American Horror Story: Double Feature (Part 1 Red Tide)

Hey guys!
I’m a bit behind on reviewing the latest AHS seasons but I figured I’d save them for October. It’s spooky season! And what could fit the spooky theme better than American Horror Story? Today I’m going talk about the first half of season ten. Make sure to come back on Friday for my thoughts on the second half!

The Plot:

A writer, his pregnant wife, and their daughter move to a quaint place in Massachusetts. The plan is simple: he works on a script, she flips the house, and the girl gets to practice the violin on peace. Only this town has more in store than any of them bargained for…

AHS on RT

The Rating:

I watched all AHS season up until now and I watched American Horror Stories before embarking onto season 10. Especially after Stories, I lowered my expectations significantly (aka I buried them and salted the ground). Past season of AHS often started out strong but somewhere around the middle things went downhill. For this season we get two stories instead of just one, which means that today I’m talking about the first part of the season and the finished story that encapsulates.

Guess what?! I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Sure, I was expecting pretty much nothing at this point, so it wasn’t that hard to catche me unawares, but this was actually quite good! I think the tighter concept was rather beneficial. Six episodes was the perfect length for the story and had I been dragged out longer, I just know it would have suffered the same fate as past seasons.

Top 5 Tuesday: anticipated reads for Oct-Dec 2022

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
Today we’re going to talk about some books that will be released in October, November, and December. There are a bunch of novels that I’m really looking forward to. Since, obviously, I haven’t read any of them yet, I’ll leave you with the blurbs from Goodreads!

#1 Cursed – Marissa Meyer (November 8th)

Be still now, and I will tell you a tale.

Adalheid Castle is in chaos.

Following a shocking turn of events, Serilda finds herself ensnared in a deadly game of make-believe with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle’s lies. Meanwhile, Serilda is determined to work with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past.

But soon it becomes clear that the Erlking doesn’t only want to use Serilda to bring back his one true love. He also seeks vengeance against the seven gods who have long trapped the Dark Ones behind the veil. If the Erlking succeeds, it could change the mortal realm forever.

Can Serilda find a way to use her storytelling gifts for good—once and for all? And can Serilda and Gild break the spells that tether their spirits to the castle before the Endless Moon finds them truly cursed?

Cursed on Goodreads

#2 The Vermilion Emporium – Jamie Pacton (November 1st)

It was a day for finding things . . .
 
On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, The Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy.
 
When Quinta meets Twain outside the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta starts to fall for this starlight boy, who uses his charm to hide his scars. Two, they enter the store and discover a book that teaches them how to weave starlight into lace.
 
Soon, their lace catches the eye of the Casorina, the ruler of Severon. She commissions Quinta and Twain to make her a starlight dress and will reward them handsomely enough to make their dreams come true. However, they can’t sew a dress without more material, and the secret to starlight’s origins has been lost for centuries. As Quinta and Twain search the Emporium for answers, though, they discover the secret might not have been lost—but destroyed. And likely, for good reason.

The Vermilion Emporium on Goodreads

Halloween Horror: American Horror Stories – Season 2

Hello, my darling readers!
We need to talk about American Horror Stories’ second season that I just finished watching. Let’s get right down to it, shall we?

The Plot (as found on Rotten Tomatoes):

“American Horror Stories” is a spin-off of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s award-winning anthology series “American Horror Story.” The weekly anthology series features a different horror story in each episode. Since 2011, the creators of the series have redefined the horror genre with various installments featuring a creepy asylum, a coven of witches, a traveling freak show, a haunted hotel and the apocalypse itself. The television series sprouted a legion of dedicated fans who anticipate what terrors the next chapter will hold.

American Horror Stories on RT

The Rating:

Strap yourselves in, we have an entire new season of American Horror Stories to talk about! The last season was *very* underwhelming and I was pretty unhappy with pretty much every episode. I do, however, really like the idea behind this, the concept has the potential to be good. So, I figured maybe now they’ve got it figured out and season two will be better. I’ll briefly talk about each episode since they all are essentially standalone stories!

Dollhouse

This was interesting enough. I like the idea of the story and especially the twist at the end that ties it into the grander scheme of all things American Horror Story. But as much as I wanted to love this, something threw me off. Overall this episode felt a lot more mediocre than it deserved. I’m not sure if it was some of the acting or the dialogue, or simply how the story unfolded. All I can say this didn’t live up to its full potential.

