Somehow, though it’s not my favorite book or film genre, I’ve been on a bit of a horror kick lately.
- The other night I watched a French shark-attack film called Under Paris (originally titled Sous la Seine). I’ve seen my share of shark films (Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, The Meg, and probably a few others that were forgettable). This one fared well in comparison. Story: a scientist tags a shark and monitors it until it unexpectedly turns violent and kills her whole team. Later, the signal from the tag is discovered in the Seine river in Paris. What is a marine animal doing in a fresh water river? Though still struggling emotionally with that grisly event in her past, the scientist joins forces with the police to find the shark before it hurts anyone else. The film had just the right amount of ridiculousness, it escalated perfectly, and it had a spectacular climax, not to mention that it was in French (subtitled, not dubbed). I loved it.
- After the shark film, I starting watching Stranger Things on Netflix. I’m late to this particular party, I know, but whatever. I do things when I want to, not when the rest of the world thinks I should.
- I also recently read a Southern Gothic by T. Kingfisher called A House With Good Bones. I struggled with the book at first. The author’s descriptions were confusing me. But, since I had preordered the book as a way of showing support for the author, whom I follow on Twitter, I felt a strong compulsion to finish it. With perseverance, I got past the communication issues, letting the story wash over me without focusing too much on certain details. There wasn’t much to the story: entomologist Sam Montgomery is temporarily out of work and goes to live with her mom in her grandmother’s old house. The mom is behaving strangely, as if terrified, and weird things are happening around the house, all seemingly linked to something dark and mysterious in the past. I’m not not sure that I love it as a horror story, but the main character keeps up an entertaining patter of bug trivia mixed with amusing observations on life (“snarky mundanity,” one blurbist called it). The book is worth reading for that alone.
P.S. I liked the phrase “snarky mundanity,” so I looked up the author who had used it in his blurb for A House With Good Bones. His name was Travis Baldree. I figured that if he’d written anything that sounded interesting, I’d consider seeking it out. As it turns out, I need look no further than my own bookshelf. A friend gave me a copy of his book Legends & Lattes as a gift. It’s just sitting there, waiting to be read. How serendipitous!