Kampung Kreepy

  If you'd like to get into the spirit of the holiday through a movie, and you’re a horror fan (like myself), check out this previous post where I recommend a few classics that will do the job! 

I’m not a fan of Godzilla movies. I mean, I like them well enough, but I won’t go out of my way to watch them. So I was really surprised to find how much I liked Godzilla Minus One , which I caught on Netflix . This isn’t yet another kaiju (giant monster) movie in which the creature wrecks Tokyo and terrorizes its residents. Instead, it’s character-driven, and really tugs at your heartstrings. You’re so much more invested in a flick if you actually care that the people in it survive. The movie was produced and released in 2023 by Japan’s Toho Studios. It has found worldwide success, reportedly raking in $116 million compared to an estimated budget of $10 - $12 million. It is Toho’s highest-grossing Godzilla movie ever, at a time when American movies are sluggish at the box office. Godzilla Minus One takes place shortly after World War II, when Japan is reeling from its ignominious defeat by the Allied Forces. The main character is Koichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot who mus...

I confess I was nervous about watching Netflix’s live version of Avatar: The Last Airbender . I liked the animated series on which it’s based, and I had no idea whether Netflix could be true to that. All in all, I thought Netflix did a good job. The animated series aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons (from 2005 to 2008). I particularly liked its storyline, which was influenced by Chinese martial arts and Asian and Native American cultures. If you’re not familiar with it, the series is set in a world where the people of four nations—the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads and the Water Tribes—have the ability to “bend,” or manipulate, the elements. Peace between the nations is ensured by the Avatar, who is born with the ability to bend all four elements. Aang, a 12-year-old Air Nomad, is the latest Avatar. The Fire Nation exterminates his people as part of an effort to conquer the other nations. He survives, but goes missing for 100 years. When he returns, he befriend...

I liked Netflix's  Rebel Moon , but I found the story only so-so. The tropes and archetypes could have been lifted from any fantasy (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Here you have an evil empire, an innocent village, a brave, disillusioned warrior, a villainous villain, a quest to seek out heroes and defenders. The writing is clunky in parts. Everything is too pat. The movie’s concepts and aesthetics also are heavily reminiscent of those from popular sci-fi films, shows and games such as Dune   (2021),  Firefly  (2002-2003),  Star Wars   (1977),  Mad Max  (starting from 1981's The Road Warrior ) and Warhammer . I didn’t get to know any of the main characters, and I didn’t particularly care for any of them. Which is a pity because any good story needs a heart and a soul. Perhaps Rebel Moon, Part 2 , coming in April, will tell us more about their back stories. I’m also interested to see what happens with Jimmy, a sentient machine whom I found t...

It’s summer. The days are long and muggy, and the smell of sunblock is everywhere. Millions of American are setting out for the beach or the lake, while you’re stuck at home and/or working. You don’t have to miss out. If you’re a horror fan like I am, there are many movies that will get you in the vacation mood. And after watching some of them, you may be glad you’re staying home instead of venturing out! Here are 10 recommendations, in no particular order, of horror movies that evoke the sights and sounds of summer. 1. The Wretched (2019) A teenage boy comes to live with his father at a resort town while his parents are going through a divorce. One night, he sees a strange figure on his neighbor’s porch. Shortly after, his neighbor’s little boy claims something is wrong with his mother. Before you know it, the teenager is tangling with a 1,000-year-old witch who wears the skins of her victims. 2. Splinter (2008) Gas stations can be frightening places in the middle of the night...

I recently watched the new Netflix movie Troll . It is, not surprisingly, set in Norway. Did you know that Southeast Asia has its own troll-like figure? She is called Sang Kelembai. Trolls are such an important part of Nordic folklore that places all over Norway are named after the creatures. Mountain peaks and rock formations are especially likely to be named after trolls because, according to the lore, trolls turn to stone when exposed to sunlight. Whether from the mountains, the woods or caverns, trolls are large and uncouth. They love to trick humans and are generally unhelpful. Think of the troll who lives under the bridge in the old fairy tale “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Or the nasty trolls in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings . The Sang Kelembai myth originates from the state of Pahang in Malaysia. She is a giantess (some say giant) three times the size of a normal person. She has a big nose, big elephant-like ears and fangs. She lives in the jungle and eats meat, fruit...

