See, hear and speak no evil – in the form of three different films

My idea for this post came from an image I saw on Pinterest. I do think the image was technically a joke I didn't understand, but it gave me this idea.

I recently watched Sightless, which is about a woman who goes blind. In hindsight, that would have been a perfect fit for this post, but I have already reviewed that on my blog, and I don't want to include it again. (You can read my review of it here, though.) That, combined with the Pinterest image, created this idea in my mind. Taking a look at how movies deal with different things that are seen as necessary for a film – such as sight and sound.

And so, we begin with sound.

A deaf and mute writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.

A quick aside. I watched it the for the first time a few years ago, with a friend who loathes horror films. I watch them with barely any reaction, but she was terrified the entire time, and was gripping my arm incredibly tightly. I had to give her a pillow to hold onto instead, because I was starting to lose circulation to my fingers.

My Review!

Deafness has isolated Maddie. She moved from the city, to live in a secluded cabin to focus on her writing. She can video chat with her friends, and she has made friends with her neighbours, but she is still alone. When she finds herself being stalked in her own home by a man outside, who seems intent on killing her, she must do whatever she can to survive, even though she has the disadvantage – he has weapons he knows how to use, whereas she cannot hear him, scream, or call for help. 

Maddie is smart, but there is only so much she can do. She is in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get help, or to get away herself. The best she can do is to lock her doors and try and hide away from the windows, but it wouldn’t be difficult for the man to simply break a window and climb in. It turns into a game of cat and mouse, him circling as she tries to find different ways to do what she needs to in order to survive. 

With Maddie being unable to hear, there are scenes where you see things happening behind her, things that she has no idea about, because she cannot hear the tapping on the window, the footsteps. You almost beg her to turn around and notice, but there is nothing you can do but sit and watch. The horror aspects of this film are on the side of keeping up the tension, although there are some rather gruesome injuries including broken fingers at very unnatural angles. Just to warn you.

We now move onto sight...

Most people dismissed the reports on the news. But they became too frequent; they became too real. And soon it was happening to people we knew.

Then the Internet died. The televisions and radios went silent. The phones stopped ringing

And we couldn’t look outside anymore.

A quick aside (before watching the film). The same friend who I watched Hush with watched this movie one night. Once again, she hates scary films, but I wasn't with her to watch it. So I woke up to hundreds of messages from her, conveying her terror as she watched this film. I think she had been messaging me the entire time she watched it to try to not be so scared.

Extra side note. While watching this, I wasn't too sure if I had it right, and this had been the movie my friend had watched, because I didn't think it was all that scary. But, I started to remember some of the messages she sent, and I'm certain now this is what she watched. There was a lot of focus on the names of the children, if I remember rightly. 

My Review!

Malorie was having enough trouble coming to terms with her pregnancy, and the fact that she would have a child to look after soon. The end of the world arrived at just the right moment to take her mind off it. People around her start going crazy, losing their minds and killing themselves. Malorie finds herself inside a house full of strangers, simply trying to survive.

Navigating the world when you can’t open your eyes or you will die seems to be a very difficult thing, not that the things the characters do are entirely simple. Closing the curtains and making sure the outside stays outside keeps them safe, but when food starts to run out, a trip down the road in a car with sensors, letting you know which side is too close to something, is a necessary risk. No one can trust anyone – as the song of the siren was murderous to sailors, the monsters will cause you to hear those you do trust, trying to convince you it's safe to remove your blindfold and have a little look – it's also rather like Medusa, now that I think of it.

Alongside this, there is a timeline several years on, where Malorie has two young children with her, and is trying to journey along a river blind. The urge to simply rip your blindfold off and reorientate yourself seems almost impossible to resist. The entire film itself moved a little slowly, it seemed to drag on a bit. I wish that there had been more of a tension built by showing the viewer what the characters were unable to see, like in Hush, where the viewer is begging Maddie to turn around. Instead, we are as blind as the characters, and, not being in the situation, it's a lot less tense and dramatic. I remember this film being very popular a while ago, and, unfortunately, I don't think it lives up to the hype. 

