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New Book Announcement. Release TBA.

I am pleased to announce that I am currently working on a new story, entitled: “Why I Always Screamed, But Nobody Heard“. Its release will be sometime this year (2024). Here is the cover. Please note the synopsis for an idea of the plot. Science fiction is a MAJOR part of this story.

Let’s see what I can do. Space presses in from outside The Dianthus, seeking entry, seeking to overwhelm her occupants at any cost. But space isn’t the embodiment of evil here; the evil resides within Baxter himself. Will the others stand in his way? Can they complete the mission before falling apart and being crushed by claustrophobia and utter loneliness, floating out there in the Void?

I am really looking forward to finishing this one! 🙂

Instagram: @eirinns_horrors

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eirinncunningham

Have A Good Day!

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New Book Release on Kindle KDP!

I am pleased to announce, as of July 13, the publication of my very first book on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The book is called The Hunt: There’s Something Waiting in the Dark, and is about a group of hunters in the woods of the Upper Peninsula (in Michigan) who encounter something strange. The Hunt is book 1 of 2 planned so far.

Here is a synopsis: Drew Peters heads into the woods of the Upper Peninsula to hunt, like he does every November. Nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened. The other guys agree that hunting itself was the most exciting aspect. That, and getting away from their wives or kids for a little while. Eating some venison was proof that all that travel and patience behind their guns had truly paid off.

But this time, something is different. Maybe it’s the way the shadows fall in the forest surrounding their camp, or the smell just barely noticeable on the wind. A smell like garbage and something rotting mixed together. What about the footprints that are found near the camp? What about talk among the hunters of a giant hairy beast known as Sasquatch?

There’s something off this time around. Something wrong. Is something hidden in the dark, waiting for Drew and his friends? Something hairy wants inside their camp, and it just may prove too powerful to resist.

Please follow this link to Amazon to buy my book! I may release a hardcover at some point, or just save that for the next book. https://amzn.to/3vjOt4c

Book II in the Coral Pond Series will be called The Sasquatch Truth, and will cover the true origins of the “something” from the first book. Please feel free to leave me a review on Amazon!

Check out my Author Page and give me a follow! https://amzn.to/3Bqhcbh

About the Author: Eirinn Cunningham has studied liberal arts, art history, and psychology. He lives in the Upper Peninsula, where he continues writing, surrounded by far too many books. He has many more stories to tell! Be sure to connect with Eirinn on his horror-themed Instagram, @eirinns_horrors — or on his website: https://www.eirinncunningham.com

Happy Reading, and have a good day ! 🙂 🙂

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Behind Her Eyes (2017) by Sarah Pinborough: Book Review

Behind Her Eyes (2017) by Sarah Pinborough is a consummate little psychological thriller with twists and turns aplenty. We meet Louise, a divorcee with a young son named Adam. Louise’s ex, Ian, seems to have moved on—while Louise herself hasn’t dated much and is disillusioned with the male species. She focuses a bit too much on “the new wife” Ian has right quickly chosen for himself; Louise compares herself to Lisa, albeit unfairly. It’s plain as day that Louise misses Ian, and also misses what kind of a family she imagined they might have been together. She has custody of Adam, but an upcoming trip to France looms large, and Ian tells Adam about it before seeking permission from Louise. She thinks it would have been less confusing for Adam if she and Ian were still together.

Louise begins a job as a part time secretary at a psychiatry office, for a boss she has not yet had the pleasure of meeting. She’s horrified to discover that her boss is none other than David, the man she just got drunk with out at the bar recently (her first date out since Ian??), and subsequently made out with. 

It turns out Dr David is very married. Louise ogles the photos of his wife on his desk. He walks in at that exact moment, says: “What are you doing here?” in shock. She explains that she’s his new secretary. She offers the advice (she thinks it’s well deserved) that they both forget about the kiss and just move on afresh. David agrees.

We then meet Adele, who is David’s wife. She’s smashingly beautiful, model-like even. She has everything she needs. A successful husband. Lots of money. A new home they can expand into together. And yet, cracks start to appear. He drinks rather heavily, and has affairs which she claims to be privy to, but knows she cannot be without David, no matter what his behavior. Adele’s terribly lonely and doesn’t have a ton of friends. She cooks and cleans to please David, but despite her best efforts, he doesn’t really seem to notice her. 

Next, Adele meets Louise, one day by happenstance when they run into each other in the middle of town. Louise knows she cannot become friends with her new boss’s wife, and yet they go for coffee and exchange phone numbers. She figures she’ll never hear from Adele again.

Adele may not be so perfectly beautiful as Louise imagines her to be at first. Someone with a past as mysteriously shrouded as hers—someone as manipulative, as terribly secretive—could mean poor Louise is falling into a trap, spun by the conniving spider that is Adele.

We see the perspectives of Louise, Adele/David in present tense (the main timeline), and then Adele/Rob (and in one or two scenes, David too) in past tense—or as a flashback to the days when Adele was staying in a facility called Westlands. We learn that she had a traumatic event around age 17 in which the home she shared with her parents caught on fire. David happened to be “in the area,” and was somehow able to save Adele, with the scars to prove it. Adele’s parents, however, weren’t so lucky. It turns out Adele’s parents were worth A LOT of money. Adele herself now controls that fortune. Or does she? 

While David was away training to be a doctor, he placed Adele in Westlands to rehabilitate her from both her nightmares/sleep problems, but also the obvious trauma from losing her parents.

