Movies: The Sound

It's a dumb name for a psychological thriller/horror movie. But whatever.

Rose McGowan plays Kelly Johansen, a woman whose job is to debunk hauntings. She does this through low frequency sounds, I guess? Also: how does she make any money? Do people pay her to come to their houses and do this? She's evidently written a book, and she keeps a blog or Tumblr or something, so maybe that's where the money comes from? I'm just saying, what's the going rate for someone to come to your house and tell you it's not haunted, there's just an airport nearby?

Kelly is smug and borderline unlikable, which is how we know she's going to have to go through something torturous to wipe that smugness right out of her. She gets a message that leads her to an abandoned subway station in Toronto, and she promises her husband (or is he just a boyfriend?) she'll be back in time for that night's party, which sounds (har, see what I did there?) ridiculous considering she's flying to Toronto. I don't know where they are, exactly, so maybe it's a short flight, but still.

In the cab on the way to the subway station, Kelly gets the obligatory phone call from her mother that hints that something strange and/or terrible happened on that day thirty years before. 🙄  So now we know this is definitely going to be a thing.

The cab driver tells Kelly about how he and his friends once broke into the abandoned station, but we don't get to hear what he saw. As for the abandoned station itself, it's apparently ridiculously easy to break into. There's a door leading from the working station to the closed-off one. No tools required, just walk right on in. Again: 🙄

What we get from here on in is fairly standard pseudo-horror stuff with hallucinations, etc. Christopher Lloyd appears as a ghostly maintenance man. Kelly becomes weirdly sleepy and has numerous dreams/hallucinations. Nothing very scary, however, and it's pretty obvious a lot of what she thinks is happening isn't actually happening. Also, how is she getting cell service and Internet down there?

The core of the "horror" (if it can be called that, since none of it is particularly horrific) is a girl named Emily that apparently has something to do with this 30-year anniversary that Kelly's mom called about. Kelly keeps seeing/dreaming of a little girl in a white dress with a doll, and Kelly has the ratty old doll in her duffel . . . I won't give away the ending, but I will say I wasn't wowed—or surprised, for that matter.

For a low-budget, limited-locations production, this one is produced pretty well, and there are a couple of known names starring in it. That's impressive. I just wish someone had given the script itself a bit of a lift. It's murky and soporific and could have used some stronger twists to keep it interesting.

Books: The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

I've written often enough about how much I enjoy the Peter Grant books, even if I thought the last couple weren't quite as good. This little novella is a return to form, a streamlined and engaging tale set in the magical world of Grant, Nightingale, and the Folly, with Grant's precocious cousin Abigail along for the ride. While the story leans a little more heavily on Abigail than I 100% enjoy, it's such a quick, fun read that I can overlook that.

Short summary: ghosts are turning up to hassle riders on the Metropolitan Line and it's down to Grant to figure out why. Kinda difficult when the riders forget the interactions almost as soon as they occur. That is, spooked commuters call the police only to wonder why the police turn up because the can't even remember calling them.

I won't say more so as not to give anything away. In short, I can highly recommend this one, though if you aren't yet familiar with Grant some of it might sail past you in a blur. This is a series that really needs to be read in order.

Books: The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

Chalk this one up to being a fairly interesting, if predictable, story but the writing style didn't impress me.

On the day Adele Alban agrees to meet with a reporter, she dies abruptly before the meeting can take place. Her daughter Grace comes home to Alban House for the first time in some 20 years, her own daughter Amity in tow. From there, family secrets begin to unravel.

I have a love of gothic stories and ghost stories, so when I read the description for this book, I was excited to try it. Alas, I didn't find Grace a very engaging main character (excepting the first chapter, the novel is written in first person from Grace's point of view), and there was none of the delicacy of prose I expect with this kind of story. It was all a little bland for my taste.

Added to this was a romance with a local minister—so color me surprised when he was okay sleeping with Grace even though they weren't married? Yes, I know it happens, but to have this character spouting his faith constantly (I really did wonder if the book was being marketed as "inspirational" at some points) and then act against the tenets that faith felt hypocritical.

