Horrors galore
First, delighted to discover that Google has discovered my blogspot: maybe I'll actually get some visitors.
But what's moved me to write here today is HORROR. I've been reading a collection of stories, 'Darling Little Fishes', by Rick Ferreira - he who wrote 'The Girl from Tomango'; I bought the book second-hand from Amazon, thinking that anyone who wrote such a good story must be worth investigating. To be honest, all the stories I've read so far in the collection (about five of 'em) have been disappointing; quite well written, but not particularly good at drawing characters, certainly not to the extent that one might care for any of them or find any credible motivation for anything they do. That said, the story I've reached - 'The Sacrifice' - finally shows some of the qualities I enjoyed in 'Girl from Tomango'; a sense that the author knows what he's talking about, and deftly drawn characters. I'll keep you posted.
Anyway, to finish here are a dozen top horror films I've enjoyed recently or fairly recently (in no particular order):
1) Vault of Horror (Amicus compendium with Tom Baker, Daniel Massey etc)
2) Alien (Ridley Scott)
3) 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)
4) Dead of Night (first of the great compendium films)
5) Tales from the Crypt (Amicus again, with a superb performance by Peter Cushing)
6) Paranoiac (little known chiller with Oliver Reed, directed by Freddie Francis)
7) Psycho (Hitchcock original - I refuse to see the remake)
8) Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (a better-than-average-Hammer film)
9) House of whipcord (cheesy title for a surprisingly compelling thriller approaching territory both of Psycho and...)
10) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original version, again!)
11) The Brood (one of the best of Cronenberg's early films)
12) The Fly (Cronenberg again)
But what's moved me to write here today is HORROR. I've been reading a collection of stories, 'Darling Little Fishes', by Rick Ferreira - he who wrote 'The Girl from Tomango'; I bought the book second-hand from Amazon, thinking that anyone who wrote such a good story must be worth investigating. To be honest, all the stories I've read so far in the collection (about five of 'em) have been disappointing; quite well written, but not particularly good at drawing characters, certainly not to the extent that one might care for any of them or find any credible motivation for anything they do. That said, the story I've reached - 'The Sacrifice' - finally shows some of the qualities I enjoyed in 'Girl from Tomango'; a sense that the author knows what he's talking about, and deftly drawn characters. I'll keep you posted.
Anyway, to finish here are a dozen top horror films I've enjoyed recently or fairly recently (in no particular order):
1) Vault of Horror (Amicus compendium with Tom Baker, Daniel Massey etc)
2) Alien (Ridley Scott)
3) 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)
4) Dead of Night (first of the great compendium films)
5) Tales from the Crypt (Amicus again, with a superb performance by Peter Cushing)
6) Paranoiac (little known chiller with Oliver Reed, directed by Freddie Francis)
7) Psycho (Hitchcock original - I refuse to see the remake)
8) Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (a better-than-average-Hammer film)
9) House of whipcord (cheesy title for a surprisingly compelling thriller approaching territory both of Psycho and...)
10) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original version, again!)
11) The Brood (one of the best of Cronenberg's early films)
12) The Fly (Cronenberg again)
posted by Pierre at 6:04 AM
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