Television series have a lot in common with books. It’s often the cast of characters that keep their fans loyal. Think of the Winchester brothers and their monster-hunting friends in Supernatural . Or if your tastes run to something more prosaic—the lifeguards of Baywatch . And that’s why I love Netflix’s Stranger Things series. It’s not so much the edge-of-the-seat tension and the scary monsters. It’s the characters. They’re not just interesting and compelling. They also develop and change, as we see in Volume 1 of the latest season. By the way, my apologies for not posting recently. I’ve been hard at work with my latest book, the third installment in my urban fantasy The Geomancer’s Apprentice series. I finished the first draft recently. Yay! My reward was allowing myself a few hours to binge watch Stranger Things 4 . The characters in the series are as familiar as apple pie. There is the not-so-smart jock with the heart of gold; the wisecracking smart kid; the female superhero...

I just watched the first season of Netflix’s Cracow Monsters . It’s been a treat, especially since my husband and I spent a few days in that lovely city in 2018 and I love folklore and mythology. In the series, a medical school student and her classmates investigate strange events involving missing and dead children, resurrected corpses, and ancient Polish gods. While the storyline was pretty run-of-the-mill urban fantasy, there were quite a few suspenseful and hair-raising moments. The acting and the production quality also were good. What I especially liked was how the makers of the series took care to film in many of Krakow’s most iconic landmarks. That includes the city's Main Market Square, which dates back to the 13 th century and is the largest medieval town square in Europe. I loved seeing the square, the Vistula River, Wanda’s Mound and, of course, the Wawel Dragon in the series. The Wawel Dragon You can’t talk about Krakow without touching upon the Wawel Dragon. Acc...

I’m really enjoying Korean zombies. I recently binge-watched  All of Us Are Dead , the new Netflix television series about a group of students whose high school is overrun with reanimated corpses. The series, adapted from a popular webtoon, has everything you would want from a show about zombies. There are jump scares, close-contact situations of peril, close shaves, relatable and sympathetic characters, good makeup, and hordes of terrifying, shambling, hungry zombies. Each episode ended with a cliffhanger that made it hard not to rush to the next installment. There were perhaps too many character tropes in the series. However, that’s par for the course for most programs featuring zombies. Many people in the shows don’t live long enough to show their depth of character or to undergo personal growth. It’s not clear at this point whether there will be a second season. I’ll definitely watch it if there is one. While All of Us are Dead was good, I consider Kingdom —another zombie-c...

I saw  The Company of Wolves recently. It’s a 1984 British anthology film about a young girl who dreams about werewolves. The movie is a little heavy-handed in its symbolism and warning to young women to steer clear of predatory “wolves” in the woods. Its special effects also are dated. However, I still liked it for its dreamlike quality and ominous atmosphere (are European woods really that dark and damp?). The movie did get me thinking about werewolves in general. To be honest, I’ve always felt sorry for the creatures. Let me clarify first that I’m not talking about shape-shifters who can change at will, like Jacob Black’s Quileute tribe in the Twilight flicks. I’m discussing the werewolf as portrayed in movies, who acquires his or her condition through a bite by a (usually unseen) savage animal. In addition to being victims, werewolves have no agency. Their shape-shifting is dictated by the cycles of the moon, and they can’t control themselves once they transform. Because t...

