Connect with us

Books

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Don’t Move’ is a Fast-Paced, Cinematic Creature Feature

Published

on

Don't Move

Don’t Move, a new horror novel from James S. Murray (aka Murr from Impractical Jokers) and Darren Wearmouth, hit bookstores on October 20, 2020, and the bold page-turner will keep you on the edge of your seat from the very first chapter to it’s terrifying end.

The novel opens with Meagan and her husband and son bringing their day at the state fair to an end. The boy wants to go on just one more ride, and after a moment, she relents and watches as her two favorite fellas climb aboard. Seconds later, everything goes wrong and her life is forever-changed as the ride malfunctions and her family is killed in front of her eyes.

Flash forward nine months later, and Meagan is still dealing with an endless, soul-crushing grief when she decides to join a church group on a camping trip, thinking the fresh air and change of pace is exactly what she needs. Little does she know that her troubles are only beginning. A giant arachnid like something straight out of a horror movie calls these woods home and while the beast is basically blind, it tracks its prey based on the vibrations of their movements and it is a very capable hunter.

As her fellow campers are picked off, one by one, Megan must summon every ounce of survival instinct she has to stay alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6lfVboCUY&feature=youtu.be

Murray and Wearmouth opened Don’t Move with perhaps one of the most brutal death scenes I’ve ever read in a novel of this kind. The smells of freshly popped popcorn and cotton candy mingle with and are overtaken by searing flesh and the metallic tang of blood as Meagan’s whole world goes sideways in an instant.

What is perhaps more telling about the writers’ intentions in the novel, however, is that while this scene is brutal, it is nothing compared to the emotional wreckage our protagonist is left to deal with in the aftermath. Everything reminds her of her husband and son, and each reminder brings with it anxiety so crushing that the reader holds their breath with her and counts to ten to try to right a course that will never be entirely true ever again.

What I liked most about Meagan, however, is that she is given agency of her own. Her motivations are complicated, but she does not wait around for someone to save her. In fact, by the end of the novel, she’s done quite a bit of saving herself.

As authors, Murray and Wearmouth excel at pacing and description. They have an innate knack for honing in on just the right details to paint a picture without spending so much time that the story lags. While there are no doubt those who hate this style of storytelling, for me it makes reading a novel an active experience. I’m not just watching the events, I am completing them.

What’s that you say? What about the monster?

Look, I am not in the least arachnophobic. I’ve never had a problem with spiders at all, but Don’t Move made my skin crawl. Setting aside the size of the creature which is unsettling to begin with, the thing that really comes across and makes the beast terrifying is its intelligence.

Certainly, it operates on primal instincts, but it is also very smart and it knows how to set very clever traps. It is the apex predator of its domain and it didn’t get there by making mistakes.

Don’t Move is undeniably a cinematic book, and one that I could easily see adapted into film. Perhaps the filmmakers behind Crawl could give it a go.

For now, I highly recommend you add it to your reading lists. The novel is available on Kindle, Audible, Audio CD, and hardcover by CLICKING HERE!

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Popcorn Bucket

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Books

‘Alien’ is Being Made Into a Children’s ABC Book

Published

on

Alien Book

That Disney buyout of Fox is making for strange crossovers. Just look at this new children’s book that teaches children the alphabet via the 1979 Alien movie.

From the library of Penguin House’s classic Little Golden Books comes A is for Alien: An ABC Book.

Pre-Order Here

The next few years are going to be big for the space monster. First, just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, we are getting a new franchise film called Alien: Romulus. Then Hulu, also owned by Disney is creating a television series, although they say that might not be ready until 2025.

The book is currently available for pre-order here, and is set to release on July 9, 2024. It might be fun to guess which letter will represent which part of the movie. Such as “J is for Jonesy” or “M is for Mother.”

Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16, 2024. Not since 2017 have we revisited the Alien cinematic universe in Covenant. Apparently, this next entry follows, “Young people from a distant world facing the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Until then “A is for Anticipation” and “F is for Facehugger.”