As for the plot, there were no particularly amazing twists. I had most of it figured out early on. But the base story line was at least interesting. Too bad we were living it through such a dull character.

Oh, and the epilogue was just . . . The book would have been better without it, I think.

There is just something so matter-of-fact about Webb's style that I couldn't really immerse myself in it. And for a book like this, that's what I really want to do.

Ah, well. It's not a terrible book. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to.

Movies: The Conjuring 2

Just in time for Hallowe'en!

I enjoyed this one more than the first (and I didn't think the first one was bad, so . . .)

Not to say there weren't issues. Some very basic things, like why not get rid of the chair that seemed to be central to the ghost's activity? And, why didn't Ed give the girl that crucifix right from the start?

If you're wondering what I'm talking about, The Conjuring 2 covers what was known as the Enfield Poltergeist which terrorized a family in Enfield, England. In particular, 11-year-old Janet was the main target. As ever, things start strange and get stranger, yet no one seems to think it's worth mentioning or doing anything about it until the furniture starts moving. By then, however, it's too late. Janet finds herself repeatedly possessed by what claims to be the spirit of Bill Wilkins.

Meanwhile, Ed and Lorraine Warren have just come off the famous Amityville case, and Lorraine wants to take some time off. She's been shaken by a vision of Ed's death and also some kind of demonic nun. (Here is where another issue pops up: why hang the painting of the demon nun in your office?) But when they hear of this family in England that needs their help, despite Lorraine's misgivings, they go.

[potential spoilers follow]

I think this is supposed to build some kind of tension in the sense that we're supposed to worry Lorraine's vision of Ed's death will be realized. But I never felt worried for Ed at all. Being that Ed and Lorraine are real people, I kept thinking, I'm pretty sure that's not how he died. Not that I know how he died; I've never looked it up. But it's the kind of thing where I'm pretty sure I'd have heard that story if that's how it had happened, if that makes any sense.

If you look up the realities of the Enfield case, you'll see that Janet, once grown, admitted to making some of it up, along with her older sister. Many investigators believe it was entirely made up. The movie addresses this slightly by having Janet caught on camera throwing stuff around in order to make it appear that the spirit had done it. However, it also excuses this by having Janet tell her siblings that the spirit threatened to kill them all if she didn't make the investigators leave (and her being caught faking it caused them to pack it in). One also has to wonder whether, while possessed, a person might not wreak destruction in any case?

The ending was, to my mind, a bit weak after all the build-up. The first half of the movie is simply watching the spirit ramp up its offense against this family, and then the Warrens come on the scene, and there is a kind of wire crossing between Bill Wilkins and Demon Nun, and things devolve from there. Are we supposed to believe the demonic nun lured the Warrens there? Seems excessive. Also, why did the demon tell Lorraine its name? Surely it knew that information would give Lorraine power over it? Then again, why does any demon do any of the things it does?

Sidebar: A Bit of Fun

While watching, my husband and I kept thinking the Simon McBurney character reminded us of Moss on The IT Crowd. We couldn't stop laughing over it, and now we really wish they'd do some kind of Hallowe'en special. Jen could be the skeptic played by Franka Potente? Can that be made to happen?

Books: The Secret Place by Tana French

This is the fifth in French's Dublin Murder Squad series, and I've enjoyed each book in different ways. Though I wish she'd start varying the titles; they're starting to sound alike:

• In the Woods
• The Likeness
• Faithful Place
• Broken Harbor
• The Secret Place

Okay, maybe it's just that Faithful Place and The Secret Place sound alike. But still. If they were farther apart in the series, it might be fine, but . . .

The titular Secret Place in this book is a bulletin board in a girls' school. A year before, a boy from the neighboring boys' school was found murdered on the girls' school grounds. Then a postcard appears on the Secret Place board—a board the girls at the school use to anonymously air their thoughts—stating someone knows who did it.

It boils down to two sets of girls, kind of rival gangs. But we only see through the eyes of, and are meant to sympathize with, one set of girls: Becca, Julia, Holly, and Selena. (And that Holly is the Holly Mackey we see in Faithful Place, only now she's much older.)

