Ouija, a film review. A film that is overshadowed by its sequel and filled with some seriously dumb teenagers. Have you never watched any horror films? Talk about asking for trouble.

 

Ouija, a film review.

    Why is it that in any modern film, no one seems to know about the dangers of using an Ouija board? I heard stories about them when I was a kid, and that's heading back to the late eighties/early nineties. And yet, in these films, they seem not to know that you don't mess with the dead. This is a running theme with these types of films, with some idiot always trying to mess with these things and bringing trouble to them. It does seem strange that these characters have no in-world knowledge of these things. It must be a choice on the side of the screenwriters to leave out this knowledge so the story would play out. This is an okay film, but some things weaken the narrative. The characters are a large part of that.

    The film opens up with two young girls playing with an Ouija board, laying out the rules for interacting with it. The film then moves to a young woman sitting before a fire, throwing an ouija board and the planchette into the flames. She appears haunted as if shaken by something the viewer is unaware of. We get introduced to the film's protagonist, with a phone call shaking Debbie from her reverie. Lanie wants her to join her, to get out of the house, and after a brief conversation in person, she declines to join her. Debbie returns inside to eat, and strange things start happening. Returning to her room, she finds the planchette on the floor, picks it up and looks through it. Her eye turns white, and Debbie enters a fugue-like state. She then kills herself by hanging, and we flash to Laine and her boyfriend in a diner. We're introduced to her boyfriend, Trevor. She receives a message to come home and learns of Debbie's death. Understandably devastated, she and her family attend the wake, and we see that she is asked to watch the house whilst Debbie's family is away. Looking through Debbie's room upon checking in on the house, she found the Ouija board and its planchette. Laine comes across as someone that needs to be in control, acting as a surrogate mother to her younger sister even though it isn't taken that well. It seems to come from a good place, but she can be overbearing. Though to be fair to her, her sister is kind of a selfish brat which seems typical of teenagers in these types of films. She convinces herself that Debbie is still around, that she wants her to know something, and, of course,  convinces the others to use the board with her. And so begins all the fun.

    None of them is entirely comfortable with this, most noticeably Isabelle. Things soon take a turn. I always find this stupid, using an Ouija board and thinking contacting the dead is just a game. There are enough stories about these things to make any sensible person wary. And Laine's need for it to be Debbie leaves them open to something else pretending to be her. Though it is worth mentioning that the thing never calls itself Debbie, Laine jumps to that conclusion. After Laine takes the board home, each of them experiences a visitation, the words 'hi friend' written in one form or another. Laine is convinced it is Debbie and convinces the others to use the board again. It amazes me that they don't ask who they are talking to until it is too late, that no one thinks to question this entity. And they learn that it is not Debbie they are talking to, that they had never been talking to her. After being scared off, Laine watches a video of Debbie playing alone, something you're not supposed to do. Isabelle is the first one killed off, far more directly than  Debbie was. This sends the rest into a panic, and Laine and Pete begin to search Debbie's house to learn more. They discover the house's history and those that lived there. Of course, nothing is quite what it seems, and after a visit to the older sister Laine thinks she has a way to stop this haunting. By all the gods, is she wrong! 

    After learning of being tricked, Laine, and those left, attempt to put Dorris to rest before she kills them. Not the simplest of tricks. After a showdown below Debbie's house, they succeed, though the ending suggests they might have failed. The film is overall watchable but lacks something that could push it into being good. It managed to spawn a prequel featuring the family that lived in the house before Debbie, though reinventing some of the narratives. The weaknesses of this film are obvious. The characters make stupid choices and aren't convincing in their roles. It failed to be scary overall, though a couple of jump scares might catch you off-guard.

    I'd rate this film 6 out of 10. It's an okay watch, but there are better versions of the same story. The prequel is a much better film. I'd probably watch that one if I had to choose between them. I will review that film when I get around to rewatching it.

Classic Tales of Horror from Canterbury Classics. A short review of a great collection of tales in a high quality leather hardback form.

 

Classic Tales of Horror, from Canterbury Classics.

