Book Review - Out There Screaming by Various Authors

Title: Out There Screaming
Author: Various Authors (edited by Jordan Peele)
Genre: Horror/ Short stories
Published: 2024
 
Description: The visionary writer and director of “Get Out”, “Us” and “Nope”, and founder of Monkeypaw productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the  terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustive that haunts our nation.

Review: In the forword of “Out There Screaming”, Jordan Peele explains how the book came to be. How ‘The Sunken Place’ from his horror film “Get Out” is the starting point of each story. The sunken place is different for everyone and with that idea, 19 authors came up with varying stories.
 
I will not be getting into all induvial stories, I’m going to highlight the ones that stood out to me.
 
“The Other One”, written by Violet Allen” is about Angela, who gets mysterious text messages from another woman, who seems to be dating her ex. Things become sinister pretty quickly. I found this original and amazing, yet very disturbing. This is what I want for a short story in the horror genre. The ending was very worrying.
 
“Lasiren”, by author Erin E. Adams, was e strong, fantastical horror story, about three sisters. One is been taking into the ocean by a mysterious creature. The sister bond was what made this book special.
 
L.D. Lewis’ story “Flicker” followed Kamara and her friends, who ar trying to survive in a world turned upside down by unexplained ‘blinks’ of darkness that last seconds, then minutes, and so on. The premise was good, I could read a full length novel based on it.
 
“The Strongest Obeah Woman of the World”, written by Nalo Hopkinson, is a body horror story, so people will respond mixed to this one. Yenderil swims to the bottom of the blue hole to kill the beast that’s been haunting her village. But the beast latches on to her. This story was so original and kind of gross. But loved it.
 
There are also a few stories with realistic elements, of U.S. history, that are horrific because of it. My favorite of those was “The Norwood Trouble” by Maurice Broaddus follows a young girl that experiences a lynch mob in the years before civil rights was initiated in the U.S.
 
The best story in the entire anthology was without a doubt “Happy Place” by Terence Taylor. We meet Martin, whose job is to transport prisoners. He learns of ‘The Process’, which is a way to transfer knowledge to prisoners so they can leave as productive members of society. This was such a good story, loved the premise and that twist was a shock.
 
When I started this book, I felt a bit sad, because the first couple of stories didn’t really do much for me. But the best stories are still coming. Ranking each individual story, adding those and dividing this by 19, gives us an average rating of 3,5 stars. A really solid horror anthology, with some new-to-me authors that I will for sure keep my eye on.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5

Book Review - The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Title: The Golden Spoon
Author: Jessa Maxwell
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2023
 
Description: Every summer for the past years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the ground of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week”but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.
 
The author of numerous best-selling cookbooks and hailed as Ämerica’s Grandmother”, Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, although no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the baking competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage – sugar replaced by salt, a burner turned too high – but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
 
Review: “The Golden Spoon” is a cozy mystery, which was marketed as a mix of “The Great British Bake Off” and “Knives Out”. Lots of atmosphere, little blood. If you like mystery, but not the gore and blood that comes with them often, this is your type of book.
 
We meet the host, Betsy Martin, and all the contestants. The are introduced and all have their own chapters, told from their POV. I like that. The book is a very quick read and the story is easy to follow.
 
It is a mystery, but there is not a lot of suspense. For the majority of the book, we follow the six contestants and the host in their journey through “Bake Week”, each with their secrets and with strange things happening now and then.
 
Through the entirety of the book you are wondering who will be the one that gets killed, but it’s actually very predictable. I guessed it early on in the book. Obvious? Probably. The murderer and the person sabotaging the competition, not spoiling if it’s the same person or not, could also be guessed due to the few characters we are following. But are not as obvious.
 
