Horror Movies Watched and Books Read (Feb 2010)

MOVIES

2/1 - Severed: Forest of the Dead (2006) **1/2
Tree loggers and activists turn into zombies due to an experiment gone wrong. Worth a look if you have time to kill.

2/3 - A Haunting in Connecticut (2009) ***
A solid horror movie with good emotions. I'm not exactly down with the final act, but there was a good build to it.

# Dollhouse, Season 2 (2009-2010) ****1/2
The majority of this season kicked ass and I'm pleasantly pleased with how it turned out. I feel like it the network would've the series alone from the beginning, this could have been an amazing series last more than two season. It would've worked even better on cable.

2/5 - They Wait (2007) **1/2
A decent flick about ghosts haunting a family in Shanghai.

2/7 - Jennifer's Body (2009) ***
People seem to be divided on this movie. They really liked it or hate it. I think the negativity is unjust. Sure it has some pitfalls, but overall this is a witty horror movie.

2/8 - Zombieland (2009) ****
An very funny and some what gory movie. I really, really enjoyed this one. Woody Harrelson kicked ass!

2/10 - Dead Wood (2007) *1/2
A group of young twenty year olds tangle with forest demons. I've seen this similar story done much better, many other times.

2/11 - Blame aka La Culpa (2006) ***
A decently creepy little tale about a woman who's may be haunted by her aborted fetus or at least by the guilt of having the procedure done.

2/12 - Saw VI (2009) ***
Another good to the Saw universe with some very cool and gory traps. Honestly though, isn't Jigsaw's story about completed?

2/13 - Halloween 2 (2009) *1/2
I like the way Rob Zombie writes dialog. But some of his other choices are mind boggling. I wasn't a fan of the remake, and like this one even less.

# Jekyll - (2007) ***
This British miniseries has unique and modern twist on the Jekyll & Hyde tale. It's definitely worth a look.

2/16 - The Chaos Experiment (2009) **1/2
A decent concept but the movie lacks anything to made it really stand out. It's not horrible, but you'll probably soon forget it. And is it just me, or does Val Kilmer still have moments where it seems like if he gave a shit he could better roles than these string of B movies?

2/19- Welcome to the Jungle (2007) *1/2
A very boring and talky take on classic Italian cannibal movies.

2/21 - Coming Soon (2008) ***
I'm usually not disappointed by horror movies I watch from Thailand. This one about a haunted movie is no exception.

2/22 - Dark Country (2009) **1/2
I wanted to like this movie, but the all too familiar plot makes it nothing better than average.

2/25 - Pandorum (2009) ***
A slightly above average sci fi/horror movie that starts out very strong but finishes a little weak.

2/27 - Dead Snow (2009) ****
Zombie Nazi attack a group of people in the Scandinavian mountains. Bloody, funny, and brings some new things to the table. The movie is a must see.

2/28 - Savage Harvest (1994) **
Director Eric Stanze has his fans. I admire his willingness to do whatever it takes to make a movie and I dont care about the low production values, but I have the same opinion about this movie as every one of his that I have seen. The story isn't bad, but horrible acting ruins it.


BOOKS

2012 by Whitley Strieber (incomplete)
Tried to get into the story, but about half way through gave up.

The Ignored by Bentley Little ****
I nearly quit this one after the first 120 pages, but I am glad that I didn't. Later you realize it all getting into the character's mindset before going full throttle into an amazing tale with many twists and turns.

Horror Movies Watched and Books Read (Jan 2010)

I'm gonna change my format a little bit this year and post a new one each month. And write a little something about each.

MOVIES

1/2 - In a Dark Place (2006) **
Interesting premise since it was based on the novel Turn of the Screw, but failed to but it all together. After Leelee Sobieski shrieked out "...the children" for about the hundredth time I started hitting the fast forward button.

1/3 - The Portal (2006) **1/2
This movie threw a bunch of strange shit at you, but basically a tribe of Satan worshipers are breeding women to bore the offspring of the Devil. I liked the atmosphere and the characters were decent.

1/4 - The Ghoul (1934) **1/2
An average flick with the great Boris Karloff who wants revenge on those who stole a talisman from him.

1/5 - The Forsaken (2001) **1/2
Suprisingly I never watched this entire flick before, only caught parts of it. Mildly enjoyable with a slightly different take on vampire lore. There are worse ways to veg out for 1.5 hours. Why a sequel was never made, I have no idea. Seems like it should have been. Probably would've been crap.

1/6 - Left Bank (2008) ***
The first part of this movie plays out like a slow moving drama, the second part gets weird and interesting, and the final part is all out head scratcher and mind warp.

1/7 - Sick Girl (2007) *1/2
Torture flick with a girl who is very messed up in the head. Heard a lot of promising things about the movie but ultimately I was just disappointed.

1/8 - New York Ripper (1982) **1/2
Some awesome gore from the great Lucio Fulci, but not even close to his best work. The quacky voice annoyed the hell out of me.

1/9 - Hellraiser VII: Deader (2004) **
Cool concept that basically falls flat. Needed more Cenobites.

1/10 - Albino Farm (2009) **
Yet another movie where city kids mess around with mutated mountain folk. Nothing too original. I dug Chirs Jericho as weird ass hillbilly though.

1/11 - Butterfly Effect: Revelations (2008) **1/2
Not a bad installment of the series and much better than the second. The ending however, I saw coming in the first act of the film.

1/12 - Vampire Killers (2009) ***
This remake of the Jess Franco horror-erotica film is similar in name and concept only. This one relays heavily on comedy and for the most part worked for me. Better than most remakes and is decent, brain dead fun.

