#nightmares and dreamscapes review

[badassbutterfly1987]

2022 Books Review

5 stars

FNAF Ultimate Guide (Cawthon, 2021): A great summary of everything in the sprawling FNAF universe, even has a section devoted to popular fan theories.

A Natural History of Dragons (Brennan, 2013): a fictional biography about a dragon researcher. An interesting character and interesting worldbuilding.

4 stars

The Silence of the Girls (Barker, 2018): an emotionally difficult look at the Trojan War from the perspective of Briseis and other women captured as war prizes by the Greek army. It’s strongest in the first half but the second half switches to other perspectives and feels more like every other Illiad retelling. Could have done without the modern lingo and Achilles' mommy kink. 

Nightmares and Dreamscapes (King, 2013): A collection of interesting and spooky short stories. 'Popsy' was probably my favorite, like Taken but with vampires (which sounds like a fantastic action horror movie).

Breakdown (Kellerman, 2016): typical procedural mystery novel but from the perspective of a clinical psychologist.

Compulsion (Kellerman, 2008): same series as above. It's portrayal of queer characters is a bit of a mixed bag. A trans woman sex worker is portrayed with sympathy even if the language used clearly dates it, but there's also a murderous crossdresser. YMMV

Skin Game (Butcher, 2014): a good heist story, even if I took issue with some of the writing choices.

3 stars

Tulip Fever (Moggach, 1999): The first 1/3 was a frustrating read. A woman is unhappily married, falls into lust with a pretentious womanizing painter, and decide to run away together, uncaring to the harm they cause. They claim to be in love after two meetings even though the only apparent thing they see in the other is hotness. The prose and ending (with consequences) manage to save it for me.

[mylifeinfiction]

My Best of 2023: My Top 5 Stephen King Books of 2023

1. The Outsider (2018)

2. Finders Keepers (2015)

3. Mr. Mercedes (2014)

4. Night Shift (1978)

5. Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993)

Note: This is, again, out of the 9 Stephen King books that I read for the first time in 2023. (I know, I really need to bump these numbers up in 2024.) For more on my journey through the works of Stephen King, CLICK HERE.

Thank you all so much for reading/sharing/etc. And please follow for My Top 10 2022 Books, Coming Soon!!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[azewritessillystuff]

Illusion in shattered glass 

An: I promise I’m working on reqs but this was already in my drafts so 💙 I need more Mr. Reca content so I decided to make some! He’s a character with alot of potential 🫶🏼

A dream is just a nightmare you do not want to wake up from.

Inspiration: I can’t find the post anymore but there was a post about someone talking about Mr. Reca erasing his darling’s memories every time he confesses that to try to achieve perfection, if you find it plz tell me and I can add the link 💙 

An: I didn’t reread or review it so it might suck, but I did add effort. First few chapter are skip-able ish if your impatient. 

Summary: A picture perfect love story directed by Penacony’s greatest director.

Except it isn’t perfect.

You don’t remember any bit of this so-called ‘story’.

Because you-

��CUT!—

TAKE ONE 

“I love you, y/n.”

     “!?-Mr. Reca-I-do too…”

    Directors notes: Disapproved! Adding a title in the acceptance just makes there seem to be a distance or unfamiliarity!

TAKE TWO

“Ah. Y/n. I do adore you.”

         “-Reca…? In a platonic or a romantical way…?”

Director’s notes: Disapproved! The way in which y/n still must ask the intent of those words making them seem dense whilst they have much more intelligence then most actors.

TAKE THREE

“Y/n. Will you marry me?”

       “Gasp. I-ofcourse, Reca…!���

Directors notes: Mhmm…getting better! But it should be perfect! Therefore disapproved!

TAKE FOUR

Disapproved!

TAKE FIVE

Disapproved!

TAKE SIX

Disapproved!

TAKE SEVEN

——

TAKE EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT

————1—————

Mr. Reca slammed his fist on the table as he re-watched the records for the nth time. “Ugh. Disapproved…disapproved…Y/n deserves only perfection, not this dogwash!” He cried, cupping his face between his hands in frustration, mumbling under his breath. “No…no…no….” He murmured, why was this so hard? He was the greatest director in the world! Why couldn’t he properly direct his own love story,..?

Yes, yes, he had tried all the cliché proposals and confessions, flowers, letters, even using a cat to carry on his letter. So what was missing in his grand vision of this ‘perfect confession’!?

———2———

{{This chapter is to give depth to the reader and extra interactions. Skip it you want though somethings may be a bit confusing 💕}}

“What I think of Mr. Reca…?” You echoed, tilting your head in confusion. This was…not what you had expected your friends to ask you during your truth or dare game. “Yeah! I heard you rejected him before!” They gasped excitedly, one of them bumping your shoulder and giggling, covering their mouth. “No. I never did that. He’s just my boss. Those are just rumors.” You clarify, shaking you head with a shy smile. You’d never reject him. Well, you’d never reject him if he asked! But that was just most likely your brain too full of those telenova romance movies you binge watched over the weekend. You looked down to your hands and shook your head lightly, trying to wipe those thoughts from your brain. “Anytyywwwaaayy…. y/n!” Your friend called, pointing at you, already seemingly forgetting their previous question, “You didn’t answer the last question, so you better answer this one!” They chirped in their usual bubbly manner, happily shaking your shoulder like a needy child. Oh no. They had a mischevious glimmer in their eyes. “Tell the truth…why do you only hang out with us in the dreamscape!?” They demanded, huffing while crossing their arms dramatically. Your pulse unknowingly quickened, but your expression was still positive. “I just am too busy outside of the dreamscape. Nothing secretive. Now….F/N!” You smile and point at your other friend in the same matter as the latter, grinning, “Truth or dare?”

———3———

Mr. Reca sat on his desk, Assistant Director across his lap as he went through script after script after proposal after proposal. How boring. It would be a hundred times more interesting to be spending these wasted hours with you. But oh well. Duty called, much to his chagrin. What an artistic block. Almost all of the scripts these days lacked individuality and creativity.

All but lacking stories with a totally predictable ending, boring characters and poorly suggested visuals. The director eventually ran his patience through, crumpling the paper in his hands and throwing it across the room in absolute irritation.

“Mr. Reca…? Are you alright?” You called, knocking on the door after you had heard his exasperated grunts. “Oh, y/n! Please, please, come in if you wish! of course I am alright!” He called, his mood already being lifted by your prescence and concern. As soon as you opened the door he ushered you in and had you seated on the couch in the far corner of the messy room in a matter of seconds. You glanced across at him akwardly, only given a few moments to settle where you sat before Mr. Reca began talking endlessly about the films he was working on, the potential-less stories and manuscripts he was forced to read and a lot of his day. In truth, most of it went over your head, merely keeping up your part of the conversation with the bare minimum occasionally nodding and throwing out “Mhmm”’s “Er-yes…” and “Totally.”

———4———

“Y/n. How do you feel today?” Mr. Reca smiled, drapping his jacket across your shoulders. Even though the weather in the dreamscape was hardly cold, today felt a bit different. “A bit…cold…” You offer, snuggling into his warm jacket and hunching slightly. You looked up to see Mr. Reca with a sad smile, which surprised you. “Is…something wrong?” You asked, looking at him with a concerned look. Mr. Reca never usually showed sadness, but now his expression also held something you never thought was possible for him.

