redemption, with rita

There is nothing quite so comforting as rereading old, old favourites when everything is on the verge of spinning out of control around you. Currently I'm snatching warmth whenever I can on the subway and before lights-out with Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, from Stephen King's 'Different Seasons' collection. The movie was wonderful, but the story goes deeper and a bit harder, and all the better for it. It also makes you rather thankful for your little lot.

I'm alone with you tonight

The Sunnyboys were teenagers from north of Sydney, Australia who formed a band in '79 and in a flash were touring, famous and releasing their first record. They were incredibly talented and one of those cases of the exact right sound, crystallising the time & place. Very tight, melodic pop songs with beautiful Rickenbacker riffs and Hammond organ that still sounds new...their arc was short but so bright. I was madly in love with Jeremy Oxley, like every other Sydney schoolgirl.

midnight is a place

Joan Aiken was a British author who was known primarily for her children's books - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series was very popular for years, first published in 1962 with a gorgeous cover by Edward Gorey:

She wrote many adult novels as well, in many genres from gothic thriller to mystery to supernatural. Her writing is a marvel of clarity and sly, sharp intelligence, as well as a wicked and playful sense of humour. She could combine elegance and tremendous human warmth with a shade of the sinister that stayed with you for days. Her titles are equally evocative: Black Hearts in Battersea, Voices in an Empty House, Midnight is a Place. But it's her short stories that show the sharpest edge, the highest polish.

Her short story collections are hard to find (I dug mine up on eBay) but well worth the search. Don't let the Puffin editions fool you. A Whisper in the Night and A Bundle of Nerves are full of nasty, beautiful wonders that will democratically haunt adult and child alike.

I'm in your blood

Let's Scare Jessica to Death is a quiet, creeping film from 1971 that makes a lot of people's most-underrated list. We went to a 16mm screening with the director, John Hancock, in attendance last week. Thought the print was a little too dark, it was great to watch in the theatre and get some backstory and commentary from him. Someone asked what he thought upon viewing it again after 38 years and he said "It's much better than I thought at the time!". The stark, relentless soundtrack by Orville Stoeber makes the tension that much stronger.

strangers

The Strangers came out last year, and I've just caught up to it. It's remarkably stripped-down, almost flat: couple terrorized in an isolated house by nameless, silent people. Very rarely do I get genuinely nervous watching a film.
While it wobbles a little bit - the last quarter meandering into commoner tropes - the first three acts unspool beautifully while slowly, and expertly, building dread - the soul of true horror.

the house of the devil

This looks fantastic...set in, and filmed as if it were still - 1980. Out now theatrically in the US, hopefully soon elsewhere...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

dirty gems

All my old obsessions returning to me of a sudden. Wedged into a pile of true-crime books at a thrift store, I finally found Christiane F., the original book (later filmed) about her junkie-baby-prostitute life in late-70s West Berlin.



As hard as the movie can be to watch, the book is even more dense, immediate, and rough. I read it when I was 13 and it strongly affected me...it's virtually impossible to find now, long out of print, and battered copies go for $60+ on ebay. Not this one!

N.B.: If you're up for it, the entire movie has been posted to Youtube, starting here. So far, it's unavailable in North American NTSC format.