Back to Fear Street – The Wrong Number (Fear Street, #5)

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Back to Fear Street – The Wrong Number (Fear Street, #5)

And here…we…go!  I’m happy to report that I survived another trip to Fear Street!  Join me, won’t you, as I tell you all about what happens when you call…The Wrong Number.

So, the fifth entry in the Fear Street Series is another simple concept.  Our teen protagonists, Deena Martinson and Jade Smith, decide to make some prank phone calls on Deena’s brand spanking new phone.  Like a real phone. You know like the ones with a cord? So after making some innocent prank phone calls to some kids at their school, Deena’s half-brother Chuck, a bad seed who moves to Shadyside after getting expelled from his other school, gets involved.  And his prank calls are a lot less innocent – he calls in a bomb threat to a bowling alley and threatens another kid, saying that he’s the Phantom of Fear Street. Eventually, the three teens decide to stop with the prank phone calls after the bomb threat gets reported in the newspaper.  However, one night Chuck decides to make a random call to someone on Fear Street. Because he’s new in town, he doesn’t believe the crazy stories about Fear Street and is trying to prove that the people who live on Fear Street are just like everybody else. He call the first name he finds in the phone book with a Fear Street address, but his call is answered by a woman screaming that she needs help because someone is trying to kill her.  They hear a struggle and then a man’s voice telling them that it’s none of their business and that they got the wrong number. Instead of calling the police, they decide to go to the woman’s house. They see her stabbed and bleeding on the floor and get chased out of the house by a masked man. The woman dies, Chuck gets arrested for her death because his fingerprints are on the murder weapon (he picked it up in self-defense when the masked man tried to attack them), and Deena and Jade spend the rest of the book trying to prove his innocence and find the man behind the mask.

I gave The Wrong Number 3/5 stars on Goodreads.  It was a pretty entertaining book as all of the books in the Fear Street Series have been thus far.  Without fail, these books always suck me in and get me hooked. Unlike the others, though, I solved this mystery well before the ending of the book.  It was pretty clear to me who the man in the mask was, so when Deena and Jade have their “A-ha!” moment, I was like, “Oh, I thought we knew that already.”  The girls find out about halfway through the book, so Stine obviously didn’t intend for this to be the big mystery of the book. Once you find out who the man in the mask is, the story then becomes an old-fashioned sleuthing tale with Deena and Jade snooping around for evidence that the man in the mask is the real killer.  So there is no twist ending here. And that’s not a bad thing – all stories don’t need a twist. But it takes the wind out of my sails a bit when I’m a few steps ahead of the protagonists. Also, the way the three teens get involved with the woman’s murder made no sense to me. They didn’t want to call the police when they first called the woman because they would have had to explain how they made the phone call in the first place and they didn’t think the police would believe them.  Well, when they get to the woman’s house and see her on the floor, they then decide to call the police but get interrupted by the masked man. I just didn’t get this. Their reasons for not calling the police in the first place hadn’t changed, and they would have still had to explain how they randomly called the woman and ended up at her house. Maybe seeing her stabbed and bloody on the floor lit a fire under them, but she had said on the phone that someone was trying to kill her. And these kids were more worried about themselves than trying to help her.  So, yeah – definitely some shitty kids. But remembering how I was as a teenager, I probably would’ve done the same thing. It is an incredible and extended period of self-focus and self-preservation.

We again have some recurring characters.  Cory Brooks and Lisa Blume return for their fourth appearances, and Della O’Connor from The Overnight also pops up.  However, like I said in my last blog post, these recurrences continue to just be mere cameos rather than important plot points.  Here, Cory just happened to be at the bowling alley when Chuck called in his fake bomb threat, and he shows up at the end asking Deena if she really helped the police solve a murder.  Lisa is the assistant editor of the high school newspaper and wants a scoop from Deena about Chuck’s arrest and then later about how the three teens helped solve the murder. Della just pops up at the end and says, “Congratulations, Deena!”  So not relevant character recurrences at all. And really – the main common denominator in these stories so far is Fear Street, Cory Brooks, and Lisa Blume. Someone needs to investigate those kids.

