mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-04-02 09:10 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-04-02 09:10 pm
What I've read/played/watched/listened to lately:
What I've been reading:
Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton (still, slowly)
It's still not bad, and certainly not getting tossed in the DNF pile or anything. But... idk, there are some themes that are getting pushed a little overly hard imo. I don't want to say it wandered into predictable territory, exactly, because that's not it... not sure how to articulate the feeling. We'll see how I feel at the end!
A Cornstalk Fiddle, which is a fic inspired by The Devil Went Down To Georgia. I've seen the story recc'd in a ton of places, and finally got around to giving it a read. Read the first half or so, so far. I'd say it deserves the reccs it's gotten.
(Also a couple other fics, but I'm not sure I want to out my porn-reading habits, lol.)
What I've been playing:
Not a damn thing! Maybe next week I'll have time for something.
What I've watched:
We watched so many bad (and a few good!) movies in the last week... These have all been on in the background while I do other stuff, but I've paid enough attention to them to remember them.
Look Again - Having barely survived the home invasion that killed her boyfriend, Allison is trying to get her life back on track. But despite the killer allegedly having been caught, she feels like the man responsible is still out there... and suspects her best friend's new boyfriend could be the actual culprit.
This was pretty basic Lifetime thriller fare, but always nice to watch Morena Baccarin in pretty clothes. At least it dealt with its multiple twists pretty well, and was competently acted.
Honeymoon - Newlywed couple Bea and Paul go on their honeymoon, heading out to a rustic cabin. Bea suffers a strange sleepwalking incident, where Paul finds her naked and confused in the woods. Afterwards, Bea begins to act strangely, forgetting even basic things about Paul and about their relationship. Paul starts to believe Bea is no longer herself.
Pretty good. Definite body-horror.
Grimm Love (also known as Rohtenburg in German) - Based on the famous Armin Meiwes cannibal murder case in Germany, a girl begins to study a fictionalized version of the people involved with the case. Most of the film is told in flashbacks of the two men involved, from childhoods in which they felt like outcasts to what led them to their cannibal and victim desires. It is *barely* fictionalized - literally about the only aspect changed from the actual story was the names of the men.
Pretty damn dark.
Her Name Was Christa - weirdass indie horror-ish film. The first half is more of a romantic drama, as forever-alone telemarketer Stephen hires a prostitute for the "girlfriend experience." But just as the two have confessed their genuine love for each other, she dies. Her ghost (/his hallucination of her) convinces him to continue their relationship, despite the fact that she's, y'know, a corpse.
The second half has some gross-out type of horror, but there was definitely more time devoted to the relationship before that. Better than I figured it would be based on the start of the movie, but definitely weird.
Fresh - Getting burned out on dating, Noa is delighted when she finally seems to have found a nice guy, a doctor named Steve whom she meets in a chance encounter in a grocery store. The pair get along great, even planning a weekend trip together... until he kidnaps her and reveals that he's a cannibal who procures young women for a wealthy clientele of other cannibals. He's not planning to kill her (quickly), because the men he sells the meat to prefer it be fresh.
More of a dark comedy than a horror, and bits of it were definitely quite funny. Well-acted, glad I finally watched it.
The Wretched - Ben is forced to spend the summer with his dad, while his parents go through a divorce. He starts to suspect there's something strange happening at the neighbor's house, especially when their little boy goes missing, and the couple refuses to acknowledge they ever had a son. Looking into the mystery leads him to stories of a witch who possesses people in order to prey on children, and completely erases memory of them when she targets them.
Had an effective sort-of twist near the climax in which he discovers the memories of his brother Nathan have been erased... it goes back and shows a handful of scenes in which people acknowledged the brother, but the audience assumed they were addressing Ben instead.
Saving Zoe - apparently based on a book that everyone seems to agree was better. About a year after her older sister, Zoe, was murdered, Echo is attempting to come to terms with the loss as she begins high school. She finds her sister's diary in the possession of Zoe's ex-boyfriend. She steals the diary and begins trying to find out what happened leading up to her sister's murder.