    This isn't my usual review. There is simply too much within this book to break down each short story or novella that makes up its entirety. I bought this book purely out of the desire to possess many of the stories within its pages that I had never gotten around to reading. It was worth the price simply for the excellent quality of the book. At over 900 pages, this is a massive selection of stories, and many of them are well known, but others are less so. Some are only a couple of pages long, while others run for several chapters, each of them possesses its own style, but each fits the overall theme. I have my favorites, such as The Pit and the Pendulum, but there were many that I read for the first time. I enjoyed The Turn of the Screw, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. Many of these stories are from the late 19th century and the early 20th century, and the language used can be a little jarring for those who have not read books from those time periods before.

    As I said earlier, this isn't the typical review. It is hard to give the contents a review, and with such a great variety of works, it becomes hard to provide an overall grading. So I'll do my best and rate this book on the quality of the product, the overall quality of the range of contents, and the selection of stories. The leather seems of good quality with a simple but well-designed cover. There were no signs of damage, and the material appears hardy and well maintained.  It is a chunky book with fifty-five stories within. That is more than I had expected, and they are well-written and great examples of the genre. There are some of my favorite stories within, which makes me a little biased, but even without those, I found this product to be a great read. I would recommend this to any horror fan, and it would be a greater recommendation to those that prefer works reflecting an earlier period in history. 

    This is an easy eight out of ten for me. The contents alone are worth the price and will satisfy any horror fan. Give this book a go if you are looking to add a collection of short stories to your book collection or if you are just looking to find some elusive tales that you might not have come across yet. If you can recommend any other classic collections of stories, let me know. Always looking for new books to add to my personal collection. 

Gothghul Hollow by Anna Stephens. Another entry into Warhammer horror, that is equal parts horror and mystery. Featuring the return of a fan favourite that I did not see coming.

 

Gothgul Hollow by Anna Stephens. A review.

    This was my first time reading anything by Anna Stephens, and I was glad I gave this entry into Warhammer horror a chance. This new sub-genre within the Black Library is rapidly proving to be my favourite, though I'm somewhat biased as Horror has always been a favourite for me. Having read a number of them now, I had a level of expectation, an idea of what to expect from future entries. Though there is a familiar formula to this book, the story proved exceptionally well written with a surprising twist towards the end. I am looking forward to what Anna Stephens will write next after this one. Hopefully, they will keep her on these characters and further the narrative. I am definitely interested in seeing what other stories the Games Workshop crew has in store.

    This story is a horror of multiple themes. We have a monster story, a haunting, a curse of sorts, and a mystery. It centers around four main protagonists and is set in the realm of Shyish during the Age of Sigmar. There is a fifth character that plays an important role, but I don't want to give too much away. The main gist of this story focuses on the history of the Gothgul family. Father and daughter stand at the heart of it all, their relationship strained by time and loss. The Hollow is under attack by some strange bloodthirsty creature, a curse upon the town and its people. As the ruling nobles, they seek to protect those within their ancestral lands though they have had little success. As the story begins, we find the creature stalking a wayward townsperson foolishly outside when the howls signal its approach. Things do not go well for him, his life ends painfully, but we are introduced to the first of our protagonists through the opening. Runar has been hired to hunt this beast down, he has brought his people with him, and they have, so far, done little more than find the bodies. The body is taken to the castle, to the awaiting Gothguls. There, along with Tiberius Grim Aaric's best friend, and Edrea's uncle, they begin the study of the corpse. A corpse that is found to be drained of blood, like all the others. Something that should be impossible, given the freshly slain nature of the corpse. There is a supernatural nature to this creature, when fired upon and injured, it seems to be unaffected by the damage inflicted upon it. Edrea theories that it is feeding on each kill, that the blood is giving it strength. This theory proves to be partly correct, but there is more to the creature than any of them have realized.

