Spooky Reads and Branded Shoes because I'm extra...

SPOOKY READS OF 2018 (so far)

For the past two years I have failed my reading goal for the year and this year I am determined to surpass it. I went with a reasonable 80 books, instead of the usual 100, and am so far ahead of schedule by three books!

I wanted to share with you some of the great horror books I've read so far this year. None of these are brand new or ground breaking, but I've thoroughly enjoyed them and wanted to share!

I've been reading a lot of horror short story collections because it's such a great way to find new horror authors that you might not have heard from. Also my library put together a short story section which has been really helpful in finding some great anthologies.

 

The Best Horror of the Year - Volume One

These are great collections that ran from 2009 until 2016 and were edited by Ellen Datlow. Datlow would choose the best stories from that current year and compile them into a pretty lengthy book. I started with Volume One and there's some incredible stories in this one! There weren't many that I didn't enjoy. Some of the standouts for me from the year 2009 were "Cargo" written by E. Michael Lewis which is about the plane that carried the dead bodies back from Jonestown. "When the Gentlemen Go By" written by Margaret Ronald was very Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Hush". "Beach Head" by Daniel LeMoal was like Breaking Bad meets HP Lovecraft.

Overall I loved this collection and have already picked up Volume Two to peruse this weekend!

We Eat Our Own - Kea Wilson

This was FASCINATING. It's like Wilson took every rumor ever made about Cannibal Holocaust and put it into a fucked up novel. There's various storylines that you follow including that of an unnamed actor who was given the lead in this movie with no script or concept, a bunch of rebellion teens doing gorilla warfare in the jungle, and the ambitious, rambunctious female co-star who is willing to do anything for the spotlight.

I will admit, parts of this book I found very boring, the gorilla warfare stuff especially, but that's a personal prerogative. I also found myself getting confused a lot with the different characters and the storylines jumping around. Every couple of chapters it cuts to a court scene in the future where the director is speaking for his crimes and at the beginning it's frustrating as you have no idea what's going on but as the novel progresses you look forward to those parts.

It's brutal, it's honest, and it's a must read for any fan of that low budget filming on the fly type horror.

Night Visions 8

Another short story collection, Night Visions ran from 1984 to 1991. #8 features three horror authors - Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen Gallagher, and John Farris with a wrap up done by Robert Mccammon. There was a lot more in here that I didn't enjoy over those I did. But that's the risk you play when there's only three authors included - if you don't like the style of one author, you're kind of out of luck. There are some INCREDIBLE illustrations in this book though.

My absolute favorite tale was "Incident on and off a Mountain Road" by Lansdale which started out like a slasher final girl situation and ended up with an incredible twist that you couldn't see coming. I would love to see this made into a movie.

I'll pick up some other Night Vision collections to take a peek through but to be honest, this wasn't a great pick for me.

Stalking Jack the Ripper - Kerri Maniscalco

I am a sucker for anything Jack the Ripper, and a sucker for YA novels. So I'm fully aware this book won't be for everyone. For me however, it was a lot of fun to read. The lead is Audrey Rose Wadsworth who is a Lord's daughter forced to wear fancy gowns and be presentable to society. But at night she works secretly in her Uncle's laboratory helping him with his forensic work and autopsies. As bodies of prostitutes come in, torn apart by Jack the Ripper, Audrey finds herself wrapped up in trying to solve the mystery. And the killer is closer to home than she realizes.

The story isn't ground breaking or anything but it was a really quick and fun read. Audrey can be quite annoying at times but also pretty realistic for a young girl in that day and age. The mystery of who Jack the Ripper really is could probably be solved a lot faster than someone smarter than me, but I was kept guessing until the very end. The book has really cool period piece photos in it too, some are pretty gory!

This is also a series, next up is Hunting Prince Dracula which I have picked up from the library, and following that is Escaping from Houdini which I am SO ONBOARD FOR.

Congo - Michael Crichton

Before you yell at me - I know Crichton is usually shelved under science fiction or general fiction, but his novels ALWAYS have some horror type elements in them. Congo was an incredibly fun read and while the majority of it would be more adventure fiction, there's also abandoned ruins in the middle of the jungle where something ominous is killing anyone who makes their way there.