Thriller/drama, not horror. Deals with some pretty awful topics that verged a little close to feeling "after school special/very special episode" for me, but really weren't handled too badly.
Goblin - Sara tries to protect her son from her abusive new husband and step-son as they move into a new home. Neighborhood pets begin to disappear, and Sara is sure she's seen some sort of monster outside.
This was utterly atrocious in every way. Seems like it was meant to be bad, but the bad acting and deliberate asshole dialogue was a little too over the top. She may be pregnant with a goblin baby at the end? Not sure.
Kept Woman - Jessica and her fiance Evan move to a new home in the suburbs. Jessica grows suspicious of their seemingly-nice next door neighbor; "men's studies" professor Simon seems perfectly polite, if oddly old-fashioned... And then he kidnaps Jessica, locking her in a bunker decorated as an idealized 50s fantasy home, insisting the world has fallen into madness, and he's giving her the chance to be "free", in the role women are meant to be in.
Also a Lifetime thriller, but with a surprisingly interesting setup and plot! It was pretty enjoyable.
What I've been listening to:
Nothing in terms of podcasts. Listening to the Transistor soundtrack while writing.
Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton (still, slowly)
It's still not bad, and certainly not getting tossed in the DNF pile or anything. But... idk, there are some themes that are getting pushed a little overly hard imo. I don't want to say it wandered into predictable territory, exactly, because that's not it... not sure how to articulate the feeling. We'll see how I feel at the end!
A Cornstalk Fiddle, which is a fic inspired by The Devil Went Down To Georgia. I've seen the story recc'd in a ton of places, and finally got around to giving it a read. Read the first half or so, so far. I'd say it deserves the reccs it's gotten.
(Also a couple other fics, but I'm not sure I want to out my porn-reading habits, lol.)
What I've been playing:
Not a damn thing! Maybe next week I'll have time for something.
What I've watched:
We watched so many bad (and a few good!) movies in the last week... These have all been on in the background while I do other stuff, but I've paid enough attention to them to remember them.
Look Again - Having barely survived the home invasion that killed her boyfriend, Allison is trying to get her life back on track. But despite the killer allegedly having been caught, she feels like the man responsible is still out there... and suspects her best friend's new boyfriend could be the actual culprit.
This was pretty basic Lifetime thriller fare, but always nice to watch Morena Baccarin in pretty clothes. At least it dealt with its multiple twists pretty well, and was competently acted.
Honeymoon - Newlywed couple Bea and Paul go on their honeymoon, heading out to a rustic cabin. Bea suffers a strange sleepwalking incident, where Paul finds her naked and confused in the woods. Afterwards, Bea begins to act strangely, forgetting even basic things about Paul and about their relationship. Paul starts to believe Bea is no longer herself.
Pretty good. Definite body-horror.
Grimm Love (also known as Rohtenburg in German) - Based on the famous Armin Meiwes cannibal murder case in Germany, a girl begins to study a fictionalized version of the people involved with the case. Most of the film is told in flashbacks of the two men involved, from childhoods in which they felt like outcasts to what led them to their cannibal and victim desires. It is *barely* fictionalized - literally about the only aspect changed from the actual story was the names of the men.
Pretty damn dark.
Her Name Was Christa - weirdass indie horror-ish film. The first half is more of a romantic drama, as forever-alone telemarketer Stephen hires a prostitute for the "girlfriend experience." But just as the two have confessed their genuine love for each other, she dies. Her ghost (/his hallucination of her) convinces him to continue their relationship, despite the fact that she's, y'know, a corpse.
The second half has some gross-out type of horror, but there was definitely more time devoted to the relationship before that. Better than I figured it would be based on the start of the movie, but definitely weird.
Fresh - Getting burned out on dating, Noa is delighted when she finally seems to have found a nice guy, a doctor named Steve whom she meets in a chance encounter in a grocery store. The pair get along great, even planning a weekend trip together... until he kidnaps her and reveals that he's a cannibal who procures young women for a wealthy clientele of other cannibals. He's not planning to kill her (quickly), because the men he sells the meat to prefer it be fresh.
