to be a horror film. I began describing it to myself while working on this post and I realized, “Oh wait, but it also includes this, and not every movie has that,” and it became one huge contradiction. Because not every scary movie, regardless of what Scream will have you believe, follows the same formula.

There are sub genres of horror. It’s not a one size fits all thing. There’s psychological horror, slasher films, sci-fi horror, comedic horror, Lovecraftian horror, supernatural horror, fantasy horror, God awful torture porn. There’s Cabin in the Woods, which is the most beautiful love letter to the horror genre I’ve ever seen. There are movies I consider fringe horror, like the first film in The Purge franchise. It’s more suspense than horror, but I would throw it in the horror category anyway.

There are films that can fit into several genres, but they lean slightly more in one direction than the other. I would classify Alien as a sci-fi horror film, with emphasis on sci-fi, but Event Horizon as a horror sci-fi film, emphasis on horror (and Dead Space as a horror sci-fi game since it’s pretty much Event Horizon). And then there’s John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is just straight up horror even though it does have an element of science fiction to it. I think the reason Alien leans more sci-fi than horror is because...It’s about an alien, whereas Event Horizon leans more horror for me because EVERYTHING happens. Everything. Seriously, watch Event Horizon. It’s the only good movie Paul W. S. Anderson has ever made. Maybe one day Uwe Boll will surprise us, too. Probably not though. Anyway, back to the point. What’s “interesting” is that I say Alien (the movie) leans more sci-fi than it does horror, but Alien Isolation is one of the scariest games I have ever played and I absolutely 100% consider that a survival horror game. I couldn’t even explain or defend my reasoning for this if pressed to, John, so don’t ask.

I can’t categorize Jurassic Park, even though it can technically fit into horror or sci-fi, I have a hard time saying it’s either. I know a lot of people consider Jaws a horror film, but I think I just put Jaws into the “shark movie” category, as if that’s a genre in itself. When it comes to dinosaurs, sharks, oversized bugs and mammals, those all lean way more sci-fi than horror to me, no matter what the story is, Cujo being the exception, but even that is something I don’t consider horror. They’re “animal films.” Not to be confused with “family friendly animal films” like Homeward Bound.

As a counterpoint to John’s questioning about whether or not something becomes part of the horror genre based on a brief moment where something frightening happens, I’d like to offer this example. No one would ever call Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune a horror game, but surprisingly it has a really scary section you have to play through later on in the game, and this is the best case I can think of that explains my feelings on this subject. Just because something has horror elements, that doesn’t make it horror.

Last night, we watched Sunshine, a movie that deserves its own post (but isn’t getting one because I refuse to waste any more of my time on it) for being a spliced together trainwreck of what seems like two totally different movies and once again, he asked me, “Is this horror?” This movie is the one that should be impossible for me to categorize because even the movie itself doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, however, I think it helped me figure out, at least somewhat, how I determine whether something is sci-fi or horror. For me personally, if a movie spends a significant amount of time developing a plot around a science fiction story, at the very least, it’s sci-fi horror, if not just completely sci-fi. If it has a slight sci-fi subplot happening in the background, with mostly a horror overtone, it’s a horror film. When I was watching Sunshine with John, I told him, “This is just regular space stuff. This is what happens when you’re dumb enough to go into space.” The first hour and twenty minutes of that movie could have been Armageddon or any other “We have to go to space to save the planet” movie ever made, so even though it turned into a really bizarre slasher/supernatural horror film at the end...It’s still just regular space stuff to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That’s the best explanation I can come up with. Thanks to my boyfriend for making me sit through that mess (I had such high hopes for it, I was expecting necromorphs) and helping me reach some sort of conclusion about how my mind works.

The Investigators of Arkham Horror

I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the Arkham Horror Files games. I've only recently started playing Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror LCG and I've yet to successfully complete a game. But I am a fan of most things inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's work, as well as horror-themed artbooks, so I was really excited to read The Investigators of Arkham Horror.