He looked…in grief?

Before you could open your mouth to ask him again, Mr. Reca looked you straight in the eye, his hands clasping together nervously, “Y/n…I love you.”

Your brain could hardly comprehend that. You stared at him for a while, wide eyed and your mouth half open when you finally remembered to swallow. You looked down and turned to him with a joyful smile, “I do too, Reca.” Mr. Reca returned your smile, though it still seemed like he was thinking of something else. You put a hand carefully on his shoulder and hesitantly kissed his forehead. “Is there…something wrong?” 

You were met with some silence, which seemed incredibly heavy, not something you would expect the atmosphere of a confession to be like. You knew what was wrong. You did. 

But you didn’t remember. 

And you can’t remember why.

“Wrong? No. We are actually following the ‘right’” Mr. Reca finally replied, shaking his head whilst forcing a smile. He pulled you into an unexpected embrace, burying his head into the crook of your neck as his shoulders seemed to sag. “And in the will of fate we can never be together.” 

You stared at him, though you weren’t confused. Yes, because this happened before.

Eight hundred and eighty eight times, to be exact.

This was what the aeons had written in both your destinies.

“Yes…yes…”

“Because you never existed in the first place.”

———5———

Mr. Reca was now hugging his empty jacket, devoid of the warmth it used to hold. 

And he cried.

It had never gotten easier to accept every time that you were a mere memory zone meme.

A fragment of his consciousness and the embodiment of his wish.

Salty tears fell one after the other in a bitter waterfall as Mr. Reca bit his lip, trying to regain his composure as his breath hitched and more tears spilled.

It was an ironic, almost funny thing

The missing piece in his ‘perfect confession’ had always been you.

———

TAKE EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY NINE

———

[brokehorrorfan]

World Champ Game Co. has released five new horror roleplaying games: Stab: The Roleplaying Game, Ever Dream This Man?, Press Play, How to Summon a Spirit, and No Future.

Created by Adam Vass (Cybermetal 2012), they’re available individually for $16-21 or together in the Trick or Treat Suite bundle for the discounted price of $69. More details on each title can be found below.

Based on the ever-popular "Stab" movie franchise, Stab: The Roleplaying Game allows you and your friends to tell your own murderous survival stories where most of you will die, one of you is a masked killer, and no one knows who it is until the end! In No Future, a group of punks lamenting and celebrating the hardcore scene in your small town on one fervent night as you keep dying. Loop through time over and over and try to fight your way out of the loop before you sell out and leave this place forever. In Ever Dream This Man, you explore your dreams and nightmares constantly invaded by one ominous being who you will watch, evade, fear, and eventually confront in your sleep. Players work together to describe and define this being in ever-changing dreamscapes influenced by tarot cards and a collaborative playlist you create during play. In Press Play, we collect and review unexplainable events caught on tape while also seeing how our proximity to these tapes brings us closer to a shared fate. We explore haunted footage which itself haunts us. How to Summon a Spirit is a storytelling game wherein you create your own murderous mythology and supernatural rituals to evoke the dark. Both the history and the associated ceremonies change as time passes, information is uncovered, and culture warps around its mystic magnetism.

[ravenya003]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Nightmares, S01E10

Here’s my lukewarm take on Nightmares: it’s way too soon for a What Do They Fear Episode. This opinion is borne out by the fact that the fears depicted here – clowns, stage fright, being in your underwear in front of class, not studying for a test – are all pretty superficial stuff. There’s no real psychological depth to these characters as yet, which is why this premise works so much better in later episodes like Fear Not and Restless.

By the time season four rolls around, we’ve spent enough time with Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles to really delve into their psyches, in which their fears manifest as being alone, inadequacy, and a lack of control. This early, the only fear that really strikes a chord is Giles seeing Buffy’s grave.

It also strikes me for the first time that many of the “villains” in season one are just normal people whose anxieties and/or ambitions are amplified and turned into physical threats by “mystical Hellmouth energy.” I’m thinking of the hyenas, and what Giles calls “the nightmare realm,” and (in the next episode) Marcie’s invisibility. It gives everything more of a fairy tale quality than the show had in later seasons.

It starts with a good old fashioned Buffy dream, in which she’s edging her way through the Master’s lair, only to be caught by the throat and strangled by him. Standard nightmare stuff, though it’s interesting for two reasons: firstly that it makes for a fairly accurate premonition of what happens when she does face the Master in two episodes’ time (especially the fact that she freezes up) and secondly that it sets up Giles’s fear that Buffy’s nightmares will be particularly difficult to deal with if they manifest in the real world.

Also, she’s in pigtails, which I can only assume was a deliberate choice to emphasis her youth and innocence.

In the waking world, Buffy is excited about the imminent arrival of her father from L.A. Ah, Hank Summers, the dad who will soon cease to exist. I have plenty of things to say about this character, but for now the most important plot-point is that Buffy blames herself for her parents’ separation. That’s a standard fear for children of divorce, but no doubt exacerbated when you’re sneaking out every night to hunt vampires.

Willow also mentions that her parents don’t fight, they only glare at each other if they’re angry. I’m always fascinated when either Willow or Xander mention their parents, as they’re such an infinitesimal part of the show and their children’s lives that they may as well not exist at all. Yet by the sounds of it, Willow’s parents have a pretty good marriage.

The trio head into class, where Ms. Tishler is leading a lesson on “active listening.” Another of those Sunnydale teachers who are unknowingly dealing with a Hellmouth beneath their feet, yet diligently teaching their students regardless of the danger. I salute them.

(I’m sorry these reviews are so weird, in which I’m more interested in tidbits about Willow’s parents and the Sunnydale High faculty than any of the creepy supernatural stuff).

A nerdy student called Wendell (give a kid a name like that, and of course he’ll end up a nerd) opens his book and starts screaming in horror as tarantulas crawl out of the pages and over his hands and face.

As everyone panics, Buffy notices a young boy standing at the door of the classroom and looking straight at her, who apologizes quietly before disappearing.

I wonder, was Billy looking for Buffy specifically, or was he simply drawn to her? Presumably the latter since he has no idea that she’s the Slayer, but I like the idea that in his dreamscape there’s a certain energy or light to her that indicates she’s someone who can help him. Or maybe it’s the presence of the Hellmouth he’s attracted to, since we’re constantly seeing him at the school.

After the opening credits we get a scene with the Master and the Anointed One in the underground church. They don’t figure into this story much, but given that the season finale is coming up fast, it was a good idea to remind the audience of their existence. We haven’t seen them since Angel.

The scene’s other purpose is to lay out the central theme of the episode, which is fear. According to the Master, fear is the most powerful force in the human world, and he describes something happening above as a “new powerful, psychic force.” It’s interesting that he knows this, though I suppose it makes sense that he’s tapped into the mystical energies of the Hellmouth.