More of a dark comedy than a horror, and bits of it were definitely quite funny. Well-acted, glad I finally watched it.
The Wretched - Ben is forced to spend the summer with his dad, while his parents go through a divorce. He starts to suspect there's something strange happening at the neighbor's house, especially when their little boy goes missing, and the couple refuses to acknowledge they ever had a son. Looking into the mystery leads him to stories of a witch who possesses people in order to prey on children, and completely erases memory of them when she targets them.
Had an effective sort-of twist near the climax in which he discovers the memories of his brother Nathan have been erased... it goes back and shows a handful of scenes in which people acknowledged the brother, but the audience assumed they were addressing Ben instead.
Saving Zoe - apparently based on a book that everyone seems to agree was better. About a year after her older sister, Zoe, was murdered, Echo is attempting to come to terms with the loss as she begins high school. She finds her sister's diary in the possession of Zoe's ex-boyfriend. She steals the diary and begins trying to find out what happened leading up to her sister's murder.
Thriller/drama, not horror. Deals with some pretty awful topics that verged a little close to feeling "after school special/very special episode" for me, but really weren't handled too badly.
Goblin - Sara tries to protect her son from her abusive new husband and step-son as they move into a new home. Neighborhood pets begin to disappear, and Sara is sure she's seen some sort of monster outside.
This was utterly atrocious in every way. Seems like it was meant to be bad, but the bad acting and deliberate asshole dialogue was a little too over the top. She may be pregnant with a goblin baby at the end? Not sure.
Kept Woman - Jessica and her fiance Evan move to a new home in the suburbs. Jessica grows suspicious of their seemingly-nice next door neighbor; "men's studies" professor Simon seems perfectly polite, if oddly old-fashioned... And then he kidnaps Jessica, locking her in a bunker decorated as an idealized 50s fantasy home, insisting the world has fallen into madness, and he's giving her the chance to be "free", in the role women are meant to be in.
Also a Lifetime thriller, but with a surprisingly interesting setup and plot! It was pretty enjoyable.
What I've been listening to:
Nothing in terms of podcasts. Listening to the Transistor soundtrack while writing.
no subject
And I'm so glad you finally watched Fresh! I laughed my goddamn ass off through the entire movie. I'm not sure I felt properly horrified for the director's tastes because I just kept laughing and thinking about how sexy Steve was and that honestly if he wanted to eat my ass, I'd probably let him.
no subject
It was quite funny! I definitely see how it's more of a comedy than a horror, lol. And while comedies can be a rough sell for me (there's a lot of stuff that I just... don't find that funny), this one worked pretty well imo.
no subject
It was like they took Hannibal and twisted it until it was like Hannibal outtakes and gag reels. When he started packaging up the 'meat' the same way Hannibal did in the series, I just lost it. I was already LOLing pretty hard up to that point, but then Hannibal meat packaging and dancing to Obsession with the leg - I was fucking gone. Any chance of me being horrified at any of it was just gone. I mean, we went to Joe and Linda's and they'd gone to Central Market again right after we took Linda there, and they bought grapes - they were telling us about the cotton candy grapes they bought (which I have tasted before), and they had some and asked if we wanted them, and I had to keep the straightest poker face imaginable to politely refuse because my brain was going DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER! All while wanting to crack the hell up, and then I would've had to explain it, and that's definitely not the type of movie Linda would ever watch because she hates horror (even if this is the farthest thing from horror imaginable).
no subject
The dancing to Obsession was pretty hilarious. Excellent scene, lmao.
I have not ever had cotton candy grapes, but holy hell, that's perfect timing. I would have had a terrible time trying not to laugh!
no subject
I have had cotton candy grapes, but usually because someone else has bought them. The first two are usually really good, but after that, they're just too sweet. They do taste like cotton candy, which means they're SUPER sweet.
no subject
I'd be interested in trying them, though yeah, that sounds like they would obviously be extremely sweet, and I doubt I could deal with more than a handful of them.