​It is never easy to find a job that you really want and can be happy at. I have been going through all kinds of job listings and still have not found one that has piqued my interest. I know this is the problem for so many people right now, as there are some jobs out there, but none of them seem to be the perfect fit. When this happens, you need to think outside of the box a little bit. When you find something that you may be passionate about that you may not be qualified for, it should not hold you back from applying, since when you get your interview, they will see that you really want the job and will take the time to ensure that you will do a great job at it.

Arriving at her new employer's house, Darling is welcomed in with open arms. Needing a caretaker while she is away, the Madame thinks that she has found the perfect woman to keep her house safe. Telling Darling a little bit about the house, she also tells the young woman about the previous caretaker and how she threw herself off of the balcony. Every house on the block has a history to it, and even though this one may be haunted, there should be no worries as long as Darling does her job. 

Making herself at home, Darling takes a walk around the house and finds that there is one door that she cannot enter. Getting a call from the Madame, Darling shares her concern about this door, but it is supposed to be locked up at all times. Darling fails to tell the Madame however that she is getting strange visions inside of the house and that there are strange noises all around her. Thinking little about this, Darling goes on with her daily duties, but when returning from the store, a stranger touches her on the shoulder.

Being frightened of The Man, Darling flashes to a vision of him trying to kill her in the bedroom. Apologizing to the young woman for frightening her, he heads into work and does not expect to see her again. But Darling has something else on her mind when it comes to The Man, as she starts to stalk him outside of his office. As the house seems to have calmed down, the visions continue in Darling’s head and she cannot find a way to get rid of them. Dressing up and going out to the local bar, Darling is able to convince The Man to go home with her. Hearing more about the house from him, Darling has something special planned for the evening and it will be the death of everyone involved.

This is a nice little film and with so many jump cuts, the camera work is actually very good. I liked how the black and white was utilized and added to the story, rather than leaving you to ask why it was shot that way. With the scare devices being set and a warning when the film started, it was hard to look away, even for a moment since you never knew what was going to be on the screen next. I liked watching as Darling spiraled into madness in the house, but it may not have been the house’s fault for the breakdown. As the story plays on, you get the sense that Darling knows what is happening around her and her true fate lies behind the only locked door in the house. Stay Scared.

Hospitals are very interesting places to visit, especially on the regular. There are the good things that happen inside as babies are being born, then there are the bad things that happen as some people spend their final days inside those sterilized walls. For the middle ground patients that are being treated there, they get to see and hear the best and worst of both worlds, but mostly catch a glimpse of all of the negative things that happen there. As doctors, nurses and techs run around to save lives and to make people feel better, it is easy to forget that every patient is as important as the next.

As Ben watches his daughter Sarah enter an MRI machine, he witnesses first hand of how doctors do not seem to have her best interests in mind. Sarah complains about the machine and how much it hurts when she enters, but the doctor pays the complaint little mind. After the machine malfunctions, Ben is ready to take a different route to finding Sarah a different sort of treatment as nobody seems to listen to what she is saying. Being an autistic young girl, she is not able to say what she means, but with her father around to keep her calm, she feels much better.

Thinking that the best path of treatment for his little girl is to remove her from the hospital, Ben sneaks into her room late at night and gets her ready to leave. Being confronted by Emily, the duty nurse when he is ready to make his way into the elevator, she says that Sarah has been put on a new medication and if she misses her next dose, it could prove to be fatal. Being upset about the situation, Ben continues into the elevator with a few other people and the group makes their way down to the main floor. When a power surge hits the building, the group is trapped between the sixth and seventh floor for only a couple of minutes, but when the door opens on six, they find that the hospital has been completely abandoned. Trying to find out what is going on, security guard Rick uses the intercom system to connect with anybody, but the only voice coming out of it is his own.

Trying to investigate the floor to see what happened, the group is also looking for a way out of the building and when they are not able to open the door to the main stairwell, they start to get worried. Hearing strange things lurking around in the darkness, the tension in the group starts to mount and Jon, one of the other passengers in the elevator, tries to make a run for it. Getting back into the elevator, he is met by a creature from the lower floors that is hungry for blood. Being saved by Rick and Ben, he is not too happy with the outcome and fears that the night will only get worse. As the group pulls back together and finds an unblocked stairway to make their way downstairs, a shot is released in their direction and they are forced to abandon their plans. Wanting to find a way to escape the hospital with their lives intact, the group sees through a window that time has stopped and that they are caught in some sort of rift, but with no way to get out of it, they need to find some way to make the clock start once again before the monsters ensure they never live another minute of their normal lives.

