#I really should be the first who dies I hate horror movies

[silver-inked]

Thank you for the tag @which-star!

1. Roll quiz here

2. Create yourself here

I got “the final girl” so I guess I survived by being paranoid and being terrified of knives because otherwise I don’t know how I did it.

Tagging @annamiasworld @sapphire374 @junipers-ghost @shadathebookworm and anyone who wants to join!

[nightingale-prompts]

Finding Batboy

First| Previous | Next

Phantom

King

Fenton

Apprentice

Batboy

He just wanted to be Danny. Just Danny, nothing else.

But who was Danny anymore?

Danny was a 14-year-old boy who died in a tragic accident. Danny had a decent life with friends and a sister who he loved. Danny wanted to be an astronaut and loved the stars. Danny had an astrology phase that made him so annoying to everyone but Sam. Danny liked dogs and cats hated him for no reason no matter how much he loved them. Danny wanted to join the robotics club with Tucker. Danny still snuck into his sister's room when he was scared to sleep in her bed.

But Danny is dead. Danny has been dead for years now.

He missed being Danny.

Now he was Phantom.

No past.

No home.

No family.

But if that was true, what did that make Dick?

Just another person that he would have to leave behind. It wouldn't be long. History doesn't repeat but it rhymes. It can't last. It won't.

Danny flew to some abandoned factory located somewhere in Gotham. He hadn't really paid much attention. He just needed a desolate place to land. Somewhere even the ghosts have long abandoned.

Truthfully Danny didn't want to be alone. A part of him felt the urge to find that revenant that he had met. Something that felt familiar to him, someone that could understand.

But right now Danny wanted to rest and he wasn't picky about where. He wrapped his wings in a tight cocoon and plopped on the ground. His sleep was deep, more than he ever remembered having before, except once.

Danny walked through the halls of a spiraling tower that overlooked the Ghost Zone. The tower was decorated with stars and moons. Mist hovered just above the floor creating a icy blue carpet. Ghost sheep napped in corners. The scent of poppy and pine filled the air.

As Danny ascended to the top he met with a familiar face. Nocturne the ghost of dreams. The ghost's thick bridged nose reminded Danny of that of a sheep that matched his curled ramhorns. His red eyes with horizontal pupils reminded him of a demonic ram he had seen in a horror movie once. Danny could practically hear that line again: "Would thou like to live deliciously?"

It still gave Danny chills.

"Please refrain from making such comparisons." Nocturne said, his voice deep but soft at the same time.

Danny had gotten to know Nocturne some time ago. Apparently, he and Clockwork were close. They shared a high rank among ghosts as they were abstract manifestations rather then being that were once living like some. The hierarchy of ghosts was complex, and Nocturne was not someone to look down on.

"Nox, why am I here?" Danny said standing before the seven-foot frame of the amorphous ghost.

"You are spending too much time in the material realm. If you don't get time back in the realm to which you belong you'll go mad. It's already starting to happen. I stole your mind away for a bit to give you a mental break but your body is already starting to break down." Nocturne said waving a finger at him.

"My body and brain are fine Nox." Danny said crossing his arms.

Nocturne picked the boy up with one hand and held him at eye level.

"You are having trouble shifting are you not? Its not coming as easily as it should. The more attached you get to a form without the energy from our world to break it up the worse it will be. The Ghost of Time has already told me of the problem. You must stay here for the time being and recover. It is what's best. Mental weakness is the worst one can suffer and the remedy is sleep." Nocturne's breath smelled like warm milk and cinnamon. It calmed Danny's nerves and made his eyes heavy.

Clockwork had put him up to this. That old man...really was....annoying....Zzzz.

Back in the world of the living and awake mass panic has broken out.

Batboy is currently missing and Nightwing is not handling it well. The entirety of the Gotham Vigilantes team has been notified and is searching the cities of Gotham and Bludhaven.

"Have you searched the docks?" Nightwing asked frantically as he searched every rooftop in the city.

"I'm working on it. Do you really think he's here?" Red Robin said scanning every unit on the lot.

Red Hood didn't know what the BatBoy kid looked like other than the whole wings thing. If his little buddy Phantom could help it would help.

Although they had a slight resemblance Jason could see too many differences when looking at the pictures. Phantom had round ears, and silver hair that moved like fire and looked like a human. Batboy had long sharp ears, claws, pointy teeth, blueish-green skin, wings, and a white fluff around his neck. Clearly, they were different.

Batman searched the dark allies of Gotham as Signal and Orphan split up to cover as much ground as possible. Oracle searched every camera from the past few hours for the boy.

The good news was that Batboy was found. The bad news was who found him.

"Poor little Bluebird lost his fledgling and Batsy is looking for the lost pup. I should let them know that the little guy has been found! Ahahahaha!"

[bliss-in-the-void]

Gege Akutami, You Do Not Understand Gojo Satoru, and Here is Why

I was reading this article to help me cope with the traumatic events of Chapter 236 when a certain portion didn’t sit right with me.

Long post, click to read the full analysis:

(this is probably the most important post I've made so far)

Now, we all know that Gege doesn’t like Gojo. They don’t make it a secret in the slightest. Which is fine in itself, as an author you are 100% within your right to hate a character you created, and I respect that—it gives dimension to the dynamic of a story.

What I don’t care for is the reasons Akutami lists for their dislike of Gojo.

Reason #1 as stated in the above blurb of the article: Gojo doesn’t have depth.

To me, this is a wild statement to make as an author, but especially as the one who wrote Gojo. Where does he lack depth? Genuine question.

I believe he is an incredibly complex character.

He is the first sorcerer in centuries to be born with the Six Eyes and Limitless techniques, which automatically sets up so many nuances. Coupled with the fact that Akutami has stated that he grew up spoiled, that right there should tell you some things about why he is the way he is. He has a bit of an inflated ego when it comes to his powers. And why wouldn’t he? From the time he was born, the people around him treated him like some sort of God. How else was he supposed to grow up? He’s told his whole life he possesses unparalleled power, and he’s going to believe that.

Even still, it really isn’t as unchecked as Akutami seems to believe it is. Despite his distaste for authority, Gojo still reports to the higher ups, goes on missions, exorcizes curses, and works collaboratively with his fellow sorcerers. If he was really the giant egomaniac Akutami argues that he is, he’d say ‘to hell with authority’ and run off to do whatever he wants like Yuki. I mean, COME ON, this guy is the most powerful modern sorcerer and he still attended all four years of high school. He could have easily never attended—who was going to stop him?

He has a peculiar sense of humor that can get inappropriately timed in certain moments, but it’s obvious that it’s a deflection and a coping mechanism for the horrors of a sorcerer’s reality. He doesn’t just joke about death and dying because he doesn’t care. He cares too much and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, so he suppresses and laughs it off. Moments like this are seen after Suguru dies in JJK 0 when he was clearly crying afterward, but had to put on a cheerful facade for Yuuta and the other students.

He is a very good teacher. It’s hard for a naturally gifted prodigy to effectively teach things which come automatically to them, and somehow he finds creative ways to do it. Teaching Yuuji to control cursed energy by using one of Yaga’s dolls and giving him a movie marathon? One of Yuuji’s favorite hobbies? Genius and so considerate for Yuuji. He’d just been thrown into the sorcerer world, learning all these new things, and Gojo decided to introduce a foreign concept to him through something familiar and comfortable to him. That is amazing, and the mark of a very kind, understanding teacher. He’s also really patient with his students. Yes, he gives them tough love sometimes by throwing them into missions, but it really is to make them strong. How else will they grow if they aren’t put under pressure?

His motivation for being a teacher is very selfless. He himself has stated that he isn’t suited to be a teacher, but that he has a dream to raise a generation of strong allies to prevent isolation from occurring like what had happened to Suguru. He felt guilty about growing apart from him, didn’t see the warning signs before he snapped, and regrets not being there for him more. His entire purpose now is dedicated to making sure the new wave of sorcerers have a tightly-knit network so that no one ends up alone and on a dark path like Suguru.

He constantly sticks his neck out for the helpless even when it’s far from his benefit. He paid off the Zenin clan to save Megumi, the child of the man who ruined his high school years and nearly killed him. He then raised him. He threatened the higher ups to keep Yuuta alive, and then did it again for Yuuji. He does this to preserve their youth, because his own was taken away from him. His whole life he’d been controlled by the higher ups and people around him because of who he is in the sorcerer world, so by waving his own status in front of authority to hold them back from his students, he acts as a sort of shield to take as many burdens off of their shoulders as he can so that they can remain carefree. As much as he can within his power.

With all of that being said, I really don’t understand where Akutami is coming from with lack of depth, but another argument I say to that statement is: well, you’re the author, give him the depth you think he’s missing. (Personally, I believe he’s one of the best-written characters in any anime I’ve seen).

Reason #2 is that according to Akutami, he doesn’t have a likable personality.

What about his personality is unlikable?

He is cocky, but not to the point where he stops caring about others, not to the point where he never considers how other people feel or how his actions affect other people, and not to the point where he never feels guilt and remorse about his shortcomings. Like I said, he lives his life trying to prevent his past from repeating itself, to save the fates of others.

I really don’t get it. In JJK 0, after Nitta gives her report on the shopping mall, Gojo thanks her and praises her. Would a cocky asshole do that? No. If you wanted to characterize him as unlikable, you could have made him dismiss her, or ignore her.

He makes pop culture references, he has endearing flaws like not being good at drawing, being a lightweight drinker, and overdoing it on the sweets. He’s funny, he’s kind, he’s considerate…he is a very likable character.

Honestly, the self-absorption he displays when he’s fighting is probably a result of his upbringing. Being told you have so much power you have so much power you have so much power over and over again instills this belief that yes, he’s needed by Jujutsu Society to fight curses as a weapon. As. A. Weapon. The Six Eyes & Limitless user is a formidable weapon, but what about Satoru Gojo, the person? The only time he feels useful is when he’s fighting curses. That’s where he gets his self-worth. We can see that expressed in this panel, from Chapter 236:

In the second half of Gojo’s second text bubble, he says, “でもどこかで人としてというより生き物としての線引きがあったのかな”.

This translates to: “But I wonder if somewhere there was a line drawn between being a creature rather than a person.”

Rather than having drew the line himself, being constantly treated like the strongest, being handed over the difficult missions, being relied on so heavily pushed him away from other people. It distorted the perception everyone had of him, and it distorted the perception he had of himself. He also believed he could never lose because he let his human side fade into the background. The world didn't need human Satoru Gojo, they needed sorcerer Satoru Gojo, the one who could bend rules to his will with his might, the one who could exorcise any curse and save the day no matter how bad things got. Why would he remain human when that part of him was treated as non-existent? The only person who did treat him as a person with weaknesses and flaws has been dead for eleven years. Of course that voice of reason is going to fizzle out.

