* I saw and reviewed The Ruins today.
* And while we’re on the subject, Bruce Baugh reviews The Ruins author Scott Smith’s first novel, A Simple Plan. I haven’t read the book so I’m skittish about reading the whole review, but I got a lot out of Bruce’s opening paragraphs regarding differing approaches to moral criticism in fiction.
* Here’s a character breakdown for the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica which I will be trying to avoid spoilers on so I’m not reading it but you can if you want and I won’t judge you.
* In one of her all too infrequent geekblogging breakouts, Eve Tushnet tackles a slew of horror films: Audition, May, Session 9, Ringu, and The Ring. Regarding those last two, like most people she prefers the version she saw first, but for a different reason than I’ve ever seen anyone cite before.
* Chris Butcher continues to refer to the Geoff Johns/Grant Morrison/Greg Rucka/Mark Waid/Keith Giffen/cast of thousands weekly series 52 with words like “pablum,” and I continue to be baffled by this given how clearly, even ostentatiously weird, idiosyncratic, and follow-your-bliss its peripatetic plot and themes were. Also, I liked the last issue of World War Hulk.
* This week’s Horror Roundtable is about out favorite writings on horror. Curt at Groovy Age takes issue with my citation of Noel Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror, pointing out the way Carroll treats horror plotlines like mysteries in which the characters attempt to “solve” the horrific presence. (Kind of like the initial set-up of The Ring, now that I think about it.) The funny thing is I didn’t even REMEMBER the focus on “solving” the horror until Curt brought it up in this post. What resonated for me was Carrol’s emphasis on how horror violates our sense not just of safety (like a lion on the loose or a mugger would) but also our sense of normalcy and even sanity. That seems like such a key distinction between horror proper and other things that are just scary. I read TPoH at a time when I was searching for a theory to explain why images that didn’t present a physical threat to the character who sees them–the girls in The Shining are the best example–were still so scary. This was an issue the prevailing Carol Clover-driven horror-film theories couldn’t account for.
* Finally, this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S: Frank Miller’s The Spirit, ladies and germs. Get ’em while they’re hot. (Shhhhh.)
Remembering my error with The Gunslinger, I worked hard to keep the Simple Plan review spoiler free. I do tell you that the narrator lives to the end and some others don’t, but that’s about it. 🙂 Oh, and whether the scheme works or not.
When I get to the movie, there will be a spoiler-protected bit so I can talk about the changes in the last couple of major scenes.
Baugh’s review of A Simple Plan is right on the money. I didn’t like the book, but it was a good analysis. If you liked The Ruins it’s definitely worth reading: Smith really has a way of drawing in the reader and making them keep turning the pages, even if there are things you don’t like, until you reach the end.
“I do tell you that the narrator lives to the end and some others don’t, but that’s about it.”
Dammit Bruce!
Dude, I can count the books with first-person narration where the narrator dies at the end that aren’t Lovecraft stories on my thumbs. 🙂
That Spirit stuff is crazy and kind of makes me a little sick, but at the same time:
Eva Mendes.
It is impossible for me to be objective.
I love it. Take your loving, respectful tribute to the beloved comic strip of yore and shove it, Grandpa!
At least it’s not Sam Jones again.
A Simple Plan is a lot different than The Ruins, but it’s every bit as much of a page-turner. I can’t remember rooting for such a morally repugnant protagonist…
Carnival of souls
* It’s official: The Lost season finale has been expanded to two hours. * Meanwhile, it should be noted that as much as I dislike the “theory” school of Lost fandom, it’s one that is actively headmastered by the show’s…