Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Return To Fear Street: The Wrong Girl

Billy Burgess 13 Days of Halloween , Fear Street

Harper Teen; 330 pages; Amazon

If you read yesterday's review for Return To Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride, then you would know I have been a fan of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series since I was a kid. No, the Fear Street books weren't my first introduction to the world of horror, as I had first watched the slasher classic Halloween when I was seven-years-old. (There will be more on that topic on Oct. 31st.). As you can probably imagine, I was more than thrilled when I heard about the new Return To Fear Street books.

The second book in the Return To Fear Street series, titled The Wrong Girl, was published last month by Harper Teen. The plot centers around Poppy Miller, a teenager who loves to write poetry and dreams of receiving a scholarship to the drama department at Carnegie Mellon. She's pretty much your typical teen who is into all the normal teenage stuff. She has a boyfriend named Keith, who she doesn't really like, but she keeps him around anyway. Ivy Tanner is her BFF, who is currently dating Jeremy Klavan. And then there's Manny, the musical genius of the group, who happens to be allergic to just about everything.

Poppy's life takes a sudden turn into the danger zone after becoming friends with the new Shadyside High student, Jack Saber, who is quickly accepted into the group. Jack is a wild child with a taste for fear. He insists they all start doing dangerous things, such as causing a car accident while they are filming it on their cell phones. Then they would put the video on YouTube, so they can become famous.

Things turn to the dark side after they play a prank on Poppy while they are attempting to rob a store. Poppy swears she will get revenge on them all!

Tuesday Picks! - October 23th, 2018

Billy Burgess Tuesday Picks! ,

Welcome to my Tuesday Picks! post, where I'll be picking out my favorite books and movies that are being released this week.

Books

The Reckoning

by John Grisham

Buy Link: Barnes & Noble

Halloween: The Official Movie Novelization

by John Passarella

Buy Link: Barnes & Noble

I've only read a few titles by John Grisham. He's a good writer but I don't care much for legal thrillers. The Reckoning looks like an interesting read, as the plot seems to be different than his other books. I requested to review the title from the publisher today, so we'll see what happens.

While I'm a huge Halloween fan, I have not seen the new feature film that started last Friday. The town I live in has only a one-screen theater, so I doubt if they'll ever get the movie. If somehow they do get the movie, then I'll go see it. If not, I'll just wait for the film to be released in Blu-ray. Until, then I'm going to read the Halloween: The Official Movie Novelization by John Passarella which was released today. I had pre-ordered it from Amazon several weeks ago and it arrived in my mailbox today. I'll be reviewing it on October 30th!

Movies

Creepshow (Collector's Edition

Buy Link: Amazon

13 Days of Halloween: Return To Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride

Billy Burgess 13 Days of Halloween , Fear Street

Harper Teen; 346 pages; Amazon

I have always wondered why a movie studio has never attempted to adapt any of the Fear Street books into a horror film series. There's was some talk a year or two ago about a film company making back-to-back Fear Street films, but nothing has ever officially been announced. Until such a day comes about, I will keep rereading the old Fear Street books, as well as the newer entries.

As you can tell by the title of this post, today I'm reviewing Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride by R.L. Stine, who is one of my favorite authors. The book was published by Harper Teen during the summer and I kept the book back just so can I review it for near Halloween.

The book takes place during two different timelines - 1923 and 2018. In 1923, the plot centers around sisters Rebecca and Ruth-Ann Fear. Rebecca is the spoiled of the two and always gets what she wants, even if it means betraying her sister. Ruth-Ann isn't someone to mess with. She had stumbled upon a few books of witchcraft that were hidden in their family's home, and she has learned a few tricks, but her powers might not be strong enough to stop the "curse" that has been haunting their family for many generations.

Fast Forward to the present, where we meet two other sisters - Marissa and Harmony Fear. Coincidentally, Marissa is soon to be married at the exact same resort where Rebecca's wedding ending in disaster all those years ago. Just like Ruth-Ann, Harmony has a taste of for witchcraft, which her powers will be put to the test when Marissa is kidnapped.

Harmony must find a way stop the family's curse forever!

DVD Review: Shadow Stalkers: 10 Terrifying Features

Billy Burgess DVD , horror

Mill Creek Ent., R/Not Rated; 15 hrs; $14.98

With Halloween just over a week away, there's no better time than now to start watching a few scary flicks!

If you're a horror fan on a budget, then I would recommend looking for a Mill Creek Entertainment collection, like this year's Shadow Stalkers, which features 10 horror flicks on a 3-disc set.

The 10 movies titles are:

Out Of The Dark (1989)

Happy Birthday To Me (1981)

Eyes On Laura Mars (1978)

Bloody Pit Of Horror (1965)

Don't Answer The Phone (1980)

Nightmare In Wax (1969)

Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973)

Funeral Home (1980)

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

Drive-In Massacre (1974)

Out Of The Dark (R; 90 minutes) was directed by Michael Schroeder and starred Karen Black, Bud Cort, Divine (final role), and Lynn Danielson. The plot centers around a phone-sex service workers in Los Angeles who are being stalked and murdered by a serial killer wearing a clown mask.

Happy Birthday To Me (R; 111 minutes) was directed by J. Lee Thompson and starred Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Tracey Bregman, and Lisa Langlois. The plot centers around Virginia Wainwright, a high school senior who suffers from blackouts. During the blackouts, her friends are murdered by an unknown psychopath. And all of this is occurring near Virginia's 18 birthday.