We get a nice pan up back to the school, where the trio find Giles in the library to ask him if he’s researched anything about spiders crawling out of books. Giles looks a little disconcerted, having gotten lost in the stacks, and suggests they ask Wendell himself about the significance of yesterday’s occurrence.

Poor Wendell still looks rather traumatized, and explains that he’s not afraid of spiders, quite the contrary – he loves them. He once had a huge collection of specimens, only for them to perish when he left his brother responsible for their wellbeing while he was at camp. Ever since then, he’s been plagued by a recurring nightmare about the spiders taking revenge for his dereliction of care. Eerily, what happened yesterday followed the events of his dream exactly.  

For some reason, Buffy has a lollipop in this scene, which reminds me of the pigtails she had in her nightmare. Again, this episode seems very intent on emphasizing her youth.

While this conversation is going on, Cordelia walks past and reminds Buffy that they have a history test. Having completely forgotten, Buffy rushes after her and tries to complete the answers, only for the clock to speed up and the class to finish before she’s even had the chance to write her name.

This is a fairly standard nightmare for a high schooler, but I can’t help but feel it would have been more appropriate for Willow?

Elsewhere, the little boy that Buffy glimpsed outside the classroom watches as another student slips down into the basement for a cigarette, ineffectively warning her that she shouldn’t go down there. The girl (Laura) lights up, and is promptly attacked by a terrifying figure with a deformed face and a club arm, who mutters “lucky nineteen” as he assaults her.

The episode cuts to Buffy and Giles in good old Sunnydale Hospital, looking for Laura’s room. I actually really like this scene when you consider it in relation to the events of The Prom and Buffy’s Class Protector Award. This sort of thing, in which she gently asks questions of the Sunnydale student body and acts like she’s going to do something about whatever is going on, is the reason why she was honoured at the awards ceremony three years later.

Though attention was never drawn to it actually happening, people like Laura were clearly paying attention when it came to what Buffy was up to during such times. In this case, she says to Laura: “you can tell us [anything that happened], even if it may seem weird.” In response, Laura tells them that her assailant said: “lucky nineteen” as he was beating her.

As Buffy and Giles leave Laura to her lifelong trauma, a doctor draws their attention to another patient who’s still in a coma, who is apparently the first victim of whoever attacked Laura. As he points out, whoever did this used the same M.O. each time.

Willow and Xander are starting to put the pieces together, mentioning that Wendell’s dream came true... but how does Laura fit into that? Did she have a nightmare about getting beaten up? (Little do they know, but the Ugly Man is the outlier in this ongoing phenomenon, a manifestation of Billy’s fear as opposed to everyone else’s). They enter a classroom, and... Xander is suddenly naked sans his underwear in front of the entire class.

They say this is one of the most common dreams a person can have, along with being chased and having your teeth fall out, though I have to confess I’ve never had it myself. (The other two though? Definitely).

Over in the library, Giles is struggling with the fact he can no longer read, though Buffy spots a picture on the front page of a local newspaper and recognizes the boy as the one she’s been seeing around campus. According to the article, his name is Billy Palmer and he was found beaten and unconscious after his Little League game a week ago. He’s the coma victim from the hospital, and the number on his uniform is nineteen.

Giles suggests astral projection, but before the conversation can go further, Hank Summers turns up. Buffy probably should have been suspicious that he came all the way into the school instead of picking her up at their designated meeting point, but is too excited to notice.

More significantly, this is the first – and to the best of my knowledge – the only time that Giles interacts with Buffy’s father (and it’s not even really him!) Again, I’ll have more to say later about Hank and the way this show neglected to use him properly.

In the episode’s most gutting scene, Hank and Buffy take a seat outside, after which Hank proceeds to put voice to Buffy’s deepest fears: that she’s responsible for his and Joyce’s separation, and that she’s a terrible daughter who he hates hanging out with. Buffy’s face slowly crumples, and you get the sense that this isn’t just about being rejected by her father, but her abandonment issues in general. Though later episodes will explore Buffy’s deep fear of being alone, for now it’s enough that a teenage girl is being told the very thing she dreads most from someone who should care for and nurture her.

The calm and reasoned way he lays out the “truth” to Buffy is quite possibly the most harrowing thing about this entire scene.

Back in the library, the others Scoobies have finally realized that their nightmares are coming true. (Not their dreams, for as Giles says: “That would be a musical comedy version of this.” I mean... sometimes these early lines are so accidentally funny in light of later episodes). According to Giles, Billy is the cause of all this, having brought the nightmare realm over to the waking world when he astral projected out of his body while still in his coma.

As explanations go, it’s a little wishy-washy, but hey, Giles cites: “living on a Hellmouth” as cause enough.

A desolate Buffy spots Billy and follows him into the gym, where he’s clearly very reluctant to talk about what happened after his baseball game. Before she can get anything relevant out of him, the Ugly Man attacks. Buffy engages him in a fight, but he’s too strong even for her, and she and Billy make their escape out a side door.

The others are desperately trying to find Buffy, for as Giles points out – she dreams about deeply terrifying things that nobody wants to see manifest in the real world (this will be important in just a couple of scenes). Willow rather stupidly heads back down into the basement where Laura was attacked, and ends up onstage in a production of Madama Butterfly, stricken with stage fright. Xander follows a trail of candy bars into the vandalized auditorium and is attacked by the clown that terrorized him on his sixth birthday.

Meanwhile, Buffy is trying to get back to the library, only for geography to start messing around, taking her and Billy to a baseball diamond instead. Looking over the field, Billy divulges a little about what happened to him: that it was his fault he lost the game. Buffy points out that there are eight people on a baseball team – it’s never just one player’s fault.

The Ugly Man appears behind them, and they duck through the bushes to get to the cafeteria, only to end up in a cemetery. At night. Looking around, Buffy spots an open grave and is horrified when the Master appears, informing her that it’s her fear that has brought him there. “I am free because you fear it.”

Now, I’m not entirely sure whether this IS the Master in the flesh, who really is free (the episode has already established Buffy is having nightmares about him and that the Master is cognizant of something strange happening in Sunnydale) or just an hallucination, but he’s real enough to push Buffy into the open grave. Billy has scarpered, and the Master begins to shovel dirt on top of Buffy as she screams in terror.

I get it. Being buried alive is one of my top five fears.

And then... we don't see the Master again for the rest of the episode. It's a little odd given all the build-up.

The others Scoobies are faring a little better: Willow flees the stage and Xander doubles back to punch out the clown. (Heck, compared to Buffy, these two had it easy). Reuniting with Giles, the three look around to see people running around in a panic and helicopters hovering over the city. According to Giles: “in a few hours reality will fold completely into the realm of nightmares” and their only solution is to wake Billy from his coma. I’m not entirely sure how he knows either of these things, but it makes storytelling logic so we'll go with it.

Across the road, they notice the cemetery shrouded in darkness, and assume that Buffy is there. They come across a fresh grave with her name inscribed on the stone, and Giles identifies it as his fear: the death of his Slayer. (It plays out like the death of a child, and I have to believe it’s a deliberate contrast to how Hank spoke to his daughter earlier in the episode).