How can you possibly vilify him for that? It would be a disservice to everything he has had to endure his entire life.

Reason #3 and the last point I want to touch on is when the article says, "Akutami believes that much of this adoration is based solely on his striking appearance, overshadowing his more abrasive personality traits."

Okay. Where to start?

Honestly, and I know this is probably not Akutami's intention, but that comes off as so condescending. It's so presumptuous. It's as if to say we're all going "ooh look at pretty man, pretty man do no wrong because too pretty" mindlessly with dilated pupils and drool coming out of our mouths. Uh. No.

Yes, Satoru is a good-looking character, but no, that is very far from why we like him so much as a character, and it's also very far from why he's so popular. Aside from all of the points I've made above explaining why he's so universally loved, I'll make another one that isn't superficial and tired.

He's so relatable.

This is a man so incredibly traumatized by his high school years that he is mentally and emotionally unable to move on. Suguru Geto was his very best friend, and for reasons he took too long to understand, chose to abandon their friendship for his own goals. For anyone who has grown apart from a best friend, this hits so hard.

Because of his upbringing it was hard to become close to anyone. But somehow, Suguru was able to break past his walls, and for that, he became entirely too dependent on him. This is common for anyone who finds it hard to make friends and get close to others. Once someone is allowed in, you cling so hard to them and imagine them being there for your entire life. So, when they leave, you take it entirely too personally.

Everyone has a right to live their own lives, and as we see with the divergence of Suguru and Satoru, sometimes our paths aren't leading to the same place. It's not personal. But Satoru took it personal, and that's so beautifully human. When you lose a best friend who was important to you, you think "I like being around this person, they put me at ease in a way no one else does", and you assume they feel the same way about you. So when they leave and show you that no, they didn't feel the same, it hurts. It's almost as if they're saying "I actually do think you're unlovable like everyone else, that's why no one likes you, you are too much."

Someone you thought was safe, isn't anymore.

That is such a relatable thing to watch a character go through! Especially someone as awe-inspiring and charismatic as Gojo! As an audience, we think, "he's just like me!" and we like him for it.

So, as I stated in the title, Gege Akutami, you don't understand Satoru Gojo at all. I commend you for writing such an amazing, iconic, universally loved character, but I will never understand nor respect the superficial way in which you perceive him.

[nokkihy]

JUDAS’ KISS

SUMMARY - you and ethan find yourselves stuck in the middle of the blackmoore university murders 

WARNINGS - strong language , mentions of being stabbed, blood, use of y/n (yuck i know)

PAIRINGS - gn!reader x ethan landry

WORD COUNT - 2k (damn)

AUTHORS NOTE - i hate this so much. so sorry for the rushed ending i honestly didn’t know what else to do.. anyways first fic back!!! woo we cheered 

MASTERLISTS

he knew he had to do it. to avenge his brother that sam killed. to go along with the plan. he knew that he couldn’t fight it. he knew had to be on the same train as you when you were killed by his sister. and every second of it hurt him.

-

you were terrified to say the least.

with anika and quinn dying, and all of the murders happening at your school because you just had to be in the same literature class as tara, you had a lot of reasons to be terrified.

one being that mindy had you and ethan at the top of her prime suspects list because neither of you were there when anika and quinn died. it was extremely surprising to hear coming from her. well, not really. she was a horror movie fanatic everyone knew it. and she lived through one last year, so what’s stopping her from blaming anyone?

two being that you and your friends are being tracked down by lame sickos who idolized actual serial killers and won’t stop at anything to finish what stu and billy started. the theories, the press, the reddit community pages that are filled with pictures and information about you. you barely even felt safe in your own dorm anymore.

three being that you have a boyfriend during the whole situation. ethan was amazing. both of you were apart of the same friend group, so you were hanging out basically every day. you and ethan met through chad, who you met from tara. he was very dorky to be frank and 100% and could marry his movie collection if he could, but being in a relationship during the times of all of the blackwood murders? not good.

which brings this back to the two of you being at the top of mindy’s suspect list. fortunately, you both had econ together to keep each other company. you had finals soon, so the gang should understand if you two ditched the sleepover, right?

wrong.

you decided to crash at ethan and chads apartment after class since chad was at the sleepover, studying for your econ final and donnie darko on the tv as background noise. you were sat on the floor, legs tucked underneath the low coffee table with your laptop, books, and notebook on top. ethan was on the couch, legs sprawled out and his laptop on his lap.

“what is.. the definition of the word equilibrium?” you ask ethan, your fingers typing over the keyboard on your laptop and eyebrows furrowed, deeply concentrated in the work.

“its uh, when the economic forces are balanced. like, when the supply and demand for a product are the same and the both equilibrium curves intersect.”

a ding echoes from both of your phones. it’s not important, probably just people texting in the group chat. you copy down the definition ethan gave you into yours notes, yawning softly.

“tired?” he says, shutting his laptop and sitting up right on the couch, patting the spot next to him for you to sit. you nod, closing the lid on your laptop and standing up. you walk over to ethan and sit next to him, resting your head on his lap.

ethan’s hands delicately play with your hair, his eyes fixated on the screen where the movie you’ve watched together a million times plays on the screen.

“y’know, i hope we last. like, a really long time after all this ghostface stuff.” you mutter, speaking more on the impulsive truth instead of false words. you mean it. ethan had a very special place in your heart. he was always there after a ghostface attack, he was there if you were sad, if you were hurt, anything. some people say that college relationships rarely continue after graduation, but you know that’s not true for your situation.

he just simply hums, the hand that was previously on your head tensing up, but slowly continuing to play with your hair. eventually, you both felt yourself drifting off on the couch and finally falling asleep.

7:30, your alarm forces you awake.

you get up from ethans lap, waking yourself up and stretching. you reach out to stop your alarm, the next screen showing various texts and calls from tara, sam, chad and mindy from last night and way early this morning.

-

mindsss 🤬🤬❣️❣️

“sams place asap.”

9:58pm

chad 🤫🧏🏽‍♂️

“where the hell are you?”

10:30pm

-

“shit, shit, shit.” you whisper to yourself, shaking ethan awake from his sleep. he groans, eyes opening slowly as he regains his sense of where he his.

“we gotta go. something happened.”

you arrive tara, quinn, and sam’s apartment with ethan, police tape and sirens blaring down the whole block. rushing over to mindy after seeing her sat in the back on an ambulance holding her arm, you see a black bag covering a body.

“who.. who is it?” the question comes out shaky, looking around the crowd and trying to see who was there and who was gone.

“step the fuck back, ghostface.” mindy says bitterly, looking you up and down as you approach her. ethan comes up next to you, his face covered in worry.

“ghostface? it’s not, it’s not me.” you stammer in shock, eyes widened from her bold statement.

“yeah, sure. you and your little boyfriend were both gone last night and we all know these fuckin psychopaths work in pairs. stay back.”

you open your mouth to talk again, but chad drags both you and ethan away from her and to a spot away from mindy. your eyes are still stuck on her, appalled by her sudden accusation.

“quinn and anika are dead.” he says, his hand running over his hair and breathing out heavily. you gasp, hand going over your mouth in shock.

so that’s what the text was about. shit. you knew you shouldn’t’ve been so involved in your final. you could’ve stopped it. you could’ve been there to help them fight ghostface off.

sam, tara, and mindy were now looking over in your direction, chad and ethan having a completely separate argument about what was going on. all you could think about was how suspicious you looked to everyone.

later that night, after suddenly hearing that gale is dead, you and the group (plus danny) go down to the train station to go to the ghostface shrine. the chatter and noise making it nearly impossible to hear what everyone was talking about.

tara, sam, chad, mindy, and danny all board the train, but chad notices that you and ethan are being held behind by a group of people. he tried to reach out of your guys, but danny pulls him back and the the doors shut with a loud hiss before you can rush onto the train.

��fucking hell.” you groan, watching as the train leaves you and ethan stranded until the next one comes.

“what a great day.” ethan says, eyes shut as he leans against one of the poles nearby as the two of you wait.

the next train pulls up 5 minutes later, you, ethan, and tons of other people pooling into the train cars. the amount of people push you two apart, him on one side and you on the other. you frantically try and push through the crowds of people, but the lights flicker off and everything goes dark. in the brief moment of light you get through the window, people with masks of horror movie characters on become way more noticeable. jason, freddy krueger, a purge mask.

a ghostface mask.

the lights flicker back on, your breathing quickened and eyes widened. you try and look for ethan from where you’re standing, seeing a small peek of his brown, curly hair but none of his face. you close your eyes for a moment, your arms clinging onto one of the poles near where you were standing.

the lights turn off once again. what the hell is wrong with these lights? the subtle colorful glow from a costume turns on, allowing you to just barely see that the ghostface mask you previously saw wasn’t where it was before, but sitting down and looking in your direction. you stumble back against the train car wall, praying that the lights would just turn on.

you hate how it was halloween and anyone could be dressed up as ghostface. the person staring at you could be a child, for all you know. or it could be one of those theorists that recognized you on the train and wanted to screw with you.

or maybe it was actually ghostface.

lights on. only for a brief second. you wonder what ethan is doing now. is he thinking of you? is he trying to look for you? what’s going on? lights off.

the person in the ghostface mask disappears completely from your line of sight. is it clear? the intercom announces that the train is coming to a stop and the doors are opening. you breathe a breath of fresh, weed and must infused air. not very comforting, but better than having to hold your breathe from worrying. you begin to walk towards the exit, taking a step forward before the person in the ghostface mask lunges towards you and pushes you back against the wall. a gloved hand covers your mouth, a sharp object plunged into your stomach.

a scream escapes your mouth, muffled by the tight hand over your mouth and your body slides down against the wall. your eyes are widened, tears violently rolling down your cheeks and mouth open with inaudible screams of agony. the knife is forced out of your skin, only to be stabbed right back inside. the ding goes off when the train stops, the doors hissing open and people begin to exit the train.

ghostface rips the knife out of you one last time, exiting the train and leaving you bleeding on the ground. ethan is finally in your line of vision and at first when he sees you he smiles, but when he sees you, the smile is wiped off of his face and he rushes over to you. he sees you holding the spot where you were stabbed, all over your blood on your hands and staining your shirt.

