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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 6, 2013 7:47:39 GMT
I've read--and enjoyed--both Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer (1983; all retellings of fairy tales) That's a great collection!
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Post by Robert Adam Gilmour on Jan 6, 2013 14:41:05 GMT
The Tanith Lee story was "Three Days".
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 6, 2013 20:09:17 GMT
I did watch a lot of Asian cinema in past years - the best Asian (Korean) horror film I've found is A Tale of Two Sisters. That's a good one. Here's my take on the top 13 Asian horror films (I haven't watched many films in the past few years, so this list doesn't include any recent ones): House (Hausu - 1977, Japan)* Cure (1997, Japan)* Ring (Ringu - 1998, Japan)* Audition (Odishon - 1999, Japan)* Spiral (Uzumaki - 2000, Japan) Suicide Club (Jisatsu sakuru - 2001, Japan) Pulse (Kairo - 2001, Japan) The Eye (Jian Gui - 2002, Hong Kong/Singapore) The Grudge (Ju-on - 2002, Japan) Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara - 2002, Japan) A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon - 2003, Korea)* Infection (Kansen - Japan, 2004) The Host (Gwoemul - 2006, Korea) * Top Five The list covers just about everything: there's a big old monster (The Host), traditional hauntings (Dark Water, The Eye, The Grudge), non-traditional hauntings (Ring), a total mind-screw (A Tale of Two Sisters), green-ichor-filled body horror (Infection), a psycho torturer out of any man's worst nightmare (Audition), existential dread (Cure, Pulse), general insanity (Suicide Club), utter insanity (Spiral), and insanity beyond the power of words to describe (House).
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 6, 2013 20:11:18 GMT
The Tanith Lee story was "Three Days". I don't remember that one well, but I know that I read it in David G. Hartwell's The Dark Descent.
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Post by Robert Adam Gilmour on Jan 6, 2013 21:53:25 GMT
I've seen most of those, I'd say Kwaiden belongs there too, maybe the Shindo films Onibaba and Kuroneko.
I love Sono but I dont think Suicide Club is one of his better ones, in fact it may be my least favorite of his films with a western dvd release. Apart from one great scene I thought Kairo/Pulse was quite weak, but I'm eager to see more Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
I think Haze is one of the best, it's only 50 minutes, it is the type of dream everybody has had but you dont see filmed often enough. I'm always trying to push Shinya Tsukamoto's films on people and seemingly nobody listens; it really baffles me why a lot of film journalists dont talk about him more, because he is someone Miike thought he could "never beat" and they have worked together. It annoyed me that Kim Newman chose the underwhelming Livid over Kotoko. Tsukamoto has done a few other horror films: Tetsuo series is sometimes categorised as horror. Gemini is an adaptation of a Rampo story. Nightmare Detective and Hiruko The Goblin are two of his weaker things but still pretty decent. There are loads of Miike and Wook fans who dont know enough about Tsukamoto, Sogo Ishii and Shozin Fukui, they are every bit as good and often better. I'm sure there are many more but I get tired of films easily, I'm no cineaste.
I'm quite fond of the Hong Kong martial arts films with horror bits in them like Spooky Encounters, Chinese Ghost Story series. Mr Vampire is very overrated. Yet to see Boxers Omen.
I havent seen Cure, Blind Beast, Ghost Of Yotsuya yet. I'm wary of J-horror films because many of them are just a bit too similar and I wasnt really that impressed by the 60s Jigoku, Ugetsu and Horror Of Malformed Men (aside from a few scenes in each) . Of the Hammer-esque japanese Dracula trilogy I'd only recommend Lake Of Dracula.
I'm really wondering these days how differently people experience art from each other, I'm routinely having "meh..." responses to acclaimed films this year: Livid, House Of The Devil, Innkeepers, The Pact, Silent House remake. Four Flies On Grey Velvet was better than "meh..." but less good than I'd heard. Phenomena is far from the mess I'd heard it was. I seen Son Of Dracula last week after hearing it was one of the better Universal horrors but I thought it was awful. But of that era/style I only really rate Bride Of Frankenstein, Mad Love and Freaks. Which is a shame because I love that style (same with Hammer style movies, I love the aesthetic but like very few of the films).