Crichton is not for everyone - he gets very technical and scientific and I find myself skipping giant passages of technical speak only to find I haven't really missed anything. I find that with all his books though. But I'm a sucker for his stories and am slowly trying to read them all.

Congo has a gorilla that can speak through sign language, an intrepid group of scientists and biologists all with ulterior motives, a creepy, violent jungle and a group of rebels causing violence across the country.

It's a quick, delicious read that kept me turning pages as fast as possible until the end. There was also a movie made of it that I watched after and while it's very questionable and 90's, it was a super fun watch after finishing the book. Also Bruce Campbell and Tim Curry are in it!!

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

I read this when I was a teenager and remember loving all the angsty vampire love, gazing into each others eyes, pressing bodies up against the wall, heaving chests etc etc. And I adored the movie as well. Reading it as a 28 year old was a different experience.

This book draaaaaags on. It is very long winded and Louis uses allllll his words. But the scenery was so fun to absorb yourself into and the history of the vampires was great to delve into. Claudia....I don't know man, reading the relationships between Claudia, Louis and Lestat felt so wrong. Claudia's just this little girl and there's so much petting and brushing of hair and inappropriate snuggling. It made me a little uncomfortable.

But I'm glad I read it again, and I'm fully aware this was Anne Rice's first novel so of course there will be flaws. We can't all be Stephen King. I delved into The Vampire Lestat briefly to see what it would be like and I read about 50 pages and realized I already loved it a lot more. So I'm looking forward to reading that properly and going further into the series.
 

In other news - for an early birthday gift my parents surprised me with custom made branded shoes and I am LOSING IT. These are seriously incredible and now I can rep my site wherever I walk:

So that's it! For now!
Currently I'm reading the Blumhouse anthology which I'm enjoying a lot so I'll report back on that.

I've also been binge watching older horror films these last few days like Bodybags and Hatchet, so I'll be back with those soon!

Stay spooky!

(and as always, thank you for bearing with me as I sort out my shit and get this site back up and running)

The Haunting in Connecticut and the "true story" it's based on...

Re-visiting my favorites from when I was young is always interesting. I can't remember what age I was when I first watched The Haunting in Connecticut but I'm assuming it was the year it came out because me and Oprah would grab anything and everything off the horror new releases shelf at Blockbuster. So 2009....I would've been 19/20-ish. What a year....mainly because Blockbuster still existed. There would've been booze involved, there would've been cheetos, and it would've been watched at 11pm or later because that was when Oprah's Mom went to bed and we had free reign of the flat screen TV and the lazyboys.

I remember being terrified the first time I saw it, because I was young and drunk, and I remember also really enjoying it. I also remember thinking it was very similar to The Amityville Horror.

Last night I re-watched it because a few days ago I suddenly remember it existed. And my stomach was trying to murder me with acid like it normally does, so I needed a distraction.

Re-watching Haunting in Connecticut was actually super fun! And I even jumped in a few different scenes. Granted, that's because it has a lot of jump scares. Like A LOT. And not all of them work but some do and that's pretty great. There's also A LOT of plot holes. There was quite a few moments where I was taken out of the story because I was trying to wrap my mind around how something worked. And in the final scenes SPOILER ALERT when Matthew and Sara are hiding under a table while the room burns around them and all I can think is, why haven't they died from smoke inhalation yet? They've been in there for like 20 minutes just sobbing and coughing.

But I enjoyed it and it holds up. The performances are very strong, from Virginia Madsen especially and Elias Koteas who plays the priest. The effects haven't succumbed to CGI hell yet which was nice and honestly it really is just a creepy ass movie. There's lots of spooky images and I'll always remember when they find a box of eyelids, even if I don't always remember what movie it's from, and sometimes panic because I think it's my own memory.

What I wanted to talk about today, other than the actual movie, is the "based on a true story" aspect of it all. I've actually never looked into the "true story" behind this movie, and not surprisingly it is very loosely based and the original story is not as gruesome or as intense. Although, I'm still holding out hopes that one day I'll move into a house and discover my basement was actually a funeral home and then I get all crazy and try and kill everyone with an axe. I'll cross my fingers.