Some interesting takeaways.  The Wrong Number was published in 1990, so a teenager getting their own house phone was a pretty big thing.  Case in point – when Jade sees Deena’s new phone, she says, “It’s pretty rad. It looks like the control panel for a jet plane or something.”  Deena even has to explain to Jade what all the buttons are for – programming numbers, putting someone on hold, using the speakerphone. I wish I could remember reading this book as a kid.  Did I read that exchange and think, “Man, can’t wait ‘til I get my own phone!” Or was I all cool kid and like, “Yeah, everyone knows what the buttons are for.” Who knows. But as an adult, I read it and thought that it was such a thing of the past.  That an exchange between two teenagers about the buttons on a brand new phone would probably be considered “retro.” And how I’m at the age when things from my childhood and even my teen years are considered “retro.” An example – a really good book I just read recently called One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus has a part where two teenage characters are watching a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon.  The show is described as their “latest obsession” but also as a “retro vampire show.”  That’s my favorite show of all time, so I was left feeling both extremely happy that the show is still so relevant in pop culture but also reminded that I’m getting old and that my childhood and teenhood loves are now retro.  So, yay? But anyway, I digress.

Another thing that might be considered retro – prank phone calls.  Do kids do these anymore in the age of cellphones where you can see who’s calling?  Growing up we had caller ID and *69, so prank phone calling was definitely not fail-proof.  Maybe prank phone calls are just too simple. There’s so much technology and social media hijinks for kids to get up to nowadays that a good, old-fashioned prank phone call would probably sound pretty lame.  But hey, they were simple and nobody got hurt. That’s right – I was a prank phone caller. But I only remember doing it once. I was going through a phonebook picking out random names, and I called this woman a few times and just hung up.  I was so tiny and smug (probably not that tiny), until she called back and demanded to know who kept calling her. I think she also threatened to report me. I quickly brainstormed like the tiny, smug genius I was and said that I had been watching my little sister and that she was making the calls but that she wouldn’t do it anymore.  Problem solved, and that was the last time I did that. Looks like I was a shitty kid too.

Ok, I’ve gone on long enough and hopefully you stuck around.  If you’re reading this, I guess you did. Thanks! Until next time…

Kia is a cohost of the Half Assed Horror Cast. Her favorite horror novel is Scott Smith’s ‘The Ruins,’ fave slasher is Freddy Krueger, and her favorite TV show of all time is ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ 

 

Sunday Trailers: The First Purge

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We like to spend our lazy Sundays catching up on trailers for upcoming horror films. This week brings us to the trailer of The First Purge, the fourth installment of the popular (and profitable) Purge franchise.

We at HAHC think The Purge series is a strong one, with great visuals, tense situations, and a thought provoking premise (even if the political commentary is a subtle as a jackhammer at times). This trailer looks especially strong, and we are encouraged by a new director bringing a fresh take on the material, and by the excellent cast, to include Insecure stand out Y’lan Noel.

We will definitely be spending our 4th of July watching this one.

Sunday Trailers: “The House with a Clock in Its Walls”

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Here at HAHC headquarters, we love spending our lazy Sundays watching new(ish) trailers to upcoming horror releases. However, the trailer we’re sharing today we discovered haphazardly before screening Ready Player One. It seems director Eli Roth (of Green Inferno infamy) is getting into the spooky family film game with The House with a Clock in Its Walls. We have to admit, the career shift threw us a bit.

From Universal Picture’s website:

In the tradition of Amblin classics where fantastical events occur in the most unexpected places, Jack Black and two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett star in The House with a Clock in Its Walls, from Amblin Entertainment. The magical adventure tells the spine-tingling tale of 10-year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his uncle in a creaky old house with a mysterious tick-tocking heart. But his new town’s sleepy façade jolts to life with a secret world of warlocks and witches when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead. Based on the beloved children’s classic written by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is directed by master frightener Eli Roth and written by Eric Kripke (creator of TV’s Supernatural). Co-starring Kyle MacLachlan, Colleen Camp, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Vanessa Anne Williams and Sunny Suljic, it is produced by Mythology Entertainment’s Brad Fischer (Shutter Island) and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), as well as Kripke.

Is this a good career move for Roth, or another mainstream stumble attempt like Deathwish? We will find out this September 21st…

Sunday Trailers: “Wildling”

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Here at HAHC headquarters, we love spending our lazy Sundays watching new(ish) trailers to upcoming horror releases. Normally, this leads to discovering films we are excited to see, or decide to take a hard pass on until further notice. However, in the case of the ad wizards that crafted the trailer IFC’s upcoming film Wildling, the trailer seems to all but have spoiled what looked like a very promising film. Boasting genre veterans like Liv Tyler and Brad Douriff, and what looks like a break out performance by newcomer Bel Powley, the acting and imagery of the trailer are compelling, only to be cut down by the closing moments seemingly giving away a major plot twist. Consider this a warning! Wet your beak with the first thirty seconds or so, then turn this sucker off to wait until the film’s release on April 13th.