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Post by Calenture on Jan 6, 2013 22:30:27 GMT
Can't resist commenting and slightly adding to this: I liked The Host, but I thought they missed a chance there. When the missing girl's father hears her voice on his phone, I expected her to be trapped alive inside the monster. Still don't have the stomach to watch all of Audition. (I could take the bit where she saws her victim's feet off, but couldn't handle the forced vomit-eating. The same director (Takashe Miike)made the deliriously bloodthirsty and sadistic Ichi the Killer and more recently made 13 Assassins (televised) and Hari Kiri, about a poor Samurai who tries to trick wealthy landowners into giving him food (or he'll commit suicide), then is forced to disembowel himself with his own blunt wooden sword! Loved The Eye (but not the sequels, which suck). Ab-Normal Beauty is from the same team, about a girl who becomes obsessed with photographing death then is sent a video tape showing a brutal murder. Ring 3: Birthday is pretty good. Premonition was odd, about a ghostly newspaper which foretells death. Marebito is very weird one about a photographer who wants to understand fear and obsesses over footage of a suicide in a subway. He finds his way into a strange underworld where he finds a beautiful mute girl chained to a wall. He takes her home, but she can only be kept alive with blood... (I'm sure I've seen this plot used elsewhere, possibly on TV in a short horror by Argento, but the conclusion/explanation is different.) I loved I'm a Cyborg but that's OK about a girl who's locked away in a home because she can't deal with feelings so decides she's not human. Funny and brilliant. From the director of Lady Vengeance, Mr Vengeance and Oldboy. An English one: Elfie Hopkins - black comedy about girl who imagines herself a detective then suspects the new neighbours might not be as nice as they seem (hackneyed idea but handled well here). Spanish: Found Julia's Eyes in a Morrison's bin for £2 and it's outstanding, though a bit slow starting. Hitchcock by way of Dario Argento. Directed by Guillem Morales (not Guillermo Del Toro - he produced it). P.S. What volume of The Dark Descent was the Tanith Lee story in - can't find it but I don't have the whole set.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 7, 2013 2:01:31 GMT
"Three Days" was in The Medusa in the Shield.
I saw 13 Assassins in the theater. Good times.
I know someone who tricked his significant other into watching Audition by characterizing it as a romantic comedy.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 7, 2013 5:57:21 GMT
"Three Days" was in The Medusa in the Shield. I saw 13 Assassins in the theater. Good times. I know someone who tricked his significant other into watching Audition by characterizing it as a romantic comedy. Excellent. Tried the same strategy myself at various times with my partner when I rent out a video.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jan 7, 2013 8:58:15 GMT
An English one: Elfie Hopkins - black comedy about girl who imagines herself a detective then suspects the new neighbours might not be as nice as they seem (hackneyed idea but handled well here). Crikey - that's the only good review of Elfie I've ever read. I liked it.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jan 7, 2013 14:46:24 GMT
The best reading experience for me from 2012 was discovering the Charlie Parker novels of John Connolly. They wiped out all the other books I read last year. Ditto. I read them all, more-or-less in quick succession, which would normally make me feel glutted with a single author but not here - I'm just waiting for the latest to come out in paperback so I can get some more. On the other hand, I also read his Bad Men and was disappointed. Can't think of any great horror films this year - most enjoyable cinema experience was probably Avengers Assemble, and the expression "mewling quim" still pops into my head in certain (generally appropriate) circumstances. William Friedkin's Killer Joe was, ummm, interesting, but not the great masterpiece some seemed to think. Still undecided on The Devil's Business.
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Post by pulphack on Jan 8, 2013 7:22:38 GMT
I'm not fond of modern genre fiction as it tends to get tied up in the conventions, and any iconoclasts end up accidentally inventing new ones. Certainly, I always felt this about horror, but Zombie Apocalypse Fightback, which I'm still reading, is as good as the first book if not better in places. I love what Mr Jones has done here, and if the contributors are as good without his iron fist, then there are some worth reading and checking out to restore faith.
Modern crime fiction is much the same - CSI technology has strangled the art of detection old school in books, if not the real world, and no matter how good dour Scandanavians may be, it's not for me (and I have tried...). By the same token, retro and period stuff teeters on dull pastiche (though Simon Brett's arch Blotto and Twinks series rips the serious piss out of Christie and Sapper at the same time - but then his other career as a humourist makes it a perfect marriage). Historical detectives avoid these traps, but it depends on if you have an interest in their particular period.
New fiction, therefore, tends to be from the general shelves, although a lot of it references or has elements of genre. This year it was catching up with recent DJ Taylor, Jonathon Coe, Jake Arnott and Matt Beaumont that were highlights. For old stuff, read a lot of John Creasey (mostly Gideon and Inspector West as I'm finally running out of Baron's I haven't found), and also unearthed a couple of Edgar Wallace's that I hadn't come across before. Went back to Machen, and despite the uneveness of his late work, the early stories, along with James and Lovecraft, are still the benchmark by which I judge 'horror' writing. He makes me want to give up, as it's been said, done, and dusted.
I must recommend The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, which is only a few years old, and features Walter B Gibson, Lester Dent and L Ron Hubbard leaving their typewriters to solve the mystery of HP Lovecraft's death, save Robert Heinlen from a fate panhandling, and assist the career of busboy Chester Himes. Lots of references but also a rattling good yarn. One of those post-modern thrillers that usually fall flat - this one doesn't. It was his first, and I see he has a couple of others that may get investigated this year. Gawd bless charity shops - I'd never have known about it otherwise.
