Monthly Archives: January 2020

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January 23, 2020

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The Night is Ruined in the Last 15 Minutes [Review]

Everything goes wrong in the California set, Iranian horror film The Night because Babak (Shahab Hosseini) wants to sleep in his own bed. After a night of partying with his brother, he insists that his family won’t stay over. He and Neda (Niousha Jafarian) pack their one-month old daughter into the car and they start the half hour drive home. Neda doesn’t want him behind the wheel after having had so much to drink, but her license is suspended. Their GPS breaks in the middle of the city, droning, “Recalculating, recalculating” repeatedly. As they bicker, Babak hits something.

When they get out to investigate, whatever he hit is gone. Babak growls, “It’s just a cat. So what?” Neda gets back in the car, but Babak spots a dark figure watching him. He doesn’t mention the apparition, but he caves and agrees to stay the night at the closest hotel.

Continue reading at Wicked Horror!

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January 2, 2020

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Movies I Watched in 2019

My top 5 new movies are here, via Wicked Horror. Reviews are linked throughout.

  1. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (1/1/19) 
  2. The Blackcoat’s Daughter (1/2/19) 
  3. Bird Box (1/2/19) 
  4. The Straight Story (1/3/19)
  5. Pacific Rim: Uprising (1/3/19) 
  6. Dune (1/10/19) 
  7. Dumplin’ (1/11/19) 
  8. If Beale Street Could Talk (1/12/19) 
  9. Inland Empire (1/18/19) 
  10. Cam (1/19/19) 
  11. Roma (1/19/19) 
  12. Bohemian Rhapsody (1/20/19)
  13. The Nun (1/23/19) 
  14. Into the Spiderverse (1/24/19)
  15. Glass (1/25/19) 
  16. Rashomon (1/26/19)
  17. Haunted Hospital (1/27/19) (Review)
  18. Frankenstein (1/29/19) 
  19. Searching (1/31/19) 
  20. Castle in the Sky (2/2/19) 
  21. Inherent Vice (2/4/19) 
  22. Wreck-it Ralph (2/7/19) 
  23. Red Sparrow (2/8/19) 
  24. The Hidden Fortress (2/9/19)
  25. The Man with the Golden Gun (2/9/19) 
  26. Hell Fest (2/10/19)
  27. The Secret World of Arrietty (2/18/19) 
  28. The Equalizer (2/19/19) 
  29. The Predator (2/21/19)
  30. Assassination Nation (2/21/19) 
  31. The Possession of Hannah Grace (2/22/19) (Review)
  32. What Keeps You Alive (2/23/19)
  33. A Simple Favor (2/23/19) 
  34. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (2/24/19) 
  35. Ralph Breaks the Internet (3/2/19) 
  36. Abducted in Plain Sight (3/3/19) 
  37. Princess Mononoke (3/3/19)
  38. Leave No Trace (3/7/19) 
  39. The Terminator (3/9/19) 
  40. Captain Marvel (3/10/19) 
  41. Thoroughbreds (3/12/19) 
  42. Winchester (3/13/19) 