It was during Adele’s stay at Westlands where she met Rob, a scrawny, lanky boy her age addicted to drugs, and generally emotionally flat with people. But not with Adele, though. Rob likes her. It turns out Adele struggled with graphic nightmares which prevented her from sleeping well. Rob had nightmares then, too, but Adele had a solution: Lucid dreaming. She showed Rob how to do it (Adele learned from a lucid dreaming book David had given her years ago), and it’s over this: their shared experience, but also over their subsequent mastery over their dreams, that Adele and Rob became friends. It’s also at Westlands that Rob starts writing in a notebook about his lucid dreaming experience, but also quite a lot about Adele/David, too.

In the present, Adele realizes that Louise also struggles with night terrors, nightmares and occasionally sleepwalking. As a friendly gesture, Adele gives Louise Rob’s old notebook. Why does she have it? How was it not destroyed in the fire? What happened to Rob? How is David involved in all of this?

Not to mention, of course, the main timeline that details Adele and David’s broken marriage. How Adele is practically a prisoner in her own home. How David gives her an allowance, and a cheap flip phone. How he illegally prescribes her medication to do…what? Help her anxiety? Relax her? Tranquilize her? How David and Louise…keep seeing each other, and how Louise doesn’t tell Adele about sleeping with her husband behind her back. Louise also neglects to tell David that she even knows Adele, in the first place. 

So, to say this is all a huge love triangle would be an understatement. I was thoroughly annoyed with Louise and some of her naïve decisions. Adele is really more of a snake in the grass; you never know when she’s going to strike, or where. Does David drink because he hates his marriage, or is it for some other reason? Also, Louise can put away some wine—oh yes, she can! So many unanswered questions. Will Louise be smart enough to figure them all out? Or is she too dumb to save herself? 

I have to say it now: this book is super well written, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Pinborough knows how to craft a story well, and she keeps you on your toes, The. Entire. Time. This is the best book I have read in a long time. I think you’ll like it, too! I am now in the process of reading all the rest of Pinborough’s work, past and present. Next up: Breeding Ground, a creature feature with serious gross-out elements.

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Monster Blood (1992) by R.L. Stine: (Goosebumps, # 3) Book Review

Monster Blood is by far one of my favorite Goosebumps titles. This is mostly due to the fact that the TV series, based in Canada, did a two-part special on it, which I cannot help but remember fondly. The show does deviate from the original book a little bit, and the second episode, More Monster Blood, was created purely for the young audience, rather than drawing from any of the books. R.L. subsequently wrote a total of four Monster Blood titles, but the first one is my favorite. Monster Blood II is pretty great, too. Shockingly, I have never read Monster Blood IV (nor did I own it during my childhood), and being the final book in the original Goosebumps run (book #62), it fetches a pretty penny at around $50. There is a trend where the latter books in the series seem to be rather expensive. At any rate, on to the review!

Plot: Evan Ross is dropped off by his mom at his great-aunt Kathryn’s house while mom attends to a sick relative in Atlanta. Evan wants more than anything to go with his mother, and not be forced to stay with a family member he hasn’t seen in 10 years. Plus, great-aunt Kathryn is completely deaf! Evan’s cocker spaniel, Trigger, accompanies him. Kathryn comes to the door holding a bloody butcher’s knife, giving Evan and his mother quite the fright!

Overall, Evan doesn’t get along with his great-aunt; and he has to spend (potentially) weeks with the crazy old bat! She keeps asking him if he has a girlfriend. Her hulking appearance and ash-white skin contrasts sharply with her shock of black hair, despite her age. Mom tells Evan to just try getting along with Aunt Kathryn, for her. She quickly leaves, without Evan and his dog. Needless to say, Evan isn’t enamored with the numerous books his aunt has stashed in the study he’s staying in. Old books, leatherbound tomes, that look like they haven’t been read in a hundred years. Bor-ring.

Evan meets Andy while he is exploring the town. Andy is snarky and sarcastic, but Evan quickly takes a liking to her. Evan and Andy decide to go to the old toy store, even when there’s a newer one in town. Andy says she likes the older one better. They find the mysterious can of Monster Blood in a dusty back room. The store owner eventually, although with copious amounts of chagrin, sells Evan the can for only $2.

Andy and Evan rush back to Kathryn’s to check out the Monster Blood. It glows in the dark. It bounces. It stretches. It looks like some kind of radioactive Jell-O. It’s just too strange! They decide to play catch with globs of it, and go in the backyard to keep the dog company, who has been removed from the house by Kathryn. She’s set up a dog run there. Trigger seems to be interested in the Monster Blood, too. He likes it so much, he licks it. Then, he even eats some! Evan is horrified. What if Monster Blood is poison? What will happen to him?

It turns out Mom may have to stay in Atlanta longer than she anticipated. Evan is distraught at the thought of having to stay at Kathryn’s even longer. Evan walks over to Andy’s house one day; along the way, he meets a pair of brothers (the Beymer twins) who, it turns out, aren’t very nice. They threaten Evan, telling him he must pay a toll to walk along “their” block. Andy comes by on her bike, and tells him the twins act big and tough, are imposing physically, and they push around all the kids in the neighborhood.

Evan returns home to find Trigger, choking to death on something. Or is he? Alarmed, he sees that Trigger’s collar is too tight. He removes it, Trigger licking his face appreciatively. What could possibly be happening here?

Evan sees great-aunt Kathryn is wearing some kind of a bone around her neck. Odd, he thinks. And what about Kathryn’s strange black cat, Sarabeth? Why does she have those creepy, yellow almond shaped eyes, that seem to be staring right through you?

Evan takes Trigger to the vet after he realizes the cocker spaniel is growing in size since eating the hunk of a disgusting substance. The vet gives Trigger a clean bill of health, saying he is just experiencing a late-stage growth spurt. While this seems unbelievable, this is after all a Goosebumps book. Evan is, at least, temporarily relieved at the report on his dog.