Not been to the pictures much - mrs ph picks the films so it's very mainstream though I actually liked Rock Of Ages! On dvd it's been catching up on old stuff accumulated over the last couple of years and left to fester on the shelf. TV wise the second series of The Hour was good, as was The Town (despite the dull title). I only watched short series, to be honest, as I end up getting lost in the continuity of long series by missing episodes and have to wait for the box set before things finally make sense.
Music wise, I discovered Professor Elemental, which is what happens when a rapper decided to channel Viv Stanshall... wonderful and barmy. Also discovered Trumpets Of Death (it's a mushroom, apparently!), a three piece who are folk/post-rock/free jazz and what prog rock means in the truest sense of the term in 2012/3. Bloody hard work and then it clicks and it's wonderful! My chum Rob and myself have also realised that we're turning into our parents as we've discovered a mutual and unexpected reverence for Mantovani. No, really... well, it makes a change from Hammill and punk rock, I suppose.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 8, 2013 11:00:05 GMT
I must recommend The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, which is only a few years old, and features Walter B Gibson, Lester Dent and L Ron Hubbard leaving their typewriters to solve the mystery of HP Lovecraft's death, save Robert Heinlen from a fate panhandling, and assist the career of busboy Chester Himes. Lots of references but also a rattling good yarn. One of those post-modern thrillers that usually fall flat - this one doesn't. You know, I always wondered if this is any good an I was very tempted. But in the last years I have developed an acute distaste of the "Let's pull HPL into my story, what fun" cottage-industry. Maybe because HPL has become synonymous with his work and has suffered much more in this regard then other writers. I know this sounds a bit hypocritical from an avowed fan of Kim Newman and Alan Moores LOEG, and in the case of HPL there is even the historical precedent by his "friends", who did this long before it became common. But I have read so many mediocre to lousy stories and novels where Lovecraft is the lynchpin of the plot, not to mention movies, that I nowadays can't help thinking he didn't deserve this at all. On the other hand, in an era where an idea like "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" is considered worth many millions, I guess I am becoming too old for this shit
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Post by David A. Riley on Jan 8, 2013 11:13:19 GMT
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is one of the most ridiculous films ever. It's not even a good vampire film.
It lost me when Lincoln was being taught how to use his axe against enemies by having enough anger to slice through a tree with a single blow. This made even most martial arts films look level headed and realistic by comparison. Ugh! And the CGI dominated stunts got even more ridiculous as the film progressed.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 21, 2013 18:11:33 GMT
Best of 2012 continued
more anthologies
Paul Finch (ed.) - Terror Tales Of The Cotswolds Stephen Jones - The Dead That Walk. A dry-run for the Zombie Apocalypse epic Revisiting Mary Danby's The Green Ghost after so long it read like a new book.
Stories & novellas. Way too many to list, but if I loved or even just liked it a bit, chances are will have raved about it on here somewhere.
Gary Fry's Gray Friar Press deserve recognition as one of our finest small presses, and the 'New Blood' series has got off to a brilliant start with the Stephen Bacon and Thana Niveau debuts. The world is crying out for an Anna Taborska collection, and I hope GF get to publish it.
TV:
Midsomer Murders, Whitechapel, Holby City (esp for Guy Henry's extraordinary turn as Director of Surgery, Henrik 'The man who cast no shadow' Hanssen), The Saint reruns on ITV4, The Walking Dead, Appropriate Adult.
Greatest Sporting occasions of 2012
1. Wealdstone F.C.'s magnificent giant-killing run in the FA Trophy, all the way to the semi-finals before losing 1-3 on aggregate to eventual winners Newport County. 2. European Championship in Poland and Croatia. Final and Portugal-Spain semi were disappointing, but rest made up for deadly flat 2010 World Cup.
Personal Vault obsessions of 2012: enduring love affair with the shudder pulps, also Prof. Brewer's continued exhumation of the women of Weird Tales. Ghost Stories & pre-war pulp mags, Singer anthologies, 'Sapper's supernatural & macabre moments, Armada Ghost Stories & related, the listings, Misty, the advent calendar, the continuing saga of the Zombie Apocalypse.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 21, 2013 21:08:02 GMT
Speaking of Ghost Stories magazine, I'm not certain if anything has been posted about John Locke's two-volume Ghost Stories: The Magazine and Its Makers (Off-Trail Publications, 2010), which I discovered thanks to the blog Wormwoodiana. One of these days I'm going to order a matching set, maybe along with Mike Ashley's pricier but classy-looking Phantom Perfumes and Other Shades (Ash-Tree Press, 2000).
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