Little Miss Zombie

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Frankenturkey

After publishing my post complaining about the lack of Thanksgiving horror, I remembered a book I read when I was little. It was from a series called Bone Chillers by Betsy Haynes, which was just a rip off of Goosebumps, but I loved it just as much. I'm not going to review it, since I don't remember much about it, I only recall enjoying it. Here's the synopsis:

"Kyle and Annie want to celebrate Thanksgiving like the Pilgrims. They want to wear stovepipe hats, bake their own pies-even raise their own turkey. Then they meet Frankenturkey!

Frankenturkey is big. Frankenturkey is bad. Frankenturkey is mad. If Kyle and Annie don't watch out, Frankenturkey will eat them for Thanksgiving dinner."

There's also a sequel, Frankenturkey II.

"Helping to care for a special new turkey in the pen behind their house, Annie and Kyle are amazed when every wish they make near the turkey comes true, but they are unaware that Frankenturkey has returned from the grave."

Sounds like good reading. Bone Chillers was also made into a T.V series, and I remember watching this episode.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Thanksgiving Horror

I'm going home for the weekend, to have Thanksgiving with my family, so I probably won't be blogging much. I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been a Thanksgiving horror movie yet, or I would be reviewing it now. I think someone should make one. Or maybe I should. Here are my ideas for Thanksgiving horror films.

Gobble Gobble Kill Kill: Basically just a rip-off of Black Sheep but with turkeys. Cannibalistic turkeys run wild, pecking to death everyone who gets in their path and eating their remains.

Black Thanksgiving: Girls in a sorority house are getting ready to go home for Thanksgiving, but are unknowingly being killed off one by one. Even worse, a body part from each of them is being stuffed into the cornucopia. Will there be anyone left to give thanks?

The Texas Thanksgiving Massacre: A crazy family of cannibals collect young people to bring home for their family Thanksgiving feast. But instead of a bird on the dinner table, there's a stuffed human torso!

Attack of the Killer Pumpkins: Pumpkins come to life and take revenge on humans for having eaten them all these years. So there's no pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving! But, who really cares when you're fighting off killer pumpkins?

I Know What You Did Last Thanksgiving: An elderly couple has too much wine at their Thanksgiving dinner and on the drive home from their daughter's they hit a pedestrian. They leave him for dead, but six months later they start receiving sinister notes saying, "I know what you did last Thanksgiving." Then they're stalked by a man dressed as a pilgrim carrying a carving knife. Will they live to see another Thanksgiving?

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Trash or Treasure Thursday

The Babysitter by Daniel Ransom

Acquired at: The Salvation Army Thrift Store
Cost: $1.00

I hate to admit it, but the cover of this book is what drew me to it. I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I do. On the cover a creepy-looking babysitter stands with two children. It reminds me of R.L. Stine's Babysitter series, which I loved when I was younger.

Then I noticed the blurb from Dean Koontz on the cover.

"Ransom's writing is strong, fast and sleek as a bullet. He's one of the best." - Dean R. Koontz

Intrigued, I opened the cover and saw the dedication.

From one crazed Irishman to another - This is for Richard Laymon.

Anyone who likes Richard Laymon is okay in my book. At this point, I definitely wanted the book. Well it was only $1.00, so why not? The description on the back of the book sounded promising too.

The Babysitter is about Jody, a woman who returns to her hometown to take care of her drug addict daughter and her granddaughter. Jody's granddaughter has been acting out lately, as have many children in the town. The children have one thing in common: they've been babysat by the same young woman. Maybe it has something to do with the horror Jody witnessed when she was 13.

I was drawn in from the beginning. There's action right from the start. What Jody sees (I don't want to give anything away) is like something out of a B horror flick and made me keep reading to see the connection.

It's only 214 pages long, so the plot moves along quickly. I read it in one sitting. I actually wish it was longer because I was enjoying it so much. The ending felt a little rushed. All of a sudden the end came out of nowhere. The end was kind of a letdown. I felt it didn't really do the book justice.

The characters were realistic and interesting. I could relate to Jody, especially the part where she was 13, thinking about the boy she had a crush on.

I even laughed a few times while reading. I think it would have been better if it was a few chapters longer. But I was still throughly entertained with The Babysitter. So, I would give it a 4, making it a treasure.

