#i so wanted these two in a movie together mike flanagan

[flanaganfilm]

Hi Mike! Just wondering about the wonderful Katie Parker. Since she’s been a part of the Flanaverse for a pretty long time, I was wondering how she joined Absentia and which of her roles in your work is YOUR favourite? Personally I can’t get over how good she was as Poppy.

Also just want to quickly say I’m so excited to see T’Nia again in Usher. Thank you and have a lovely day!!

I first met Katie back in - I want to say 2008? Somewhere in there. She was friends with my girlfriend at the time and soon we were friends too. She was an actor struggling to find footing in LA and used to come over for movie nights and crash on our couch, and as time went by I started to think of her as a sister. I was working full-time as an editor on reality TV shows and trying to get something started. I wrote Absentia as a project for my friends to star in, so Katie's role was custom tailored just for her. Same with Courtney, Dave, Morgan and Justin. We were all living in LA and had similar dreams, but were all struggling to pay the rent and this was a chance to make something together that might get noticed.

(Above: The first table read of ABSENTIA, sometime in 2010)

We had a blast making that little movie, and it actually did what we all hoped it would do - it kicked open some doors, and led to Oculus being picked up by Trevor Macy at Intrepid Pictures (who has produced everything I've made since).

Katie had a small cameo in Oculus, playing the phone store clerk who sells Brenton Thwaites his first cell phone after being released from a lifetime in a mental institution. The scene was sweet and Katie was great, but it wasn't in the final cut of the film. I think it may be available on the blu-ray but I'm not sure to be honest. Katie remained a great friend, but there weren't really roles in the following movies that were a perfect fit. When I got my first shot at making TV, though, I really wanted her to be in The Haunting of Hill House. She auditioned to play Joey, the recovering addict who befriends Luke. The studio wanted to go another way with the part, and so I decided to write the new character of Poppy Hill for Katie instead, and she absolutely crushed it. It was meant to be.

(Katie as Poppy Hill on the set of The Haunting of Hill House)

After that, she was kind enough to take a smaller role in a much bigger film, portraying Silent Sarey in Doctor Sleep.

(Katie signs autographs at the premiere of Doctor Sleep)

When it came time to make The Haunting of Bly Manor, I had a fun idea for Katie and my wife Kate to play the doomed sisters in one of our coolest episodes. It was exciting for Hill House fans to see them together, but it was really terrific for me to have so much trust in two actors who could make such a huge impact in one episode.

After Bly, Katie joined us for The Midnight Club, and has a wonderful role (and does some of her absolute best work) in the upcoming The Fall of the House of Usher. Just before those, though, she joined us at the Saturn Awards in LA, where we had an impromptu Absentia reunion with my sibling Jamie Flanagan and my dear friend Doug Jones, both of whom acted in that little movie all those years ago. It was really neat to see everyone in the same place again, and think back about how far we've come since those days filming in that pee-covered tunnel.

Katie is a phenomenal actor, and I was lucky enough to work with her at the very beginning of my career, and now five more time since. She's unique among the family of actors that I've accumulated over the years, in that she was there from the very beginning. We sat in a tiny apartment in Glendale dreaming of making movies, worrying about paying our rent, and trying to figure out how the hell to get where we wanted to go. I'm proud to know her, proud to collaborate her, and proud to call her family. I expect you'll see her in many, many more Intrepid productions for years to come.

[zannolin]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @beautyofsorrow, tagging @lordgrimwing @faebriel and anyone else who wants to do it!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

publicly associated with my account, 45. in total, including a couple i orphaned before i knew you could put them on anon, 84 i believe. 85 if you count the two chapters of that leakira zine i wrote that are up there somewhere. i could be off. but i forgot how to get to where it shows me the total number and i can't be bothered lol.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

438,464 baby. maybe 500k in 2024? who knows.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

ones 90% of you have never heard of, at this point. it fluctuates depending on whatever i'm getting ideas for, but actively at the moment, the mullverse (mostly beyonders), resident evil, and lockwood & co, national treasure (might be done with that tho, i've exhausted my must-writes). i have other stuff knocking around, like life is strange, mona lisa smile, mlp, some more shazam, bendy and the ink machine, a tlou fic...but who knows.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

ugh. 1. in this fearful fallen place (i will be your home) 2. welcome home, theseus 3. sanctuary 4. i'll carry the weight of you, i swear 5. eat you alive. it says a lot that only one of those is still publicly listed on my profile. even then i'm tempted to put it on anon. they're only my top kudos'd by virtue of being from a big fandom. definitely not my best. at all. even within that fandom. free me and my stats page.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

not all of them, but i make an effort when comments are thoughtful or especially brighten my day. it's easier now because writing for smaller very niche fandoms you don't tend to get a lot so i don't feel overwhelmed or anything, but man responding is hard sometimes. i want people to know they made me happy, though, when they do. so i try.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i mean there's that tododeku one where they both die brutally and were supposed to get married next week. there's also the batcat fic that i wrote solely for the purpose of killing bruce wayne (sorry). there's um. also the klance titanic (historical not titanic the movie) au i wrote ages ago. haha. yeah. anyway.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

all of them. hfdsjkhfs no i honestly couldn't tell you. i have a mike flanagan-ass idea of a happy ending these days. maybe three's a crowd? hell if i know.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i've had a couple instances of people harassing me over them but never like. "your fic is so bad i hate it die". so maybe?? i'm too obscure to be getting hate at this point lol. who out here is gonna read beyonders fic just to comment mean things.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i do not. i did try years ago. that notebook has since been put through the shredder and dumped into the recycling bin for good measure. (yes, it was that bad.)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

technically no but i've thought about it sometimes. they've all promptly fled my head though so just trust me on this one.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

gee i hope not. there's been a lot of suspicious similarities in some old cases but like. that literally does not matter to me anymore idc. it's not straight up theft in any case so not to my knowledge ig?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again not to my knowledge but i do have blanket permissions for that if anyone ever wanted to. it's cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

back in the 2010s my friend and i were writing a warriors fic together. she did one chapter, i did one, etc. i've had collaborative aus as well (cat's cradle and whatnot) but not a collaboratively written fic for any of them. me and tam were writing the coma au together but we're no longer in the fandom for that anymore, rest in peace coma au you were genuinely wonderful. i'm not opposed to the idea of collab fics but they always feel like a lot of work and i'm way way way too anxious to approach anyone about them.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

ah hell. i dunno. do i have to pick one?? like right in this moment i'd say locklyle and they've been here a hot minute (like. ten years almost) but i don't really have A Favorite I'd Choose Over Anyone Else.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

mm. penumbra anastasia au haunts me. i want it out of my wips folder. also wild geese is probably never getting finished ever. i do think i'll get split ends done eventually but that one's taking forever. as for ones not posted, well, rip the gospel tent au. i might try to convert it to a short story but lord. i don't know. and don't get me started on the final girl au or the empty grave possession au. throwing myself out a window. they'll never be done i'll never be free.

16. What are your writing strengths?

uh. i honestly don't know anymore. knowing exceedingly tedious canon details to the point where i can make all sorts of metaphors and allusions relevant to said canon? i really couldn't say. introspection i guess.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

yes. next question

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i have an overbearing anxiety that i will fuck it up somehow since i am a monolingual american loser. if i ever did need to i would definitely see if there's any native speakers willing to help translate or whatever bc i am not relying on google translate for that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

like liv, lord of the rings. i still have my first fanfic btw. it's written on tinkerbell notebook paper.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

it changes. if i were to be completely objective (or as close as i can get), completely removing my emotions on fandom from the equation, prob without anesthetic. because i think i constructed it just right. being a dirty little subjective, right now i think it's three's a crowd or swallowing jupiter or the swing of things. they're all wonderfully unhinged.

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

Give me all your thoughts on bly manor I love that show and I'd love to hear what you think!!

Augh, so first of all: I loved it! It made me cry so much, especially during the last episode. It broke my heart into a billion pieces and I loved that it did.

Going into it, all I really knew about it was that there's lesbians. I also did know that it was made by Mike Flanagan, who's stuff so far I've really enjoyed. Hill House also broke my heart so I was expecting more or less the same here.

I loved the spirits and how they were a symbolism for the trauma the characters faced. I especially really liked Dani and the look of her ex's ghost. Honestly everything with Dani was just incredibly done imo.

Also love how the show has such good character moments in between all the scary stuff. It really makes the tragedy so much more tragic. (The only thing I'll say is that I do think there should've been a bit more between Dani and Jamie before they got together. It felt a bit rushed imo, but not by like much, just think another scene or two would've helped).

I love Owen and want nothing bad to ever happen to him ever again.

Hannah being dead was so heartbreaking. She was so sweet and cool, and the episode where we find out she's dead also made me cry 10 billion times. Hannah was probably my favourite character overall in the show.

The kids were really well written and acted imo. Kids in movies can sometimes come across as too annoying, even when it's not intentional, but bly manor never had that problem.

Okay also just having lesbians in horror is something I always appreciate immensely. I feel like I've cried every time there's been good lesbian rep in a horror show or movie and I hope there's more to come in the future (genuinely have cried at this, hill house and fear street).

I watched the show a few months ago now, so I unfortunately can't tell you in like full detail my thoughts. I've forgotten some specific scenes and parts, but overall I loved the show. I'll probably rewatch it at some point in the future. I also definitely need to watch Midnight Mass as well.

[ky-ancom]

Ok, so, I want my Tumblr account to be more geared towards exploring my creativity.

I tried that with Twitter, I had a number of threads I put a good deal of thought into that if I put some more work into them would definitely qualify as a good groundwork for a video essay. But ultimately Twitter is not a good place for that, especially because it is really fecking hard to find your older tweets.

Besides, I highly doubt Twitter would be a place for the kind of creativity that sparked this particular post.

The short version is, for the first time in years, I wrote a poem. I was trying to get to bed the other day, and my thoughts turned to an old TTRPG character I used to play in a game that faded off a while back. And this poem came to me almost in its entirety as something he would have written.

A bit more background: the game was Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition (a great, if not incredibly complex system), it was a 1 on 1 game just the GM and myself as the sole PC, and it was set in the Marvel Universe, not the MCU mind you but some numbered universe (I forgot what number my best friend, the GM, gave it). My character was Olly Morgan, who started the game as an ordinary member of Midtown High School's senior class of 2019 (or 2020, I forget exactly) and he was on a friend group consisting of Junior Year students Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Jessica Jones, and Gwen Stacy. And he would go on to become a far left anti-fascist vigilante known as The Red Specter.

How exactly Oliver gained his "powers" is really a story for another post. But what's important as lead up to this poem is that he became bonded with an Onryo (a Japanese spirit of vengeance made most famous internationally by movies like The Grudge and The Ring), who was murdered by members of Hydra during WWII. And due to their shared desire to...render unto fascists the only thing a fascist deserves, the two of them wound up being a very effective duo (mechanically she was a very powerful custom built entity brought into combat by a summoning power on my character sheet, it essentially worked out that I had two character sheets and I would play both mechanically in combat, but in RP and cinematic moments she would be controlled as an NPC by the GM). To explain their situation in game, she would either remain invisible or take on a physical visage of her living form and pose as an exchange student staying with Olly. When they were out solving NYC's neo-nazi problem she adopted a "superheroine" persona of Shin Rei (the name was my friends idea insisting the character would become fascinated by American superheroes and anime after meeting Olly's friend Peter), and together they worked toward the ultimate goal of finding the member of Hydra that had murdered her so that her soul could finally be at rest. And in true Marvel Comics inspired fashion, the two eventually fell in love (my friend is a notorious shipper when it comes to fictional universes).

We never actually played through all of that story, but we did play through a number of flash forwards in The Red Specter's and Shin Rei's story. Including their final farewell after finally avenging her death.

I have only cried I think three or four times due to how moving a TTRPG game/session has gotten. This was one of them. Just thinking about their last day together knowing they would very likely never be together again still rips my heart out in a way very few things outside the works of Mike Flanagan ever have. My friend is really good at doing goofy AF stories, as you no doubt have glimpsed upon in this rambling post, but damn is she a master at knowing just how to hit her players right their cores when the scene calls for it.

And it was to that moment that my mind lingered back to the other day. Specifically in the days after his love's long delayed departure to the afterlife. We only played a scant handful of sessions that took place after this moment, but I knew that Olly would be in a very dark place afterwards for quite some time. And it was thinking about this that the following haiku series came to me, literally as if Olly were reciting it in my mind (apologies in advance if this is about to be as abysmal as Vogon poetry, I haven't written anything like this in YEARS).

