Oddities

Since ODDITIES is already in their fourth season, I feel I'm a little late to the game on singing their praises. I had been meaning to take a look at it for a while, but finally started over the weekend after an insane night of coolant dumping out of my car, fumes inside the car, getting the car towed, getting a ride back home, etc. As my sister and I sat eating a really late dinner of Mexican food, she brought the show up again and I popped it on. It would be no exaggeration to say that I was hooked from the very first episode. It's like crack for nerdy weirdos. 

Horror Added to Netflix as of March 31st

The batch of horror added to Netflix this month doesn't have anything that's terribly exciting to me. It's awesome that 2001 MANIACS is there, and amusing that 976-EVIL 2 was added. I am interested in seeing HANSEL & GRETEL and CITADEL, although I'm not expecting them to be brilliant. The plots of a couple others sound intriguing just because I like creepy/haunted hospitals and houses, but I'm betting they aren't anything to write home about.

The new addition I'm most excited about is actually Craig Ferguson's "I'm Here To Help" show, which I must watch IMMEDIATELY. God, I love that man.


Title - Date added - Netflix link

• Greystone Park - 03/30 - Stream

• Citadel - 03/27 - Stream

• Hold Your Breath - 03/24 - Stream

• Death of a Ghost Hunter 03/15 - Stream

• The Frozen - 03/15 - Stream

• Hansel & Gretel - 03/10 - Stream

• Hypothermia - 03/04 - Stream

• 100 Ghost Street: Richard Speck - 03/03 - Stream

• 2001 Maniacs - 03/03 - Stream

• 976-Evil 2 - 03/03 - Stream

Book review: Hemlock Grove

On April 19th, Netflix is launching another of their original series-- this time in the horror genre! HEMLOCK GROVE is based on the novel of the same name by Brian McGreevy, and the story is a modern gothic mix of horror, fantasy and mystery.

Film review: Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

I've been hanging on to NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE for a while, waiting for the right time to watch it. Not that I knew some way to identify the right time, because in retrospect I didn't realize how appropriate it would be to watch it right now. The past few months I've had some of the most in-depth conversations with people (and admittedly, sometimes myself) about storytelling, themes, what makes them compelling to a reader/viewer and what the films mean to them. This particular documentary touches on all of that, specifically within the horror genre.

Horror Marathon: Timey Wimey Edition

In honor of that weird and wacky thing that some parts of the world call "Daylight Savings Time," I decided to have a Timey Wimey horror marathon. Can you tell I'm missing Doctor Who already?

The Frighteners

I can't even call what I'm writing a review. It's pure, unabashed love. I can't be objective and talk about strengths versus weaknesses or first impressions, and I'm not going to rehash the plot. Instead, I am going to succumb to a gushing letter of praise to one of my favorite movies ever: THE FRIGHTENERS.

Film review: Absentia

I find that horror fans are a much more diverse group of people than those not actively involved in the scene might otherwise guess. It says something about the wide range of sub-genres within horror that there is such a variety of tastes, preferences, expectations, and experience. But a big part of that is our own individual fears. I, for example, don't find clowns scary. I am 0% scared by clowns. I've seen IT, I've watched all sorts of horror with clowns in them, they remain fun and silly even at their most evil. But clown fear is very common, I've known people who have it. I, on the other hand, am terrified of spiders. One of the scariest movies I've ever seen is ARACHNOPHOBIA. I feel a chill run up my spine just thinking about it.

I say this before I delve into ABSENTIA because I was surprised that an award-winning film that was this good hadn't been rated higher on sites like IMDB.com or Rotten Tomatoes.

Buffy the... Guilty Pleasure?

And this weeks Thing That Makes The Least Sense To Me is... Netflix's "Flixie Awards."

Specifically, their "Best Guilty Pleasure" category. Among other such things as 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Bady Boys II, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, you can vote for... Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

The Unquiet Dead

While horror is my main passion, I have a lot of love for other genres like sci-fi and fantasy. It's not so far-fetched really, there's a lot of cross-over. Horror appeals much more to an emotional response, while the others focus on the characters, plot details or setting. But they share an interest in the fantastical or speculative.

Right now I'm allowing myself to get hooked on Doctor Who. I had never watched it before, but the only Doctor Who I've ever been familiar with was this guy:

A Cemetery Special

For some time I’ve had a documentary in my Netflix queue called “A Cemetery Special,” which was put out by PBS title in 2005. I finally took some time to watch it, not knowing exactly what it would cover but given my proclivity for the topic I figured I’d appreciate whatever they had to offer.

Dark Side of Fairy Tales

The darker, grittier Disney of my youth is what first got me interested in fairy tales. Their villains made a big impact on my little mind, and it's mainly those scarier scenes that have stuck with me even today. I love fairy tales best when they inspire my imagination and sense of adventure, the same reason I read fantasy.

The problem with many fairy tale adaptations is that they lose the folksy quality, and substitute happy endings with beautiful princesses and handsome princes for more valuable lessons where cleverness, loyalty, modesty, bravery and sacrifice are rewarded. In fact, some original tales have rather unhappy endings, but they make a clear statement about what kind of behavior is and isn't acceptable in the world, and where true happiness lies.

The Last Man Among the Walking Dead

I had a recent moment of synchronicity in which I was working my way through a couple more hardcover collections of THE WALKING DEAD comics, and then had a hankering for an old black and white horror and/or sci-fi film. In retrospect I shouldn't be surprised, and to say that the comics, the craving and the movie that I chose weren't linked is an exaggeration. But I hadn't connected them in a conscious way, at least not until I discovered that THE LAST MAN ON EARTH was available to stream on Netflix. (Update 8/9/21: It is no longer available on Netflix. See end notes for other streaming options.)

Time Enough At Last

The first minute or so of this part of The Twilight Zone's "Time Enough At Last" are how I feel working in a library every day. But Mr. Bemis' bad eyesight is my lack of time. Oh, my ever-growing reading list.

It is strange how much everyone absolutely despises reading and privacy in this odd world Bemis lives in. "How dare you keep up on current events in the newspaper! Literacy is an abomination!" That truly would be quite a nightmare.



Time Enough at Last on Youtube

New Horror on Netflix as of January 6th

Thanks to instantwatcher.com I discovered some exciting new additions to Netflix's streaming horror collection this month. The full list is after the jump. Not all of them are excitement-worthy, some I hadn't even heard of. Despite the mixed reviews I've seen on V/H/S and the not-so-great things I've heard about THE DEVIL INSIDE, I'm glad I'll get to see them sooner rather than later.

The fact that THE FRIGHTENERS is now streaming makes me a very giddy Librarian of the Dead. It's one of my favorites that I still don't own a personal copy of. I'm also glad to see a few classic 80's slashers included: APRIL FOOL'S DAY, MY BLOODY VALENTINE and SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE. Sounds like the makings of a marathon to me!