HAHC Presents: Sunday Trailers

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Here at HAHC headquarters, we love spending our lazy Sundays watching new(ish) trailers to upcoming horror releases.

The inaugural trailer is for A24’s Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster and starring Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, and Milly Shapiro. We caught this one in the theater before Annihilation, and thought it looked pretty slick.

Via Sundance Institute’s website: “The Graham family starts to unravel following the death of their reclusive grandmother. Even after she’s gone, the matriarch still casts a dark shadow over the family, especially her loner teenage granddaughter, Charlie, whom she always had an unusual fascination with. As an overwhelming terror takes over their household, their peaceful existence is ripped apart, forcing their mother to explore a darker realm in order to escape the unfortunate fate they’ve inherited.”

Is this going to be another strong debut from a fresh horror filmmaker, or just a very clever trailer? We’re going to find out this June, for sure.

Back to Fear Street – Missing (Fear Street, #4)

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Back to Fear Street – Missing (Fear Street, #4)

Welcome back to Fear Street!  This month’s outing, Missing, was another good one with some interesting flaws.  Again, the premise was simple – our main characters, Cara and Mark Burroughs, are siblings whose parents go missing.  The last time the siblings see their parents is a Tuesday morning at breakfast. They think their parents are busy at work as computer programmers, so they have some friends over Tuesday night but get concerned when their parents don’t show up that night and are still missing the next morning.  The rest of the book deals with them trying to find their parents. Overall, I liked this story and gave it 3/5 on Goodreads, but like I said it has its flaws. So let’s start with the good.

I’m pretty sure this is the first book where the protagonists actually live on Fear Street.  The siblings are new to the area but are quickly made aware of all the weirdness surrounding Fear Street and the woods behind their neighborhood.  Them living on Fear Street doesn’t actually have anything to do with the story or the twist, but I’m sure future books will be different. It’s also the first book in the series that is solely written in first person, with the perspective switching back and forth between Cara and Mark.  I enjoyed this format because it made the story seem more personal – I got to know exactly what Cara and Mark were thinking and felt more a part of their world. I also like when authors tell a story from different perspectives because the reader really gets to be the fly on the wall.

Another thing I liked about this story is that we have some more recurring characters.  Cory and his best-friend-turned-girlfriend Lisa from The New Girl and The Surprise Party make an appearance, as does two of Cory’s friends from the first two books and a character from The Surprise Party.  However, while I like seeing old characters pop up, I’m noticing that not much is being done with them.  They’re kind of just there, making little cameos but not really affecting the story in any way. This is fine, but I’m hoping that there’ll be some old characters popping up that are crucial to the story – maybe a character that seemed harmless before but turns up as a villain or vice versa.

Finally, R.L. Stine stumped me again!  A little ways into the book I was pretty sure I had a good idea what was going on and what the twist would be, but I was totally wrong.  Not even close. It’s time I accept my limitations.

Now to those interesting flaws I mentioned.  Cara describes her brother Mark as a serious no-nonsense type of guy that makes friends easily and that everyone likes.  But my initial reaction to Mark was “Wow, what an asshole!” One example – while the siblings are still questioning where their parents are that first night, Cara gets a bit upset, as could be expected.  And Mark says, “I got Cara calmed down in my usual way. I yelled at her and told her to shut up.” Like, who thinks something like that? A crazy person with anger management problems that’s who. Another example – when the siblings discover that their parents’ car is still in the garage and Cara suggests that they drive to their parents’ job, Mark kicks a rear tire and slams his fist on the trunk because he can’t decide between looking for his missing parents or going to school so he can take a math test and see his girlfriend.  WHAT?!? So now he comes off like a crazy person with anger management issues and a complete idiot. Maybe I’m being a bit nitpicky, but these are our early introductions to Mark, and it just doesn’t paint him in the best light. I’m not exactly sure why he was written this way as we learn pretty quickly that Mark is not a villain and that he’s not involved in his parents’ disappearance. It just struck me as an odd choice. Thankfully, Mark’s character improves as the book goes on, which makes it all the more strange as to why he was depicted in such a negative light in the first place.

Another big flaw that stuck out to me while reading Missing is a character being written in such a way that it was more than obvious that he was an antagonist.  Although to the author’s credit, this character had a twist of their own that I didn’t anticipate.