It goes without saying that the tales in this book are inspired by Lovecraft's stories, but I was also reminded of A Night in the Lonesome October, House of Leaves, The Thing and most notably, Eternal Darkness (many of which were also inspired by Lovecraft). As with the characters in Eternal Darkness, the investigators in the Arkham Horror universe were [mostly] just ordinary people who somehow stumbled into something extraordinary and their lives were changed because of it, they chose to fight against the evil threatening to force its way into our world. And that's the main difference between what Fantasy Flight Games has created and Lovecraft's fiction. In these stories, the characters fight back. They try to save the world (and if you're playing the games, more often than not, they fail miserably).

Each story is told in a variety of different ways, with quotes from Lovecraft sprinkled throughout. Some include journal entries, newspaper clippings, medical records, photographs and sketches. I usually really enjoy that sort of storytelling. It adds a little something extra and almost makes it seem more believable.

Cthulhu, studying the sketch of a nightgaunt.

The first story, Wilson Richards, set the tone for what I expected from the rest of the book. It perfectly describes the feeling of dread someone would have while visiting Arkham. You don't know exactly what is making the hair on the back of your neck stand up, but you know something is off. (Wilson stops for a slice of cherry pie and strong coffee at Velma's Diner, and I was reminded of another strange, little town called Twin Peaks.)

I did a double take the first time I saw this picture. It seemed normal at first.

Charlie Kane's story focuses on Arkham's Founder's Day celebration. Hints are dropped throughout that give a sense that something more is going on during this event than just a regular celebration. Why is Charlie so particular about which items are displayed? Why are the fireworks set to go off at 8:41 p.m., exactly 47 minutes after sunset? And why is Charlie so specific about which ingredients go into the fireworks? "Any mistake, even the smallest, could lead to disaster." This is just one of many mysteries you're left to ponder while you read about each investigator.

Reading about Agatha Crane reminded me of House of Leaves. So much so that I'm positive it was partially inspired by it. "As she began to measure the wall a second time, the measuring tape snapped tight between her outstretched hands. After a moment, she frowned and checked the worn length of tape. The wall had been slightly smaller the first time she measured; she was sure of it." I wonder if Will Navidson ever heard about this house? The house in question is Arkham's very own Witch House, which looks somewhat familiar.

With House in Salem, MA next to the Witch House in Arkham

While I'm on the subject of witches...The one thing that really bothered me, that always bothers me, was a journal entry from Mandy Thompson's story that read, "May 7th, 1690. Last night we did God's work, when other men would not. Witches burned, but Uriah Crawford yet lives." I've visited Salem several times, I studied its history, I know it well. Granted, this takes place in Arkham, not Salem. I'm hesitant to say witches were never burned in America because I'm not positive, I thought that was mostly done in Europe. However. Since Salem is the most famous case of the witch hunt hysteria this country faced and it was mentioned more than once within this book, I'm going to assume Arkham's history was inspired by Salem's. And not one witch was burned in Salem. They were hanged, with the exception of Giles Corey, who was pressed to death. It's a common historical inaccuracy and I cringe every time I see it.

Since I'm on the subject, I recognized a lot of names from Salem. Peabody, Derby and of course, the Witch House. This is probably just a coincidence, albeit an interesting coincidence considering how frequently Salem and the witch trials were mentioned, but I was happy to see them.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

What can I say without going off on a tangent? The illustrations in this book are exquisite. I'm not sure how much of the artwork is new, but I recognized some from Eldritch Horror. I did notice a few minor errors in some stories that must have slipped past the editor, but nothing terrible. The chapters don't tie into one another, even though characters and locations tend to reappear throughout.

I'm 100% convinced Preston Fairmont is actually Laurence Olivier.

When I started taking notes, with the intention of writing this post, everything started off very positive. Then about halfway through the book, I was ready for it to end. It's really beautiful and I appreciate the work that went into it, but when I'm reading something...I want an actual plot. It's hard to keep my interest for 260 pages when the stories are just getting started and then they end abruptly. I wanted more. The accounts in The Investigators of Arkham Horror are short and most of them end before anything really begins. That being said though, the point of these tales is to give some insight into the investigators, an idea of why or how they found themselves fighting against the ancient ones. These small snippets are just part of a larger narrative, one that you create yourself while playing the Arkham Horror Files games. If you're looking for something similar to Lovecraft's work, this isn't it and you'll be disappointed (it does have Lovecraftian elements, but it lacks the actual horror I feel reading something like The Outsider or The Shadow Over Innsmouth). But if you're a fan of the Arkham Horror Universe and the incredible artwork from the games, I highly recommend The Investigators of Arkham Horror.