“oh my God, oh my God.” he panics, his eyes basically popping out of his head when he looks at you, but snaking his arm around your shoulders and helping you get up, yelling for a help when he carries you out of the train car and onto the station floor. you consciousness begins slipping away from you, the only thing you remember before passing out is being rushed into the back of an ambulance and ethan following behind.

you wake up to a bright room, unsure about what time it is, seeing a doctor, mindy, and sam next to your hospital bed. you try to sit up, groaning in pain at the sharp feeling in your abdomen.

“where’s.. where’s ethan?” you ask gently, looking around the room and not seeing him. was he hurt too? did ghostface kill him?

“ethan was one of the killers.” sam says, her hand laying on top of yours and rubbing her thumb over your skin. you shake your head eyebrows furrowing in confusion

“no, he wasn’t. he was on the train when i got stabbed, it’s not him. where is he?”

“y/n. it was him, quinn, and detective bailey. quinn’s not dead. she was the one that stabbed you. all of them are family. ethan is dead.” quinn says suddenly, her voice sounding more like she was trying to say ‘i told you so’ instead of trying to comfort you.

tears prick your eyes immediately after she says ethan was dead, your breath catches in your throat and the hand that was being held underneath sam’s shaking.

it was all a lie. study dates, the ‘i love you’s’, everything was a lie. and ethan let his own sister almost kill you in cold blood, right in front of him.

did he ever really love you?

nokkihy ™ all rights reserved. do not reupload, repost, modify or claim my work as your own!!!

[oleander-nin]

Rottmnt Yan! Horror movie HC

A/N, not important: I'm just trying to push stuff out fast atp. This was not proofread at all. Any criticism is welcome, constructive or not. This is supposed to be a gender neutral reader, so if I screwed up somewhere, please tell me.

Tw: implied kidnapping, yandere themes, unconsentual touching(nonsexual), forced to watch movies(?), horror movies, my writing

Words: 1172

Summary: Rottmnt yandere headcanons about them watching horror movies w/ you

-Ollie

Mikey:

I think he’d at least tolerate horror movies.

They’re not his favorite genre, him still getting spooked by the jump scares every once in a while.

But he’d watch them, especially if he had you by his side.

There are three ways it can go.

Either 1:

You both are unbothered by the movie, and end up rooting for the villain. Mikey makes a bet with you on who dies first. If you win, you can have an hour of supervised outside time. If he wins, you have to let him shower you in affection to his heart's content without fighting back.

Only problem is, he has access to a phone. He looks it up. You can’t.

Do you take the bet?

Scenario 2:

You love horror movies.

Blood, gore, jump scares?

That’s your niche.

In this case, Mikey would just use movie time as an excuse to hold you close.

He doesn’t mind the movie, but it’s not his thing, so he ends up using movie night as a cuddling session.

Gets annoyed if you try to push him off or regain your personal space.

He’ll just turn off the movie, then continue to lay on you.

Now you have to cuddle him, and you don’t get to even watch your movie.

Option 3:

You hate horror movies.

They scare you, they upset you, you don’t like them.

Whether it’s the gore or the jump scares, horror movies freak you out.

Mikey uses this to his advantage.

Pulls you close and whispers soft nothings into your ear as you cower from the tv.

Pretends like he’s your savior when he turns off the movie, promises cuddles and your favorite food for dinner.

Makes it hard to say no to whatever he wants.

Donnie:

Could not care less about horror movies.

He’s seen worse out on the streets of New York while defending the city. Why should he care about some fake girl getting stabbed by a fake monster?

Horror movies are all stupid to him. Except psychological ones. I could see him enjoying those. He’d like the Saw franchise if it wasn’t so gorey.

You, on the other hand, could make him interested in the movie. It completely depends on your own reactions to said genre.

If you like horror movies? Cool, he’ll play one on a monitor at his desk so you're forced to spend time with him while he works.

Doesn’t pay attention to the movie much, just enjoys having you near him. Even if he forced your hand a tad bit. It’s not his fault you wouldn’t stay in the seat. Even after he went through so much trouble to set up your favorite movie, tsk tsk.

Neutral on horror movies? That’s fine, he just won’t really bring them up unless it’s a family movie night and Leo picked a horror.

Then he’s forcing you to debate the characters with him. If he’s stuck spending time with family, he’s at least going to enjoy it by analyzing the stupidity of the main character.

Makes a lot of backhand comments about the main characters and your similarities, especially if the movie has to do with a kidnapping of some kind.

If you hate horror movies?

Only brings them out on a dark night where he wants you to hold him, but you’re refusing.

Oh wow, you can’t sleep because of nightmares? Don’t worry, Donnie can hold you.

Is incredibly smug about it too.

Especially if you get clingy when scared and his plan works.

Raph:

Not a fan of them.

Will sit through them if he has too, but looks away from the TV or hides behind his phone for the majority of the time.

He already has to deal with enough fighting while taking care of New York and protecting you. Why does he need fake, purposefully scary movies to fuel his paranoia?

He doesn’t, and so he tries his best to avoid them like the plague.

Is incredibly conflicted if you like horror movies.

On the one hand, they make you happy. On the other, they expose you to unnecessary violence, gore, and possible nightmare causers.

Why would you want to subject yourself to that? You must be pulling his leg, there’s no way someone as fragile as you likes the horror genre.

He tries to avoid the subject if you are persistent.

You’d have to be really persuasive if you want to watch a horror movie.

If you are neutral?

Great. They’re never spoken of. He doesn’t suggest them, and he shuts them down if you happen to. Family movie night is ignored if there’s a horror movie going.

He doesn’t like them, you don’t seek them out, why would he try and force you both to watch one?

You don’t need that kind of violence in your life, he’s here to protect you from such topics.

Is like, the only one who will not subject you to horror movies if you hate them.

He doesn’t like them, you don’t like them, why would he subject you both to something you hate?

Plus, you might get nightmares, and while he feels all important and helpful when he comforts you, it’s not the same when it’s his fault.

Gets mad at Leo if he tries to trick you into watching one.

Pretty much all things horror are banned from within a 10 feet radius of you.

Raph will keep you safe, he promises

Leo:

Okay, I’m sorry, but Leo is such an adrenaline junkie.

He loves horror movies.

The thrill, the scares, the violence, the gore.

He’s seen it all before, so why should it bother him?

Plus, now it’s dramatic and thrilling, perfect for a movie night.

Like Donnie, he makes a lot of backhand comments about the main character and your similarities.

Is ecstatic if you like them too, finds it enjoyable to pull you close to him and just watch the movie play.

Whether he’s stolen the projector room for the time being, or holed you both in his room, he enjoys just having a horror movie playing while clinging onto you.

Likes to talk about the movie with you, and gets excited about the new plots during movies he hasn’t seen yet.

If you’re neutral about horror movies, he still makes you watch them.

Gets smug if you hang onto him during scenes you’re uncomfortable with(acting as if you have anything else to hang on to)

He likes to sit you to his side or in front of him, able to pull you close so he can whisper small threats in your ear if you misbehave in any way during your ‘bonding’ time.

He thinks it’s hilarious if you hate horror movies.

“Aww, is my poor little coward afraid of a little movie? Come here, I’ll hold you and keep you safe.”

Still makes you watch them, more for his own enjoyment of seeing you squirm.

Feels guilty when you get nightmares, but the smugness of being the one you go to for comfort makes it worth it

[invaderzia1]

*squirms under your door*

Hello I would like to hear more about the ghosts au

I am imagining Tav waking up to Durge watching them sleep.

This is, of course, unwelcome behavior and they freak out but Durge just wants to protect them.

Also I'm curious what you think everyone's ghost powers would be 👀

I think Astarion's is that he can be seen in mirrors if he concentrates. You know like in a horror movie when the protagonist is washing their face and they look up and there's a ghost behind them in the mirror. That's Astarion.

YESSSSSS!!!!

I think once Durge realizes they don’t hate the new owner he starts watching them. Truly, he is not aware that Tav can see them, he was not apart of the shenanigans involving the rest of the crew almost killing Tav. It ends up being a “he’s right behind me, isn’t he?” Situation for Tav with him, until Tav wakes up to him staring at them in the middle of the night and they start screaming. And this would go on for a while, if it was a show at least till mid season with Durge just lurking around the shadows whenever Tav is alone, a fun surprise for people who would watch the show. But realistically at least two months before then. This does not stop him from watching though, he just stand in the corner to watch them, so he doesn’t scare Tav when they wake up.

I feel like Astarion would either have a really embarrassing power like Issac’s or a powerful one. My immediate thought is making the room cold if you walk through him, cuz as a vampire he’s icy cold. I’m still torn on how he died too, which is why I haven’t written his yet, perhaps blood removal to stay with vampire.

Wyll definitely can leave the premise of the house, I think he deserves it. He doesn’t try it cuz everyone said they can’t! Im torn between Wyll being killed regency era or like Pete. Cuz camp counselor Wyll is very good.

Not sure about Minthara yet, maybe she can touch things. She isn’t too happy with Tav being the new owner and she makes Tav’s life hell the first two weeks they live there. Ends up almost killing Tav BUT now Tav can see them, so you should be thanking her.

Gale definitely dies in a small explosion, so maybe he can make the room smell of smoke. Not too sure what else but open to ideas.

[honoringthehorrific]

Confession time! Is Immaculate worth the watch?...

As always my friends spoilers under the cut ✝️

I'm not going to wait until the end to tell you I loved this movie. It's beautiful and brutal and I loved it.

Sydney Sweeny did phenomenal. As far as I am aware this was her first horror role and she knocked it out of the ball park. Sister Cecilia has definitely made it onto my list of final girls I adore and if I am being perfectly honest, I don't think anyone could have portrayed this character better. Sydney's mannerisms and the way she speaks with apprehension are so perfect for our almost fish out of water character.

If you hate religious horror, pregnancy horror, or violence, infanticide and gore I really wouldn't watch this. I love religious imagery but I don't usually keep in mind if something is religiously unseemly or blasphemous because personally I hold no bearing for the Christian faith any more.

Jumping into the plot

Sister Cecilia comes to God or let's say God came to her as a child when she fell into an iced over lake and died for several minutes before being brought back. This experience made her feel that she wanted to devote her life to God.

Something I deeply enjoyed and I'm unsure if this is common among portrayals of nuns or Catholicism. I feel like I've heard a lot or seen a lot of this naivety of not knowing what sort of thing you're getting into. While sister Cecilia genuinely doesn't know the horrors she faces ahead, when constantly questioned about her choice to become a nun, Cecilia stands firm in her stance that this is what she wants. The only reluctance is moving from Detroit to Italy as the church she attended back home closed. She is a fish out of water as I said before in a country where she doesn't speak the language around people she does not know.