For Keiko

Our hard won fights fade

Like the final winter snow

Melts in spring time

Spider lilies grow

Beside and on your grave stone

Marking your passing

Dearest faint spirit

Your memory follows me

Raining like confetti

Rest easy now love

The undiscovered country

Beckons to you now

You know that I would

Follow you beyond the mist

If the living could

Would that I could pass

The test lost Orpheus failed

Just to be with you

Instead I stretch out

My arms wide out in that rain

And tend the lilies

[awek-s-archived]

hewwo friend !! sorry to pop in wanting something, but i was wondering if you had any netflix recs ?? 🙈💞🎤 i’ve had a hard time finding anything to Watch nd figured you might have some ( if not, no worries !! !! i hope you’re having a lovely day / sleep🫶🍀✨💕 ) 😣💖 !!

hewo my lov! idk what country's netflix you use and what genres u watch but i will provide a list regardless :3c here are my netflix reqs <3

1408 (horror -- dude specialises in disproving the paranormal and visits room 1408 at a hotel with that intention. obviously doesn't go to plan or there would be no movie)

the crown (british history -- follows queen lizzie's reign)

echoes (mystery limited series -- about twin sisters who swap lives every year on their birthday, then one of them goes missing)

conversations with a killer tapes (true crime -- it's basically informative interviews with family, victims, detectives, and official releases of audio recordings of certain notorious serial killers)

a series of unfortunate events (comedy drama -- based on the books by lemony snicket!)

grace and frankie (comedy -- two old ladies who are rivals are brought together by their husbands who fall in love with each other and want to get married)

clique (thriller/mystery drama -- two childhood best friends grow up and attend uni together and one of them gets pulled in by an exclusive group of secretive students)

humans (sci fi -- a new world where highly-developed and human-like robots are used to take on labour from humanity, testing their impact and morals)

black mirror (sci fi -- anthology series about how different individuals are impacted by new cutting-edge technology)

black mirror: bandersnatch (sci fi -- as above but this is interactive! so the outcome depends on the choices you make throughout the episode)

burlesque (musical -- it's got cher and xtina and cam gigandet so <3 JFLKDSGJL anyway everyone should watch this movie, it's about a waitress dreaming to make it big as a singer/dancer and she does <3)

the serpent (crime drama -- it's about how the conman/murderer charles sobhraj was captured, but fully fictionalised)

you (psychological thriller -- i'm super partial to this because it's not necessarily 'good' but i've read the books as well and i find the entire project super entertaining. it's about a bookstore manager who meets a writer and develops an obsession with her)

creep & creep 2 (found footage psychological horror -- about an eccentric man who uses craigslist to hire videographers to record kind of a diary of his life at his remote cabin. the second movie differs slightly but same premise)

derry girls (teen comedy sitcom -- follows a group of northern irish teen girls and a british boy living in derry during the national conflict of the mid-90s)

fear street trilogy (horror -- based on the books by r. l. stine. about a teen lesbian couple and their friends fighting against the supernatural in their respective rival towns)

get out (horror -- a young black man finally meets the family of his white girlfriend and subsequently discovers shocking secrets about her entire town)

guillermo del toro's cabinet of curiosities (horror -- disturbing anthology series)

im sure there's more i'll think hard on it and let u know if u would like more!!!

i'm also planning on watching somebody and the bridge curse!! somebody is a kdrama about a serial killer who finds victims on dating apps and the bridge curse is a film about university students who test a local urban legend of a female ghost on a bridge (it reminds me of the teke teke urban legend so im excited for this in particular).

AND i want to suggest the flanaverse as well (basically series created by mike flanagan) bc they're all so beautiful, they're super heartbreaking horror series, immensely good though.

[charbear177]

7 Shows To Stream This Fall For A Cozy, Fun, Or Spooky Night In

It’s that time of year again when the weather has cooled and a night snuggled up on the couch sounds more appealing than ever. Maybe you want to enjoy a nice glass of wine, or something hot to drink or perhaps you are looking for viewing options on one of your many streaming services.

There are never-ending options of movies and series to watch if you have the time but if you want some help narrowing down where to start this fall, I have my picks for you. A few are family and others not so much, but all are entertaining and worth a watch. So here’s my list of shows to stream this fall.

7 Shows To Stream This Fall

Bodies

Four detectives in four different time periods of London find themselves investigating the same murder. - IMDB

You will be intrigued by the mystery and the how and why but you need to pay attention to keep track of timelines and investigations. Categorized as crime, drama, and history, Bodies, a limited series, is now streaming on Netflix.

The Fall of The House of Usher

To secure their fortune (and future) two ruthless siblings build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one. - IMDB

This Edgar Allan Poe-inspired series is dark, spooky, and sexy. With a strong supernatural element, each episode is named after and closely aligns with a Poe tale. For Poe fans, like myself, you will be intrigued by how each story is woven and connected to his classic work. Categorized as drama, horror, and mystery, you can watch all ten episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

The Morning Show

An inside look at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, exploring the unique challenges faced by the team. - IMDB

Season 3 just dropped on Apple TV and it does not disappoint. This show is binge-worthy, fun, and completely over the top in some of the best ways. The Morning Show is streaming now on Apple TV.

Goosebumps

A group of five high schoolers unleash supernatural forces upon their town. Now, they must work together in order to save it. - IMDB

Based on R.L. Steins work, this family-friendly spooky viewing. Categorized as adventure, comedy, and fantasy, Goosebumps can be watched on both Hulu and Disney Plus.

The Wheel of Time

Set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only some can access it, a woman named Moiraine crosses paths with five young men and women. This sparks a dangerous, world-spanning journey. Based on the book series by Robert Jordan. - IMDB

Season 2 recently premiered after a nearly two-year wait, and it was worth it. It is beautifully shot, and action-packed. We meet new characters, both heroes and villains, and learn more about the world created by Jordan. Seasons one and two are available to watch on Amazon Prime.

The Golden Bachelor

Follow a new kind of love for the golden years, when a hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. - IMDB

Yes, I know, this seems like an odd choice to be on this list but I just really enjoyed this show. It’s fun and sweet, and quite surprising. I highly recommend you give it a watch on Hulu.

The Midnight Club

The Midnight Club follows an octet of terminally ill teenage patients at Brightcliffe Hospice as they gather at midnight to share scary stories. - IMDB

Created by Mike Flanagan, the writer behind the Tha Haunting of Hill House and Black Mass. This is a dark show, for several reasons, and full of jump scares. You can watch all 10 episodes on Netflix.

I hope you enjoy my recommendations. Happy Fall watching!

[kenzie-ann27]

My Obnoxiously Long Analysis of Danny Torrance and Richie Tozier

I have thought about this particular analysis for a while, and this has been a really fun thing to write, but at the same time, I feel like I am missing a large part of the story because I am struggling to figure out why? I know these characters are connected in some way, that part is obvious, but I am unsure of the significance. Why are these two characters so similar yet so different? This isn’t a case of the Stephen King self-insert where every male lead is an author but grew up in a weird place and lost a family member that causes him great distress even in his adult life (looking at you, Bill Denbrough and Gordie LaChance). The case of these two characters is different, as their personalities and lives are so different as to not have them be carbon-copies of each other, but at the same time they share so many traits and they have this connection that is interesting to me (though not as interesting anymore, thank you so much, Mike Flanagan).

First, I will talk about the gifs, since I think that’s probably the best place to begin. That quote by Dick Hallorann is so, so interesting to me because it directly relates back to It. Towards the end of the book, Richie recalls a very distinct moment when Bill killed a mosquito that was on the back of Richie’s neck, and he talks a bit about it and how bugs were often drawn to them (though he uses pheromones as an example). Leeches are also mentioned quite descriptively in It as well, them being Patrick Hockstetter’s fear and what kills him in the book. The other gifs are mainly a visual comparison, as I think that the way those two moments were carried out was pretty interesting. I was going to make another visual comparison with the weird cloudy eye effect that both films utilize very well, but that part in It: Chapter Two with Richie does make me pretty uncomfortable. In both movies, essentially, characters’ eyes get clouded over when they get into someone else’s head: Danny Torrance does this to Rose the Hat, while It does it to Richie.

To start off, both Richie and Danny grew up as only children in a family where they had close relationships with their parents despite them having a hard time understanding their children. They both felt closer to their mothers, as their fathers were often busy with work; both Maggie and Wendy seemed to ensure that Richie and Danny grew up with strong moral values, and both of the children were affected greatly when their mothers died. As children, they are forced into an environment where they deal with a supernatural evil, though they are not in any real danger unlike other characters until the end of the story (when Jack chases Danny and when Richie and the other Losers fight It for the first time); all other times, they mainly see things that make them aware of the danger that is present. Notice that with Richie, unlike the other Losers, is not physically affected by It really at any point. This is very different from how It works with the others because that danger is still there even after the event has passed. The blood in Beverly’s bathroom is still there even after she leaves and goes back. But with Richie, in the park, he is able to make the danger go away, he puts those glasses back on and everything goes back to normal (the others physically run away from the danger, but Richie is psychologically running away from it by telling himself it isn’t real). Anyway, this event stays with them long after they’ve grown up and moved far away from the place where the trauma occurred: Richie moved from Maine to California (Chicago in the film) while Danny moved from Colorado to Florida (later to New Hampshire). They then, turn to drugs and/or alcohol, which is said in Doctor Sleep to sort of repress the ability to shine and keep those negative past memories at bay; Richie seems to lean more towards drugs than alcohol, and vice versa for Danny. When they are 40, they are drawn back to the place where they were mainly abused as children and are able to use their abilities to destroy the evil thing finally before returning back home to their pets and their co-workers that they have weirdly close relationships with and all is good. That's essentially their main stories, but I'm also going to talk about a few specific connections that I think are cool to see.

Both Danny and Richie use their hands as the main source of their shining abilities. This is not obvious with Richie in the movie, but it is for Danny with him and Tony. However! In the book, Richie's main goal in life as a child is to become- of all things- a ventriloquist. You know, a person that uses their hands a lot like how Danny does to make it look like Tony is more than just a voice. Speaking of voices, that's Richie's main thing. Who is to say all those voices aren't like Tony in that they're a personification of the shining? (more on this below) This is also a connection between the two because neither of them is particularly good at doing voices, they essentially still just sound like themselves; this doesn't mean that those voices don't represent other people, though, even if they do come out of Danny's and Richie's mouths. The whole hands thing also works for the other members of the Losers Club, with each of the Losers relying on their hands for their jobs, just like Danny, who, in Doctor Sleep, is mentioned as being a janitor before becoming an orderly at a hospice (I would classify him more as an unregistered nurse, as he does say he’s had medical training). Hands and arms in general play huge roles in these two stories, which I think sort of puts the nail in the coffin of this argument. As a child, Danny Torrance gets his arm broken by his father, which is the moment when he starts talking to his imaginary friend/personification of the shining, Tony. While nothing huge happens to Richie’s arms in the book or movie, I would go as far to say (I am aware this goes off-topic, but bear with me here) that in the hierarchy of who shines the brightest of the Losers, Eddie is up there since not only does he get his arm broken twice in the book, it’s also what causes him to die because he gets his good arm bitten off and he bleeds to death. Eddie in his final moments is so strange to me, and I think the reason why that is is that he physically cannot shine. His only arm left is broken. Of course, It would want to take that away from him because it’s aware that Eddie has the ability to kill it.

Both Danny and Richie rely on the guidance of an old (dead) friend to keep them on the correct path. For Danny, this is Dick Hallorann, as he appears in Doctor Sleep to guide Danny to return back to the hotel. For Richie, this is Stanley, as a memory of Stan keeps Richie from going back home.

Both Danny and Richie are able to form a connection with the dead/dying. For Richie, he's mostly connected to those who have already died, while Danny seems to help more with people who are dying. I mostly noticed this in It after realizing the voices of people (rather than original characters) Richie seems to do more often- Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, and Pancho Vanilla (based on Pancho Villa, the Mexican general)- are all people who have died before 1958. I like to imagine that this is just Richie flexing with his shining ability and him being able to form those connections with those people by taking their voices and making them his own. Notice that in the book, “voices” is usually capitalized, as if it represents something a lot more important than just a kid doing an impression.

Both Danny and Richie have confusing relationships with others, specifically their bosses. This is more a personal thing rather than a fact, but I have realized that these characters do have rather strange relationships with others. With Danny, he meets Billy after taking a bus to New Hampshire, and Billy gives him a job and a place to stay. They become fast friends, though I mainly attribute this to their shared ability to shine (yes, of course, I’m going to mention that Danny often sings along to YMCA while working). Danny eventually tells Billy about what’s going on with the missing kids, and Billy is just unusually calm with the situation and agrees to go with him to Idaho to find Bradley’s glove. With Richie, however, I would say the strange coworker comes in the form of Steve, who is his manager in both the book and the movie. Obviously, if you have never been to my blog before, I really like Steve. He’s a fun character to look at not only because of the way he interacts with Richie but because I am willing to bet that that’s who Richie ends up with (at least, in the movie, since that was the plan in the 2010 script). Like Danny with Billy, Richie wants to tell Steve about the crazy stuff that’s happening, if he remembered what happened at all. I know this isn’t really a good explanation for the comparison between Danny and Richie, but I feel like their relationships with Billy and Steve are just really interesting and something that stuck out to me in the books and the movies.

Of course, now, I feel like I need to justify all of this. I need to come up with some reason why these two characters are connected and why I felt the need to write all of this garbage. And for the longest time, I didn’t know why. I didn’t know why these two characters stick out so much in this universe.

And then I rewatched It: Chapter Two.

Richie sticks out the most in that movie because of the way he acts is so different from the others. He feels distant, almost. From the minute I see him on screen I am able to look at him and say “that’s Richie”, but at the same time he feels so different to me, as someone who has looked at this character for a long time to try and dissect him. In his opening scene, for one, unlike all of the others, Richie gets a moment on stage where he stares out blankly and he hears these voices, memories from his past (I don’t remember the exact things they said, but essentially they were the voices of himself, Stanley, Eddie, and Henry). That sticks out to me so much because he is the only character that that happens to, even after he drank a glass of bourbon like a minute beforehand (of course, this also can sort of be explained as the shining is dulled by alcohol, not always taken away completely). To be honest, all of the Losers tend to turn to alcohol when faced with stressful memories throughout the movie. But it wasn’t until later that I realized that Richie was seen differently by the Losers. In the Neibolt House, I feel like the Losers tend to somewhat overreact when it comes to Richie after being attacked by the spider-Stanley (like… when Eddie broke his arm, most of them were focused more on Pennywise rather than helping Eddie). And later after Eddie got stabbed, he looks to Richie as if Richie is going to help him.

This goes back to my hierarchy statement before, but essentially, what I’m getting at is that Richie shines the most. Like… Danny Torrance levels of shine. That’s why they are connected. It’s shown in Doctor Sleep that those who shine the most tend to connect to each other, so who’s to say that Danny didn’t know about Richie? In my hierarchy, by the way, I would say that the order of who shines the most would be: Richie, Stanley, Eddie, Beverly, Bill, Mike, and then Ben. Of course, this would bring up the issue of “if Richie shined the most, then why didn’t the Turtle talk to him instead of Bill?”, and that can just simply be put down to the fact that Bill is the leader. That came to be not because of his shining, but rather simply because of the way he looked; the other Losers (I believe it was either Eddie or Richie) mention that they look up to Bill, mainly because he is taller and stronger and more handsome. Why would the Turtle go to Richie for help with this when Richie has been running away from himself his whole life? Bill was the logical reason because he could lead them in a way that Richie never did.

Overall, I feel like both Richie and Danny have these super similar qualities that are hard to ignore. I love both of these characters, so writing this long piece of garbage was a lot of fun. It was also fun to rewatch these movies and see that there is just this big connection that is there for fans of the books, so I am dying to see where it goes. It feels like they are waiting for The Dark Tower to bring them together with the mentions of the Turtle and Ka and space and all of that, but I feel like a whole new story would be really interesting as well. Plus, you know, I am dying to see a teenaged Abra trying to explain to shining to Richie.

[themetaphorgirl]

happy Halloween!!!!!!

this was inspired by my five trips to Halloween Horror Nights this year (I miss it already. Especially the Wicked Growth house, it was so good.)

(also was anyone also taken aback by chapter 22 of It??? The first time I read the book it was a downloaded copy on my Kindle and I had to stop and Google things to make sure I was reading the real book and it wasn’t a prank)

(this is also crossposted to AO3 if you’d like to read it there, or leave a comment!)

—————

“Having fun?” James asked. 

Alex smiled and squeezed his hand, their fingers linked together. “Yeah, I am,” she said. “I’ll miss this next year when we’re in college.”

James glanced around at the busy town square, surrounded by booths selling hot chocolate and caramel apples and game stands displaying prizes. Everything was decorated with pumpkins and lit with strings of fairy lights. “Yeah, Auden’s Ridge always goes all out for the fall festival,” he said. “Maybe we can come back next year, just for the weekend.”

She smiled and squeezed his hand again. The town’s fall festival had always been one of her favorite experiences during her time at boarding school, but this year it wasn’t just the two of them and Dave. All nine of them had driven into town for the evening after the last class for the day, and now the younger kids were running ahead, talking loudly about where they wanted to go to next, and Dave and Emily were passing a bag of homemade taffy back and forth trying to guess which flavor was which. 

But before the kids could get too far, Hotch grabbed the hood of Spencer’s jacket and tugged him back gently. “Where are you going?” he asked. 

Spencer blinked. “To the haunted house,” he said.  

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Alex said. She glanced up at the facade of a decrepit mansion covered in cobwebs and crime scene tape. “It might be a little…much.”

“Oh, no, I think it’ll be fine,” Spencer said. He patted Alex’s arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”

“Spencer, are you sure?” James said. “Are you absolutely positive?” 

Spencer stamped his foot. “Yes!” he said. “I want to go! Everyone else is going!”

“I’m not going,” Alex said. “I’ve been before, it’s not my thing.”

“It’s not my thing either, you can stay out here with us,” Hotch offered. 

“I’d really like to go,” Spencer said, frowning. “You’re not telling anyone else to stay out here. I don't think that's very fair.”

“That’s because you’re the youngest, and you kind of get easily spooked,” Derek said. “And I don’t really want to get woken up because you’re having bad dreams. Remember when Emily made us watch Haunting of Hill House and you dreamed about the Bent Neck Lady for two weeks?”

Emily perked up. “There’s a new Mike Flanagan series on Netflix!” she said. “It’s called Midnight Mass and-“ Alex shook her head. “You guys are no fun.”

“That’s different,” Spencer explained patiently. “Watching a horror movie isn’t the same as walking through a haunted house.”

“Yeah, now everything is jumping out at you instead of just being on a screen,” Dave said dryly. “Sorry, passerotto, but I’m with Hotch and Alex on this one.”

“But I want to go!” Spencer protested. “I really do! Please?” He flung his arms around Alex’s waist. “Please, Alex? I promise I won’t be scared.”

Alex hesitated. “Spencer-“

“I love Halloween so much,” he said. “So much. And it’s my birthday.”

JJ snorted. “Your birthday was three days ago,” she said. 

“But now I’m ten,” Spencer said. “I mean actually ten. I think I’m old enough to go through an amateur haunted house. The production value will be mediocre at best. I don't think I'll get scared.”

“I don’t know-“ Alex hedged. 

Spencer turned to Hotch, his hazel eyes huge. “Please?” he said, grabbing his hand in both of his. “It’ll be so much fun. And I don’t want to be left out.”

“Oh no, look how cute he is,” Penelope said. “Hotch, avert your eyes. It’s impossible to say no when he’s trying to be cute. He’s like that cat in the Shrek movies.”

Hotch looked helplessly at Alex. “Fine,” she said. “Go ahead, Spence, have a good time.”

Spencer cheered. “Thank you!” he said. “You really don’t have to worry about me. I’ve read so much of Stephen King’s oeuvre. This won’t bother me at all.”

He ran off with Penelope and JJ, chattering happily. “I’ll go with them,” James said. "I can keep an eye on the baby."

“Oh, god, thank you,” Alex said. “We’ll be on one of the benches out here. Hopefully he'll have fun.”

James kissed her quickly before catching up to the rest of the group and disappearing into the rolling fog of special effects smoke. The theme from the Halloween moves blared from speakers hidden in the bushes, drowning out the chatter and shriek of the people walking into the house.

Alex and Hotch sat down on a bench close to the exit; Hotch stretched out his long gangly legs and tilted his head back as he stuck his hands in his hoodie pockets. “Halloween is the worst time to be an RA,” he said. “I swear all the boys on my floor have been determined to cause as much trouble as possible.”

"What kind of trouble?"

"Well, let's just say that Lincoln House is running perilously low on toilet paper, and I caught Anderson with a couple of rubber snakes and Gideon's favorite coffee cup. It didn't end well."

Alex patted his knee in sympathy. “That sucks,” she said. “And you’ve been going to all of those musical rehearsals on top of that. How’s that been going?”

Hotch slunk down a little farther. “I still don’t know how I ended up in the damn thing,” he said. “Also, you might be shocked by this, but I’m not much of a dancer.”

“I would have never guessed,” Alex laughed. “You know, you should have invited Haley with us.”

His ears turned red. “Uh…no, no, it’s fine,” he said. “She was probably busy.”

“You don’t know if you don’t ask,” Alex said. “She might have said yes.”

“Hey, why are you acting like some kind of relationship expert?” Hotch said. “How long have you and James been dating? Three days? After he’s been pining after you for three years?”

Alex poked him in the ribs. “Oh, shut up,” she said good naturedly. Hotch grinned and elbowed her back. “And it’s been four days.”

“Oh, well, that’s different then,” Hotch said. 

Alex laughed, but her smile quickly faded when she saw the next group on their way out of the haunted house. “Well, I don’t think that went as planned,” she said. 

The other kids were shrieking and laughing, but James was carrying Spencer on his hip. “So good news, everybody made it out alive,” he said. He tried to set Spencer down on Alex’s lap, but he clung to him. “Bad news, Spencer didn’t have a great time. Hey, Bug, it’s okay, I’m only letting go because I’m giving you to Alex.”

Spencer eased up on his death grip on James’s shoulders long enough for Alex to take him; he wrapped his arms around her neck and hid his face in her collarbone. “Oh, Spencer,” she sighed. “How bad was it?”

“I th-think I underestimated the situation,” he sobbed. Alex rubbed his back.

“He was doing pretty good until a Pennywise touched him, and then he was done,” James explained. 

“You know it was just somebody in a costume, right?” Dave said. 

“That’s not very helpful right now!” Spencer said, his voice muffled.

James ran his hand over Spencer’s hair. “I don’t blame you, kiddo, it would have freaked me out too when I was ten.”

Alex adjusted Spencer on her lap and pulled her coat to wrap around him; the air had dropped into the upper 50s and Spencer wasn’t adjusting well to the cold after living in Las Vegas his whole life. “Maybe you can try again next year,” Hotch said kindly. “When you’re eleven.”

“No, thank you,” he said. “I think I’m good.”

Emily crouched down next to them, a styrofoam cup in her hands. “I got you some hot chocolate, babe,” she said. “Think that’ll help?”

Spencer’s eyes lit up. “Yes, please,” he said, sitting up and taking the cup. Alex wiped a stray tear off his cheek with the pad of her thumb. “Coulrophobia is pretty common, you know.”

“You’re afraid of colors?” Emily guessed. 

“Fear of clowns,” Spencer said.  He took a sip of hot chocolate. “Did you know evil clowns have been used in literature as far back as the 19th century, but maybe even as early as the 14th?”

“He’s back to giving us fun facts, he’s feeling better,” JJ said. 

“The Joker from the DC comics and Pennywise from It really made the trope popular though,” Spencer said. He tilted his head. “I started reading It a while ago, but the book went missing before I finished it.” He looked down into his cup. “I think I’m okay with that after today.”

Alex covered Spencer’s ears. “I took it away before he could get to chapter twenty-two,” she whispered. 

“Oh, good call,” Emily said. 

Spencer pulled Alex’s hand away. “What did you say?” he said suspiciously. 

“Hey, if you finish your hot chocolate, we’ll go play some of the games, okay? See if we can win some prizes,” Hotch said quickly. “Or we’ll get you some candy.”

"And we can stop by my dad's booth, he's got those pumpkin cupcakes again," James added.

Spencer brightened. “Okay!” he said happily. 

[katierosefun]

somehow made it through february with all of its ups and downs, and so we’re here with another rec list! i didn’t consume as nearly as much media as i did in january because the semester is now in swing for me, but here’s the stuff i did manage to watch/listen to/read!

kdrama: 

all about my romance 

you know, i’m not the biggest fan of shows about politics, but . . . maybe i just kinda wanted to watch a fluffy rom-com and not think about much else, and so i watched all about my romance, which . . . tbh, isn’t exactly the best in rom-com genre, but shin ha kyun playing a fool in love with the idealistic and passionate representative no min young (lee min jung) was pretty cute. basically, this show is about two different politicians in different parties--kim soo young (shin ha kyun) being in what i think is meant to be the more conservative party, no min young being on the more liberal party. what’s interesting though is that kim soo young apparently used to be on the liberal party too before switching sides. of course, you wouldn’t think that these two would ever fall in love, but after some rather funny events, rep. kim falls in love with rep. no, and together, they do their best to keep a secret relationship while also pretending to be enemies in public. 

again, it’s probably not my favorite kdrama in the world, but it had its cute moments! not really sure if i would watch this again, but you know . . . shin ha kyun looked really good in this drama, so maybe watch it for that?

tv:

midnight mass 

even though i was spoiled for a good chunk of this show, i was still incredibly impressed with this story. mike flanagan truly knows how to combine horror with love (or maybe horror was always about love), and he’s really now my favorite director/creator because whoo boy-- 

but anyways, for those who somehow don’t know, this show is about a really sleepy, kinda downtrodden island town. and then the new priest comes to the town’s church: father paul (hamish linklater), who’s charismatic + influential and may or may not have his own agenda with the whole place. i don’t really want to spoil this show a whole ton, but it’s incredibly . . . powerful. granted, it’s very monologue-y (moreso than other of flanagan’s works), but given the atmosphere + the themes of the show, i feel like that was all warranted. it’s only 7 episodes, so it’s a pretty quick watch. it’s also not exactly . . . hm, even though it’s horror, there weren’t any jumpscares. i think this might actually be a good “horror” show for those who don’t really like horror--or it might be a good entrypoint into the genre. (lots of blood, maybe like one or two jump scares, so very few in comparison to other horror shows/works . . . and really, of course, rather beautiful. the last shot will always haunt me.)

movies:

i am easy to find 

this is an interesting short film--24 minutes long and unique in that it really is a very long music video of this album. i don’t really know how to describe it, except this is one of those short films where nothing happens but also everything happens. it’s just one woman living her whole life, from birth till death, and it really is something that made my head spin a little bit, because what is a life anyways? what makes a life? not surprised that this was directed by mike mills, the same man who directed one of my favorite movies of all time, beginners (2010), because these two pieces of his work are definitely in conversation with each other. (life, but now composed of so many little moments.) i don’t have much else to say except i think i’ll appreciate this short film more when i’m older, but right now, it was a quiet watch for when my brain was tired.

the present

this is a 40 minute samsung ad, but you know what? i’m not going to complain, because the whole cast was so cute, and i witnessed shin ha kyun being literally the cutest, and it was a funny feel-good short film that made me make a lot of “awww” sounds, so that’s all that matters. 

basically, this short film  is about a pair of young up-and-coming entrepreneurs oh ha neul (kim jun myon) and bo ra (kim seul gi), whose lives are temporarily interrupted by the sudden appearance of a man out of time (shin ha kyun). there’s not much more to it than that, but this short film was so cute, and it was def. made with the goal to encourage young entrepreneurs, and it made me so :’))

gerald’s game

. . . so this was a movie. that i watched. tbh, i was kinda watching it pretty fast and looking away from the most gruesome scenes (because there are gruesome scenes), so idk if i really watched the movie so much as just winced through it, but still, i think i appreciate this movie for how it so cleverly dug into dealing with trauma. also, it’s worth noting that gerald’s game, the novel by stephen king, was thought to be the book that couldn’t be adapted into a movie (easy to see why: very little change in scenery, very few characters, etc), but mike flanagan + carla gugino + bruce greenwood delivered. 

i kinda wish i liked this movie a bit more, bc it was clever, but also it made me so squeamish. basically, it’s about a married couple that go up to their lake house as a holiday (ie. fix their marriage). gerald (bruce greenwood), the husband, has a heart attack after chaining jessie (carla gugino) to the bed bc of a sex game . . . and so jessie’s stuck there with her dead husband and slowly goes mad bc . . . y’know, dehydration. also trauma. because of those super serious themes, major trigger warnings bc there’s quite . . . a lot of unsettling stuff here (gore, child molestation, etc). 

that said, i do appreciate the intense character-heavy focus on what trauma can do to a person, but also, there were some parts that i didn’t like. (specifically the weird serial killer subplot. because there’s a serial killer subplot and it doesn’t really do anything to the plot and i kinda wish it wasn’t there. but y’know, okay. i get it. also, this movie made me hate dogs. i didn’t think that was possible, but this movie really made me hate dogs.) so . . . idk, carla gugino + bruce greenwood are fantastic, and mike flagan’s fantastic in really depicting this story, but also, there’s . . . so many squicky things / elements to this story so i honestly wouldn’t watch it again, but i guess ? if you’re interested in flagan’s other stuff, then ? have fun ? (but also maybe be sure that uh . . . you don’t have anything in your stomach beforehand.)

spencer

i watched this movie on a really cloudy day, which i think was appropriate. it was just really . . . slow-moving and kind of chilling (it’s always cold) in the first 3/4 of the film, but i think it’s appropriate. this film is basically about princess diana (played by kristen stewart) and her christmas weekend, presumably the one that kind of defined for her to divorce prince charles. 

okay, so for starters . . . i didn’t really think i’d like this movie at first, in part because the beginning is pretty slow, but as i kept watching, i just found myself getting very slowly sucked in. there are some really amazing scenes in this movie (god . . . i can’t talk about them normally), and more than anything though, i just felt very sad about princess diana. that said, a really beautifully made film. the music and the writing and kristen stewart . . . everything just slowly comes together in this really phenomenal way, and when i tell you there are some excellent scenes in this movie--there are some genuinely excellent scenes in this movie (god, the dining room scene . . . the pearls . . . that whole sequence might have driven me insane). 

minari 

there are very few movies that genuinely makes me feel like a whole person, but minari made me feel like a whole person. something that was just so beautifully made and done with so much honesty and love and also made me feel like . . . a person. which is to say, korean-american. which is to say, there are very few american movies with korean american characters that actually makes me feel real (instead of a caricature or a stereotype). it’s not surprising that minari is one of those films, seeing that it’s made by lee isaac chung, himself being korean-american growing up in arkansas. 

god, i can’t talk about this movie without getting insanely personal, but basically: this movie is about a korean-american family moving out to arkansas to start a farm growing korean vegetables and fruits. the father, jacob (steven yeun), is optimistic, ready to start this new life. his wife monica (han ye ri (my BELOVED)) is much more anxious about this chapter, while their children anne (noel cho) and david (alan kim) take in this new environment like any other korean-american kid. (partial bewilderment, partial excitement, but also concern about their parents’ straining relationship in the face of this sudden shift in their lives.) in an effort to make this transition easier, monica’s mother (youn yuh jung) moves in, and the story really starts from there. 

everything about this movie is just excellent. the acting is amazing, the camerawork and the music is stellar, and the way this is very much a film about the korean-american experience is just . . . well, to be said simply, i’ve never seen a film that’s really got at the heart of being korean-american besides this one. i kind of can’t talk normally about this film because i’ll just get overwhelmed and lie down, but even if you’re not korean-american, i highly recommend this film, just because i think in general, it’s one of those insanely wonderful films that i think everyone and anyone should watch. it’s about a family, it’s about new beginnings, it’s about the hardship of new beginnings, it’s about dreams and failed dreams, it’s about a desire to have a better life, it’s about starting over and over again despite it all, it’s about what you do when you need to start over again . . . god. what a beautiful film.

the secret life of walter mitty 

i watched this movie for the first time in theaters when it came out. i was probably 12, maybe 13 years old, and back then, i didn’t really understand the entirety of the movie. i just thought that the music was cool, and i liked the settings, but that was about it. then i rewatched it when i was 13, 14 in a hotel room, and i remember i was sick that day, and i was feeling really alone, but i found myself falling in love a little more with this movie. 

i watched it again, now at 22, and i discovered that i couldn’t really move after the film, just because i felt really. emotional. basically, for those who don’t know, this movie is about this kinda ordinary guy named walter mitty (ben stiller). he seems to zone out every now and then, fantasizing all these dramatic and cool moments in his mundane life. then something happens at work, which leads him down this wild goose chase to find a guy that he’s been working with for the last 16 years. this goose chase leads him to all sorts of places: greenland, iceland, afghanistan . . . and yet while this film is very much about being brave and doing something stupid and impulsive, it’s also very much about finding something beautiful even in the quieter moments of your life. or like. what makes a life a life. 

music:

laurel hell by mitski

god. how do i describe how this album makes me feel? i was writing my first paper of the semester (my first paper of the last semester undergrad, no less) when this album came out, and i just kind of felt myself get swept away. as always, mitski really is this poetic force. her sounds and her lyrics are just so interesting to me in that all her songs are so short, but i still feel so full after listening to them, which i think is the sign of really good songwriting. jarring, cutting straight to the bone and yet able to fit so many complex emotions . . . god, that’s mitski. anyways. my favorite tracks are love me more and i guess, both of which absolutely wrecked me. also there’s nothing left for you. i cried a lot listening to there’s nothing left for you. and i guess. and love me more. just something about burn out, something about feeling like everyone’s moving on, and you’re moving on too, but kind of in this tired way. something about feeling thankful but also a bit sad because there’s some chapter ending or your life’s moving in a direction that you’ve predicted for a while now, but it’s finally becoming a reality and you don’t know what to do with all these feelings. 

even if things fall apart by lee seung yoon 

so, i knew lee seung yoon first from his fantastic song we are on the law school ost, and then the touching the giving tree from the our beloved summer ost, but when i came back home for break this month, my mom showed me a bunch of lee seung yoon’s videos from his time as a jtbc show contestant, where he made his big hit. my mom really loved his story (33 years old, singing not inside cafes, but outside them because cafes didn’t accept him . . . going on this show as one last attempt on his singing before finally calling it quits on his dream), and i found myself so pleasantly surprised by his voice and my personal connection to him as an artist (i was like “EOMMA I WAS APPARENTLY ALREADY LISTENING TO HIM?”). he’s so incredibly versatile, and this album of his really shows that. there’s something so . . . satisfying about his voice, and he’s able to touch different styles so well. he can do the teasing growl, the soulful mellow thingie (besties. ... i’m not a singer idk) . . . his songs are so sweepingly optimistic and soft and bright, despite his own hardships, and i think i would rather like to hear his music forever. a true gem. even if you don’t understand korean, i recommend giving his stuff a listen, especially his title song even if things fall apart. 

sleep well beast by the national

you know, i was familiar with some of the national’s songs, but i got properly into them this month, maybe because i watched i am easy to find (and they did the soundtrack for that short film). i was already familiar with some of the songs from sleep well beast, but i gave the whole album a real listen and just quietly fell in love with them. the national is just one of those bands where the lyrics and sounds weave into this really long, really beautiful poem, and i just found myself getting really lost in the music. there were lots of cloudy days this month, so i found myself sometimes just waking up and listening to them for hours during those days and nights. my favorite tracks include nobody else will be there and guilty party.

books: (because oh my god, i actually read a book this month? thank goodness, because i missed reading) 

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone 

i think someone reviewed this book as just poetry disguised as genre fiction, because that is exactly how i can describe this book. poetry, but disguised as genre fiction. something to do with a war in time and space. two different people, presumably women, who are apparently the best of the best and writing letters to one another from different sides of the war. 

i don’t really know how else to describe this book other than insane. but a brilliant, exciting insane. i am reading the letters between lovers, and what’s weird is that i think a lot of these kinds of books (the epistolary novel) can get boring rather quickly--or they can attempt to stuff in some kind of plot, although it doesn’t always work (at least not for me). 

but this book really gets away with it in that in these letters themselves, there’s not so much plot as there is just really witty, really lovely banter but also, somehow, miraculously, you can tell these characters are growing fonder and fonder for each other. their letters to one another are snappy, quick to the bone--and then you’ll read a line that’ll just make you sink and hold your breath because ah, that’s what it means to be truly in love with someone. and i dunno--i suppose i truly am a hopeless romantic, because i am and always will always find something so lovely and endearing about falling in love with someone’s voice before actually hearing it first. 

i don’t really have much more to say about this book other than that if you really want to read a book that’s relatively short (and this book is really short--only 200 pages!) and just full of incredibly lyrical writing, then i highly recommend this book. 

[starring-movies]

The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Episode 7 - The Two Faces, Part Two

Episode 7 of The Haunting of Bly Manor is mainly a continuation of Episode 3, which has the same name, as we explore more of Peter and Rebecca’s backstory and a lot more questions also start to get answered.

The episode starts as Dani has been tied up and is coming back into consciousness after Miles (possessed by Peter) hit her over the head at the end of Episode 6. As Peter is trying to set his plan in motion, for him and Rebecca to possess Miles and Flora’s bodies permanently, he suddenly gets thrown into a memory. Unlike Hannah, Rebecca and Flora who ‘dream-hop’ through many of their memories, Peter only ever gets put into one of his memories.

The memory that Peter repeatedly gets pulled into is the memory of a time when his mother came to visit him. Peter’s mother knocks on the door and when Peter lets her in, she tells him “I’m out” and that this time she’s out “forever”, because she says “I suppose they’d say I’m cured”. It’s never explicitly made clear where she’s “out” from, but it’s most likely that she’s been released from a mental institution for her failure to help her son when she knew that her husband was molesting him (which is something that is insinuated later in the episode).

Peter’s mother tells Peter that she needs money from him now that she’s been released and so she blackmails him, saying that she’ll show Henry his “juvenile records”, if he doesn’t give her any money.

The scene then moves to the memory which Rebecca has entered, where we find out that “priceless heirlooms” have been stolen from the manor and that Peter had been embezzling money from Henry. From this it becomes apparent that in Episode 5 when Hannah saw Peter stealing a necklace from Charlotte’s vanity, he was stealing it so that he could sell it and give the money to his other to keep her quiet. It seems that Peter was stealing the “priceless heirlooms”, such as the necklace, to give the money to his mother. However, the “quarter million pounds” that Peter embezzled from Henry most likely really was for the purpose that he said - so that he could run away to make a life in America with Rebecca and free himself from his mother’s blackmailing.

A small little detail; is that after Rebecca finds out that Peter is dead, we see her zoned out in one of Miles and Flora’s lessons. On the desk that Rebecca is sitting behind, there are some word blocks that spell out “redrum”, which is a nod to the 1980’s film ‘The Shining’. Mike Flanagan created The Haunting of Bly Manor and also directed the 2019 sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.

It’s interesting to note that in The Shining “redrum” spells “murder” backwards, and Rebecca ends up being murdered by Peter.

This is not the only reference to The Shining, as there was another one in Episode 1. When we see Dani leaving the hostel which she’s been staying at, as she’s shutting the door behind her, we can see that her room number was 217. In the original book of The Shining by Steven King, the haunted room that Jack Torrance enters is room 217 (but in the movie it’s room 237).

As well as these two instances, there is yet another reference to The Shining, also in Episode 1. When Miles and Flora are locking Dani in the cupboard, we get a shot of them just before the shut the door on her. The shot of Miles and Flora standing side by side with one another evokes the memorable shot of the twins in The Shining.

Rebecca tries to suggest to Peter that they still continue their previous plan to run off to America and tells him that she doesn’t mind if people think that she’s “some batty old witch who talks to thin air”. Peter tells her that they can’t do that because he “can’t leave Bly” and he “can’t get past the end of the drive”, but then he discovers that he can possess Rebecca’s body just like he can with Miles’. The two of them devise a plan where Peter will possess Rebecca’s body and he’ll try to leave while still in her body. They carry out the plan the next morning but as Rebecca runs to the boundary of the grounds, Peter is ejected from her body.

This brings up a question of confusion, as in Episode 9 Dani manages to leave Bly with The Lady in the Lake in partial possession of her body and neither of them were thrown out from Dani’s body. Since Dani is able to leave the grounds, the reason that Peter was pushed out of Rebecca’s body must be because he exited her body himself. As he was about to cross the boundary he probably came to the realisation that if he left while still in Rebecca’s body, then he and Rebecca will never be able to be properly together again and so he pulled himself out so that he could think of another way that they could be together. However it also could be that Dani stopped Viola’s gravity well when she invited Viola into herself (we see all the other ghosts are released when this happens in Episode 9), but this still wouldn’t explain Peter’s oddly quiet reaction when he gets pushed out of Rebecca’s body at the manor’s boundary.

This would also make sense of a lot of a few other things as well. It would make sense of the odd reaction that Peter gives after the failed attempt at escape, when Rebecca says “it didn’t work” - he doesn’t look particularly sad that it didn’t work, even though he was so enthusiastic to finally be able leave and be with Rebecca. It would also make sense of when Older Jamie says that “Peter had not been back to find her, he had left her at the boundary of Bly”. Peter disappears for so long because he’s trying to come up with a different plan for them to be able to be with one another.

After trying to leave the manor in Rebecca’ body doesn’t work, for whatever reason, Peter then comes back to Rebecca with his new plan. Peter explains that when he tries to take possession of Rebecca’s body, neither of them mean to, but he always tries to push her out and she always tries to push him out and so the possession is “temporary”. He tells her that there is a way that they can be together forever and able to touch each other but to do this he says he needs to be given permanent possession of her body and for this to happen she needs to invite him in and give him consent. However when he’s explaining this to Rebecca, Peter doesn’t explain that his grand plan for them to be together means that he’ll take over her body and they’ll only be together by being tucked away in a memory together.

After being given consent from Rebecca to have permanent control over her body, which he gets through the phrase “it’s you, it’s me, it’s us”, Peter carries out his plan. Rebecca gets tucked away “in a memory of them”, and although they are together and can touch one another, this is not what she wanted (nor is this what he really promised to her when he got her to give him her consent) and it’s not ideal for him either as he is now left in Rebecca’s body “here, alone”.

Since Peter is now alone in Rebecca’s body and he doesn’t want to continue to be alone, he decides that he’ll drown her body so that they’ll both become ghosts and they will both be together that way. We see Rebecca (possessed by Peter) crying as she walks into the lake, and then we see Peter crying in bed with Rebecca in the tucked away memory, which is how we know that Peter was in possession of Rebecca’s body when she drowned.

But then as the water starts to enter Rebecca’s body’s lungs, Peter leaves and Rebecca herself is forced back into control of her own body again. We see just what type of a person he is, as he leaves her on her own to feel the pain of the drowning. In a parallel to this, this shows us just how much Rebecca cares for Flora, as in Episode 9 she tells Flora that she’ll take over her body before she’s dragged into the lake and she’ll feel everything for her - a completely selfless action considering that she’s already had to endure the pain once.

Like Peter and Hannah, Rebecca immediately turns into a ghost and we see her mourning her body and the betrayal of her trust, as she stands by the side of the lake and cries. This explains to us why, when Rebecca was possessing Flora’s body, she always walked to the lake - because she sits by the lake and mourns her life.

This is the most prominent example of the love versus possession conversation that Dani and Jamie were having in Episode 3. Peter says that he loves Rebecca, but he displays no true love for her at all, to ask for her complete trust and consent and then to betray her by stealing her life. Peter is acting completely on selfishness and is treating Rebecca like a possession who he manipulate for his own personal benefit. To truly love someone is to want the absolute best for them, even if that comes at your own expense; but when Peter makes this decision he isn’t thinking about Rebecca at all, he’s only thinking about his own desires and loneliness.

After Peter drowns her body, Rebecca returns once more to the memory of when Peter gave her Charlotte’s fur coat. The memory was once a very happy one for Rebecca, but now it’s been tainted by Peter’s selfish actions. Rebecca now sees how Peter manipulated her as she says that “I didn’t agree”, she only agreed to them being together not for him to take her life from her.

Peter suddenly gets pulled back into the only memory that he gets pulled into, the memory of his mother coming to visit him. Peter says that from constantly having to return to this memory he feels “like I’m in hell” and his mother says “well, where else would you go”, stating that there is nowhere else that he could go after what he did to to Rebecca.

Peter then gets released from the memory he was being tucked away in and he returns to the attic, where Miles and Flora are in the process of freeing Dani. Peter stops Miles and Flora from letting Dani go and Rebecca returns from her dream hopping.

To try and convince Miles and Flora to give consent for their bodies to be possessed, Peter says that they’ll be able to go to their “forever house” where they’ll be with their parents forever. The “forever house” is a reference to The Haunting of Hill House where Olivia made blueprints of a “forever home” for the family to live in once they got enough money from flipping Hill House (but when Olivia dies, Hill House becomes the forever home). The “forever house/home” is something that is supposed to symbolise safety and family, however in both Hill House and Bly Manor this isn’t really the case. In Hill house the promise of the “forever home” that Olivia dreamt of was never fulfilled; and in Bly Manor the “forever house” that Peter is talking about is just for Miles and Flora to be permanently tucked away in false memories.

Despite Peter’s manipulation, he does know what love really looks like. He tells Miles that, when he’s tucked away in the “forever house” with his parents, he’ll be “with two people who love you so much, so much. That makes you the luckiest man in the world, the richest person, I wish I could be that rich”. Peter recognises that being in a safe place with two people who love you makes you the “richest person” and was something that he never got to experience himself. Not that this makes his behaviour acceptable, but it may from his childhood where Peter developed a distorted view of love and posession, and so this is why he manipulates others and treats them as his possessions - while Peter is supposed to be the conventional ‘villain’, this fleshing out of his past makes his character much more multifaceted and complex, as well as making his actions much less black and white. This added depth and complication is one of the things that makes Bly Manor and its characters so deeply flawed yet extremely relatable.

When Peter takes permanent possession of Miles’ body, when Miles gets up we can see that his right eye is still blue but his left eye is now brown. This is a sign that the person is no longer completely themselves anymore and we see the same thing happen to Dani’s eyes in Episode 9.

We then see Miles (possessed by Peter) walking with Hannah to the well, to try and get her to come to the realisation that she’s dead. He compares Hannah to the cartoon Wile E. Coyote, who would run off a cliff and just keep going, just as Hannah has died (run off the cliff) but she just keeps going and doesn’t become a proper ghost. Miles explains to Hannah that “when Wile E. Coyote looked down, then he’d fall, only when he looked down”, so he tells Hannah that she also needs to look down in order for her to come to terms with her situation and then she’ll also fall (become a ghost). The looking down that Miles wants Hannah to do is not just an actual looking down the well to see her corpse, but this is also a metaphorical looking down of her seeing the ‘big picture’ and for her to stop being in denial.

Hannah finally looks down the well and sees her corpse. She isn’t interrupted (like when Dani interrupted her doing this in Episode 1), but she’s given a proper moment to take in what she’s seeing, and so she is able to come to process and accept her death - just like Peter got to see and accept his body being dragged away by The Lady in the Lake; and just like Rebecca saw and mourned for her body by the side of the lake.

We then return to Flora and Dani in the attic and we find out that Rebecca only pretended to go along with Peter’s plan and possess Flora’s body. Rebecca tells Flora that “no one should ever need that much help”, showing us that she understands true, selfless love and to ask that much of someone is not caring for them at all. This also relates back to what Peter did to Rebecca, he should have never needed “that much help” from Rebecca as to take her entire life from her.

As well as this, it shows us how much Peter is like his mother. Peter’s mother asked too much of him and, in a way, ended up killing him by blackmailing him for money, which is just as he told her that “I hope you know that, late at night, that you killed your own son”. Peter is just as manipulative as his mother when he persuades Rebecca and Miles to trust him so that he can possess their bodies - needing to ask for “that much help” from a person is not love.

You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-

Episode 1 - The Great Good Place

Episode 2 - The Pupil

Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One

Episode 4 - The Way It Came

Episode 5 - Altar of the Dead

Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner

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[localhorrornerd]

31 Horror Movies for the Halloween Season

Well.. It’s a little bit over 31 bc of sequels and such but it’s a fun title for horror recs! For the record these are in no particular order in like what’s the best or anything! It’s just a list of horror movie recommendations that might get you in the Halloween mood. I tried not to have huge well-known movies on here, but I did throw in a few just because I love them and couldn’t resist. I did try to add small descriptions for each one, but given there’s like 31 movies on here, they are rather short. Either way, hopefully you’ll find one or a couple movies here that you’re interested in!

1. Trick ‘r Treat

A rather well-known one but is it really a list without Trick ‘r Treat? A fun horror anthology with four different stories that connect to each other in some way - including the fact they all take place on Halloween night! A fun one to actually watch on Halloween.

2. Hell House LLC

For the record there are two sequels (Hell House LLC 2: The Abaddon Hotel & Hell House LLC 3: Lake of Fire), however I have not seen either of them so can’t include them here, but if you want to watch them I’d say go check them out! Basically it’s a documentary style type film that follows what happened up to the days a horrible tragedy took place on the opening night of a haunted house attraction. No one knows exactly what actually went down, so the reason for the documentary is to attempt to figure out what truly happened that night.

3. Repo! The Genetic Opera

A horror musical! It’s set in a future where organ failure is extremely common so naturally a huge company comes along and is like “Okay you can have an organ transplant, but you have a huge payment plan and if you can’t pay then we’re just gonna kill you and take your organs back.” Also it has so many good songs would highly recommend if you haven’t seen it (and you can stomach a bit of gore).

4. The Devil’s Carnival & Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival

Another horror musical! And done by the same people who did Repo! For the record The Devil’s Carnival is only about an hour long but the sequel is a full length movie! A short quick explanation is that it’s set in Hell (unsurprisingly) and follows the people who end up there - also during this the Devil is planning an attack - but I’ll let you find out the rest if you haven’t seen it yet.

5. Ju-On and/or The Grudge (Any Film)

It’s my favorite horror franchise, so of course Ju-On was gonna end up on here! Whether it be the original Japanese films or the American remakes, it follows vengeful spirits who were murdered in their home and are taking revenge on anyone who enters.

6. Sinister & Sinister 2

Okay I know Sinister 2 is one not very well liked, but since I have seen it I decided I might as well include it (though I don’t really remember my thoughts on it it’s been a while). Video tapes that contain children murdering their families and a mysterious being that may be at the center of it is the basic plot for these movies.

7. Tragedy Girls

Basically you got two best friends who capture a serial killer because they themselves want to become serial killers! Don’t wanna say too much outside of that, as that is the basic plot concept honestly, but it’s a really fun movie.

8. The Final Girls

A girl dealing with the anniversary of her mother’s death ends up, with a small group of others, stuck in a horror movie that her mother actually starred in. Okay as much fun as this one is it does pull on the heart strings a bit I gotta admit. But it’s truly great and naturally has a feel of an older slasher movie.

9. You Might be the Killer

Another one that’s got that older slasher movie vibe as it takes place at a camp. One where the counselors are getting picked off one by one by a masked killer. Comes in our protagonist, who is calling his friend, who isn’t at the camp and also is a huge horror enthusiast, for help to figure out what to do and maybe figure out what’s going on/who the killer is.

10. Danur (aka Danur: I Can See Ghosts)

A young girl who just wants friends finds them in the form of three potentially paranormal ones. Though it seemingly being just a childhood thing, it actually becomes of great importance as she gets older. This movie also has a sequel, Danur 2: Maddah.

11. Fright Night

For the record I am talking about the remake here, as I have not seen the original, but if you would prefer to watch that one - or maybe even both - go for it! Basically, teen starts to believe his new neighbor is a vampire after more and more people go missing. Also David Tennant is there if you go with the remake so that’s always fun!

12. Tales of Halloween

Admittedly I wasn’t too into this film, but I know a lot of people like it! Not too much to say, it’s a horror anthology with 10 different segments that take place on Halloween! So you’re bound to find something you enjoy within it, whether it be the paranormal, witches, or even just dumb fun horror comedy antics.

13. The Tag-Along

Based on an urban legend from Taiwan, “The Little Girl in Red”, it focuses on a man and his girlfriend. Of which the man’s grandmother suddenly goes missing one day - eventually leading to him discovering clues of a potential unknown little girl who had began following his grandmother around. There are two sequels to this movie as well that I have not seen yet, that being The Tag-Along 2 & The Tag-Along: The Devil Fish.

14. Three... Extremes

Another anthology film that contains three separate stories, each one coming from a different East Asian country. It also has a prequel, Three (or 3... Extremes II in the U.S.), and a full length film made from one of the stories within it, Dumplings.

15. The Hallow

Really feel like the point of this movie is like ‘Don’t fuck with the woods’. As it basically focuses on a couple and their baby, who seems to be the target for the odd things happening to them that seems rather connected to the woods nearby.

16. The Devil’s Candy

A man moves with his family into a new home, and slowly begins to feel as though something is possessing him in a sense. That and also the potential fact his family is being targeted by the previous resident of the home.

17. Wake Wood

Apparently FMA did not teach us not to fuck with the dead enough, so here’s a movie about a grieving couple that lost their daughter who move into a town that holds the power to bring someone back from the dead for only 3 days. Unfortunately like FMA, things go horribly wrong (just not... in the same way as FMA).

18. The Cabin in the Woods

College students go out to a cabin in the woods in which things quickly take a turn for the worst. Seems simple enough, but it’s so much more complicated than that - however I won’t be sharing any of those details for those who haven’t watched it yet.

19. Prevenge

A pregnant woman who’s husband has recently passed away, believes that her unborn child wants her to track down and kill everyone who was involved in the accident. An extremely wild but honestly rather fun time.

20. You’re Next

Home invasion, baby! In which everything goes to hell for a family and their partners when masked killers start trying to kill everyone there. Though things take a turn quick and you start to wonder who is really the ones being hunted down here. (A fairly well known one, but I had to recommend it given one of my favorite characters in horror is in this movie)

21. Kuronezumi (aka Black Rat)

Not too much to say here basic plot wise. Six students receive texts from their dead classmate, they follow as the texts ask and go to the school at night, and then start getting targeted by a killer wearing a rat mask.

22. Lights Out

A family potentially being haunted by a creature that only appears when the lights go out? Plus a whole lot of family drama? Always fun truly! It’s also somewhat based off a viral short film of the same name that the director had made before he got to make it a full length film.

23. Absentia

Absolutely had to put a Mike Flanagan movie on here. One that focuses on a pregnant woman who’s started towards attempting to move on with her life after her husband disappeared seven years ago. However, as she takes a huge step towards doing so, something rather odd happens - which I’ll let you find out for yourself if you choose to watch it.

24. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Perhaps it’s because it’s the one Halloween movie without Michael Myers, or perhaps it’s because I was blanking out on movies I watched that aren’t extremely well-known, but I felt the need to add this one on here. It focuses on this man who is out to kill children on Halloween by using a line of Halloween masks. So basically another fun one to watch on Halloween!

25. The Barn

Teenagers go to a barn where there’s a supposed curse that can awaken Halloween-themed monsters on Halloween night. What could possibly go wrong? Honestly another one that would be a lot of fun to actually watch on Halloween.

26. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

A really fun documentary type film where it’s set in a world where iconic horror slashers are actually real! And a documentary crew are out to make a movie centered around Leslie Vernon, who wishes to go down in history as another one of the famous slashers. This one is really just *chef’s kiss* to me, very much recommend if you haven’t seen it.

27. Creep & Creep 2

Found footage type films in which we follow people who are hired by this rather concerning man to film him. That’s really all I can say unfortunately without trying to give away too much.

28. What We Do in the Shadows

Another documentary-style type movie! It tends to be more comedic than it is horror, but it follows  a group of vampires that live together! Sort of documenting their lives and how they survive day by day. Honestly it’s so ridiculous and hilarious, and I know many people have seen it by now but I have to recommend it none the less as it’s one of my favorites. Plus, it also has an equally hilarious tv series now that you can also give a watch!

29. The Banana Splits Movie

Who doesn’t want to see the Banana Splits as animatronics that start randomly slaughtering people after the news that their show is going to be cancelled? Honestly it’s really just a fun, ridiculous movie that isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Perhaps something to watch with friends to get in the mood for Halloween.

30. The Last Exorcism

Another one that has a sequel I have not seen: The Last Exorcism Part II. Another documentary style film (Sorry I added so many of these whoops), that follows a reverend who goes around performing fake exorcisms. Things start getting a bit more complicated though when lines start beginning to blur between what is real and what is fake while doing his current “exorcism” he was asked to perform.

31. V/H/S & V/H/S 2

There is also a third film, V/H/S: Viral, however I have not seen that one. Not too much to say here, they’re basically just an anthology of short horror films that are supposedly being shown from VHS tapes.

[amandaklwrites]

TV Series Review: The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Genre: Horror/Psychological Thriller

Rating: 10/10

TV Show Review:

Is it possible for me to give a million stars to something? No? Okay, I guess I will anyway.

Let me start this review by saying that I am in no way a horror movie person. The “worst thing” I have ever seen was CRIMSON PEAK, and even that I didn’t finish because the ending was too gory for me (I do know what happened, though). When I was a kid, Disney’s HAUNTED MANSION movie scared the living hell out of me, and now, it’s one of my favorites. So, for me to say that THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE was one of the best things I have ever watched says A. LOT.

I don’t even read horror books. I have found a few that I love—I’m looking at you Cat Winters and Simone St. James—and I’ve noticed, for me, it’s a certain type of horror. I have no care for the movies that are all about the jump scares or gory bullshit or serial killers chasing people around. To me, those stories have no substance (sorry to those fans, but that’s my personal opinion from what I’ve heard). I like the eerie, the idea that something is peering over your shoulder, and the play with darkness. I also like when stories are extremely character driven. A plot can be pretty terrible, but if I love the characters, then I don’t care if it lacks.

Which leads me into why I love this series. I love the characters, I love the vibe, I love the layers of interpretations.

For me, the characters are the best. I love the kids (Steven, Shirley, Theo, Luke and Nell), and the parents (Hugh and Olivia), and everyone else, but especially the family. I feel that they were all created so uniquely, with their own personalities and flaws and they all felt real. Like I was watching something real instead of scripted. Even how they respond to these events in their life are different (I have learned that Mike Flanagan specifically did it so each sibling represented a different stage of grief, which is SO BRILLIANT). And the strong relationship between them all, and their family unit with Hugh and Olivia as a strong couple of parents.

I loved how the story was told. That everything was unfolding with each episode, that pieces were pulled together with each siblings’ POV, and as everything started to ramp up. I like storytelling like this personally, as I don’t think it has to be told in a linear line. Sometimes, that’s not how telling your past works. So I think it reflects that idea well.

The haunting and ghosts were amazing. I loved the different kinds there were, and ones that seemed so new and original. I will say my personal favorite was the bowler hat guy, because not only is he rad, but he makes me think. Why is he so huge, why is he floating, and if he can float, why is his cane touching the ground? He doesn’t make sense, he’s a mix-match of so many things, and that’s what I love the most. That he isn’t like other ghosts I’ve heard about.

For me, I love how Mike Flanagan made the story about both ghosts and the psychological aspects of humanity. Without spoiling too much in this section, I think he made it a balance. Which is what I believe in. That there can be ghosts in this world, trapped in a house, but there is so much psychology behind it. That a house can be alive with the past and its own ghosts, but how you respond to it is up to you.

From here, I’m going to talk about some spoilery thoughts I have. So, if you haven’t seen the show and don’t want to be spoiled, please don’t continue. But if you have, or you don’t care about being spoiled, please do click on the “keep reading!”

Okay, so more on what I was trying to say with the whole ghost and psychology thing. For me, I’ve always believed that ghosts are real (I’ve lost count of how many experiences I have had, and I see ghosts all the time, and they seem to love following me around), so the idea of all these ghosts living in a house doesn’t seem unreal to me. I’ve been in places that feel like absolute rotting hell and I have to get out of there. I do believe that ghosts have a lingering bad energy and can seem evil. But to me, I don’t think ghosts possess or attack people (like, to kill them). I think at that point, there’s a psychology to it. Have you ever watched a horror movie and can’t sleep because you’re convinced there’s a ghost staring at your back? That’s how I think of it with a creepy house full of ghosts, you can be convinced that something will drive you mad. Which, for me, Flanagan created a good balance of both for this show, at least in my opinion. Because, we see all these ghosts, and after only a couple of instances, none of them attack anyone. They don’t hurt anybody. They’re just there. To them, the Crain family are the ghosts and what the devil are they doing there??

Which brings me around to Olivia. We all knew she would be brought up sometime, and her demise and descent into madness. I knew there was something with her from the very beginning (unfortunately), but I didn’t realize that she attempted to kill her two youngest kids, and actually did kill a little girl. I never even guessed it. But I knew she was losing her mind as more and more time went along. But I can see it. I mean, it does make some sense to a degree. Who isn’t scared that the world will tear apart their children, especially ones like Luke and Nell who are clearly caring and empaths? I’m an empath and I care so much sometimes that I feel like I get disappointed and hurt all the time. And I have heard my own mom talk about her concerns of me growing up that I will fall apart (and actually, I did at one point). So I 100% understand Olivia’s mindset. But I have the thought process that I don’t think the ghost of Poppy Hill controlled and manipulated her into killing her children. I personally feel like Olivia had mental illness stuff long before the house (I mean, the weird headaches??), and Poppy was a projection of those feelings and thoughts she was already having. I mean, we hadn’t even seen Poppy until Olivia was really thinking like that. I’m not saying that the ghost had no part in it, not at all. I think if you are unstable in the first place, and then you go to a place that seems to have this bad, lingering energy, your mind can spin out of control. I briefly mentioned that I have been in places that feel so haunted. I was deep inside a ship with my grandparents at one point, and I stood in one spot and I literally felt someone shove me back and then I couldn’t breathe. For like five seconds, I felt like I was losing my mind. I felt like I was dying and I wanted it to stop. (Turns out, someone had been crushed to death right where that had happened, which I found out afterward). So, I know what I’m talking about. In my opinion, that was Olivia’s case, since that was what had happened to me. I’ve also fell into such deep depression that my thoughts were erratic. So, somewhere along her time in this house, with her mind already in tatters, and listening to a maniac ghost who had been in an asylum, she lost it, she cracked. And that makes her so fascinating, doesn’t it?

I loved the kids. I loved all of them. But I do have to say, my personal favorite was Luke. He was so quiet and sincere, and he grew up and became a junkie. He was haunted by what happened in that house—and somehow, I think, he knew what his mother was trying to do to him and Nell. I know they were little and didn’t fully understand, but I think as you get older, you have to look back and think about it. This little girl with you had died after drinking tea. He may not totally realize it, but I think deep in his subconscious, he knew what happened. And how does someone live with that? Not only is he traumatized because of ghosts and his mother killing herself, but that haunting feeling? To me, that’s why his mother shows up as a ghost to him. Because he knows. But why I also connect with him is because I feel like we share similar personalities. Now, I never got into drugs, but there was a reason for that. It took me my whole life to avoid drugs constantly. Because, especially when my depression was bad in high school, I knew, knew, knew that if I had started playing with drugs, I would become an addict. I just knew it deep down inside of myself, so I stayed away from them. I consciously made a choice to not let that happen to myself. So, I think when I look at Luke, I see a version of myself that could have been. And I also understand it, even if I hadn’t done the drugs myself, if that makes sense? He cared so much that it broke him and that made me cry so much because I get it. I get it.

I’m a literature major, and in my classes, we learned that houses in stories, especially haunted ones, are huge metaphors. They represent the psyche. That’s why we find haunting houses so interesting in stories. So, to me, this house is both a physical entity that can be seen as evil, but it’s also more than that. Like Olivia had said, a house is like a body. It has its own energy, it collects memories, it sees more than any of us have ever had. So I like the idea of a haunted house collecting all these ghosts, and they’re living amongst them. Because isn’t that what hauntings are? Lingering memories, the past clawing after you? And a house perfectly represents that—how many memories, how many people and pasts has it collected over the years? I don’t see the house itself as evil, but all that has happened inside of it. I know the house and ghosts played a huge part of what happened, but we have to give Olivia some responsibility of what happened—she killed a girl and attempted to murder her own kids. I know she was mentally ill, but we can’t blame the ghosts and house itself. I mean, the kids are grown up and living away from the house, and they’re still haunted. So, it’s not only the house. It’s us. It’s humans with our grief and guilt and horror, and we’re remembering it all. But this house is important to them, because it’s where the ghosts reside, it’s where their mom—and then Nell—killed themselves. That’s their ghost.

I think where Flanagan wins is his complex characters, his complex themes and ideas. And that he creates an idea that has so many layers that anyone can interpret things differently. Like for me, I wonder how much the house and ghosts influence the characters and their actions, and vice versa. I think they’re meeting in the middle. And is Olivia evil or good as a ghost? To me, it seems still a bit deranged, because she wants her son to die and be with them. You would think that she would have let go of all that once she had died. But she’s free to choose, and that could be monstrous. But maybe she’s still living in her own hell because of the lingering ghosts and pasts in the house. Maybe you can never quite shake off your past, it’s always there, hanging out in the background.

It’s a complicated show, and that’s what I love about it. I watched it almost a week ago, and I’m still thinking about it. I’m still talking about it to my mom (who has only seen bits) and talking about the different layers and thoughts I have. I loved the sixth episode and how it was filmed in only five shots (who the hell does that???). I think this show is a work of genius, and Mike Flanagan needs all that credit.

This show is such an experience that I loved every single second of it. I want to watch it over and over to catch every little detail, to see if I experience something differently.

It makes me look a little longer at the ghosts that I see pass by me at work all the time now.

[bereaving]

Haha I definitely to that too 😅 I always know about the gays before I start to watch a new show, okay thats probably the only reason why I start them 😅 but here I have to say, I loved Hill House and so for me it was clear that I would watch Bly Manor too without even knowing anything about it. So I was even more happy to see a gay love story. But it was probably the first show I've started without knowing anything about the story or characters. And no other show was ever stucked in my head like this one. So its a relief to have people to talk to about it, cause there's a lot to talk about in general, about the whole story and all the little details. So I'm glad i

It is! I mean I loved her from the start and she's like all tough and she always knows what to say yk what I mean? At first glance she seems like a really outgoing person but she's not. She keeps isolating herself and only opens up to a few people, her chosen family. And she slowly opens up to Dani, too. That's so special in their relationship. Her character is just portrayed perfectly and I identify with Jamie so much and yeah it's just great to see how Amelia is bringing that to us as viewers. There are some movies with her coming up and I can't wait to see them 😍

Haha yeah I get that 😂 I've been thinking about it a lot. I mean she might have noticed all the signs but then I think about Jamie's character and idk maybe her fear of being let down again, from people she really cares about, would've been bigger than her desire for love? She's definitely good at reading people so what if she would know that there's something bothering Dani (like seeing the ghost of her ex) and she wouldn't want to put much pressure on her by making a move on her? To not like scare her away? And tbh I'd never thought that Dani would be the one to show Jamie she likes her 😇 it was so bold and I was like shocked 😅👌

I'm so glad to hear that actually. It is for me too. I'm really glad I've found Tumblr and all these amazing people on here. It's just such a great place to make new friends and also finding new shows (with gays) 😅 I'm being honest, I'm obsessed with these two, too. Cause not only do I love both of the actresses but I also love how their relationship is portrayed and how Amelia and Victoria bring them to life. I mean, their chemistry was off the charts 😍 it's so amazing to watch, not thinking of how the ending completely destroyed me, cause I'm still recovering from that 😪

“ I always know about the gays before I start to watch a new show, okay that’s probably the only reason why I start them 😅” Anon, I feel and relate to this with every fiber of my being. More answer below the cut because this got long, oh my god. I apologize for my tendency to ramble.

Horror and supernatural genres are really non-starters for me. When Hill House first came out, a lot of my friends were talking about it and praising it, but that didn’t really intrigue me, cause I was very much on the “Horror? Nah” camp. What piqued my curiosity with Bly seeing this set on my dashboard, and then this one too. Safe to say I was a goner. IDK how common it is, but I’m on a completely opposite train of having watched Bly first before I saw Hill House.

Jamie is honestly like the cure to toxicity I never knew I needed. So many characters in tv shows or movies that I’ve seen have been on a similar road with her in terms of having a traumatic childhood and a rough life prior to us knowing her. Most of them all would take the “I had a shit life so I will be Grumpy™️ all the time and treat everyone like crap.” They become dicks. And I embrace them anyway because the background I’ve been given -or the handful of times when they don’t act like an absolute wanker- have made me excuse their shitty behavior and dismiss their awfulness. It’s not until Jamie comes along that I properly paused and said, “Wait... hang on a minute.” You get the notion that she’s acting all chill and casual, she tells it like it is, she’s patient towards everyone but especially to Dani, and then... her monologue happened. And that fully made me realize that: 1). I love her with my whole heart, and 2). characters don’t have to be dicks to be interesting. Mind=blown. Seeing her arc from this person who’s kinda in the background, and then slowly approached a more central and integral role to the storyline is really like seeing a flower bloom. 

There is definitely that possibility, in hypothetically thinking about Jamie making the first move, that her fear of disappointment and heartbreak could stop her from taking the first step, or holding herself back because she knows Dani’s got issues that she needs to resolve and Jamie doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her. There are always expectations when it comes to these things, so to put it off or just not do it altogether, no matter what the reason is, is understandable.  That being said, if we’re still on this Jamie Making Her First Move train, I imagine that once she’s got a hint that Dani is ready, or that Dani wants her to, she’ll either take it straight away or she’d go, “Does this mean what I think it means?” first, just to assure herself.

Dani is BOLD. Like a font 😆 She is smol and fierce when it comes to what she wants and who she wants, and it’s so refreshing to see! When she reached out for Jamie’s hand I was full on squealing into my pillow, and when Jamie turned and said, “Who the hell knew?” I was on the floor. I fucking lost it. I mean I knew it was coming... but I lost it anyway. It was fucking awesome.

Bly (and to an extent, Mike Flanagan) has changed the course of my 2020, and I know that can come off as an exaggeration, but it well and truly did. The ending has for sure destroyed me, but I’m one of the people who actually find enjoyment in seeing a good tragedy unfold on screen. It was fucking brutal; the way you know where Jamie and Dani are inevitably going, and it pains me to no end when we finally see it unfold, but it brings me great comfort and satisfaction, too. It was a story well told. More than well told - masterfully told. When I finally started Hill House, the shock that I had that Victoria is the one who played Nell AND Dani did not go away until episode 5, and by the time I finished the episode, I lost it all over again. She really is Duchess of Microexpressions, and the way she can imbue her performances with such distinct physicalities is a goddamn marvel. It’s been... how long now since I finished Bly and Hill House, and Dani and Nell are still in my head. I think about Dani, and I think about Nell, and every idle thought I have would often lead me back to them. I’m excited to see what Amelia has in store in terms of her career. If this means I have to follow her into the horror path... I suspect I would, tbh. Her and Victoria can make me watch just about anything (except Netflix’s You). I would also not oppose to them being back on The Haunting series, or play together on screen again either with similar or different dynamics to Bly.

[karazetian]

The Haunting of Hill House and Lake Mungo

This doesn’t have anything to do with my blog but here I go.

I need validation for this comparison. 

I just watched that movie on the recommendation of Chris Stuckmann and it’s really good. I don’t know how famous the movie is because I don’t think they even released it in my country, so I could be underestimating the amount of people who have watched it. 

But I highly recommend watching it without reading the sypnosis (you should watch his video tho, he explains it better than I ever could), it’s really enjoyable and I think it has only one of what could be considered a jumpscare, if you are a scaredy cat like me. (It’s just one and it’s not really a jumpscare, it’s just like a noise that you may or may not be expecting). 

Ok, but what I wanted to talk about is that it reminded me a lot of The Haunting of Hill House (HH), especially the episodes 5 and 6. 

I just want to put together the images that reminded me of Hill House because, if you’ve seen the series, I would say Mike Flanagan could have gotten inspired by Lake Mungo and if someone knows if that’s the case, please let me know. 

Without further ado, these are the two images. Although I’m putting a spoiler warning I don’t really think they are spoilers but if you decide to watch the movie, the less you know, the better. 

*Spoilers ahead, do not see them if you wanna watch either of them, especially LM*

On the other hand, if you have watched both I dare you to tell me they are not the exact same picture: 

If anyone reading this has watched Hill House, correct me on this, but I think that’s the scene where Nell repeats that she was right there but nobody could see her (I don’t know if she repeats it exactly or if that dialogue was said moments before) but holly shmucks, it made me feel the same way.

Tell me they are not the same, I dare you, I dare you, darn it. 

This excites me so much because that was my favorite scene from HH and watching something so similar (bare in mind Lake Mungo came out in 2008) made me feel so sad and happy at the same time. 

Ok, thanks. Please let me know what you think. 

[beyond-the-yellowbrickroad]

Movies Watched in 2019 - Filmes assistidos em 2019 (part two / segunda parte)

111. About a Boy (2002) Directed by Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz

I liked it a lot! The Kid is amazing and just imagine my face when I found out he was Nicholas Hoult…

112. Hotel Mumbai (2018) Directed by Anthony Maras

It’s a very heavy movie to watch, even more because is based in a real life history… the amazing cast helps to make it even more realistic.

113. Toy Story 4 (2019) Directed by Josh Cooley

I’m angry and very disappointed. It may sound childish of me because “people change” and “leave our lives” but was that really necessary? I think NOT!

114. Widows (2018) Directed by Steve McQueen

I didn’t like it that much but it was probably my fault… I was expecting something more like Ocean’s 8, but it’s completely different from that. Anyway, the cast is great.

115. Final Destination (2000) Directed by James Wong

116. The Final Destination (2009) Directed by David R. Ellis

117. Final Destination 5 (2011) Directed by Steven Quale

So I re-watched all of the “Final Destination” Series at once, and I had the most fun!

I had already seen de second and the third one when I was little (I was about 6 or 7, grown ups were crazy in the early 2000′s) but I had never seen the others and, for my surprise, I loved almost all of them! (I really don’t like the fourth one and I rather pretend it doesn’t exist)

The second one is still my favorite, but the others are as crazy and fun! I LOVED IT!

AND THE ENDING OF THE FIFTH MOVIE, OMG, I WAS NOT READY!!!

118. Liar Liar (1997) Directed by Tom Shadyac

Jim Carrey making funny faces for no reason for 86 minutes straight

119. John Wick (2014) Directed by Chad Stahelski

120. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) Directed by Chad Stahelski

121. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) Directed by Chad Stahelski

So I also watched all the “John Wick” movies all at once and all I can say is: it’s really great to see treined assassings kill people to revenge their dogs and to see Keanu Reeves being amazing, sexy AND kicking other people’s asses.

122. The Perfection (2018) Directed by Richard Shepard

I saw this weeks ago and I still am absolutely shocked with everything that happened in this movie

123. Us (2019) Directed by Jordan Peele

Literally, a masterpiece of horror and comedy. The cast it’s incredible!

124. The Lion King (2019) Directed by Jon Favreau

Nice, but… it’s the same as the original, but more… dull. Impossible not to have fun though, because it’s the same movie as the original.

125. Long Shot (2019) Directed by Jonathan Levine

Now I really want to go to a club with Charlize!!

126. The Angel (2018) ‘El Ángel’ Directed by Luis Ortega

Beautiful photography, and the cast is really great! The music is also incredible.

127. Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015) Directed by Michael Showalter

It’s a nice reminder that everyone has it’s own time for doing things… sometimes you star things eary and sometimes, other things happen in life before others, and that OK! I loved it!

128. The Lake House (2006) Directed by Alejandro Agresti

It’s romantic, well done and super interesting! Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock looked so good together! I really loved this sci-fi love story.

129. Pride & Prejudice (2005) Directed by Joe Wright

Honestly, everything is absolutely pefect in this movie… like when Mr. Darcy always look’s like he’s about to throw up everytime Lizzie is around, how Mr. Bingley is an absolutely sunshine, how Jane it’s his perfect match, how Lizzie is perfecly sassy and smart… I, obviously, and I can not stress this enough: THE HAND FLEX!!! (and when Mr. Darcy cofesses his eternal love to Lizzie in the rain and them they fight and them they almost kiss… AMAZING CINEMA!)

I loved the movie and I can’t wait to finally find time to read the book too…

130. Creep (2014) Directed by Patrick Brice

131.  Creep 2 (2017) Directed by Patrick Brice

Both weird movies, but the first one is more amazing because you spend more than a half of it not knowing what it’s happening.

132. Vox Lux (2018) Directed by Brady Corbet

Natalie Portman is amazing and this movie is also weird.

133. Austenland (2013) Directed by Jerusha Hess

A thriling saga to my Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen obcession…

So, the fake Mr. Darcy (Mr. Noble) looks like young Tom Hiddleston so now I have a huge crush on him.

Also, I think it’s a very fun movie and I had a good time.  

134. Good Sam (2019) Directed by Kate Miles Melville

Fun, I guess… honestly, the romance was unecessary.

135. Almost Famous (2000) Directed by Cameron Crowe

The bus scene when they all are down and then suddenly starts singing to “Tiny Dancer”… The most beautiful thing I saw in my life.

136. The Losers (2010) Directed by Sylvain White

It’s a very fun movie!

But I have an observation: It just don’t sound truthful that people would make fun of a hot, nerdy, super uncle, not being that good with girls Chris Evans… really, he is absolutely hot and cute in this movie, it just not make sense!

137. Sing (2016) Directed by Garth Jennings

I watched this because of Taron Egerton singing “I’m Still Standing”, but I loved it for so much more!!!

138. Candy Jar (2018) Directed by Ben Shelton

Fun for spending the time.

139. The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) Directed by Gideon Raff

Nice movie and great cast!

(also, I know thi isn’t the point but Chris Evans is beautiful in this movie to)

140. The Jane Austen Book Club (2007) Directed by Robin Swicord

I loved this so much, but I also feel kind of sad because I don’t have friends to make a Jane Austen book club with me and also I will never get married with nerdy and cute Hugh Dancy.

141. The Hustle (2019) Directed by Chris Addison

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson deserved better!

142. The Sun Is Also a Star (2019) Directed by Ry Russo-Young

I don’t want to be mean but, this was horrible!

143. Descendants 3 (2019) Directed by Kenny Ortega

This movie was already going to be very emotional because is the last one of the trilogy, but the recent evens with the super talented actor Cameron Boyce, it was twice as emotional... I cryed a lot.

Also, the movie is increadible in every way: the songs, the dancing, the characters, the cast... I loved it!

144. Brightburn (2019) Directed by David Yarovesky

Well, that was a disaster...

145. Parasite (2019) ‘기생충’ Directed by Bong Joon Ho

Okay, so this movie... there’s so much to talk about this movie...but I don’t want to spoil it... BUT,  everything is absolutely PERFECT! OMG! I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH!

146. Otherhood (2019) Directed by Cindy Chupack

Great cast, fun to watch!

147. The Craft (1996) Directed by Andrew Fleming

ICONIC!

148. Wild Child (2008) Directed by Nick Moore

EMMA ROBERTS: I’m sorry for every time that I sayd that you were not a great actress. You are, and this movie is a masterpiece.

149. Mandy (2018) Directed by Panos Cosmatos

That was a crazy ride and I LOVED IT! Nick Cage it’s amazing in this and I really love this scrypt.

150. Falling Inn Love (2019) Directed by Roger Kumble

This couple is so beautiful and I really wish they could date me as well.

151. Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) Directed by Marc Lawrence

I did not like the movie that much but the cast is nice, so is not that bad to wach.

152. Bacurau (2019) Directed by Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho

This was, honestly, the best thing I saw the entire year. It made so happy and proud of my own culture, and was so increadible to watch, with a great cast and characters that are truly amazing... and as if all of this wasn’t enough, the movie (as a coincidence) talks direcly with Brazil’s currently politic scene. 

