An apology

Hey guys, I just wanted to make a post explaining why I haven't been so active recently and why I missed the last two weeks of reviews for Ginger Snap's Halloween-month.  And I am sorry about it.

You see, for the millionth time, I am crazy busy with school work.  I thought I survived Hell Week (midterms), but it turns out that between today and next sunday I have; two 6 page papers, two tests, and the first draft of my 25 page final paper for my writing intensive.
It was a very similar workload the past few weeks as well, and obviously school takes priority over blogging or whatever.
Since I spend so much time reading and writing anyway, the last thing I want to do with my downtime is write even more (or blog for that matter), so instead I've been marathoning different anime or TV shows.

While I did buy some time this weekend to not be doing school work, I have to head home and then make a calling to a dear friend who just lost her younger brother yesterday.
So on top of massive amounts of schoolwork and exhaustion, I'm just not in the mood to be thinking about horror or death right now.

My apologies.  I should be back in the near future, but until then have some photos of my Halloween costumes from last weekend and last night.

The boyfriend and I as Cecil and Carlos from Welcome to Night Vale last weekend

My friend as Cop! Stocking and myself as Cop! Panty from Panty and Stocking last night

The Welcome to Night Vale costumes were worn for the Halloween Party I threw last Friday, and the cop Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt costumes were worn for a costume contest during anime club that we placed first in.  Reference image to who we were being can be found here and the dubbed episode can be found here.

Here is a bonus photo of me and my boyfriend as Panty and Ghostbuster! Brief (though I can promise you right now I do not treat him the way she treats Brief, don't worry)!

Lame couple photo haha

On that note, I have to finish researching for a paper, and packing to go home today.
I'll ask you this though; what were you for Halloween?  Leave comments and links to your costumes, I'd love to see them!  Hope you had a great holiday and I'll see you next time I find time or energy to make a post!

Until then!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Shop Review: NovelCreations

So remember back in August when I reviewed Salem's Lot by Stephen King?  (Well its linked right there in case you want to read it.)  And at the end of the post I mentioned that the shop NovelCreations on Etsy actually turned the Barnes and Noble edition of the book into a beautiful purse that I had been lusting after ever since I saw it.
Thanks to stress from school my heavy belief in retail therapy, I finally ordered it 2 weeks ago and it came in the mail today!

Aw, just look how dumbly happy I am

I want to review this wonderful bag and the shop it came from here, and at the end of this post I'll put the coupon code that myself and the shop owner Karen made for 15% off a bag!

NovelCreations (click the name for the shop link), is an Etsy shop that repurposes hardcover books into purses.  Right?  How cool is that?

Other than the Stephen King purse I went ahead and bought myself, here are some links to other bags I like; 1, 2, 3, 4.  She also does custom orders.

Now, you may be like me and see the prices and think, "Well I really want that, but my wallet can't really take that stress right now..." The great news about that is the shop owner, Karen, is really nice and easy to talk to, and she completely understands that not everyone can afford it all at once.  All you have to do is message her and say you'd be interested in one of her purses, and she'll explain how to pay it off a little at a time until its all paid for and yours.  And I can assure you, the bag is well worth the price.

Before I get into that, I want to add; after I placed my order, it took about a week to a week and a half to be created, but it shipped and arrived in 2-3 days.  Fast delivery is the best thing in the world.  And it came wrapped in paper with a super cute wax seal on the front and a personalized thank you note.  That just made it all the better.

Cute, right?

So recap:

• Sweet, sweet bags
• The creator/owner is nice and willing to work out payment plans that fit your needs
• Custom orders
• Fast delivery
• Awesome purse
• What's not to like?

Here are some pictures of my bag, apologies yet again for bad iPhone quality photos and the fact that the window was right behind me and washed the book color out to a weird gray.

Front detail

Look how much of my crap it holds!

Its really spacious too, in the bag in the above picture I've shoved; my giant wallet, my birth control case, my keys, my butterfly knife, headphones, a small notebook, 2 pens, EOS lipbalm, and my cellphone and it shuts without even bulging.

In case you were wondering, I ordered it with shoulder length straps.  Its just a personal preference, but there is more than that option for when you order it, the book purse can range from clutch style to messenger style, and all the options are on the Etsy page.

For communication, ease/time of creating/ordering/delivery, and quality of the bag, I give this shop 5/5 stars and I will be going back and buying more bags, for sure.

★★★★★

If and when you decide to order a bag from her, I'm not sure how long this is in effect but, Karen and I have created a coupon code for you all.  Enter the phrase "TATUMRILEY" at checkout and receive 15% off of your order!

Happy shopping you guys!
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

A late post about NYCC

I totally meant to write a New York Comic Con post on Sunday when I got back from it, however between school assignments and some personal issues I've been pretty unmotivated to so do.  Sorry.

But I'm here now!  And New York Comic Con was more than amazing, seriously, its just like...wow I can't even create real words to describe it.
In case you didn't know I'm actually a cosplayer, and if you are unfamiliar with the hobby, here is a link to its Wikipedia article.  I really love going to con's because I love wearing and seeing the effort that people put into costumes.  Its amazing, they make some of my favorite comic book, anime, movie, or video game characters come to life.