Rating: 4/5

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

MOVIE REVIEW: Lost Boys: The Tribe

This movie was wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - almost, but not quite. Corey Feldman reprising his role as Edgar Frog saved it somewhat from being a total bomb.

After their parents die in a car accident, siblings Chris (Tad Hilgenbrink) and Nicole Emerson (Autumn Reeser), move in with their aunt. When Nicole falls for a vampire (Kiefer Sutherland's half-brother, Angus Sutherland) and unknowingly drinks blood, she becomes a vampire. Before the transformation is complete, Chris must find and kill the head vampire. But he'll need the help of veteran vampire slayer, Edgar Frog.

This movie doesn't have the cheesy 80's charm of the first. Instead, it has the MTV music video feel of the 00's. Teens partying, having sex and lots of rock music make this movie like The O.C. with vampires. It's 3/4 teenybopper flick, 1/2 horror movie. Every horror scene was extremely gory, as if to make up for the rest of the film being lame.

I was bored throughout most of it. This was the movie: they're surfing, then they're at a party, then someone is having sex in a shower, then someone else is having sex, then they're skateboarding, then they're riding their motorcycles. Oh wow they're bad asses.

Lost Boys: The Tribe is missing the humour of the first film, which is unfortunate because that's what made the original great. The characters are bland, cookie-cutter teens, unlike the original which featured eccentric characters.

Oh, and don't turn the movie off when the credits start. Corey Haim has a sweet cameo. It would have been better if he was in the whole movie instead of one scene during the credits. And where was Jamison Newlander?

I give this movie a 2, just because the scenes with Corey Feldman were okay.

Rating: 2/5

MOVIE REVIEW: The Lost Boys

After watching the new sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe, I thought I would review the original. What makes this better than the sequel?

Well...everything. The script is better, the acting is better, the soundtrack is better, it's more entertaining...everything in the original is superior.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, The Lost Boys is about vampires. When Lucy Emerson (Diane Wiest) and her sons Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) move, Michael immediately falls for a girl named Star (Jami Gertz). Unbeknownst to him, she's a vampire. Sam, worried about his brother, befriends brothers Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander), two vampire hunters. Together, they must find and kill the head vampire.

I don't even like vampire movies. But for some reason I love this movie. It has an awesome blend of horror and comedy. The first time I saw it, I was drawn in by the wicked soundtrack (People are Strange playing when they move into the new town). And then I was hooked.

The characters are eccentric and interesting. I love the Frog brothers and the grandpa. They're all hilarious. And Kiefer Sutherland is such a badass in this movie, even more so than he is in 24. It makes me laugh to see Jami Gertz in her role as a vampire because I only know her from the sitcom Still Standing.

The plot moves quickly and I wasn't bored for a second. And I was shocked by who the head vampire was. The script is funny and very quotable. Just look at these gems:

"My own brother a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire! Oh, you wait 'til Mom finds out, buddy." - Sam Emerson

Edgar Frog: You did the right thing by calling us. Does your brother sleep a lot?
Sam Emerson: Yeah, all day.
Alan Frog: Does the sunlight freak him out?
Sam Emerson: Uh, he wears sunglasses in the house.
Edgar Frog: Bad breath, long fingernails?
Sam Emerson: Yeah, his fingernails are a little bit longer, um, he always had bad breath, though.
Alan Frog: He's a vampire all right.
Edgar Frog: All right, here's what you do: get yourself a good sharp stake and drive it right through his heart.
Sam Emerson: I can't do that; he's my brother.
Alan Frog: OK, we'll come over and do it for you.
Sam Emerson: No!
Edgar Frog: You'd better get yourself a garlic T-shirt, buddy, or it's your funeral.

"Death by stereo!" - Sam Emerson

"If you read the T.V. Guide, you don't need a T.V." - Grandpa

How could you not love this movie? Actually, when I took an elective in college about vampires and we watched this movie everyone in my class made fun of it. I hate watching movies I love with other people. If they don't like it I'm always disappointed. But I still love it and would recommend everyone to watch it. Even if you don't like vampires.

Rating: 4/5

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

BookMooch

I love BookMooch. It's a great way to get rid of old, unwanted books. And an easy way to pick up hard to find out-of-print horror novels. If you love to read, I recommend checking out BookMooch.