It is still an excellent addition to this post, though – this film is completely about seeing no evil, and to stay blindfolded to survive.

And to end, we are back with sound, except this time, instead of being unable to hear, you can't make any noise...

In this “MIND-BLOWINGLY TENSE” thriller, a family must navigate their lives in silence to avoid mysterious creatures that hunt by sound. Knowing that even the slightest whisper or footstep can bring death, Evelyn and Lee are determined to find a way to protect their children at all costs while they desperately search for a way to fight back.

A quick aside. I was adamant this was the movie I wanted to watch for this post, but I couldn't find it anywhere to watch for free. I debated for a while, about whether I should try and find a similar film, but quickly decided against it and bought A Quiet Place I and II. I now own both on DVD (yes, I still use DVD. And love them.)

My Review!

The world has been taken over by creatures, who hunt by sound. Even stepping on the wrong spot on the floor and making the floorboards squeak is enough to bring them running for their next meal. Evelyn and Lee know just how dangerous the creatures are, and will do anything to keep their children safe.

Trying to stay silent in a world surrounded in sound is almost impossible, especially considering Evelyn is nearing her due date to give birth. In a world of sound, though, being deaf does not give Evelyn and Lee’s daughter an advantage. She can’t hear the creatures coming, and although Lee is constantly trying to fix her hearing aids, they never seem to work.

This film uses sound wonderfully. There is very little spoken dialogue, most of the dialogue is shown through sign language. The lack of normal sound, like chatter, or even the clink of cups, makes any sound so much more dramatic. You can feel what the characters feel. Silence, and then shock at a small clatter, because it is so different, and dangerous. I found myself feeling like I could make no noise either, and watched the entire film in complete silence. I even realised I was putting my cup of tea down really gently, so it didn’t make any noise. The sound design in this film is amazing, and (since I didn’t really know what this movie was about until I watched it) completely unexpected. Even now, ten minutes after I finished watching it, I am slightly apprehensive of the noise of my keyboard as I type this. This film has plenty of tension, and it definitely immerses the viewer.

I have absolutely no regrets over purchasing this film on DVD, because after watching it, I know I’m going to be watching it again and again.

And done!

I feel like most of my posts are very straight forward, being a review of a book, a movie, or a short story of some kind. This time, though, I am really rather proud of this post. I actually planned the whole thing out, and spent three consecutive evenings writing it (there were three films. What, did you think I was going to watch them all in one go?!)

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

A Review – Murphy's Law for Demons by C.J. Pierce

A quick side note... this is my 100th post! Yay! Celebrations!

Anyway.

Once again, this is a book I have had for a while, but never got around to reading until now. I've actually had it since August of 2021. After finishing my last book (I don't remember what that one was) I was scrolling through my two hundred unread books and came across this one. I decided to read it, and then went onto Twitter for a while, where I immedietly came across a tweet about the book. Coincidence?

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and introduce the book.

A Fallen angel and an assassin walk into a bar...

For nearly seventy years, Murphy's had the worst luck any Fallen could ever have. The Collector - a title Murphy never wanted - can't seem to do his job: collect a soul. That's all. One. Soul. And after seventy years, Murphy's not so sure he wants to go back to the Below.

Joy is a practitioner of one of the world's oldest professions. No, not prostitution, although she'd gladly use her body as bait for a target. Murderer-for-hire, assassin, hitwoman - Joy's your lady if the money's right. And if it's someone who really needs killing, she'll even give you a discount.

Brought together by a job and dropped (sans parachutes) into the political machinations of the Above and Below, Murphy and Joy have to decide where their loyalties lie. Something big is coming for them, and the Collector has a job to finish.

Want to make a deal? Don't make it with Murphy!

WARNING: This work is intended for audiences 18+. Those sensitive to scenes of excessive violence or implications of sexual assault should not read this book.

Amazon UK • Amazon US

My Review!

Murphy, a fallen angel with a job he is not very good at, and never wanted. Joy, an assassin who is scarily good at her job. What happens when the two meet in a bar?