Not incredibly relevant to my blog theme, but my boyfriend and I decided to cosplay pajama Link and Tetra from Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and since it just got rereleased in HD, the crowds response to us was almost magical.  It took us so long to cross the lobby of the convention center because so many people wanted photos of or with us.

Hey thats us!

Now to actually get back to the purpose of this post, other than just to gloat about how much fun I had, here are some amazing horror cosplays I saw around the con.  Sadly I don't have any of the names of the cosplayers, so if by some odd chance you know who they are, please leave a comment saying who they are so I can credit them, because they looked so great I just have to give credit somehow.

Chestburster; Alien

"Sam;" Trick 'r Treat

Ash; Army of Darkness

Pyramid Head; Silent Hill

Colombia and Eddie; Rocky Horror Picture Show

Ok, so maybe Rocky Horror isn't really horror, but its a cult film and everyone likes it so deal with it.  Those two actually host Rocky Horror's midnight shows on Fridays in my hometown, according to my younger sister.  Who knew.

Also there was this one Pyramid Head cosplayer who, sadly, I couldn't get a photo of.  He was wearing stilts and was terrifying.  It was so cool.

Sorry for the less-than-great iPhone photos!  I'll probably make another post later tonight about my weekly review on Ginger Snap's blog for Halloween...and I guess you'll see another post from me there as well!

Until then, stay spooky.

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Tatum Riley in "Detention"???

Ok, yeah, the title of this post is a joke I'm not actually in detention or anything.  To be honest I don't even know if college gives out detentions...?

Anyway.
The point of this post is a casual reminder that I've teamed up with Ginger Snap to do a horror movie review for her blog every Wednesday of the month of October.  Link to her blog on her name and also right here for when you want to go check it out.
For the record it probably wont be posted until late, which is totally my fault and I'm so sorry.  As you probably guessed schoolwork is prioritized over horror blogging (although I wish it wasn't).  So I'm sending it over quite late, and she has work until late, and I'm already like 2-3 time zones over from her so yeah, sorry about the general lateness of this review.

The movie I'm reviewing, and the inspiration for the title of this blog post, is Detention.  Why its called "detention" I'm not sure the characters are barely in detention at all.  Whatever, here is the link to the trailer in case you're interested.

Quick sort of fun story about this; I promised you all that I would only review movies I hadn't seen before, however this week was filled with fun essays -- one which I actually wrote on the horror movie Carrie -- so I wasn't sure I'd be able to find time to watch a new movie to review and considered just reviewing something I've already seen.  Luckily for me, it was like the blogging gods heard my woes, and tonight in my Intro to Film Studies class my professor said, "Since you guys busted ass writing a paper, lets watch a fun slasher-comedy."  Thank you based Ghostface.

Alright, here is the link to Ginger Snap's blog one last time, hopefully you'll see the review posted tonight...if not check back in the morning.

And I will see you all hopefully when I get back from New York Comic Con.  Apologies for the quick post.
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Halloween month!

Hey guys and ghouls -- oh dear that was really corny wasn't it?  Ah well, hey everyone!  I am so excited because its October, and as a horror blogger I'm sure we all can guess what my favorite holiday is.  Yep thats right, its New Years!
I'm just kidding, its Halloween of course.  Sadly its about 86 degrees here so welcoming autumn has been a little...well...off this year, but hopefully it will cool off soon.

So I meant to make this post on the first of October, but unfortunately I've been pretty under the weather and completely bogged down with work, so I wasn't able to.  Or well, wasn't motivated to.
What I wanted to say (other then complain about the heat), is that I really wanted to do a whole "31 Days of Halloween" type thing, I mean, I'm a horror blog what is more up my alley than that?  Sadly being a History-major college-senior won't allow me the time to do so...so maybe next year.

However, my dear sweet lovely Ginger Snap is doing a Halloween theme for her blog this month and she's asked me to come aboard every Wednesday -- starting next week -- to do a horror movie review.  Her introductory post about what she's aiming to do this month on her blog can be found here and you should all check it out.

Check out that cute divider I'll be using this month!  So cute.  So spooky.

Anyway, I wanted to give you a basic run down of what I'll be doing as a guest on her blog; as I said I'll be appearing every Wednesday reviewing a horror movie that I haven't seen before, so theres no opinions formed already on what I'm watching, you'll get the full experience of a review.
The reviews are based off of the sub-categories of horror from Seth Grahame-Smith's How to Survive a Horror Movie manual (which I will add, is totally worth the read).  You may know the name because he is the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I actually haven't read yet.

Back on topic; the beginning of How to Survive a Horror Movie breaks down the horror genre into five basic categories; slashers, evil places/things, the undead, fangs (monsters), and satanic...things and events.
Ginger Snap has already posted a review on James Wan's recent film The Conjuring (which I also loved) and that covers the "satanic" category, so the last four will be left to me.  Seeing as I am a broke college student who is rather busy, most of the movies I will be watching will be via Netflix, so more easily accessible to everyone than ones that just left theaters.  You are welcome.

