A good, cozy-ish story is perfect for spoopy season. The entire time I was getting more and more invested in what I was hearing. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson follows a girl, Merricat, after most of her family has died. This obligatory shut-in hates everyone in the town except for her sister and her uncle, whom she is trying to remember to be nice to. The best part of this story is that Merricat is an unreliable narrator in the best way. I don’t know if it’s because she an actual child whose seeing the world in a different way, or she is mentally disturbed. Either way, it makes for a great read for the season, figuring out the mysteries of what is up with this family and town, from this classic author. An unsettling book for a purposefully unsettling season.
Tag: spoopy
New Feminist Horror Icon
I’m love true crime, like most people it seems. When Netflix releases something that seems akin to that, I usually jump right on it, especially now that’s Spoopy month. Now, while I now that it wasn’t advertised as a documentary, I was expecting something more. Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story was a horrific mess that seemed to want to be released into the world. Instead of investigating the just possible emotional and psychological damage leading to horrific crimes, this murderer, as the show claims, is turned into a sapphic, feminist icon. While humanizing someone is par for the course to try to understand a person that commits crimes, trying to celebrate them is a completely different thing entirely. Even in the show, there are flashforwards of another criminal who glorifies Borden because she was able to get away with her crimes as if that was a good thing instead of horrible. It could have just been a look at how sexism lead to an acquittal back then but won’t now. Instead, we see an unstable woman be put to death instead of getting the psychological help she needed. The show could have been a lot of things instead of the hot mess that it ended up being. It could be enjoyable if you completely turn off your brain but gets more and more awful the more you think about it. Turning a horrific woman into a icon and hero to women everywhere was disgusting use of everyone’s time.
Let’s Solve a Puzzle Pt 5
I think I’m going to make this a new tradition for Spoopy Month, at least until I finish the series. Will I only be watching the Saw now? Nope, because it is always Spoopy Month. Either way, I will continue this new tradition that I am just now making. Once I’m done with Saw, I’ll move on to another series and come back whenever a new Saw comes out. (I’ve been hearing rumors as of actually writing this, so I’ll wait and see.)
Now, back to the movie you are excited to see. As I’m sure you definitely remember from last year, I was not impressed with the previous film. It was all over the place, and I believe that characterizations were changed. Either way, we have a continuation of that shenanigans, and I think I enjoyed this one a lot more. It actually continued where I think it should have gone, and been more of a procedural drama, which is one of my favorite genres anyway. There was less focus on making the most gory scenes possible and more on the story. I am actually genuinely interested in the story again, rather than a suspicious interest, wondering if they could really pull this off with all the plot twists they are trying. I would love to say that there will continue to be a focus on the story and figuring out all of the new clues, but again, I’ve heard rumors. I have enjoyed the back-and-forth dynamic between the police department and Jigsaw, and would love to see them continue it. I unfortunately do not have my hopes up…
Let’s Solve a Puzzle Pt 4
Let me start by saying, “I am confusion.” I went into watching the fourth Saw movie, not expecting much. The third movie was a good enough ending in my opinion, and the story could have been done. But no, I am more confused about the story than I was before and putting more pieces together than the creators probably would have wanted. There is really no real way of describing the story without too many spoilers (if you know, you know). While this is the weakest movie in the franchise so far, my need for answers is overcoming my distaste for it.
The movie honestly starts immediately, and there is no time to gently get yourself ready. As soon as the opening title cards are over, you are in it. While I did like that the movie immediately started and got going, they did a bad job of interesting me in the different characters. The only thing that was really keeping me engaged was knowing that the story would have to get to a certain point and the reappearance of characters they did well to introduce before. While there were new puzzles, the main “puzzle” of the movie was the same as a previous one, with someone who should have known better. I was honestly rolling my eyes most of the time. While I’ll be watching the rest of this franchise, it is definitely to only answer questions and not because I can’t stop thinking about the story and trying to work out different clues or situations. Definitely not that.
Let’s Solve a Puzzle Pt 3
I’ve just finished watching the third Saw movie and am slightly confused. I am somewhat happy with the story, but there’s more… First, this movie is definitely not for the squeamish, as the body horror is very hard to stomach, and it should come with an epilepsy warning. Also, my theory from the last movie was both correct and wrong. I just knew there was something weird about the second movie, and I was smart enough to pick up on it even though I didn’t know what. It was somewhat explained toward the end. Also, this movie kind of pissed me off.
While this movie does include an escape room for someone to escape, I feel that this person is the worst. He stands there. Where people in the other movies were trying to figure out the puzzles or freaking out, this guy just stands there. In fact, there are no puzzles; he just has to do something and fast. In horror movies, I sometimes get mad when people do stupid things, but at least they are doing something. I have never been so mad at a horror movie “protagonist.” Can I even call him a protagonist? No one really is in these movies, except Kerry; she’s awesome.
The last thing that confuses me is that this movie feels like it is the perfect ending for the series, yet there are more movies. At this point, we have reached a suitable stopping point, especially as it appears to be shifting from a psychological thriller to a more gory horror. I’m going to watch the fourth movie to see if it’s even worth commenting on the rest series. I know it’s a classic, but at a certain point, too many sequels spoil the franchise.
Let’s Solve a Puzzle Pt 2
I’m back after watching the second movie in the Saw franchise, where instead of two people stuck in an escape room, there are seven. The puzzles were back and still blew my mind. I did get some of them, then there were others that were head scratchers, and I was still piecing everything together at the end. (Is it weird that I was slightly proud if I solved a puzzle before the characters? They technically have more time to figure things out than I do.) The other interesting thing was that there is a converging outside plot line that really kept the intensity high.
This movie was interesting in that it introduced a group dynamic to everything. Not only did they have to worry about solving the puzzles, but they also had to worry about others. While the puzzles were still surrounding human desperation, I’m not too sure that that’s entirely true. Probably just part of it. Connecting back to everything in the first movie, and all that we learned in this one, I’m suspicious of some of the motives. It will be interesting to see if my theories turn up with anything, or if it’s just the writers messing with our heads. I could have done with more of the type of body horror from the last movie, where you didn’t really see anything, you just knew it was happening because of the context and other character interactions. So, if you are squeamish, this probably isn’t the film for you.
Let’s Solve a Puzzle Pt 1
Happy Spoopy Month, everyone. In honor of the best month of the year, I have started my annual rewatch of the English dub of Ghost Stories, and more importantly for you, I’ve decided that I would begin to watch that famous series Saw, starting with the first one and then slowly working my way through the movies available to me. Spoopy Month is the perfect time to willingly terrify myself for the fun of it, so let me begin making my way through this classic series.
Even though this movie was made upwards of two decades ago, it is still beautiful, in a horrifying, hiding part of the screen with my hands, and needing to pause sometimes type of way. Watching it, I know why it is considered a classic. While it doesn’t evoke the stereotypical monster or supernatural horror vibes, I would definitely classify this as a psychological, ‘is this even real?’ horror. For those who don’t know, and without spoilers, Saw follows two guys in an escape room, and they’re not having fun. Everything is, unfortunately, at times, very grounded in reality as you delve into the depths of human desperation. At all times, I was wondering if there was another choice for characters to make. Some, yes. Others, no. I’m very interested in how the rest of the series unfolds, as it seems that the horror is not necessarily in the puzzles, but in the extent and desperation of the will to live. Also, as a Criminal Minds fan, I’m very interested in how the victims are decided. It feels like there should be more exploration of that and I can’t wait to see.
