Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #248

THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION

Happy November, everyone! I’ve been asking my other spooky friends how they fared in October, and everyone was busy looking at Halloween-themed yard displays, going to haunted theme parks, costume parties, etc. For me, it was business as usual; watching a horror movie every Friday night, sometimes more often. In fact, Nick left for Chicago to work for three days, and I managed to watch four horror movies. It was luxurious.

At my house, we don’t have trick-or-treaters, but my lovely neighbor brings her two boys over at my request, and I got them fun Halloween coloring books. Later, she sent me pictures of them coloring, which was so sweet of her. They’re very nice kids. On November 1st, a classmate assumed I was done with that horror stuff, and I laughed at her. Nice try, Natalie, lol.

Me going to school, not even pretending to be normal.

Here is what I watched in October:

  • The Fog (1980)
  • The Day After Halloween (2022)
  • The 100 Candles Game (2020)
  • The Invisible Man (2020)
  • Absentia (2011)
  • Bunnyman Massacre (2014)
  • Totally Killer (2023)
  • Mother! (2017)
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)
  • Black Phone (2021)
  • The Love Witch (2016)
  • The Thing (1982)
  • Halloween (1978)
  • Halloween III (1982)

Okay, putting together this list made me realize I definitely watch horror movies more often than Friday nights only.

Some films added to my TBW (to be watched) list come from the podcast The Evolution of Horror. A critical look at the development of a subgenre starting with the oldest films and moving forward, the podcast host brings on a number of guests to give their unique perspective. The podcast is out of England, and the host works for the BFI and BBC.

The guest who kicks off many new seasons is Kevin Lyons, who runs a blog called EOFFTV. I started commenting on his blog, and he convinced me to watch Psycho II, though I am often wary of sequels to top-notch films. He was right! Once again, I was reminded of how small the internet makes the world. A man on a podcast episode that is three years old gets into my speakers and leads me to connect with him in the future (i.e., now) and discuss movies. What a mind trip.

IT DIDN’T MAKE IT TO GRAB THE LAPELS

N/A

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POST

I almost wonder if I got off track on my review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. My qualm is less that the book is meet-cute/squishy and more that the male protagonist is poorly behaved until the female protagonist wins him over. I mean, when did we set the bar so low? When did we decide that the perfect mate should start as a fixer-upper who is cruel to us?

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POST

I love mass-market paperback books. There’s something so readable about them, and when they turn out to be truly engaging, it’s always a surprise because you never go into a mass-market paperback book with high expectations. I’ve read some fairly controversial stuff in these kinds of novels, and The Heart of a Witch by Judith Hawkes was no different. Review Wednesday.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

Books I paid for (that are not textbooks) since January 2023: totaling $43.28

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

Thanks to Sugar and Scream for their recommendation!

28 comments

  1. You’ll be astonished to hear that I haven’t seen one of those films in your list. Where have I been!

    “When did we decide that the perfect mate should start as a fixer-upper who is cruel to us?” I feel this has been part of the romance genres for a long time? Even Mr Darcy could be viewed this way though I think he did a bit of fixing himself up when he saw the error of his ways. I’m thinking that like most things there’s a spectrum from the true character development end to the end where he truly is a fixer-upper whom the heroine tolerates to what seems an unhealthy level while she’s fixing him up.

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    • So astonished! LOL.

      Yes, the fixer-upper has been around a long time, though now that I look back at my phrasing, it sounds like I’m wondering if this is a new thing. It is not. I guess I’m more so asking why did we, way back when, decided a fixer-upper — a CRUEL fixer-upper — was marriage material. I suppose I needn’t look too far. Any woman who wanted security would take what she could get, and that wasn’t so long ago.

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  2. How you look watching horror movies is how I look watching or reading anything garden related 😀 I see you are reading Marge Piercy, I love her! Particularly her poetry, but her novels are good too.

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    • So far, I’ve only read two Piercy novels, and though they are different, I find her characterization captivating, and while I don’t feel lost, I don’t know where the story is going, either.

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  3. BTW I learnt something new the other day which I hadn’t realised which is that Auslan uses a two-handed alphabet, whereas ASL uses one hand. I guess you knew that. Does this mean Auslan can accommodate more nuances in language or just that it takes two hands to do the same thing? I’m thinking about that discussion we had recently about interpreting sentences not words from ASL to English.

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    • You’re right! Auslan DOES use a two-handed alphabet. In fact, they find ASL’s one-handed alphabet convenient, so many Deaf Aussie’s will use the ASL alphabet at times. Their alphabet comes from the British alphabet, which is also two handed. ASL comes from the French alphabet. Back when an American went to Europe to learn a language for the deaf, England felt BSL was a trade secret, but the French felt “the more the merrier.” Hence, we follow the French, and you guys follow the Brits.

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  6. I’m glad you had a good time watching horror movies in October! I did not watch any unless you include the Jeremy Brett version of Hound of the Baskervilles. Which probably does not count, since the scariest thing about it is probably all the eccentric 80s haircuts that are trying to look Victorian.

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  8. On the one hand, I think it can be more interesting when a character starts out one way and changes/develops through their interactions with another character. So I get why we like that trope so much in books and movies. But it’s a terrible example to set for a real relationship. The first time I watched the movie Frozen, I was surprised when a character tells Anna that she can’t change Kristoff because it’s so contrary to most movie narratives.

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  9. I’m pretty sure (ok, absolutely sure) I was a fixer upper. There’s not that many Nicks in the world to go round and many less fortunate women than yourself must start married life armed with paintbrush and hammer (or soon find that they should have).

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    • Hmmmm, I’ve had girlfriends tell me as much. To be fair, Nick was also a fixer-upper, but he was not cruel. I think there’s a difference between needing to be stood up and dusted off and being a total a-hole who may or may not recognize the humanity in other people.

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  10. Oh the cover of that Dark Harvest book SLAPS!!!! I’m trying to pick up phrases that young kids say now LOL

    I loved the Gremlins movies when I was a kid, so seeing that picture gave me some much-needed nostalgia, thank you! And why would Horror be relegated to October only? It can be enjoyed throughout the year 🙂

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  11. Well you watch the horror films so it all evens out and I don’t have to! I was intrigued to find the BSL finger spelling alphabet in a children’s playground here in Spain – I had assumed Spain would have its own sign language? Any ideas (I know I could just look it up, sorry!).

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