There are also other things I hope to review this month, but I'm not going to mention them here because I can't promise anything.
Sorry this post is so last minute, here have a cute ghost GIF to make up for it:

I'll see you all (hopefully) soon, either here or on Ginger Snap's blog!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Dear Fright-Rags, please give me all of your shirts

I've been getting a lot of emails from Fright Rags recently telling me that they have new designs, want to resurrect old ones, and are having sale after sale after sale.
Oh if only my wallet weren't so thin.

If you were unaware, Fright Rags is an online store that specializes in selling really awesome horror t-shirts, hoodies, and prints.  You are now aware of its existence, and you are welcome.

The reason I bring up Fright Rags is because in the past month they've released two new shirt designs that I am absolutely dying to get my hands on.
The first one is a picture of the Frog Brothers (Edgar and Alan Frog), two of my favorite vampire killers from the awesome 1987 movie The Lost Boys.  The brothers are these teenage boys who work at a comic book shop, and team up with the hero of the film to save his older brother from a gang of motorcycle riding vampires.  Sounds awesome right?  Well it is and you should probably go watch it now.

Here is a link to the shirt in case you want to buy it for me, and here is an image of it so we can all bask in how cool it is.

And here is a Frog-brother approved checklist on how to know if your loved one has become a vampire:

1. Do they sleep a lot?
2. Does sunlight freak them out?
3. Bad breath?
4. Long fingernails?
5. Yeah, they're a vampire alright.

The second really cool design that they emailed me about a few days ago is from the 1982 slasher movie Pieces.

I love this movie, its super campy and just a really fun bloodbath.  If you like really fun bloodshed and half-naked women being cut in half with a chainsaw, this movie is for you.

Once again, the link to the shirt is here, and here is an image of it so you can contemplate buying it as well.

Granted, this is towards the "exploitation" side of the slasher spectrum, so if you either decide to watch it, or are outraged by the sexualized woman on the front of this shirt...well just take it down a notch because it is an exploitation film.

One really cool thing about Fright Rags is that every now and then you can cast a vote to bring back a design from their "graveyard," which is basically just a page full of their retired designs.  The next resurrection starts on October 1st, and I highly recommend you vote to bring back this Fright Night design because I really want to buy it, but thats just a suggestion.

Now you're probably wondering, "I see you like a lot of their things, but have you actually bought anything from them?" Yes.  Yes I have, and let me tell you about it.

I bought this really awesome Battle Royale t-shirt sometime during the winter, and its still for sale if anyone is interested in buying it.  I love this shirt.  It is super soft, the image is really cool, its stayed vibrant even though I wear it like once a week and wash it basically every time I do laundry.

Just like the website boasts, it was shipped out super quick, a shipping number was given, and arrived in less than a week.  It also came with a very cool An American Werewolf in London sticker (how'd they know I loved that movie!), some sour candies, and a few fact cards about some B-rated horror movies I haven't heard of.  How nice of them!

Here is a photo of me in the shirt, pardon the silly Instagram selfsie;

Team "chubby-girls-exposing-tummy" or bust.

I do recommend Fright Rags if your looking for horror shirts.  Their designs are a lot more interesting than the ones you find in the mall at places like FYE or Hot Topic, I'm just saying.  They're fast with their shipping and hey you get some free WarHeads out of this so whats not to like?

So since you were probably wondering, I take a size medium in mens or a size large in womens!  That's a joke, but buy me those shirts.  I'm fully kidding.  Sort of.

Until next time!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Je suis un Francophile, pour votre information!

So school has been completely kicking my ass this past week, and I've had no time to really do anything except sleep and work.
Originally I planned to use the little downtime I had Friday afternoon/Saturday morning to play through the text-input-based-Lovecraftian-horror-adventure game, Anchorhead.  Wow isn't that a mouthful?  Sadly all the progress I made was lost when a friend borrowed my laptop and accidentally closed the window and I was unable to restore my game.  So that will be saved for another time.

Instead, French 1003 came through for me by assigning a movie to watch for class that fit the theme of my blog!  Since you probably weren't aware, I'm a total Francophile so I enjoyed watching it and was so pleased to find out it was a Hitchcock-like thriller!
As I've said before, I don't discriminate against any form of horror.  Everything from campy-comedy to gory-gut-wrenching to thriller-mystery is OK in my book...or well, my blog.
And, lets be real for a minute, if you don't like Hitchcock...well everyone is entitled to their opinion but you're wrong.

Now on to the review.

Ne le Dis à Personne (in English, Tell No One), is a French thriller that completely screams Hitchcock, as I said before.

As I learned in film class, while America only went through a phase where these type of thrillers were incredibly popular, France on the other hand never left that phase and these type of movies are still very mainstream.

Ne le Dis à Personne is about Dr. Alexandre Beck and his life after the murder of his wife Margot.