    All that is happening in this tale is related to events in the past. Events that Edrea is unaware of but are tied to her. There is much that Aaric has not told her about her mother, Hephzibah. Edrea is adamant that her father is lying to her about something, something about her mother. Before we discover what that is, Runar has taken to hunting the creature down. It is a hunt that goes badly for Runar and his companions. Some discoveries are made through his interaction with the entity.  Those discoveries come at the cost of those Runar holds dear, however. It almost costs the hunter his life also. The timely arrival of Edrea and her father saves Runar from meeting his demise and reveals more of the entity's nature. The next part of the story plays out in the castle, Runar waking to a strange vision that leads to a blood binding coming to each of the four protagonists. After this occurs, the story of the events leading to Hephzibah's death is revealed, along with some family secrets. 

    After discovering what happened to her family before her birth, Edrea is more determined to bring this event to a close. The events spiral into a conclusion of desperate battle as they enact a final gambit. Stephens does a great job of taking this in a direction I did not see coming, revealing a character I had not read in years. This reintroduction is startling, a message brought with them that tells of far greater danger to come. This is a much-changed version to the one I knew, and there is enough revealed to make me each for the next outing. With this being a horror/mystery tale, I have done my best not to spoil anything, hopefully, the above covers enough to pique your interest. 

    This is an easy 8 out of 10 stars. It is a well-written book with great action sequences and amazingly fleshed-out characters. I would recommend this book to any fan of horror novels, mystery novels, and the Age of Sigmar books. Give it a look if you're looking for anything new and are interested in one of the best stories from Warhammer Horror novels.

The House of Night and Chain by David Annandale, a review. A great Haunted House novel in the Warhammer 40k universe, takes some of the great tropes and twists them to their own brand of horror.

 

The House of Night and Chain by David Annandale. A review.

    
    After reading several Warhammer Horror novels, I have come to expect solid writing from each of their authors. David Annandale does not fail to meet that expectation. This book proved to be better than I had expected, using the familiar tropes of Haunted House stories and yet managing to incorporate them to fit into the Warhammer universe setting. I was so impressed that I immediately dived into another of his works, The Deacon of Wounds, which I am part way through. Being familiar with the Warhammer 40k universe and horror in general I went into the story with certain expectations. The story took turns that I did not see coming and followed a narrative that ensured you are never sure how it will play out. 

    A great Haunted House story works well as a mystery. You are drawn into the mystery of the house along with the protagonist, spiralling down with them and unable to pull yourself away. This book does that brilliantly, at least in my opinion. I couldn't put the book down, and considering I read it whilst off sick with the flu, that is quite an impressive feat. The story follows Colonel Maeson Strock as he returns to the planet Solus and takes his position as Planetary Governor. This is a man that has been broken by events of war and personal loss, he is holding himself together, but it is a tentative hold. He has been given the duty of seeking out corruption within the council, informed that the tithes from the planet have fallen below what they should be. Upon returning to Solus, and the city of Valgaast, Maeson is to take up residence in the ancestral mansion of Malveil. It is Malveil that his uncle ruled from, and Malveil where his wife resided once she took up a council seat in his stead. The place where she died whilst he continued to serve off-world. Maeson is a man wracked with guilt, both for the death of his troops and the part, he believes, he played in his wife's suicide. In many ways, he is a man on the edge, but he holds tightly to his duty, firm in his belief that he can root out this corruption. He is also attempting to reunite with his estranged children, children he hasn't seen in close to thirty years. This inner turmoil and his desire to reconnect to his family make him a compelling character, though it makes him open to the manipulations of the dark forces of Malveil.

    From the outset, the mansion begins to work on him. It attacks his certainty in his reality, showing him things that threaten to disassociate him from the present and those around him. It begins subtly at first, infiltrating his dreams as the horrors of the war work on him, digging deeper into his psyche over time. It is difficult to tell what is real and what is imagined. Maeson's ability to tell the two apart falters over time as the essence of the mansion works on his fractured mind. He often believes that his children are in the mansion seeking his protection, seeing them as young children rather than the adults they have become. Over time, Maeson sees his dead wife, following her throughout the house. She leads him to her journal in the Librarium, and he finds himself compelled to read it, convinced she is trying to communicate with him. This belief becomes his dominant thought. So consumed by it that it fractures his hold on reality. 