He lays his hand on the fresh earth, and naturally that’s the cue for Buffy’s hand to shoot up through the soil and grab his wrist. Giles helps pull her out, but Buffy has the visage of a vampire. Which brings us to the most interesting and infuriating part of the entire episode.

The transformation is a little random, since Buffy has never before made any mention of being afraid that she might get changed into a vampire... and she never will again. Yet it seems like a fascinating angle to take, as it begs the question: what exactly does she fear about this scenario? Dying? Losing her soul and identity? Becoming a creature of evil against her will?

The answer would have to be “no” to that last one, since if she has had a recurring nightmare of becoming a conscienceless vampire, then she would now be a conscienceless vampire. That could have been an interesting plot twist, with the rest of the Scoobies having to deal with Buffy suddenly being a bloodthirsty fiend who has no qualms about killing them (although she does float the possibility of this happening when she tells them: “I’m getting hungry.”)

And yet becoming an instrument of evil against her will vibes a little with what happens in the season finale, in which the Master points out that Buffy’s attempt to stop him from escaping the church is the very thing that provides him with the blood he needs to break out, and as Giles has already pointed out, Buffy poses a greater threat in this particular nightmare dimension due to the intensity of the dreams she has. It follows that a Slayer getting changed into a vampire would naturally be even more of a threat than your average run-of-the-mill vamp.

And yet, the show never returns to this particular well. This is the first and last time we grapple with the idea of Buffy as a vampire – in fact, the show never really delves into the horror of a loved one becoming a vampire and having to deal with the ramifications of that, period. Off the top of my head, there’s Gunn’s sister, Jesse, Ford, and bizzaro-world Willow... and that’s about it, right?

All things considered, I’m surprised that across the seven-year run of this show there was never any mention of any Slayer at any point in time being turned into a vampire and how the Watchers Council had to deal with that. I mean, it had to have happened at some point, right? Vampires would be aware of the possibility and the potential advantages to attempting it. And it would be a risk that the Council would have pre-emptive measures in place to deal with, surely.

I am aware that Sunday, the vampire in the first episode of season four, was originally conceived as a former Slayer that had been turned into a vampire, only for the idea to be scrapped when it turned out to be too complicated for a single episode, and I’ve always been disappointed the writers never returned to explore that premise. Heck, a Slayer!Vampire would have made a great seasonal villain.

Basically, the fear Buffy has of becoming a vampire (or more broadly, harming people through her attempts to save them) or the notion of a Slayer that’s turned into a vampire, are two interesting conceits that are sadly never returned to.

Okay, I’ve gotten way off track.

Giles tells her that waking up Billy is their best bet at making all of this stop, and so they rush to the hospital, where the doctor from before is clearly suffering a hallucination of having crippled hands. Outside the window, giant wasps are attacking Sunnydale.

Billy’s astral projection is in the room with them, refusing to do anything but hide from the Ugly Man, who is slowly approaching down the corridor. Imbued with vampire strength as well as her own, Buffy now has the ability to overpower him. Once he’s unconscious and slumped against the wall, Buffy calls Billy over: he has to do the rest. Though still afraid, he faces his fear and peels off the Ugly Man’s face as though it’s a mask. Bright light streams out...

And the next moment, everything is back to normal.

It’s at this point that Billy’s Little League coach walks through the door, ostensibly to check on the patient, but (as everyone has already figured out) to make sure his victim is still unconscious. That’s remarkably good timing, but we’ll let it slide since there’s only a few minutes of the episode left to go. Buffy confronts the coach, Billy confirms it was him that beat him up after practice, and Giles and Xander prevent him from making a run for it.

So all’s well that ends well. At some point, which could be that same day (since Hank picks up Buffy from school as scheduled) or weeks later (considering Willow mentions that the evil coach is now “behind bars where he belongs”) Buffy heads off to enjoy the weekend with her father, and Willow decides to torture herself by asking Xander if he still found Buffy attractive while she was a vampire. The answer is yes, of course.

Miscellaneous Observations:

This was another strange episode, and one that messes with reality in a way that’s unusually trippy for this show – it usually sticks to more tangible supernatural threats, or gives a clearer reason as to why bizarre widespread phenomena is happening (for instance, everyone losing their voices in Hush is the work of a specific group of demons; everyone singing and dancing in Once More With Feeling is because Xander cast a spell). Here, the reasoning is very vague – a kid got beaten into a coma, and thanks to “Hellmouth energy,” he managed to drag his nightmares (and everyone else’s) into the real world after he starting astral projecting.

I mean, there’s a fairy tale rationality to that, but it’s still very part and parcel of season one’s “everything is a metaphor, so don’t worry about the logistics” vibe. It’s the depiction of human evil – such as the zookeeper and the bullies, or what the coach did to Billy, or everyone ignoring Marcie – that is made manifest by the Hellmouth, without the need for any actual monsters. That type of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode goes missing after this season, and I have to say I miss it.

Given that everyone remembered the spiders that attacked Wendell, one has to assume that everyone also remembers the escalating chaos afterwards. Do authorities chalk it down to mass hallucinations? We’ll never know, as along with all the on-line drama that ensued with Moloch’s internet shenanigans, it never gets mentioned again.

On that note, I suppose we have to assume that the version of Hank that Buffy interacted with early on wasn’t actually him, as there’s no indication he remembers doing such a cruel thing to his daughter when he picks her up later (and the fake!Hank turned up earlier than Buffy expected, which is perhaps a clue that he was just Buffy’s projection of her fears).

The cops were noticeably absent in this episode, as was Angel (it’s a shame we don’t find out what he has nightmares about) and Billy’s parents. Seriously, where the heck were they?

I’ve only just realized that many of the fears on display in this episode were foreshadowed in The Puppet Show: there Xander jumps at the sight of a mime, Willow freezes up when she’s on-stage, and even Cordelia freaks out about her hair.

Speaking of, she’s back on comic comeuppance duty for this episode, first by having her hair turn into a tangled mess, and then in getting dragged into the chess club against her will. There’s also another fun comedy bit where a tough-looking punk is bragging about honour and retribution, only for his mother to turn up and start calling him embarrassing pet names.

There’s also that random little moment in which Xander says his nightmare is “if Nazis crawled over my face,” which is followed by the appearance of Swastikas graffitied in the empty auditorium. It feels like they were connected, but it never goes any further than that.

Even though I’ve accused this episode of only dealing with rather superficial fears instead of the deep psychological ones that will be explored in (much) later episodes, some good insights are given into what’s going on in the Scoobies’ heads. For instance, Willow’s stage fight is more to do with other people’s judgment of her. Buffy fears rejection from everyone, not just her father, because deep down she knows she’s in this fight alone. Giles’s inability to read also doubles as an inability to look after his “kids.”

With that in mind, it’s interesting that Xander is the one that steps up to face his fears first, with his trademark “well, fuck it,” attitude.

Granted, his was the most tangible fear and was easily punched out (his deeper fear is that he’s useless to those around him) but I also noticed that he grasped what Billy had to do to defeat the Ugly Man while Willow was still confused, which was an interesting detail that reminded me of Buffy clocking that Amy and her mother had swapped bodies before Giles did.

