The Conjuring, Harper's Island, Catherine & La Isla De Las Munecas

Good evening and welcome to my blog. Those of my fellow bloggers that know me, I apologize for the long wait (Lately there have been many things coming at me at the same time that sometimes I wish I had a windshield wiper for life.) For those of you who don't, it is simple. I am your host, one who prefers the balance between the glorious embrace for light and the twisted love for the dark. Ever since I was little, I loved horror (Even though a lot of people thought I was crazy). I thought it was natural for anyone to have a curiosity to see what the dark side is like. Not everything is as evil as it seems since often times we may witness the dramatic side of it. Often times it has a comedic side. Other times it even has romantic feelings for you, but for now let's talk about tonight's showcase. I showcase several things from both the critically acclaimed, the cult gems, the unique messes, or the unknown and forgotten. I also tend to rate some of them (Depending on if they can be rated). That being said, I would like to go on about our newest showcase entry. Like I said, I have always been doing my research, so tonight's showcase will be interesting for most of you watching. The first item I would like to show you all is:

The Conjuring

To anyone who is not familiar with the legendary couple Ed & Lorraine Warren, they were two of the world's most famous paranormal investigators. There careers have spanned to some well known cases, like the Amityville Horror or the Demonic Possession murder case. As the movie states, though, that there is a specific case too horrible that they kept it sealed off from the public....(Until now?) The film gives a unnerving tale about a family who recently purchased a home. As soon as they find out there is a basement, things take a twisted turn for them. So they ask Ed & Lorraine Warren to investigate, and the rest of the film is self explanatory....... I think. The family gets attacked by unknown entities, The Warren's come over, exorcism on the house (Yes you can actually exorcise objects and buildings. People aren't the only ones to get possessed..........that would be boring.) The film is divided into three separate sections merged together: The titular movie plot, the Warren family's previous encounters, and a doll named "Annabelle", a "possessed" American Girl runoff who terrorized it's previous owners until it was taken care of by the Warrens. This takes place at the beginning of the film. In reality, the doll actually looks like Raggedy Ann, but I'm guessing producers thought it was less frightening. What can I say though? It's their movie. Now that I'm done giving off a quick dose of the movie without entirely ruining it, it's time to get serious.

The movie was pretty good in general: Great story, beautiful visuals and a creepy atmospheric presentation. One of the best presentations using the "Based on a true story" label. Although half of the scares produced in the movie consist of ear shattering noises and pop-ups, the movie is a gigantic build up scare that reaches the climax. It uses what would be normal objects and everyday rituals and gives them a foreshadowing that later on it will be used against them. If you don't know what a buildup scare is, it consists of either a usually long scene or several clips that tie in together to deliver a scare, relying mostly on the atmosphere. A very excellent tactic to a buildup scare is to let the audience for a while notice something unsettling while any film character remains unaware of whatever is presented to the audience. For example, the clapping game. Oh yes, notable scene would be the mom playing the clapping game with her youngest daughter. That is an excellent example of a buildup scare. For a movie that had also used one of pop culture's most well known labels, it gave a pretty good delivery without over-saturating it with over the top questionable moments. Now that I've given somewhat of a review for the film, it's time for my vote. I'm rating this a

Moving on to our next in showcase item, we have a cult hit here by the name of:

Harper's Island

What happens when you mix Scream & And Then There Were None, throw in a boat fully of yuppies and take them to an island to unknowingly die? Yep. Harper's Island indeed. The series (Which sadly ended too soon due to low viewer ratings, although they released the entire show.) is about a young woman named Abby Mills, who has returned back home to Harper's Island to celebrate her friends' wedding., is trying to get past a horrible incident that ended the life of her mother and several others in the hands of serial killer John Wakefield, who is dead after falling off a cliff. As the wedding starts off, the party and locals are killed off one by one while Abby is concerned if Wakefield is really dead or the brutal murders are from the hands of a copycat. The show is notable for each episode containing between 1 to 5 deaths, each extremely uncomfortable to watch. Now that you've got a handle on the basics, let me give you a summary on my thoughts on the show.