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Popcorn Bucket

Continue Reading

Books

Holland House Ent. Announces New Book “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Published

on

Screenwriter and Director Tom Holland is delighting fans with books containing scripts, visual memoirs, continuation of stories, and now behind-the-scenes books on his iconic films. These books offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, script revisions, continued stories and the challenges faced during production. Holland’s accounts and personal anecdotes provide a treasure trove of insights for movie enthusiasts, shedding new light on the magic of filmmaking! Check out the press release below on Hollan’s newest fascinating story of the making of his critically acclaimed horror sequel Psycho II in a brand new book!

Horror icon and filmmaker Tom Holland returns to the world he envisioned in 1983’s critically acclaimed feature film Psycho II in the all-new 176-page book Oh Mother, What Have You Done? now available from Holland House Entertainment.

‘Psycho II’ House. “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Authored by Tom Holland and containing unpublished memoirs by late Psycho II director Richard Franklin and conversations with the film’s editor Andrew London, Oh Mother, What Have You Done? offers fans a unique glimpse into the continuation of the beloved Psycho film franchise, which created nightmares for millions of people showering worldwide.

Created using never-before-seen production materials and photos – many from Holland’s own personal archive – Oh Mother, What Have You Done? abounds with rare hand-written development and production notes, early budgets, personal Polaroids and more, all set against fascinating conversations with the film’s writer, director and editor which document the development, filming, and reception of the much-celebrated Psycho II.  

‘Oh Mother, What Have you Done? – The Making of Psycho II

Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

“Reading them,” continues Holland, “was like being transported back in time, and I had to share them, along with my memories and personal archives with the fans of Psycho, the sequels, and the excellent Bates Motel. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I did in putting it together. My thanks to Andrew London, who edited, and to Mr. Hitchcock, without whom none of this would have existed.”

“So, step back with me forty years and let’s see how it happened.”

Anthony Perkins – Norman Bates

Oh Mother, What Have You Done? is available now in both hardback and paperback through Amazon and at Terror Time (for copies autographed by Tom Holland)

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Popcorn Bucket

Continue Reading

Books

Sequel to ‘Cujo’ Just One Offering in New Stephen King Anthology

Published

on

It’s been a minute since Stephen King put out a short story anthology. But in 2024 a new one containing some original works is getting published just in time for summer. Even the book title “You Like It Darker,” suggests the author is giving readers something more.

The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com.

The website also gives a synopsis of some of the other shorts in the book: “The other tales include ‘Two Talented Bastids,’ which explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills, and ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ about a brief and unprecedented psychic flash that upends dozens of lives. In ‘The Dreamers,’ a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored while ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.”

Here’s the table of contents from “You Like It Darker,”:

  • “Two Talented Bastids”
  • “The Fifth Step”
  • “Willie the Weirdo”
  • “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
  • “Finn”
  • “On Slide Inn Road”
  • “Red Screen”
  • “The Turbulence Expert”
  • “Laurie”
  • “Rattlesnakes”
  • “The Dreamers”
  • “The Answer Man”

Except for “The Outsider” (2018) King has been releasing crime novels and adventure books instead of true horror in the past few years. Known mostly for his terrifying early supernatural novels such as “Pet Sematary,” “It,” “The Shining” and “Christine,” the 76-year-old author has diversified from what made him famous starting with “Carrie” in 1974.

A 1986 article from Time Magazine explained that King planned on quitting horror after he wrote “It.” At the time he said there was too much competition, citing Clive Barker as “better than I am now” and “a lot more energetic.” But that was almost four decades ago. Since then he’s written some horror classics such as “The Dark Half, “Needful Things,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Bag of Bones.”

Maybe the King of Horror is waxing nostalgic with this latest anthology by revisiting the “Cujo” universe in this latest book. We will have to find out when “You Like It Darker” hits bookshelves and digital platforms starting May 21, 2024.

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Popcorn Bucket

Continue Reading

Embed Gif with Clickable Title