1986 - the world is much cooler as shown by TV nowadays, the reactor at Chernobyl exploded causing a nuclear disaster, Halley's comet swung by to say hi, Hands Across America accomplished nothing, and the Snedeker family moved into a white duplex rental home in Southington. It had originally been a funeral home and the family found a bunch of free mortuary stuff in their basement like a medical gurney and toe tags. Unfortunately, the family were not as stoked as I would be and soon started experiencing evil attacks and violent personality changes. Which is mostly just me when my medication stops working. Their oldest son was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's disease and he seemed to suffer the worst of them all. 

Ed and Lorraine Warren were called, as they always were back in the day, they were very much like the ghostbusters, and officially claimed the house as possessed and capitalized on it much like they did with Amityville. But alas, remember that son who was suffering worst of all? Turns out he had a pesky drug habit and was schizophrenic. And not because of demons. 

The upstairs neighbor, because this was a duplex, lived a pretty chill life - seemingly untouched by the violent demons that clearly understood that bothering your upstairs neighbors is rude. So while there was maybe nothing sensational going on demon wise, the family still lived in a pretty creepy home complete with old mortuary tools.

And so in 2009, The Haunting in Connecticut was released, "based on a true story".

The original house

Overall I'd still give The Haunting in Connecticut a solid 7/10 - it can still scare, and its imagery hasn't ruined its spookiness over time. The performances are great, the house is super spooky, and while the family seemed to live in a house filled with dead bodies in the walls and not smell a single thing, it's a really fun ride.

What do you think of The Haunting in Connecticut? Do you have a funeral home in your basement? Can I live there? Let me know in the comments.

Drag me back from hell aka hey guys I'm back?

 Okay...so here's what happened...

Horror movies have been a massive part of my life since I was very young. They keep my anxiety at bay, they inspire me to be creative, they relax me, and I very much enjoy them. Last year started out great - lots of good stuff. Got a promotion at work which set me on path to start the career I've been wanting for years. I started making more money and was able to pull myself out of debt and take care of myself, my dogs, and Mitch.

But I also started writing more, writing about horror movies, horror news etc. You guys remember. It was all done on this blog. I was asked to write for two different horror movie sites which was an absolute dream come true for me. I was given screeners to watch and review. It was fucking incredible. Over the past almost 6 years of writing this blog, people always asked me why I kept writing it and reviewing and celebrating horror, what was the end goal? I always joked it was to get free horror movies. And that started happening.

October hit - I had surgery on my face, had some pretty horrific dental surgery, and work was getting insane. I released my new site out into the world after working on it for months. And I jumped into my 31 days of horror. Somewhere near the middle of October I broke. Mentally and physically. My illness got out of control, I was sick every day. Work was so incredibly busy and stressful and then I would come home and try to write 5 different articles, watch 3 horror movies, and scroll through the hundreds of new horror articles that had come out. I had multiple deadlines to reach and I needed to keep up - I HAD to keep up. Because this was what I'd always wanted. This was it. I was living my dream.

But in reality my dream was ultimately a second job that I didn't get paid for. And as my health deteriorated and I became more and more miserable, I had to take a step back.

I stopped everything. No more horror movies, no more reviews, no more articles, no more screeners. My website sat dying on the internet. And I felt like a complete failure when people asked me about what was going on. Because for months I had been that girl that could have it all and successfully pull it off. I don't fail a lot - and I don't mean that it in a cocky way - I mean that in an anxiety ridden way where I refuse to let myself fail. But I had failed.

Granted, my regular day job was going better than ever and I was doing better than I ever thought I would. But there was this bitter, dead part of me that resented my day job because it had taken away my horror movies. It was like I had a resentful sibling inside of me who was jealous that the other sibling got all the attention. And I had to think - what am I really going to do forever? I have to have income, money is a big drive for me professionally. While I do consider myself a creative person, I'm not the kind of person that can chase my creative dreams and get all "live your dreams and money will come second". 