Now to some minor flaws that were more like personal annoyances and probably make me sound more like Mark than I’d like.  When interacting with a character for the first time, Cara thinks, “I guess he was handsome. But with his white-blond hair, pale skin, and sparkling white teeth, he was practically an albino!”  Geez, if I was an albino kid reading this I’d be pretty offended. Another minor flaw – Mark and Cara visit a coworker of their parents and instead of telling him straight out that their parents are missing, they act like it’s a big secret and instead just ask the coworker if he has their parents’ work number.  Given the severity of the situation, I just didn’t understand why they felt the need to be so secretive. Finally, I’m no expert on sentence structure or grammar, but there was a sentence that I had to read more than once because I was surprised that it made it into the book. While thinking about his girlfriend, Mark says to himself, “I kept hearing her voice again and again, hearing her words again as she told me we couldn’t see each other again.”  I added the word in bold for emphasis.  I know I’m being overly critical and the book was written for teens, but I think using “again” four times in a sentence just sounded really awkward.  I came across a website, 17 Fantastic Examples of Repetition in Literature, which differentiates between unintentional repetition which sounds awkward and sloppy and intentional repetition us a purposeful literary device and gives examples of the latter.  I think the sentence in Missing is an example of unintentional repetition as it indeed sounds pretty awkward and sloppy.

So, I covered the good and the bad and now on to the funny – or at least funny to me.  At the start of the story while Cara and Mark are having their little party, mention is made of a CD player being “really cranked up.”  This probably isn’t very funny to you, but it’s funny to me because I had no idea that in 1990, when this book was written, CD players were mainstream enough to be mentioned in a teen horror novel.  A brief Google search showed that the first CD audio players were marketed in 1982 and sold for a whopping $900 and that portable CD players were introduced in the mid-1980s but didn’t become popular until the 1990s.  This was news to me because I was born in 1982 but don’t think I became aware of CD players until the 1990s. And I didn’t think they would catch on (silly me), so I kept buying tapes until the 11th grade when my first CD purchases were TLC’s FanMail album (with “No Scrubs”) and Eminem’s mainstream debut The Slim Shady LP.  I was a bit late, but hey, better late than never right?  And you’re welcome for that brief (hopefully correct) history of the CD player.

I’m almost done – I swear.  My finale involves cereal and Coke, two things that I didn’t think went together and I’m pretty sure I’m right.  So, when our siblings’ parents are still gone Wednesday morning, the kids look around for something to eat for breakfast and find a box of cornflakes but no milk.  They apparently don’t waste time deciding to just pour a bottle of Coke on the cereal instead, and they conclude that “actually, it didn’t taste that bad.” I find that extremely hard to believe.  Just thinking about it makes me nauseous and transports me back in time to my own cereal horror story. My story didn’t involve cornflakes but Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, and it took place while I was at my dad’s house for the weekend and when electric juicers were super popular.  Like Cara and Mark, I too had cereal but no milk. So my dad, who was really into juicing, thought a good substitute would be juiced apples…over Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. It was the stuff of nightmares – like a Double Dare stunt or an inspiration for Fear Factor. I’m dry heaving just thinking about it.  So yeah, I don’t believe that Coke and cornflakes actually didn’t taste that bad.

Ok, I know I spent most of this blog post talking about the negatives, but after all of my criticisms, I still enjoyed Missing enough to give it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.  The story was good, entertaining, and kept me guessing, so even though the flaws started to add up, I think they were outweighed by the positives.  Until next time…

Kia is a cohost of the Half Assed Horror Cast. Her favorite horror novel is Scott Smith’s ‘The Ruins,’ fave slasher is Freddy Krueger, and her favorite TV show of all time is ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ 

Back to Fear Street – The Overnight (Fear Street, #3)

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Back to Fear Street – The Overnight (Fear Street, #3)

It’s that time again – time to go Back to Fear Street!  I must confess that I was a bit nervous about this third trip.  My memories of Fear Street have been pretty rose-colored, and after reading the first two entries in the series and being somewhat underwhelmed, I was concerned that my return to the series would not live up to my own hype.  But I’m happy to report that the The Overnight was a great ride!  The premise is simple – six members of the Outdoors Club at Shadyside High decide to take an overnight trip to Fear Island, a small, uninhabited island in the middle of a lake in Shadyside, Ohio that, much like Fear Street, is shrouded in mystery and has its own creepy rumors, including rumors of ghosts and mutated animals.  However, the club’s trip gets sabotaged when one of the students, our main character Della O’Connor, has a run-in with a stranger.  I enjoyed my third outing more than the first two, so I gave The Overnight 4/5 stars on Goodreads.  It was sitting at 5/5 stars, but there were some things that I wasn’t a fan of, including a deus ex machina-type of situation to explain away a significant plot point, internal thoughts of characters that were at times inconsistent, and an ending that was a bit too convenient.  However, the good far outweighed the bad.