When Murphy was saddled with the title of the next Collector, he thought it would be an inconvenient task for the week. Go and collect a soul, then return to his job in the Below. But, after seventy years of collections failed, time and time again, it seems he may not ever return to the Below. And, the longer he remains in the Middle, he’s not so sure he wants to return anyway.

When he meets Joy, he is intrigued by the woman who kills so easily, but when they are both given a task, to find a missing woman, they find themselves faced with a not so simple task. Not only does no one have any idea where Cara Jane could be, it is not only the Below who want to know her whereabouts. Murphy and Joy find themselves working for both sides, the Below and the Above, to find Cara Jane, wherever she may be.

I must admit, when I started reading this novel, I was a little confused as to what was happening. There were lots of things to learn, about the Below and the Above, not to mention the amount of names, and keeping track of who was who and what was happening. It was at about 20 per cent into the book when I really fell into the story and couldn’t stop reading. After that, though, I really couldn’t put it down.

This book is, to my great delight, riddled with sarcasm. Joy is perhaps the most snarky person on the earth, and add to that Murphy, the Fallen Collector, an incredibly powerful demon, who she seems to adopt like a dog? Their relationship is absolutely great, as they start to realise they care for each other, and grow from acquaintances, to friends, to absolute best friends. Their conversations, as well, make you love their characters, for you’re never entirely sure what Joy is going to say next.

May Leigh, Mimi, has to be one of the best characters in this book. Joy’s grandmother, the kind of grandmother that knits and, apparently, adopts various angels and demons into the family. A woman who can command the respect of Murphy, with the power he has, and has the ability to make him stop tipping a chair back – she is a woman everyone needs in their life. It is the interactions between Joy, Murphy and May Leigh that make this book so wonderful. It makes you want to be a fly on the wall, simply observing their day to day lives and catching the great remarks.

This is a book with incredibly quotable sarcastic comments, in fact, every chapter starts with one. A quote from either Joy or Murphy, for the most part. One, in particular, stood out to me, so much so that I took a picture of it so I could include it in this review:

Strike that from the bucket list: picking up litter with the Antichrist, and it wasn’t even court-ordered.

If that doesn’t make you at least a little curious, I don’t know what will.

This book isn’t all sarcastic comments and making friends with the Fallen, though. There are some very serious topics, with Joy’s past, and the ins and outs of her work. She is not just an assassin, hired to kill someone on just someone else’s word. She works specifically in helping women and children to be free of the person who is haunting their lives. Her work, while May Leigh does not always approve, is important to her, and Murphy does not judge her at all, but rather rolls his sleeves up and helps out.

I was a little upset that book ended rather abruptly, in the sense that there is no real conclusion, but I have just learned while writing this that this is only book one of a series. Book two is not out yet, though, which has upset me more. I loved my time with Joy and Murphy, and will miss them until the release of the next book.

And done!

I don't know what I initially planned to write down here, I started this post one day, and finished it another. So I have no ideas.

Just pretend it was really funny.

That's all for now...

Bye!

Short Story – Moments

I don’t have a story to tell.

My life hasn’t waltzed by in chapter titles, or numbered pages, or paragraphs that flow from one to the other, following the rhythm of life’s dance. Because books usually follow a trend, in that there is a story, that the reader can follow from beginning to end. What happens to the characters before and after isn’t important, the part of their life that is written is when something happens. Something changes. 

My life so far hasn’t had that moment of change. I haven’t had the build up to a turning point. I’ve been following a course, and the waters have been calm, any rough patches haven’t been enough to toss me aside, and send me somewhere else, because I haven’t had a clear destination. I don’t know where I want to go, so my ship can let the water throw it around, and I’ll be happy just to arrive somewhere.

No, I don’t have a story to tell. I just have moments. 