We get hints that something is off the first thing being the opening sequence where we can assume the previous mother-mary-to-be gets her leg snapped in two and buried alive after trying to escape the convent. Sister Isabelle is cold and harsh to Cecilia while everyone else including mother Superior is warm to her. Mother Superior even complimenting her beauty profusely upon seeing her. Father Tedeschi, who contacted Cecilia and personally invited her to join them, confides in her about his faith and why he chose to become a priest.

I feel as if in a way we are drawn in with her. The convent is a sort of hospice for older nuns and so when Cecilia after taking her vows sees one lying on the ground she goes to help. I think it's around here when she passes out that they some how impregnate her?? I will say I was not very clear on their method of this. The priest later explains that on the nails used during crucifixion they found flesh and bone and enough DNA but how exactly the process worked I don't think they ever explained and honestly I don't think they needed to.

When Cecilia is found to be pregnant it was interesting to me that we never get her opinion of it. She seems fine with it generally but her face during the initial ultrasound seems distressed....and well who wouldn't be distressed. We get a scene where they interrogate her about having intercourse and breaking her vows which is strange to me when later it's revealed they knew. Maybe it was a front to keep up with her and a red herring for the audience but it was a little odd to me that they knew everything about her and hand picked her only to grill her so harshly about it.

Theres two scenes that imply this as a pattern before it is revealed and one of them is Isabelle trying to drown Cecilia. The entire time she screams and raves about how it should have been her...for me it sort of clicked into place later that she was so mean to Cecilia because she knew that they had chosen her. From their initial meeting when Isabelle protests mother superiors orders to tour Cecilia around she is put in her place and told to do as she says and it feels sad in a way to me? Maybe I could make some commentary about infertility and longing for something you can't obtain but I don't have a horse in that race and don't feel well versed enough to speak on it. Only that it leaves me with a softened heart for Isabelle's circumstance and slightly more angry with Cecilia's as here was a woman who was willing and open...and instead you choose to take away this young woman's choice in the matter.

The second scene Cecilia is caring for one of the older nuns and remarks about the same cross scars that she later receives being on an older woman. It's kind of vile to imagine how long they must have been doing this and how long they've gotten away with it at the expense of all of these women...

This movie visually was stunning and the reveal and third trimester is a wild ride. Our girl Cecilia is smart and capable and has all the makings of a final girl. I think really it's only chance that her hospital plans fall through when she uses the blood of a chicken to fake a miscarriage to get access to a hospital outside the church. When crying and...smelling?? The bloody sheets mother Superior just so happens to look under the bed to find the bundled up chicken corpse. Even when the call is made to stop the car Cecilia makes a fucking run for it barefoot through the fields.

Even through everything Cecilia remains rebellious. Her spirit doesn't seem to break only bend on occasion. The chase through the catacombs was nerve wracking and had me clenching my jaw and gripping the arm rest the whole ride. Then we get the ending and boy is it a fucking ending.

Cecilia kills father Tedeschi and climbs out of a hole in the catacombs wall. She, after all of that running while being in labor, squats down and squeezes out this baby in this gutteral scene where we just get a close up of her face. In a way, and not to get too reachy or overly analytical, it makes me think of eve. How no one was...really there for her except adam to witness the birth of their children. How there was no medication to take. Nothing to do. Just sit and cry and scream and spit and push. Cecilia's child is never shown on screen. We can only assume it's a similar look to its siblings in the jars of that basement lab. It's breathing heard hindered off screen as it does nothing but breathe not even cry...and then Cecilia bites off the im umbilical cord and kills the infant Cain and Abel style.

Over all this is a really fantastic movie. The ending had me wanting more which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The visuals were stunning I loved the costumes especially the mother Mary scene where they unveil her and tears just roll down her cheeks. The acting was phenomenal and I think it's even worth a second or third watch from me. I couldn't appreciate the nail gore (makes my teeth hurt and makes me cringe) but overall I could appreciate the beauty of this movie. Happy Easter everyone!

5/5 crucifixion nails 🔨

[dumbistsmartass]

saying something about every hatchetfield production

spoilers, some nonsense, zero consistency with what I talk about, hurriedly written text, and back Cinderella’s Castle, QUICKLY, the kickstarter ends on May 4th. Also I mostly won’t be talking about the message to take away from all of them because I plan to make that another post.

TGWDLM: the catalyst of it all, it set up many fan favorite characters. Also my personal interpretation is that the musical we watch is actually happening in canon and is being put on by Pokky/Paul. Also how much of someone’s personality remain after infection?

Black Friday: it does pretty good as our first (true) intro to the LiBs it works very well. We get more General Macnmara who quickly becomes one of my favs. It also adds a lot of my other favs to the Hatchetverse, Hanna, Lex, Ethan, and Tom

NPMD: probably my favorite of the mainline musicals. I really hate Dirty Girl tho. The musical version of Hatchet Town is better than the OST version. The characters all have really good chemistry. I love Grace as a warning about the consequences of using religion as a fear tactic, when she sinned and wasn’t instantly punished for it she decided to take matters into her own hands and became a bloodthirsty maniac. The fact we got so close to a good ending if Max hadn’t fallen is darkly funny.

Hatchetfield Apeman: I don’t know how to feel about this one, it’s an interesting story but I think shouldn’t have been the first nightmare time story as it set a bad precedent for a lot of people.

Watcher World: I FUCKING LOVE WATCHER WORLD. The horror buildup of “what the fuck is happening here?” was genuinely amazing. The idea of a paranormal amusement part made for the amusement of an elder god id so cool. I feel uncomfortable saying the work “Sniglet”

Forever and always: one of my favs, the mystery of the two Emma’s is amazing, and the twist of which Emma Paul chose is amazing. It does make me wonder tho, is Emma a robot in every timeline? Also im just gonna assume that Tinky is connected to this one.

Time Bastered: another of my favs, the way it connects with FaA and the very clever time travel writing were highlights. The Ted is The Homeless Guy twist is really clever, and the ending is tragic

Jane’s a Car: holy shit my opinions on this one is so mixed. I love the bonding of Becky, Tom, and Tim is so wholesome. I REALLY hate that scene. Also is Jane turned into a car in every universe?

The Witch in the Web: our true into too Webby. Massive lore dumbs sort of weighted it down for me but it was still good.

Honey Queen: god I love this one. The fact that the LiBs aren’t mentioned until the very end was a really good choice. Both Zoey and Linda going to any length to win was some great tension.

Perky’s Buds: I went into this one expecting it to be kinda mid, and I was right but it was on the high end of mid. Ziggy being NB and played by a real NB actor is great! The bird hive mind is genuinely kinda unnerving despite how cute they are. I personally think they should have died, then content on the rooftop with the fire would have been such a good ending, but the police showing up to arrest them packs less of a punch.

Abstinence Camp: again, one of my favs, I fucking love this one and it also has the best Nightmare Timr song. It’s a fun way of exploring the “if you have sex in a horror movie you die” trope. Grace once again gets some sort of power and abuses it.

Daddy: I have mixed feelings, it’s a genuinely interesting plot but it get pretty uncomfortable. The song at the start made me think it would be a more empathetic take on Sherman Young but it definitely fucking wasn’t.

Killer Track: what is there to say? Killer track is actually so fucking amazing, if you will watch anything from this list watch this. I’m saying nothing else

Yellow Jacket: not at all what I was expecting, but it was great! From what I heard I was sort of expecting a high school drama with Pokky doing his bullshit in the background, but I loved this too. Also the ending hurt me.

Workin’ Boys: Pokky strikes again, but I’m not sure why TBH. Motherfucker just decided to fuck with his one most loyal subject and for what?

[stitched-mouth]

TALK TO ME SPOILERS

Just watched Talk To Me, loved it. First horror movie in a while that actually scared me, that being said though it was VERY predictable.

And I don’t think it needs a sequel. Like a sequel would just be telling the exact same story with different characters, not interesting. If they could make a story continuing from Mia’s perspective as a ghost I’d love it though. But that’s a nearly impossible story to write.

Also one specific thing that I loved about this movie is how using the hand and temporarily connecting to spirits is framed like drug use. It’s the new drug teens use at parties and get hooked on and I just kinda loved that connection. Although I do see some people hating it as it is very cringy to see teens using drugs at party in movies but I think it was handed very well here.

And how the end references the beginning with the dying kangaroo. Mia is heavily encouraged to put the kangaroo out of it’s misery but opts not to, and kinda cruelly leaves it dying on the side of the road. But when she is encouraged to put her close friend out of their misery, she goes for it and things end badly for her. I strongly think she did actually try to kill Riley but had no control of her body anymore and when she throw Riley onto the road, she actually threw herself. Not her opting to throw herself after being unable to kill her close friend. She didn’t chicken out this time and it ended badly for her. It makes me think the writers have an issue with putting people and animals out of their misery, especially since Riley survives this and makes a full recovery. It’s like the writers are saying even if someone is on death’s doorstep they can still very much so recover and if you try to or actually put someone out of their misery, karma will get you. I don’t really believe in this message but I like that they had a message in there that explained the dying kangaroo in the beginning.

And I loved the bad ending. I want to see more protagonists end up as ghosts in the end. I don’t know why, it’s just a cool uncommon concept. That being said, I did feel very extremely bad for Mia and kinda wished she had a better ending.

Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I hated Jade. She turns her back on Mia so quickly and never seemed like a good friend anyway. Also she treats her brother like shit. Like girl he’s 15, if you’re going to do ‘drugs’ in front of him you don’t get to act surprised if he asked to join in. And you can’t physically stop him, like he’s 15 and I know you started doing that shit at his age. Also how she just stood by looking all sad when her boyfriend was being humiliated. No wonder why he hates you touching him. Why did the writers make Jade so unlikeable?

Also Sue, I think she was straight up abusing and neglecting those kids. Mia seemed like she was parenting both Jade and Riley in the beginning of the movie; until she started playing with ghosts and Sue has the audacity to blame Mia. Like she wasn’t the hired babysitter, she is a teenager and your daughter’s best friend why are you leaving her to parent your kids?? And acting like she’s responsible when one gets hurt?? Like Sue can be mad at Mia was partying with her kids when she made it clear she didn’t want a party but she should be mad at all the teens for being irresponsible. Not solely mad at Mia as if it was her job to keep her kids out of trouble.