The result is a strange see-saw between a murder mystery and a YA novel. French alternate chapters between the current investigation and the past as described by Holly and her friends. And while French does both sides deftly, I found myself often wishing in the "YA" parts to get back to the main mystery.

There was also a touch of the supernatural in this book that felt out of place. It eventually boils away to nothing, and I was left wondering if we're meant to believe it was real or . . . ??? I suspect this is a commentary on the magic of adolescence, how maybe we all have a time in our lives when we can do amazing things, but then we cap ourselves off and make ourselves live solely in the "real" world. Or maybe there's just a time in our lives when we believe in ourselves and our abilities, but then the world crashes in and boxes us up and tells us, no, we can only do [insert assessment results here].

Anyway. It was a good book. They're all good. This one was just a tad weirder, a little off the track. Which isn't a bad thing, but it might not be what you're after when picking up one of these.

Movies: Crimson Peak

Not as bad as I thought it would be.

Okay, you can count that as damned by faint praise, but here's the thing: I love Gothic stories. When I first heard about this movie, I was really excited about it. Then I saw some trailers and worried it would be too gory for me (I do suspense but not gore). And then the reviews weren't great, but . . . My love of all things Gothic (yes, okay, and Tom Hiddleston, at whom I would gladly stare for a couple hours regardless of what else was happening on the screen) won out and I decided to give it a try with the reasoning I could always turn it off if it was too bloody.

I made it through.

So. The movie. It features Tom Hiddleston as Loki Sir Thomas Sharpe, baronet, who rather like my six-year-old son just wants to invent things and play around with big machine except

SPOILERS, SWEETIES

his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain, who will always be Murph to me) keeps harshing his mellow by forcing him to marry wealthy women and then kill them.

This time he contrives to marry Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), only daughter of a wealthy merchant in New York. Edith is frowned on by others who think the taint of industry smells bad, so it's quite the upset when the dashing baronet plucks her out of all the furbelows and frills of society. They waltz and everything!

When Edith's father dies is a terrible bathroom accident (this was one scene that was nearly too bloody for me), she ends up with all his money and a new husband. Also a really creepy sister-in-law.

Things go from there. Edith's ability to see ghosts helps her navigate the dangers of her new position. And while it's pretty clear early on what the truth is [highlight here if you want to know: Lucille and Thomas are incestuous lovers], I actually expected a bit more supernatural underpinning, an Elizabeth Bathory kind of thing or something. In the end, I found it rather mundane in comparison.

But I still enjoyed it. More than I expected to anyway. It's true, I suppose, that whenever you have low to no expectations, you can't be disappointed. Only happily surprised. So while this is no bright star in the galaxy of filmmaking, I think it has the potential to be a cult favorite among certain circles. Very small circles. Maybe just me. But that's okay, too.

Adverse Possession to screen in San Diego

I just received word the short film Adverse Possession, which is based on my 15-minute play "Warm Bodies," will be screened by the San Diego Film Consortium as part of their Fall Film Festival. The screening is on Friday, November 13th, as part of the horror, sci-fi and thrillers program. I really wish I could attend! But if you happen to be in or around San Diego at the time, please consider dropping in. There's going to be a Q&A with filmmakers afterward, too.

More info here.

Adverse Possession

So in 2011, as I was getting back into writing, one of my friends suggested I try a short stage play. The result was "Warm Bodies," which premiered in February 2012 as part Valley Rep's (now Exit 7) play contest. "Warm Bodies" then went on to be featured in Source Festival's theatre program that June. And was then picked up by a production company in San Diego and made into a short film they retitled Adverse Possession (because Warm Bodies was already taken).

I say "a production company" because it seems their name is in flux at the moment.

But in any case, they've given me permission to share the final result, which you can see here.

The film has been submitted to a couple festivals; we're waiting to hear if it gets in anywhere. I wasn't involved at all in the production itself (most screenwriters aren't, I don't believe). I did get periodic updates, which I very much appreciated.