The first scene opens with the two of them doing couple things, has a flashback or two establishing that they've known each other for awhile, and then one night Margot gets up from their lakeside resting place and you hear her scream in the woods.  Alex swims after her only to get knocked out by a baseball bat.

Flash forward, 8 years have passed.  Dr. Beck seems to be getting along with his life just fine, he is treating patients, walking his dog, and hanging out with his sister and her wife a lot.  On the anniversary of his wife'd death he receives a strange email from an anonymous source containing a video of Margot walking around somewhere.

Excuse me, what?  I thought Margot was killed by a serial killer in the first scene.  There were even flashbacks to her dead body and her family identifying her.

Since this is a really fantastic movie, I don't want to spoil too much for anyone so I'll just give you a very short summary of the plot.

So obviously Alex is confused and upset that he is receiving emails about his dead wife claiming she isn't dead after all, and thats when the movie really starts moving quickly.  Next thing you know there are people shown tapping into his computer, people getting held hostage and beaten up all while being asked "Ou est Margot (Where is Margot)?"  And there is murder.  And through all of this, who is the main suspect the police are chasing?  None other than Dr. Alex Beck.

There are chase scenes, and gun shots, and eerie flashbacks all making you wonder, "is Margot really dead?"  And like most Hitchcock movies, there are plot twists, and curve balls, and you'll find yourself sitting there trying to solve the mystery and coming up with five different solutions to what could have happened.

The first 30-40 minutes of the movie are admittedly a little slow, they just follow the daily boring life of a pediatrician.  At the 40 minute mark is when it starts getting interesting, with the first email being received, and the first suggestion that Margot is either alive or haunting Alex via the internet.
At first the movie seems like its a slow build and then all of a sudden Alex is accused of murder and the movie becomes so fast paced that you may or may not get metaphorical whiplash.

Before I move on to giving the movie a rating, I will say this: There are implied scenes of rape.  Its not terrible, mostly just implied and a subject of discussion in the film, but just to establish this now; I will always tell you when there is a possible trigger of rape in a book or movie, its the only trigger I will mention because I mean, its a horror blog.  I can't be like "trigger warning: blood and murder," I mean most movies I watch and review on here are like that.
But rape is a very serious thing that upsets people depending on the varying degrees of how its shown.  So yes, trigger warning for it, but it isn't graphic or too bad.

I give this film a 4.5/5 stars.  Why not 5 you ask?  I just don't feel like it deserves 5/5 so sit down and don't ask again, I reply.

★★★★½

You can find the subtitled movie on Netflix under foreign movies, or simply by googling it and clicking the Netflix link.  I highly recommend it if you like Hitchcock movies, thrillers, France, or car chases.

And on that note, I leave you until I have another review.  Hopefully my blog will pick up in October because its Halloween month which only means; horror non-stop!

"This house is clean."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

First Giveaway: OVER!

Hey guys!

Sorry my blog has been kind of dead recently.  School has swamped me with work the past few weeks but I promise in the next week or so I'll be more active!

My first giveaway has ended, and congratulations to Lauren, aka trekintodarkness on tumblr!  I've sent her a message about it and hopefully she'll respond soon.

Thanks again to those who've participated!  Hopefully I'll have another one during October.

Well back to work for me and I'll see you guys at a later date.
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

A blog post about "Uzumaki"

Not to mislead you or anything, this is sort of a blog post about the Japanese horror comic Uzumaki.  I just want to shed light on, as I've been saying and as I've promised, I am reading it, and I will be posting a review about it once I finish it.

However, I'm postponing my reading of it due to the arrival of a new book.

This book to be exact:

And maybe you aren't aware of it but

I'm

A little obsessed

With Twin Peaks.

For those of you who don't know, Twin Peaks is an early 90's television show, and (It's all different types of things, one of those being 'horror' so it fits the theme of my blog.) its a thriller-mystery-whodunnit-cop-dramaedy that ran for two amazing seasons, and got cancelled.  After which they -- creator David Lynch and the other producers -- made a movie to wrap everything up.

To be completely honest, I classify the movie as horror because its truly unsettling and quite scary.

A dear friend of mine actually asked me not too long ago if I've considered reviewing the show and/or movie for this blog and my answer is; yes, I really want to.  I wont for a little bit because I'm doing a re-watch of it with my boyfriend, and once I finish that (or get impatient with waiting, we just don't know) I'll review everything.

(Well...maybe the movie.  You see, I want to review the movie because I do find it really scary, but there are some scenes in it that make me rather uncomfortable and I'm not 100% sure I want to re-watch it in the near future due to my reactions to said scenes last time.)

Until those posts, and if you're not interested in this show yet, here is the basic run down of it that I use when I want to get anyone interested:

Twin Peaks is a show about the town and people of Twin Peaks.  The pilot episode of the show is one of the best pilot episodes of all time, introducing all these amazing characters and presenting a murder mystery as the plot of the show.  A high school girl, Laura Palmer, is found dead and wrapped in plastic within the first 5-10 minutes, and no one has any idea who the murderer is.  Soon after the discovery, FBI's Special Agent of my heart Dale Cooper comes to Twin Peaks to solve the mystery and find the killer.  Nothing seems to be funnier to my boyfriend than my massive crush on Agent Cooper, I swear I'll never hear the end of it.

