A while back, I watched The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. I usually find it difficult to sift through all various television that is on these days, and, having been bitten by a few that were supposed to be good (I’m looking at you American Horror Story), I was initially wary of The Haunting of Hill House. The problem is that I’m a huge fan of haunted house stories and I’ve seen a lot of them (good and bad), but I’m also limited in my television time, so for it to be worth that time, it has to be good.
That being said, The Haunting of Hill House was good. There are plenty of spoilers after the jump, but that’s how I do my full reviews. Continue reading The Haunting of Hill House→
In the last year or so, I have watched the Netflix series Dark twice – once with subtitles and once dubbed in English (from the original German), and I very nearly considered watching it a third time and doing a series of posts rather than just one. From that, you might say that I liked this show a fair bit, but the show also had a lot of depth, which I can only make so much time to write about.
Just after Halloween this year, I binge-watched the first season of American Horror Story, aka Murder House. I was in the mood for a good haunted house story, and I had heard great things from a variety of people about American Horror Story, so it seemed a good match. Unfortunately, American Horror Story really failed to deliver on either the promise of a good horror story or a good haunted house story. There were three things that I think overall worked against the show: the length, the lack of a coherent mystery, and a reason to suspend my disbelief. Continue reading American Horror Story – Murder House→
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been watching Stranger Things 2 with Elliot. Like the first series, I feel like the second series really pulls off dark fantasy quite well. There was a fair bit less mystery this season and a bit more reliance on the character dynamics to make the show work, but I thought it worked out well enough.
I recently finished the first season of the original Star Trek and I found that I quite enjoyed myself. There were certainly episodes that are the very definition of campy, but there were also episodes that explored some interesting ideas and made Star Trek a social exploration of its time. Below, I make some general observations, and talk about a few episodes that stood out to me. Continue reading Star Trek→
I recently watched the ninth season of Doctor Who (with Peter Capaldi), and I was surprised to find out that the show had taken an odd turn when I wasn’t looking. In particular, with this season at least, it was a lore show, and not a thing-a-week show. How did that happen?
I recently heard about the SyFy TV Series, “The Expanse,” with a close friend of mine mentioning that it was very well worth watching. When I learned that the show was based on a series of books, I found myself in something of a dilemma – do I make the time to read the books and then watch the series, or do I find time to watch the series and then read the books? Continue reading Read the Book or Watch the Series?→
I recently finished watching The Librarians as my show-with-evening-meal show. It was enjoyable and lighthearted, and managed to capture the bombasticness of The Librarian (who did happen to show up on occasion) into a cast of many, which I wasn’t sure that they would be able to pull off. I think the thing that bugged me the most though, was the reliance on such harsh smart-person stereotypes. Continue reading The Librarians→
I recently finished the first season of Dark Matter on Netflix, and I found that I had a few things that I wanted to write about. My goal is to make this as spoiler-free as possible, but there is one spoiler that really turned around the show for me, and will be the focus for this post. My spoiler-free review is that I really enjoyed the first season, and gets a solid recommendation from me. For some minor spoilers, read on, but if you want to go into this show blind, stop now. Continue reading Dark Matter→
Based on a tip I got from Gamerstable, Jessa and I decided to watch Stranger Things over our evening meal. Like Boogiepop Phantom, I was looking for something with a bit of mystery but also elements of the fantastical, so as to turn that mystery into horror.
For me, I think Stranger Things misses horror, but really nails dark fantasy. This may seem like an odd quibble, but for me horror is about struggling against evil… …and failing or living with the despair that you will fail. Stranger Things is about horrible things… …and the heroes that rise and overcome them. This is not a criticism of the show, I actually find that I enjoy dark fantasy a bit more than horror most of the time, as it is typically better done. Continue reading Stranger Things→
Thoughts are stripped of their texture to form words that they might be colored by the mind of another.