With all of the psychological thrillers that I have been watching as of late, this one keeps popping up on my recommended lists and with it being in my collection from 2008, I figured it was time to give it a look. Having spent my fair share of time in the hospital, I was able to connect with Ben and Sarah’s situation as communication in a hospital seems to be non-existent and when things are done to a loved one without anyone being told, I can see the distrust. I really liked the intro to the lifeless hospital when the elevator doors opened, there would be nothing more frightening in a hospital than to see a floor with nobody on it. It is easy to give into your fears when entering a hospital, I still do not like doing it, even if I know what the outcome is going to be. You know what happens in them when things are going right, but if the rules change and there is someone hunting you inside, it would not be the place for many people to even try and survive. Stay Scared.

One element that is supremely fascinating in regard to the horror genre, is how said genre’s exploration and understanding of evil has evolved throughout the years. For earlier scary stories saw evil as an outright force of nature. Where the creatures that populate this universe and go bump in the night, exist simply because evil has always been with us, and the darkness of night is the perfect place for it to thrive and function without impunity. And it only needed to show its twisted face when a poor soul took the time to dig too deeply into the mysteries of the world, and that led to generations of powerful stories that preyed upon our most primal fears in fascinating fashion, that is until the 20th Century arrived, when this genre underwent quite the incredible change.
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Because suddenly the creatures that once existed and acted upon instinct, simply because it was in their nature to cause harm when provoked or uncovered, evolved into something more for the audience. Now they were tortured souls, created by mad scientists or they were under the influence of something far more powerful and eventually, they evolved into the worst monster of all; humanity. For the people that have turned their backs on decency and the moral code that society holds dear are as twisted as they come and that’s led to a new generation of fascinating stories. Ones that feature men and women that no longer care about a society that has afforded them every opportunity to be good and kind and all of this is relevant to today’s discussion, simply because every element we’ve discussed in regard to horror so far, found its way into last night’s episode of NOS4A2.

For ‘Good Father’ pulled us away from Vic McQueen’s struggles to put the spotlight upon the mysterious and vindictive and downright evil Charlie Manx. For when we catch up with him here, he’s bleeding and broken and desperate to find his way back to Sleigh House and in turn Christmasland and that allows for us to learn exactly how much fight is present within this man. Since he pushes his body to limits untold to get what he wants and having some brief moments of pause on the road back home, allowed for Charlie to reflect upon his long and twisted life and what exactly brought him to this particularly unfortunate point. Which revealed a fascinating origin story for Charlie, one that helped the audience understand exactly what he is all about and what makes him so determined to do the horrible things he does. 

As it turns out, this powerful vampire, one that engenders fear in the heart of Vic McQueen and so many others, started out as a nobody. In fact, he was nothing more than a driver back in the day, one who found himself at quite the crossroads. For he fell in love with his boss’ daughter and married her and they eventually were joined by young Millie Manx, and all he ever wanted in life, was a chance to do something special and own his own business, one that would allow for others to be driven around in style, so that he could provide a wonderful life for his wonderful wife and daughter. And all that he needed to make that happen, was a little capital investment from Cassie Manx’s supremely rich father, Horace Haber. But alas, his pleas for financial aid fell upon deaf ears and eventually, the Manx family found themselves dealing with hard times. 

Because with money drying up quickly, especially after dear Horace passes into the great beyond, and no work and a bad economy surrounding them, there was little hope for joy. Plus, to complicate matters further, Charlie refused to let go of the dream, causing a great divide between he and his beloved wife, and really the only happiness he found in this life was through his daughter, who adored him and joined in on his imaginative creation of a place called Christmasland. Which truly kept Charlie going and when an opportunity arrived for him to risk it all on the dream so his family could finally enjoy financial security and stability, he took it without giving it a second thought. But the move was viewed with disgust and disappointment, and when faced with the prospect of losing Millie and the stability of family life, he made one ugly decision, one that would alter his life in ways he never thought possible. 
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Yet while it was fascinating and powerful to see Charlie in the days before he kidnapped little kids and robbed them of their youth by way of the Wraith, and see him cross paths with Bruce Wayne McQueen, the nuances of this tale are what matter the most. Because as is often the case in regard to evil in our modern world, it is often created by small men who cannot stand being marginalized by society and Charlie most certainly meets that criteria. For his ego simply could not bear the thought of failure or a lack or adoration and that drove him to the extreme, and the end result of that damage is the creature we see before us now. One who firmly believes he is doing some kind of good in the world by saving little children from monstrous mothers who could care less about the well-being of their babies, regardless of the damage of his actions.   