Twin Peaks runs for two seasons before its cancelled, both ending on massive cliff hangers.  The movie made afterward serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the show.  I highly recommend looking into it, and I know this is not a review but I give it 5/5 stars.

★★★★★

Well this blog post diverged a lot from its title and ends rather abruptly.  Um...'the end?'  I'll see you next blog post?

"Diane, I have in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies."

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

And now a personal account; "Why I Like Horror Movies"

[A piece I wrote for my Intro to Non-Fiction English class, see end of post for notes!] 

I’m 7 years old.
I’m standing frozen in my kitchen, wide-eyed, with the television remote still in my hand. The screen in front of me dances with images of a bloody-mouthed man beating a police officer to death, leaning over and biting a portion of his face off.
My babysitter rushes into the room. She takes the remote from me, switches off the TV, and hugs me asking if I’m ok. I’m paralyzed with a fear and intrigue that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

The Silence of the Lambs won five out of the seven Oscars it was nominated for in 1992, including ‘Best Actor in Leading Role,’ awarded to Anthony Hopkins, who beat two policemen to death as Hannibal Lector in front of my 7 year old eyes.
More than often I use this bit of information when I have to remind friends and family that not only I find it a work of cinematic genius.

I guess that comes with the territory of being a horror movie fan.

I’m a junior in high school.
My so-called boyfriend says that Hostel was a waste of an hour and a half; he asks why I like such pointless and idiotic movies.
Our relationship only lasts a few months after that. It ends with me dumping him after a large fight over the classic movie Halloween. Or rather, it ends because I want to watch the film in peace and he wants to bring up all of our problems. But I tell everyone that it ends over that film, and everyone believes that I’m obsessive and weird enough to do something like that.

“Don’t you already own that movie?” My roommate freshman year of college asks as I open the packaging to the 2005 gore-fest that is Hostel.
“I did,” I say. She stares at me while I explain that I had to buy a new one because I watched my previous DVD so many times it burned out.
Hostel never won any awards. It is harder for people to understand why I find this one so wonderful, when no academy recognizes it as a cinematic masterpiece, or when a friend risks seeing someone get their eye cut out if they accidentally glance at my laptop screen.
“I watch it when I’m sad,” I tell her. And when I’m happy. Or bored. Or just need background noise. I watch it a lot.

She doesn’t even pretend to understand.

My mother watches me cringe and whimper as the villain in the 1999 Japanese film Audition uses a wire saw around her paralyzed husbands ankle and begins to remove his foot. She makes a disgusted noise and averts her eyes from the television. As she leaves the room she asks me for what seems like the millionth time why I’m so obsessed with watching movies like these. I shrug. “They make me uncomfortable,” I tell her.
She tilts her head in confusion.
“In a good way.” I add on.
She tells me she doesn’t understand, and I tell her its ok, I don’t really either. Its just the underlying fact is that these movies make me happy, and that’s why I can watch them from sunrise to sunset.

“So basically, you’re obsessed with horror movies?” The cute boy asks while we’re hanging out and getting to know one another. “Yeah,” I say. “I find the stories easy to follow and blood spatter fun to watch, I could watch them for days. Are you a fan?”
He tells me he isn’t really, he finds them gross and boring. Plus he doesn’t like the adrenaline rush that comes with being scared. I say that part is my favorite part.
Well that’s a shame, I think, he is really cute.
I think how the lack of interest in horror could make or break a relationship with me, and I silently wish that it wasn’t such a deal breaker.
“But I could always try to be more interested in them,” he offers, breaking my train of thoughts.

It is over a year later, and he is my boyfriend. He asks if I want to see The Evil Dead remake with him in theaters, I say yes. This is better than a marriage proposal.
I smile at him; it’s nice to know that now more than just myself and the academy thinks that The Silence of the Lambs is a cinematic masterpiece.

Notes on this writing:
Hey guys! I figured I'd share this piece with you! It was my first assignment from a creative writing class that I took over the summer, the topic was: Write about an obsession, and what better to write about than my undying love for horror movies?

I don't really have much more to add to this, but I leave you with this question: Are the floating skull dividers too much? I wanted to add dividers/a fun element to my blog, but I'm worried that it might look goofy or not fit with the theme. Let me know what you think! Leave comments below, and constructive criticism is always welcome! And I will see you guys in the next blog post!

"Be afraid, be very afraid."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

I got my first comment!!

Yes ladies and gentlefolk, your eyes do not deceive you, I have received my first blog comment!
This officially makes me a real blogger.

Sadly Blogger is goofing up and won't show the comment.
But as proof, here is my screenshot of the email:

I'm just really excited about this.  Honestly that all I wanted to tell you, and to thesweetmysteryoflife, thank you.  You've really made my day with this.

Now back to reading Uzumaki for me, and I'll see you guys soon!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

First Giveaway!