The show itself has very good potential of becoming a well known cult classic. It's very reminiscent of Scream, as in a "Who did it?" fashion (When you think one person did it, they die and they point it at another. It's like the Nightmare on Maple Street with gore). Every episode leaves off on a cliffhanger. Although the acting and subplots are cheesy during some moments, it's not that bad once the seriousness starts to kick in. While the show was fully released even though the network had canceled it, it still felt a little short for 13 episodes (Maybe worth 24 episodes but more people would have to die.) The marking points that kept the show going was not only the plot line, but I felt since this show features bloody & gory demises, were also the somewhat fascinating deaths scenes and the amount of people killed off the entire season. The show deserves to become an excellent mark as a cult favorite for horror fans. Now that I've finished my thoughts on the show, I'd like the rate this show a:

Now that it's settled, my next selection at this time would be:

Catherine

In all honesty, Catherine is a weird game, like David Lynch weird. Like David Lynch and Dario Argento decided to collaborate while Roman Polanski simply gave them a sheet saying "Guy cheats with a demonic hooker." Catherine is set up as a frame story to an anthology series called the Golden Playhouse, hosted by Trish, The Midnight Venus. The story of Catherine revolves around Vincent Brooks, a timid man who is under pressure about marriage from his girlfriend Katherine McBride (The strawberry blonde with glasses) and decides to go out drinking with buddies until he meets the titular Catherine, A blonde lolita who has an interest with Vincent (Now this would be the moment they give the color pink a sinister feeling.) Vincent passes out and has a demented dream where he is surrounded by male talking sheep. Vincent constantly climbs a mountain of falling blocks while avoiding extreme hazards like bobby traps, gigantic monsters and other sheep. Meanwhile, strange deaths have been occurring where young men die in their sleep. He wakes up to Catherine in bed and feeling guilty, tries to cover the incident from Katherine while Catherine continues to pursue Vincent. Questions also begin to raise about the origins of Catherine. While Catherine is mostly a puzzle game, it mixes Psychological Horror, Comedy, Romance & Mystery with a touch of sexual fantasy. There are also multiple endings depending on the choices you make throughout the game, and not just choices through dialogue and text (Nooooo), any decision you make such as how much time you pass, who you talk to specifically, and even your drink choices can affect the game. Now that I've given you the details, It's time to get on the down low.

Okay, where do we begin. Catherine is an excellent platform/puzzle game. The artwork, presentation, and storyline are definitely unique, even the character designs are something you don't see much. In fact, there are barely any platforming games that mix in with horror and deliver it well (Only other one that comes in mind is Eversion, which I will cover later on in another showcase.) I also like how they symbolized pink in the game. As I did mention before, if you happen to notice in the game, the color pink pops up a lot and usually gives off an uneasy feeling. Something usually represented as a innocent choice of color gives off bad vibes. Each level rewards you on your skills and unlocks certain features, including more places to either team up or compete against another player. It's also interesting on how your actions can affect the storyline. Not only on what you choose to say through certain dialogue, but almost anything you do can affect the outcome, which I believe is excellent beyond standards. I haven't seen this much tragedy-inducing fear since Pathologic (Another game I will showcase later on.) the gameplay is pretty much refreshingly new: climbing a mountain of blocks with a confined limit of time and space as a sheep man is definitely refreshing and new. Now that I've given my thoughts, it's time to rate. I'm going to give this game a rating of:

(I should seriously make my own stars or rating system) Okay now, it's time to move on to my final entry of tonight's showcase. I know what you all are thinking; It's been over a month and I'm only going to do four entries (Deal with it, I'll be updating again very soon.) My final entry, as usual, is something that I cannot rate. The final entry tonight is:

La Isla De Las Munecas

(By the way, did you find Elmo's washed up body in one of these photos?) In Mexico, there is an island nearby Xichomico where it is inhabited by hundreds of mutilated childhood dreams. The creepy choice of decor was actually to pay tribute to an unnamed girl who had drowned nearby due to mysterious circumstances. The man in charge of taking care of the place, Don Julian Santana Barrerra, was the one who found the girl and wasn't able to resuscitate her back to life. Shortly after that, a doll was floating nearby. Presuming the doll belonged to her, he picked it up and hung it on a tree nearby to show respect. Apparently she wasn't pleased, for the girl began to haunt the poor man and more dolls began to strangely appear. He hung them up to appease her and noticed that the dolls were possessed; Not by the little girl herself, but by other spirits of dead children. After 5 decades of collecting the dolls and paying respect for the dead, Julian was found floating in the same area where he found the girl. After his death, it became a landmark in touring Mexico and being portrayed as a sinister and scary place in television shows and internet pages (Because people couldn't get any stupider.) On the bright side, it's a very innocent way to respect someone. I mean Don wasn't insane; He just wanted to show respect and felt guilty about not saving a complete stranger's life. On the downside, according to Don and other people who've came across the island, the dolls actually move and stare at you (So if you're one of those people who don't like getting peoples' attention, don't go.) Now that I've wrapped up, it's time for my leave. I hoped you enjoyed tonight's showcase and get some rest (You're really going to need it.) I will see you all later. Buenas Noches!

Eternal Darkness, Insidious, Scary Stories, Paranormal Witness & The White Death

Hola, como estas usted? I welcome you all to my blog.  For those of you who are familiar with what goes on around here, I thank you for joining us. I also apologize for the long wait due to many events happening to me after my last showcase. For those of you who don't, it is simple. I am your host, one who prefers the balance between the glorious embrace for light and the twisted love for the dark. Ever since I was little, I loved horror (Even though a lot of people thought I was crazy). I thought it was natural for anyone to have a curiosity to see what the dark side is like. Not everything is as evil as it seems since often times we may witness the dramatic side of it. Often times it has a comedic side. Other times it even has romantic feelings for you, but for now let's talk about tonight's showcase. I showcase several things from both the critically acclaimed, the cult gems, the unique messes, or the unknown and forgotten. I also tend to rate some of them (Depending on if they can be rated). This first item I would like to showcase tonight is:

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

A very interesting horror game that did get to a lot of players for a specific reason, Eternal Darkness became a recognizable milestone in the Survival Horror genre by adding elements of Psychological Horror at it's best. Now a lot of you might acknowledge that there have been earlier titles that included Psychological Horror also, but there are very few that not only scare us, but break our fucking minds while we're playing them. Our main heroine is Alexandra Roivas, a university student from Washington who travels all the way to Rhode Island to personally solve her grandfather's (Edward Roivas) unexplained murder. She finds a book that Edward had acquired before his death. The tome relates to an ancient war against an entity known only as "The Darkness". Wishing for a connection between her grandfather and the tome, she experiences several flashbacks of different individuals throughout time that have came across the tome and the labeled "Darkness". Players control Alexandra and her crew as they try to stop the ancient evil from manifesting. The game is also very memorable for it's strong concept of breaking the fourth wall (literally). While this is Nintendo's very first self published rated M game, it had also made a very unique system called the "Sanity Meter". It's a small green meter found alongside your character's health and mana bar. If for any reason the meter runs low, the player experiences certain "effects" that will continue until they are able to replenish it. For those who have never played the game or aren't quite knowledgeable of it are recommended to play it blind. Eternal Darkness isn't your average survival horror console game. It contains a historical Rashomon style effect usage on the plot line including a unique green meter. Now that I'm done explaining, now it's time for some preaching:

Now it may be obvious on the rating I'm going to give this Gamecube achievement, but let's go back on why it makes it a great "milestone". What seriously makes this game more unique than several games released before or during it's time? I can only point out Nintendo's genius meter and it's "effects". This being the applied psychological effects the player themselves experiences kind of literally made us literally shit ourselves or almost cry (I think you guys know which effect I'm talking about.) The game enhances visual and audio effects that range from random "glitches" in the game to things we haven't thought a video game around that time could seriously do, enforcing paranoia onto the players (We seriously thought it even screwed up the TV!) Almost everything can altar within the game as soon as the little green meter drops. From gameplay mechanics, altered camera angles, impaired graphics and "outside the box" moments, everything seems to be associated with the Sanity Meter. The storyline is excellent and not very ordinary, though the setting seems a bit similar to Lovecraft and Cthulu Mythos. The voice acting is really great also, helping us become more absorbed into the story. The gameplay is excellent as maneuvering your character is smooth, the amount of characters you control, the choices that can altar the game experience and you can even find come across unexpected jumpscares. Now that I've summed up my thoughts on the game, it's time for my vote. I'm giving this selection:

It's time to reveal the second feature of tonight's showcase:

Insidious

Oh where do we start with this piece? Well, I can definitely say the movie has an interesting plot to it that's different from most horror movies. It really is an interesting piece with really great dreading and horrifying moments. Before I give my point of view of this well known flick, I'll just get it on with the synopsis. The movie is about the Lambert family who move into this pretty (and quite creepy) house in which the only child, Dalton, curiously explores the attic (Damn it does he get himself into the worst coma ever!). Now here's where the fun starts: After Dalton is knocked out cold, the family starts to experience paranormal activity in their home. At first Renai & Josh don't give in to the idea that they're being attacked by spirits, until the Josh's loving and caring mother decided to phone an old acquaintance of hers, paranormal investigator and skilled medium Elaine Rainier. Elaine and her crew track down the reasoning behind the mysterious incidents, while Josh is confronted by his intriguing fear of photography. Elaine discovers something more interesting when she delivers the most famous line in the film, "It's not the house that's haunted, it's your son." No he isn't possessed, basically he has the ability to astral project, a paranormal experience where one is able to leave and return to their body at any willing moment, This however is bad enough since Dalton is in a coma and can't wake himself up to take control of his body, so Josh is selected to save his son from the Underworld before it's too late. Now that you got a snip of what the movie is based around on, it's time to get critical!

I really like how the film is reminiscent of the 50's and 60's Gothic Horror films. No gore is tracked on the film, so it's reliant on the fear of being completely replaced by a spirit or even worse (The main antagonist kind of reminds me of HIM from the Powerpuff Girls). It's a great tactic, although die-hard Action fans shouldn't watch it if they're into gore, guns or too many jumpscares. Speaking of which, I did like how they executed the scares. They mixed in both long durations of eeriness along with jump scares, though usually the set up of jumpscares were pretty easy sometimes. This is also a very interesting horror movie since it's the first one I've ever watched that deals with astral projection. Unfortunately, I don't think they executed the theme very well by the second half of the film. The first half was a great buildup, even if it took somewhat of a slow pace, it did end up doing an excellent job in setting the mood. The second half though, when they bring up astral projection and the real action starts, kind of actually let me down a little with how it displayed. The ending wasn't too bad, but I think the creators had to create a sequel to kind of explain to audiences who were left in the dark. Now that I've pointed out my thoughts, it's time for my rating:

There we go! Now that I've given my thoughts, it's time to move onto our next showcase. Usually I would end it here with something unrated as the finale, like a legend or mysterious place, but since I have been gone for a while, I decided to extend this one by a little more. So our third item in out showcase is:

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Somewhere out there, I know there are several 80's and 90's kids crying nostalgia when they see this specific cover. It was a fairly popular book series to read during and after it's run. The surprising thing is that it's usually viewed as a children's book, which brings up the fact that it's usually mentioned as a challenged book. If you don't know what a challenged book is, I'll explain: Unlike movies, shows. music and games, books are the least censored sort of entertainment, but they still have a highly critical limit to how much it presents to a certain target audience. There are many authors who challenge this limit by utilizing taboo topics, graphic illustration, profanity, graphic literature, symbolism among others things applying shock value. This can potentially lead to bad revenue sales, a demand for censoring or changes or even worse, banning at store chains or even countries. This is one of those challenged books (Also probably the most well known anthology series in literature) It truly gives off an unsettling feeling reading the stories while seeing horrifying images. Every book contains sections that categorize the stories within, whether it's creepy original tales, urban legends, folklore, comedy, songs and even stories inspired by actual events. Some famous bits from the entire series include "The Haunted House", "The Red Spot", "The Hook", "One Sunday Morning", "The Dream", "Oh Susannah" & "The Bride". Sadly, the series only spawned three books in the entire collection, but developed a strong cult following. Now that we're done analyzing it from afar, it's time for me to jot down my thoughts on this.

It's a great series, even if most of the stories are pretty cheesy or don't make sense (Although once in a while there will be a good story that actually sends chills). The notable thing about the series is the illustration. Even if the story you're reading is campy, the artwork is what seriously sets the tone of the story (More like the book).Stephen Gammell is known for his surrealistically bizarre yet creepy artwork for children's books. His images give people a sense of impending doom, like an apocalyptic nightmare that's scarred to you're brain after flipping a couple of pages. If you don't believe me, then here are some of the artwork featured in the series:

The fact that the pictures go even out of borderline weird gives in a more dreadful feeling to the children's campfire stories. The only downside to this wonderful series is not only has it been labeled on lists of challenged books, but they even went as far as to re-release the collection with new artwork by Brett Helquist, the illustrator for the awesome "A Series Of Unfortunate Events" series. The artwork is not as traumatizing as the original though (Not even scary really), so the effect the original 80's print delivered was taken away and made into a more child-friendly atmosphere. Seriously, who the hell made a petition to change the artwork?! It's supposed to scare the shit out of people for a reason! Oh well, other than that, it's time for my review:

Now that it's settled, we'll move along to our next piece, which is:

Paranormal Witness

Now I'm being serious here. A lot of you would probably be skeptical about paranormal television, since even several die-hard horror fans who only think something like Frankenstein or Bloody Mary exist only for entertainment purposes and that something unnatural would never happen (Then again, that's what they all say........). Seriously, though, this particular show is very interesting because it is a collection of the most well known paranormal cases in history. They don't choose phony ones of the street and immediately believe it, they pick the ones that have supplied enough creepy evidence to show that terrible unexplainable things can happen to any of us. Yet of course skeptics will be skeptical. Paranormal Witness had recently came out a few years ago on the Sci-Fi (Now SyFy) channel, which everyone knows is the place to watch horror movies, science fiction shows or horrible yet laughable The Asylum Studio films. This show is completely different from a lot of other paranormal shows I've seen. Before I get to that, I'll explain the shows setup: When people think of paranormal activity, they usually think of people being violently attacked or just plain scared by ghosts. Even though it is common to confront a ghost, that's only about 3/10 of what paranormal cases deal with. The show centers around reenactments of not only famous ghost encounters, but several other encounters as well including demons, creatures and aliens. The show is unique though for not only including evidence of the case, but for it's minimalistic action that usually differs from other shows. that and that they actually have a sit down interview with people who actually experienced these cases firsthand. Now that you've got the basics, let's get critical

Now I may have not watched every single paranormal related show to call this one the best, but I think it is the best I've ever seen. Especially when the only people talking are the ones who've experienced the case and the actors portraying the events. Other than that, half of the show is explained by bold white letters that appear every once in a while. The other interesting thing about this program is that even though skeptics believe the "victims" are actors, then they must be extremely great at their job to handle drama very well instead of taking it like a celebrity comedy show. It's even cases that could possible happen to us, not the "Oh dude! Let's go fuck around some dead person's place and record ourselves acting like insensitive jerks telling them to leave so that other jackasses can come over here to make it a safe tourist spot!" (I know, not everyone talks like that but you get what I'm going with this). The other good thing about the show is that not every paranormal experience is terrifying (Even though most of the show is). The only problem I view with the show is that, even though the third season has added stories from two other regions, most of the stories happened mostly in the U.S. and I wished they actually more encounters from around the world. Other than that, it's time for me to give a rating on this. I'm giving this a:

Now that it's settled, I'd like to showcase the last item. And here it is:

The White Death

Yes I know that the image above is from the Amityville Horror, but any picture of a creepy girl can work since the legend is fairly new. Now this here revolves around a curse created by a girl who commited suicide. She hated her life so much, her only wish before she was about to fly off was that all of her existence was erased. Now we are talking about something only a Weeping Angel can seem to do (For any Whovians out there). The legend states that if you learn about the titular girl, you will be visited by her apparition whom will bother you until she finally gains access somehow and obliterates you. The urban legend is said to be based off either Scotland or Mexico (Although a fanmade adaption which incudes more detail on how the curse works is based around Mexico), hell I can't find enough info on this legend since it is a few years old. In all matters, the girl literally stalks anyone who knows about her story. It's dreadfully reminiscent of the haunted chain mail letters, except not as stupid and literally the girl having no soul left to spare anyone. If you want to give yourself a good read on it, click on the link below and enjoy a nice urban legend.

http://www.scaryforkids.com/white-death/

Since I cannot rate an urban legend, I will leave you guys once again to do a little more research for next time's showcase (And to get rid of the damn flu already so I can start getting ready for Christmas). I thank you all for being here this lovely evening and I will see you later. Good Night!