    Maeson's mission to seek out corruption brings him into direct opposition with the head of the council and the descendent of his family's ancient rivals, Veth Montfor. She is at the root of the corruption. She controls the other council members but is far too insulated for Maeson to make a move directly. He needs to find a way to weaken her position, and he has only a few allies to call upon. One of those is Adrianna Veiss, a friend of old, and without her, he would flounder in his attempts to bring the other council members to heel. The political situation and his duty to bring the tithes back to where they had been during his uncle's tenure, added more pressure to the new Governor. A pressure that pushes at his already fragile mind. It often seems that he is being assaulted from many different angles, and it isn't until further into the story that we discover how they are all interconnected. Nothing in this story is as simple as it first appears.

    This book is simply brilliant. It kept me hooked from the get-go, and the mystery behind the house and the family connected to it was enough to keep me reeled into it throughout.  I highly recommend this book to any fan of horror, and that goes double for those that enjoy Haunted House stories specifically. The slow decay of Maeson's grip on reality is done fantastically, the depth of his madness is only revealed to him in the closing pages. This is a story where no one comes out unscathed, where the House wins, and only a sort of stalemate is reached. It is a dark tale where the light is unable to push back the night for long.

    This book is an easy 9 out of 10 stars. It is a great read and will keep you hooked right until the end. Give this book a go, you won't be disappointed.

Unfriended. A horror film set for the modern age, a look through the lens of social media and featuring a cast of unlikeable teenagers.

 

Unfriended, a review. 

    I have to say that, whilst not the worst film I've seen, it does leave a lot to be desired. I was hoping not to be so negative in this review, but looking back, I have to wonder how I got through this film. We open up with the screen flickering and changing as the view becomes as though the viewer is looking at a computer screen. It stays that way for the majority of the film, and that is supposed to, I'd imagine, help immerse us in the tale unfolding. Artistically, that choice might have worked for some, me not so much. The idea behind the film is a simple one, Six friends on a video call get caught up in something supernatural as a friend from the grave begins to play a game with them. This is the sort of thing that has been done before, but we watch it all from Blair's point of view, through her computer. It starts very small, but things grow worse as the film progresses, and the mystery of why this is happening is revealed over time. All that plays out surrounds the death of a friend, and we see this in the opening seconds, as a video clip plays on screen. This friend, Laura, killed herself after a video had been posted on social media, trolled by countless people until she could take no more. This single event feeds directly into what happens to these six.

    And what to say about the six friends? I didn't like any of them, and maybe that was supposed to be the point. They're a whiny, self-absorbed, bitchy, backstabbing group who profess to care about one another but act in a manner that suggests otherwise. Being from a nation far from the strange land of America, it is hard to know if these six act in a way that is typical for the youth over there, but I wanted to slap them each on several occasions. As the film plays out, we discover more about each of them. Unfortunately, none of them look any better, reinforcing my initial view of them. As far as setups go, it is rare that I have not found one person to root for. The film did a good job of proving how petty and selfish some people can be. 

    Now, as the film plays, out we discover more behind Laura's suicide and the parts that each of them played in it. As this unwanted caller keeps them part of the call with threats and worse, we begin to wonder if this is just a hacker or something else. I won't be spoiling anything by saying that this is supposed to be a supernatural event, that this is Laura calling from beyond the grave. Death and terror follow for our friends, the caller pushing them to reveal things about themselves. Failure to do so will lead to their deaths, something that played out earlier in the film. As a viewer, I saw where the film was headed long before it got there, the infighting and dirty secrets were not a surprise, and the deaths were a little uninspired. It was a surprise that I rooted for the spirit to get its revenge on this group, rarely that is the case. As we spiral towards the climax, we get more desperation from them and another death, that in my opinion, is a little unbelievable after everything they have experienced.

    I have seen many horror films, and none are quite so lackluster. Usually, they are either so bad they're good, just plain bad, or a decent watch. This one is just so boring, unlikeable, and pretty obvious as to where it is headed. 

    I would give this a 2 out of 5. It's worth a watch if nothing else is on but don't expect anything too thrilling. Let me know what you thought of it if you've seen it yourself.