Hey guys!

So I've been thinking about doing a giveaway since I began this blog, and seeing as I probably wont be as active as I want to be these upcoming weeks, I figured why not do it now?

Keeping to the recent blog posts, I've decided to give you, yes you, somethings I've talked about!

You could win:

1. Your very own copy of Salem's Lot
2. Some handmade horror stickers I've made
3. A Welcome to Night Vale Intern t-shirt with your name on the back!

Really, I don't ask for much in return.  Just link my blog somewhere, or just tell one person who likes horror about it and I'll be happy!

Good luck and happy giveaway!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You're Next, aka "Close Ups of Distressed White People;" a movie review

Ok, its been awhile since I've last reviewed a movie...2 years maybe?  Who knows.

I've decided to format my movie reviews like so; I'll give you my opinion about it interwoven with a brief summary and key points, maybe a few jokes at its expense, a star rating, and then I'll post a spoiler warning and go more into depth with a synopsis of the movie.
Sound good?  Alright, lets get started!

Saturday my friend hit me up and was like "Hey do you want to see that new horror movie You're Next?"  Obviously I was like 'hell yeah,' I mean the previews for the movie looked promising.  Well my friend flaked on me (honestly knowing her, I didn't expect any less), but my other friend was willing to go so I saw it anyway.

I don't even know where to start with this movie.

When my friends asked what I thought of it, all I could really answer was; "Well it was most definitely...something thats for sure."  I can't say I hated it, but I don't think I liked it.

Let me explain.
Have you seen the trailer for it?  If not, you can watch it here.

I guess my disappointment started when I went in expecting a horror movie.  The trailer combined with the first 5-10 minutes of the movie promised me a violent, jump scare, slasher film.  I was stoked.
Unfortunately, the entire movie teetered on the line between 'trying to be scary' and being 'full on campy,' and it was incredibly frustrating that it couldn't just pick a damn side.  Although, at first I was concerned that it was just a bad horror movie that was unintentionally funny.
The very end before the credits roll, theres a splat of blood against the screen that says "YOU'RE NEXT."  Luckily that only confirmed that the movie was going for a slightly campy feel, and salvaged whatever good opinion I had towards the film.

Without even touching the storyline, I can tell you that the movie annoyed me for these reasons;

1. The actors playing the parents just could not act well.  At all.  I would provide an example, but the entire time they're on screen you can't help but laugh at what they're saying.  I hope that explains it enough.
2. The dialogue was terrible.  There is a scene where the family is completely freaking out (with good reason) and they're trying to get service on their phones but can't.  In the middle of panic their one son yells out; "They probably blocked our signal with a signal blocking box!  You can get those for like $30 on Amazon!"  ...I mean...really?
3. The entire movie was done with shaky cam, which gave me a headache.
4. And literally the entire first half of the movie was just close ups of white people looking distressed.  It was hilarious.

If you're confused I'll give you a brief summary of the movie:

There is this family; older parents, their four adult children, and those kids significant others, who go to the family's vacation home for the weekend to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the parents.  Oh by the way, the parents are incredibly wealthy and its made known that none of the kids are doing well financially at all.

While they're eating dinner and arguing, one of their daughter's boyfriend notices something strange outside and walks toward it only to be shot in the head by a crossbow.  Obviously the movie escalades from this point on with the family being hunted by guys in animal masks.

The hero of this movie is the son Crispin's girlfriend Erin, and I have mixed feeling about her as a character.  When the going gets rough, she springs into action, which is pretty badass...until they reveal her backstory.  Spoilers: she was raised in the Australian outback by survivalists.

I...what?  Look, theres nothing I love more than a beautiful, strong, horror movie heroine...but with a backstory like that, personally I think that makes her a little less badass.  It just seems too convenient.  If they had given her a backstory like "Oh I'm just trained in self defense," or "Oh I went to a lot of Eagle Scout camp outs," or even "Oh I just watch a lot of horror movies and know how to react in a situation like this."  Yeah, that would not only be less...ridiculous, but it would add to the campy feel and make her a lot cooler.

Unlike The Strangers (fuck that movie on some reals), there is actually motivation to killing the family, and a character with ulterior motives.  I think we both know where I'm going with this.

So I'll leave you with; go see it if you want, who am I to tell you to not see it.

Just know that it is, predictable, not scary, and just kind of underwhelming the entire time.

Since it was advertised to me as a horror movie, I'm giving it 2/5 stars.

★★☆☆☆

But maybe I'm just mad at the false advertising.  Ok, for the sake of giving it a higher rating, I'll rate it as a comedy-horror and give it 3.5/5.

★★★½☆

And this is where my review ends.  You may continue reading about certain parts of the movie I found hilarious, but know this: anything below this text and the "spoilers" warning will be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

Honestly I just wanted to talk about a few more things before I wrap this up, and while they're spoilers, I also couldn't fit them into the review anywhere that would make sense so...