“The Golden Spoon” is a quick read, but never extremely exciting. Good for beginners of the mystery genre. A book with a ton of potential, but didn’t fully succeed.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

20s Movie Review - Strange Way of Life

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Genre: Western/ Drama
Runtime: 31 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal
Description: After twenty-five years Silva (Pedro Pascal) rides a horse across the desert to visit his friend Sheriff Jake (Ethan Hawke). They celebrate the meeting, but the next morning Jake tells him that that reason for this trip is not to go down the memory lane of their friendship.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 34: A FILM FROM 2023
 
Review: It is clear that Pedro Almodóvar wants to make a statement, making “Strange Way of Life as a classic western, one of the most masculine film genres out there. From the sets through the characters and to the music breathes the Wild West.

The dhort film begins promisingly, with the introduction of the two men and a mesmerizing version of the title song “Extraña forma de vida”.

There is murder, there is blood vengeance and honor, there is family loyalto. And there is a secret that took place twenty-five years earlier between the two men, sheriff Jake and hitman Silva. The film focuses mainly on the interaction between these two main characters, who have taken different paths yet never forgot each other.

But even though the film is only half an hour long, it feels like it contains unnecessary scenes. The flashback scene was not needed, from the interaction alone you can figure out what happened all those years ago.

I love both Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as actors, and these is an attraction between the two. But it doesn’t feel like a deep, inescapable connection. The dialogues feel a bit flat.

“Strange Way of Life” is undeniably solidly made, the camerawork is impeccable, as is art direction, editing and music. But it stays too much on the surface. Perhaps this movie would work better as a full-length film instead of a short movie. Hawke and Pascal do make up for a lot, individually.

Rating: 3/ 5

Book Review - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Title: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Vera Wong # 1)
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2023
 
Description: Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).
 
But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix thing. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.
 
Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.

Review: In this book we follow the titular Vera Wong, an elderly lady whose energetic routines and diligent internet snooping keep her young at heart. However her son and her potential clients at her tea shop are not very interested in it. With so little going on in her life, you can’t blame her to take matters into her own hands, when a dead man is found in her tea shop. Because she believes the cops are not capable of solving the crime, what is clearly a murder in her eyes, Vera decides she will solve it for them. Especially when the police claim it’s just an accident. Not one, but four people later show up at her shop, that try to find out what happened to the dead man. Making them potential suspects.
 
The book has some funny and hilarious moments, but is also heartwarming at times. Jesse Q. Sutanto wrote Vera as a meddling mother and combined this with her being a very sympathetic character. She is outrageous and arrogant, but also smart, caring and full of love. And this all makes Vera to a very loveable character. Sutanto added four more complex characters to the story, all with their own trauma. And together as a group they form a great dynamic, healing each other along the way. With Vera as the link.
 
The story reads from multiple perspectives besides Vera’s and I always enjoy this in mysteries. We get to learn about each character before the rest does and they are all interesting to read about.
 
The story has some moments that feel repetitive, especially at the start. And there is a romance in it that felt a bit forced. I also found the eventual culprit a bit predictable, even though the revealed link I didn’t guess.  
 
“Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers” is a funny, cozy mystery that I really enjoyed for the majority of it. It’s the first book in a series, the sequel will come out in 2025. And I think I will be picking that up as well.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Director: George Miller
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 148 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke
 
Description: The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max.

Review: “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) was a giant hit, it was my favorite film of that year. And we met Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in that film. In “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” we see her origin story and she is this time portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy.

How she grows up ina  green oasis, the “green place” to which she tries to return in “Mad Max: Fury Road”. How young Furiosa gets robbed from her family by a bunch of road warriors and ends up with the gang of Dementus (a delightfully unhinged Chris Hemsworth). How she ends up in the Citadel, where Immortan Joe rules the fascist sceptor. How she is taken under the wing of Praetorian Jack. Ans how she eventually becomes a key player in what could be described as a civil war, as Dementus tries to take over Immortan Joe’s empire.

This film is not only an origin story but also a prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road”. The ending flows directly into the opening of Fury Road. The character development Furiosa goes through in Fury Road is given more emotional weight because of the trials she already indures in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”. Her liberation from immortan Joe’s brides is given more gravitas because it turns out she was such a bride herself.