Wish Max had more screen time, cause his character made NO sense. But I was real sad when he got stabbed. Like he was running to help his daughter, found her in the same way he found his wife when she died and then she stabbed him 😭😭😭😭😭 I almost started crying in the cinema. He also looked a lot like my own Dad, who I have a complicated relationship with, so his and Mia’s relationship felt so similar to me and my Dad and it hurt

I was simping for Hayley for a lot of the movie. And I’m once again questioning my sexuality thanks to them. I’m hoping to see Zoe Terakes in a lot more movies, I’ve heard they are already well known in Australia but this was my first time seeing them so again I hope to see them again. I’m really disappointed the whole movie was ban in Kuwait just because the actor is gender non conforming. We still have transphobia in 2023? Wow.

(Credit to @louxkate for the gif)

edit: just found out I’m not the only one simping for Hayley’s actor, Zoe Terakes, which makes me feel better about not understanding my sexuality.

gonna go see this movie a second time now.

[skaruresonic]

About Sonic 3, I feel the only reason the fandom (and what I assume is non-fandom becayse most of their exposure to Maria as a character amounts to "she dies lmao") wants to see her death on-screen so much is because it'll be a "funni maymay" like "this kid-friendly movie has a freaking child get shot on-screen, funniest shit I've ever seen".

Like, remember the very first trailer for the first movie? Did you know that a good number of recent comments under it are actually sad that the movie didn't turn out as bad as it could have been and wasn't a "giant memefest" that people could "enjoy" in an ironic sense? It's just the lowest hanging fruit for those who just want to meme on the movie.

Tangent, but I'm actually interested to see how much this crowd overlaps with the crowd which swears up and down that Mr. Principles is Quintessential Sonic, and if you don't agree, something must be wrong with you on a moral and psychological level. Folks who cry the moral high ground the hardest tend to make for the biggest hypocrites lol.

Dead Maria jokes are nothing new. Fandom's cracked them since time immemorial. The thing is, though, I would think that 23 years since SA2's release, people would be past that and maybe try to follow in ST's stead of giving her life more importance than her death. Because there is absolutely merit to the idea that she only died to give the men around her something to angst about... But the solution to that isn't to voyeuristically focus on her demise to the point of making it a meme?

---

Like, remember the very first trailer for the first movie? Did you know that a good number of recent comments under it are actually sad that the movie didn't turn out as bad as it could have been and wasn't a "giant memefest" that people could "enjoy" in an ironic sense?

(and what I assume is non-fandom because most of their exposure to Maria as a character amounts to "she dies lmao")

Well, considering nonfans seldom respect Sonic as a franchise because of muh inconsistency, I'm inclined to not give their opinion any merit. They can come back when they've played the games. Not holding my breath for that one lol.

I'm just baffled that fans are also clamoring to see Maria get shot onscreen because it's like, et tu, Brutus? You should be past this kind of childishness by now. Much like how Shadow's backstory cannot retroactively become any Deeper by cramming in more pointless angst, seeing her die for the hundredth time will make her death seem more overplayed than poignant. At this point, asking to see her die is just a voyeuristic desire to see suffering for suffering's sake.

Also, if you think about it, neither X nor ShTH showed her explicitly getting shot. They just heavily implied it, to varying degrees of tastefulness (including the sound of the gunshot was... not ShTH's best decision, to put it extremely lightly, but at the very least the game didn't show the bullet going into her body).

I really don't mean to be the "don't have fun" guy. However, seeing everything about Maria online get boiled down to her death, her memory being dangled like a carrot to get a Pavlovian reaction out of Shadow, or her being dismissed entirely as a "generic" character really bugs me as a fan of the character. I'll be the first to admit her handling has flaws and maybe isn't the most fleshed-out portrayal around, but I also feel fandom exacerbates these problems by further objectifying her in this manner. Again, nobody's out here cracking Tikal stampede jokes every time her name crops up.

The whole point of Maria's character is that she's a normal girl, and it is a tragedy that her life was senselessly cut short. She isn't some great scientist like her cousin and grandfather, nor does she need to be. She represents humanity's capacity for goodness in spite of the horrors it inflicts.

Can you imagine the strength of character it must take not to hate the people who hunted you down and shot you, and instead retain your hopes for mankind's happiness? Where do you think Shadow gets it from? Gerald didn't give him a soul identical to hers for no reason.

but nah let's pop a cap in her ass so Shadow can do a cri

[blindrapture]

THURSDAY JULY 21ST, 2011 (Who Once Ruled the Streetlights)

9:31 AM Rabbit hole hotel. Rock solid fake beds. I tried calling some room service, a voice on the phone accepted my order, there was a knock at the door, and when we opened up, there was no one there, just a tray of food on the ground. I ordered a mushroom burger. Donnie got a korma.

9:44 AM Eaten. I guess I should write some explanations, huh? Well. I had to leave the library, I had to think things through. It's. Really fucking sad to know that she's dead. She was someone I knew, someone I had history with, someone who, all things considered, did actually help me not feel so totally alone for a while. I had dreamed of getting to meet her one day. I was scared that our breakup would have meant she wouldn't want to see me, but, like, I can't even confirm that. Maybe it wasn't as bad as all that. Maybe she would have wanted to come with us. I could have talked Donnie into it, I think. Donnie would have liked Anna. They're both really sweet and… ..did I even really know Anna all that well? Do I even really know Donnie...? We do talk. I don't write everything down. We chat about the world as it once was, and our gripes with school. Donnie had British schooling, which has its differences. Donnie also grew up with a lot more British TV than I did. And she'd seen a lot more American movies than me, as American movies get distributed everywhere, and I.. well, okay, it's complicated. My parents were film buffs. It sometimes felt like there was always a movie on at my house. But they were often black-and-white movies, or off-beat 2000s comedies that dad found really funny, or the myriad thrillers and supernatural horrors that mum loved. I watched kid movies. And TV. So much TV. Dad did show me Watchmen in theaters when that came out. Donnie's seen all the classics, the Ghostbusters, the Blade Runner, the Bourne movies, the Back to the Futures, the Breakfast Club, something about a Wong Foo. Hell, Donnie watched Samurai Jack when it was on TV. I didn't watch any of those. I did see some Samurai Jack, but it was always too slow for me. What did Anna watch? I remember her mentioning Donnie Darko. Neon Genesis Evangelion, definitely never got around to that one. She talked a lot about musicians like Ben Folds and Foxy Shazam. And she talked a lot about that Homestuck. I think, of all those things, I was familiar with Donnie Darko. Donnie is too. But, like. Media is all I really know of people. And some details about how people feel about their families. A loose idea of what creative things people like doing. Is that, like. Is that just an internet friend thing? Is it also just a me thing? It doesn't... come naturally to me, to just chat about anything else. What is there? Sports? Card games? I guess, for adults, there's jobs. I'm not even that good at talking about food. So, like. So. It's not that bizarre, to feel a little bit of sadness and then move on. ...I hate that I feel it. And I hate that I feel expected to move on. And I hate that I'm.. just.. going to. And, like. Another option is vowing revenge. But she died in the Cipher Realm. And we killed the Cipher. We got that revenge. … Anyway.

9:50 AM So I left the library, I went out the Door, I came to Utah. I felt what I was going to feel. And I found the slender man. A slender man? He watched me from a doorway as I passed through. I didn't even notice him at first. I just noticed a lot of fallen leaves gathering under my feet. The last thing I remember is looking around, noticing him. Then.. Donnie was sleeping next to me in this hotel. My journal is blank for those missing days, except for those tally marks again. I can.. I mean, I can take a guess as to what happened. I went with the slender man somewhere. I killed for him. I marked each kill. He's the slender man. In the stories, that's the kind of thing that he causes. I guess it doesn't have to have been kills? It could have been fucking pill bottles stolen from college students, for all I know. Masks bought from Wal-Mart and decorated with creepy black marker. Donnie says she doesn't know about all that, that when she couldn't find me in Castle Dale she ultimately decided to head west. First she walked, dragging her rifle on the ground behind her, my journal in a pocket in her now-tattered combat suit. Then she found a car and drove until night fell and she slept in a gas station. She considered sleeping in one of the many department stores or supermarkets she passed, but the bigger buildings out there could hide all sorts of threats. That night, she didn't notice anything, but the journal still had the tally marks come morning. So she kept moving, driving through interstates, switchbacks, and national parks. She occasionally saw small packs of travellers, and even less occasionally passed another moving car. More often, she saw a dog, always waiting for her at the towns she drove through, always already there. She didn't stop for it. In between CDs on the car stereo, she could hear cawing, sometimes screams, and sometimes gunshots. Night fell for the second time, and she started looking for good empty buildings, when she drove through another road-sized rabbit hole and ended up in a desert at daytime. And she kept driving, at least until the car got jammed by sand and she couldn't get it unstuck alone. And that's when the Thunderbirds came. Blacking out the sky in a tremendous storm, convincing her to stay in the car and grip her gun. They flew in circles, cawing a cacophany, whipping up a wind that morphed the sands in front of her, building a hotel of desert brick that rose out of the ground. Immaculately carved. And then there wasn't a single bird in the sky, and the hotel's lights were on. Sign said The Lookout. So she waited a few minutes, bracing for jump scares, before going inside and getting a room. And this time, late in the night, she heard the door open. And saw me walk in. And saw me collapse on the bed next to her, writing the tally marks in the journal, then pass out. She says she stroked my hair a little before she fell asleep. She says she's just glad I'm back. ...me too.

10:00 AM I talked with Donnie as I wrote all this down. I thanked her for keeping my journal safe. And I apologized for going off by myself, which was dumb. "I had the feeling you weren't gone for good. I'm starting to.. get used to how all this works." All the Fear stuff? "You." o_o;; "I never did tell you, did I? That.. friend of mine, who I wanted to go to Nebraska for. He was my ex." Oh… "There's been anxieties in my head, for sure. I've wondered if, in our travels, we'd find him... dead. Or even alive. Honestly I don't know which makes me more anxious. Because, I needed him at the time to help me get through a.. thing with my mum. My parents' divorce... my mum's alcoholism." Yeah. That makes sense. "But, did I really know him that well? Was I just using him, in a hard time?" I don't know about that. I don't know how friends work, I guess, but that also means I don't know if taking advantage works that way. I mean, I guess I don't know the whole story? But I don't need to. If he's willing to focus on you when you need the company, that's... friendship. "Is it romance, though?" Uh. o__o;; I'm even more ignorant on that one. "When his own life got stressful, he didn't depend on me. He just cut it all off. Said he didn't need me around for this." That's.. different, then. So you thought maybe you'd be able to find him and show him that you can help? "Yes. That's.. pretty spot-on. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this." holding my hand. I think we do understand each other. :) "Was it like that with you? And Anna?" Y'know, I.. don't.. actually know? I think it's more likely that I proved I was too caught up in my own problems to be able to help with hers. Or maybe even.. to even really listen to her. "You think? So you don't actually know." No. I didn't want to. "Then you're being too hard on yourself. And you clearly want to know now." Now when it's too late, yeah. "I think you're going to feel that for a while." Yeah.