But what truly made this exploration of his past so fascinating and powerful, is that it was also able to show us how small Charlie really is after all these years. For his quest to save lives and find a queen for Christmasland, is related to the fact that he still hasn’t given up on his dreams of family and success. For he seems to believe that bringing a wife to this twisted place and giving her a bevy of demon-esque children will somehow provide him with adoration and completion in his soul and it really is quite fascinating to see this more pathetic side to Charlie Manx, since it engenders a sense of pity from the audience. For someone with his talents could have done wonders in this world. But instead he has mired himself in a quest for revenge and self-fulfillment, making him one of the most realistic and mystical horror villains out there. 

However, there was mention earlier of the fact that this particular tale also features elements of classic horror as well and it accomplishes that feat, first and foremost by keeping the fantastical alive. Because having Charlie inadvertently discover his powers as a strong creative and become a force of nature harkens back to those early days of the genre, and it also pulls this off by outright being a terrifying tale for certain. For Charlie’s escape from the hospital and Bing’s role in getting Charlie healthy, features nothing less than chilling and twisted moments, the kind that make you supremely uncomfortable and really in the end, this episode was nothing short of brilliant. For it truly did give us a quality origin story for this iconic villain, and it also features some powerful performances, since Ólafur Darri Òlafson shines as Bing and of course Zachary Quinto steals the show in this tale. But what matters most, is that this is more than a simple one-off story, it also sets the stage for a more meaningful vendetta from Charlie Manx. For now, Vic’s rattling behavior has deemed her to be a ‘Bad Mother’ after all, one that needs to be punished while her child is given salvation. Something that will sweeten the pot for dear Charlie and something that force one hell of a showdown between good and evil. Until next time.

​It is difficult to believe that in this day and age that possessions are still taking place. With all of the doctors pointing to symptoms that relate to mental illness, there still might be something to these claims. When pills do not help and there's an unexplained changing of tongues while under the control of something else, the unknown keeps these notions going and they may never go away. As far as exorcisms go, less and less priests are versed in this practice and as evil continues to make its mark on the world, this does not seem to be the best thing for anyone.

Michael Kovak is looking to change something in his life and has chosen to attend seminary school. Since everyone in his family has either been a mortician or a priest, Michael has seen the ups and downs to working with dead bodies and needs the change. In four short years, Michael is at the top of his class in all subjects with the exception of theology, which is concerning for his teacher, Father Matthew. As Michael decides that the priesthood is not for him and writes his resignation to the church, Father Matthew offers the young man a different route. 

With classes taking place in the Vatican on the art of exorcism, Father Matthew believes that this will be the best way for Michael to find his faith. With the course only running for a couple of months, he is sure that the boy will do great, but Michael does not believe that it will help the cause at all. Arriving late to Father Xavier’s first class, Michael is hesitant to join into the conversation since he does not have any faith left to give. When challenging Father Xavier in the classroom to the difference between possession and mental illness, the Father knows that it will take a little more to get Michael to believe that there is a higher power and sends the young man to mirror his old friend that is an expert in the art of exorcisms. 

Arriving at Father Lucas’ home, Michael is shown an exorcism on his first visit. Not being what he expected, Michael is still skeptical about the practice and if the young woman that is being practiced on is actually possessed or not. Seeing that the young man is not buying into the ritual, Father Lucas tries other tactics on the young man, but thinking that it is just a charade, he will still not change his beliefs. But all is about to change after Father Lucas fails to save the young woman and the demon inside of her decides to jump into the old body of the priest. Facing evil directly in the eyes, Michael must believe that there is something more in him to face off against whatever has taken over Father Lucas, if he cannot, then he will be faced with another dead body, along with the prospect of losing his soul to evil.