NYZ Apocalypse

Last year, my now ex-boyfriend took me to NYZ Apocalypse in Deer Park, NY on our second date. As far as dates go, that was definitely one of the best, second only to maybe the Museum of Natural History. And Finding Neverland on Broadway. So...Third, really. But still awesome!

NYZ Apocalypse takes place in a fictional prison where a zombie outbreak occurs. Before entering, you're sent over to a computer and asked to create an account, which you can then log into when you escape the prison and purchase the picture you take at the end of the experience, if you want to. The attraction is open on Friday and Saturday nights and costs $40 per person. It's kind of on the expensive side (for what it is), but I guarantee if you enjoy things like haunted houses, it will be completely worth it. I suggest making reservations beforehand because when we went, we didn't have one and we waited on line for a very long time.

If you go somewhere like Bayville Scream Park, sure, it's scary (it's always terrifying to have someone jump out at you when you aren't expecting it), but it's not too bad because, at most, you'll have one or two actors trailing behind you and there are no real consequences if they get too close to you. That is not the case with NYZ Apocalypse. For me, this experience was so much scarier and I'm about to explain why.

Let me say now, I suggest going with more than two people, as going in with just my ex made things very difficult. The prison is set up with a series of checkpoints, each area becoming progressively more difficult. All you're told before entering is to shoot any zombies that get in your way. So, my ex took the lead and I was happy to let him. Unfortunately, I soon found out that shooting zombies doesn't actually kill them, it only makes them fall momentarily, which means whoever is covering the person in front is going to have a pretty bad time. I was the person having a pretty bad time, with an entire horde of zombies trailing behind me.

Every time you reach a checkpoint, you stock up on ammo again. It gives you a false sense of security, you think you'll have enough to get you to the next checkpoint. You won't. I promise, you will run out of ammo and you will be forced to run to the next area. But they don't tell you that immediately. My ex and I had to hide behind a barricade in an attempt to not get bitten. When he ran out of ammo, he hid behind me. (I should have known then that we would never work out.) Only after the zombies were close enough to bite us were we told to run for it.

When you finally escape, you're given a bite count so you know how well you did. I was bitten five times, thanks to my cowardly ex.

NYZ Apocalypse was a really unique experience for me. I've been to a lot of haunted attractions, everywhere from here on Long Island, to Orlando, to Eastern State in Pennsylvania and Salem, Massachusetts, but I've never seen anything like that before. It's not just walking through a haunted house, it's interactive and it really immerses you in the experience. If you live in New York, I definitely recommend checking it out. They also have a location in Orlando, Florida.

Just make sure if you go, you bring a large group with you. Safety in numbers.

One Man Hide and Seek

First, I would like to state, for the record, that I do not believe in many things. However, even though I don't believe in something, that doesn't mean I'm right. And it also doesn't mean the thing I do not believe in doesn't scare me.

For instance, I'm terrified of dolls. I was traumatized by my family as a child. That's a story for another post though. I know that dolls cannot come to life. I know that there is no way a doll is going to try to kill me. That being said, I don't want dolls anywhere near me and I'm not going to do anything to "provoke" them.

Luckily, Xroom Mod on Youtube has no problem doing the things that I would never dare to do. I can watch him perform creepypasta rituals from the safety of my nice, brightly lit bedroom.

The ritual I'm referring to now is One Man Hide and Seek.

For this ritual, you will be playing hide and seek. With a doll. At 3:00 a.m. with all the lights in your house off. If that sounds awful to you, imagine how terrible it must be to actually PLAY.

As with every creepypasta ritual, One Man Hide and Seek comes with a warning that several horrible fates await you if you do not end the ritual correctly. Click the link above for more information.

If you're like me and the idea of playing hide and seek in the dark with a doll sounds horrifying, here is a video of the ritual being performed by someone far braver than you and I.