10:13 AM Well, we've set out. Went to the elevator. This hotel has thirty-two floors, and our room was on floor thirty-one. ...can we see the top floor? "Uh. Sure?" Sorry, just. 32 is my favorite number. .w.

10:14 AM Floor 32, here we-- that's blood. Blood all over the walls. Just like one of my Japanese animes… "What?" Metal Gear Solid. "That's an anime?" No, it's-- y'know what, forget it. Just keep that rifle handy. "Okay. And you keep Tiger Stripes handy, okay?" Yes, ma'am. :)

10:15 AM End of the hall. Door 417. "Why can't Xanadu ever keep its numbers straight?" The door's locked. Looking back, already something's changed with this hallway. The blood splatters on the walls are humanoid now. Except for that one. The far end of the hall is a tall human in a black business suit. If he has a face, we can't see it. This fucker again. DONNIE YELPED WHAT The human-shaped blood things are full-black now. They're shadows. They're.. the Victims. Some of them are hanging around us, and some of them are approaching the slender man. ..door 417 opened. I think we're being ushered inside. The slender man is leaving. Is he.. scared of the shadows?

10:16 AM Inside Room 417. It's.. just another room. But the shadows, the Victims, are hanging around the chairs and beds. Like they're trying to sit, like regular humans. donnie "Did.. they just save us?" "It has no power here. Not in our hotel." You can talk?! a shadow nodded. donnie "I didn't think the slender man was scared of shadows." "He isn't. But that wasn't the slender man. That was one of Xanadu's constructs." Oh shit, lore. Please go on. Constructs? "With the coming of the red sky, Xanadu grabbed onto many of the Fears and dragged them into dark worlds. It took their forms and created many shadows." Shadows, like you? "We are the Victims, as we were once human like you, before we were lost in other worlds." shit. "What Xanadu did to the Fears it ensnared is somewhat different, which we believe to be because a god will cast a far greater shadow than a human will. We are humans who have lost our bodies. Xanadu's constructs are new beings, clones, carrying on a wholly different will." So. So Xanadu has the slender man trapped? donnie "We saw him in that factory! That must have been him!" "If you recognized what you saw as the slender man, then you have not seen him, you have not seen what has been done to him." Maybe we just saw another construct. "You have likely seen many constructs. Xanadu has taken multiple Fears." Why would it want to.. clone them? "It is likely not a conscious act. It is the operation of many systems." Right, yeah, 'cause it's a whole universe. I get it. donnie "So, the, uh, real slender man. Should we... try to... rescue him?" looking at me "You will not make it to his prison." another shadow "His oubliette!" another shadow said something about a 'plonk level?' now the shadows are all arguing.

10:22 AM "The least we can do is tell them..." Yeah? Tell us what? "Who the slender man was." "Who Xanadu wants him to once again be." "The Beast." "The Beast." "THE BEAST!" o__o "Understand, word gets around when you live as the absence of light. There is nowhere we cannot go, often unnoticed. And we are Victims who are stuck here in Xanadu." "We have heard the insectoids speak of their tales. We have heard the gingerbread poetry cycles. And there are many voices without bodies that speak until spoken to…" "Tiresias says a lot more when he thinks he is alone…" They’re forming one large shadow on the wall: A four-headed, four-horned dragon. All heads overlap in one single orb. "The Beast was the firstborn of Sanche, a far more ancient name. We will always be part of his great misdirect. It is said that all gods answer to one of Sanche's thousand names. But the Beast…" "The Beast embodies Fear and betrays it. He once ruled the streetlights, leading us home like a wise and dark shepherd. His power was born of our anxieties. A robe of blood and shadow cover his torso, a scepter of black fire and branches speak for him after he swore his vow of silence." "The Beast removed his own face in order to ensure his silence." "The Beast was the leader of the gods."

(Attached: "This is all true.")

"Perhaps he will break free of Xanadu of his own accord, return to Earth, and be our leader once more." "Would he want to, after he was so betrayed?" "Xanadu did not reach out and grab him. Someone on our side forced him into his prison." "But even if he does not want to, he must. He is the only one who can challenge the Lamb." "The Beast and the Lamb. The Beast and the X. The Beast and the Harlot. This is the triad of the end." ..wait. I’ve been hearing that name a lot lately. What is the Harlot? The Victims are forming a shadow of a naked woman with a bull’s head. "Tiamat was never meant to kill Marduk.” “She is our creation myth. We have her to thank and her to blame.” “She watches over us all, influencing our decisions, challenging our assumptions. It is she that will sacrifice her vessel to usher in a new age: The Beast would use her to end the world, and the Lamb would use her to bring us to Rapture. Unless she finds it in herself to control the Lamb.” Huh. And so who is the Lamb? The shadow of a man, arms outstretched, feet of a bird, tail of a scorpion, in a coat, with a circle around his dog-like head. “The terminal messiah, follower of the Blind Man’s Book, he lies down on Broadway always in the presence of enemies.” “It is he who will face the Beast in the Final Battle. If the Lamb wins, Rapture comes. If the Beast wins, the apocalypse may last for years.” “Should the Beast win, Fear will follow in eternity’s shadow until the sun is finally put down. Should the Lamb win, the sun will never.” Are you saying we’re going to die either way? "October 21st will decide.” ..THE COMING OF RAPTURE IS OCTOBER 21ST?! October 21st, asdfghjkl; That’s only three months from now. "It is literally three months from now." O_< ..it’s been exactly two months since the apocalypse started. It feels.. much longer than that.

10:52 AM As I was saying that, we just... got un-rabbit hole'd. No more Room 417. No more prophetic Victims. Hell, no more hotel! We're.. standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk. People walking by us, regular people. But.. a blue sky above.

10:55 AM We're in Las Vegas.

11:43 AM So, uh.. we’re definitely in Las Vegas, Nevada. It looks completely normal. The cars look a little more beaten than normal, but they all pretty much work. And people all look.. human! We went into a restaurant and asked around about this place. This city has been renamed New Sanctuary. It’s kept safe by the local police force– privatized, mind you– which is the NS division of the Rise Against Fear Anon guys. They do a really good job. When Donnie asked about the blue sky, the guy we asked said it’s provided by the “ants of the sky.”

12:34 PM Nobody’s wanting to talk much. Everyone does their job, carries onward ever forward. The advertisements, in newspapers and on billboards and on TV, allude to Fear presence, though never anything specific. It makes me want to just get a job somewhere, myself, so I’m not left in the open for Fears to get me.

2:52 PM ..what's that. Two men in black who I can't focus my eyes on. Walking into an alley. do you want to see?

55555:4444 PM The alleyway stretches, far, into fog. A blur in a suit and hat is just visible farther down. I.. ope Donnie grabbed my shoulder. You're.. here too? "Don't." What? "Don't go after the Musicians, Jordan." I.. didn't realize you were here. "Is this the kind of thing you do when you go off by yourself? Go staring into the face of gods?" It might be. I never really believed in gods before all this, I don't think. I'd go staring into something else. My own soul? The sad reality of the people around me? "I don't want you to do it anymore. Not without me to pull you back." ...a hissing static sound from behind us. where the musician was. "He's trying to pull you away. He wants you to go out there, all by yourself. Don't you see?" The... the Fears aren't all monsters, Donnie. ._. We've been meeting so many, EAT, Tiresias, the Victims, who've proven that. "How do you know that? How do you know they're not filled with cruel deeds they've done to other people?" I don't! Obviously! But "But what? Do you think you're just luckier than everyone else?" No! Well, I have no opinion on that and I can't, because luck is unverifiable. "Then what? Talk to me, Jordan! Please!" I!! Don't think they're going to do anything physical to me! The Musicians especially, they're all about the mind. And I'm good at my own mind! I'm not good at a hell of a lot of things, but I am good at my own damn mind, okay? "Not good at.. what?! Jordan, you've been the best boyfriend I've had! You've kept us both alive!" I.. boyfriend? kisssss "They're preying on you, baby. They're leading you away from me so they can separate us for easier pickings. They know the other Fears, dummy. If they don't kill you, they know someone who will." ...yeah... that's a point. >_< "You hear me, you jackasses?! You won't separate us!!" don't. please, don't make them angry… "Heh. So you do think they're dangerous." Well, so far I've just been taking the risks myself. I don't want to lose you. D: "You selfish asshole." Point taken! more kissing ....so. Where do we.. go from here? "What, you want to do it here? You want them to watch?" No! God! I meant where do we physically go? Just, the way we came in? "Oh! Um. We can try!"

4444:55555 PM The streets outside the alleyway are just as fuzzy. Text on signs is just a bunch of unruly scribbles. "That sky looks like static with pastel colors." Yeah. "Sorry, just trying to come up with more descriptions for you." :) ..you think I need the help? Am I not doing a good enough job? "You're doing fine, silly. It's your journal. Your little... project." Is that what it is? My project? "..you're the one who's supposed to tell me what it is. Why do you write this stuff down?" So I can remember it later? And it gives me something to do the rest of the time. "Then it's your project." Okay. :)

333:22 PM "Excuse me." ..a Musician behind us. Donnie's not having it. "We're not here for you." "We can see that." a second voice, that's the other musician "Do you want us to let you out of here?" Yes! donnie's holding me back "Can't we find our way out by ourselves?" "If you wish. We will make it so you believe you are leaving of your own accord." "....okay, well, maybe you can just let us out, then." see, donnie? they're capable of reason! "yeah, they're not dogs. of course they can reason." then please, can I just talk to them? "absolutely not!" hnnng Sorry, guys. She says I'm not allowed to talk to you. :( ":(" ":(" "they didn't really say that. you just wrote that." "We will get our chance."

5:07 PM We just appeared here, back in the alleyway. I guess we didn't really go anywhere. "No, but time's passed." So it has. "So we should.. try to make some progress while it's still light. Get a car, get moving. If your EAT is to be trusted, you're wanted in California, remember?" Hey, yeah! And maybe, on the way, we'll find another deep rabbit hole so we can find the next Cipher! "No, we shouldn't." ....oh, fuck. Right. Well, can we just find somewhere, like, a cafe to sit in for now? I wanna go over that journal again, since I wasn't here for it. I want it to sink in. "It's a date."

