The Excorism of Molly Hartley
Director: Steven R. Monroe
Cast: Sarah Lind, Devon Sawa, Gina Holden
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 20th, 2015
Retail: $29.99
ASIN: B013U8EDHE
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Now available to own on Blu-ray & Digital HD is the horror film The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, the sequel to the 2008 supernatural teen drama The Haunting of Molly Hartley. Directed by Steven R. Monroe, the film stars Sarah Lind, Devon Sawa and Gina Holden. Special Features includes Exorcism: Beyond One Truth, Clovesdale Institute: Calssified Security Camera Footage and Director Diaries.

Set six years after the events of the first film, Molly Hartley (now played by Sarah Lind) has graduated college and has become the youngest lawyer in her firm to become partner. To celebrate her 24th birthday, she has a tryst with a couple, but wakes up the next day to find them dead in her bathtub. When the police finds her, Molly is acting crazy and is sent to a Catholic mental hospital.

Ever since Molly turned eighteen-years-old, a cult had put the soul of the devil into her body and on the sixth day of the sixth month on the sixth year (666) the devil will be released into our world. Dr. Laurie Hawthorne (played by Gina Holden) tries her best to help Molly, but is thrown a curve ball when Molly begins talking in another voice and acting oddly. Hawthorne believes that Molly is possessed by some sort of demon and seeks the help of the former priest Father John Barrow (played by Devon Sawa), who is now a mental patient.

Barrow had recently performed an exorcism that resulted in a deadly outcome. At first he wants nothing to do with Molly, but after meeting her and speaking to the actual devil, he takes up his faith again and tries to drive the devil out of her with an exorcism.

With All Hallows' Eve only less than two weeks away, there's still plenty of time to read a good spooky novel. 

Author John J. Zelenski has taken time out of his busy schedule to do a Q&A about his his newest novel, the supernatural thriller The Jounral of Ezekiel Walker.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

I became interested in telling stories at an early age. As a child, I would love to have stories read to me, and I would use my imagination to create my own mental version of the book. I think that love to create my own scenes and descriptions of the characters naturally carried over to the creation of my own stories to share with others.

What was your first book/story published?

I was quite young, and it was a self-published title called, “Money for Sale.” It was a guide meant to direct people to the investment strategy of investing in baseball cards and sports memorabilia. I think I sold possibly three or four copies, but it was a lot of fun and the research was very interesting.

What inspired you to write The Journal of Ezekiel Walker?

The Journal of Ezekiel Walker is actually the prequel to Walker’s Vale, now in pre-production for a film adaptation. The Journal of Ezekiel Walker gives a background and history to the small and eerie town of Walker’s Vale, Pennsylvania. It also provides some insight into the one of the main characters, Ezekiel Walker, a most understood man.

What character in The Journal of Ezekiel Walker is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

I think that award would go to Ezekiel Walker himself in the “similar” category. He is like me in that he is loyal and will do whatever it takes to defend his friends and families from enemies. The least similar character, hopefully, is Simon Tremblestone, the main antagonist. He is insincere, corrupt, greedy, and manipulative to the furthest reaches of the moral spectrum. You might say he is the devil himself!

What is your favorite part in The Journal of Ezekiel Walker?

In my most recent years, I've become a fan of animated movies, but for some reason I never saw the 2012 3D stop-motion animated ParaNorman. Well, that is until I stumbled upon it on ABC Family during the summer, which I watched about fifteen-minutes of it. I found the DVD of it at my local Walmart a few days later for under $5.

Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, ParaNorman centers on an 11-year-old boy named Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee). His family thinks he is a bit odd due to the fact that he loves horror films and he sometimes talks to himself. Actually, what they don't know is that he has ability to see and talk to the dead, even his own grandmother. As you can probably guess, Norman isn't popular at school and is bullied by Alvin (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse). However, he accidentally befriends a bullied chubby kid, Neil Downe (voiced by Tucker Albrizzi).

While in the school bathroom, Norman is visited by the spirit of his recently deceased crazy uncle (voiced by John Goodman), who tells him that he must take up the yearly ritual of reading a story from an old book to keep a witch's curse from destroying the town.

