The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is a landmark novel of the horror genre, a stone-cold classic of unbridled psychological dread and tension. It has been adapted as a movie twice and even as a play (I acted in a production of it back in 2019. I played Dr. Montague. Don't ask how my beard looked.)

Director Mike Flanagan adapts the novel for Netflix as a ten-part television series, each episode between 50 and 60 minutes long. It's not a faithful adaptation; the book by itself would not be enough fill out such a length. Instead, Flanagan takes the themes, characters, and plot devices and re-contextualizes into an expanded narrative.

The results are outstanding. I don't consider myself a binge watcher, but I completed the series in about a day and a half. Flanagan has shown promise as a filmmaker, and here, he creates his best work to-date. It's strongly acted and smartly written, with enough scares and drama to be one of horror's most compelling television works in recent years.

Kwaidan

Four tales of ghosts and spirits. In "The Black Hair," a penniless swordsman divorces his loving wife to marry into a rich family but eventually longs for his former life. "The Woman in the Snow" concerns a woodcutter whose life is spared by a forest spirit as long as he never tells anyone what he saw. "Hoachi the Earless" is about a blind musician who sings of a great battle, and his favorite audience is comprised of ghosts. The final tale, "In a Cup of Tea," follows a writer who relates the story of a nobleman's attendant who sees a strange man's face in a cup of tea.

Set in feudal Japan, Kwaidan is a horror anthology produced in 1964, and yet, it remains timeless and effective, surreal and haunting, horrifying and strangely beautiful, drawing on Japanese folklore to create its tales.

Tales from the Hood

At the Simms Funeral Home, three teenage gang members show up to buy drugs the mortuary's strange owner (Clarence Williams III) claims to have. As he leads them through the building, he relates four tales about his most recent "customers."

"Rogue Cop Revelation" - A black, rookie cop named Clarence (Anthony Griffith) witnesses three white officers beat, frame, and murder black city councilman Martin Moorehouse (Tom Wright) for going after crooked police officers who've been dealing drugs in the community. A year later, Clarence is a drunk and off the force when he hears the voice of Moorehouse, who commands Clarence to bring the murderers to him.

"Boys Do Get Bruised" - Young Walter (Brandon Hammond) begins at a new school where his kindly teacher Mr. Garvy (Rusty Cundieff) notices bruises on the boy. When asked, Walter claims the monster in his house caused them. He even drew a picture of the monster, believing if he destroys the picture, he'll destroy the monster.

"KKK Comeuppance" - Gubernatorial candidate Duke Metger (Corbin Bernsen) sets up his campaign in a former plantation mansion where his ancestor murdered his slaves rather than free them. Metger, a former Klansman, ignores warnings that the souls of the murdered slaves now haunt the mansion in Hoodoo dolls, and they will not rest until they receive reparations.

"Hard-Core Convict" - Violent gang leader Crazy K (Lamont Bentley) survives being shot but is arrested and sentenced to life in prison. Dr. Cushing (Rosalind Cash) offers him redemption if he agrees to undergo behavior modification treatment. Plunged into darkness, he is confronted by the ghosts of the people he's killed. 

Morality and monsters

When she confronts the traitorous Burke in Aliens, Ripley says, "I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage."

The aliens, as monstrous and destructive as they are, for all the harm they cause, deserve a certain amount of, for lack of a better word, respect. They are what they are, and say what you will about them, they stick together. Whatever it takes for the survival of the species.

It's a stretch to call them evil. Evil implies choice. As horrific as they are, the xenomorphs are fundamentally animals. Vicious and deadly but animals with no control over their nature.

The Menu

Celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) operates Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant on a private island where wealthy patrons pay $1,200 each to be wined, dined, and served by Slowik and his staff. Tonight, the guests include foodie Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult), his date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), food critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer), has-been movie star George (John Leguizamo), and others. But Slowik has something else in mind, and his plan only gradually reveals itself over the course of dinner, although the presence of Margot, a last-minute replacement for Tyler's original date, throws off Slowik's meticulously and perfectly planned evening...

Years ago, I left a nice, comfortable job to "try to make it as a full-time writer." Long story short, it didn't work out how I had hoped, and something else I hadn't expected happened: writing went from a passion to an obligation. Instead of writing what I enjoyed as a hobby, I turned writing into something I needed to make a living off of. That created a tremendous amount of pressure and took out some of the joy from what I did.

Bear with me: A recommendation for the 'Saint of Steel' series

A recent online discussion centers on what a woman would rather encounter in the woods: a man or a bear. It has been rather revealing. If you're a man who is confused by or angry enough to wish harm on the many women who are choosing the bear, you're part of the reason why they feel safer with the bear.

But that's a topic for another conversation. All this talk of bears reminds me: if you enjoy fantasy literature, I recommend The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher.

In a world where there are many gods and goddesses, the first book begins with the death of the Saint of Steel, the first time a god has ever died. The effect on the Saint's followers is catastrophic: some become catatonic, never waking up, but the rest become homicidal, attempting to kill everyone and everything they encounter and usually destroying themselves in the process.

Know when to let a story die

As important as knowing when a story can be improved, when it has problems to fix, and when it's finally ready for the world to receive, it's just as important to know when a story you're working on isn't going to work.