
“The Black Phone” by Joe Hill (2004)
“Finney was one of the black balloons now.”
Back on that modern lit buzz with a really good ending here. Doesn’t linger, doesn’t seek to resolve anything beyond the barest minimum.
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“Mars Is Heaven!” by Ray Bradbury, Wally Wood, et al. (1953)
“And Lustig began to cry."
Looks like this story hit pretty hard in the fifties, but then the Godliness and paranoia of the nation was more potent then. Now it comes across as quaint.
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Terrifier 2 dir. Damien Leone (2022)
"You’re really weird, you know that?”
I was ready to dismiss Terrifier 2 as a movie for gore fetishists and anyone who thinks it’s hilarious to watch visceral torture, but watching Scream 2 right after (which I’ve watched many times) made me pause to reconsider. Terrifier 2 is a slasher movie that tries to get weird and show off admittedly great practical VFX and that’s fine, but it’s not for me. Between this and yesterday’s movie selection I’m reminded that I’m just not a certain kind of horror fan.