5:34 PM The seventh Cipher will bring the next set of seven-things, followed by the last set of seven-things, and at the end of all that, Rapture will come. So, the Ciphers are making Rapture come. "According to Tiresias." But you kinda trust him. "Sure." And, I mean, Tiresias is also the one who told us about the Ciphers in the first place. It feels weird to not trust him on this point when we clearly trusted him enough to go after the Ciphers in the first place. "Sure!" But, at the same time, it's also weird that he would offer the correction. That kinda paints his word as unreliable? "Or, it paints him as someone who is willing to admit being wrong." Well, sure. "Do you two want a refill?" Yes, please! hey donnie "yeah?" how are we gonna pay for this? "pay?" we. walked into a cafe, a genuine cafe. "yeah." and sat down. "and sat down." and ordered drinks. "...it's been a while since we've last needed money, okay, I did kinda forget." well, we can just. ask. I mean, what kind of people would be running a cafe, uh, two months into the end of the world, where society in general is shifting its priorities, and still expect people to have cash?

5:42 PM Fucking Americans. Well, I'm washing dishes tonight. I kinda suspect this is how they operate the cafe in the first place, just give people drinks and then ask them to clean up because they owe it. ...that's not an awful model, actually. BUT I'M CLEANING UP OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF TOO

9:10 PM While I worked my shift, I got to talking with the others, the cooks and the busboys and whatnot. I asked them about those "ants of the sky." They're robots, or something. Got different answers. Something flying in the sky that provides a blue color? People around here are a bit too.. placated. Apathetic? Words. Like they've been talked into working jobs so much that they don't really consider there's a world outside anymore. There's just no time to. Is that a thing? But, if they were talked into it, then surely they can... talk their way out of it? ...talking isn't some alien thing…

9:22 PM Donnie met me outside and took me on a walk. She hasn't found any place to stay that doesn't ask for money, but she did find a free car! She wants to drive us out of the city, get some distance done for the day, then pull over somewhere where we can sleep. She's an angel!

9:46 PM ............Donnie? "Mhm?" Why are there police sirens everywhere we go? "Oh, I don't know."

9:47 PM ..........this car wasn't free, was it? "I did not pay money for it." And you're putting some distance between us and the city for other reasons. "My clever little boyfriend! Such a brain on him." ......just, drive fast, okay? "I plan on it."

(Attached: "The Beast, the Harlot. The Lamb, the X. The Sea, the Blood. The Sampo, the Mechro. And I, eternity's cutting historian, and you, my always book. All that happens in these pages relates to one of these. All that happens in all Totality relates to one of these. I have it on good authority: I've seen it all happen.”)

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[seerofmike]

Mike's Media Medley--April 2024

henlo and welcome to my monthly diary review thing where i talk about movies/shows/games i experienced for the first time this month. there are a lot of things i watch/play throughout the year that i really like but don't ever get the opportunity to talk about due to the restrictions of my 7 game/7 movie restrictions on my end of year list + the fact i limit movies to 2024 releases. this list encompasses movies and games from any time period that i watched or played for the first time ever this month.

feel free to reply to this post with things you think i should watch or play!

here are some things i watched and played for the very first time this april:

2024 movie/show releases: Monkey Man, Civil War, Abigail, Fallout

non-2024 movie/show releases: Alien (1979), My Octopus Teacher (2020), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

games: fallout 3 (2008), the battle of polytopia (2016), let's build a zoo (2021), mineko's night market (2022)

my thoughts on all of them below, in alphabetical order--movies/shows first, then games:

Abigail (2024)

this movie was honestly pretty fun. enjoyed it more than i was expecting tbh, i used my membership tuesday price on this cuz i did not feel like paying full price for a ticket to see this. kind of thought it would be just dumb "ooh evil kid" shock horror

and like. don't get me wrong it is definitely ooh evil kid horror but the twist is given relatively early with only minor padding for a bigger twist later. thought it was decently funny and it works well enough as a singular movie but i don't see it warranting a sequel which the ending might be building up to. and though it was fun everything was like. Fine. directing was fine. acting was fine. music was fine. probably would not see it again but did not hate my decision watch it

60/100

Alien (1979)

YES this is really my first time seeing Alien, i am pretty unfamiliar with basically everything about Alien, nothing i say will probably be new

first off the sound was like. really quiet? and idk if it's because my theater had the volume too low or if that's the way it was mixed--it is an old movie after all--but i couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue and i feel like it would've boosted my enjoyment of the movie a lil more but i did really like it

specifically the art direction and set design. the alien planet and the ship, the fossilized skeleton on that big chair all with this really distinct weird black mechanical look that is also like. weirdly alive. and how that extends to the nostromo having parts of it as the movie progresses that looks like the alien. biomechanical is i think the word for it? its awesome. epic, even. makes u paranoid

big fan of the directing as well. very claustrophobic at some scenes. the refusal to show you the alien in full for a while. reaction shots instead of direct sight of the gore and horror (the cat when the janitor dies, ripley hearing parker and lambert die as she runs)

the thing that detracts from the movie for me is the sexual violence undertones. just simply not a fan

p good, might need to rewatch with subtitles to appreciate a bit more once i understand the actual plot lmfao. also this movie is very sweaty just like love lies bleeding. maybe i like sweaty movies. 80/100

(more under the cut)

Civil War (2024)

this movie was not very good

i was not going to see it and then i heard that it was less a typical war movie from the perspective and soldiers and shit that it was more about war correspondence and that piqued my interest as someone who used to want to be a journalist. turns out it's not even that much about war correspondence either. the main characters are war photographers but it all feels like. pretty surface level?

not to mention i understand the intent of keeping the politics of a theoretical civil war part 2 vague so as to not actually incite any specific kind of rage or controversy from either side but like. its a civil war movie. about war correspondence and photography.

the emotional hook of the movie just does nawt work for me. the young photographer lady is incredibly dumb. why does she do the things she does. why does she jump between the cars like that when she's so obsessed with the main lady. i had other gripes with her but i dont even remember all of them because this movie is already a distant memory. the bonding between them does nothing for me and just feels really forced and corny.

that being said there are some nice shots in this movie. it's well-directed but the sound design is really fucking carrying. all of the gunshots are LOUD and impactful and i think that really helps with the conflict where the wishy washy centrist politics fail.

30/100. not the worst movie ive ever seen but i would not watch it again.

Fallout (2024)

yeah yeah the show is really good. acting is good all across the board. was fun seeing the fun references / easter eggs to fallout. i was particularly interested in norm's side of the plot and lucy was a really refreshing protagonist. i think maximus was the weakest of the main plotlines but i'm hoping they go somewhere with his darker side because while i think it was the weakest i think he has the most potential

like lucy and the ghoul are pretty squarely set on their own sides with their own clear morals (or karma, good and evil) but maximus is someone who wants to be a good person but is often just. not good at being a good person. he's naive and not very competent at his job tbh but is still being heralded as a new wave of the brotherhood of steel. very interested to see where all that goes.

enjoyed it a ton. 85/100

Monkey Man (2024)

dev patel really made a movie about the healing power of trans people and he's awesome for that

good action flick with some scathing political commentary that i wish i was more well-versed on indian politics to say something substantial about but i could Feel the contempt for modi/the bjp and hindu nationalism as a whole

it's shot & edited sooooooo frenetically and i think this works a lot of the time HOWEVER at some points it is like. an active detriment. i never really feel nauseous when movies use shaky cam but this movie's camera is not just shaking. that shit is rocking. vibrating. particularly when he's outrunning the police thats when it gets Bad

otherwise i really enjoyed it. the action hits. the aesthetics and cinematography are probably my favorite of everything i watched this month! that being said i probably wouldn't watch it again just because i'm not the type to rewatch action movies like these i think ive only ever seen john wick the one time

75/100

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

it was fine. it's a documentary idk i don't have much to say. doesn't really feel right rating it but i watched it and the visuals were breathtaking but like it doesnt rly have a plot or anything. its neat. nice background thing to put on while you do something else

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

yeah yeah. unique color palette and color grading. directed well to suit the framing device. everyone and everything is smartly positioned onscreen.pretty good performances from people who have to just dump like 60 lines of dialogue on you all at once. yall know this one is good its wes anderson go watch it its 40 minutes long

75/100

video games:

The Battle of Polytopia (2016)/Let's Build a Zoo (2021)

putting both of these games here because i really don't have a lot to say about them, i played them both very briefly. in let's build a zoo's case, literally for five minutes. the battle of polytopia was boring and after like two runs i was like ok welp that's it for me. i did play the mobile version so that might be part of the problem but idk i don't think the gameplay loop would've grabbed me even if expanded. let's build a zoo had atrocious UI and controls on console and i immediately got pissed off trying to build an enclosure and uninstalled

Fallout 3 (2008)

i am not immune to propaganda

is this game good? not really but my favorite elder scrolls game is oblivion so you should know i, for one, love bethesda jank. love walking around in a big ass world full of weird people and discovering places and just taking a look around. frankly i don't care if i died five times to the same pack of super mutants. i'm having a good time.

not super deep into the main story and have only completed about ten quests but i'm into it

Mineko's Night Market (2022)

man i like. really wanted to like this game. it has a really cute art style and a good sense of humor, and i like management and sim games. unfortunately it just failed to grab me. i had a chuckle or two for the first hour i played but after that i was just really bored running around looking for flowers and i quit before i even got to attend the actual night market. i played it through my dad's gamepass and i usually end up quitting games quickly due to buying them on steam and needing to decide if i like them or not under 2 hours. otherwise i try not to quit games that early unless they're super boring or glitchy/unplayable. unfortunately even without that time limit looming over my head it just wasn't really doing anything for me.

if u got this far into reading this i love u

[alivehouse]

(While sending this ask I've accidentally found out what cool wallpapers (literally) you have on your desktop blog theme.)

Well, good day, my dearest horror podcast Virgil,

I, surprisingly to myself, actually finished "I am in Eskew" and enjoyed it quite a bit (which, I guess, could have been deduced by how much I spammed in the tag) even more surprisingly, considering I'm absolutely not a horror person - I substitute horror movies with their wikipedia retellings. Unironically.

Anyway, firstly, thank you! I definitely would have never discovered it without your recommendations!

Secondly, maybe you have something else like that stashed up your sleeve? I definitely need some time to recuperate, but I would like to explore more cool podcasts. (The only two limitations: short-ish - not much longer than this one, the view of a hundred+ episodes scares me; not gorier than this one/no actual jump scares - again, I'm a scardicat.) I remember you talking about "Mabel Podcast" and at the first glance it seems neat, but I'd like to hear your comments on it first.