I really like Xroom Mod's videos. He doesn't play it up for the camera like some people do. He shows you the honest results of every ritual he performs. As expected, nothing bad ever happens. He isn't being haunted by anything because of a failed ritual. Because, after all, creepypasta rituals are fiction. Aren't they?

Candle Cove and Cry Baby Lane

One of my all time favorite creepypastas is Candle Cove. The story is set up as a series of posts on a messageboard from a group of people who remember a show from their childhood called Candle Cove. As they continue discussing the show, they remember more about it and how disturbing it was, especially for a children's show. I don't want to give away the ending because it's really worth reading for yourself.

After reading about Candle Cove years back, I read about a movie Nickelodeon supposedly aired in 2000, Cry Baby Lane. The setup sounded a lot like Candle Cove. People were discussing this film and what they remembered of it, but the thing was, Nickelodeon refused to acknowledge the movie's existence. There was no proof anywhere that this movie ever aired on television. It sounded like an elaborate joke that everyone was playing along with.

Then, something incredible happened. In 2011, a Reddit used claimed they found a copy of Cry Baby Lane recorded on a VHS tape in their house. I remember that day very well. I kept waiting to see if this person would really upload the movie online. Was there actually proof that this movie existed? The movie did, in fact, exist. I did watch it, but I really don't remember much of Cry Baby Lane because I didn't care for the movie. The best part about it was the story *behind* the movie. Something that people doubted the existence of, something Nickelodeon refused to even acknowledge (until later in 2011, when they could no longer ignore it).

Here is Cry Baby Lane, in its entirety.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Arc 1: Demoned Away

I wasn't sure how to go about discussing Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Eventually, I decided the easiest way would be to post about each arc separately. I'm watching the same fansub I watched years ago, so I want to point out that some of the translations could be a bit off, which means some of the things I say may be incorrect. 

I don't watch a lot of anime, but what I have watched, I've enjoyed immensely (especially FMA/FMA Brotherhood and Ouran High School Host Club). That being said, I'm pretty much open to anything and if something looks interesting, I'm more than willing to give it a chance, especially when it comes to the horror genre. That's what led me to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (and Another, but let's give that series its own post).

This series is incredibly disturbing and gory. And confusing! Not just because there are some really cute scenes in between all the brutal murders, but because each arc follows a different timeline and in each instance where the loop resets, things completely change. (I had to rewatch the series before writing this post because I was so lost the first time.) To be honest, I could do without the gore, even if it is only animated. But as far as everything else goes, Higurashi was exactly what I was looking for and I wish there were more series like it.

The first arc, Demoned Away, consists of four episodes. For my own sanity, I am going to summarize each episode so that going forward, I'll actually remember what happened and maybe I can make sense of it this time around.

Episode 1

As far as the plot is concerned, not much happens in the first episode. Keiichi, the main character, meets Tomitake, a photographer, who begins telling him about a death that occurred during the dam construction in Hinamizawa, where Keiichi and his friends live. Keiichi questions his friend, Rena, about it, but she claims to have no knowledge of the incident, saying she lived somewhere else until last year. (This is important, remember it.)

Keiichi, unsatisfied with Rena's response, then asks another friend, Mion, about the dam construction. She tells him the town fought against the dam construction because Hinamizawa would have been underwater. Keiichi questions her further, asking if anyone was murdered. And then! Mion does the thing that everyone in this anime does when they're being totally questionable and creepy, and her eyes disappear from her face. (See Rena in the first picture in this post for an example of what I'm talking about. Sometimes they also have cat eyes, which is just as disturbing.) Mion, wearing her evil face, of course says no, no one was murdered.

As the episode ends, Keiichi finds an old newspaper with an article about people who were murdered at the dam, cut in pieces by an axe. Cut to Rena standing behind him with a machete. I'm sure she's totally harmless though...

Episode 2

On the night of the Watanagashi Festival, Keiichi searches for Rena, and instead finds Tomitake speaking to a woman named Takano. Keiichi, not taking a hint from his machete-wielding, cat-eyed friends, again asks Tomitake for details about what happened during the dam construction.