Something odd is happening to the Monster Blood. It seems to be growing and swelling in size. Pretty soon it has outgrown its can. Andy and Evan must find a new home for it. And he has his friend take some home with her. They are horrified when the green goo multiplies into even more Monster Blood. Evan takes quite a while to associate Trigger’s growth spurt directly to the Monster Blood. But it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Of course, great-aunt Kathryn is no help with his Monster Blood problem. She either treats everything like a big joke, or she completely ignores Evan. One night, Evan has a freaky nightmare that Trigger is suddenly even more monstrous in size! A dream in which Trigger chases the Beymer twins down the street as they flee for their lives. In the dream, Evan himself has even grown to a ridiculous size! Evan and Andy are forced to move the Monster Blood all kinds of weird places, like a bathtub. He even takes a swim in the gunk! Then a garbage can with a lid, followed by two giant garbage bags. What could possibly happen next?

Well, actually, quite a lot. But…as it happens, I don’t want to give away the climax of the book. I will mention great-aunt Kathryn has more to do with the Monster Blood than Evan and Andy realize. There’s much more to Sarabeth than meets the eye. The Monster Blood even swallows a robin, whole. And what will happen to Trigger, now that he’s humongous? Oh, the humanity!

Final Thoughts: In Monster Blood, Stine uses a lot of great words to describe a horrifying premise: a boy and his friend purchase a toy, something that’s supposed to be fun and pass the time, which turns into a living nightmare. How do Evan and Andy get out of their predicament? Will they be able to return the Jell-O-like stuff to the old, dusty toy store? Will the Monster Blood outgrow all of the containers they try to put it inside? Perhaps. Escaping it won’t be easy. I think the Monster Blood wants to eat you, for dinner!

Rating: A. This book is great fun, with some wicked imagery. You cannot ask R.L. for much more fun than this. As an adult reader, I quite possibly enjoyed Monster Blood even more than I did as a kid! It’s no wonder Stine decided to write four books in total on this fascinating…blood, er…stuff. Substance. Whatever it is, it’s hideous and dangerous for all the wrong reasons. When it comes to Monster Blood, just what will Stine think of next?

Have A Good Day!

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Horror FAQ’s: 5 Things You Should Know as a Horror Fan!

What do you think of when you hear the word “Horror”? Is it some phantasmic image, a ghost from a frozen graveyard? A monster living in your son’s bedroom closet? Maybe the horror is a murderous wife, implicated in four unsolved homicides involving her late husbands. Horror could be a person. It could be a monster. When I think about horror, honestly my first thought is horror movies, because I love them so much.

Horror movies can actually be quite cathartic. We sit at home, usually, in front of our TVs or laptops, streaming away. You are safe. You cannot be harmed. You turn on The Blair Witch Project, or maybe The Exorcist, and you prepare to be scared out of your wits. By being scared, we activate that fight or flight response. If you see a big spider near your arm, the same thing happens. Will you fight, or run away? In my case, I would run, because spiders are terrifying. Anyway, when we watch horror movies, we engage that scared feeling every time the music stops or builds to a crescendo. Every jump scare, we jump too. Or, if you’re a hardened, seasoned horror buff, maybe you don’t jump. But by being scared, or creeped out, we have a lingering feeling of terror from watching the movie, especially psychological horror. You aren’t really being hunted by Ghostface, but you feel like you could be. The horror is palpable. Really good horror films make you feel like you’re in them, like you’re right there alongside the characters. Also, good horror is plausible. It could actually happen. And given the devious and destructive nature of man, you could be next. Or not.

So, here are some Frequently Asked Questions that you might have wondered about. I know I have! Leave any questions in the comment box under this post (be sure to click on the post title), and I will try to answer them.

1) Why should I watch horror movies?   

I feel that anyone should watch a scary movie, especially if you like roller coasters. Horror movies are like that; the feeling you get at the top of the big hill, just before you drop 50, 60, 70 feet or more down it, your stomach suddenly in your throat. Horror is a unique way to see into the mind of all sorts of people: the directors, the actors, the cinematographers etc. With each shot, each scene, they evoke a visceral response from viewers. Other kinds of movies just don’t do that in quite the same way. They make great date nights, too. It’s raining outside, the pizza is delivered fresh and hot, and your significant other suggests a movie. Make it a horror movie, and you won’t be disappointed. Trust me, I’m a professional horror-watcher.

2) What’s the appeal of horror movies?

Horror movies are a unique cinematic experience, with a vast history of some truly epic filmmakers and writers. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws terrified audiences in 1975. (Spoiler) The scary part was that you couldn’t see the shark until nearly the end of the movie. The terror was there, underneath you in the water. Child’s Play (1988) played with the idea of a young boy’s Good Guy Doll coming to life, and a serial killer’s soul inhabits it. The Blair Witch Project (1999) was the first entry into the now-famous horror genre of Found Footage movies (though some might say there are earlier precedents). Found footage is any film shot with a handheld video camera, or in the case of Blair Witch, a supposed “found footage” – literally the footage was recovered after the people seen in the movie disappeared. Blair Witch had an absolutely amazing marketing scheme, and people were terrified to see the film. The movie might have actually happened. This idea is very scary, indeed. It’s easy to get lost in the film history of horror, something I will certainly delve deeper into in forthcoming posts.

3) What are some classic horror movies I need to watch?

Some of the classic movies include:

Nosferatu (1922) – Nosferatu was quite the undertaking back in the day, with filming delays, budget concerns, and the like. Supposedly, the actor playing Nosferatu (the Vampire), Max Shreck, was notoriously difficult to work with. One of the canonical movies for any horror buff. One of the first of its kind.

