I have two spooky pieces of entertainment to share with you guys! One is a book my friend Melody sent me and another is a movie composed of four short stories. You'll get chills while reading or watching these, but both will also linger on in your mind some time later.
Starting with the book: In the Dark of the Night by John Saul:
I could think of a handful of reasons right off the bat why Melody sent me this! The story takes place in Northern Wisconsin in an area I'm well familiar with. So it's easy for me to picture the setting. I don't think I'm giving too much away here to say that it involves some crime stories that would be very familiar to those in my state. So between the familiar setting, the true crime that is still fairly fresh, and feeling like I know some of these characters, it was easy for me to get into the book.
I think any of you would like this, though. If you're in the general Midwest area it's probably going to resonate with you more, but I'm sure it would be a scary story to anyone. I'm trying to think how I could encourage you guys to read this without giving away the many surprises and twists... OK, I can give a general idea of some themes. There's some realistic family, friend, and teen romance drama going on. There's a murder mystery or two which are centered around an old piece of property and the person who used to live there. And there's a theme that I say would fall loosely between a haunting and a possession.
You'll be left thinking about the power of previously owned objects, and the very real feeling I'm sure any of us could have around the ones in this story. I'm sure all of us have felt some kind of emotion around an object in a museum or antique store or maybe you've had a feeling in a place where an emotional event occurred. Think of that feeling but in an extreme way and you'll understand a major theme in this book. I hope that's enough to intrigue you guys because In the Dark of the Night is very worth reading! This was a book I couldn't put down and I haven't experienced that in some time. I will probably be seeking out more John Saul books in the near future.
I was hoping to find one of those book trailers for this on YouTube, but I couldn't find one. I did, however find this neat video featuring the author:
Now, on the surface this would appear to be a video about an amazing RV, but it's actually a lot more fun than that. I mean, this is the best RV I've ever seen but I wouldn't share a video solely about it. You'll get to see some of the author's personality here, which I really liked. I want to take a road trip with these guys!
Now onto The House that Dripped Blood!
What a title and what a cover. Not that the image necessarily makes sense for those who've watched this; it kind of halfway does. Now, as I read one online reviewer say, the house does not literally drip blood. So if you're looking for that kind of entertainment for whatever reason, well you won't get that here. But what you will get is a pretty darn good series of stories revolving around a spooky old mansion. Much like what I wrote about the book, the house is defined somewhere between haunted and possessed. It's a great old house. The interior reminded me of Disney's Haunted Mansion. Each story is about a tenant who briefly lived there.
The House that Dripped Blood is very much in the vein of Hammer horror movies, but better. And I'm a Hammer fan. Christopher Lee is in one of these, as is Peter Cushing. And they have that dark, 1970s, British thing going on. But the acting, the timing, the writing, everything is so much better than Hammer. I love Hammer for its cheesiness. But you're not going to see any of that orangey-red Hammer blood gushing around here or tons of cleavage. The House that Dripped Blood is actually rated PG and I think that's fair. The violence is implied, there's no sexuality, strong language, etc. I think an older kid could watch this, depending on the kid. I could have, anyway. A good comparison to this is Tales from the Crypt. You know, the way they got morality in there a bit. Yeah, it's like Tales from the Crypt writing with Hammer settings, actors, and visuals.
Again, without giving much away... The stories involve a homicidal maniac (OK actually a few of those), some Voodoo or "Witchcraft" as they call it, and vampires. The stories have a sort of brief narration/are introduced by the police who are investigating one of these cases. The stories range from scary to comical. I actually thought to look up The House that Dripped Blood at our local library because of seeing a picture from it on Tumblr. This picture:
I mean, how could I not look for it after seeing that? :)
So, if you're looking for some scary or fun (depending on your opinion) popcorn movie viewing, I recommend this one! And good news! I just found the whole thing on YouTube:
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