There is nothing wrong with a good possession movie and after watching several of them, I now know one thing, get the demon to speak its own name. After the demon has given up this information, it is powerless against everyone and can be sent back to the depths of hell. I think that Michael and Father Lucas do a great job in demonstrating this and seeing how quickly Michael has to grow when the spit finally hits the fan, it was great to see. Creating a new relationship with his unorthodox teacher, Michael sees how faith actually works, even if it is by just using a frog to abolish someone’s concerns. Not a bad story and I really liked seeing the growth of the characters, and their interactions for the most part were priceless. Stay Scared.

I do love a good disaster movie every now and then, and one set in the apocalypse will work just fine. I really liked 28 Days Later, so I was sure that I would like the follow up, even though it came out five years later. One of the things that I was worried about in this film was how they would handle the world after the outbreak and if the outbreak ever ended. You didn’t see any other survivors in 28 Days Later, so you were left to think that they were running around in little bands all across the English Countryside, or at least that is what I thought. Well, I guess it is time to jump right back into the world of 28 Days Later with its sequel...28 Weeks Later.

Six months after the infection has been eradicated, the U.S. Military is trying to move people back into London. With District One completely virus free, the military has units stationed all around the city to make sure that nothing bad happens after they reintroduce more people back to the area. While the medical team is working endlessly to make sure that no signs of infection make it into the city from the camps, Scarlet is surprised to see a couple of kids coming through her screening room. Not thinking that it is safe to have them be sent back to the city at this time, she is overruled as there are not enough resources left in the camps and they need to be moved.

Brother and sister, Andy and Tammy have made it back to London and see their father Don for the first time in months. As Don has been a worker in District One, he holds a valuable key card that gives him access to all sorts or places that most people do not get to go. While he tries to get his kids set up in their new apartment, Don promises that they will get a new house and soon. Trying to explain to the kids why they cannot go back to the old house, Don breaks down about his failure of trying to keep their mother safe when trying to stay away from the infected. Fearing that he is forgetting his mother’s face, Andy has a problem of his own, but Tammy knows of a way to keep that feeling from getting worse and the two are able to break the perimeter and find their way home once again. But when arriving, they find that there is someone else in the house, someone that they thought was dead.

The children’s mother Alice is alive and has survived a bite from one of the infected. Being taken into quarantine, Scarlet finds out that the woman has infected blood, but seems to be immune to the effects of it.  Needing to do more studies on Alice and her blood, the general orders her to be killed before the infection can spread throughout the safe zone.  Before the order can be carried out, Don is able to find a way inside of the medical center and see his wife once again. After being forgiven for leaving her for dead, Don kisses his wife and becomes the thing everyone has feared, infected. Killing his wife and making his way out of the facility, the district is locked down so the virus can be eradicated before it spreads to anyone else. Locking all of the citizens of the district in an underground structure seems to be a good idea, but Don and his keycard are able to breach the defenses and start the infection all over again on a grand scale.

While always worrying about the lack of action on his watch, Doyle and his friends are finally given a chance to use their training. As the population of the district filter out of the garage, the men are told to target only the infected. But that order only lasts for a few moments when Code Red is yelled over the radio and now everyone has become a target. As Doyle takes his shots, he sees young Andy running through the streets and gives up on his orders. Finding where Andy, Tammy and Dr. Scarlet are held up, Doyle tries to come up with a way to get them out of the city before they are killed by friendly fire, or worse, become infected. Leaving the city is easier than it seems for the small group of survivors, but what they did not expect was to be hunted by the soldiers who were sworn to protect them, or have another batch of infected roaming the streets once again.

This is actually the perfect type of follow up to 28 Days Later, it has enough hope to start over again and one little mistake makes it all fall apart. It was very nice seeing how quickly the virus could spread in a group of people, you never got to see that in the first movie since everyone was already dead or infected. I was worried that they would change the virus and what it did since this strain has been kept in someone immune to it. I think that originally this was going to be a new breed of infected and there are a few scenes where you see that the infected are still moving after taking injuries that would kill them normally, but then they are able to be killed with gas, so I am not sure what they were trying to do.  Besides that, I loved watching the breakdown in the system and even though it may be next to impossible to survive this infection once it hits the streets, there may be a chance with the blood from Alice and one of her children, just saying. Stay Scared.