Dracula (1931) – Based on the 1897 novel of the same name, Dracula starred Bela Lugosi as the dark and mysterious Count Dracula. It’s apparent that he can turn into a bat, and (in the book) scale a castle wall, similar to a lizard, says Johnathan Harker, Dracula’s captive. The Count also has appetites for the blood of beautiful women.

Frankenstein (1931) – This film addresses the motives of a potentially-mad mad scientist by the name of Victor Frankenstein, who wishes to create a human being from the sewn-together body parts of cadavers. Much to his shock and awe, his creation comes to life, and he has a mind all his own. The “creature” has no name to speak of.

The Invisible Man (1933) – A scientist in a sleepy English town has discovered the secret to making himself invisible. He checks himself into a hotel and makes a huge mess of his room and misses his rent. The hotel owner’s wife insists the man be evicted at once. Eventually, the man reveals he is invisible. In the canon of Universal movie monsters, this is not one to miss.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – The direct sequel to Frankenstein, the Creature and Frankenstein’s old mentor, Dr. Pretorius, ask that Frankenstein make a companion for the Creature, a “woman creature” so that he won’t be lonely anymore.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – Based on the Ira Levin novel of the same name, Rosemary’s Baby follows the story of, you guessed it, Rosemary, and her…well, baby. She spends a good portion of the movie pregnant, and eagerly awaiting the birth. But something just seems…off. Rosemary worries at every little thing (as I suppose many pregnant women are wont to do), and what’s the deal with her creepy neighbors?

Night of the Living Dead (1968) – A seminal classic directed by the late George A Romero, Night of the Living Dead is a story about what exactly might happen if the zombie apocalypse came to our door…today. What will the still living people do against hordes of the undead—who were once people, just like you and I?

The Exorcist (1973) – Again based on the novel of the same name, The Exorcist follows a mother, Chris MacNeil, and her 12-year-old daughter, Regan. One afternoon, Regan is playing in the basement, and she happens to have a Ouija board. When asked by Chris who she is taking to, she says a person named “Captain Howdy.” The movie progresses when we learn Regan may not be a well girl at all. Might she even have fallen under demonic possession? Creepily, the film is actually based on a true story that occurred in 1949, in which a young boy became possessed. Spooky!

Suspiria (1977) – This film, directed by Dario Argento, tells the story of a dance academy in Germany and follows a young girl named Suzy Bannion, wishing to devote herself to ballet. After a series of brutal murders, Suzy realizes that all is not what it appears at her dancing school. Something sinister lurks there…just beneath the surface. The question, of course, is what?

4) Are horror fans crazy?

Well, maybe some of us. But of course, every one of us is unique. Only horror fans go home and sit up late at night watching scary movies before bed, and don’t bat an eye. It so happens these same fans are often the ones that love true crime documentaries. I am one of those, as well. Man’s inhumanity to man (and woman) can be infinitely more terrifying than any horror movie. However, this is not to downplay the importance of horror movies and other horror media. So, what about horror fans? There are legions of fans all over the world. Readers, writers, artists, and more love horror. For some, it’s a way of life; people eat, sleep, and breathe horror. I am fast becoming one of those! With my books and this blog, I can only expand my love of horror books, movies and other media.

5) Which horror novels should I read?

Here’s a short list of some good horror books to keep you up at night!

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) – Follows Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young doctor trying to, quite literally, bring dead flesh back to life once more. The scary part is, he succeeds.

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) – Follows Johnathan Harker and the mysterious Count Dracula, who journeys to London to live inside the old, creepy Carfax Abbey.

The Most Dangerous Game (a short story) by Richard Connell (1924) – Who, truly, is the most dangerous animal of all? Why, man, of course! When a big game hunter becomes bored hunting animals, he decides to indulge his…darker appetites.

A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson (1958) – A man who undergoes hypnosis at a dinner party becomes overtaken by the ghost of a young woman.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (1967) – A young woman is drawn into a swirling state of unease surrounding the soon-to-be birth of her child. It appears her neighbors have other plans.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (1971) – We follow a young girl who inadvertently becomes possessed, perhaps by the Devil himself.

Jaws by Peter Benchley (1974) – There’s a series of inexplicable deaths caused by a giant shark in the seaside town of Amity Island.

Ghost Story by Peter Straub (1979) – A group of old men gather to tell ghost stories. When one of them dies, the remaining men begin experiencing nightmares in which they, too, die. It’s as if the past is coming back to haunt them.

IT by Stephen King (1986) – Follows the happenings of a group of young friends living in the town of Derry, Maine. A sinister clown named Pennywise killed Bill’s younger brother Georgie, and now he’s after Bill and his friends, too. Fast-forward about twenty years, and it appears Pennywise is back to finish what he started all those years ago.

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Final Girls (2017) by Riley Sager: Book Review

Genre: Thriller/Mystery

Final Girls is a whirlwind of a story, a truly gripping read. Riley Sager’s ability to suck the reader in is amazing. By the time I got to the middle of the book, I was hooked. A lot of books sag in the middle, and middles are notoriously hard to write. Sager does it with gusto. Now, on to the review.

Plot: Sager unfolds the scenes of the book in two ways. Firstly, we see the events in present day New York unfolding through Quincy’s eyes as they happen, in present tense. Second, in past tense, we see the events leading up to the attacks of Quincy and her friends at Pine Cottage, and beyond. I’ll get to the Cottage in just a moment.

The first Final Girl is Lisa Milner, who also survived a mass murder at a sorority house. She was stabbed several times, and was lucky to have escaped with her life. She later becomes a child psychologist. Then, suddenly she is dead, apparently by her own hand.