  43. Wizard of Lies (3/14/19) 
  44. Vampires (3/15/19) 
  45. Ponyo (3/17/19)
  46. The Dead Zone (3/18/19) 
  47. Another Happy Day (3/21/19)
  48. Us (3/21/19) (Review) 
  49. Kiki’s Delivery Service (3/22/19) 
  50. Dragged Across Cement (3/24/19) 
  51. Diabolique (3/27/19) 
  52. The Hitchhiker (3/28/19)
  53. Equalizer 2 (3/28/19) 
  54. You Were Never Really Here (3/30/19)
  55. Gringo (3/31/19)
  56. Glory (4/9/19) 
  57. The Wind Rises (4/10/19) 
  58. Yentl (4/15/19) 
  59. Overlord (4/18/19)
  60. The Gasoline Thieves (4/22/19) (Review) 
  61. On the Basis of Sex (4/24/19)
  62. Diane (4/25/19)
  63. Aamis (4/25/19) (Review) 
  64. Avengers Endgame (4/27/19) 
  65. Skyscraper (5/2/19) 
  66. Mary Queen of Scots (5/3/19) 
  67. Schindler’s List (5/4/19) 
  68. Hereditary (5/5/19) 
  69. The Prodigy (5/6/19) (Review) 
  70. Get Out (5/7/19) 
  71. Porco Rosso (5/7/19) 
  72. Get Out (5/8/19)
  73. Can You Ever Forgive Me (5/8/19)
  74. The Wife (5/8/19)
  75. The Princess Bride (5/9/19) 
  76. Escape Room (5/9/19) 
  77. Mid-90s (5/12/19) 
  78. Don’t Look (5/13/19) (Review) 
  79. Green Book (5/14/19) 
  80. Eighth Grade (5/15/19) 
  81. Deep Blue Sea (5/16/19) 
  82. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (5/21/19)
  83. Darkness Falls (5/22/19) 
  84. Bridesmaids (5/22/19) 
  85. Miss Bala (5/23/19) 
  86. First Reformed (5/25/19) 
  87. John Wick 3 (5/26/19) 
  88. Twelve Years a Slave (5/27/19) 
  89. Head Count (5/30/19) (Review) 
  90. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (6/1/19) 
  91. Bumblebee (6/2/19) 
  92. Booksmart (6/3/19) 
  93. Aquaman (6/3/19) 
  94. Bee Movie (6/4/19)
  95. Funny Games (6/12/19) (Review) 
  96. Always Be My Maybe (6/13/19) 
  97. Perfect (6/14/19) (Review) 
  98. Training Day (6/16/19) 
  99. Border (6/20/19) 
  100. Late Night (6/24/19) 
  101. Boyhood (6/26/19) 
  102. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (6/27/19) 
  103. Oklahoma (7/4/19) 
  104. Personal Shopper (7/5/19) 
  105. Sisters (7/6/19) 
  106. Spider-Man: Far From Home (7/7/19)
  107. Midsommar (7/10/19) (Review) 
  108. Hellboy (7/11/19) (Review)
  109. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (7/14/19) 
  110. Crawl (7/16/19) 
  111. First Man (7/17/19) 
  112. Shazam! (7/20/19)
  113. Kubo and the Two Strings (7/21/19) 
  114. Stand and Deliver (7/22/19) 
  115. The Man Who Killed Hitler then Bigfoot (7/23/19) 
  116. The Lion King (7/27/19) 
  117. Nekrotonic (7/29/19) (Review) 
  118. Destroyer (7/31/19) 
  119. The Perfection (8/1/19) 
  120. Shin Godzilla (8/4/19) 
  121. The Reflecting Skin (8/7/19) (Review) 
  122. Happy Death Day 2U (8/9/19) 
  123. I Am Sam (8/10/19) 
  124. The Purge Anarchy (8/18/19) 
  125. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (8/18/19) 