Giles and Willow are the booksmart characters, but Buffy and Xander have an instinctual sort of wisdom that’s rooted in their emotions (not all the time, but when it counts).

The Master and the Anointed One drop so many tantalizing lines that are never elaborated on, from the Master’s “when you were a mortal boy, what were you afraid of?” (I guess that answers my question as to whether Collin was a normal kid before getting vamped) to his musings on the crucifix and how it fills him with dread, to telling Buffy that she’s “prettier than the last [Slayer]”. Wait, does that mean he met the last Slayer? When? Where? How? Who was she?!

Then there’s Hank Summers, the character with the most untapped potential in the entire show. In my opinion, he should have returned to Sunnydale after Joyce’s death, or perhaps at the start of season six. His presence could have helped justify Giles’s leaving! He would have relieved the burden of motherhood/financial responsibility from Buffy’s shoulders (and we wouldn’t have had to sit through those awful Doublemeat Palace episodes)! There could have been an interesting rapport between him and Dawn – what if he had no idea who she was because the monks’ spell didn’t reach that far? They could have done the whole “keep the Slaying secret from a parental figure” and “how does said parent cope when they find out what’s really going on?” arc. Those are always fun!

Don't worry, I realize that I am the only person in this entire fandom who cares about Hank Summers.

As it is, the episode does a whole thing about how much Hank loves his daughter, and then at some point he becomes a deadbeat shmuck off-screen. The abandonment that Buffy fears becomes real, after this episode assures her that she’ll never have to worry about it from this particular person. That kinda sucks.

It seems like coma victims might constantly be at risk of astral projecting in a place like Sunnydale, so I have a little headcanon that Billy was a latent magic-user like Willow or that kid from The Shining. Speaking of the actor, he apparently hasn’t worked since 2011, but his very first role was in as one of Linda Hamilton’s kids in Dante’s Peak! Yikes, talk about peaking too soon.

Here's a chilling thought: the doctor says that Billy has the same M.O. as Laura, which means that the coach beat up a child as viciously as a monstrous club-handed monster would have. Geez, guys like this belong in hell.

The word “wiggins” is used again, this time by Xander. Show, stop trying to make fetch happen.

***

In many ways this is an odd duck of an episode, as the kind of large-scale reality-altering chaos that we see in this episode never really happens on the show again. I mean, there’s an actual dimensional time flux at one point! Not for the first time, I wonder what a year in the life of a normal Sunnydale resident looks like.

It’s also the most filler-y episode since Teacher’s Pet in regards to plot advancement. The likes of I Robot, You Jane and The Puppet Show at least introduced Jenny Calendar and Principal Snyder, whereas Hank never becomes as important to the show’s ongoing mythos as they do. (Not that filler episodes are bad, mind you).

The escalating chaos is nicely done, especially when it comes to Buffy’s arc – from the basic fear of failing a test, to hearing her own father reject her, to having the Master throw her into an open grave and then emerging as a vampire... I just question the fact that none of these fears ever come up again. Hank is practically a non-entity after this, and we never delve any deeper into the threat/possibility of a Slayer getting turned into a vampire against her will. I feel there has to be contingency plans in place for that one.

Ultimately, I’m kind of fascinated by this episode, because it feels so different from the usual Monster of the Week episodes. It’s not so much a definable monster that needs hunting down and defeating (though there is one – albeit a very mundane human evil that’s only onscreen for a couple of seconds) as a metaphysical mystery that need solving. The rules and concepts (“the nightmare realm,” “an astral projecting coma victim”) are surprisingly nebulous, and this type of problem is not like anything we’ll ever see on the show again: one derived from a cocktail of circumstance and trauma and Hellmouth mystical energy.

The unusual premise is almost lampshaded when Billy wakes up and quotes The Wizard of Oz, and writer Joss Whedon seemed fairly intent on emphasizing that these were nightmares the Scoobies were dealing with, not fears (even though the difference is slight enough to be meaningless) in order to sustain the dreamy (no pun intended), more amorphous vibe this episode conveyed.

Best Reveal: That the coach was behind it all: a banal evil that’s unfortunately all too prevalent in the real world. (And by a complete coincidence, I’m currently watching Harlan Coban’s Fool Me Once, which also features an abusive coach). Human evil doesn’t pop up too often in this show, but when it does, it’s more chilling than any demon or vampire.

Best Line: Willow: So, why is this happening? Giles: Billy. Xander: Well, that explanation was shorter than usual. It's Billy! Who's Billy?

Best Dumb Visual Gag:

Death Toll: Nobody! Everybody lived! (Well, the Ugly Man did club at least one other person before chasing Buffy and Billy into the cemetery, but I’m going to assume he was okay).

Grand Total: Fifteen civilians, fifteen villains, one ally.

[plethora-of-imagines]

Dream pays special attention to your since you've grown a strange bond together, often liking to drop in and see where your mind has taken you when you enter the dreaming. But one night he walks in on you having a rather heated wet dream... with himself being the main star 👑🦇

Dream resisted the urge to sigh as he reviewed yet another dream journal. Tracking down how certain nightmares and dreams were doing without hovering over them as they worked was turning out to not be effective. He would have to warn you that he would be absent from more of your dreaming and waking hours than usual while he focused on his work.

As much as Dream was loath to lose time with you, his duty came first. And the dreams and nightmares that had changed what they needed guidance to ensure they grew into their new roles. 

Closing the book with a firm snap, Dream stood. Descending from the stairs as he mentally found your mind in the flow of dreamers currently within the Dreaming. What for most others would have been the hallway to the throne room becoming your dreamscape of this night.

The edges of the room Dream found himself in were hazy, your subconscious not needing them to be more than a suggestion. Like a spotlight on center stage, the middle of the dream was clearly illuminated. You were the center of your own subconscious play.

Turning his attention to the main focal point of the dream, it took a few moments for Dream to process what he was seeing.

Thud!

The dream journal that he would normally treat with such care falling to the ground, his hand grasping around nothing as he took you in.

Back arched off of soft silk,  your firsts crumpling the fabric in a viscous grasp, nipple hard in the cool air of the room. While dark hair, wild like his own was nestled in between your thighs. Your head turned away from his so that he could not see your face in a state of utmost pleasure. That would not do, he wanted to see you.

It was only after burning the image of you into his very being that he mentally realized the fact that there was someone between your thighs. Chest tightening, burning as he glared at whoever would dare to touch you. Feeling his furry they looked up from between the paradise of your soft thighs when you let out a delicious moan. He wanted to lick that moan out of your mouth.

Dream was met with a facsimile of his own face. 

Oh.

“This dream is over,” he murmured.

Following you from the Dreaming to the Waking. Placing himself in the spot his copy had been in your dream. Waiting for your eyes to flutter open, he tried to contain himself as he glanced down to see the very clear wet spot where he wished for his mouth to be.

“Dream?” You questioned in a cute sleepy voice, a pretty blush covering your face.

“Will you allow me to continue where your dream left off, little dreamer?”