Nah, I want money now. I want to live a good comfy life and retire without panic. Writing horror movie reviews will not get me that.

October was also the time that Hollywood exploded with sexual abuse. I watched as people I looked up to in the industry came out and told their own devastating stories of abuse and misogyny. It was too much. I had to take a step back. Why was I hoping to rise up in an industry like that? I felt the hate all the time for simply being a woman with an opinion in the horror world. And I wanted to do that full time?!

SO....why all of this now? Because I felt the need to explain why I disappeared out of the horror community seemingly over night. And the answer is because life is fucking tough. And it's tough dealing with an illness you don't fully understand and it's tough dealing with anxiety and it's tough dealing with giving up something you love, to ultimately feel better.

But after almost 5 months I have started to dip my toe back into the horror waters because honestly I fucking miss horror movies. And really it's not horror movies that broke me, it's everything around them. It's the need to be relevant, and for people to look at you like you know what's going on, that you're in the loop. To get likes and hits on social media, to have your reader count go up every week, to have people you respect in the community reach out and congratulate you on a well written review. BUT THAT STUFF DOESN'T MATTER!

Horror movies matter - because horror movies have always been there for me through thick and thin. Horror movies have broken my heart, made me laugh, made me cry, made me so scared I had to sleep with the lights on, made me almost throw up, made me scream, yell, call my best friend to yell at her to WATCH THIS RIGHT NOW HOLY FUCKKKK.

I watched Scream 2 and something just woke up in me - it was like coming home again. I was like...oh yeah...this is what it feels like to lose myself for an hour and a half and not stress about anything and just have a great fucking time. And I don't have to take notes and analyze it because it's Scream 2 and I've seen this movie 1000 times. And no one cares that I'm watching it except me.

So, I'm here to say I'm back. And it's not for you. It's for me. I won't be watching the latest horror movies and following the news so I can keep everyone updated and be "in the know". I'm going to fall back in love with horror movies again. And you can come along with me, or I can go it alone. But going forward this is my love letter to horror movies.

Just one woman, with a lot of mental problems and some serious food issues, and a lot of health problems, being myself, watching horror movies, and having a great fucking time.

Welcome back to horror bound...where I fucking love horror movies. 

Gerald's Game and a Goodbye from me

GERALD'S GAME 2017

 
"If there's a monster under your bed it won't bother you if you're asleep," Gerald whispers to Jessie, and in that moment Gerald's Game is summed up in one beautiful sentence.

First of all, Gerald's Game is one of my favorite Stephen King novels. I read it far too young at a tender age of 12 where I learned far too much about the scary world of adults. But it has always stuck with me. I learned a lot from Gerald's Game that didn't scar me, life lessons that I subconsciously carried with me as I grew up. I re-read the story when I was 18 and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Gerald's Game had taught me to fight so incredibly hard despite the odds. And in the tumultuous year where my Dad had left my family and my Mom had mentally checked out and I had to drop out of college....I never once stopped fighting. Because when I was 12 I read a book where a woman was in a lose/lose situation and against all terrifying odds, she fought and battled her inner demons and came out triumphant. And that woman never left me.

That might sound dramatic, but there's a reason I'm such a huge Stephen King fan, because I'm not exaggerating when I say his books have changed my life.

Tonight I watched the new adaptation, Gerald's Game, directed and written by Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard. And I am happy to say that this film exceeded my expectations and kept what was the most important about this story and brought it to the screen.

Jessie and Gerald are a married couple who are slowly falling apart, they decide to escape up to their cabin for the weekend and play a sexy game where Jessie is handcuffed to the bed. But when things get quickly out of hand, and Gerald has a massive heart attack, dropping dead on the floor, Jessie finds herself in an impossible situation she must escape from. Or else she'll die, whether it be from dehydration, her organs shutting down, or that wild, starving dog that's sniffing around.

Ultimately this story is about survival, but it also speaks to the lengths we go to keep our darkest secrets buried. Jessie experienced something when she was younger that she has never told anyone, and without realizing it, it controls every decision she makes in her adult life. It isn't until she's locked in this situation that she's finally forced to deal with her trauma. It's an important lesson that we all learn in life, that holding secrets will slowly destroy us from the inside out. This film is incredible at how it handles the dark story line. It touches just hard enough that you completely understand what's going on, but not enough that it discredits the careful line its walking.

The story is also one about the fear that you never truly know the ones you love the most. You can be married to someone for ten years and one day they'll say something or do something and you suddenly realize you don't know that person at all. That maybe they were also keeping a deep dark secret they didn't want you to know.

Stephen King always understands the darkness that lies within every person. And Flanagan has brought that to life in this amazing adaptation.

I'm going to get into a little bit of spoilers here so skip ahead if you need to:

First of all, I'm so thankful that Flanagan kept the Dolores Claiborne reference in this film. It's so important to the story and it's a nice little nod for hardcore King fans. There was also a fun little Cujo reference which I appreciated.

Secondly, I want to talk about the horror element of it - there's some real creepy scenes in this movie that keeps the tension high and keeps the story going. Raymond Andrew Joubert, played by Carel Struycken, is incredibly creepy and his first scene caught me totally off guard. I also loved the final court scene with him. Obviously, I also need to touch on the wrist cutting scene. Reading it in the book had me squeamish but seeing it come to life...wow. I was completely unprepared. It was one of those moments where I realized I was yelling out loud and clutching my face, and actually had no idea how long I'd been yelling for (once again, I'm so sorry to my neighbors). I had been pondering how they would pull that off and they WENT THERE. The camera did not pan away once. It was horrific and so well done. An absolutely amazing scene!

Thirdly, I want to talk about the acting performances. Carla Gugino plays our lead Jessie with perfection. From the losing of her mind to the multiple personalities showing through to the final scene, this was an award winning performance. She was so believable, and raw, and emotional, and tough. Bruce Greenwood plays Gerald and it's another great performance. The scenes where Gerald is taunting Jessie, just hanging over her in bed whispering anxieties into her ear were so realistic and such a great portrayal of how having chronic anxiety really feels. Such great casting.

End of spoilers...

Flanagan is proving to me that he can't make a bad movie. This man is a powerhouse who, in my opinion, has already cemented himself as a master of horror. Gerald's Game is just another notch on the belt of a near perfect career and I honestly can't contain my excitement for whatever he has coming next.

Overall, Gerald's Game is a stunning, almost perfect adaptation of an author who many people have struggled for years to adapt. I will aggressively recommend it to everyone I know.

Solid 10/10

 Now, I have some sad news. This will be my last review on this blog....

BECAUSE I'VE BOUGHT A DOMAIN NAME FOR HORROR BOUND AND AM MOVING TO A REAL WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've wanted to create my own horror site for awhile now but wanted to do it the right way. In April I bought the domain name for my birthday and I've spent the last few months creating the site. It will officially go live this Sunday on October 1st for the 31 day horror movie challenge.

It's time for Horror Bound to go big and not be just a little blog anymore. I've spent almost 6 years writing on this blog so I will be sad to not come here anymore and yell at everyone about how great horror movies are. I will keep this archived though for those of you who want to read old reviews, and mostly for my own nostalgia.

Going forward, you will need to visit horrorbound.net for all your horror bound needs. A MASSIVE thank you to those of you who have visited this blog over the years. It's been so much fun to watch my stats grow and have you reach out on twitter about my reviews. It's helped me blossom into a real writer and move into writing for other great websites like morbidlybeautiful.com and addictedtohorrormovies.com and now my own website! I hope you follow me over there.

As always, follow me on twitter, follow me on instagram, and on Sunday, October 1st, check out the new and improved and OFFICIAL Horror Bound.

Stay spooky forever,

Top Ten Stephen King Cameos!

TOP TEN STEPHEN KING CAMEOS

Stephen King is obviously a huge part of our culture and has been for decades. He's also my hero and just an all around great guy. His 70th birthday is coming up so I've rounded up some of his best cameos so you can keep an eye out when you re-watch! 