Samantha Boyd is the second of the Final Girls, who survived a horrific event at a motel called the Nightlight Inn. The perpetrator of the murders was a man, referred to as The Sack Man, due to his attire, which includes a sack over his head with eyeholes and a slit over the nose. Quincy is seven years old at the time of this crime. She sees a news report, and marks it as the first time she remembers actually watching the news, and being scared by it.

Quincy, our hero, is the third Final Girl. She survives a massacre at a place called Pine Cottage, which is really more of an expanded cabin with many bedrooms. Quincy is in college, and comes to Pine Cottage in late October with her friends Craig, Janelle, Ramdy (the name for a couple that are always together, Amy and Rodney), and Betz.

Joe is a stranger who shows up at the party after his car breaks down nearby. Janelle, who’s celebrating her birthday, says to invite him inside, even with the amount of inherent risk that comes with doing so. He’s seemingly a shy man who wears dirty glasses. He seems harmless. He isn’t much of a drinker, but certainly the alcohol is flowing in copious amounts for the others.

It doesn’t help matters that Quincy, now 10 years post Pine Cottage can’t remember what happened that night during the attacks. She tells police detectives that she is drawing a blank from that night; she apparently has a type of amnesia in which her brain locks away the traumatic events, in essence protecting her from those events by choosing not to remember them. This is actually a real thing and it seems plausible. She has effectively put the events of Pine Cottage behind her. The other Final Girls, Lisa and Samantha, have tried to do the same with their nightmares.

She has reinvented herself into a full-time blogger. The name of her blog is Quincy’s Sweets, and it helps her when she gets anxious to get into the kitchen and bake something. Everyone there died, except Quincy. A rookie cop, Cooper, found Quincy running through the woods, covered in blood. Quincy is rescued by Coop, and she now (presently) keeps his number on speed dial, texting or calling whenever she feels anxious. Coop comes into the city and tells her that Lisa is dead. This is basically the setup for Final Girls.

Quincy refers to the perpetrator only as Him, and will not say His name, partly due to the intervention of her mother, Shelia, who says it’s better to never discuss what happened to her daughter. Quincy begins taking, and eventually abusing, Xanax. She lives with her boyfriend Jeff, a criminal defense attorney, who is currently working on a big case he can’t really discuss with her. There is definitely a wall up between Jeff and Quincy. She never quite feels fulfilled, as though something is really missing in her life since the murders. Quincy has desperately tried to move on, but the cracks are showing in her carefully laid façade.

Eventually, Quincy meets Samantha, who shows up outside her apartment. Sam moves in temporarily with Quincy and Jeff. Jeff is not amused by this turn of events, but eventually gives his consent. Just for a few days. Supposedly, Sam has come because of Lisa’s suicide, and wants to see if she can help Quincy so she doesn’t travel down the same road. And Coop, he seems so hands-off, never touching, never hugging, but will come at a moment’s notice when Quincy needs him. He seems to know something, but it’s anybody’s guess as to just what that is.

Quincy spends a fair amount of time getting to know Sam, or so she thinks. It turns out Sam may be keeping a lot of things to herself. Quincy only has the illusion of closeness. The way Sager plays Sam off Quincy, and how Sam goads her into doing things she never thought she would do, is part of what makes this book so good. Sam and Quincy have been making side trips to Central Park at 1 AM. What, exactly, are they doing there? What does Samantha have planned when she takes a purse loaded with paperbacks along? Why is a police detective suddenly so interested? Questions, questions.

Ending: The suspicions against Sam are well-warranted. Who is she, really? The twist is great, and there is certainly more than one! Did Quincy murder her friends all those years ago, or was it the mysterious Joe? What was Lisa’s role in all of this? Can Quincy uncover it before it’s too late? A stellar mix of mystery and murder, with plenty of blood to boot! This is my kind of novel.

Final Thoughts: I loved this book! It was so engrossing and riveting, and the story just kept getting better and better. I highly recommend you read this one, and then you should check out Sager’s next book, Lock Every Door. So, so good! Riley Sager is definitely one of my new favorite authors!

Grade: A for sharp writing, and shocks and surprises throughout. Sager is the king of twists and turns. Be prepared to be up all night with this one. You literally won’t be able to put it down!

Have A Good Day!

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[REC]2 (2009): Movie Review # 2

Directed by Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza

Genre: Found Footage

Plot: A series of men dressed in SWAT-like attire (actually from the Grupo Especial de Operaciones, or GEO) go to the apartment building from the first [REC] movie to control the out-of-hand situation. They are looking for any survivors. The virus isn’t airborne they learn, but in fluids like blood and saliva, so the masks they are wearing in the beginning of the film aren’t necessary, Dr. Owen tells them. Dr. Owen is an official sent by the Ministry of Health to investigate the outbreak.

Martos, one of the GEO men, enters an apartment where there is a record playing. He turns off the record and is promptly attacked by an infected. He is bitten, and almost immediately becomes an infected himself. Dr. Owen begins praying over Martos and they shove him in a side bedroom, hanging a crucifix on the door. The commander yells at Dr. Owen to tell him what the hell is going on, “Because clearly, you know more than me!” says the commander.

It turns out Dr. Owen is actually a Catholic priest, and that virus was originally a demonic possession scenario. He was sent by the Vatican to investigate the case. Dr. Owen is looking for a girl, the original one who was possessed. Her name is Tristana Medeiros, and she was an 11-year-old who began showing signs of possession. They need a vial of her blood, and then they can leave the building. So, the Church and Dr. Owen discretely set up shop in this apartment building. No one is to know the real truth.  The Church wished to find a chemical antidote for possession which they can synthesize from Tristana’s blood.

There is a demon child on the ceiling. Dr. Owen kills the kid. They search the penthouse suite, but do not find the blood vial. After uncovering a secret crawlspace, Fernandez finds the vial. The vial eventually breaks. Dr. Owen is understandably upset by this turn of events. He says the only way to get a blood sample now is from Tristana herself.