Eyes Of Laura Mars (R; 104 minutes) was directed by Irvin Kershner, written by John Carpenter & David Zealg Goodman, and starred Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, René Auberjonois, and Raúl Juliá. Dunaway plays Laura Mars, a photographer who stylizes in urban violence. Out of nowhere, she begins seeing real-time events through the eyes of a serial killer.

Don't Answer The Phone (R; 95 minutes) was directed by Robert Hammer and starred James Westmoreland, Denise Galik, and Nicholas Worth. The plot involves a radio talk show's patients being murdered by a madman.

Nightmare In Wax (R; 95 minutes) was directed by Bud Townsend and starred Cameron Mitchell, Anne Helm, and Scott Brady. The plot involves a disfigured ex make-up artist, Vincent Renard (played by Mitchell), taking his revenge on a studio's film stars by turning them into wax figures. (It's too similar to House of Wax.)

Bloody Pit Of Horror (Not Rated; 74 minutes) was directed by Domenico Massimo Pupillo and starred Mickey Hargitay, Walter Bigari, Luisa Baratto, and Ralph Zucker. The plot involves a group of photographers and models breaking into a castle to take a few photos, but they end up running into the owner, who is a demented executioner.

Silent Night, Bloody Night (Not Rated; 82 minutes) was directed by Theodore Gershuny and starred Patrick O'Neal and John Carradine. The plot involves a man trying to sell his grandfather's mansion, which was once an asylum, but the mayor and the townfolk insists that nobody should ever live there. Things get really weird when a serial killer escapes from a nearby institution.

Funeral Home (R; 93 minutes) was directed by William Fruet and starred Lesleh Donaldson, Kay Hawtrey, Jack Van Evera, Alf Humphreys, and Harvey Atkin. The plot involves a teenager being sent to live with her grandmother to help her convert an old funeral home into a bed-and-breakfast. Well, that's until a serious of murders occur, which leads the teen to undercover a startling family secret.

Don't Open Till Christmas (R; 87 minutes) was directed by Edmund Purdom and starred Edmund Purdom and Belinda Mayne. The plot centers around a masked psychopath stalking and killing anyone who is dressed as Santa Claus.

Drive-In Massacre (R; 74 minutes) was directed and starred John F. Goff , Steve Vincent, and Douglas Gudbye. The plot involves an unseen assailant who brutally murders couples at a drive-in theater.

Blu-ray Review: Flora

Billy Burgess Blu-ray , movie

Mill Creek Ent., NOT RATED; 100 minutes; Amazon

Now available on Blu-ray + Digital from Mill Creek Entertainment is 2017's science fiction horror film Flora. Written and directed by Sasha Louis Vukovic, the film stars Teresa Marie Doran, Sari Mercer, Miles G. Jackson, and Caleb Noel.

The low-budget film has been an "Official Selection" in over 10 International Film Festivals.

Flora centers around a group of Ivy League botanists students going on a months-long expedition in a forest. Soon after their arrival, they learn that their professor has disappeared, leaving them with the choice of staying or leaving to get help.

To make a somewhat long story short, the students have no choice but to stay at their camp. It seems there's a deadly organism growing in the forest and if you eat it or breathe it in, you'll quickly die.

The students must either work together to find a cure or find a way to escape the horrors of the forest.

Special Features include:

Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Commentary with Sasha Louis Vukovic, Teresa Marie Doran, and Dan Lin

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Billy Burgess #IMWAYR ,

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Date.

What am I currently reading?

I just finished reading Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride earlier this morning, which my review will be posted sometime today. Next, I'll be reading Return to Fear Street: The Wrong Girl by R.L. Stine. My review for it will be posted tomorrow.

America Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell is more of a passion read. I'm currently on page 26 (Chapter Two). I'm reading it one chapter at a time or one chapter per week.

What am I reading next?

13 Days of Halloween: Campfire by Shawn Sarles

Billy Burgess 13 Days of Halloween , Halloween 2018

Jimmy Patterson; 296 pages; Amazon

Does you remember the Point Horror young adult books that were published in the late 1980s and throughout the early 1990s?

Well, I stumbled upon the Point Horror book shortly after I started reading the Goosebumps franchise in 1992! While a few of the books got lost over the years, I still have a pretty decent size collection. Once in awhile, I will find a Point Horror title at a thrift store and add it to my collection.

The young adult horror novel Campfire by Shawn Sarles was released during the summer through Jimmy Patterson (Little, Brown, and Company). Let me just say this book was a difficult for me to find. I looked at three Walmart stores and a Barnes & Noble store and none of them had the book in stock. I ended up ordering it!

I can't put my finger on it, but Campfire's art cover looks very familiar. I could of sworn I've seen a similar cover on an old Point Horror novel. Does anyone else agree with me?

Campfire is a fictional slasher tale with three separate short stories included in it - "Beware When The Fair Comes To Town," "Red Raven," and "The Mountain People." No, the book isn't an anthology.

The plot centers around sixteen-year-old Maddie Daveport, her family, her best friend Chelsea, and a few friends going on a camping trip in the mountains. To kill off the time during the nights, they gather around the campfire and tell scary stories (the three stories I have already mentioned about).

"They say that stories told under a full moon come true," Caleb said.

To make a long story short, let's just say one of the stories becomes real. Now Maddie, her family, and friends are being hunted down one by one, and they must find a way to survive.