I Live with You By Carol Emshwiller

I find this to be a very creepy story. Someone who looks like you moves into your house and micro manages your life. Just the thought of having some stranger spying on you, eating your food at night, and wearing your cloths is disturbing. She is not trying to hurt the women, though she might be trying to make her go mad. But then she gets bored and wants to make her life better, well their life. I think the internal dialog in the narrator’s head is very intriguing. How she refers to thing in the house as ours. And she says we and us instead of I.  It is very strange how the woman knows she is living in her house and doesn’t do anything about it. I was wondering at first if maybe she had a split personality or something. But the ending is pretty clear that it was just another person living in someone’s house. The scary thing is that this has actually happened before.

http://www.tressugar.com/Japanese-Woman-Calls-Strangers-Closet-Home-1676646

Palimpset

I fell in love with this book. The writing is captivatingly poetic. The descriptions are beautiful in a surreal manor. Every object has its own personality and they are not quite what they seems to be, they are so much more. I love how the train cars are alive and have a will of their own. The city is alive and aims to please the people within it. The characters are relatable and true. They are lost souls striving for happiness, to experience something other than the norm. I find the relationship with Palimpsest is equivalent to a drug at first. It brings you to a higher state of being, you experience things that are wonderful or frightening but the trip is worth it. Some become obsessed and addicted. The real world blurs with the wonders of the other one until the other side takes over. Reality and immigration are the recurring themes in the book. What is real? Is Palimpsest the real world or is earth reality? Can it be both? But unlike a drug it really is another world, a real one you can immigrate to. Palimpsest is not a dream or a pure utopia like some believe at first. It is another world filled with war and greed and love. Everything is just amplified, more intense that earth. How it feels to be a traveler in a new strange world, you only think it is strange because of your own customs. Cassimere believes in immigration and fought the war to allow immigrants in. Our own world fights for the same reason. Many people don’t want outsiders coming into their “prefect world.”  

The entrance to this mysterious world is through another. For most sex becomes meaningless, something as easy and emotionless as hopping on a bus. One man has sex with his own sister to enter the world. (Then again one man enters the world so he can be with his hallucination of his dead sister.) But I think this ties into drug use also. After experiencing such a higher satisfying state sex can seems weak and unfulfilling in comparison. In the end they join together on earth so they can stay in Palimpsest forever, a city that is alive and loves them. 

Videodrome

I watched this a few years ago not knowing what to expect. James Woods is wonderfully perfect for the role. A very strange film that combines sex horror and fear of technology. His TV moves as if it is alive. The tape becomes part of him and controls his life. He starts searching for more and more answers but the farther he goes the more strange things yet. My favorite part is where his hand turns into a gooey fleshy gun. The ending is pretty confusing and unresolved in my opinion. He wonders to an abandon ship and kills himself. The first time I watched it the ending upset me. The whole movie is building and building up to more answers and maybe a solution and they it seems to end abruptly. But in the end it is a classic 80's horror movie. 

The Martian Chronicles

I read Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles. I really enjoyed reading these short stories. This is my kind of science fiction. They are beautifully written. I love the twist and turns. We are not on Mars we have traveled back in time! They remind me of the twilight zone in a wonderful way. You can relate to the martins on mars and care about them. I have to say my favorite story is still the first one. The woman who dreams an alien man from earth that sweeps her off her feet. The ending is not black and white but by hints and assumptions you know that her husband shot the earth man. The story that I thought was kind of confusing was the Earth Men. It didn’t really make sense to me. How could they believe anything is real if their race is so capable of creating hallucinations telepathically? They must have tests that can prove what is real and what is fake. Shooting people because you think they are insane is pretty harsh. I just feel like this story has a few holes in it. Overall the book is a page turner and a delight to read. 

Being John Malkovich

"I hope you can understand what I am saying I have a horrible speech impediment."

This surreal movie is a master piece. This was my second time watching it and I feel I appreciate it more the second time around. I love its dark odd sense of humor. The dialog is very clever and insightful. The acting is wonderful. The underlying struggles of using someone for you own gain and loving someone who dose not love you back. These are basic concepts but they are amplified through this portal into Malkovich. This portal allows these conflicts to grow more literal and complicated. The way that Maxine uses 3 people for her own pleasure. The puppeteer who uses a real body as his puppet. It is a modern fantasy that hits close to home. I enjoyed the ironic ending of the husband being stuck inside his wife and her lover Maxine/Malkovich’s daughter. Forever trapped in her subconscious.

The hobbit

To be honest I am not a fantasy kind of girl. I love fantasy horror but when its comes to classic fantasy I loose interest. I have watched the entire seris of the Lord of the Rings movies. I found them to be very interesting but lacking female characters and romance. I feel the same way about The Hobbit. I enjoyed parts of it, with golem and the giant spiders. The writing was clever and beautiful. But I had no strong female character to look up to or even a damsel in distress. And obviously there was no romance or sexual content of any kind. To be honest being a women I couldn’t relate. It seemed formulaic, they get attacked, they escape, they get attacked they escape, ect. I know it is a great book and I can respect it. But I feel it is offensive that women are not even worth mentioning. Are they too busy raising children and washing clothes to go on quests? I know the author was thinking of a bigger picture but I feel it is just not made for women. Also the violence is not suspenseful or creepy it’s just fighting, one group fighting and dominating another. Maybe if I was a man I could appreciate it more. 

KWAIDAN

The story of MIMI-NASHI-HICHI.

This story was very grounded in religion. He lives with a priest and he writes spiritual text on him to protect him. But of course he forgets his ears. The part I found most scary was just the fact that he was blind and some stranger lead him away. He followed this strange voice to somewhere unknown and placed all his trust in the person leading him. I have to say I did enjoyed when the servants tried to pull him from the graveyard and he was offended and said it was rude of them and they just laughed in his face. It was just a quirky moment to point out how ridiculous he was acting.

