Medium Dawn Felagund of the Fountain

Before I get down to business...

Happy birthday, frenchpony!!!

(I know you weren't around yesterday on your actual birthday, so hopefully you'll get my belated wishes!)

We've actually seen four movies recently, but I find it impossible to review comedies, and two of the four were comedies. Funny movies seem too...personal somehow. A lot of what is funny (or not) to a person depends on their experiences, and what I find funny as a twenty-four-year-old recent college graduate and liberal who likes to write and play with Elves is going to be very different from what a fifty-four-year-old male banker and Republican who likes golf and wine thinks is funny. And I'm no good at analyzing what makes comedy work or not. So I decided to leave those two movies alone.

For the record, they were Talladega Nights and Accepted. I liked Accepted the best--but naturally, having graduated from college recently and getting ready to go back, this "college comedy" genre appeals to me. (Never mind that I do tend to have a crude sense of humor.) Talladega Nights was pretty good too--probably the best that Will Ferrell has put out in a while, imho--but yet he doesn't make me laugh like he did on Saturday Night Live. I don't know why. He was my favorite on there, but most of his movies simply aren't that funny.

I give Accepted 3.33 E.L. Fudge "Elves Exist" cookies out of four, and Talladega Nights gets 2.75, both of which are fairly good scores.

Naturally, the two that I am going to fully review are horror/suspense movies. Pretend to be shocked.

Both reviews may contain spoiler stuff, so tread with care if you are planning to see these movies and want to be completely surprised.

( The Night Listener )

I am putting this part outside the cut for the benefit of my sister, since I don't know if she reads my movie reviews:

Sharon,
Do not see The Wicker Man. It includes as its premise an idea that--given your phobia--will cause you to not sleep well at night. If you want to know more, you can read the review, but I am keeping spoiler stuff under the cut.

But for the same reason that I told you not to see Silent Hill, you'll probably want to skip this one too.
~Your Loving Sister

( The Wicker Man )

By request of my sister, who I talked to on the phone today (*squees!*), I am posting this movie review that was in fact written two weeks ago. I wrote it in pieces, being too busy to chug it all out in one fell swoop, but wanted to get my thoughts on paper. Those of you who know my writing know that I have a penchant for horror and darkfic, so scary stories and scary movies are my proverbial bread and butter. Understanding what makes them scary (or not)...that's tough. Fear and horror are often such personal experiences, yet there are some buttons just begging to be pushed. And that is why I write horror reviews, this one in particular. I simply never bothered to unlock it from p-lock. Well, Sharon was curious, and I told her that I'd post it for her.

( Introductory Schtuff from 27 April 2006 )

Before I go any further, though, there is something that I want outside the cut: Sharon, do not see this movie. There are some very squicky fire/burning scenes that you will not like. Others on flist, if you do not like fire and burning, do not see this movie either. You will be squicked.

And you have been warned. Now onto the review, which contains potential spoilers. But I'll try to keep this to a minimum. (And isn't knowing that a movie is "horror," in itself, kind of a spoiler?)

( Movie Review: Silent Hill )

Now, because I like to discuss writing and I know that some of you like to discuss writing, I will ask: What scares you in fiction? It could be movies or stories...but I think that we all have that one thing that frightens the bejesus out of us. So how did that writer do it? How can we--as authors--write convincing horror stories or scary scenes when we need to?

( My Thoughts on Writing Horror...or Even Just Scary Scenes )

I am interested to know, for those of you with an interest in such things: What horror tactics (movie or book) have worked for you in the past? Do you have a secret for writing horror in your own stories? Or any definite no-no's? I'm interested to know, so leave as short, long, rambly, or irrelevant comments as you'd like.