Book Review – Children of Lovecraft

Children of Lovecraft by Ellen Datlow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When these stories are good, they’re reasonably good. But when they’re bad, wow. The failures break down into two categories. Some of them are bewildering slogs through over-arty prose. Others sour the experience by relying on the suffering and death of animals and children (the beginning of the book is particularly rife with this type, so much so that I almost abandoned it). I prefer to do a good job of reading everything in any book I review, but here I was sorely tempted to skim or skip any entry that wasn’t to my taste. That would have made the experience considerably better and considerably shorter. But I did appreciate one factor that was consistent throughout the anthology: all the authors made use of Lovecraftian themes without resorting to hackneyed pastiche.

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Review – Flu

The really amazing thing is that this predates the COVID-19 pandemic. Though I was mostly here for the spread-of-a-deadly-disease stuff, for the most part I didn’t mind the sappy character development (though I felt that they went to the pre-teen-in-peril well a little too often). But the production values were good, and it was charming to see a scene in which a South Korean official actually stood up to a government bully from the US. Mildly amusing

Book Review – The Red Market

The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers by Scott Carney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In traditional journalism style, Scott Carney delivers a little about a lot. As the international trade in body parts (and in adoptable children as well) is broad and complex, this could have been a much longer book. Most of the author’s focus is on the supply side of the marketing process, with particular emphasis on his familiar stomping grounds in India. The reporting is good, but here and there it left me wondering about the demand side of things. For example, Carney thoroughly describes a case of a child kidnapped in India and sold to an unwitting couple in the United States. The story left me wondering about why anyone in a country with millions of legitimately-orphaned children would need to resort to kidnapping, and why the notoriously racist US adoption system would create any kind of a black market for non-white children. There are answers to these questions (and many others like them) that I wish had been within Carney’s scope. That aside, the book is well researched and well written.

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Review – Abigail

The child vampire story gets a “Ransom of Red Chief” twist as a team of mercenary kidnappers fall victim to their own victim. Acting and production values are good, and the script strikes a nice balance between too light and not light enough. Despite some third act problems, the movie overall works well. Worth seeing

Review – Zombiology

This is my first experience with Chinese zombie comedies, so there may be some subtleties I’m missing here and there. On the other hand, maybe not. The plot overall doesn’t seem to rely on anything subtle. Two friends with half-baked superhero cosplay fantasies find themselves fighting against a zombie-plague-spreading chicken monster. Mildly amusing

Review – Killjoy

How did something this terrible even get made, let alone spawn several sequels? A killer clown seeks revenge against the criminals who murdered his summoner, and that’s about as close to coherence as the story ever gets. Even the video itself is terrible, created or compressed to that annoying, jumpy quality of old Youtube stuff. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Creepypasta

Even for this particular sub-genre, the entries in this anthology are boring beyond belief. Almost every one of these semi-related video shorts start with an innocuous setting and end with someone being grabbed by a monster without so much as a “Who’s got my golden arm?” See if desperate

Book Review – Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting read, particularly compared to the two main movie adaptations. In particular, there’s a subtle yet strong subtext here, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. Rather than a warning about the Red Menace or McCarthyism, the concern seems to be more about the erosion of the white, middle class lifestyle. As if it isn’t bad enough that humans are being replaced by pod people, but the aliens aren’t even bothering to keep the streets clear of trash or paint the eaves on a regular basis. This is also very much a creature of its own time in narrative style and social consciousness. It’s particularly hard for a reader in the 21st century to know what to do with the virulent sexism of a book written in the 1950s and set in the 1970s. In general, however, fans of the films should give this a read. If nothing else, it supplies an ending that seems neither tacked on nor nihilistic.

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Review – The Puppet Masters

Heinlein’s novel gets simplified considerably into an Invasion of the Body Snatchers knock-off with slugs instead of pods. The plot follows a predictable path as government agents race against the clock to isolate the aliens and destroy their hive mind. Mildly amusing

Book Review – A Brief History of Stuff

A Brief History of Stuff: The Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Objects by D.K. Publishing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because you don’t sell as many copies of a book called “Why Everything in Your Life Secretly Sucks.” On the one hand, I appreciate the unflinching look at how racism, sexism and other evils have helped shape ordinary household goods. But on the other hand, I picked this up in hopes of having a light summer reading experience rather than an unflinching look at anything. So the authors did a good job, but reader experience depends a lot on mindset.