Aura

Another episode that could have been good, another fail for me. My biggest problem was that for large parts the writing felt so extremely lazy. Characters kept repeating the same empty phrases over and over again that already sounded like a cliché the first time around. This put me off so much, it killed everything about this episode that could have intrigued me. So much of the story was very far-fetched, which – again – probably could have been salvaged had it been written better. As I said, the idea wasn’t bad, they just didn’t deliver on it. Also, it is astonishing how many things that make no sense, and how many plot holes you can stuff into a single episode…

Halloween Horror: American Horror Stories

Hello, hello!
It’s October and y’all know what that means! It’s almost Halloween which is my favorite holiday of the year. I usually declare all of October Halloween month which means you’ll posts on all things horror, spooky and creepy. To kick things off, I took a closer look at American Horror Stories. As that season is an anthology on the episode level I’m gonna give you a tiny review on each one instead of the series as a whole!

The Plot (as found on Rotten Tomatoes):

“American Horror Stories” is a spin-off of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s award-winning anthology series “American Horror Story.” The weekly anthology series features a different horror story in each episode. Since 2011, the creators of the series have redefined the horror genre with various installments featuring a creepy asylum, a coven of witches, a traveling freak show, a haunted hotel and the apocalypse itself. The television series sprouted a legion of dedicated fans who anticipate what terrors the next chapter will hold.

American Horror Stories on RT

The Rating:

Rubber(wo)man

Oh this was bad. So bad.
I actually liked the idea of this one (actually to kick off the season they started with a double episode that I am reviewing as one here) but the execution – not so much. The angle they choice was super up to date but I think this suffered from being so closely attached to the whole Murder House trope. Dear Ryan Murphy, please let it go. There are only so many things you can do and it already started getting repetitve a while ago. But what really killed this for me was probably the main character and her relationship. I didn’t care for her at all and even less for the weird ass super unhealthy relationship she got into. It really didn’t help that Kaia Gerber’s acting performance was one of the worst I have ever seen in my entire life. As was the case with a great many Ryan Murphy projects, this started out promising but went to hell pretty soon.

Drive In

For this one, I hated just about the entire thing except for the last 30 seconds. 🙈 One problem I noticed while watching this: it’s the lenght of an episode but I guess they thought they were making a movie. What do I mean with that? For most of the episode everything feels like it is a film (not a good one, mind you) also in terms of pacing. But then there are only five minutes left and what would have been half an hour in a film gets crammed into that time-frame. What also really bothered me about this one is that many of the lines were extremely cringy and even pissed me off to some degree. The concept could have been intriguing but the writing was terrible. The very end was honestly the most interesting thing about it and a smart twist. But a few seconds can’t save the episode.

Wrapping it up for September!

Hello, my darling readers!
Another month is over, so let me give you a little summary of the amazing posts just to make sure you didn’t miss anything. 😉

This month was dedicated to Wheel of Time. I finally started reading the series but turns out it’s taking me significantly longer than I would have hoped, so as of right now, we are about halfway through!

• New Spring by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #0)
• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #1)
• The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #2)
• The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #3)
• The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #4)
• The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #5)
• Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #6)

As per usual we have the Top 5 Tuesday and Thursday Movie Pick posts, all with appropriate spooky themes as well!

• ways to catch a bookworm
• dramatic bookworm problems
• reasons to be with a bookworm
• things a bookworm would NEVER do

• Mystery Edition: Capers
• Mystery Edition: Historical Mysteries
• Mystery Edition: Media or Technology Mysteries
• Mystery Edition: Female Investigators (Private or Police)
• Television Mystery Edition: Cold Cases

And last but not least some of my favorite quotes to brighten your day:

• Quote of the Day #157
• Quote of the Day #158
• Quote of the Day #159
• Quote of the Day #160

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Quote of the Day #161

There’s a hole in the world, like a great black pit. And the vermin of the world inhabit it. And it’s morals aren’t worth what a pig could spit. And it goes by the name of London. On top of the hole sits the privileged few, making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo. Turning beauty into filth and greed. I too, have sailed the world and seen it’s wonders. For the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru. But there’s no place like London.

– Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street