1. I should make it clear that everyone in the movie, except Erin the heroine, dies.  But its a slasher movie, so thats kind of a given.
2. Early on in the movie, the son Drake takes a crossbow shot to the shoulder, and spends half the movie running around with an arrow sticking out of his back.  I could not stop laughing.
3. Felix (the youngest son) and his angsty girlfriend Zee, the masterminds behind the murders, have the funniest deaths ever.  Erin smashes a blender and breaks the glass on Felix, then turns it on and sticks it into his head.  It was the funniest death I've seen since Braindead/Dead Alive.  So kudos to that.
4. As touched on before, the reason Felix wanted to kill his family was to inherit the life insurance.  Oh also, in a surprise twist that caught me off guard, Erin's boyfriend Crispin was in on it as well!  Who knew!

Thats really it I guess.

Kind of a shame that the only parts I liked from the movie had to go under a "spoilers" sign.  Ah well.

"I'll catch you on the flipside."

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

WTNV t-shirt contest

One of these days I promise to do an actual post about Welcome to Night Vale, explaining what it is, how I feel about it, where to download it, what have you.
...I should probably finish it before making a post about it, haha.

In the mean time, I'm just going to assume you know something about WTNV if you're reading this.  (...And all of my English and History teachers are cringing somewhere because I'm breaking Rule No. 1 of essay writing; always assume your reader knows nothing.)
(Oops.)

Basically I just wanted to say that Commonplace Books, the people who create and produce WTNV are currently holding a t-shirt design contest for the show.  Or, well, today is the last day to enter, so I guess its more of "just held a contest?"  Whatever.

My lovely lovely boyfriend actually decided to enter the contest!  He also gave me permission to post his entry on this blog because 1.) if he doesn't win, no one will see his design anyway, and 2.) he actually created it for me, making me a Night Vale Community Radio Intern t-shirt for my birthday this past week.  What a sweetie!

So here is his design:

We're crossing our fingers to see it on September 15th when they announce the finalists!  If not, its no big loss.  He gave me permission to make some for my friends, or use it in a giveaway...so if he doesn't make it, then there are still ways to get your own!

The prototype was my birthday present! 

He even included a letter from Cecil thats quite funny.

As you can see, he cleaned the design up a bit.  I personally think the best part of my personal shirt is the fact that is says "INTERN" on the back, followed by my name.

Well actually it says "INTERN DYLAN," but "DYLAN" is crossed out and my name is underneath.  This is because in the show, their intern Dylan met a very tragic end.  It is explained in the silly letter he wrote me.

Well guys, what do you think of the shirt?  Anyone else submit anything?  Anyone else a fan of Welcome to Night Vale?  Leave your comments below!

Also if you don't want to wait who-knows-how-long for a my review of WTNV, a simple Google or iTunes search will give you answers and free download links!  And for those of you who don't know whether or not this fits with the theme of my blog; it does.  Its a lovely, comedic, Lovecraft-type horror podcast that I really recommend listening to!

Sorry for the short post, and...

"Good night listeners, goodnight."

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Crappy instant noodles, unbearable heat, and vampires -- what more could a girl want?

"I should probably be doing schoolwork..." is what I keep saying to myself as I open up the Blogger tag and wait for my crappy instant udon to warm up.
Instead I'm sitting here contemplating beginning the Japanese horror manga, Uzumaki.

Yes yes, I know I should be more concerned with school, seeing as its the first week and in exactly a year from today I will be done with my B.A.--now thats a scary thought.
Instead I'm going to use the excuse that I'm miserable thanks to the heat, and write my first review (for this blog).  So get off my back, mom.

Let's talk about a book I read this summer, what I call 'fun summer reading,' and what my mother refers to as "dear God you're reading another one of those?  Why can't you read something fun and happy for once?"
Indeed ladies and gents, I'm talking about a Stephen King book.

Now, I'm a huge Stephen King fan.  I've read Carrie, IT, The Shining, 1408, Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Misery...and countless other stories.  So I poked around online looking for recommendations of what to read next and found; READ 'SALEM'S LOT ITS HIS BEST WORK EVER YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
And I went "pfffffft yeah we'll see about that, I mean IT and The Shining were so damn good how can anyone even think something beats that?"

Well...it certainly did.

'Salem's Lot was written by King in 1975, and its about this town in Maine called Jerusalem's Lot.  In this town, there is an old house that sits at the top of the hill and just kind of looms over the town in a very haunting fashion, and much like you're probably expecting, it was the site of gruesome murders and pure evil.
So then this guy Ben Mears comes into town and much like the main male characters of IT, The Shining, 1408, and Misery, he is a writer.  (Hey, I mean, write what you know, right?  No complaints from me.)  He comes to the Lot to write a horror story about the Marsten House on the hill, running from his demons by going to confront his childhood horrors -- never a smart idea.
In the Lot there are some truly amazing characters Mears encounters including; love interest Susan, English teacher Matt Burke, Father Callahan, Dr. Jimmy Cody, and young boy named Mark Petrie.  The book bounces around a bit at the beginning giving you a different character to be for a chapter so you really get a feel for who they are, and trust me, you'll grow to love them.  It also introduces heaps and heaps of characters that just live their daily lives, fleshing out the town and how real it is just a little more.  Great touch in my opinion.