I have the memory of how I felt, at five years old, jumping out the car after much too long. Pulling on my father’s hand, trying to get him to walk faster, as we went from the car park to the beach, my mother trailing behind with my little brother toddling along next to her, his little hand reaching up to hold hers. The sun on the top of my head as my mother spreads suncream across my face, the smell that I only associate with summer sinking into my skin. Desperate to take my shoes off and run to the sea. Digging deep enough with my little yellow plastic shovel to find the sand that is colder, better for building sandcastles, and the cold taste of an ice-cream, impossibly tall, that drips down the cone and leaves you with sticky fingers.

I have the thrill of the first big snowfall I remember, not just a dusting, but enough that your boots sink into the soft powder, crushing and compacting the snow with a satisfying crunch. My younger brother running after me, and throwing handfuls of snow at the back of my head until I stopped and showed him how to make a proper snowball. The neighbour’s children, all coming out and throwing snow at each other through the white air of snow still falling, until we grouped together with the help of a parent and built a snowman taller than some of the younger kids. Heading inside when we got too cold, with sodden trousers and bright pink fingers we couldn’t feel. Our mother ready with warm clothes, and hot chocolate, which we drank while watching a movie, all of us huddled up together in a pile of blankets.

I have the excitement of my first trip away from home by myself, waving to my family through the window of a coach as I waited impatiently for the engine to start and drive me away so we could arrive and the fun could start. The nervousness of not knowing anyone, but a girl coming to sit beside me, and the journey somehow seeming not so long with her chatting to me. The buzz of carrying our bags through an already busy camp, and getting set up with our tents, given free roam of the site that had plenty of activities strewn about, things like a rock climbing wall, and a zip line. Things that meant you had to stand in line for an hour, with the sun beating down on you, and decide if it was really worth waiting so long, but you’re nearing the front of the line now, so there would be no point in leaving. Lighting a fire when it started getting dark, too many people trying to fit around it, leaning over each other to wave a marshmallow on a stick near the flames. The loneliness that set in at night, when I realised how much I missed being near my family, and wanting to go home, but somehow falling asleep and waking up excited to find out what this next day would bring.

I have the memory of exhaustion after a sleepover at a friend’s house, when we thought we were missing out of the amazement of pulling an ‘all-nighter’. Pretending to go to bed when their parents did, and being as quiet as we could for half an hour, after which we decided it had been plenty long enough, and they must be asleep by now. Watching movies on a laptop, both of us lying on their bed, even though we didn’t really fit. Getting drowsy at two, but pushing on with sugary snacks and breaks to sneak downstairs and raid the cupboards of cookies and the fridge of the leftover pizza from dinner. Somehow making it to seven, out of sheer determination, and spending the day in a strange state of being, between being asleep and being awake, in a dream world while in the real world. Pretending we weren’t tired when asked, because we thought we couldn’t let anyone know we had stayed up all night, thinking it was something that needed to stay a secret.

I haven’t got a beginning, middle, and end to my story, because I don’t know where it’s going. I don’t have a major plot point that the rest of everything is built around. I don’t know if I’m even the main character. I might be the side character in my brother’s story, the older sibling who is there for one or two chapters, to make a cup of tea and offer support when something’s gone wrong. 

I might not be the main character in the story I feature in. But I’m alright with that. It’s not like I have nothing. I have my own side plot, there just isn’t enough information about me for the reader to be able to predict the outcome of my story. I’m there for some of the scenes, and while they might be inconsequential to the story, they are important to me. Those days at the beach, in the snow, moments that aren’t even necessary enough for the story to be mentioned – they are what make up me. I am those moments, those memories. They created who I am, and if who I am is a side character, I will do my best to make everyone around me shine, because while I’m still not sure who the main character actually is, I don’t want to mess up my moment in their story.

And done!

I'm not really sure what this story is. I was scrolling through Pinterest, trying to find some inspiration for a story, and all I was getting was things like 'a storm, the old oak tree, a scar.' 'A dying fire, red hair in messy braids, a grey fox with silver eyes.'

Things that weren't really helping me at all, but also kind of gave me the idea just to write about different moments. None of those things are things a story is about, they are just fleeting moments in the story, a setting for a conversation before the story moves on.

So yeah. That's the inspiration.

That's all for now...

Bye!