  126. The Lost City of Z (8/22/19) 
  127. Ready or Not (8/25/19) 
  128. Neverending Story (8/26/19) 
  129. Pet Sematary (8/26/19) 
  130. Mohawk (8/27/19) 
  131. The Curse of La Llorona (8/28/19) 
  132. Clownado (8/29/19) (Review) 
  133. Under the Silver Lake (8/30/19)
  134. As Above, So Below (8/31/19) 
  135. The Purge: Election Year (9/4/19) 
  136. The Dead Don’t Die (9/6/19) (Review) 
  137. It: Chapter 2 (9/7/19) 
  138. Candy Corn (9/9/19)  (Review) 
  139. One Cut of the Dead (9/10/19) (Review) 
  140. Brightburn (9/11/19) 
  141. ET (9/13/19)
  142. House of Wax (9/15/19) 
  143. The First Purge (9/16/19) 
  144. The Dark Crystal (9/16/19) 
  145. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (9/20/19) 
  146. The Mummy (9/23/19) 
  147. A Matter of Life and Death (9/24/19) 
  148. Castle of Cagliosto (9/25/19) 
  149. Trainspotting (9/28/19) 
  150. Ran (9/30/19) 
  151. Slumdog Millionaire (10/1/19) 
  152. Brazil (10/2/19) 
  153. Death House (10/3/19) 
  154. Midsommar (10/5/19) 
  155. Dementer (10/7/19) (Review) 
  156. The Man Who Laughs (10/10/19) 
  157. Alita: Battle Angel (10/13/19) 
  158. Labyrinth (10/14/19) 
  159. Rocketman (10/15/19) 
  160. The Searchers (10/15/19) 
  161. Portals (10/17/19) (Review) 
  162. The Joker (10/19/19) 
  163. The Tales of Hoffman (10/20/19) 
  164. Kagemusha (10/23/19) 
  165. Starman (10/23/19) 
  166. Yesterday (10/25/19) 
  167. The Lighthouse (10/26/19)
  168. Winter’s Bone (10/26/19)
  169. The Intruder (10/27/19)
  170. Bloody Marie (10/28/19) (Review)
  171. Hellhouse LLC (10/30/19) 
  172. Mayhem (11/2/19) 
  173. Parasite (11/3/19) 
  174. Network (11/6/19) 
  175. El Camino (11/6/19) 
  176. Bliss (11/8/19) (Review) 
  177. Yesterday Was a Lie (11/9/19) (Review)  
  178. The Divine Fury (11/11/19) (Review) 
  179. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (11/17/19) 
  180. Child’s Play (11/19/19) 
  181. Tremors (11/21/19) 
  182. The Driver (11/24/19) (Review) 
  183. Yojimbo (11/25/19) 
  184. Dr. Zhivago (11/28/19) 
  185. Doctor Sleep (12/1/19) 
  186. Anna and the Apocalypse (12/2/19) 
  187. Climax (12/3/19) 
  188. The Deer Hunter (12/9/19) 
  189. Land of the Dead (12/9/19) 
  190. Black Narcissus (12/10/19) 
  191. Skeleton Twins (12/12/19) 
  192. Black Christmas ‘19 (12/13/19) 
  193. Longshot (12/13/19) 
  194. The Red Shoes (12/17/19)  
  195. Knives and Skin (12/5/19) (Review) 
  196. Stray Dog (12/19/19) 
  197. Men in Black: International (12/19/19)
  198. Fred Claus (12/23/19)
  199. Ad Astra (12/23/19) 
  200. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (12/24/19)
  201. Ready or Not (12/25/19)
  202. Frozen (12/30/19) 
  203. The Irishmen (12/31/19) 
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January 1, 2020