When I said "'Salem's Lot" I'm sure the first image that popped into your head was this:

...or something to that extent.  (No, I have not seen the movie yet.)

Yes in fact, it is a vampire story.  When Ben Mears visits the Lot, he is confronted with unfathomable horror because vampires have taken up residence in the haunted house, and its their plan to spread the vamprism disease like missionaries spreading Christianity.
Hot damn what a plot.
To avoid spoiling it too much for you all, I'll just mention that obviously the plot then becomes Ben Mears and his rag-tag/dream-team of friends trying to stop the head vampire, Barlow, expect a lot of bloodshed.

Whats my opinion of the book?  Oh how nice of you to ask, I'd love to talk about it!
The first few chapters I felt were a little slow, unlike some of his other books.  I was irritated at first because I was expecting to hit the ground running with some horror masterpiece, and instead I got about the first 1/3 of the book just being slow build up to the story.
However, when the book picked up, it really fucking picked up.
When the horror is unleashed on the town you know, and you are terrified for everyone in this town.

My favorite parts of this book were;

1. You care about all of the characters.  Even towards the end with all the bloodshed and death, there were small scenes about characters you hadn't even met meeting their maker, which made it so...upsetting.
2. It became abundantly clear that becoming a vampire is a fate much worse than death.  And its heartbreaking.
3. Its written in a way that makes you think it really could happen.  There's a scene where Ben Mears is helping his friend Matt Burke after the first encounter with a vampire.  Burke wants to call the police and alert the town and keep everyone safe from the threat, but Ben says "no we can't do that, they'll all think we're crazy."  Unlike other horror books and movies, the characters are aware of hard it will be to get people to believe them, which makes it wonderfully realistic.

I could go on and on about this book, trust me.  You can ask the boyfriend, I would read it on the train and get off and be like "oh hey you look great today SO GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK IT WAS HORRIFYING AND AWESOME BLAH BLAH BLAH."  And he would just nod and pretend to care about what I was saying, bless him.

'Salem's Lot can be purchased on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, or even Kindle AZW file for about $8.  But honestly, I'd just run out to Barnes and Nobel and buy their edition of it.  You know, the fancy covers they release for books?  Yeah well, not only is it pretty, but its three books in one, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining.  All books worth reading.

I mean HOT DAMN its pretty.

Someone even made it into a purse that I've been dying to buy.

Take my money, Etsy seller NovelCreations.  Take all of it.

All in all, I'm giving 'Salem's Lot 5/5 stars.

★★★★★

Definitely go pick up a copy like right this second, I highly recommend it. (It may even be my favorite one of his books!)
Alright well, enough blabbing from me. The udon is gone and Catalie is licking the bowl in hopes of getting some flavor, so I will take my leave and read Uzumaki until its time to go out for margaritas with my History major friend.

And so, dear reader, I leave you with this question: Have you read 'Salems's Lot? Or any other Stephen King book for that matter? What did you think and what are some of your favorites? 
Leave your comments below, I'd love to hear them!

"I'll see you in the kitchen with a knife."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

Obligatory Introduction Post

Every day of my existence I've thought, "hmm why don't I run a horror blog?"  Yes, even since the day I was conceived, I've had that thought.

As I woke up this morning I had that thought again, but this time it was followed with "well fuck it why not lets do this thing."
And so it begins.

Let's back up a little bit, and I'll explain some things.  As of yesterday, I'm a 21 year old college student who currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.
The purpose of this blog is to just...kind of...you know, talk about things.  I mean, isn't that what all blogs are for?
Mainly here you'll see posts related to horror things; movies I've watched, books or comics I've read...even a game I played...or attempted to play, haha.
Mixed in with those posts will probably be some posts about my personal life.  I'll talk about my school, friends, family, boyfriend, roommates, cat, and what not.  However, since that is pretty boring, it won't be terribly often.
Also, to respect the privacy of everyone I know, I wont use their full names (or their names maybe?  Maybe I'll give them all nicknames because that'd be cool right)...except my cat, Catalie Purrtman, because that's a great name and everyone should know it.

On that note, I do have a name, obviously.  And if you know me personally you probably know it.  If you've just stumbled on to this blog, I guess I'll say it now; I'm not going to post my name often because I really like the idea of having an elusive, secretive, internet persona.  I've never done it before and dare I say, I think its a little thrilling.

Maybe I'm just a huge dork though.

I'll just go by the name of one of my favorite, snarky, fictional characters; Tatum Riley from Scream.
Or, well, "the real Tatum Riley."

So lets have fun, shall we?
Get ready for some awesome reviews of all the things previously mentioned.  Most likely more movies than anything due to the fact college started up again, so it'll be harder for me to play through long games, or read long books.
I'm also going to hold giveaways, maybe do some audio posts/reviews, hopefully talk to some other people.

It should be a good run.

"I'll see you in the next reel."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley