15 Fave Freaky Fictions

And by "fictions," I mean "books" but, you know, #alliteration. Here are 15 of my fave scary reads (so far), in order of publication date bc the idea of trying to rank them makes me feel faint. They're linked to their Goodreads pages, where you'll find buy links so you can check out pricing at your purveyor of choice, if you're so inclined. Publishers' book blurbs are in purple italics; my thoughts follow.

Spook Out! Day 29 ~ Silver Bullet (1985)

IMDb Says...

"In a small town, brutal killings start to plague the close knit community. Marty Coslaw, a paraplegic boy, is convinced the murders are the doings of a werewolf."

I Say...
Yes. And he's not wrong!

Horror Type...
Werewolves

Main Players...

Corey Haim as Marty Coslaw (Sweet Lil Bro)

Megan Follows as Jane Coslaw (Brave Big Sis)

Gary Busey as Uncle Red (Best Uncle in the Friggin World)

I liked...

• the work done by Haim (RIP), Follows, and Busey--all three were fabulous, and also,
• the relationships: Janie and Marty (which echoes Uncle Red and their mom's relationship), and Uncle Red's relationship to the kids--their chemistry was especially excellent, and I found them really believable as a close family
• how Uncle Red encourages Marty to take risks and be as active and rascally as he can (the apple doesn't fall far from the uncle)
• the hints as to the werewolf's true identity (and then how the identity is revealed) (and then someone's immediate reaction to that revelation--that face=priceless!)
• the tense scene in the bar between a forming vigilante mob, the town's sheriff, and a grieving father
• the practical effects of the werewolf's change--sure, they're a little cheesy but comparable, IMO, to the big change scene in the iconic An American Werewolf in London (I liked the change scenes but, as some others have noted, the "finished werewolf"--as it were--resembles a bear more than he does a wolf, alas.)
• a crazy scene in which nearly the entire town wolfs out
• that Janie, and later Uncle Red, takes logical steps to either prove or disprove Marty's claims
• how this isn't really a horror comedy but does have some hilarious bits here and there

The Meh...

• Though the three leads are well written and acted, some of the victims are decidedly not
• How/why the werewolf attacks start isn't ever explained, which can work for something set in a big city, but not in a small town environment
• Y'all got only one silver bullet made to defeat a werewolf? C'mon! Dudes, go to a thrift shop, get some silverware, have your smelter work on those, and fill up those chambers in that revolver! (Do I have to think of everything, here? Sheesh!)
• The resolution of the main story problem is excellent, BUT the very ending voice-over bit is weirdly abrupt and anticlimactic...
• The soundtrack is le major suck.

Would I recommend it...?

You bet! Silver Bullet is one of my fave horror movies, and a perfect little Halloween treat. The nostalgia factor's strong for me here--this scared the stuffin out of me when I was a kid and, tbh, the jump scares still get to me decades later, no matter how many times I see it (the werewolf breaks into two houses to get to his prey, wtf?!). The scares, coupled with some bloody violence and gore, ain't for the very sensitive, though they're probably not rough enough for fans of hardcore horror. But they're enough to chill me! 😎

 

Miscellany...

This movie's based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf (which I look forward to reading!).

Ratings...

My Grade: A- (though I admit to having a love for Silver Bullet that boosts the score up from a B+)

Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=45%, Audience Score=56%

Details, Schmeetails...

I Watched Silver Bullet on Amazon (the Rotten Tomatoes page linked above provides links to other streaming platforms)

Check it out on IMDb

Learn more about it on Wikipedia (Contains Spoilers)

This concludes Day 29 of

Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow...

IF YOU DARE

Spook Out! Day 16 ~ Howl (2015)

Shudder Says...

"Passengers on a night train are attacked by a vicious creature out of folklore, and must band together in order to survive until morning."

I Say...
If only it were just "a" vicious creature...

Horror Type...
Werewolves

Main Players...
Ed Speleers as Joe (Humble Guard)

Holly Weston as Ellen (Love Object)

Elliot Cowan as Adrian (Treacherous Ass)

I liked...

• how the basic horror story rule of isolating your characters with The Big Bad was applied--by stranding a train in the woods at night, and
• how they made the most of this atmospheric, though stationary, setting to build dread
• that the eight passengers, and two crew, managed to kill one of the beasties
• that an older couple proved important to the plot--the gentleman stopped an early descent into panicked chaos and got the group to focus on survival, and his lady wife...well...I can't say, but she's something else!
• the pacing, which was pretty good, and the even cycling of action with dialogue

The Meh...

• The beasties were CGI, which I don't object to in principal, but that can lead to somewhat unlikely looking creatures--I mean, they gave me the heebie-freaking-jeebies, for realz, but I'd have liked some more practical effects, over the slick swiftness of digital. As well, they were peculiarly hairless, for werewolves.
• One of the passengers takes on a difficult and dangerous task in order to get the stalled train moving, and that person's fate just goes to show that no good deed goes rewarded in a horror movie. 

Would I recommend it...?

Sure, it's a perfectly competent creature feature, and werewolf movies have been in short supply of late. But, given the weirdly awful political climate in which we've been living since 2016, it wouldn't surprise me if more appeared on the scene. Anyway, loads of jump scares here, and closeups of the critters (though just seeing their glowing eyes emerge from the dark woods is pretty terrifying), so sensitive types may wish to watch something like Jim & Jamie Dutcher: The Hidden Life of Wolves instead.

Miscellany...

The wonderfully gruff Sean Pertwee, alumnus of the most excellently chilling Dog Soldiers, has a (brief) cameo here!

Ratings...

My Grade: B

Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=67%, Audience Score=36%

Details, Schmeetails...

I Watched Howl on Shudder (the Rotten Tomatoes page linked above provides links to other streaming platforms)

Check it out on IMDb

Learn more about it on Wikipedia (Contains Spoilers)

I've been putting a movie trailer just before

the closing of the blogpost more or less in this area,

however,

as the still shot for this movie's trailer

features a close-up

of a creature,

I've moved it to after the blogfest badge appears.

SO

if you are of a sensitive nature,

you may wish to stop reading here.

This concludes Day 16 of

Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow...

IF YOU DARE