Storm.

As many of you will know there's currently a storm rolling through the UK and I seem to be in the red/high risk/warning zone. It's raining pretty heavily outside. I'm working on the blog: filling out songs of the day for the next month so I have less to do and can focus on NaNoWriMo and I'm also watching horror films for the 31 Horror Films in 31 Days Challenge. Right now I'm watching an absolute classic! Stay tuned to see which film it is.

With the storm we spent the day preparing. We secured garden furniture. got all the animals into shelter and safety, stocked up on food in case we have a power cut etc. Our home is prone to power cuts. As a result I currently have about 20 candles lit around the room. I don't want to find myself mid horror film when the electricity dies and I'm plunged into darkness. That'd be horrible!

So I'll be working through the storm fixing blog posts and doing some writing/prep. One of my cats is practically glued to my side. I think she's a little startled by the rain outside. She doesn't want to be left alone. She even followed me to the bathroom. So here I am working away through the night surrounded by little flickering flames. My work will, of course, be cut short if the storm knocks out the power. It'd mean I'm seriously knocked back in terms of finishing the 31 Horror Films in 31 Days challenge. Keep your fingers crossed for me?

If you're in an area affected by the storm I'm thinking of you and I hope you're safe.

I still can't really get over the fact that I'll be a published author next year. I was just looking over the email I received from the publishers 12 days ago letting me know they were going to publish my work. I honestly think this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. There will be a copy of my short story anthology in The British Library and to me that is the tightest shit ever. I genuinely never thought I'd get published, certainly not this early in life. I don't remember ever being this happy in my life. It kinda feels like everything has fallen/is falling into place for me. The world feels good.

I truthfully hope this feeling won't last. I feel like I'm walking on sunshine every day.

31 Horror Films in 31 Days Challenge, Film Eighteen: Ju-On (The Grudge) (2002)

This isn't a blog along blog just because I didn't have my laptop on me as I watched the film. I'd heard that Ju On was scary and so I set myself up for an authentic, scary horror film experience however it kinda fell flat for me. The film seemed fairly low quality. The effects and acting in places weren't enough to have a chilling impact on me. I've done some research and apparently this film is part of a franchise with several films made. This story, however, is the most commercially successful and is the inspiration for the American Grudge remake. The story follows several characters affected by the Ju-On/Grudge in the Tokunaga household. It's a fresh, interesting way of telling a traditional ghost story. I think in Western film making we're so bored by stereotypical horror film conventions so it's good to see something else.

Something about watching a foreign language horror film adds to the atmosphere because the unfamiliarity of the language adds to the feeling of the unknown. It eaves you one step behind as you're trying to catch up by reading the subtitles. You come with other sociocultural anxieties.

The film was OK but I'm not so thrilled by it that I'd want to watch it again.

So having had days where I was out doing other things or from taking time to visit my partner I am super behind on the 31 Horror Films in 31 Days Challenge.
I now have to fit about 14 films into four days.
Can I do it?
I'm sure I can.
I can certainly try.
I'l need to watch 3 or 4 per day.
I'm sure I have some B Movie cheap horror films I've not watched that a friend gave to me for a birthday a few years back...
Oh God, pray for me...

31 Horror Films in 31 Days Challenge, Film Seventeen: Final Destination 4/The Final Destination (2009)

This is yet another blog-along post where I'll be blogging along as I watch another horror film as part of the 31 Horror Films in 31 Days challenge.

Warning: Since I'm blogging my thoughts whilst watching the film THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

These are raw blog posts. I start and I write until I finish without any editing afterwards. I just post the raw thoughts from the film as they occur. I enter this film with absolutely no prior knowledge. Enjoy, 

I've seen the previous three films but not this one. It's rare to watch a film that's part of a "quadrilogy" and even more rare for the films to not get stale as they go on. Let's see how this one pans out...

Woah, I just opened up the DVD box and it comes with the blue and red 3D glasses and you can watch the film in 3D. I'm going to stick with 2D for now because it's late and I'm already tired so if I strain my eyes by watching it in 3D I'll just want to fall asleep. I actually got all four films as part of a boxset for Christmas a few years back. I've seen the first three films.

Ha! Have you ever watched a horror film and something typical of the horror genre happens to you?
I thought "Heh, I'll go to the bathroom before I put this movie on. I left my room and all the lights on the landing were off so I went to turn a light on and it went on for less than a second and the bulb died and everything was plunged back into darkness and I was standing on the landing without the ability to see what was around me. All I could think was "in a zombie film this would be where I met my demise" since I just watched 28 Weeks Later.

I'm watching the trailers right now and they have a trailer for the film "The Fourth Kind" and I only have two things to say about this movie: first of all, this is the most frustrating film because at no point in the film do you actually get to see the alien so it is a real pain. Secondly, the only unsettling thing about this film is the face of the woman who is or is playing Doctor Abigail Tyler. Not Mila Jovovich, the other one. She just has a really creepy face. She looks more like an alien than anything else. It is probably the most boring and simultaneously frustrating alien film I've ever seen.

Finally the film has started. Ugh. Do I even want to watch this? I mean I've seen the first three Final Destination films. Is this one really going to be so different from the others? Removing the 3D aspects means I'm judging the film solely on the content and not any fancy effects. Let me guess. The Final Destination vision this time will be a race course crash. Bored already.

I'm not sure if human bodies are as squishy as some horror films like this would have you believe. These films are kinda just an excuse to kill off the same characters twice but in two, gory ways. "Hey, you liked in when we killed that guy? Now watch him be killed again."

"That's a lot of tampons for one woman",

Dude, you don't even know.