Tomitake tells him it happened 7 or 8 years ago when they began planning the construction. Hinamizawa would have been flooded, so people protested and it was brought to court. Corruption was revealed and the construction was halted. Then 4 years ago, during the Watanagashi Festival, there was a murder. "The seniors all believed it was the curse of Oyashiro-sama." Tomitake adds, "It's probably about how Hinamizawa's guardian punished those who tried to sink the town."

After that, someone died every year on the day of the festival. A resident of Hinamizawa who supported the construction fell off a cliff and died. Another year, a shrine owner died of a "mysterious illness." The year after that, they found a woman beaten to death. The husband of that woman is the younger brother of the dam supporter who fell off the cliff.

The next day at school, a detective named Oishi calls Keiichi out of class and questions him about Tomitake and the woman he was with the night of the festival. He tells Keiichi that Tomitake died that night, he cut his throat with his own fingernails. However, he believes that multiple people were involved in his death due to wounds covering his body. The woman he was with is missing. Oishi warns Keiichi not to let his friends find out they spoke about this, as he does not know to what extent the townspeople are involved.

Later on, half asleep in class, Keiichi overhears Mion and Rena discussing the curse of Oyashiro-sama. Rena is worried that she'll be next, and Mion says, "But you came back home." (Oh really, Rena? "Back home" implies you lived in Hinamizawa previously. Did you lie to Keiichi?) Keiichi overhears them mention someone named Satoshi, and he asks Rena about it later on. Once again, Rena's face goes blank and she claims to know nothing about him. Keiichi stupidly accuses her of lying and hiding something from him. Rena then accuses him of the same thing, saying she knows about his meeting with the detective.

Oishi calls Keiichi that night and Keiichi wants to know if he's heard of people being "demoned away." He discovers that every year during the festival, someone is murdered and someone else goes missing. And one of the people who disappeared was a boy named Satoshi!

Keiichi ends the phone call when his father knocks on his bedroom door and says that Rena was at the house and he sent her upstairs to Keiichi's room. Keiichi is noticeably worried, knowing Rena overheard his conversation with Oishi. She is seen standing outside Keiichi's house, staring, as the closing credits start.

Episode 3

Rena meets Keiichi at his house before school in the morning, but he knows that machete-wielding lunatic overheard his conversation with Oishi the night before, and he's not completely stupid, so he fakes being sick and stays home.

He then proceeds to meet Oishi for lunch. (Has he learned nothing yet?) Oishi informs him that since Satoshi disappeared last year, he has been investigating Keiichi's friends. The first year's victim had an altercation with Mion. The second year, another of his friends, Satoko, was at the site of the accident. His friend Rika is the daugher of the shrine owner who died the third year. The woman who died the fourth year was a relative of Satako...And Satoshi was Satako's brother. Every person who has died has a connection to Keiichi's friends.

Oishi tells Keiichi that before Rena moved back to Hinamizawa, she was suspended from school after breaking all the windows there. She then received counseling. In the doctor's notes, Rena frequently mentioned Oyashiro-sama.

Back home, Rena and Mion ring Keiichi's doorbell. Rena gives Keiichi food she helped prepare and then questions him about his lunch with Oishi. Once they've gone, Keiichi, once again proving that he isn't that bright, decides to eat the food the girls gave to him. After taking a bite, he spits it out and finds a sewing needle inside.

Keiichi, justifiably worried, writes a note saying he is in danger of being killed and tapes it to the back of the wall clock in his room.

The next day, as he is walking to school, a man in a white van tries to run him over.

When Keiichi returns home from school, his parents call to let him know they had to go to Tokyo for work and won't be home until the next night. Oishi then calls and asks if anything strange has happened. Keiichi tells him about the needle in the meal Rena prepared for him and how someone tried to run him over. As he is speaking to Oishi, someone begins to repeatedly ring his doorbell.

Episode 4

Rena is at Keiichi's door and asks if he has eaten yet, saying she brought more food over for him, but Keiichi is onto her now and he lies and pretends his dinner is almost ready. Of course, like everything else, Rena knows this is a lie. She puts her hand through the opening in the door and attempts to get in, but Keiichi slams the door on her. 