In no particular order:

#10 - Band Leader in The Shining miniseries

There was a Shining miniseries I hear you asking? Yes my spooky friends, there was a miniseries. Mick Garris directed this three part series for ABC in 1997 who would only adapt it if King promised to not bad mouth the film version. Both Sam Raimi and Frank Darabont cameo in it too! But King shows up as the creepy mustache wearing band leader named Gage Creed and it's pretty great.

#9 - Hoagie Man in Knightriders

I think this is his first on screen cameo and it's Romero's 1981 film Knightrider. Romero and King have a really cute friendship and it all started here. He plays a heckler at a medieval parade, uttering the phrase "you know, I don't have the balls to wear a thing like that!".

 

#8 - The Cleaner in Sons of Anarchy

King was a huge fan of SOA and was thrilled when he got to cameo as Dick Bachman aka The Cleaner in a 2010 episode. He gets to ride a motorcycle, wear a cool leather jacket and show he's always going to be a total bad ass. In the show he's the go-to man for cleaning up the messes and listens to 80's music while doing so.

#7 - Jordy Verrill in Creepshow

One of my favorite Creepshow stories, King reunited with Romero to play the title character in the anthology Creepshow. King shows some serious acting talent here playing a redneck who gets consumed by alien vegetation.

#6 - Truck Driver in Creepshow 2

King was invited back for the sequel and in this round he plays a hillbilly trucker with a couple of lines. Romero wrote the screenplay for the second film and Michael Gornick directed it.

#5 - Asshole at the ATM in Maximum Overdrive

One of the craziest films I've EVER seen is Maximum Overdrive, a cocaine fulled nightmare. King's directorial debut and his only ever attempt at it, he also claims this is the worst adaptation of all his books. But that was before Cell was made....I JOKE, I JOKE! This is one of my favorite cameos.

#4 - Cemetery Groundskeeper in Sleepwalkers

Written by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris, this cameo is epic because it includes Tobe Hooper and Clive Barker. THE HOLY TRINITY. Sort of.

#3 - Minister in Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is one of my favorite King books and one of my favorite adaptations. It came out in 1989 and is directed by Mary Lambert. Never forget how TERRIFYING Zelda is....
King plays the Minister overseeing the funeral of Gage Creed and there's something really spooky about that performance.

#2 - Teddy Weizak in The Stand

Probably one of King's adaptations that most people talk about fondly and absolutely a fan favorite book. The Stand was a TV mini-series that played in 1994 and King gets to play a 2 episode arc as Weizak. He really shows off his acting chops in this one and has to do a very emotional scene.

#1 - Himself in The Simpsons

That's right, King got to play a Simpson's version of himself in the episode "Insane Clown Poppy". Drew Barrymore also appears in the episode as the character Sophie. Barrymore was in two King adaptations - Firestarter and Cat's Eye. It originally aired in 2000 on November 12th. Marge encounters King at a book fair where he tells her that he didn't feel like writing horror anymore so was writing a biography on Benjamin Franklin. It's a really funny moment!

So there you have it! My ten favorite King cameos!

Stay spooky everyone and keep updated with my latest articles over at the other site I write for addictedtohorrormovies.

Oakley Court - a hidden horror Mecca

Oakley Court....a beautiful and tranquil hotel with eclectic architecture, never-ending lawns, a tasty restaurant and footpaths that lead you alongside the River Thames. When standing on the lawn gazing up at the hotel you get the sense that you've stepped into a place from another era. But despite the gargoyles that leer down at you from every surface, and the one tiny hallway scattered with horror movie posters, you'd have no idea that this is ground zero for some of the best horror movies of all time.

This year I visited Oakley Court and stayed the night to experience the incredible hotel for itself and wallow in its' incredible history.

Built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall-Say in the style of a French Chateau to comfort his homesick young French wife, it had many owners until 1919 when Ernest Olivier bought it. He was a Turkish consul and used the Court as a place to impress and entertain foreign diplomats. During World War 2 it was rumored that Charles de Gaulle had an office there and there's a room there now that is named in his honor. But it wasn't until post World War 2 that Oakley Court became a horror Mecca when Olivier decided to rent the building out as a filming location.