The perspective eventually shifts, and we are suddenly with 3 people outside of the apartment building with a camera. They eventually see the emergency vehicles and locate an open manhole cover. They walk through the sewer, and some officials follow them down there. They find a staircase leading to none other than the building where the main action is taking place. The officials then weld the entrance into the apartment basement shut, sealing them inside. One of the teens finds a gun on the floor, and the gun “just goes off.” Dr. Owen and one of the men from GEO (I think it’s the commander) appear. The commander takes the gun from the foolish boy.

Dr. Owen still needs the blood of the girl to make an antidote for the virus. Dr. Owen and company then locate Angela, the main character from the first movie, and ask her where Tristana is. They question one of the teens who has been infected. It turns out Tristana is able to speak through any of the infected people. Through the teen, she says to go back to the penthouse suite. Tristana says the only way to see is in darkness; in other words, the GEO must use infrared light.

Ending: Angela goes with them to the penthouse. Chaos ensues, but I don’t want to give anything else away! You’ll have to watch until the end; a shocking turn of events, to be sure.

Final Thoughts: The cinematography on this film is great. Every shot was well planned and well executed. The team of filmmakers here is the same as the original [REC]. A lot of them reunited 2 years later for the sequel. I should mention that [REC] 3: Genesis and [REC] 4: Apocalypse are also made by the same people.

Grade: B+ This movie ties in with the first film very well. If you want to know what ultimately happened to Angela, you certainly need to watch this one! You certainly won’t forget this ending! Don’t forget to also watch [REC] 4: Apocalypse to continue the saga with Angela!

Have A Good Day!

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Stay Out of the Basement by R.L. Stine (1992): (Goosebumps #2) Book Review

Ah, middle grade fiction, and horror fiction at that. It always makes me smile when someone mentions Goosebumps or Fear Street. These were the series—Goosebumps especially—that ultimately sparked my interest in reading, first and foremost. Thank you, R.L. Stine. I am forever in your debt.

Not only was collecting the books fun (it may be surprising that I never did actually collect all of them back in the 90’s), but reading them was by far my favorite thing. Through R.L. Stine, I was brought into the wonderful world of reading. And it stuck. Now, I love all things horror. Movies. Books. Memorabilia. Clothing. Toys. You name it, I’ll probably want to eventually own it. And of course, I love reading. When you combine reading and horror, two of my favorite things, you can never be steered wrongly.

I remember being home sick from school one day. It was overcast, rainy and cold out. I felt crappy, but then I pulled out my copy of The Headless Ghost and began to read. The environment outside was perfectly suited to reading a horror novella (all the Goosebumps books fall under the novella category, though some of you may disagree with this). Under the covers, my head nestled on a pillow, my reading light on as I began turning pages. If I seem to be gushing nostalgia, it’s because I am. I just can’t help it. I love these books so, so much. As a kid, I used to say to my Mom, on overcast or rainy mornings, “Hey…it’s a Goosebumpy day out there!” I love rainy days! I am one of THOSE people. *Grins*

And those COVERS. Let’s all take a moment to remember that Goosebumps would not have been the same were it not for the beautifully done illustrations by Tim Jacobus. Each cover, he took some scene from the book and then vividly rendered them in all their spooky glory. The covers of today (done by different artists) may be a cool way to introduce more kids to the Goosebumps series, but they don’t hold a candle to Jacobus’s covers. I am in the (slow) process of recollecting all the original Goosebumps books (#1-62). I’m certainly getting there! Some of the original editions included bookmarks inside, or trading cards. Whenever I come across one of those, I usually try to buy it, because they are rare. Even editions that say “trading cards inside” rarely have them intact. Hard to find, surely.

I must have momentarily had an episode of sheer mindlessness when I sold my entire Goosebumps collection to a mother for only $12 at a garage sale. *Gives myself the side eye, rolls eyes* What on earth was I thinking?! I spent years of my childhood collecting those books, and then poof! Gone, just like that. Well, now is the time to right that particular wrong. I possess most of the Goosebumps. It’s just a matter of time, and I will have them all over again. At any rate, on to the review.

Plot: Stay Out of the Basement is the second book in the Goosebumps series. Margaret and Casey have a botanist father experimenting with his plants in a fashion not done before. He wants to successfully make a plant that is also part animal. He was recently fired from his job, but hopes to get it back soon. In the meantime, he has turned the entire basement into his own private plant greenhouse. The kids’ mom is away caring for a sick relative for most of the book; so, it’s just Casey, Margaret, and their weird father.

Naturally, the kids are curious to know what Dad is doing down there. He won’t take them aside and tell them, so they decide to go exploring. He keeps the door locked tight, but it just so happens Casey knows how to pick a lock—and he’s only 11! When they get down there, it’s hot and humid, and there are grow lights and plants all over the place. Of course, these aren’t just ordinary plants. They’re—bizarre. Like, some of them seem to be breathing. And moving around. Some are tree-like. Some have tendrils or vines. Some bear fruit. Stine makes a great effort to make the plants scary and foreboding. Imagine if your dad was doing all that stuff in your basement! Pretty creepy.

You may have guessed something was bound to go wrong. The kids decide to go into the basement. Casey gets a bit hot under the collar, so he takes off his shirt. They hear Dad returning, and rush back up the stairs as fast as possible. Only then does Casey realize he left his shirt down there. He rushes back to get it before Dad can find it, proving they were down there—after expressly being told to stay out of the basement at all times! He’s taking too long down there, Margaret thinks. She goes down to see what’s keeping him. Casey gets back, just in the nick of time!