There were a lot of things I liked about The Overnight.  Before even getting to the actual story, I have to point out that I have an original copy from 1989, so there were no unnecessary updates like in The New Girl and a couple of great references that surely made more sense to a reader in 1989 than a reader today.  During a car chase scene, one of the characters does a maneuver and says, “‘That’s an old Kojak trick!’”  Considering that Kojak was a TV series that ran in the 1970s, it makes sense that it was referenced in a 1989 young adult book.  Maybe in the updated version of The Overnight, the character does the cool driving maneuver and says, “That’s an old Vin Diesel trick!”  The other great reference is from a conversation our main character, Della, has with her mother.  Before going on the trip, Della’s mother says, “‘If anything bad happens, you’ll call me right away, right?’”  Della responds, “‘Call you?  On what?  I’ll tell you what – I’ll send up a smoke signal, okay?’”  I loved this interaction!  It’s easy to forget in 2018 how people were once so disconnected, so Della’s response really reminds the reader just how isolated the Outdoors Club will be.

Turning to the story, The Overnight was really easy to get into.  It follows a similar pattern as the first two books – a character does something or gets involved with someone and starts getting threatening messages.  However, what stood out to me with The Overnight was that it’s well-paced.  It covers a small period of time – about two weeks – and unlike The New Girl, the characters in The Overnight don’t make silly decisions to move the story along.  Rather, their decisions seem to make sense for the story and are not merely devices to push the story forward.  I also found the characters in The Overnight to be less stilted than in the previous two books.  They each had different personalities and spoke in a way that seemed natural for teenagers, and I really enjoyed the banter between the characters.  We also get another return character.  We had some return characters in The Surprise Party, and a character briefly mentioned in that book, Suki Thomas, gets a bigger role in The Overnight as a member of the Outdoors Club.  As I mentioned in my last Back to Fear Street post, the recurring characters really give the Fear Street series an insular feel, so I was happy to see that continue in the third outing.

The Overnight also has a genuinely creepy first encounter between Della, our main character, and the stranger in the woods.  It was an initially innocent dialogue but with something sinister underneath.  It was like if you met Max Cady, the villain from Cape Fear (the 1991 version with Robert De Niro as Cady), while out in the park.  The two of you would probably have a perfectly normal conversation, but it would definitely get very weird, very fast.  If you’ve seen the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.  If not, you should really stop reading this and check it out – it’s a good movie!  This initial encounter really stuck out to me because I don’t remember such an intense scene being in either of the first two books.  It was a fun (and pleasantly uncomfortable) scene to read!

One last thought – like the first two Fear Street books, The Overnight does a good job with appearing deceptively simple.  I go into them thinking, “Well, this guy is obviously the bad guy,” and I’ve been wrong every time, or at least not 100% right.  The books stumped me as a kid, and they’re still stumping me now.  I honestly wasn’t expecting that.  I assumed since I’m older and my literary choices have grown in “level of difficulty,” I would be able to spot the twists a mile away.  But maybe the Fear Street series actually does hold up after all these years, and maybe R.L. Stine can construct a thoroughly entertaining whodunit that can appeal to all ages.

I still have a long way to go, but I’m hopeful that the kinks were worked out in the first two books and the series will come into its own with The Overnight.  We shall see on my next trip Back to Fear Street!

Kia is a cohost of the Half Assed Horror Cast. Her favorite horror novel is Scott Smith’s ‘The Ruins,’ fave slasher is Freddy Krueger, and her favorite TV show of all time is ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ 

 

Back to Fear Street #1, The New Girl and #2, The Surprise Party

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Back to Fear Street – #1, The New Girl and #2, The Surprise Party

It’s a new year, and I have a new resolution.  My resolution doesn’t involve improving my health and physical well-being or becoming a better, nicer person.  No, my resolution is something I think I can actually pull off – reading at least two Fear Street books a month, in order, and blogging about them!  Fear Street is a teenage horror series written by R.L. Stine that started in 1989 and continues to this day.  In fact, a new installment in the series, Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill the Bride, will be out in August 2018.  You might also recognize Stine’s name from his other series, particularly Goosebumps and Mostly Ghostly.  The Fear Street series targeted an older audience and basically dealt with strange, mysterious, and often terrifying happenings that occurred in the fictional city of Shadyside, Ohio, which involved teenagers who lived either on or around Fear Street.  I used to read Fear Street books all the time in the early 90’s and haven’t read any of them in probably over twenty years.  So I was interested in re-exploring them for nostalgia’s sake but also interested in seeing how they hold up when read through the eyes of a soon-to-be 36-year-old.  I’m not planning on giving away any spoilers but just giving my opinion on whether the books hold up. I can do this!  So let’s go!