[thefugitivesaint]

I've been revisiting some films from my childhood. I give you one David Patrick Kelly from 1984s "Dreamscape.' (which I've posted about before I'm sure). Note: It was this film (but not this film alone) that pushed the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating after parents, thinking it was ok to send kids to a PG movie, were shocked by scenes like the one above. (Give this review, where I acquired this information from, a read if you want a detailed synopsis of the movie.) Note the second: 1984 was the same year as the original 'The Nightmare on Elm Street'. In the scene above, Kelly's character, while in another person's dream, kills a man by punching his razor tipped hand through his back, ripping out his heart. I guess dream killers was just a thing in the zeitgeist.

[tawneybel]

Note: Ten favorite monsters, part seven. Part six. To be clear, do to past confusion, these are not lists of monsters I’d bang. Adult-content creator =/= turned-on 24/7.  ._.  Sometimes I just like to talk about character design and review media I like.

I pretty much like every kind of dragon, from friendly to terrifying. If we’re going off of scary, my favorite’s maybe from The Mists of Avalon. A lot of my fave monsters are literary, but don’t have official art. :(

1. Cat in the Hat from The Cat in the Cat

The Cat in the Hat’s more enjoyable if you view it as demonic horror. There’s a lot of elements I like. Quirky architecture, jokes that go over kids’ heads, goofy magic companion, fun costumes. Yet it’s not a good movie, even by my standards. Audrey Geisel was so disgusted by it, any plans for future live-action adaptations of Theodor’s works were nixed.

I’m kind of glad TCITH was the bad live-action, early ‘00s Seuss movie instead of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Imagine how horrifying they could have made the Grinch.

2-4. “Girly girl” dragons

Barbie As Rapunzel: I have the Penelope plushie, whose design I actually prefer to the movie’s.

Dragon Tales: Before FIM Fluttershy, Cassie was THE shy pink and yellow creature. Dragon Land’s just one of various portal fantasy realms I wanted to visit so badly as a tot. Still do.  

Raya and the Last Dragon: People were way critical of Sisu’s design, calling it Elsa’s scalesona. Like Disney hasn’t reused/referenced old designs, jokingly or not. Not that their human(oid) designs are always unique… But Ghibli gets more leniency in that regard. (Haku’s a great dragon design, btw.)

5. the Moving Finger from Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Horror doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.

6. Jean Jacket from Nope

Take elements of UFOlogy, meteorology, marine biology, and animal exploitation, then produce the most terrifying movie monster ever.

7. Stuff from The Stuff

Metaphor for frozen yogurt? Diet food craze?

8. Scary Lion from The Teletubbies

A good example of how audio can determine whether something is cute or terrifying. 

9. Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are

One elementary art class, we got to make our own chimeric Wild Things. Wish I knew where mine was. They’re grotesque, like to party, and actually pretty wholesome.

10. subway station from The Wiz

The Wiz is an interesting localization of The (Wonderful) Wizard of Oz. Garland!Dorothy is taken from Kansas to a mostly unfamiliar fantastical land. (I say “mostly,” because some of the Ozians have Kansan counterparts.) Ross!Dorothy is taken from NYC to fantastical NYC.

Originally, I considered using the book Kalidahs ‘cause I love mix-’n’-match critters. Then I watched this scene. That and the Munchkins coming out of graffiti like ghosts out of chalk outlines was oneiric as fuck. Anyway, the station isn’t just a liminal space, but another architectural monster. The train itself never appears, but we see trash bins and columns advance on Dorothy and co. There’s seemingly non-automated gates and prehensile electrical wires. Also, that peddler with his growing marionettes…

Note: The pic for “The Moving Finger” is actually from the show Monsters, but I only found out it was adapted after deciding to include it. Nightmares & Dreamscapes has one of my favorite covers, even if it’s deceptive. No scarecrow stories.

Unfortunately, the last gif can’t convey the awesome liminal horror that is the Ozified Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station. Fun fact, it was also used in The Warriors. 

[dispatchdcu]

Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1 Preview

Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1 Preview #knightterrors #knightterrorsactioncomics #actioncomics #superman #DCEU #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #dcu #dcuuniverse #art #info #NCBD #amazon #comicbooknews #previews #reviews

  Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1 Preview: Slipping into the world of nightmares is only the beginning as Power Girl faces off with the scariest dream of all…herself! Paige may have narrowly escaped the grasp of the devious Johnny Sorrow, but all of that was just a warm-up for the real villain inside. Meanwhile, the Super-Twins are lost in a terrifying dreamscape and being hunted by a nightmare…

[obsessiveviewer]

086 - Khef - The Way Station (The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Part 2)

In this episode, Tiny and I continue our journey to The Dark Tower with a discussion of The Gunslinger chapter 2: The Way Station.

  Become a patron for exclusive audio content and early access to episodes at Patreon.com/ObsessiveViewer.

  Timestamps

  Show Start – 00:40

Stephen King News/Check-ins - 05:50

  Previously...on The Dark Tower - 38:08

Part 2: The Way Station - 40:05

  Closing the Ep - 1:43:25

  Related Links

  Mike Flanagan Says His Dark Tower Adaptation Is Being Held Back By Previous Failures

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus - Amazon Associate Link

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Omnibus - Amazon Associate Link

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three Omnibus - Amazon Associate Link

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Obsessive Viewer Presents: Anthology – Matt’s solo podcast exploring science fiction anthology storytelling in television’s first golden age starting with The Twilight Zone.

  Mic Info

Matt: ElectroVoice RE20 into RØDEcaster Pro II  (Firmware: 1.1.4) - Processing: High Pass Filter, DeEsser, Compressor, and Master Compellor enabled (Recorded in the Living Room)

Tiny: Samson Q2U via USB in Google Meet

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    Episodes by Category

    News – Covering news items related to Stephen King and The Dark Tower

Palaver – General discussions about Stephen King and/or The Dark Tower series

Khef – Reviews and discussions of books and comics in The Dark Tower series

Novel Reviews – Reviews of Stephen King (and related) novels

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    Matt’s Top 19 King Novels

    11/22/63

It

Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV)

Pet Sematary

Misery

The Shining

The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower II)

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower VII)

The Stand

The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower III)

Under the Dome

Billy Summers

Christine

Doctor Sleep

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower V)

The Dead Zone

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I)

Revival

End of Watch

    Matt’s Top 19 King Adaptations

    The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shining (1980)

It (2017)

11.22.63 (2016) - Miniseries

The Mist (2007)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Misery (1990)

Castle Rock (2018) - Series

Creepshow (1982)

Stand by Me (1986)

Gerald's Game (2017)

Christine (1983)

Pet Sematary (1989)

The Dead Zone (1983)

Cujo (1983)

Carrie (1976)

The Shining (1997) - Miniseries

In the Tall Grass (2019)

Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

    Tiny’s Top 19 King Novels

    The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower VII)

Misery

The Stand

The Shining

The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower II)

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I)

Christine

Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV)

It

Cujo

The Dead Zone

Mr. Mercedes

Gerald’s Game

Pet Sematary

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower V)

Salem’s Lot

Under the Dome

11/22/63

The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower III)

    Tiny’s Top 19 King Adaptations

    Doctor Sleep (2019)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

It (2017)

Christine (1983)

The Shining (1980)

Stand By Me (1986)

The Mist (2007)

Misery (1990)

Creepshow (1982)

The Green Mile (1999)

Apt Pupil (1998)

Geralds Game (2017)

The Outsider (2019) - Miniseries

The Stand (1994)

The Shining (1997) - Miniseries

Lisey’s Story (2021) - Miniseries

1922 (2017)

11/22/63 (2016) - Miniseries

It (1990) - Miniseries

Find more of the show at TowerJunkiesPod.com

[fearsmagazine]

CRAM - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Terror Films

SYNOPSIS:  “We all do what we gotta do to pass – except Marc. Desperate to finish his final paper, he struggles to cram all night in the library. After dozing off, Marc awakens to discover that his paper has vanished! Looking for answers and a way out of this nightmare, Marc is drawn deeper into the mysterious and enchanting stacks. Alone in the library (or so he thinks), Marc is easily frightened and considers giving up. But the library has other plans for him....”