Things get even weirder from then on. First, Margaret sees Dad…eating something in the kitchen. Sounds pretty normal, right? But in this scene, he’s really wolfing something down as though he has never eaten before in his life. She checks the trash can, and is shocked by what she finds. This is not the first shocking thing, as luck would have it. She wants to tell Casey all about it, and wishes her Mom would come home.

Margaret and her brother are tossing a Frisbee, when Dad walks outside, only to be struck in the head. He wears a Dodgers cap, which the Frisbee knocks away, and he just so happens to have leaves growing on top of his head where hair should be. Curiouser and curiouser.

Dad’s boss, Mr. Martinez, comes by to see how Dr. Brewer (AKA Dad) is getting along with his experiments. The trouble is, the kids don’t see Martinez leave the house. Even more bizarrely, the kids also hear moaning coming from the storage closet in, you guessed it, the basement.

Casey decides to fly a kite, and asks if Margaret would like to join him. She agrees. They look for the kites; but strangely, they find items that are out of place there. Could it be some type of clue as to what’s making the oddly human-like sounds in the storage closet? Could it have something to do with all these plants? The rest of the book unfolds even further mysteries, and a very wacky explanation is soon forthcoming.

Ending: One thing about Stine’s books: you can always expect a twist ending. R.L. likes to end each chapter on a mini cliffhanger. The purpose behind this, he says, is to keep kids invested and to keep them reading. I am living proof that yes, even 28 years later, this stratagem does, in fact, work.

Final Thoughts: This book was well written and a classic, without any doubt. Why is it a classic? It’s vintage Stine, at his very best. Also, don’t forget the Goosebumps TV show, where Stay Out of the Basement is proudly featured. After the craziness of Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps #1), Basement is a welcome reprieve from people’s eyeballs coming out of their skulls (a heavy scene, given the fact that seven and eight-year-olds read these books!). Now I know why I was genuinely scared by Goosebumps!

Grade: A – for delicious horror scares and some heavy concepts, such as job loss, a sick relative, and even darker things (you will have to go read it to find out about these!). The scares are great and numerous, and as I said, each chapter ends in a mini cliffhanger. I think it’s easy to see why Stine is so popular with his audience! And I don’t just mean children. He has a veritable legion of 30-something fans that love these books, and got hooked in the 90’s, just like I did! And, he maintains a rigorous working schedule to this day! As a writer, I aspire to be even partially as successful as R.L. Stine has been.

Have a good day!

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[Rec] (2007): Movie Review # 1

Directed by Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza

Genre: Found Footage

Plot: A television film crew is shooting a late night special, going by the name While You’re Asleep, somewhere in Barcelona, Spain. The special is covering the life in a day of a firefighter. What do they do while waiting for a call? What do they eat? How do they pass the time? And more importantly, what happens when the alarm goes off?

Manuela Velasco plays Angela, the host of the late night show and the main protagonist. She is consistently directing her cameraman, Pablo, played by Pablo Rosso, to record this or that (I love how original they went with Pablo’s character name!). Soon enough, during a friendly game of basketball, the alarm begins blaring. Pablo and Angela quickly run to the nearest fire engine and hop in. The fire crew has been called to an apartment building, where an elderly woman has apparently fallen and needs immediate assistance.

When the firetruck arrives at the apartment, they can see the police are also there. One of the firemen says, “Maybe this is more serious than we thought.” The building manager says that she was screaming for help for quite a long time. It soon becomes apparent that the woman didn’t just fall. Oddly enough, after breaking through the door, she is not on the floor but is up and standing there when the firefighters and a couple policemen arrive.

The old woman becomes aggressive and bites one of the policemen in the neck. The spooked residents of the building have gathered in the lobby, and none of them really knows what’s happening. Suddenly, a firefighter who had remained behind and was subsequently bitten, falls from the upper level and strikes the lobby floor.

The remaining officers and a firefighter ascend the stairs to the old woman’s apartment once more. A policeman shoots the old woman after she attempts to attack them. Angela is understandably shaken by this. She asks Pablo if he taped it all, and he plays it back for her.

The police and firemen locate a medical intern (one of the residents), to look after the bite victims and the fireman who fell. He says that they are all critically wounded and must be moved to a hospital as soon as possible. Of course, they are unable to leave. Eventually, despite their injuries, the wounded also become aggressive.

Meanwhile, Angela tells Pablo to continue to tape even though the police keep telling them to shut the camera off. Angela interviews a little girl named Jennifer (played by Claudia Silva), who her mother claims is simply suffering from tonsillitis. Jennifer had a dog named Max and he was recently taken to the vet.

A man in a hazmat outfit enters the building. Angela and Pablo learn that there is some kind of infectious disease that is rampant in the building, and that the old woman was certainly infected with it. The condition causes rages and makes the affected individuals aggressive toward others. Because of this, the building is being sealed from the outside by police and the military, plastic sheeting being used to cover doors and windows. It comes to light that the health department was called to a vet’s office yesterday. The dog was showing signs of aggression and attacked all the other animals in the clinic. He was soon put to sleep. The dog’s name was Max. He was microchipped and traced back to this apartment building.

Jennifer bites her mother, displaying the same aggression as the old woman and Max. Somehow it appears the disease is transmittable from a dog to a human. Many of the characters decide to track down the little girl. The mother is handcuffed to the banister, now at the mercy of the rage disease. Things really go downhill from there.

Ending: The movie explains itself a bit more near the end, dealing with the creation of the infection, but I don’t want to give away anything else!

Final Thoughts: This is one of the first movies to really push the found footage genre further onto other markets, especially in Spain. Due to [REC]’s popularity, it inspired the 2008 American film starring Jennifer Carpenter, which is nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the stunning original. The original film also spawned 3 sequels, which I am in the process of watching.

