Lit of Horror, Fantasy, and Sci-fi

Practical Magic - Griffin Dunne September 25, 2017         This week I actually decided to watch a movie. I had actually never heard of Practical Magic, so I wasn't sure what to expect except that it had witches. It was a cute witch movie, to say the least. It didn't feel quite like a "real" witch movie, more like a love story. Not saying that it wasn't a witch movie. It did of course have magic, a dead man coming back to life from a spell, and the usual group of people accusing the family of being what they are. I guess it was just a unique story of portraying witches, since the whole family was cursed with losing the love of their life. The symbol of death in this movie was a clicking beetle. Definitely a unique way to show that death is coming. Unlike the Hocus Pocus version of witches, these were normal people, just with extra abilities. I did enjoy watching the movie though. 8/10.

Monster Island - David Wellington September 18, 2017       Monster Island was definitely a book that I found interesting. I'm a huge fan of almost anything zombie, so having the opportunity to read a zombie book for class was cool. David's version of a zombie book is definitely different than what I'm used to, but I still found it interesting because of how different it was. One of the main characters you will come across, Gary, turns into a zombie. He was smart enough to try something that no one else did, trying to keep a functioning brain. Gary connects himself to a ventilation system, while submerging himself in ice cold water to keep himself "alive". That part almost reminded me of a movie called "Warm Bodies". Not a movie I'm a huge fan of, because it's a little too innocent of a zombie story in my opinion. Zombies are able to come back to their sanity with love and communication. Unless they are far gone, then they are just

Kwaidan : Stories and Studies of Strange Things - Lafcadio Hearn September 11, 2017            Kwaidan : Stories and Studies of Strange things consists of many, short Japanese ghost stories. Although some were more enjoyable than others, I enjoyed reading them all. The few that stood out for me were probably "Yuki-Onna", "Mujina", and "Rokuro-Kubi". Yuki-Onna was probably my favorite. I was happy to see that the story happened to be the film we watched during class, and it was almost exactly like the story. It's about this very pale woman in white, who basically sucks the life out of this man. This other man, Minokichi, is there to witness it. Since he was young and attractive, the woman let him live. The only thing he had to promise, was to never speak of what he saw or she would kill him. Long story short, he winds up telling the story years later to his wife.. who IS THE WOMAN IN WHITE. What a plot twist. She doesn&

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice August 28, 2017         Interview with a Vampire was the type of fictional story that almost immediately caught my attention for it’s unique way of speaking to the readers. You get to in vision the mind of the vampire while listening to his story rather than a narrator explaining his words for him. I don't normally read or watch many vampire things, but I actually did find this a bit interesting. The relationship that Lestat and Louis had was also interesting to say the least. Lestat sees Louis one night and chooses him to basically become one of him. He tries to get Louis to experience killing, but Louis feels guilt by it. Louis eventually meets a young girl named Claudia who he decides to feed on. Lestat decides to claim her as their child and turns her into a vampire as well. I'm not exactly sure what it's like in other vampire stories, but seeing the way that they turn was different for me. Usually wh

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley August 21, 2017          When we think about “Frankenstein”, most people tend to believe that is the name of the monster created. The story of Frankenstein explains how the name of the scientist is actually Frankenstein, and the monster is simply, a monster that wanted a friend. It was interesting to read the letters that Mary Shelley’s story begins with involving Victor. At first it confused me, since I was expecting to go right into his story. It gives you an idea of what kind of relationship the two had, and gives a bit of a back story away from the monster story.  If you compare the story to how Frankenstein is portrayed in films, they seem to be very different. Like I said before, Frankenstein tends to be the monster in films. Although it is correct that the monster can get violent in all versions of Frankenstein, it still shows a difference. Although I didn't have time to completely finish the story, I&