Kampung Kreepy

Photo: Netflix.com Netflix’s Army of the Dead is an over-the-top mashup of a Las Vegas heist movie and a zombie killfest. It has loads of action and some cool concepts, like a Siegfried & Roy zombie tiger. I loved the tiger and thought it was the best part of the movie. However, like much that occurs in Vegas, it’s glitz over substance. The movie favors mindless action and stock characters over plot and character development. Your heart pounds while the film is playing, but you’re not really moved by any of the characters. In fact, a few of the characters’ motivations are so improbable that I would have been happy to see them torn to shreds by the zombies. I mean, if you want to risk your life doing something so stupid … I also found the film’s runtime—at a shade under two and a half hours—too long. The first part of the movie, during which Dave Bautista’s character Scott Ward relives his backstory and recruits his gang of thieves, drags. Photo: Netflix.com I had such high hop...

Shadow in the Cloud is a 2020 oddball New Zealand movie now streaming on Hulu. It doesn’t quite know what it wants to be—a wartime action film or a creature feature. It is charming and great fun for all that. There are quite a few edge-of-the-seat moments. What I particularly liked was how the female protagonist saves the day. This is what I and other women who yearn to be heroes (or superheroes) fantasize about. This is pure female empowerment. The movie takes place in 1943. Flight Officer Maude Garrett boards an allied B-17 bomber that is about to fly from Auckland to Samoa. She claims she is authorized by a high-ranking officer to ferry top-secret documents to the destination. The male crew members make her ride in the sperry—a gun turret mounted at the bottom of the bomber—on takeoff because they don’t have a seat for her. While in the turret, she discovers there is a nonhuman passenger on board who is intent on destroying the plane. By the way, “gremlins”—creatures that prey o...

P è re  Lachaise Cemetery: Photo from Pixabay I have a thing about graveyards. It isn’t just because I’m a horror fan. I like wandering through old graveyards because they tend to be peaceful places. Some are historic, some are oases of inspiration, and some are just plain beautiful. My earliest memory of a graveyard was when I was about six. My family was visiting relatives in Johore, Malaysia, and I was playing hide-and-seek with my brother and the cousins. I followed the older kids into an old Chinese cemetery and we hid among the graves. My brother and I crouched behind a tombstone with raised sides. It was nicer than the other headstones, but neglected for all that. The cement was chipped and the site was weedy. There was a black-and-white photograph of an elderly woman on the tombstone. It was presumably whoever was buried at that spot. From where I squatted, I was face-to-face with her. Her eyes seemed to bore into me. I was petrified. I looked away, but I could still fe...

Have you heard of Richard Matheson? You should have if you’re a fan of horror and science fiction novels and movies. Matheson’s book I Am Legend spawned three movie adaptations: The Last Man on Earth  (1964), The Omega Man  (1971) and I Am Legend  (2007) starring Will Smith. Other Matheson books/short stories that were made into movies: Duel— Duel   (1971) A Stir of Echoes— Stir of Echoes (1999) Hell House— The Legend of Hell House (1973) Steel— Real Steel (2011) Button, Button— The Box (2009) What Dreams May Come— What Dreams May Come   (1998) Bid Time Return— Somewhere in Time (1980) Matheson also wrote screenplays for The Twilight Zone , Star Trek and Amazing Stories . His short story Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was the Twilight Zone episode in which a man on a flight looks out the window and sees a monster clambering on the airplane's wing. How about the iconic Zuni fetish doll who comes alive in the 1975 TV movie Trilogy of Terror ? The one...

I was happy with the original cover for The Geomancer’s Apprentice , but I decided to refresh it for the novel’s release on new platforms. The book, now available on Amazon , will also be offered on Kobo, Google Books, Apple Books and Barnes & Noble as of May 7. It will come with a new cover. The main reason for the makeover is I want a unified look for the series I’m planning. I work with my husband on the covers, and he’s already created draft covers for Book 2 and Book 3. Now I just need to write the books! Urban fantasy often is very character-driven, and I think the new cover works better because you can see my protagonist Junie Soong’s face. I also think the new cover better conveys the darkness of what Junie is put through, as well as the mysticism of her abilities. Original cover I hope you like the new look. They say the cover is one of the most important things about a book. No matter where the book is—be it a bookstore, the library or an ebook platform—if the cover does...

What if Superman were evil?  The movie Brightburn explores the superhero theme along those lines. A couple—Tori and Kyle Breyer—find an alien baby in the wreckage of a spaceship that crash-lands on their farm in Brightburn, Kansas. They take him in and name him Brandon. Brandon comes into his powers after he turns 12. It transpires that the boy has the moral compass of a psychopath. There are many parallels with Superman: Kal-El (Superman’s birth name) crash-lands in Smallville, Kansas, a rural area like Brightburn. Kal-El is found and adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Kal-El and Brandon’s superpowers include heat vision and the ability to hover and fly. Kal-El and Brandon’s superhero alter egos wear capes. The major difference is Kal-El is noble and helps mankind, while Brandon is driven to take over the world. The moviemakers describe Brightburn as superhero-horror. It’s an anti-genre movie where you take the superhero genre and turn it on its head. James Gunn, ...

I’m a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My favorite superhero is Iron Man. The first Iron Man movie (2008) blew my mind. How about the D.C. Extended Universe, you ask? Mmmm … For me, the Avengers franchise was simply awesome moviemaking, comparable to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. I watched every single one of the MCU movies. As for the DCEU, I lost interest sometime during the many remakes of Batman and Superman. I saw Man of Steel (2013) and found that version of Superman sad and depressing. He made me want to crawl into a hole and cry myself to sleep. I also was disappointed with Justice League (2017). I found the script and special effects cheesy. The CGI looked fake. Most of the movie seemed to take place in darkness. I also thought a few of the actors (and by that I mean you, Ben Affleck) phoned it in. That said, I was really impressed with Wonder Woman   (2017). I particularly liked the casting of Gal Gadot in the starring role. Gadot is beautiful,...