Movie Review - You're Next

It's, uh, been awhile since I made a post. Even though I've seen a hundred or two movies since my last update, I felt that when I was regularly reviewing them the actual watching session of the movie changed. I began looking for something to criticize the movie over, which is not something I enjoy doing. I'm more of a "sit back and enjoy the movie" kind of person. And as for recipes...I haven't done any new versions and didn't want to just post copies of other recipes and say "it turned out great!" which would have been obvious. I'm not a creative person, more of a near-expert copycat.

As for why I'm posting about the movie You're Next? Simply put, I really enjoyed it and wanted to share what I liked about it with others. Since I went into the movie not thinking about doing a review, I was able to sit back and enjoy what I saw.

The movie, if you don't know, is the latest home-invasion-horror-thriller movie with a slight twist, this time someone fights back with expertise. Most of the cast are unknowns but I felt they all did a great job. I will admit there were a few scenes which showed acting that was a bit shoddy, yet that's expected from time to time. It's nothing like what Justin Timberlake's acting in Runner Runner looks like, which is pure crud (which is a shame because Ben "newly announced Batman" Affleck looks superb in that movie!).

Obviously it couldn't be a horror movie without blood, and you get lots of it. There is a very unique killing of one of the villains towards the end of the movie that is quite simply Troma-esque. It reminds me of when I was a kid, yelling in excitement as the Toxic Avenger killed someone with a VHS player. In the same format I cheered in the scene in question. The blood itself in the movie did appear to be slightly faking at times, looking very watered down with a strange hue of red. Yet that wasn't distracting unless you specifically looked at it. Only reason I paid attention was because I know a lot of movies don't get it right and it looks really out of place. Not the case here, even with it looking a tad wrong it didn't look out of place or distracting.

One thing that surprised me a lot was the fact that there are a few twists. 2 major twists, in fact. I won't go into any spoilers on it but I am happy to see twists that I don't expect. One they laid the building pieces for with a random comment that you don't even think about. The other, I didn't really catch much of a hint and it did appear to come out of left field.


The big problem I had with the movie, which itself is slight, is the soundtrack. It was too overpowering at times and the music felt out of place. I kept having flashbacks (soundbacks?) of music from the last 80s/early 90s where it too electronic, almost verging on that of 8 bit video game themes. Definitely didn't fit here, but it did remind me how the movie had a bit of an 80s feel at times. Not sure if it was intentional or not.

Another small problem is after a death, the phrase "You're Next" is written in blood on the wall. Yet the size of the text doesn't exactly compute with the time given based on how fast the rest of the people ran to the room in question. Especially if you take into consideration the person writing on the wall would have to reach back for more blood to write everything. Even with 2 people I don't think it would have been possible. Then in another scene it is mentioned that the owner's of the house had been staying there for several days, yet that wasn't properly displayed as it felt like everything occurred in a single day with everyone getting to the house that day.

Overall it was a great movie. Most of the wrong things could easily be dismissed by all the good things. The high content of blood and slashes definitely appeals to horror-fans.

Book Review - Horns

I'm current on vacation in Maine, staying near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I just finished a book that was simply amazing, a beautiful piece of fiction. I had planned to wait until I got home next week to write a review of it but felt I needed to do it before it left my mind completely. Since I'm doing this from my phone, please excuse any weird spelling mistakes as I have been hit by autocorrect many times.

Joe Hill is a writer I specifically got into due to my huge enjoyment of Stephen King. I read Hill's Heart-Shaped Box a few years ago and automatically loved it, noticing the similarities but still extreme differences than King's work. I later got into Hill's comic series, Locke & Key, which is also pretty amazing as it's not like any other comic out there. His short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, was great from the stories I read (I tend to read short story collections piecemeal, bit by bit). It was inevitable that I'd enjoy his latest novel, Horns, but I didn't expect it this much.

The story of Horns is really intriguing. Ignatius "Iggy/Ig" Perrish wakes up one day to find horns growing out of his head. it has been a year since his girlfriend, Merrin, was mysteriously murdered, a crime Iggy was blamed for but was never declared guilty due to a fire destroying all key evidence. After waking up with the horns, he finds out that anyone he talks to doesn't pay much attention to the fact that he has horns, but instead com into a type of trance and want to declare their deepest desire to sin, asking Iggy if it would be ok to do it. Examples are his current girlfriend waning to literally pig out on a box of donuts, a reception wanting to tell off a mother with a rowdy daughter, and a cop wanting to cause Iggy pain just be size he doesn't like him. If Ig somehow touches someone, he experiences parts of their life, mainly sins they have done. Talking to his family shows him just how much they do not like him. His powers eventually lead to him finding out who murdered his girlfriend, and the rest of the novel follows Ig as he tries to bring about revenge.

I found the style of exposition to be incredibly unique. After the first part of the book, we have a section that is a flashback to the summer 11 years before where Ig's life changed when he met Merrin and his best friend Lee. The reader is torn at this point, wanting to know more of present Ig's powers and quest for revenge yet also intrigued to see more of younger Ig's adventures. Hill does a great job of keeping the reader interested in the younger Ig, making you almost forget about the present Ig.

Several times throughout the novel, the narrator also changes, during Ig's power of touch where we experience the sin of Others first hand. A real interesting section of the book, right after a very climatic scene that leaves us wondering about Ig's fate, switches gears and tells us the life story of Merrin's murderer, about how they got to be the way they are and all the bad things they had done. Included is the exac point everything changed, which was never explicitly blamed but the reader just knows that's where it all went wrong. Once again, Hill gets you emotionally invested in someone, where you don't mind not reading about Ig and wondering what had just happened to him.

The final narrative direction that cemented my love for the book was towards the end, in a beautifully written scene that con currently tells a life-or-death scene and a flashback to the night before Ig started growing horns, showing the reader exactly what occured that unknown night. The style of writing throws you straight into the scene, you fall even more in love with the Ig and his well-being. I'm not going to lie, at that scene in the book my eyes began to get misty. Then, during the last 3 chapters of the book, the tears began uncontrollably streaming down my face.

Now, I don't normally cry with books. I do with great movies and tv shows (most recent was during the Doctor Who episode that took place on Devil's Run). The last time I remember crying this hard over the ending to a book? Stephen King's Insomnia. You can get so emotionally invested in these characters and the writer just knows the exact way to put you emotionally over the edge. Those are the times when I know what I just read was a great piece of literature. Horns fits that bill beautifully!

Now, Horns is not for everyone. I tried to describe the book to my mom yet when I started talking about how a central plot point was when Ig realises that the Devil was actually a hero and not a villain, she just did not want to hear anymore. She's very religious (she doesn't think so, but this just proves my point) so putting the Devil in a good light means she could be never be emotionally invested in a character that has turned into s literal Devil. You get to the point where you're rooting for Ig as he begins his baptism of fire and ascension to revenge.

If you are not extremely religious, or are at least open minded enough to be able to read a book about a literal Devil, then I highly suggest this book. I had been in a rut with books recently and glad I picked Horns up. This book has definitely climbed into my Top 10 favorite books.