The New Girl (Fear Street, #1)  – The first book in the Fear Street series is The New Girl.  It’s about a teenage boy, Cory Brooks, who falls for a mysterious new girl at his school.  The girl lives on Fear Street (yes, there’s an actual Fear Street named after a family who changed their name from Fier to Fear), and the story follows Cory’s adventures in trying to figure out who she is all while receiving threatening messages telling him to stay away from her.  On Goodreads, I gave this book 2/5 stars, and here’s why.  The premise was interesting enough, and it’s been so long since I’ve read this book that I had forgotten the twist ending.  However, the book is only 168 pages, which leaves little room for real character development, especially when there are so many other characters involved. This is something I didn’t notice when reading Fear Street as a kid – that the books are so short.  Most seem to be less than 180 pages.  So lack of character development may be an ongoing issue as I go through this series again.  Another issue with the book being so short is that it moves very swiftly to the conclusion, which means that characters, particularly our main character, have to make decisions that seem a bit ridiculous.  For example, on more than one occasion Cory goes to Fear Street in the middle of the night because he gets a call from this mysterious new girl who he doesn’t even really know.  Now, I know he’s a teenager and therefore prone to make stupid decisions, so maybe this is less a flaw of the book and more of me reading through the eyes of a somewhat mature adult.

My biggest issue, however, with The New Girl actually has to do with some very unnecessary updates.  The edition of the book I read is from 2006, and for some reason someone decided that updates needed to be made for newer, younger readers.  For example, in one scene Cory is listening to an iPod, whereas in the original he was listening to a Walkman.  Some other examples include Cory’s best friend renting The Lord of the Rings (which I assumed was a reference to the Peter Jackson movie) and a school dance playing songs by Missy Elliot and Kanye West.  I don’t remember the songs originally included in the book, but a look at Billboard’s Top 100 Hot Songs of 1989 included “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson,  “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown, “Miss You Much” by Janet Jackson, and “Bust a Move” by Young MC, so yeah I’ll take those please!  These updates took me out of the story because they were unnecessary.  People read books all the time that were written years before they were born and include references that they might not understand.  Plus, updating is a slippery slope.  The book includes Missy Elliot, Kanye West and iPods but makes no mention of cell phones.  Also, our main characters have to make a special trip to the library just to use the computer, which I’m pretty sure was a less common activity in 2006 than it was in 1989 when the book was originally written.  Now that I’m aware of these updates, I’ll try to stick to the original versions.

Overall, The New Girl was a decent first outing, and it kept my interest enough to make me want to continue my return to Fear Street and kept me on my toes as to the twist ending.  Plus, the mere fact that I was rereading a book from one of my favorite childhood series really made this an enjoyable read despite some of its issues.  So on to the next…

The Surprise Party (Fear Street, #2) – This book was also written in 1989, and the copy I have is an original, so no weird updates to report.  The premise is that our main character, Meg Dalton, decides to throw a surprise party for an old friend who’s coming back to town.  This friend was also the girlfriend of a guy who accidentally shot himself in the woods…or did he?  Meg gets threatening messages telling her to call off the party (I’m thinking threatening messages might be a common occurrence in the Fear Street series), but instead of giving in she becomes more determined than ever to throw the party.  I liked The Surprise Party a bit more than The New Girl, so I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.  I thought it had a much better twist ending that I didn’t see coming at all, and unlike The New Girl, parts of the story were told from one of the antagonist’s perspective, which I thought added an extra layer of mystery.  There were more characters in The Surprise Party than The New Girl, and many of the characters had their own secrets that get revealed at the end.  Another plus with this book is that our main character from The New Girl, Cory Brooks, and his best friend make a few appearances.  Because this series centers around a particular street in a particular town, it would make sense for there to be some recurring characters.  This gives the series a more insular feel and makes me feel like I’m not just picking up another Fear Street book but actually going back to Fear Street to see what the kids have gotten into this time.  I somehow missed this when I read these books as a kid (probably because I read them out of order and also had to keep up with The Baby-Sitters Club and the Sweet Valley High crew), so I’ll make sure to keep a lookout for it in future books.  Overall, The Surprise Party was a much more compelling story with way more plot twists than The New Girl, so a much better outing the second time around.