Since 28 Weeks Later came up in a conversation the other day and now that I want to watch it again, I figured it would be a good time to revisit the first movie. I remember when this film first made its way to DVD, I would go out and buy a copy once a month, because I could never remember if I had one. Now I have three copies and need to stop buying it. Not saying that I don’t like the movie, but I am saying that my money could be used to buy another movie that I do not have in my ever growing collection.

Waking up in an abandoned hospital, Jim is unaware of what is happening around England since an infection has taken over. Looking for anyone, Jim finds that his homeland has become a wasteland and there does not seem to be any signs of life anywhere. Making his way to a church, Jim sees the bodies piled up, but when he lets out a yell, he sees that a few 'survivors' seem to have something wrong with them. Fighting off an infected priest, Jim has no idea what has happened to these people and why they are looking to harm him rather than help him, but he has no time for questions as he needs to escape their madness.

While running from his attackers, Jim hears someone call for him and spots Molotov cocktails being thrown in his general direction. Finding his way to safety with the help of Mark and Selena, Jim finally gets to hear what has happened to the city, along with the world. Not wanting to believe that his parents were dealt the same fate, Jim is able to convince the two survivors to venture with him to his home. When arriving, Jim sees that his parents were not infected with the virus but decided to end their own lives. Deciding to hold up in the house for the night, Jim finds old family movies and decides to watch them, but the light through the window attracts the infected to the house. As Selena and Mark show what they are made of to protect their naive new friend, Mark gets a cut on his arm that could have sucked in some of the infected blood. Not taking a chance, Selena kills her traveling companion without hesitation as she knows the infected change within a matter of seconds and there is no time to lose.

Starting their trek back into town, Jim sees flashing lights in an apartment building and the two decide to investigate. Being able to beat the infected upstairs, Selena and Jim are greeted by Frank and his daughter Hannah. Wanting to get to a place that is safe, Frank has heard a radio broadcast about a military outpost that promises a haven from the infected. With the group in agreement, they set off to try and locate the coordinates on the broadcast and meet very little opposition along the way. Reaching their destination, but nobody being around, Frank loses his mind and gets himself infected by one of the dead. Being shot by soldiers before he could pass the infection on, Hannah, Selena and Jim have been saved, but the more Jim is around the troops, he feels less and less sure that this is the place the group needs to be.

As a different type of zombie story came to life with 28 Days Later, I must admit that I really like this movie. As the infected may not be flesh craving monsters like in other movies, they are filled with Rage and ready to pass it on by any means necessary. I don’t know really how Rage could be a blood disease, but you know what, it is a movie and it does not have to be scientific fact. The interactions in this movie are what made it so special in my eyes. You never knew what was going to happen next, much less if the infection could be passed along by other means. Then you have the whole Jim growing up and adapting to a new world storyline, which when the ending comes into play, you may never have expected the former courier to come up with such sadistic plan to save his friends. Stay Scared.

Following your dreams is something that more people should try to do since there are more opportunities out there than we are willing to see. If you want to write, you should write. If you want to design clothes, you should design clothes. Money can be a determining factor in what you do, since it has become very expensive to live, but with all of the extra services out there that can give you funding, you might want to give them a chance. Who knows, you could find out that your dreams pay well and people will support you for your hard work.

JoAnne has just graduated college and has developed her own fashion blog and to get things off and running, she wants to film a documentary about herself and her friends. But the documentary team has something else on their minds as they start discussing the strange things that they have filmed in the past, especially things that have to do with killings. Knowing that Youngstown is a notorious town for murder, they start discussing all of the deaths that have taken place at the train tracks and to appease the team, JoAnne and her friends head down to take a look. Not being afraid of the stories that surround this area since they have all grown up in the small town and are used to it, they spot a strange person standing in the background that seems to be bleeding and try to find him before he disappears into the history books. Not being able to locate the kid, the team comes to the conclusion that he cut himself when shooting up and wiped his blood on the pillars.

Not giving a second thought about the strangeness at the tracks, JoAnne and her friends have a party to get ready for, but it is not a conventional party, it is in fact a wake for their friend Bobby that has been killed overseas. With the documentary team following JoAnne’s every move, they get called out for doing their jobs, since this should be a moment to celebrate Bobby and his life. With friends toasting to their fallen friend, the group of old pals all agree that he will be missed. But there is something different about the feel at the wake and when a little girl covered in blood comes into the room and bites a guest, everyone knows that there are killer zombies on the loose in their town.