The big difference, I think, between having your play staged and having it made into a movie—and if you read this site with any regularity, you may have heard me say this before—is that plays are fluid. They change from production to production, and sometimes from one night to the next in the same production. But once it's committed to film, it's static. I don't have a preference, mind. I just find it an interesting distinction.

In any case, I'm very grateful for the beginner's luck that landed me all these marvelous opportunities. I hope to continue to be lucky! I do have another script optioned, and two more in the oven. Plus that book of mine coming out in January. So I guess I can't complain. (Well, okay, but I've yet to get another play staged. Humph. Still, I prefer to count my blessings.)

Television: Doctor Who, "Hide"

Dougray Scott! In a haunted house! (Honestly, my first thought when I see Dougray Scott is still of that episode of Highlander he was in, him drunk and on about Bonnie Prince Charlie, but whatever.)

Oh, and more associations with Sherlock Holmes, if loose, as Scott's character Alec is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars. He's also a major. And owner of the haunted house on the moors. (Baskerville Hall?) The Doctor and Clara turn up and The Doctor uses vague references to "The Ministry" to gain access to the ghost-hunting festivities.

Also in attendance, an empathic psychic named Emma, guest of Alec. (You might recognize the actress from Call the Midwife.)

Alec, of course, is more a man of science, or at the very least likes to cover his bases, and has set up loads of equipment in the entry hall. Stuff to record any potential disturbances.

It seems the house is haunted by a woman, "The Witch of the Well." The Doctor and Clara head for the heart of the house, aka the music room, in search of her. Requisite haunted house moments follow: cold spots, feeling watched, creaky doors and floors, a chalk circle, unexplained knocking, and candles being blown out. Seems extreme when the bottom line message appears to be a simple, "Help me."

The Doctor hits up Alec for some backstory and Clara corners Emma into a heart-to-heart. Alec tells The Doctor how his interest in ghosts and getting away from society stems from having sent people to their deaths while surviving—survivor's guilt, then, one supposes. And Emma and Alec clearly have a spark but Emma doesn't trust her own feelings, or really doesn't trust what she thinks she senses in Alec, afraid she might be projecting. Clara insists it's obvious there's something between them and tells Emma to believe in it. Emma returns the favor by telling Clara not to trust The Doctor. "There's a sliver of ice in his heart."

Okay, so this is a fine idea, but telling isn't showing, and unless Matt Smith can show us this cold spot in The Doctor, unless the writers and directors can find a way to show instead of tell, having a one-off character say it won't make it true.

Clara says the TARDIS doesn't like her. Later it locks her out in The Doctor's absence. But after an "interface" conversation, the TARDIS allows Clara to pilot it (her) to save The Doctor.

The Doctor deduces the ghost is actually a time traveler named Hila caught in a pocket universe. (I wasn't paying complete attention.) He tells Emma that she must save Hila because Emma is "the lantern." They open a portal of sorts and The Doctor goes into the "well" to find and save Hila. He sends Hila back, but Emma is unable to hold the portal open long enough for The Doctor to get through.

Aidan Cook clearly has it going on with Doctor Who this season, having played The Mummy and now The Crooked Man (oooh, more Holmes). Is this just an actor getting a couple good roles in a show, or are these two entities related? The Crooked Man succeeds in making The Doctor afraid, and for a moment there it was nice to see him be something other than his usual self. Smith almost showed some range. But it didn't last very long, and soon The Doctor was taunting The Crooked Man in typical fashion. And here is where the TARDIS and Clara arrive to save him.

Turns out Hila is Emma's some-odd great-granddaughter, hence the strong psychic link. The Doctor also asks Emma if there is anything strange about Clara, but Emma insists Clara is just a normal girl. The Doctor remains unconvinced. For him, Clara is the only mystery worth solving (or something like that).

I do really feel the Sherlock Holmes references have been laid on rather thick. It's as if Moffat & Co are so pleased with themselves with that other show, they must link it to this one. Even the relationship between The Doctor and Clara smacks of what they were trying to do with Sherlock and Irene—a would-be obsession, a mental puzzle designed to test the hero. It wasn't impressive there and it isn't here either. And I'd like to see something new instead of the same story over and over.