So far, my return to Fear Street is off to an exciting start, and the high nostalgia factor has been worth it alone.  Seeing old covers online of the Fear Street books I had as a child is nice but when I finally get an actual copy, and better yet an original copy, it’s a pretty cool experience.  I thought I had left Fear Street behind over twenty years ago, so it’s nice to know I can always go back.  My trip down memory lane will continue next month!  Until then…

Kia is a cohost of the Half Assed Horror Cast. Her favorite horror novel is Scott Smith’s ‘The Ruins,’ fave slasher is Freddy Krueger, and her favorite TV show of all time is ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ 

 

5 Unknown Short Films That You Should Definitely Know

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By Adam Troutt

Short films have always been a relatively unknown medium in the world of film due to there being very little means for commercial success and even fewer outlets to put them on display.  Other than the occasional short that would accompany a feature film back in the 70’s and 80’s, shorts were mainly featured in film festivals or used as a calling card for industry bigwigs to see what chops a filmmaker may have, or if a particular story could work visually in a feature length capacity (think Sam Raimi’s “Within the Woods“).  The only other means to see them were from word of mouth from a friend of a friend who had a muddy, grainy 5th generation VHS of “this short film that you have to see”.  Then sites like YouTube came along and made it possible for filmmakers to express their passions and hone their work.  All the while building an audience and establishing notoriety within the business, or at the very least the indie scene.  With that potential for a short film to go viral, the world has discovered such gems like David F. Sandberg’s “Lights Out“, “Kung Fury”, and Fede Alvarez’s “Panic Attack.”

While those films broke through the popular culture and helped to establish a few filmmaking careers, there is an almost endless supply of short films out there that are fantastic and beg to be taking in by as many ravenous eyes as possible.  I would like to introduce you to a few of these shorts.  In all of the shorts I have seen, I compiled a small list of ones that still instantly come to mind, that have repeat value for me.  5 short films to be specific.  5 Unknown short films that you should definitely know.

1) “Night of the Slasher” – NOTS starts out as a paint by numbers slash and kill flick with the proverbial “slut” stereotype stripping off her restricting, uncomfortable blue jeans down to her panties as she dances to a song resurrected from the vinyl ashes of 1985.  From the moment the doorbell echoes throughout the house NOTS shifts into a master class of how to turn slasher cliches on their head, as the killers’ fodder 180s into our final girl, embodying Nancy Thompson in her determination to not be another victim.  Shot in what appears to be one long take, we follow our heroine as she fights against an unkillable villain using the tropes of the hack and slash subgenre to try and get the upper hand and stand victorious.  What NOTS does so well is plays out a story using the structure of slasher films in a way that is reminiscent of Scream.  NOTS is as much a slasher flick as it’s a meta parody on the cliches of the subgenre.  At only 11 minutes, it’s such a fun, smart commentary on the subgenre, it leaves you wishing that it was just a bit longer and has you reaching to hit the play button once more.

2) “Still Life” – This one is a more subtle and haunting exercise in horror from Trevor Matthews and Jon Knautz, the same masterminds behind The Shrine, Girl House, and the cult creature feature in the making Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer.  Before Trevor Matthews donned his maintenance belt as Jack Brooks, he embodied Nathan Evans, a young man traveling down back roads and running on fumes (both in regards to his vehicle and his physical and mental capacity to continue pushing along to his destination).  The pills start popping as his sunken, bloodshot eyes start getting a bit to heavy.  It’s at this moment he arrives in a small town that at first glance appears to be vacant, that is until the mannequin appears in the road.  Nathan finds out quickly that something isn’t right in this town, and he better act fast if he wants to get away from there safely.  “Still Life” is a creepy and unnerving horror short that evokes something right out of The Twilight Zone.  It’s drenched in atmosphere and mounting in dread with an ending that warrants an intro by Rod Serling.  Watch with the lights off.