Trying to find a place to hide, JoAnne and her friends are able to find their way into the basement of the local Catholic school. With Jed’s help, they navigate through and start to hear strange things in the distance. Calling out, they find that they are not alone in the basement as a ghost hunting team is conducting some tests to see if the location is haunted. As attitudes collide between the groups, the ghost hunting team finds that they are not equipped to detect a zombie outbreak as their priests are taken by the flesh eaters. Needing to find another place to hide, JoAnne’s group is rounded up and thrown in a truck by a terminator looking guy and driven to safety. Storing the kids in a parking garage, the Zombinator tells them exactly what is happening in their town as he was part of an elite military team that was testing out the zombie virus on the battlefield. Knowing he is their only option for staying alive, the group tries to stay together, but as each person has their own agenda during the outbreak, they may not be together for that much longer.

It has been too long since I have seen anything with a zombie in it, so this movie did fill that gap for me. It showed how foolish people can be during times of crisis and did that very, very well. Wanting to find their friends and family that are probably already dead seems to be one of the first things people try to do and when not thinking straight, it seems like a great idea. With some decent zombie kills, the Zombinator is the only one that makes blood flow as he battles to keep more than himself alive. I liked the added storyline of the government being behind the outbreak and even having a cure available that will be sold to the infected when things start to get out of hand. Small town testing is not something out of the ordinary as time has shown and that might be something you want to keep in mind when thinking that it is a better place to live than the big city. Stay Scared.

True love is hard to find. Even nowadays with people trolling bars and the internet, there is no answer on how to find it and it is even worse if you are trying to find the only one left of your heritage. Maximillian is the only one left of the vampire race and is looking for a special woman; a half breed that does not know the true origins of her past. 

Arriving on a ghost ship, Maximillian needs to find a servant, a ghoul to do his bidding while the sun is out. Running into a young numbers’ runner, Julius Jones, Max has found the one to do his dirty work. Shortly after being turned into a ghoul, Julius is promised great rewards for his service to Max, and he cherishes the opportunity, but once he starts falling to pieces, literally, he starts to question his devotion to the strange man. 

Detective Rita Veder is out working the beat with her new partner Detective Justice, and they both are called in to investigate the ghost ship that recently crashed into the harbor.  With the entire crew dead on the ship, Rita starts seeing strange things, most of them in her mind. With her mother having died three months earlier in an insane asylum, Rita fears that her mother’s crazy is catching up with her as well.  Taking out her inner angst in her nightmarish paintings, Rita feels like she is having a hard time dealing with reality.

​Not being able to use his normal Vampire powers to win her over, Max is forced to use normal conventions to win Rita’s heart. Having to battle his own challenges with his fast-talking ghoul and Rita’s non-confessed love for her partner, Max works on taking away everything she holds dear. Taking away Rita’s roommate, having her trusted preacher deliver a negative message and implanting the thought that her partner is sleeping with other women, Rita is left all alone with no one else to turn to.

Vampire in Brooklyn takes you on a great journey as you watch Maximillian (Eddie Murphy) take on three different roles as he tries to win the love of the last of his kind. Rita Veder (Angela Bassett) delivers, battling her inner demons as she tries to fend off the ones that mean to do her harm. Rita’s partner Detective Justice (Allen Payne) gives a solid performance as he has to be the straight man while trying to figure out what is really happening. Julius Jones (Kadeem Hardison) plays the hardest role of the movie, being the comic relief. The entire crew seems to mesh well together in this film, as you wait to see if Maximillian will be able to capture the heart of the only woman in the world for him.

I have a fond spot in my heart for this movie. Being a Wes Craven film, I was willing to give it a chance, and with Eddie Murphy playing multiple roles, I was sold on it. This is just a fun Vampire romp around the town of Brooklyn and all of the undesirables being taken out by an ancient killing machine is just golden in my book. With a decent story line, along with a strong cast that delivers in more way than one, this movie gives you what you want if you are looking for a solid story involving blood-suckers. If you don’t have any plans, just know, that the creatures of the night would love to have you for dinner.  

