Goodreads blurb:
Michael Vyner recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him. One that would be unbelievable if it weren't true! Michael's parents are dead and he imagines that he will stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents' will ...Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. His arrival on the first night suggests something is not quite right when he sees a woman out in the frozen mists, standing alone in the marshes. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. But lonely doesn't mean alone, as Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, dead and alive, and Michael is set the task of unravelling some of the darkest secrets of all. A nail-biting story of hauntings and terror by the master of the genre, Chris Priestley.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Adding to my Wish List (18): The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Movie Review: Insidious (2011)
Title: Insidious
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins
Release date: 2011
I love watching horror movies but I also scare easily :) So you can imagine the scene when I am home alone and want to watch a scary movie on my own – I was cleaning the kitchen in the beginning of this one. I kept one eye on the scene and hit behind the refrigerator now and again.
The build-up is handled very well in Insidious – it is like the old scary movies of my childhood. No blood and guts but just creepy music that accents the unusual events. It starts when teacher John and his composer wife, Renai, moves into a new home with their family. First it is only a few books that fall out of a bookcase and a box of music that is misplaced during the move – easily explained away. (Truth be told – I would have run from the house that first night already!) But then bigger events starts creeping in. The gas stove’s flame flickers into life on it’s own, a fire spontaneously ignites in a old black stove in the cellar and then their son, Dalton, falls into a deep sleep after a slight fall. There is no medical reason for this coma and John’s mother asks the help of her psychic friend. This is when the real scary stuff begins.
I enjoy being scared by horror movies and this one is well worth the two hours. And off course there is a twist in the tail as any good horror story should have!
Now watch this trailer and tell me it didn’t give you goosebumps!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Movie review: The Blair Witch Project
Title: The Blair Witch Project
Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
Released: 1999
"In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found."
That is the way this creepy movie starts.
The Blair Witch Project is set-up as a documentary made by three students. Heather is an aspiring film director who has decided to search out the legend of the "Blair Witch". This mythical witch has supposedly murdered countless people since the 18th century. Heather is joined by Josuah (Josh) and Michael, a camera man and a sound man. (Fun Fact: The actors used their real names in this movie)
I have to admit that Heather really irritated me in the beginning – she was soooooo annoying and I am not sure I would have been as patient with her as the guys were. But I guess that was part of the perfectionist character she portrayed. But as her perfect world starts to unravel, she begins to show her human side.
Pretty quickly this little adventure turns deadly as the students get lost and they start fighting with each other. And it doesn’t help that they think someone is following them.
Then one morning, one of the guys disappears . . .
The Blair Witch Project was scary when I saw it in 1994 but now it was just a really tense thriller. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it for easy watching pleasure.