OSHIDORI

I am vegan so I find this story upsetting. I feel most vegetarians/vegans have a moment that is an eye opener. A moment where you don’t see meet as food, instead you see it as a rotting corpse. An animal that once had a life and died in pain. This is an intensified version of that moment. I can understand why a lot of Americans could not relate to this. For that reason the cultural differences are strong in this story. 

Let the Right One In

I heard great things about this film and so I just had to see what all the hype was about. Well I was not disappointed. A classic young romance story with a disturbing twist. I enjoyed the role reversal. A young girl was the tough vampire protector of a weaker boy. They are both outcasts in their own way. And even among all the horror it still manages to be adorable. Even though she is killing people you are routing for them to be together. And in the end when she saves him from drowning and kills those bullies you feel happy and reveled. It’s kind of an odd thing to say but I feel this is the horror version of Moon Rise Kingdom. They both deal with very young kids in love, running away together. The way they are handled is completely different but the underling story is similar. 

"One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires."

I love 80’s horror movies. So of course I love Lost Boys. This movie is much more light hearted approach to Vampires. It is playful and cheesy in all the right ways. And it has that unique 80’s charm. Michael becomes infatuated with a girl who happens to be a vampire. To win her love he is roped into drinking blood and there for becomes part of the vampire gang. His younger brother and some neighborhood kids try to help him defeat the vampires. Of course they have to kill the head vampire who turns out to be there moms new boyfriend. “Great! The Bloodsucking Brady Bunch!” Of course they succeed and happily ever after. The dialogue is clever and some times down right hilarious. This is a classic film that I would recommend to anyone.

Interview with the Vampire

Vampires have always fascinated me. I read the Cirque Du Freak novels at a young age and later read the Twilight saga.  I grew up watching the movie Interview with the Vampire. So it has always been a favorite tale of mine. I found the book to very closely match the movie. Interview with the vampire I feel is a lot about the meaning of life and the search for your place in the world. It seems in most vampire stories there is a soul searching that comes with becoming a vampire. Or lack of soul. Louie wonders if this is hell or if there is a god. I feel he is more compassionate than the other vampires. He is not motivated by greed. He is just going through the motions searching for answers. Louie longs for companionship and for others like him. This is a serious novel and there is no happy ending. A vampires life is one filled with suffering and loneliness. 

Monster Island

Why are zombies so popular? I have friends who actually have set strategies and plans for if or when a zombie outbreak happens. No one I know is preparing for werewolf or vampire attacks. Zombies are a more believable monster made of infection and science. We know that science is capable of doing some catastrophic things. Why not a zombie like virus? Everyone in Florida knows about the Miami zombie. The homeless man that ate another mans face off. This was on the news, they actually said the word zombie. If that doesn’t say something big then I don’t know what will.

First off, having everyone you know turn into a mindless killer is fascinating for most people. This is not some creature from outer space or deep under the sea this is your Mom, your gym teacher, that lady who smiles at you on the way to work. These are the people you see every day, and now they are trying to kill you and eat your flesh. It’s a concept that hits home. Its not us against them its you against the world.

 In my opinion a zombie is the only monster that is acceptable to kill without remorse. No I take that back, it is necessary to kill as many as possible. A lot of movies and games take advantage of this violence and make it fun to kill zombies. They are not real people; they are not even on the level of any animal.

I think is was clever of David Wellington to have all third world countries thrive during the zombie outbreak. They are use to war and fighting for survival. While the average American has never had to. I think zombies are so popular is because the average Joe has no idea how they would react when the zombies started racing towards them. What kind of person would you be? Would you take charge and fight like a Somalia girl or would you run away cowardly like our main character? In every day life we hold back those animal urges and instincts. But once you have the chance to unleash them who knows what could happen. I think that is a very compelling fantasy. It is what drives horror, the idea of unlocking your primal self. 

Frankenstein

What makes a monster? Victor created the monster from the dead. Was the monster born a monster or was he shaped and molded to be one. Nature or nurture is the most fundamental concept in psychology.  Is it the chicken or the egg? Are you born with traits from your parents or are you shaped and molded into who you are. Although we don’t know who the real parents of the body are, I believe the monster was not born evil but instead made one by his experiences. Or lack of experiences. Victor should have taken responsibility and been a father to the thing he created. But he was cowardly and selfish. Children need a guardian to teach them right or wrong. They need to be around other children and adults to study and play. The awkward and ugly appearance of the monster frightened others he encountered. He had a good heart and tried to be normal. He saved a girl from downing and in return he was shot. The only way he could have been accepted is with the protection and guidance of a parent. The monster begged Victor to create a mate to ease his deep loneliness. For only someone like him could have accepted and cared for him. Victor agreed but then out of fear destroyed the female monster. The monster had hopes and dreams of a friend and when they were taken away he wanted revenge. The monster said over Victor’s dead body that he feels abandoned and taken advantage of. He was filled with self-pity and rage. We all can sympathize with the “monster.”

This is how he was shaped into being evil. Countless experiences taught him again and again that there was no hope for him. In everyone’s eyes he was evil, no matter what he did. Everyone had stereotyped him as monster. But the reader is left to ponder who is the real monster? Victor or the creature he brought to life? The monster is by first instinct kind and gentle but that kindness is beaten out of him. Victor on the other hand, created life for power hungry and naïve reasons. Then he left his miracle of science to fend for its self. Victor is not awkward and ugly like the monster. But on the inside he is selfish and cruel. In my opinion by the end of the book they are both evil. Together they fueled each other’s rage and drove one another to insanity. I guess it takes a monster to make a monster.

-Lauren Eisenburger