In 1949 Hammer/Exclusive Films started using the building and for twelve months the Court was used to make 5 films. Over the next few decades Oakley Court became the go-to location for British productions to use as an exterior for haunted houses and castles. You can find the Court in films like The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Vampyres (1974). 

But in 1965 when Olivier passed away the house was divided up and used as shelter for young, local families in need. They could rent rooms and cottages and it stayed that way through the 70's. But because of this it allowed productions to film inside the now dilapidated Court. And so next up were Girly (1970), The Night Digger (1971), and The Man From Nowhere (1975).

There's also a rumor that in the late 60's, shortly after Olivier's death, there were satanic cults that would use the grounds for their Sabbaths. There's an old crumbled structure near the riverfront that was rumored to be the site. The local historian, Jake Roche, believes witches used to meet on the grounds.

Of course, what is an old, spooky Court without its' ghost stories? There are many stories of ghostly presences and events that have filled Oakley Court including in 1972 when a woman claimed her two children drowned after seeing white-hooded figures roaming the grounds late at night. Even just reading the modern day reviews of the hotel you'll find a couple of ghostly experiences thrown in among glowing reviews of the restaurant. Unfortunately, I didn't experience anything myself, but it was absolutely very spooky walking through the hotel's many twisted staircases and long hallways by myself.

In the 1970's as residents began to leave, the building was purchased by the Muggleston family to convert it into a resort. They restored Oakley Court to its former glory spending $5 million to do so. They also included additional wings to accommodate more guests.

Now Oakley Court sits as a proud, well reviewed hotel, but keeps its' horror history pretty quiet. Every year they host the Time Warp Picnic where fans of Rocky Horror gather to watch the Transylvanian flag raise from the tower and then watch a screening of the film together in costume. But let's just call ourselves lucky that Oakley Court is still standing and being carefully and lovingly restored, and a tiny but important piece of horror history is kept in tact.

My stay there was wonderful, and as you can see littered throughout this article are photos I took during my stay. The room was great, the food was great, and I loved just wandering around the grounds and discovering so many different buildings and strange artwork like an entire suit of armor placed in a corner for seemingly no reason. Or an entire room of giant mirrors. Or a neon light sign that reads "The Butler Did It'.

It's a odd place.

But I love it, and I highly recommend that if ever given the chance, you go stay there too, or at least explore it!

Little Evil - Netflix original

LITTLE EVIL 2017

The new Netflix original horror comedy came to our screens last week and last night I sat down to watch it. Let's talk about it!

Written and directed by Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil) Little Evil has an incredible cast including Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Donald Faison and Chris D'Elia.


Gary is recently married and moving in with his new wife and his new stepson, Lucas. But something is wrong with Lucas....like seriously wrong. In fact, he may just be the antichrist.

Very much like Craig's film, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, this story is a satire. We all know parenthood is a disaster on its' own, but Gary is essentially struggling with Satan for custody over his new stepson which creates a lot of hilarious moments. There's a lot of great horror nods - The Shining, Poltergeist, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby etc. And some really hilarious setups, my personal favorite being when Gary is forced to join a stepdad support group and all of the other dads are sharing their "evil kid" stories which sound very similar to Lucas, except for the minor detail that Lucas is being controlled by the Devil.

Most of the film relies on Adam Scott to pull this wacky story off without becoming too much of a joke of itself. Luckily Adam Scott is incredible at what he does, playing off that dead pan humor like its' the easiest thing in the world. He shows enough drama and emotion in the more serious parts, but can pull us easily out of a scene in the best way with one raise of an eyebrow. Owen Atlas plays Lucas and does a really stand out job of playing that Damien style horror. Without many words he can stare you down through the camera and creep you the fuck out. Evangeline Lilly plays her character very well with that undying love of a mother who can't see that anything is wrong with her child, because as she says many times, "it is never the child's fault."


The horror elements while fun and campy, never actually hit that true satisfying horror moment so this is absolutely more comedy than horror.  And the ending for me personally felt a little too cheesy, but I'm not sure how else it could've ended, so I won't complain too much.

Overall it was super entertaining - I had a few laugh out loud moments and enjoyed spotting all the horror movie nods.

7/10

Stay Spooky!