Here's how it works: you add books you want to give away, someone "mooches" them from you, then you mail it to them and receive point(s) which you can use to mooch a book of your own. For each book you add to your inventory, you receive 1/10th of a point. When you mail a book, you get one point for mailing within your country and three points for mailing to a different country. When you mooch a book it costs you one point if you mooch from someone of the same country, two points from people of other countries. Once you receive a book, you leave feedback and earn 1/10th of a point. You can choose whether you're willing to send to another country. It kind of annoys me when a book I'm dying to read becomes available and they won't send it to my country. Which happens a lot, unfortunately.

Since I'm from Canada, it gets pretty expensive. Especially to send within Canada for some reason. I prefer to send to other countries because it costs less and I get three points instead of one. But most of the books I have received are difficult to find, so I don't mind the cost. So far I've mooched 15 books and mailed seven. So the books have cost me about $5 each, since the average cost of sending those books was $10. Which isn't bad considering they would have cost $10 brand new.

If there are any horror fans who aren't on BookMooch yet, you should join so we can swap books.

Monday, October 6, 2008

BOOK REVIEW: Old Flames by Jack Ketchum

"Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum." - Stephen King

Stephen King is right. Jack Ketchum is probably the scariest guy in America. He's definitely one of my favourite writers and when his newest book, Old Flames was released, I rushed out to get it. I was disappointed when I realized it wasn't a full-length novel, just a book comprised of two novellas. But, as usual, Ketchum delivers.

Both novellas feature strong female characters. One as an antagonist and one as a protagonist. Old Flames is about a recently dumped woman, Dora, who uses a service called Flame Finders to find her high school sweetheart. To her dismay, he is married and has children. But that won't stop Dora from staking her claim. It's Fatal Attraction for the 00's. With so many people now looking up old flames and friends via Facebook and MySpace readers can easily relate.

This novella moves quickly and had me frantically flipping the pages. I couldn't wait to see what crazy Dora would do next. The writing is superb, as it always is with Ketchum. I wish it was longer so the characters were more fleshed out. They're fleshed out enough for a 130 page novella, but I think it would've been interesting to have more back story on Dora, and why she is such a psycho. I also thought the ending was confusing. I had to re-read the last chapters a couple times until I understood what happened. But I still enjoyed it.

Old Flames is a pretty good novella, but I think it would have made an amazing novel.

Rating: 4/5

The second novella, Right to Life, has previously been released on its own (see left). I was more excited for this one than the title story because I had been wanting to read it for awhile. But people who have already read Right to Life may feel ripped off buying a book for a 130 page novella.

Right to Life is about a pregnant woman, Sara, who is kidnapped outside of an abortion clinic by a pro-life couple. The couple, who can't have children of their own, intend to keep Sara as their prisoner until the baby is born.

Ironically, this is the better novella of the two. Sara is a protagonist who I really cared about and the couple who kidnaps her are villains I loved to hate. The story moves quickly, I read it in one sitting. Unlike Old Flames, Right to Life is the perfect length. It is very intense and has some brutal violence, which would be too overwhelming for novel length. I found myself disgusted with some parts, but I think my strong reaction is just a testament to how amazing it is. Readers who don't feel that way toward stories with brutal violence, may want to steer clear of this novella. Ketchum is great at writing realistic horror novels involving situations that you can see happening in real life.

Rating: 5/5

So, I would give both of the novellas together a 4.5/5.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Word on the Street 2008

Did I miss something? I went to The Word On The Street Book & Magazine Festival in Toronto last Sunday, and there was hardly any horror books or anything horror-related. Maybe I just missed it, but I was very disappointed. Burning Effigy Press was the only booth offering horror books. Not a single vendor had horror books for sale.

I know that horror isn't the most popular genre, but I think that there are enough fans out there to deserve more than one booth. The Sci Fi & Fantasy Writers of America had a booth with authors signing books. Why couldn't the Horror Writers Association have a booth? There was practically every magazine published in Toronto, but unfortunately Rue Morgue didn't have a booth.

Even when I went the used book sale at Victoria College, which was on at the same time, there were barely any horror novels. I bought the only two, one of which was Northern Frights, a collection of short stories by Canadian authors. There are tons of Canadian horror authors, why not have them do a reading, or have a signing. I love Edo van Belkom (Scream Queen and Blood Road are awesome) and Gord Rollo's novel The Jigsaw Man was released not long ago.

Maybe there aren't enough horror fans to make it worth their time. Maybe most people only read mainstream fiction. Well at least horror fans still have their conventions.