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Review – Forget Me Not

Given how often vengeful spirits return for payback, I’m surprised witless teenagers bother killing anyone at all. So this is that. Production values are okay. Most of the actors have professional headshots on IMDb. But the story is strictly leftovers, and even the shocks that work get old after awhile. See if desperate

Book Review – The Secret Loves of Geek Girls

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls by Hope Nicholson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Love” here refers to the romantic type, so the short essays and sequential art here center around pop culture’s influence on geek girls’ human relationships rather than their passions for pop culture itself. I was impressed by the consistent quality of the entries. Anthologies are almost inevitably mixed bags, with at least some excellent contributions and at least some pieces submitted by talentless friends of the editor. But everyone here does a solid job of storytelling. Most of the tales are entertaining and informative. And even the less engaging ones were more matters of my personal, subjective disinterest in their topics rather than an objective problem with communication quality. This is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the subject, and even more disinterested readers will find lots to like.

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Book Review – The Omen

The Omen by David Seltzer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As novelizations of movies go, this one isn’t bad. David Seltzer follows the plot of his script fairly closely, occasionally taking advantage of the omniscient narrator’s ability to supplement the story with the characters’ thoughts or an extra twist. In a couple of spots the flow gets sidetracked by unnecessarily elaborate interpretations of scripture, which I suppose is a natural byproduct of doing a lot of background reading (some prosaic, some far more imaginative). In particular, if you felt the movie didn’t supply enough backstory for the supporting characters (good and evil), you get a dose of that here. Otherwise if you’ve seen the movie, you already know what you’re getting from the book.

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Book Review – The Thing

The Thing by Anne Billson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Writing about John Carpenter’s once-panned-now-praised horror masterpiece, Anne Billson recounts the plot with plenty of digressions along the way. Most of the added obsessions are interesting and pertinent, though some of it’s a bit of a dead end. Die hard fans will also notice minor inaccuracies here and there, though overall the author’s evident affection for the movie renders the occasional goofs irrelevant. I’m actually sorry this wasn’t longer.

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Book Review – End of Watch

End of Watch by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been dreading this one for quite awhile now, but I decided the time had come to finish the trilogy. Stephen King has more than enough talent and experience to create a compelling villain, which he’s proven on any number of occasions. But Brady Hartsfield just isn’t one. He’s intelligent without being clever, elaborate without being interesting, pathetic without being sympathetic in any way. He might have worked for a short story. Even one novel was pushing it. But the only saving grace of this set is that Hartsfield isn’t in the second one much. In the plus column, King recognizes that Holly Gibney is the real star of the show, thankfully the only major character to go on to subsequent works. As for this one, I’m mostly just glad not to have it in my to-read stack anymore.

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Review – Bornless Ones

But not bore-less, alas. A handful of 20-somethings move into a cabin that turns out to have a demon infestation problem. Nothing new here. See if desperate

Review – Playback

In 2010 Kiefer Sutherland lost a Super Bowl bet and had to wear a dress for his appearance on Letterman. Something similar to that must be the only possible explanation for why Christian Slater would play a pedophile voyeur cop in this low budget piece of crap. Someone here has heard of early motion picture pioneer Louis Le Prince, and that could have been the foundation for a really good story. Instead it turns out to be a witless parade of weak horror movie clichés. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – The Closet

Eh, it’s not the worst ghost story I’ve ever seen. Ghost kids have their pluses (creepy) and their minuses (often not all that menacing), which is very much the case for this elaborate Korean rework of Poltergeist. Mildly amusing

Review – American Nightmares

Rusty Cundieff doesn’t make it all the way back up to what he did with Tales from the Hood, but at least he’s playing in the same ballpark. This one features seven shorts, which means that the stories spend less time on buildup and character development, cutting more directly to the punchlines. The only part I genuinely didn’t like was the bracket, as I felt it made little sense and seriously under-used Nichelle Nichols. Even this late in her career, she was capable of doing so much more than just sitting there looking vaguely confused by Danny Trejo. Otherwise if they make a series out of this I will definitely be back for the sequels. Mildly amusing