Some people have the gift of seeing diamonds in the rough. With their creative minds, they are able to make something out of nothing, but not everyone will go along with them. Seeing even a small piece of what they envision can be fantastic and if it is treated the right way, they are able to focus their energies on it and make it something that we never expected to see. I wish more people had this gift, so many things that are usually considered garbage would be back and functional once again rather than being torn down or thrown in the junk yard.

Becky Westlake is looking to get away from the craziness that comes with living in a big city and now that her boyfriend Goran Potsnik is ready to settle down, they are looking for a new home, together. While being featured on the House Hunters Global television show, the two are shown a small out of the way home in Pavloka, Moldova that seems to be more of a fixer upper than a place to live. While real estate agent Vladimir shows them around, he sees that this is Becky’s decision and being able to appeal to her artistic side, he sees that she loves the idea of fixing up the house and making pottery with her free time. Becky loves the house and pulls the trigger on buying it, but what she finds in the old run down location will change her life forever.

Getting to Moldova late, the camera crew of Greg, Alex and new comer Sarah are ready to film the follow up segment of the show. With their overbearing boss Kate being in charge of what is going on, the boys make sure that Sarah knows that Kate will be on the war path when they arrive at the hotel. Unpacking and getting set up in their rooms, the group heads out into town to explore and get some B roll footage to use on the show. While Alex finds a local pot dealer, he heads his own way while Sarah and Greg move further into the old city. Finding a church, the two sneak in and accidentally tape a funeral for three local kids. Being caught and run out of the church, the two make it back to catch a ride out to Becky’s house and see what she has been able to accomplish over the past six months since she has moved in.

Getting to the house late in the day, the group sees a drastic difference in the place, but Becky wants them to check out the cellar, which is why she bought the house in the first place. Promising to see it tomorrow, the group heads back into town and gets dinner at The Burning Stake and finds out a secret in the town’s history. Within the last hundred years, a witch has been burned on the stake and the locals are always on the lookout for another one. Getting up early and making it back out to Becky’s house to shoot, the group is able to get plenty of good shots, but Sarah keeps chiming in on camera causing Kate to lose her mind. Being sent out into the forest to get some nature shots, Sarah comes across what appears to be a burned stake in the ground and her camera starts acting up. Not knowing what it means, the group of House Hunters Global is about to find out that the local legends may actually be true in Moldova.

This is just a fun little horror movie and even though you don’t get scares throughout, you do get plenty during the finale. The way Alex and Greg played off of each other during the entire film, you would believe that they have been buddies for a very long time. I loved the interactions in this movie between all of the characters, but you will have to know that Vladimir steals the show. The little bit of local lore in the area could have been a touch more explained in the movie, as the only indication that something strange is going on in the town is men with axes, but besides that, I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. With so many minor complaints about Moldova and their lack of commerce, I liked watching as the group found out what was most important to them, along with what was most important to Becky as well. Stay Scared.

For the most part, horror stories in every medium, tend to be pretty complete in nature. In that, we meet our forces of good and forces of evil, and we watch those elements clash in a brisk and exciting manner, before the story comes to a close in a logical and satisfying fashion. Because horror is perhaps one of the purest genres out there, and it is designed to create stories that take us on a complete journey. And even the stories that work to buck this norm, by way of sequel stories, still find a way to follow that baseline formula because we love the idea of watching evil fail on a regular basis thanks to the forces of good, since it provides us with a wonderful escape from reality. Where sometimes evil wins, despite the best efforts of the finest people out there.
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But while this is the norm, and while we all thoroughly enjoy this formula, because it works and it provides us with endless entertainment, there are stories out there that look to shun this design so that something quite powerful can come to life. Take AMC’s NOS4A2 for instance. For this particular series, one adapted from Joe Hill’s rightfully acclaimed novel, did a phenomenal job of breaking down a lot of horror related walls in its first season. Because it took it’s time in telling its tale, so that it could properly flesh out the characters and the world they populate. All while providing us with some genuinely unsettling and horrifying moments before closing out season one in a semi-traditional fashion, since Charlie Manx was vanquished at last and relegated to a coma for apparently the rest of his days.