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Books I Read in 2019

If you want to skip to the good part, here’s my favorites, via Cyn’s Workshop. 

  1. Salt Houses by Hala Alya (1/1/19)  
  2. Fox 8 by George Saunders  (1/1/19)  
  3. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (1/3/19)
  4. Elevation by Stephen King (1/4/19)
  5. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (1/7/19) 
  6. Crota by Owl Goingback (1/15/19) 
  7. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (1/18/19) 
  8. Less by Andrew Sean Greer (1/24/19)
  9. Demon Theory by Stephen Graham Jones (1/26/19) 
  10. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1/28/19) 
  11. True Grit by Charles Portis (1/31/19)
  12. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus (2/2/19)
  13. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix (2/8/19) 
  14. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadwi (2/10/19)
  15. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (2/22/19) 
  16. The Haunted Girl by Lisa M. Bradley (2/23/19) 
  17. Womanish by Kim McLarin (2/24/19)
  18. Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2/28/19)  
  19. Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday (3/4/19) 
  20. Classic Vampire Short Stories (3/7/19) 
  21. Dead Man’s Road by Joe R. Lansdale (3/15/19)
  22. The Other by Thomas Tyron (3/18/19)
  23. Paperback Crush by Gabrielle Moss (3/19/19) 
  24. After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones (3/22/19)
  25. Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (3/24/19) 
  26. Wild Embers by Nikita Gill (4/1/19)  
  27. Renegade Women in Film & TV by Elizabeth Weitzmam (4/1/19) 
  28. The Dead Zone by Stephen King (4/3/19)  
  29. The Witch Doesn’t Burn in this One by Amanda Lovelace (4/11/19)
  30. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (4/16/19)
  31. A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin (4/21/19)
  32. Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett (5/5/19)
  33. The Troop by Nick Cutter (5/14/19) 
  34. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (5/18/19) 
  35. A Body to Die For by Shannon Iwanski (5/20/19)
  36. The Fourth Wall: Season 2 by Mac Boyle (5/24/19) 
  37. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (5/24/19) 
  38. Tinfoil Crowns by Erin Jones (5/25/19) 
  39. Dark and Dangerous Things by M.A. Chiapetta, Donna A. Leahey, Margaret Perdue, and L.A. Smith (5/29/19)
  40. The Good House by Tananarive Due (6/10/19) 
  41. Treading the Uneven Road by Lorna Brown (6/17/19) 
  42. The White Book by Han Kang (6/18/19)
  43. Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias (6/21/19) 
  44. Normal People by Sally Rooney (6/25/19)
  45. Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice (7/1/19)
  46. Sorry We’re Closed edited by Donna A. Leahey (7/2/19) 
  47. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosselini (7/11/19)  
  48. Best American Short Stories 2018 edited by Roxane Gay (7/20/19) 
  49. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (7/21/19)
  50. Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov (7/21/19) 
  51. There There by Tommy Orange (7/28/19) 
  52. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (7/30/19) 
  53. Dark Dreamers on Writing by Stanley Wiater (8/1/19)  
  54. Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson (8/7/19)
  55. Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez (8/8/19)
  56. Our Wandering by L.M. Brown (8/9/19)
  57. Blood Born by Renee Lake (8/14/19) – reviewed at Cyn’s Workshop 
  58. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and Other Stories by Richard Matheson (8/19/19)
  59. An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo (8/21/19) 
  60. Redeployment by Phil Klay (8/22/19) 
  61. Woes of the True Policeman by Roberto Bolaño (8/28/19)
  62. Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror compiled by Neil Christopher (9/5/19) reviewed at Cyn’s Workshop 
  63. Hatchet Job by Mark Kermode (9/9/19) 
  64. The Grip of It by Jac Jemc (9/13/19) 
  65. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (9/13/19) 
  66. The Apartment by S.L. Grey (9/19/19) 
  67. Dark and Dangerous Things II by M.A. Chiapetta, Donna A. Leahey, Margaret Perdue, and L.A. Smith (9/20/19) 
  68. Road Work by Stephen King (9/24/19) 
  69. When the Sirens Have Faded edited by Ryan C. Bradley (9/30/19) (still unreleased) 
  70. Orange World by Karen Russell (10/3/19)  
  71. Edgar Allen Poe’s Snifter of Terror (10/6/19) reviewed at Cyn’s Workshop 
  72. Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage (10/9/19) 
  73. The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson (10/11/19) 
  74. The Institute by Stephen King (10/16/19) 
  75. Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman (10/21/19) 
  76. Black Forest by Valérie Mréjen (10/21/19) review at Cyn’s Workshop 
  77. We Are Where the Nightmares Go by C. Robert Cargill (10/28/19) 
  78. The Essence of Camphor by Naiyer Massud (11/3/19) 
  79. The Lowlands by Jhumpa Lahiri (11/7/19)
  80. Larose by Louise Erdrich (11/22/19) 
  81. The Fourth Wall Season 2 by Mac Boyle (11/27/19)
  82. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (12/7/19)
  83. The Book of Lamentations by Rosario Castellanos (12/7/19) 
  84. Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River by Jung Young Moon (12/19/19) reviewed at Cyn’s Workshop 
  85. My Soul to Take by Tananarive Due (12/20/19) 
  86. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (12/22/19) 
  87. People Still Live in Cashtown Corners by Tony Burgess (12/25/19) 
  88. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (12/27/19)