He gets back on the phone with Oishi and learns that Rena hit three male students with a bat the day she broke all the windows at her old school. Keiichi looks out his window and sees Rena standing outside in the rain, staring at his house and mumbling to herself.

At school, Keiichi tells Mion to leave him alone while he practices swinging a bat that once belonged to Satoshi, as a way to defend himself. He accuses Mion of hiding what happened to Satoshi from him and says she lied about the murder at the dam. He then demands to know whether it was Mion or Rena who put the needle in his food. Mion, looking possessed, says, right out in the open, that she should have already killed Oishi and she will definitely kill him now.

On his way home, Keiichi hides in the trees and sees Rena walking by with a machete. She disappears for a moment and then reappears behind him. (Don't question it. That's not even the strangest thing to happen on this show.) He asks why she has a machete and she begins to laugh maniacally. For some reason, our genius main character decides now is as good a time as any to demand to know who committed the serial murders and Rena says it wasn't a human, it was Oyashiro-sama. Rena claims she transferred because Oyashiro-sama came to her. At this point, Keiichi has had enough and he pushes Rena to the ground and takes off, running through the trees and eventually coming across the men who previously tried to run him over. They hit him over the head and knock him unconscious.

When Keiichi awakens at home, Rena and Mion are there. Rena says she called the "Director" and Keiichi asks who that is, which prompts the two girls to laugh hysterically. Rena grabs a needle and stabs him with it. Somehow, Keiichi manages to break free and he beats Rena and Mion to death with a bat.

The white van pulls up outside Keiichi's house. He removes the note from the back of his clock and adds that Rena and Mion are part of a criminal organization along with the men in the white van. He claims Tomitake was killed by an unknown drug (presumably the same one Mion just injected him with). He then replaces the note and runs out his backdoor, attempting to escape from the men in the van. Keiichi calls Oishi from a payphone and Oishi dispatches someone to go to him. Keiichi tells him that Oyashiro-sama committed the murders. Like Tomitake, Keiichi claws at his own throat. He dies 24 hours later.

TL;DR Keiichi's friends are so incredibly disturbing that his totally justified paranoia causes him to snap and kill them.

The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltalle Miniseries - Episode 1: In TooDeep

I have to be honest, I kind of gave up on The Walking Dead a while back. Issue 100 of the comics horrified me (the death was too disturbing) and I mostly stopped reading them after that. I also stopped watching the show for a season and a half because it felt like it was going nowhere and I've only recently started watching it again. That won't last much longer with the introduction of Negan, likely at the end of the current season. I don't want to see issue 100 acted out. At a time when I'm ready to jump ship on this entire series, I normally wouldn't have bought the new game so quickly, but this miniseries stars Michonne and that's enough for me.

The PS Store's description of the game says, "...The story explores Michonne's absence between issues 126 and 139 of the comic book. Over the three episodes of the miniseries, players will discover what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of her trusted group...and what brought her back." That being said, I'm unable to comment on how this all ties into the comics because as I said, issue 100 was the end for me.

In Too Deep contains seven bronze trophies, all based upon chapter completion, so they aren't missable.

Episode 1 starts off with Michonne having flashbacks of her daughters. The flashbacks merge with reality as she fights off a group of zombies in the woods. Michonne then puts a gun to her head, with one bullet in the chamber, and you are given the option to pull the trigger or put the gun down.

Three weeks later, you awake on a boat and hear a call for help over the radio. Pete (one of several other people on the boat with you) wants to look into it and you are once again given a choice to make. I don't want to delve too far into spoiler territory, so I'll just say everything goes to hell. You wouldn't expect anything less though, right?

I'm pretty thorough, I try to examine everything and go through all available dialogue options, so the time it took me to complete the game is what you should expect if you aren't rushing to complete the episode. It took me close to an hour and a half to beat the first episode. It felt really short, but that could be because I played the first game all at once, rather than one episode at a time. This is also a miniseries, so I don't expect anything as long as the previous two games. That being said, I believe the other games cost $5 per episode, which is what TWD: Michonne comes out to ($14.99 for three episodes), so if these episodes are in fact shorter, maybe the price should have been altered a bit.