Too tired and disinterested to even blog along that much, dudes. I mean once you've seen a Final Destination film you've seen them all. Even the "slight twists" on them like the red herrings in this film leading the people to be where they need to be for Death to kill them isn't eactly groundbreaking enough to make this film stand out. 

Oh my God. This cinema scene... I've seen this before. How can I have seen so many horror films and not know about it? This is what I get for channel flicking...

This film is kinda just a rehash of the films that came before it with nothing new or exciting to make it worth the watch. There's really no reason for this film to be in existence as it brings nothing new to the film franchise. A truly tedious flick. This film just seems like a cynical cash grab with 3D thrown in as a last minute gimmick to pull in an audience and some quick dollars.

Song of the Day: Dawn of the Dead by Murderdolls

As you all know I watched Dawn of the Dead as part of my 31 Horror Films in 31 Days challenge so this Dawn of the Dead inspired song seemed an obvious choice for yet another Halloween themed song of the day.

Enjoy,

31 Horror Films in 31 Days Challenge, Film Sixteen: 28 Weeks Later (2007)

This is yet another blog-along post where I'll be blogging along as I watch another horror film as part of the 31 Horror Films in 31 Days challenge. 
 Warning: Since I'm blogging my thoughts whilst watching the film THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

These are raw blog posts. I start and I write until I finish without any editing afterwards. I just post the raw thoughts from the film as they occur. I enter this film with absolutely no prior knowledge. Enjoy, 

This film is, of course, the sequel to 28 Days Later which I have seen but not for some time. 

I like this idea of trying to maintain an image of domesticity in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. What a nice yet tragic start to the film...

In a zombie apocalypse I'd raid every supermarket and create a huge stockpile and feast for years. 

Ok, Don closed the door. I think we all react in fear and our survival instinct kicks in.  Would I risk my life to save someone I just met? I'm not sure... I would for someone I loved. For a Scot Robert Carlyle runs well for a man from my homeland where deep fried Mars Bars are their own food group. 

I don't remember the zombies turning this fast in 28 Days Later. Maybe I just watch too many zombie films

OK, they mentioned that their kids had been sent abroad, yes? What if the kids took a strain of the infection with them and set the rage virus loose elsewhere. 

Wait, is that Hawkeye? IT'S TOTALLY HAWKEYE.

Ok, officially interested in the differing iris colours and how that's going to tie into the plot.

"Welcome back to Britain": worst homecoming ever. 

Sneaking out and being rebellious teens is a pretty shit idea when there are ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE. For once could teens in films just obey the rules? Kids are stupid. 

The church they just ran past looked like the church from the Doctor Who episode where Rose tried to save her Dad.

So these kids risked their lives to go to their old house to grab some of their old clothes? Hmm... to be fair I'd really miss my clothes if I were living in quarantine. If I have to live through a zombie apocalypse I want my glamorous kimonos and comfy pyjama bottoms. 

So is their Mum a weird zombie-human hybrid? 

Is the army/helicopter dude the actor who played Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet? I looked it up. It is. Awesome. I'm awesome at this game.

"I love you Don" - No, if I were her I'd be saying "You left me to die, you arse!"

Eww! Spit strain close up!

Oops. Don just ate the cure. Oh... horrible.  Ew, ew, ew... This character, human or zombie, really doesn't like his wife. 

In a zombie apocalypse, just like when there is a fire in the building, learn to close the damn doors for your own protection.


Who stands perfectly still when a zombie is running at them? Silly kids.

Possible product placement. Andy is now in some sort of warehouse and there are loads of bottles of Coke by the looks of things. I'd take the opportunity to drink some. Who knows when you'll next have nourishment? I'd take any nourishment I could get and take some for the road if I could carry them. 

Hawkeye to the rescue!

My cat doesn't look impressed with this film. 

You're not at a good place on your relationship if you don't have a zombie survival plan. Hmm... I may make a post on that for the blog and for HuffPost. Watch this space...

What I love most about these films is the shots of an empty London because anyone who has ever been to London knows how busy it is. It's a city that never sleeps therefore seeing it so empty is truly kind of shocking. 

I can't ever watch zombie films without thinking of all the people who works as extras. I mean they get paid to be covered in fake blood and run around screaming. Isn't that the kind of job we all wish we had? It seems like a job where you could really vent your frustrations. 

Of course... an abandoned funfair is exactly the place you want to end up in during a zombie apocalypse.

If I was covered in zombie blood I'd want to wash it off of me asap. 

I'm pretty sure someone gave me the DVD boxset of 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later as a birthday present 6 years back. My Dad also got me the Final Destination boxset for Christmas. Nothing says "time to celebrate" like gritty, death-filled horror. 

Awh. Good guy Hawkeye. 

The actress playing Tammy reminds me of Sophie Turner who plays Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. She also looks like the actress who plays Foxface in The Hunger Games. 

Again, the moral of the story seems to be that kids mess things up in a zombie apocalypse and have now spread the Rage virus to the rest of Europe. If you'd just stayed in your nice penthouse apartment with your family everything would've been fine. Sneaking out of a safe quarantine is not only one of the stupidest things you could do in the situation, but it is also one of the stupidest things I've seen in a movie EVER.

I want to know the correlation between Rage virus immunity and different coloured eyes.

Decent zombie flick. I loved the shots of empty London. It paints an incredibly haunting portrait of a post-apocalyptic city and illustrates how quickly a city can become a breeding ground for chaos. It's one of the better zombie films I've seen. 

#31HorrorFilms31days Fim: 28 Weeks Later Bio: Rebellious kids acting out means EVERYONE DIES. Just obey the rules for once, kids.
— Gabrielle Leimon (@GabrielleLeimon) October 26, 2013