Grade: A – for violence, some gore, and frightening images. This film was brilliantly shot and constructed. It really makes you feel as if you, yourself are there with Angela and Pablo and the others. You get the sense that this could even be YOUR apartment building. Maybe your dog’s name was Max, too. I highly recommend you give this one a try, especially if you haven’t seen too many found footage horror flicks in the past. [REC] is found footage done right!

Have a good day!

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The Cabin at the End of the World (2018) by Paul Tremblay: Book Review

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is a thrilling ride of small proportions. What do I mean by this? Well, Tremblay delivers jabs and punches right to your midsection. The cabin is the main setting, so such jabs can only be thrown in a small, defined space. As you might imagine, this means that when the thrills start coming, you don’t have much room; you hit a wall, and then must turn and face them head-on. There’s nowhere to run or hide.

Plot Summary: Wen, Andrew and Eric’s adopted daughter, is catching grasshoppers in the front yard, alone. Her dads are in the back, unaware of her activities. Wen is approached by Leonard, a true mountain of a man, well over 6-feet tall. At first, Wen is guarded, but then she is won over by Leonard’s smile. They get to talking, and she discovers he is great at catching grasshoppers.  But then the conversation turns off, and Wen feels more and more like she needs to go inside and be with her dads. It’s really due to the kinds of things Leonard’s been saying: “Nothing that’s going to happen is your fault. Your dads aren’t going to want to let us in, but they have to…We need your help to save the world.” (pg 28-29)

Suddenly three more people show up, all similarly dressed, and all carrying strange weapons in their hands. Leonard says that Wen must explain to her dads what is happening, and that she has to convince them to let the four strangers into the cabin so they can all talk.

The dads don’t let the group inside, because they can see Wen is scared, and they don’t know who these people are. Frustratingly, Tremblay has Eric and Andrew go back and forth for pages and pages, asking if all the doors and windows were locked. It turns out that, no, the windows were not actually locked. Shortly, the quartet of bad guys breaks into the cabin in dramatic fashion. Quickly enough, Andrew and Eric are tied to some chairs.

Tremblay easily switches character viewpoints, telling Andrew and Eric’s side of the story (or their pasts), and then effortlessly switching to Wen, or Leonard’s, or some of the others’, views. There is quite a lot of background detail for each character; we learn that Andrew was attacked in a bar for being gay, which prompts him to take up boxing and the use of firearms to feel safer. We find that Leonard, Adriane, Redmond, and Sabrina don’t really know one another well. They’ve only met recently, through a messaging board, and apparently, they have had similar “visions” regarding the end of the world. Leonard tells Eric and Andrew that they have to make a sacrifice, or many millions of people will die.

Leonard turns on the television, which was previously showing cartoons for Wen. He shows the two men the news, using the program that’s playing as proof that the world is coming apart, maybe even ending. Planes are crashing. There’s a tsunami. A set of earthquakes, one of which causes said tsunami.

Leonard uses these events as proof that the world is ending, telling the heroes they have got to make a choice, a sacrifice, before it’s too late.

And will they sacrifice one of themselves to save millions, even billions? The news is saying these horrible events are happening, but Andrew notices Leonard, and even the other three, keep checking their watches. Who the hell wears watches anymore? he thinks to himself. Maybe, he says to Eric, they keep checking their watches because they wanted to see a specific program at a specific time. Maybe, he says, they even knew what would be broadcast. Maybe these events were already happening, sacrifice or no sacrifice.

I should mention that Andrew’s attack comes back to haunt him. He says that Redmond is actually the same man, named O’Bannon, (older and 50 pounds heavier), that attacked him in that bar all those years ago. Perhaps then, they are all being targeted for some sick and twisted hate crime, a sort of bizarre continuation of what happened all those years ago.

As you may imagine, none of the three heroes is willing to sacrifice one of their own. This creates an obvious problem for Leonard and the others. In his mind, a sacrifice has to be made to save millions. I sort of began wondering what these grand, end of the world visions really were. Are the visions of the end actually real? Did Leonard and the others really have them, collectively, or are they just saying that as a reason for why they decided to break into the cabin?

Some of these questions are answered and some, unfortunately, aren’t. Tremblay uses a lot of words, but the reader gets the sense that, because everything happens inside the cabin (except for the first scene, a scene on the back deck, and some flashbacks), the visions sort of seem “out there,” and as a result they don’t have much of an impact. Which is really a shame, being that the visions seem intricately tied to the novel’s title.

Ending: The ending was really pretty terrible. It’s one of those endings where you expect something final to happen, and nothing ever really does. I feel potential readers would benefit greatly from knowing why the world is ending, as well as how. And, more importantly, IS the world actually ending?

The conclusion, if you can call it that, leaves a lot to be desired, which I guess isn’t really saying much; but of course, I don’t want to give anything away, in case you decide to give this book a go.

Final Thoughts: The Cabin at the End of the World is a showcase for Tremblay’s talents. This man knows how to write and engage the reader. He does, at certain points, tend to drone on and on. One sequence near the end of the book went on for at least 17 pages. I was ready to pull my hair out and took most of the day to finish the 30 or so pages I had left. If you haven’t read Tremblay before, I recommend that you don’t read this one first. Try A Head Full of Ghosts, a Bram Stoker Award winner for 2019, and then maybe come back to this one, once you get to know the author’s style a bit better.

Grade: B- for gore, blood and decent descriptions. Character development is solid. Beware of long soliloquies. Many people will not like the ending (I did not), and this affects the book’s grade. But, all in all, the book was entertaining. If you like horror fiction, give this book a try!

Have a good day!

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