REVIEW: CRAM taps into relatable scenarios of college life, with the emphasis of finals and deadlines. Yes, I can remember falling asleep in the college library and being woken up by staff, or was it security… Maybe it happened a few times. Regardless, there were some areas of the library that were indeed creepy. Filmmaker Abie Sidell brings all those terrors into play as he takes his character Marc through a sinister “Wonderland” ruled over by “The Master of the Books.”

I enjoyed Sidell’s screenplay. He takes his main character, Marc Lack, on an epic journey through a nightmarish landscape of academia that could be his subconscious or something darker. Clearly Marc is on a journey as he steps through doorways and finds himself in a new location on campus and faces a new challenge. Ultimately he must face an academic council that feels like the inquisition, which leads him to “The Master of the Books.” I liked the character. It has a lot of gravitas and wasn’t exploited. It could easily be a franchise in the tradition of Freddy, minus the knives. The characters are well written, the plot is engaging, and it was an entertaining ride.

The filmmakers do an excellent job of turning the library into a dark dreamscape. There are nice framed scenes that become portals into different locations. There is some slick editing that creates nice transitions and sustains a high energy level in the film. The costumes felt organic and some in the later scenes add to the dream-like quality. I’m on the fence when it comes to the makeup for “The Master of the Books.” I get that they were possibly going for a look like dried out pages of a book, but felt it could have been done more effectively. I found it distracting and was not a big fan.

I enjoyed Daniel Rudin’s score. Early in the story it adds a playful feel to the film and slowly darkens, becoming more intense as Marc’s journey progresses. It nicely underscores the emotional changes in the film, as well as supporting the tension and suspense.

Overall, the film has a solid cast. John Dimino plays Marc. He delivers a portrait of “that guy” we knew in college. He’s reminiscent of Justin Long, but a tad smoother. He brings a depth to the character that prevents it from becoming superficial. It’s both engaging and entertaining, allowing the viewer to feel some sympathy for the character. In contrast, Brandon E. Burton’s “The Master of the Books” is this grand character that feels like a James Earl Jones character with a similar deep bass voice. There is an element to the character that feels like John Housemen’s character from “The Paper Chase,” but dark in its irony and satire. The rest of the cast delivers enchanting performances that keeps the viewer in the ride and adds to the mystery and suspense of the film.

CRAM is Abie Sidell’s feature film debut… maybe. The film’s running time is under an hour. His fellow feature filmmakers are churning out films of 80 or more minutes. So yes, there is the energy, it feels tight and quick, but it’s not even 60 minutes. Sidell gets points for being a fellow native of Queens, NY. He gets points for capturing this dark tale of college life. I liked the ride. However, when you consider what you are paying to purchase a digital copy or on demand, it’s 20 or minutes shorter than other films. In comparison, “Scream VI” is 122 minutes. It’s your call my friends in fright, but I think you’ll enjoy the chills.

CAST: John DiMino, Conrado Falco III, Carolina Đỗ, Brandon E. Burton, and Rolando Chusan CREW: Director/Screenplay/Editor/Visual Effects - Abie Sidell; Producers - Trevor Wallace & Zachry J. Bailey; Cinematographer - Felix Handte; Score - Daniel Rudin; Editor/Visual Effects - Trevor Wallace; Production Designer - Sydney Amanuel; Costume Designer - Alexandra Nyman; Special Effects Makeup - Beatrice Sniper; Special Effects - Jon Hanford; Visual Effects - Felix Handte & Yibin 'AB' Su. OFFICIAL: https://radrhi.no/cram FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/HCKl9hfqH2U RELEASE DATE: On Digital & On Demand March 17th, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[cleoenfaserum]

NEEDFUL THINGS, Stephen King

I happen upon one of those unexpected things that pop up into your eyesight of nonchalant browsing and on my computers search engine magically appeared, (well, lets say, metaphorically it magically appeared), STEPHEN KING with the cover of his book NEEDFUL THINGS announcing his audio-book. I had read many of his books, so you can say I am a sort of a fan. I have a thing about King, though, I consider him to be an exceptional writer, which is an understatement, however, his denouement half way through the thickness of his writings starts to fall off and as far as I am concerned, he doesn't know how to end his books and does a poor job of it at that. But I love reading books with children as protagonist and many of his books start off with it. Useful Things, as I began the audio, excellently read, took hold of me in such a manner with an 11 year old boy rambling about things of his town. The book just grasp me finding it hard to pull away.

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 1

981-1 link https://ok.ru/video/7726644202035 See note for the other parts.

Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is the first novel King wrote after his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction. It was made into a film of the same name in 1993 which was directed by Fraser C. Heston. The story focuses on a shop that sells collectibles and antiques, managed by Leland Gaunt, a new arrival to the town of Castle Rock, Maine, the setting of many King stories. Gaunt often asks customers to perform a prank or mysterious deed in exchange for the item they are drawn to. As time goes by, the many deeds and pranks lead to increasing aggression among the townspeople, as well as chaos and death. A protagonist of the book is Alan Pangborn, previously seen in Stephen King's novel The Dark Half.

According to the cover, this novel is "The Last Castle Rock Story." However, the town later serves as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You" (published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes which, according to King, serves as an epilogue to Needful Things), as well as King's 2017 novella Gwendy's Button Box (cowritten with Richard Chizmar) and his 2018 novella Elevation. Wikipedia.

Needful Things is a 1993 American horror film based on Stephen King's 1991 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Fraser C. Heston (Charlton Heston's son; this is his only film without his father in the cast), and stars Ed Harris, Max von Sydow, Bonnie Bedelia, and J. T. Walsh. The film received mixed reviews, critics praised the performances and ending, but criticized its portrayal of its story and felt it inferior to its source material. Needful Things (film) - Wikipedia

Needful Things received mixed reviews from critics. The film holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10.[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave it 1.5 out of 4 stars, saying the film "only has one note, which it plays over and over, sort of a Satanic water torture. It's not funny and it's not scary and it's all sort of depressing." Janet Maslin, film and literary critic for The New York Times, gave the film a resoundingly negative review, saying that "though this is by no means the grisliest or most witless film made from one of Mr. King's horrific fantasies, it can lay claim to being the most unpleasant."

