Halloween season, spooky stuff
It's October. I like horror year-round, but it's the time of year for it, so I figured I'd post about some stuff (especially since I haven't posted in a while).
I recently finished the book Brainwyrms, by Alison Rumfitt. Really good body horror, gross and disgusting in the best way. She's got an incredibly clear understanding of fascism and incorporates it into her storytelling in a way that makes a lot of the secondary horror feel very real. Some interesting commentary on queer sexuality and anti-trans politics as well.
I've been reading a couple of visual novels with horror elements. Higurashi: When They Cry is a bit complicated to get into. I watched the anime before playing it, but the way the story plays out is much more detailed in the VN so I'm really enjoying it. Only two chapters into it, out of eight. Talking about any of it feels like spoiling it, but the gist is a kid (Keiichi Maebara) moves to a new town with a dark history and a curse.
Also reading another VN, Slow Damage. I think, for better or for worse, my favorite genre of anything is "fucked-up gay people doing violent things to each other," which is exactly what this is. Towa is a deeply troubled artist living in an apartment above a mdeical clinic in a grimy, crime-infested city run by a Yakuza group and neglected by essentially the whole rest of the world. Does some crazy shit for the sake of his art. Kind of reminds me of Kathe Koja's novel, Skin, but with guys instead of girls (at least based on the 5 hours or so I've gotten into it): social recluse and artist gets involved in increasingly intense underground art to the point of extreme self-destruction, narrowly escaping the much worse fate of several individuals in their orbit...
I've got a whole list of horror movies I'd like to watch this month, but I haven't gotten to any of them, yet. The one I want to watch first is The Skin I Live In, which I watched as a teenager but only half-remember. Also some old Vincent Price films, I downloaded a ton last year but only watched a few.
Not really sure what writing about all of this accomplishes, but hey, I'm updating my blog! I'm doing it, I'm blogging again! This isn't so hard. Maybe I'll try and write more about any other horror media that catches my interest.