u/sigersen

I had some unexpected extra Free Time today, so I went into my Continue Watching section of Shudder and restarted Whistle and Dolly. So far this year, I have not been too impressed with the Shudder Originals. I watched Whistle first and it had the usual Modern Horror boring Tropes: Lesbian Girl Bosses and THE MESSAGE over story. We have high school and college students who are experts on Ancient Artifacts, breaking and entering, and all have expensive stereo equipment to play their overpriced Vinyl records. Despite all of this, I liked the actors, the killings and the ending. It was very atmospheric, so if you can put up with the PC bullshit, you should have a good time.

Dolly is a mixed bag, and it's mostly me. I thought the couple were so stupid that they deserved what they got. It had good gore and it was very creepy. If you're into Texas Chainsaw and Hills Have Eyes, you will probably enjoy this. I'd give it a C+.

I recently got in a conversation about what types of fiction I read and I told these people that I read different types of fiction, but Mysteries are my hands-down favorite. (Right now I'm reading an Agatha Christie Miss Marple novel.) For me it started at the age of 9 or 10 with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Later I branched out to Ellery Queen. A few years later I discovered Raymond Chandler and then Christie, Marsh and Sayers. As a Holmes buff I became a huge Nero Wolfe fan and also the adventures of Solar Pons. I love all kinds of mysteries, Cozies, Hardboiled, police procedurals. You name it. That being said, Doyle and Ellery Queen started me down this road. What about you ?

I was watching a Tales from the Crypt about a Carnival and it got me thinking about how creepy Carnivals and Fairs are. Sure, Amusement Parks are, as well, but I find the smaller ones creepier. Sure, I like The Funhouse and others, but I also like ones like Full Moon's Sideshow. Once dusk hits at a fair or carnival things just seem creepy. My wife and I used to go to a carnival that was right up the street from us. We could walk to it. It was at a Catholic Church that had a huge parking lot. I always liked to go on the Ferris Wheel with my wife and look at the whole carnival when it stopped at the top to let people on and off. One year the sun went down while we were on the ride. We both watched too many horror movies and once we got off the ride, we booked it home. So what Carny flicks freak you out? I love Carnival of Souls , Freaks, and Vampire Circus. Your turn.

I was looking t see if Solvent dropped on Shudder and was looking at the top 10 list they post now. Every streaming service has a Trending Now or some such section. Dolly was ranked number one and that seemed legit. It seems to have had mixed reviews so I'm sure a lot of people are checking it out. Mortuary Assistant was number two. I doubt it. I have not heard from one person who liked it. The others that rounded out the top 5 were probably true. I was surprised that older flicks like Oddity and Good Boy made the list. To me, that doesn't say much for the Originals lately .

Like most of you, I have a lot of friends who like horror movies, books and TV. I was just wondering what your favorite sources are. For Streaming I have Shudder, Creature Features TV, and the ultimate gift that keeps on giving, TUBI. I also own a lot of Physical Media. I own all of the Universal Monsters DVDs, plus stuff like Them! and War of the Gargantuas. I love a good monster flick, so lately, Creature Features TV has been giving Shudder a run for its money as to which I've been watching more. There are other free services like PLUTO and PLEX that also feed my addiction. I'm very picky about my horror books Lately I've been re-reading Lovecraft, Derleth and some other Pulp Masters. So let us all know what you do.

Full Disclosure: I love the 1972 Tales from the Crypt movie. It's one of my all time favorite horror anthologies. I like the TV show , but didn't have HBO back then so I have mostly seen edited broadcast versions of the show. Since I have Shudder I was very excited to watch the HBO version of the story which was originally published in The Vault of Horror. Sorry, folks. I was horribly disappointed. According to AI the TV version was gorier. I didn't think so. The killing of the husband in the movie is a blood fest. Plus the hubby is sympathetic in the film and it makes Joan Collins' character even easier to despise. It's also more claustrophobic. She dumps her hubby in the basement, trying to fake a fall. Her 70's white shag carpet is awash in gore and she has to clean up and can't call the cops when she hears about Santa. Since the movie is fairly easy to stream, and it's the first story in the movie, check it out and let me know what you think.