I’ve been a fan of superheroes for a long time. So long, in fact, that I’m now witnessing a new phenomenon. The movie superheroes of my time are aging. And some are dying. It’s bad enough that Marvel killed off Iron Man and the Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame (2019). I watched a few episodes of Hawkeye during a trial period when I got the Disney+ streaming service for free. Hawkeye wears a hearing aid and his age is showing. I also watched Logan (2017) recently. A great movie (I highly recommend it), but depressing as hell. In Logan , Patrick Stewart’s Professor X is a nonagenarian with mental deterioration. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is an aging alcoholic—his superhuman ability to heal is slowing down, allowing him to be poisoned by the adamantium in his body. Jackman’s version of Wolverine is the only one I’ve ever known. When I think of Wolverine, Jackman’s face is the one I see. The same goes for Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man. And Scarlet Johansson and the Black Widow. And ...

It’s almost Christmas. What better time for horror movies than the Yuletide? After all, Yule originally was a pagan mid-winter festival celebrated by pre-Christian Germanic peoples. The early Germans believed that the “Wild Hunt” occurred during the 12 nights of the Yuletide (Dec. 21 to Jan. 1). That was when a host of ghostly hunters rode the night skies led by Odin, whose many roles included the god of the dead. The hunters would mimic the sounds of howling wind and storms as they swept up the souls of the dead as well as any unlucky people and animals that crossed their path. The Yuletide feast was thought to be a sacrifice to secure blessings from Odin and the other gods for abundant crops and livestock in the coming spring. Yule was adopted and adapted by the Christians. However, even as Yuletide became Christmastide, some of the older traditions and customs were retained, such as wassailing and the burning of the log. In the spirit of the Wild Hunt, I have suggestions for ho...

It’s three days to Thanksgiving, and I have movie recommendations that will help horror fans enjoy the holiday even more. Watch a movie every night until Turkey Day. Or watch them all on the day itself, right after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Have a great Thanksgiving! Kristy (2014) A college student stays in the dorm while most of her schoolmates go home for Thanksgiving. She is targeted and pursued by a cult of sadistic killers. Does anyone else find empty college campuses creepy? If you do, this is the horror flick for you. The movie is fast-paced and exciting. Kristy can be streamed on the Roku Channel or Tubi. Into the Dark: Pilgrim (2019) A woman invites re-enactors into her home to recreate an authentic Thanksgiving with the pilgrims, in the hope that her family will appreciate the holiday even more. Unfortunately, the actors take their work very, very seriously. Pilgrim is from Season 2 of Hulu’s Into the Dark TV series produced by Blumhouse Production...

As many of you know, Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, has roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (it’s Gaelic and pronounced SAH-win). The Celts believed that between October 31 and November 1, the boundaries between the physical and spiritual worlds were weak and could be breached. That meant that the dead, fairy folk and even monsters could cross into the human world at this time. The Celts left offerings for the Sidhs, or fairies, outside their villages and in fields. They also dressed up as animals and monsters to fool the fairies into not kidnapping them. For this Halloween, I thought it might be fun to breach the walls between the world of the living and the world of the dead. How about watching a few movies about ghosts while waiting for the trick-or-treaters to arrive? If you’re interested, I have a few recommendations for you. My list is in no particular order. Some of these are older movies and/or classics. They are among my favorite horror movies, and they all br...

Are you tired of the never-ending horror movie franchises? Want to watch something this Halloween that may not have gotten too much attention? I have a few recommendations for you. In July, I blogged about movies that many horror fans might not have heard of. It was one of my more successful posts. I’m doing it once more for this spooky season. Again, I want to stress that I generally am not a fan of slasher movies. I don’t like overt gore and gratuitous violence. What I do like is mounting dread and dark atmosphere. I want cold fingers tickling my spine. I want the hair on the back of my neck to stand. I also have a thing about ghosts and haunted houses. Many of the flicks I’m recommending don’t have much in the way of jump scares. Some of them are old so you may have forgotten about them. The chill factor is what these movies have in common. The movies are listed in no particular order. 1. The Awakening (2011) A writer who debunks paranormal phenomena investigates an alleged ...