1/13 - From Dusk Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1998) **
My biggest complaint with the movie is that the setting goes from night to seemingly mid-day and then the longest eclipse in history happens. WTF? That ridiculous shit knocked it down almost a star alone. And way too many vampires in bat form.

1/14 - From Duk Til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (1998) **1/2
This one dwelves more into the history of Pandomia. A decent watch.

1/20 - Dead Set (2008) **1/2
A nice idea with the characters of Big Brother type show in lock down mode after an unexplained zombie uprising. But there is nothing orignal here. In fact some scenes are straight up ripped from classic zombie movies. The acting saved the movie and made it watchable.

1/25 - Before the Fall (2008) ***
This movie from Spain deal with how a family deals with the fact a metor will crash into the Earth in the next 72 hours. More drama than anything, but the real horror here comes from what people do to each other in this situation.

1/26 - The Devil's Chair (2006) **1/2
A group of people in an abandoned asylum which holds a gateway for a demon...or is it all in their head instead? An alright flick.

1/28 - Wild Country (2005) *1/2
Teen girl has baby. Gives baby up for adaption. Goes on a hiking retreat with friends. They find a baby in a cave. Group gets hunted by a werewolf. Nothing worked for me in the movie.

1/29 - Spectre aka Regreso a Moira (2006) ***
An old man seems to be haunted by the ghost of a supposed witch he knew as a boy. A nice tale that slowly folds out onto the screen.



BOOKS

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin ***
The basic premise of the story is still intriguing but the novel has aged a bit since it was written in early 70's. About 1/3 of the way through it, I put it behind me and read as a master unfolded his tale.

Devil In the White City by Erik Larson
This historical novel reads like a fiction book. The storylines about how Chicago won the 1893 World's Fair was interesting, but how it crossed over with serial killer A.A. Holmes storyline is what kept me rivited. History or true crime buffs will really dig this book as would many horror fans.

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz ***
The fourth installment of the Od Thomas series seemed a bit of let down (again) as this time our hero must stop nukes from being delivered to US soil. I guess there's nothing really wrong with the book. But for me the series has gotten a little less interesting with each novel. Yet I am still fascinated by the main character. Not sure that I'll continue reading the series or not.

Cabal by Clive Barker ***
This short novel is the basis for the Nightbreed movie. Another fine outing from a master of horror.

Travels to San Diego

I always enjoy traveling to new place places. Fortunately my job enables me to visit many places that I might not normally get to. Unfortunately, there is usually little free time and end up seeing more of fancy hotel ballrooms and/or convention centers than the actual city.

In mid January I was able to head to San Diego. And I actually had a couple of nights with free time to check tout the Gaslamp Quarter...however due to the worst rain storms in over 25 years, I was stuck on the hotel property. I was able to partake a few restaurants for lunches, where I tried fish tacos for the first time, and walked around the ballpark.

I really dug the laid back vibe in this city. The melting pot of people were friendly and helpful. And as a single man, I'm not sure that ever seen so many beautiful women. It's easy to comprehend why people move out here. If it wasn't for the mass amount of people crammed into this space, I'd considered it some day. Hell, I still might.

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originally uploaded by smkimmel59.

Serial Novels: Anno Dracula

Kim Newman has created a series of books which is part horror and part revisionist history. He bases the series on this premise: Dracula and the people in the Bram Stoker novel were real and what would happened if Dracula actual won their battle. From there he starts changing history as humans and vampires live side by side through the 1900's with each book taking a critical point in time (turn of the century 1900, WWI, and 1959).

I find these fascinating reads as Newman weaves facts and fiction to create a unique universe with credibility and ease. Great stuff.


THE BOOKS
1. Anno Dracula


2. The Bloody Red Baron


3. Judgement of Tears (AKA Dracula Cha Cha Cha)

The MAC was burning

I was going to write about this when it happened, but got lazy.

My MacBook had been acting a little weird. Constantly thinking with the spinning wheel of color. It would do for a couple of hours and start overheating. It all started about a month after I installed Snow Leopard. So I uninstalled it and wiped the drive clean, putting back in it's orginal state from 3 years ago. Not a huge deal. But the power was still shaky. It would randomly not be able to charge or use electric power. I pinpointed it to a short in the power cable and dealt with it for a couple of days. On Christmas Eve, the darn thing wouldn't charge again. A messed with a bit and couldn't get it to work. Then I smelt the faint scent of burning. I yanked the power supply from the MacBook and picked it up. Scorching hot! And I finally found the source of the problem. It burned through (see pictures below).

So off I run to BestBuy. Not happy about having to go to retail store on Christmas Eve. I'm in the extremely busy store. I grab the new power supply for a mere $80 (OUCH! that more expensive then I thought) and head to the checkout line which winds to nearly the back of the store. Almost 40 minutes later I check out. It took me a shorter amount of time to get to the store and grab the power supply than it did to pay for it.

Now dont me wrong, I really enjoy my MacBook. But for a computer that costs as much as it did and only being 3 years old, there has been numerous things go wrong since the warranty expired. And most I haven't fixed because it costs too much money. And in all honesty, the computer has been well kept and not over used at all.
1. A thin layer of the surface, near the front edge has peeled away. Almost all the way down the front with the exception of around the mouse pad.
2. The CD/DVD drive went out. Well not entirely. I can play and burn DVD's but it wont read or burn CD's anymore. Dont know why.
3. The power supply burnt up after 3 years.
4. The Snow Leopard compatibility issue.
5. Battery died after 1.5 years

My bitch session is finished now. It'd would just be nice to get a computer, no matter what the cost, either Mac or PC that would hold up. So far, I replace PC's about every 3-4 years and the 3 year old MacBook seems to be falling apart.