(Week 12: March 17-23)
I spent much of this week re-editing a horror story (called The Doorman), which I wrote last year, and am considering submitting to the Third Corona Book Of Horror. There was no major surgery required, but after an initial readthrough I did decide some of the language could do with tightening up, and I decided to give it more of a direct POV feel. There’s an ever present risk with unpublished stories of constantly tinkering with them, yet never quite feeling they’re finished. Nevertheless, I’m now very confident that I’ve written the best version of this story that I can. Probably.
Watching
It’s been a heavy TV week this week. The Kinderbeast is still keenly rewatching the last season of Doctor Who, and this week brought us around to Rosa, easily the highlight of the season. This is where the season was still daring to be different, and hadn’t yet slipped into the disappointing mundanity of the later episodes.
We’re also keeping up with Star Trek: Discovery. I’ll admit to some slight disappointment that this has now turned into a more traditional Trek series (particularly with the A/B story plotting) but I’m still enjoying it (as are the Kinderbesten) and I shall miss Captain Pike when he inevitably doesn’t return for the next season (remember: we’re in the classic timeline here).
I’ve also been watching Barry (the Bill Hader series) with the Elderbeast. We’re both very much enjoying the mix of comedy and darkness and can’t wait to get to the final two episodes.
On the movie front, our Friday Horror choice this week was Cube. This had come up in discussion for a possible rewatch a few weeks back, after which it promptly appeared on Netflix. A clear sign!! It’s a curious film this one. The acting is mostly terrible; the script is laughably pretentious throughout; but the core idea is so strong that you still come away pretty satisfied.
On Saturday I also had the opportunity to introduce my Awesome Partner to Night Of The Demon. This remains one of my all-time favourite films, so this rewatch held few surprises for me other than to note how efficient the plotting is. We move from scene to scene with minimal padding; each scene menacingly, but gradually, building the case for our sceptical main character to accept that there genuinely could be a monstrous demon due to slaughter him at the appointed time. The main premise (a stubborn protagonist ruled by science vs a vain antagonist in thrall to the supernatural) gives the film a weight that makes it feel relatively modern, and drives things forward so effectively that we rarely notice that most scenes feature little more than people talking to each other.
And, despite the dodgy special effects, it’s still the payoff at the end that makes the whole thing worth watching.
Reading
This week I finally succumbed to one of Amazon’s trial offers for Kindle Unlimited. For a few days I wasn’t sure if there was anything I’d find to read before my two free months ran out. Then I discovered that the first three collected volumes of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman are on there (along with various other comic-based treats). So that’s my reading sorted for a while.