If you have not yet seen “Mad Max: Fury Road”, you should, because “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” might otherwise feel unfinished. If you have, you will enjoy either one of those movies more. “Mad Max: Fury Road” was in my eyes a masterpiece, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” didn’t quite get there, but is was a very needed story to be told.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - The Iron Claw

Director: Sean Durkin
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allan White, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany, Maura Tierney, Lily James, Stanley Simons
 
Description: The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 33: A FILM WITH A STRONG FAMILY THEME

Review: A lot of true stories have been greatly exaggerated. A lot was made up just for dramatic effect. But sometimes reality goes so far that is has to be restrained. Like in “The Iron Claw” in which the Von Erich family has four sons, whem in reality there were six. The fate of the unsung two is deeply sad, but simply too much for a film already overflowing with family grief.

Kevin, the oldest of the four sons, dedicated his life to a show-wrestling career following in his father’s footsteps. The latter is now their coach and also the owner of the local wrestling arena. But daddy dearest does not mince words when it comes to pronouncing which of his sons is his preference, and Kevin is not on top. Their father keeps applying pressure, and that has its consequences.

Those who grew up in the 1980s/ 1990s, know the WWF, the World Wrestling Federation. For some reason it was addictive to watch a bunch of butch men in tight suits go at each other in bizarre ways, especially when you learned it was all staged.

Holt McCallany is outstanding in the role of the domineering father. The man deals no blows or violent threats, yet it is extremely plausible that non one would dare stand up to him. The lead role belongs to Zac Efron, who transformed himself into a muscular pro wrestler. Yet that is not the most impressive about his portrayal. Efron delivers perhaps the best acting performance of his career to date. Kevin von Ehrig is an airhead with a full heart. He is probably the only brother that really wants to be a professional wrestler like his dad, but Kevin he is constantly overruled by him. Dad is favoring all his other sons over Kevin.

This is such a devastating film, because the Von Erich family had to deal with one tragedy after another. But boys aren’t supposed to cry, according to dad. So when Efron’s character does shed a tear, it hits extra hard.

“The Iron Claw” is an impressive, hard-hitting film. Even if you’re not into wrestling, you may be touched.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

Book Review - Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Title: Hidden Pictures
Author: Jason Rekulak
Genre: Horror/ Mystery
Published: 2022
 
Description: Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son Teddy.
 
Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nighty runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draw something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.
 
The, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if there are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.
 
Knowing just how crazy is all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.
 
 
Review: I was intrigues by the story. A young boy drawing creepy images and having an imaginary friend. And the drawings are in the book as well. I had such high expectations about this book and everyone has been raving about this book ever since it came out. But may I say that the drawings in the book are the only redeeming feature. I hated this book.
 
We meet Mallory, who just got out of rehab. She manages to get a job with the Maxwell family, Caroline and Ted, to take care of their five-year-old son Teddy. She gets her own living space, has stability and Mallory really enjoys spending time with Teddy. But Teddy draws disturbing images that get worse and worse. Mallory wants to know what these drawings mean and is determined to find out the hidden meaning behind all these pictures.
 
First of all, this is not horror. Because horror means scary. This book is not scary at all. And I scare easily. To be honest, the book is pretty boring for the most part. But that was not my biggest issue with “Hidden Pictures”. Beside it being non-scary, the book is transphobic, anti-atheist, anti-left-leaning, fatphobic.
 
WARNING!!! THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!
 
The twist was shocking, but for all the wrong reasons. Using the child’s gender as a final twist is just distasteful. The Maxwell’s are atheists and it’s clear that the author wants us to believe that trans kids are being forced into it by “evil atheists”. There is so much that is not okay about this. The author clearly misunderstands everything about trans people.
 
END OF SPOILERS!!
 
I can’t believe this book won the GoodReads choice awards in the Horror category. And that som many people are rating it 5-stars. But there are still plenty of people that feel the same way as I do, all having the same bad after taste. They all touch upon the same issues that I had with the book, which made it that I could simply not like this book.
 
Rating: 1/ 5