3) “Le Bagman: Profession: Meurtrier” – Before RKSS sent Apple roaming across a dilapidated, apocalyptic 1997 to fight injustice with the kid of all kids, Turbo Kid.  A much different battle was fought, albeit with the same gleeful lust for bloodshed.  This sweeping epic battle was executed in 2004 in the short film titled “Le Bagman.”  Le Bagman’s story is structured in the basic form of a slasher film.  A girl wakes up in the hospital disoriented and confused as to where she is and why she’s there.  A detective in the room wastes no time in waxing poetically about coffee before turning inquisitive and lobbing questions to our heroine about what exactly happened that has her propped up in this fluorescent infused, sterile room.  It doesn’t take long for the flood gates to part and the horrific mind melt to start of the past few days events.

Our protagonist quickly regales us with the legend of a murderous maniac that stalks the woods methodically, and that dismembers, maims, and relocates the insides of anyone unsuspecting enough to venture into his vicinity.  A local boogeyman that dons a bag over his head and sends a quiver down the spine of neighboring kids that have them high-tailing away from the woods.  Flashback quickly ensues and we’re brought along for the ride to see how she manages to get away, with the unlikely help of a group of outlandish wannabe gangsta thugs, after Le Bagman has disposed of her friends.

“Le Bagman” is a slasher through and through, but with an over the top bent that can only be likened to a mix of Troma, 90s shot on video horror, and The Three Stooges.  Basically Evil Dead 2 except less demonic possession, even lesser budget, and no sign of Bruce Campbell.  “Le Bagman” is an absolute gore filled good time that I can’t recommend more to fans of cheesy splatter movies.

4) “Peekers” – This short definitely starts out unassuming as pleasant music plays to the image of a man making a hearty morning breakfast starting his day before things take a creepy, unsettling turn.

Larry awoke with the sunny disposition that today would be a lovely pleasant day spent enjoying the sunshine and the fact that the day was like the humdrum of any other day.  He plants himself in front of a scrumptious breakfast and the morning T.V. news, hellbent on minding his own business, when his elderly neighbor, Zach, comes knocking on Larry’s door and knocking down this saccharine scene like an obnoxious Kool-Aid man barreling through your living room wall just minutes before your parents come home, leaving you to try and talk your way out of being grounded for a whole year.  Begrudgingly Larry answers the door to find Zach requesting his presence at Zach’s humble abode across the street.  Larry tries to talk his way out of it, but Zach remains persistent and decidedly vague.  Reluctantly, he finally agrees and they trek across the street and into Zach’s predicament.

Once the two walk through the doorway, Zach starts relaying to Larry what is going on with him this morning, and why his wife being at the top of their staircase is not just a normal everyday thing.  This is where the tale takes an unsettling turn, one that I don’t want to get too descriptive with as the less you know about this one the better.  I will let on to the reader that any elderly person acting menacingly, disturbing, or just plain off absolutely petrifies me.  Take a peek (pun!) at Peekers and let your Gerontophobia take it’s icy, wrinkly skinned grasp around your spine and chill you to the bone.

5) “Fists of Jesus” – I want to thank you for traveling with me on this adventure through a roller coaster of emotions, and I can’t think of a better parting gift than “Fists of Jesus.”  The story is a simple one, and one you may have heard before, but you haven’t quite heard it like this.  A young carpenter has recently discovered his gift of being the son of God and his ability to bring the dead back to life.  So, along with his ride or die chum, Judas, he travels from land to land preaching his story.  We catch up with Mr. Christ as he wanders upon a family grieving over the dead body of a loved one.  Jesus being comfortable and confident in his new powers cracks his fingers, shoos the family to the side, and breaks out the big guns in order to stymie the families pain.  There is but one issue:  Jesus hasn’t exactly honed his biblical powers just yet.  The ritual is successful but with the added side effect that the resurrected corpse has an unquenchable taste for flesh.  As the reanimated corpse begins devouring his family, Jesus and Judas take off running from the visceral scene.  They don’t make it far before the entire village is taken over by the zombie plague.  Jesus finds himself with no other choice but to fight off the growing horde of zombie Phariseans, Romans, and cowboys using his wits, and a miraculously endless supply of fish.

“Fists of Jesus” shares a lot in common with “Le Bagman” in that it’s filled to the grotesque brim with over the top violence, and marinated in an abundance of cheesy, gross out grue.  You can definitely see the influence and homage of Peter Jackson’s early works spilled out in gleeful, hilarious fashion across the screen.  If you’re not religious, or at the very least, not easily offended then laugh out loud with the outlandishly gory, “Fists of Jesus.”

Adam Troutt is an obsessive horror cinephile. He aspires to one day be a filmmaker, but in the meantime he devours more horror films than is healthy for human consumption.