The gameplay is more of the same, there's nothing new to comment on if you have already played the first two Telltale Walking Dead games. As far as combat goes, you're expected to perform a series of button prompts when you fight off enemies. Don't worry if you aren't quick, there is room for error. I even pressed the wrong button on more than one occasion without being penalized for it.

The other main portion of the gameplay is making decisions that will affect the outcome of your game (most likely just as far as your relationships with certain characters go, the ending probably will not change drastically). There is minimal exploring to do, even by Telltale's standards. The game guides you along to exactly where you need to be. It is very story heavy, which should not come as a surprise to anyone who has played the other games. I think it goes without saying, but if you're looking for a zombie game like Resident Evil, this isn't it.

Having only played episode 1 once, I can't say for sure how much the game varies depending on the decisions you make, but I'm going to guess that no matter what you choose, the game will take you in the same direction either way.

Despite the fact that the game plays like a hybrid between a visual novel and a point and click (I'm not bashing either, especially point and clicks, let's talk about Shivers sometime), there are some genuinely tense moments. For example, Michonne (or perhaps Pete) has to reach through a slotted door to unlock it, while having a limited field of view and not being able to see everything on the other side of the door.

As with everything The Walking Dead does, this game is very character driven. I really cared about most of the characters in this episode...The decent ones, anyway. I hated the others. That's what good characterization does though. Whether it gets you to love them or hate them, you feel something, so I think the writers (as well as the voice actors) did a really nice job.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne. She's a great character,  completely worthy of having her own miniseries and I look forward to seeing more of her story.

The Halloween Tree

Many people have said The Halloween Tree is really creepy and I had never seen it before, so I decided to rent it on Amazon and see for myself. I have to admit, I have not read the book by Ray Bradbury, though I did buy it last year. I planned on reading it in October, but I had a very limited amount of free time because I had a wedding to get ready for, I was with my boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend) almost every day after work because he was leaving at the end of the month and I also started reading A Night in the Lonesome October (one chapter every day for the entire month of October), so I just never got around to it. I was going to wait until this October to read it, but having watched the movie, I would like to see how it compares to the book so I'm not sure I want to wait that long anymore.

The Halloween Tree originally aired on TBS in 1993, eventually going on to be broadcast on Cartoon Network in later years.

On Halloween night, Pip's friends (Tom, Jenny, Ralph and Wally) arrive at his house to find a note on his door that says he is on his way to the hospital for appendicitis. Tom insists on taking a shortcut through the ravine so they can get to the hospital quickly, but once they arrive at the ravine, Wally claims to see Pip running and says he can "see right through him." Believing Pip is pulling some sort of prank, Tom runs after him, while his friends reluctantly follow along.

Upon exiting the ravine, they see a sinister looking house. They slowly build up the courage to knock on the door, the staircase collapsing behind them. Once inside, they meet a man named Moundshroud who looks almost as sinister as the house does. Moundshroud asks why they are dressed up as a skeleton, a witch, a monster and a mummy, then proceeds to chastise the children for being completely unaware of the meaning behind their costumes.

Pip appears, as a ghost, runs outside and climbs up what Moundshroud calls the Halloween Tree. Pip traverses the tree, making his way high up to reach a Jack O'Lantern that looks just like him, while Moundshroud yells that they had an appointment with each other. Pip grabs the pumpkin, jumps from the tree, and is carried away by the wind. The children demand to be taken to Pip and Moundshroud relents, taking them on a journey through history to the pyramids in Egypt, Europe in the Dark Ages, Notre Dame and finally Mexico for The Day of the Dead, where the children finally come to understand the meanings behind their costumes.

In each location, the friends have to face their fears to rescue Pip, but in the end, it still isn't enough and they each decide to sacrifice something in order to save him.

The Halloween Tree may be a children's cartoon, but even as an adult, I really enjoyed it. It's very informative, so it definitely serves a purpose other than giving kids nightmares for days. The music sets the mood and I liked the animation a lot. It almost felt like it could be an episode of Tales From the Cryptkeeper (if you never saw that cartoon on Saturday mornings, you missed out). I do agree with everyone who said the movie is creepy. The Halloween Tree is definitely dark, but it's also a great tale of courage and friendship.