When the movie was over, I felt like crying of happines... I so proud o f brazilian cinema and how it gets better and bigger each year!!  

PURE PERFECTION. 

153. Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019) Directed by Scott Aukerman

There was scenes that I really found funny and there were times that I was just confused... but I liked it.

154. Last Holiday (2006) Directed by Wayne Wang

QUEEN LATIFAH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, PLEASE BE MY FRIEND!!

Honestly, this movie is everything a romcom should be... PERFECT! 

155. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) Directed by Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston

I’m absolutely angry with the fact that Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in the same movie and they even looked at each other! CRAZY THING RIGHT?

156. Rumor Has It… (2005) Directed by Rob Reiner

Just imagine a world were Jenifer Aniston and Mark Ruffalo are a couple... 

The movie was SO WEIRD!!! (but good) 

157. It Chapter Two (2019) Directed by Andy Muschietti

The first one still is my favorite, BUT this is so great... I’m not even going to begin to write about the cast, ‘cause everyone knows it’s absolutely PERFECT, but really, BILL HADER GUYS! JUST, AMAZING.

Anyway, I did not got even a little scared, but who cares, it’s a great movie.

Also, the scene were Bill Skarsgård  show up without the Pennywise makeup... his acting was SO GREAT!

 158. Midsommar (2019) Directed by Ari Aster

Today I saw someone describe this movie as “a bunch of white people killing other people and dancing in circles” and honestly, this is the perfect description for this.

159. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019) Directed by Beyoncé Knowles

i CAN’T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE FEELINGS I FELT SEEING THIS! This woman is beautiful, super talented and a genius! 

YOU JUST MIGHT BE A BEYONCÉ IN THE MAKING!! 

160. Frozen (2010) Directed by Adam Green

HORRIBLE! OH MY GOD! I FELT SO BAD WATCHING THIS, IT WAS TERRIFYING! OMG!

161. Hush (2016) Directed by Mike Flanagan

I NEVER FELT SO UNCONFORTABLE IN MY LIFE! Truly a good idea for a scary movie and a very well executed one to! Loved it!

162. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) Directed by Vince Gilligan

The perfect ending for one of the best suporting characters on a TV Series.

163. Little Monsters (2019) Directed by Abe Forsythe

Lupita Nyong'o deserves way more recognition from the Movies Industry because she is so great and even with a fucking OSCAR on her shelf, she barely has any leading characters on her career and is SO UNFAIR!

This movies is funny, scary, the cast is great and there’s Shake it Off by Taylor Swift was sang by a bunch of kids and Lupita dressed on a beautiful yellow dress all dirty of zombie blood, sooo... you should go and watch it!

164. The Blair Witch Project (1999) Directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

The movie it’s okay until it gets on it’s last 15 to 10 minutes... then so much starts to happen and you just want to stop seeing it, but can’t because you want to know the ending of it, and it’s so scary and crazy... Really I totally get why lots of people are crazy about this one... SO SCARY!

Also, look out for the website they made for the three filmakers that “disapeared” ( AKA were killed by the Blair Witch), it’s so good and there’s a lot of more information that makes the movie even more scary.

165. Yesterday (2019) Directed by Danny Boyle

It could be SO GOOD! But it was SO BAD! Lili was this movie, the guy that played Richie in Skins was in this movie and I still did not like it... The sountrack was made by BEATLES SONGS and I still did not like it... SAD.

166. The Witches (1990) Directed by Nicolas Roeg

NOT A KIDS MOVIE! Really, it’s so scary! OMG!

167. Shaun of the Dead (2004) Directed by Edgar Wright

It’s a very diferent zombie movie, but I really liked it! 

168. Maid in Manhattan (2002) Directed by Wayne Wang

IT WAS JUST LIKE CAMP ROCK!!

Very cheesy, not the best romcom I ever watched, but also not the worse... If you want a good JLopez movie, go see Monster In Law!

169. Monster House (2006) Directed by Gil Kenan

ALSO NOT A KIDS MOVIE! This was actually very little apropriate to kids and so fucking sacry, OMG, how this was made up to be a kids movie? 

170. mother! (2017) Directed by Darren Aronofsky

I will never get over this movie, I feel marked for the rest of my life, thanks very much Aronofsky! (no, really, THANKS!)

171. The Meddler (2015) Directed by Lorene Scafaria

Honestly, the “I was visiting my daughter, she just shot a pilot!” joke was THE BEST THING I EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE! Also, “I have to go home, my hands are loud!”.

172. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) Directed by Stephen Chiodo

I don’t even know what to write about this one... It was weird and not scary at all, but was kind of... diffent? I mean, you don’t get literally scared but you feel unconfotable, like, a lot! Go check it out and you will hopefully understand what kind of feeling I’m trying to describe, it’s just... weird.

173. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Directed by André Ovredal

WHAT ON EARTH PEOPLE KEEP MAKING THOSE SUPER SCARY MOVIES ANT SAYING THEY ARE FOR KINDS? This was so scary Jesus, and It was great. But not for kids.

If you read the books I don’t know how you going to feel about it, but in my experience from movie adapttions from books, you probably going to feel like shit. But I did’t read the books and loved it, so, you might to :)

174. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000) Directed by Joe Berlinger

Not ever close to be as great as the first one, it’s crazier, more things happen and you still feel crazy with the characters, but, it’s not as great. But it would be a great stanalone, if the first one did not existed. 

175. Vacation (2015) Directed by John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein

This is a comedic MASTERPIECE and I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! 

I love comedy movies, but I always expect to much of them... but this served me EVERYTHING that a good comedy should have to make me laugh until my breath runs out. LOVED IT!

176. Walk the Line (2005) Directed by James Mangold

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are absolutely babes and so increadibly talented! 

The movie is a bit slow (maybe only if you not a particularly big Cash fan), but is great! 

177. Love Happens (2009) Directed by Brandon Camp

Jennifer Aniston is amazing and goergeous as always but I didn’t conect with the characters so... it didn’t work to much for me, but it’s not bad eigther.

178. John Tucker Must Die (2006) Directed by Betty Thomas

Talking about perfect comedies, this is ONE OF THEM! FOR SURE! 

179. You’ve Got Mail (1998) Directed by Nora Ephron

I’ve got three things to say:

One: TOM HANKS

Two: I could never date someone that led me to bankruptcy, I could however punch this person multiple times.

Three: MEG RYAN!!!

180. The Prince & Me (2004) Directed by Martha Coolidge

Okay, so I was not expecting anything big from this movie and I only watched it because of Julia Stiles, BUT OMG I’m so thakfull that I gave it a chance, because it’s an amazingly done cliché and the Prince it’s totally hot!

 181. Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) Directed by James Bobin

I WAS SO SURPRISED THAT IT WAS SO GOOD! I really wasn’t expecting that! SO GOOD! 

182. Me Before You (2016) Directed by Thea Sharrock 

méh.

But Emilia, I want to be your best friend!

183. Late Night (2019) Directed by Nisha Ganatra

To Queens that almost coused my death because of how much a I laughed in this... it’s ligh, fun and dramtic and real... AMAZING!

184. Let It Snow (2019) Directed by Luke Snellin 

Kiernan Shipka and  Mitchell Hope singing The Whole of the Moon awakend my bissexuality.

Shameik Moore and Isabela Merced to!

185. When Harry Met Sally… (1989) Directed by Rob Reiner

MEG RYAN!!! 

So... this is the movie that every fanfic is based on? I really loved it!

186. Bringing Down the House (2003) Directed by Adam Shankman

Queen Latifah always brings a smile to my face... she’s perfect!

187. Joker (2019) Directed by Todd Phillips

Huum... Joaquin Phoenix it’s a very great actor, OMG! 

188. Penelope (2006) Directed by Mark Palansky 

It was very hard for me to watch this movie and not get distracted by James MacAvoy’s perfect face and body and not so perfect hair in this one, but does anybody really care? It’s beautiful James McAvoy! 

Also, the movie is so great! I didn’t knew about the plot and I was so surprised! It’s very, very good! 

I love the final scene when Penelope just let’s the children run wild while she swings with her hot boyfriend...

“Take of your mask!” ~proceds to kiss Christina Ricci very dramaticly~

189. Mad Money (2008) Directed by Callie Khouri

Everything about this movie was PERFECT

190. Baywatch (2017) Directed by Seth Gordon

Great opening scene, the rest was kind of a mess.

191. Noelle (2019) Directed by Marc Lawrence

CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! 

But I will complain about the lack of Bill Hader content.

192. Every Day (2018) Directed by Michael Sucsy

Another surprise this year, a very good one! 

It’s cute and dramatic, also, this actress kissed every teeneger and young adult in Hollywood!

193. Over Her Dead Body (2008) Directed by Jeff Lowell

A good and weird movie! Gave a few laughs. 

Paul Rudd is in it, so, totally worth it!

194. The Skeleton Twins (2014) Directed by Craig Johnson

A dramatic, surprising and “few good” comedy! 

I really wish I could hang out on Halloween with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig...

195. Eat Pray Love (2010) Directed by Ryan Murphy

I didn’t quite understood her journey but I quite liked it. 

Veeeery long movie.

196. Death at a Funeral (2007) Directed by Frank Oz

197. Death at a Funeral (2010) Directed by Neil LaBute

I know I should have loved the original version more but the american version... I don’t know what it is (probably the many actors that I absolutely LOVE), but I coul not stop laughing! 

James Marsden was an absolute STAR! 

198. The Other Woman (2014) Directed by Nick Cassavetes

I wish I could personally thank Cameron Diaz for every great movie I watched because of her.

Thank you, Mrs. Diaz! 

That last scene was peak COMEDY!!!

199. The Back-Up Plan 2010 Directed by Alan Poul

JLo! PERFECT!

Honestly, I was thinking this movie was going to be very problematic, but it wasn’t that much... it was actually pretty cute! The birth scene was sacry and funny at the same time!! 

200. Muriel's Wedding 1994 Directed by P.J. Hogan

Don’t judge me, I didn’t liked it, it fact, It made me feel pretty shitty, so I just wnat to forget that it existis. 

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

Coming into this, because the book is also giant- I mean, it’s a sprawling story. That was a great training ground for a lot of work we’re doing here. But, it’s the same philosophy. We’re leaning heavily on three really fascinating characters, who don’t really fully collide with each other until the end. You know, we’ve got Dan’s movie, we’ve Abra’s movie, Rose’s movie; and the way we braid those together and kind of bounce off of each other thematically doesn’t really bring those worlds together until our final act. And that’s a really fun structural difference for me. It’s me juggling three narratives, trying to find a good way to get ’em to collide properly. Hill House was definitely a great way to kind of flex those early and get ready for this.”

Rose is the film’s primary protagonist, the cunning leader of the True Knot and played by Rebecca Ferguson. While Rose will be just as terrifying on screen as she is on the page, Flanagan has made some changes to her cultish family. “We’re taking them in a bit of a different direction because they went for kind of the kitschy polyester, RV culture that I think might be funny if we were to kind of present that literally. And so, Rebecca and the cast really, kind of, helped shape this new, very weird, interesting and darker version of them that I think is going to be a pleasant surprise for a lot of fans of the book. Because, as cool as I thought it was in the story, these kind of silver-haired, plaid, geriatric vampires, it’s funny. And so, our cast is much younger because part of the appeal of that family for me is what if you can bring a family unit together like that with the promise of living young forever, which is I think at the heart of all vampiric stories.

But, aside from that, when they’re not doing that they really get to live and explore the world and amass wealth and go where they want and kind of operate completely outside the grid. And that family has its own weird little connections and hierarchies and she’s a very maternal figure with them in this, which is a little different than in the book. And the family suffers its own losses, it’s just, as viewers, we’re going to be like, ‘Yes! Good! Kill them please!’ So yeah, it’s its own twisted little family unit and the collision of these two families being kind of completely opposed to each other as far as interest is a really neat balancing act to play with.”

Of creating this twisted family and their predatory nature, the actors portraying the True Knot developed unique predatory movements with motion-capture performer and movement expert Terry Notary. Ferguson explains, “The True Knot, and Rose…for me, I’ve done lots of incredible characters, and I love them all, but there was something so familiar. I mean, the True Knot is a family, a gang of misfits basically. All the actors are misfits, and just so funny and geeky and weird and quirky. They’ve all been friends, and worked with Mike [Flanagan] before. So for us, when we were playing around, we had Terry Notary, the movement coach- he did a lot of characters in Planet of the Apes. He plays many of the apes. He did The Square, for example, with Ruben Ostlund as the guy who jumps up and does the weird table dance. We played around in our group to see what it’s like to be a sort of predator character. So everything that came around creating our connections within the Knot made this film for me.”Fans of the novel know that Ferguson’s character is known as Rose the Hat for that tiny little hat that stays on her head at an impossible angle. Something the actress became instantly fond of, “I think that’s something that is so brilliant with Mr. King as well. There’s the explanation of the hat, that it balances on the back of her head that questions the art of gravity. With the hat comes her history. It’s never really explained. In my own thoughts, it was passed on by the person who turned her, and that’s why it has such importance and gravitas. And it makes it a little more interesting, doesn’t it? And it’s a bloody good hat. The hat was a normal top hat. I said it was too high; it looked too goofy and silly. But the shape of it was incredible. So they cut out the middle bit, and put the top back on and made it shorter. I was going to steal it, but I didn’t.”