Bonnie Bedelia,  Max von Sydow Ed Harris

THE FILM IMdB 6'3

A mysterious new shop opens in a small town which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper, with a price far heavier than expected.

981-2 LINK https://ok.ru/video/2804108888679

notes:

Stephen King - Needful Things Full Audiobook Part 2

981-3 link https://ok.ru/video/7726663404083

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 3 https://ok.ru/video/7726675397171

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 4 https://ok.ru/video/7726685424179

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 5 https://ok.ru/video/7726696892979

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 6 https://ok.ru/video/7726703839795

Stephen King - Needful Things: Audiobook Part 7 last part: https://ok.ru/video/7726723369523

LINK https://youtu.be/Us_KpbI7hU4 Stephen King - Wikipedia

[mylifeinfiction]

Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King

"Perception changes once you get past what's natural, doesn't it?"

I really thought this was never going to end. That's not necessarily a jab at this book, specifically, just at short story collections, in general. I know I say this every time, and I recently vowed to only read short story collections by Stephen King (or maybe Malerman/SGJ?) from now on. But even with him, I find myself struggling to stay interested from one story to the next (even the amazing ones). Add onto that struggle a whopping ~800-pages and the absurd amount of filler, here - It Grows on You, The Fifth Quarter, Dedication, The Beggar and the Diamond & the really good, but incredibly overlong essay Head Down and its companion-piece poem, Brooklyn August (I'm convinced the last three were only included to break 800) - and Nightmares & Dreamscapes damn-near killed me.

Thankfully, however, when it's good, it is REALLY. DAMN. GOOD. The opening story, Dolan's Cadillac, is incredibly satisfying in the execution of its exhaustive detailed and cleverly unforgiving revenge plot. The combo of The Night Flier & Popsy deliver some downright awesome vampiric goodness. You Know They Got a Hell of a Band brings us to a "peculiar little town" that makes you want to visit despite simultaneously giving you a major case of the creeps. And Crouch End brings some terrifying cosmic weirdness, quickly making it my favorite story of the collection. There are more really good/great ones - Sneakers, Umney's Last Case & Rainy Season, especially - but, overall, Nightmares & Dreamscapes's grueling page count and overwhelming amount of filler really knock it down a bunch. Now, if King had kept the killer and cut the filler, this would've been a damn-near perfect ~300-page collection.

7/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[mwsa-member]

Dreamscape a Novel & Other Short Stories by Javier Berrellez

MWSA Review Pending  

Author's Synopsis

Dreamscape is a story of two unlikely friends, Elly and Jim, who discover they are connected through a dystopian nightmare they happen to share. In this dreamscape, the two are guided by a mysterious entity who reveals that their shared dreams are part of a cosmic plan to save multiple realities. They must learn to trust each other and work as a team before the forces of darkness destroy everything they love. Dreamscape is a thrilling and emotional journey of friendship, adventure, and destiny.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Number of Pages: 163

Word Count: 47747

[talkingfilmsnet]

Mind-Bending Plot Twists in American Fiction Films: A Critical Analysis

Forget predictable narratives and cookie-cutter endings, cinephiles! We're embarking on a rollercoaster ride through the labyrinthine world of American fiction films, where mind-bending plot twists aren't just surprises, they're intricate puzzles designed to twist your expectations and leave you reeling. This isn't a casual popcorn-munching experience; it's a critical dissection, a celebration of narrative alchemy, and a tribute to the films that dare to bend our perception of reality itself.

Shifting Gears: From Linear to Labyrinthine: American fiction review embrace the freedom of narrative. They defy the tired tropes of predictable three-act structures, instead weaving labyrinthine plots that double back on themselves, introduce jarring shifts in perspective, and leave you questioning everything you thought you knew. "Memento" fragments time, "Inception" folds dreams into reality, and "Mulholland Drive" dances between dreamscape and noir nightmare, proving that storytelling can be a dizzying, yet exhilarating, mental exercise.

Plotlines: The Art of the Unexpected: The best twists aren't just shocks; they're revelations, cleverly planted clues exploding into shattering realizations that rewrite the film's entire context. Think of the gut-wrenching reveal in "The Sixth Sense," the mind-bending loop in "Primer," or the existential twist in "Fight Club." These films play a game of chess with the audience, dropping subtle hints, establishing unreliable narrators, and slowly tightening the noose of suspense until the twist hits with the force of a cinematic sucker punch.

Characters: Unmasking the Unreliable: American fiction movies love unreliable narrators, characters whose perceptions are askew, motivations hidden, and memories unreliable. They become prisms through which we experience the story, leading us down false paths, questioning our own interpretations, and reminding us that perception is just as subjective as reality itself. "Shutter Island" blurs the lines between sanity and delusion, "Gone Girl" toys with unreliable perspectives, and "The Usual Suspects" redefines the unreliable narrator with its iconic reveal. These films keep us guessing, questioning who to trust, and ultimately appreciating the power of narrative manipulation.

Themes Reflected and Distorted: Mind-bending twists aren't just parlor tricks; they're tools for exploring complex themes in unexpected ways. Think of the existential quandaries of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the unreliable memories echoing historical trauma in "Oldboy," or the exploration of identity and perception in "Vertigo." These films use twists to challenge our assumptions about reality, memory, and human nature, leaving us grappling with uncomfortable truths and pondering the deeper questions long after the credits roll.

Visual Symphony of Clues: Don't underestimate the role of visuals in setting up and delivering a mind-bending twist. American fiction films weave subtle clues into every frame, from symbolic camera angles to recurring motifs, color palettes that shift with changing realities, and editing techniques that manipulate time and space. "The Shining" bathes in unsettling symmetry, "Donnie Darko" plays with fractured timelines, and "The Matrix" bends reality with CGI spectacle, reminding us that the visuals are not just eye candy, but integral parts of the narrative puzzle.

More Than Just Gasps: The best mind-bending twists aren't just cheap thrills; they're catalysts for conversation, analysis, and reinterpretation. They leave us scratching our heads, revisiting scenes with newfound understanding, and engaging in heated debates about the film's true meaning. "The Conversation" sparks discussions about privacy and surveillance, "The Prestige" redefines the nature of obsession and rivalry, and "2001: A Space Odyssey" throws open the door to endless philosophical interpretations. These films are cinematic puzzles begging to be solved, inviting us to become active participants in the storytelling process.

So, buckle up, cinephiles, and prepare to have your mind blown. Dive into the world of American fiction movie review where twists aren't just surprises, they're artistic tapestries woven with meticulous detail, layered with thematic resonance, and delivered with cinematic mastery. Remember, the best twists aren't just shocks; they're windows into the boundless potential of storytelling, leaving us breathless, bewildered, and eager to uncover the secrets hidden within the labyrinthine narratives. Let the mind games begin!

[joepawlowskiauthor-blog]

“This book was amazing, I loved that it was all short stories. I reminded me of nightmares and dreamscapes by Stephen King with a little fantastical elements. All these stories could be books all by themselves. I’ll be reading more from this author!” –Tracee, Goodreads Review

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