Carter & Lovecraft

WARNING: This post contains some spoilers, but nothing that gives away the overall plot or the ending.

In Carter & Lovecraft, written by Jonathan L. Howard, ex-detective Dan Carter learns that he has inherited a bookstore in Providence, Rhode Island from Alfred Hill (who was missing for seven years before being declared dead), a man he has never met. Upon Carter's arrival, he meets the woman who has been running the store in Alfred's absence, Emily Lovecraft, a descendant of...You guessed it. H. P. Lovecraft.

Soon after, Carter is drawn into an investigation of a string of bizarre, impossible murders that lead him to a young man named William Colt and a place called Waite's Bill (where the men have a serious preoccupation with swimming, so you just know they have the "Innsmouth look"). With the help of Emily Lovecraft, Carter puts together, piece by piece, the mystery behind "The Twist" and Waite's Bill, something their ancestors worked to hide away from the world.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It referenced so many of my favorite things: pulp fiction (not the movie), Dashiell Hammett, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, film noir and of course, Lovecraft.

I was sort of expecting Hammett meets Lovecraft, in a fun way, like Cabin in the Woods. If that makes sense. What I got was a bit more serious in tone, not that I minded. I absolutely think fans of Lovecraft's work will appreciate this book, but I think anyone who is looking solely for a mystery novel may be left wondering what exactly they just read.

There are a few things about Carter & Lovecraft that I think are worth mentioning.

Each chapter is around ten pages long, give or take a few. I really liked that because it meant they were short enough that I could read "just one more" before bed.

There were some things I could do without that seemed to add almost nothing to the overall plot. Specifically, the attempted rape. I don't know what the author's intentions were or how this figured into the plot in his mind, but as the reader, it seemed unnecessary. Rothwell could have had a complete mental breakdown without forcing himself on his girlfriend. It felt out of place and the story would not have changed significantly if it had been left out.

I mentioned earlier that Carter inherited the bookstore from a man named Alfred Hill. Throughout the book, I kept expecting to find out what happened to Alfred. I thought, maybe, he purposely disappeared, that this was all a setup to bring Carter to Providence. But unless there's been an oversight on my part (and I don't think that's the case, I read everything very carefully, with the intention of making this post), we never learn what Alfred's fate was. He's never mentioned again. For me, that was one of the biggest disappointments.

Carter & Lovecraft has a very bleak ending, perfectly fitting for a novel inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's work. Despite some unneeded plot devices and forgotten characters, it is a book I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of Lovecraft's stories.

Edit: I have been told that Alfred Hill was not forgotten, so maybe we'll learn more about him in the future.

Where it all began

My mom's favorite story to tell (complain about, really) is that when I was three years old, I told my dance instructor that I watched A Nightmare On Elm Street. As if it were somehow my fault that she was embarrassed that I told this woman I was allowed to watch Freddy Krueger murder people in their sleep. When I point out that I was a child and someone turned the movie on and let me watch it, she blames my dad, pretending she had no say in the matter.

The point is, I grew up on horror.

Thinking back, the first scary movies (I use that term loosely for one of them) I ever remember watching are House On Haunted Hill and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and to this day, I still love both films. I was raised on Vincent Price movies. I knew him by name before any other actor and I couldn't get enough of him.

When I was old enough to read, I would always go to the library and borrow Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The stories rarely scared me, but the illustrations kept me up at night. I would beg either of my parents to bring me to the book store so I could buy more Goosebumps books (and not long after, Fear Street, because Goosebumps just wasn't scary enough).

Now that I'm older, I'm a bit more particular about the kind of horror I enjoy. While Freddy was entertaining when I was a child, I'm no longer interested in his antics. And I've moved on from creepy stories about babysitters being stalked, as well. Today, my favorite kind of horror is psychological.

Movies no longer scare me. I've tried so hard to find something, anything, that will make me lose sleep, but the only film to unsettle me that much is In the Mouth of Madness. If I want to be truly scared, I have to turn to video games and Lovecraft.

I decided to start this for fun. I'm terrible at sticking to a schedule, but I would like to try to post at least once a week. I have no plans to even attempt to promote this blog, so if people find it, they find it and if not, I'm okay with talking to myself.