“The Striding Place” by Gertrude Atherton (1896)
“He shuddered and turned away, impelled, despite his manhood, to flee the spot.”
Huh, this is a really surprising ending. It just doesn’t feel like something that would have been published in the late 1800s due to how abruptly it concludes. Naturally, that means I like it.
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“Infected” by Bruce Jones, Richard Corben, Steve Oliff (1982)
“You drag a shaking claw across your mouth and wipe away the sour smelling bile.“
Whoof. The casual racism is real bad in this one, even if it’s portrayed just to show the shitty attitude and personality of the protagonist. It feels more like some white guys riding the wave of edgy work like Heavy Metal to paint a portrait of “those people” and a cautionary story about getting involved with “them.”
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The Experiment dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel (2001)
”Drink. Your. Milk.”
I forget what horror movie list got this on my radar, but it’s a stretch for that genre. It is, however, very dark, and the course of events feels like the inevitable conclusion to humans. It is also early 2000s as hell and that lent it the same grittiness I noted in my previous 90s movie.