Reviews by Category: Horror

Dawn of the Dead: Dawn of the Iconic Status

Dawn of the Dead is one of the best horror films ever made. While this movie is gruesome, violent, and at some times just plain disgusting it is also iconic, funny, and crafted well. Art is subjective and in a way this movie is art, just set in a more darker tone. It’s about a plague that takes over the nation causing the recently dead to rise from their graves with a hunger for living flesh. 

The book starts as 16-year-old Dan Crawford enters a summer program called the New Hampshire College Prep Program for gifted students. This is where he feels he can truly embrace his odd passions involving psychology and history. After Dan arrives, he soon finds out that the dorms have been moved to an old psychiatric hospital called Brookline. Interested in the dark history of the place, Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, delve into Brookline's abandoned hallways and hidden rooms.

In this captivating & classic novel, we meet Mr. Utterson, a simple and respected lawyer who becomes very drawn into the events surrounding an evil man called Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson is determined to find out more about Mr. Hyde and about the many secrets his friend Dr. Jekyll has been hiding. As he learns more though, he becomes more aware of the dark connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Born a Crime is the autobiography of Trevor Noah, comedian and host of The Daily Show, detailing his experiences growing up in South Africa during and after apartheid. Noah was born to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father, a union that was illegal under apartheid laws. The book explores his struggles with identity, his complicated relationship with his mother, and the challenges of navigating life as a biracial child in a society rife with racial tension.

“There is nothing wrong with being a monster.” 

The Salt Grows Heavy follows a silent mermaid, abused and tired of captivity, who leaves her castle to wander the dying the world. Her daughters, thousands of horrible teeth-filled creatures roam what’s left of the world. The mermaid finds companionship in an androgenous plague doctor, who’s spend their life being pulled apart and pieced back together. What kind of chaos will the two get into together? 

“Female psychopaths, researchers eventually realized, don't present like the males. To which I respond: No shit. We women have an emotional wiliness that shellacs us in glossy patina of caring. We have been raised to take interest in promoting healthy interior lives of other humans; preparation, I suppose, for taking on the emotional labor of motherhood - or marriage; either way, really. Few women come into maturity unscathed by the suffocating pink press of girlhood, and even psychopaths are touched by the long, frilly arm of feminine expectations.

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton was one of if not the hardest books I’ve ever read. This book is about Adeline a girl who is moving into her grandmother's old mansion, when she finds out about her great-grandmother and her death she becomes intrigued because not only did her great-grandmother have a stalker, but now Adeline has one too. She becomes intrigued by who her stalker is and what he wants. But there is something more sinister behind him, and she is both scared and thrilled to discover it.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is an apocalyptic dystopian novel, McCarty is able to present a bleak and death-ridden world like no other that uses vivid imagery and extensive world-building to create a real sense of hopelessness. A father and son travel across the desolate world following the road seeking a warmer climate facing the “bad people’ along the way with close calls and showing the true horrors of the wasteland, cannibals, marauders, and a constant struggle for supplies and safety.

Frankenstein is a book following the life of the scientist Victor Frankenstein. He creates a monster with a horrifying appearance and a conscience which he immediately abandons upon its awakening. He continues to be haunted by his creation, and the story follows the many encounters Frankenstein and his monster have. Frankenstein ultimately has to grapple with the morality behind creating life as he continues to face the consequences of doing so. 

Hellboy, the Complete Short Stories. Volume 2 is an anthology of various comics released in between the main series and usually takes place prior to the first volume. Now, this collection isn’t quite as strong as the first, but it’s still a solid read. The story featuring Baba Yaga is pretty solid, especially because of the consequences it has on the main series. You don’t necessarily have to have read the first volume, or even any other Hellboy story, but it is recommended.