Happy February

 Happy Black History and Women in Horror Month!

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Book Review: The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories

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 I have been hearing rave reviews of Valancourt's collections for a long time, but only now got around to picking one up. I am well pleased with my experience and plan to dive into the other collections soon. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, edited by Tara Moore, is the perfect book to get you into that spooky Christmas spirit. The collection starts off with Sir Walter Scott's "The Tapestried Chamber." I love Scott's work - Ivanhoe is one of my very favorite novels. His story here about an army general visiting his old friend's haunted estate turned out to be one of my favorites in the book. It also had one of the collection's few legitimately creepy (by modern standards) scenes. Another favorite was the second tale, Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story." Gaskell is an incredible writer who I've always meant to read more of, and this story of a vengeful ghostly child was both tragic and haunting. John B
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Book Review: Shirley Jackson's Dark Tales

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I just finished reading a collection of Shirley Jackson stories, Dark Tales . I have always been a fan of Shirley Jackson, ever since I first discovered  The Haunting of Hill House  years ago, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of the most gleefully haunting and disturbing books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Needless to say, I was very excited when I discovered this recently compiled collection of some of her most macabre works. I can also say with certainty that I was not disappointed. Highlights include: "Paranoia" This story is slightly but delightfully mad, concerning a man on his way home from work who is slowly coming to the realization that he is being followed by someone with ill intentions and that there just might be a greater conspiracy at work, with multiple people out to do him harm. This story ratchets up the protagonist's paranoia, and reminds me of that saying, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're n
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Home for the Holidays

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I recently watched the 1972 Aaron Spelling produced TV movie, Home for the Holidays for the first time. I love to watch Christmas horror movies throughout the season, and this was my first choice for this year, as I have a minor obsession with 1970s TV horror (and also a slightly more minor obsession with the work of Aaron Spelling). Plus this movie features some awesome ladies, including Julie Harris ( The Haunting ), Jessica Walter ( Arrested Development and Archer , here playing a more seriously depressed - but similarly drunk and neurotic - version of her more famous roles), and a very young, fresh faced Sally Field.                                                           The plot of the movie revolves around four sisters (including Walters and Field), who return to their family home to see their estranged dying father (Oscar winner Walter Brennan) one more time. Once they arrive, he reveals that he believes his wife (Harris) is attempting to kill him. The characters
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