Not knowing what else to do, Norman ventures into the woods where the old cemetery containing the graves of the town's founding fathers are buried at. He attempts to read a fairy story from the book, but it is too late as the curse is unleashed upon the town. Agatha "Aggie" Prenderghas, the witch causes a supernatural storm that raises several zombies from their graves.

Norman must team up with his sister Courtney (voiced by Anna Kendrick), Neil, Neil's older brother Mitch (voiced  by Casey Affleck) and the bully Alvin, in order to escape the zombies' clutches, locate the witch's burial and save the town.

Doctor Who: Royal Blood
The Glamour Chronicles
by Una McCormack
Publisher: Broadway Books
Pub. Date: September 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1101905838
Pages: 240
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I guess you can call me a Whovians because my love for the British science-fiction series Doctor Who, which is currently in it's 9th season on BBC America. (Well, technically this is the 35 season if you count the 1963-1989 seasons.) Now when I see any Doctor Who media-tie in novel, I just have to read it.

The newest book, titled Doctor Who: Royal Blood, was released to bookstores last month and is set in the current 9 season. The plot involves the 12th Doctor and his companion Clara landing near the city-state of Varuz, a medieval kingdom where the knights have lasers. Yes, I said lasers. The war-torn kingdom is ruled by Duke Aurelian, whom is preparing his men for one final fight to save his people. The Doctor is mistaken for a holy man and the Duke asks for his blessing in the war.

Out of the blue, the fictional Lancelot arrives in search the Holy Grail. The Doctor realizes that there is something really strange happening on this planet and he is determined to find out who or what is behind it.

Travel is the best way to learn about other cultures and lifestyles, but this isn’t always possible, especially for children. The next best way is to read about other people and many children love-fascinating stories about far-away places. Movies and books for children that are full of adventures in other countries such as those written by Nabila Khashoggi are one way to help children become aware of other lifestyles.

Culture is often defined as shared interpretations about values, norms and beliefs on which a large group of people agree. Some people define culture as an ice burg with only the tip visible or as an onion that has layer after layer. Either way, when children learn about differences as well as commonalities at a young age, they become more open and interested adults.


Through their own actions, parents can help their children understand different cultures. For example, when a child’s parents are interested in food from different countries, this opens the way for their children to ask questions and experiment with different tastes.

An attractive world globe is a good addition for any family. A large world map can also serve the same purpose. There are many games children can play that allow for discussions about other countries. They can find the country of origin of their grandparents, neighbors or classmates.

Many people celebrate the same holidays around the world. Each country may have special items that are part of the celebration such as decorations for their homes and special food for the occasion. Children can choose a country, learn about the celebrations and make decorations that are from that country’s traditions.

While clowns are supposed to entertain children at the circus, most kids are deeply afraid of them. As a kid, clowns never appealed to me, especially after I watched part 1 of the 1990 miniseries of Stephen King's It, which almost literally scared me to death. It took me about 8 years or so before I finally watched the entire miniseries. No, it wasn'y as scary as I remembered it, but Pennywise still freaks me out.

That being said, you can probably imagine that I don't watch any movies with killer clowns in them. However, while I was at my local Walmart a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon their Halloween movie selections and found Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Now I'm well aware of the 1988 cult classic as it aired on television many times throughout the 1990s, but it never caught my attention. I was looking for a new horror film to watch this year to get me in the mood for Halloween, so I bought the DVD.

Directed by the  The Chiodo Brothers and released in 1988, the film centered on a group of evil alien klowns that invade Crescent Cove, California in their circus tent spaceship. The clowns don't speak, but they do turn humans into cotton-candy cocoons. A young couple, Mike and Debbie, happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and witness the klowns killing a local farmer. They try to tell the police, whom includes Debbie's ex-boyfriend Dave Hanson, but they don't believe their wild tale.

The klowns wreck havoc all over town and captures more victims. Mike and Dave must work together, along with a few friends, if they plan on stopping the klowns from killing everyone in town.