Thanks in advance. :)

(thank you! its a william morris thing i edited a little lol) glad you liked eskew! its been fun seeing your thoughts on it popping up in the tag, not spammy at all.

i do want to mention that the creator of eskew also has another podcast called The Silt Verses, personally i havent listened to it for weird brain reasons so not sure how well it fits your criteria but ive heard its also very good

mabel podcast is another favorite! the creators of mabel and the creator of i am in eskew were both inspired by shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house to an extent iirc, so even though the stories are very different some elements of them have a similar 'feel' to them imo. i will say that mabel is very different stylistically though (especially the earlier episodes) which in my experience people seem to either love or hate. whereas in eskew you get a pretty continuous narration from david or riyo, in mabel youre mostly listening in on a series of somewhat disjointed voicemail messages. id definitely recommend at least giving the first few episodes a go, dont get discouraged if you dont feel like you dont understand whats happening right away. all you really need to know about the story going in is that youre following Anna, whos a live-in carer for an old woman named Sally. Anna is trying to contact Sallys next of kin (the titular Mabel), but shes strangely out of reach.

ok i know you said youre not a huge horror person but if you ever are feeling a little more daring id suggest trying out The White Vault. theres a small amount of gore (descriptions of finding hearts and teeth) and some uh. wet ripping sounds in it but its really not that bad all things considered, just know that it is straight horror though. its a found footage podcast that follows a group of people whove been hired to check out a remote outpost in northern norway thats gone dead, but a storm leaves them stranded there, and as time goes on it becomes clear that they arent exactly alone. this ones a little longer i think, but tbh ive only listened to the first two seasons, it felt like a natural place for the story to end to me

and then on the complete opposite side of the spooky podcast spectrum, if you want something thats a ghost story but really not horror at all imo, i just finished listening to Midnight Radio a few weeks back. this ones *really* short, like 10 episodes that are ~20 minutes each short, so its definitely lower commitment. in this one youre listening in on a radio show hosted by Sibyl, who died decades earlier but can still be heard waxing poetic about her hometown in the dead of night.

ok LAST ONE havent finished it so wasnt sure if i should rec it but a lot of people on my dash hype up Archive 81 so i thought id mention it at least. guy is hired to listen through a bunch of creepy tapes in some archive out in the middle of no where. classic horror podcast stuff. similar to eskew in that it pivots from mostly being mostly anthology into an overarching plot as you go on

[anxietywithasideofexplosions]

rating the transformers movies I've watched just based on the movie and my personal opinions:

Transformers (2007): solid 7/10. rewatchable, goodish plot, good transformers, kinda bland humans I don't particularly care for, could be better but overall okay.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (2009): like 4 1/2-5/10. kinda boring plot but its still rewatchable. even blander humans, weird body horror bit with human disguise Decepticon. it's decent, I guess?

Transformers Dark Side of the Moon (2011): 6/10. where did Mikaela go and who is this new chick? she's cool ig, not very interesting. Sam is still the blandest character ever. I cried when I thought the Autobots left. fuck the government they're dumb. actually liked this one more, the plot was more interesting (I was more invested). better than revenge of the fallen. kickass fight scene at the end.

Transformers Age of Extinction (2014): gonna be honest before I rate it- I didn't finish this one. I had like a half hour left and was very bored. 1/10 but it only gets that one because I got to see Bumblebee be immature (as he should) and there was a First Robotics Competition robot in the background of one scene (I participate in FRC). who the fuck are these people. you killed ratchet and I'm mad about it. what happened, I feel like I missed a whole movie. there's like seventeen subplots and I'm confused. the whole angry overprotective dad and disobedient i-think-shes-supposed-to-be-cool daughter thing is, ngl, kinda annoying. not a fan.

Bumblebee (2018): I actually wanted to see this when I first saw the trailer. 7 1/2/10. I liked the plot for the most part, was a little annoyed with the main characters main stick being that her dad died, little disappointed Bumblebee didn't shift into a Camaro during the final fight scene. overall interesting plot, decent human characters, could've been a little bit better but overall good!

I haven't watched the rest so I might come back to this once I do. this is a personal opinion thing, please don't hate. I'm not an expert, these are just how I feel. I really wanna get more invested in transformers but I can't find much to watch or do anything with them, so if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the tags! please don't hate...

[hellomynameisghostface]

Unpopular opinion that will probably make me the most hated person in the fandom: Kirby is overrated and she should have stayed dead. Now, I don't hate Kirby or Hayden (the actress who plays her.) In fact, I can appreciate the character a lot more now that I'm older and Hayden plays her well. Before that though, I didn't really have much of opinion of her when "Scream 4" was first released. Here's why I think she should have stayed dead though. In "Scream 4" we see her get stabbed and while the camera's panning away she's not technically dead because we see her moving. This is allegedly because the director, Wes Craven, wanted to leave the possibility open that she was still alive so he could bring her back for his next movie. The original plan was to start a new trilogy and continue the story of "Scream 4" in "Scream 5." Apparently, this didn't take off because the fourth movie didn't perform well at the box office.

This all would have been fine if at the end of the movie someone mentioned Kirby was alive but in critical condition but Sidney is the only one they mentioned. Jill states "Trevor and Charlie, they tried to kill me and I head they killed my mom and...and Robbie and Kirby too" to which Dewey does not reply. That led me to believe she was dead. Fast forward to "Scream V" and "Scream VI," the new directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, wanted to bring Kirby back because Wes teased she could be alive. In my honest opinion, Kirby should have officially died with Wes (rest in peace to his beautiful soul.) She really had no reason to return and no relevancy other than being a fan favorite. She was Jill's Tatum and what happened to Tatum? She died. I love Tatum, Jennifer, Amber and Anika but they all died when they needed to and I'm content with that. These are horror films. People die, stop crying over it especially when they're as deposable as Kirby is. If Mark hasn't even made a return yet what makes Kirby so special that she needed to come back? I doubt she kept in touch with Sidney, Dewey or Gale. I will say, they did handle her return fairly well with the "I almost died after I was stabbed. Technically, I did die...for four minutes" line. It explained why Dewey didn't mention her being alive at the end of the fourth movie. However, her coming back still doesn't sit right with me. There was such a big gap between the fourth and fifth movies that she became irrelevant and with no survivors from "Scream 4" (outside of the three legacy characters, which she had no real connection with) it makes her super irrelevant. No matter how hard I try, it just feels so forced. Again, nothing against the character or actress. Hayden still does amazing in "Scream VI" and Kirby's still a great character but I just don't think we needed her to be alive. With the two legacy characters, Mark from "Scream 3" and now The Core Four plus Danny the last thing we need is another survivor. Tatum did not get her head smash in a garage door and Anika did not get gutted then thrown off a ladder just for you guys to cry about your favorite character dying until she's resurrected. Sorry if you're pro Kirby being alive but it's not for me. My opinion isn't going to change the fact that she is alive and back in the franchise. This is just a little rant I want to get off my chest and see if there's anyone out there who feels the same.

[amyyscorner]

Live reaction: Goosebumps (2023)

Spoilers below the cut

ok emo i hope he dies WAIT IS HE SUPPOSED TO BE RL STINE?? ding dong bitch DONT WALK OUTSIDE JESUS HAVE U NOT SEEN A FUCKING HORROR MOVIE??? mans gon die the doorbell ghost really be trolling LMAO THE CHANDELIER candles. ofc he has candles. sth gon burn HIS NAME IS HAROLD? LMAOOOOO i knew there was gonna be a fire. mans burned i love being right ooooooh pretty introoooo me likey NOT UNHOLY BY SAM SMITH PLEASE I THOUGHT THIS WAS A SHOW FOR LIKE 12+ NAUR Ayo AYO IS THAT HER???? OMG I LOVE THAT HER NOT THE BIKING ACCIDENT LMAOOOOO i love lucas already PLEASE NOT MORE UNHOLY I AM GIGGLING oooh its the same school as the guy who died harold isaiah is the jock lucas is the nerd/idiot margot is the girl thats not like the others NOT HER READING AT THE EVENT PLS HARRY STYLES WONT PICK U BESTIE PLS THE POOR GUY LEAVE HIM ALONE D: isabella seems like the girl who is actually chill and just wants to do her thing AYO SAM BE CUTE im in love with james i need james in my life james is me oh so jocks gf is an insta popular girl "im literally super nice" "so why am i being trolled?" maybe bc u called it being trolled jock who doesn't get good grades? i hope they get less...two dimensional like give the jock an actual problem maybe he has adhd or a learning disability so he focused on physical activity now who tf is glasses nathan bratt BEN HOLY SHIT U ARE FATHER PARENT ok so nathan is the lil nerdy weird adult the parents were grieving their kid wtf dude??? nathan has killer vibes hes gon die or at least get hurt HE GOT HURT LMAOOOOO yeah nah he deserved that ben tho? king. love him NOT THE BLOOD KEY LMAOOOOOO OH IS BEN JOCKS DAD? oh baby :( now he is too scared to tell them he won't be playing in the game bc there is no way he will be able to get that A THEYRE TALKING IN THAT IDIGAH LANGUAGE margot is not for me but she seems like a good friend to him ayo you know but hamilton seems like helpful dont help him cheat just help him study yeah nah thats so dumb yall deseve to fail trust me i can say it bc i used to cheat in this one class HOW OBVIOUS CAN U BE JESUS CHRIST okay so margot likes isaiah but he is dating allison so far im not as invested as i could be tbh not the murder hourse being the new place jesus this is so stupid all of you deserve to die all of you so fucking dumb like i get the rush of it. i've been in an abandoned psych clinic before a few years before it burnt down but this? idk besties, you should know this is dumb thor he is obviously thor he has a blonde wig and a hammer actual stupid people dont go to the basement please YES IT IS HAUNTED YES IT MAKES FOR A GOOD PARTY UNTIL EVERYONE DIES BESTIES so far i hate the main characters dont go down there dont go to the basement dont walk TO THE DOOR THAT MAGICALLY OPENED TO THE BASEMENT WHERE A DUDE DIED "i bet the fuse box is down there" - okay video game main character oh okay so allison knows she likes him and is insanely jealous girl why are you such a bitch to her?? she just didn't know to be late to parties wtf fuck them yes walk down the creepy stairs i hope u get hurt for being such an asshole cause wtf stop exploring and just find the fuse box ur not a video game there r no secrets to find good attempt at the jumpscare. unfortunately not random enough oh no the ghost door to the ghost basement closed how unexpected i'm so surprised wow this was so surprising omg hes fine he will walk up and scare you guys SEE i knew it SHAKE IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE

okay we finished the first half of the ep 2nd half reaction coming soon