Which is why last night’s season two premiere of the series is so incredibly important to the genre, because ‘Bad Mother’ is a story that takes the time to finish the job in shattering clichés and tropes by offering up a supremely unique follow up story. For often times in these tales, the evil is immediately lurking and looking for revenge when people believe it is defeated. But in this tale… we instead jump into the future by eight years, wherein we find that everyone who took part in this grandiose battle of good versus evil, has seemingly moved on from the nightmare. Take Maggie for instance, who is once again handling library duties back in Haverhill, and she’s even found a stable and happy relationship since she’s dating Tabitha Hutter, who is moving up in the law enforcement world since she’s an FBI agent now and what makes this so unique is that you just don’t see a ‘happily ever after’ in horror and this is a courtesy that appears to be extended to Vic McQueen as well.

For when we catch up with her here, she’s still living in Gunbarrel, Colorado with Lou and her son Wayne and they appear to be living a solid life, one where they get along and get by just fine and all seems quite normal, until a unique report comes across the television. Because officials in Denver have confirmed that death’s sweet embrace has finally wrapped its arms around Charlie Manx, and while that should be cause for celebration, it bothers Vic to no end. After all, Maggie’s tiles once said that she would be the one to bring down this monster and the thought of him dying of natural causes sends Vic into a tailspin, one that motivates her to look twice as hard to find a new knife so she can find Manx’s broken body and see a lack of life with her own eyes. Which at first glance makes this recap seem contradictory because being haunted by the baddie and expressing a desire to see them dead is something we see in horror often.

But here, it is taken to a whole new level. Because Vic’s first showdown with Manx, and all the horrible loss that came from it, has left her in an incredibly shaken place. One where PTSD rules the day and one where she believes that conquering the monster that brought about such pain, is the only way that she can properly heal, rather than dealing with the trauma embedded in her soul and this was just… a brilliant angle to inject into this particular tale. Because normally the heroes that stop evil are grizzled and ready to roll if and when they encounter it again. For they know what they’re up against and how to stop it. So, to see Vic suffering while trying to use happiness in the same manner as a security blanket is quite powerful, as is the other surprise change to her character in this tale.
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For her inability to deal with Craig’s death and her inability to embrace the happiness surrounding her, has forced her to latch onto negative behaviors that she is quite familiar with. Because she has adopted her mother’s ability to deflect and push people away and she’s also embraced a great deal of the negative traits that her father exhibits, including his drinking. Which makes her a supremely flawed character in this leg of the journey and that’s quite powerful and sobering. Because it serves to remind the audience that anyone can stumble and fall at any time, and how we pick ourselves up from that is what is paramount to our future and these changes bring about some important questions. In that, will Vic be able to deal with her pain and rise above it? Or will it hamper her ability to move forward in life and for that matter, will it give Manx the upper hand now that he’s returned to the land of the living. 

Because despite the fact that this particular episode is so incredibly unique by genre standards, it cannot betray what horror stands for. For in this universe, evil is undying and finds a way to thrive and Manx is once again breathing. But how he returns from the void of death was handled in its own special manner as well. After all, sometimes the hero wills evil back into existence with their obsession upon it, but in this case, its ability to engender its rottenness unto others is what allows for it to prevail. For Bing has been searching for the Wraith for the past eight years and in this tale, he manages to find it and after playing nice at length to get his hands upon it, he finally takes the more aggressive route and is able to put the heart of this newly restored vehicle back into its chest. And because of Bing’s dedication, evil is alive once again and it won’t be long before Charlie is healthy enough to return to his old ways and he will also undoubtedly work to exact a little revenge upon the strong creative that put him out of commission for nearly a decade.

If anything, this was an absolutely brilliant way to kick off season two of this magnificent series. Simply because it took a lot of risks storytelling wise, the kind that paid off in spades since everything that happens in this particular tale is captivating and powerful and it serves to remind us that sometimes, the monsters we carry in our hearts are just as dangerous as the creatures that lurk in the shadows. And really, we need to take a moment and offer thanks to writer/showrunner Jami O’Brien for her magnificently layered script, since it adds incredible nuances to Joe Hill’s already powerful source material and the quality of this particular script, makes it clear we are going to be in for one powerful and chilling ride this season. For now, the stage is set, evil is back, and Vic McQueen has some incredible challenges ahead of her and that is going to make the wait for next Sunday’s new episode, a difficult one indeed. Until next time.