Review of Scabs by Wrath James White

Review of Scabs by Wrath James White

                So to further my descent into extreme horror I figured it was time to read something by Wrath James White.  After looking at the works he’s done I thought I’d go with a short story collection as it matches the kind of entertainment that I wanted to have waiting for my last class in the middle of the student center.  So I settled on the collection Scabs and will be looking at each of the stories individually.

Scabs:  The first story of the collection and also its namesake is a tale of discrimination and prejudice and scabs that just don’t heal.  The interplay between the characters and speed of the narrative with the mixed in thoughts of Malik with his actions starts it at a brisk pace.  Later the everlasting mark of the two girls and the cartoonish argument continues it along as the climax of the story approaches.  It wasn’t that extreme of a story but it was a damn good one and strangely enough had a moral almost which is something I’m not used to.  I have no idea how it feels to contemplate the facts presented in the story but it was surely horrifying to read about.  Easily 4.5/5.

No Pain:  A lot less thinking and a lot more violence, this is the kind of story I was interested in reading most when I started reading extreme horror.  Torture is not necessary to have a lot of bloodshed and broken bodies and the violence in here is as mutual as it is fierce.  I could see the events happening in my thoughts and almost feel the pain of the combatants.  Definitely recommend this even more so than the first story 5/5.

Perditions Flame:  A spooky haunting account of what happens in one of the most controversial places of business in the world.  Short and to the point, it has a satisfying ending no matter what stance you might have on the issue at hand.  4/5

Perpetual Motion:  Not even a horror story but a reflection on life as a whole.  Not a whole lot I can say without giving it away but it was good and even moving to a degree.  3.5/5

Run Away:  A gigantic metaphor for the impact of someone’s personal choices on themselves and others.  As the name implies it’s a brisk run through a hellish vision of the world we currently live in.  The inhabitants however are were the author gets you.  4/5

Best Friends:  A high school setting provides a very heartfelt but still disturbing story about friendship with people who don’t have anyone else.  The author gives great insight into the main characters feelings in combat with his actions, and finally it goes full circle.  5/5

Pressure:  So I figured this story was coming eventually, just a hardcore torture porn impersonating story about domestic bliss.  That’s all.  4/5

Talent Does What It Can:  An interesting juxtaposition of a story to end a great collection.  A woman inadvertently causes the end of the world and plays it out.  Great stuff 5/5. 

So from all of this it’s obviously a 5/5 collection, the writing is strong and visceral but easy to read and flows nicely along.  He makes reading about the most disgusting things as beautiful as the good things in his works.  My favorite is No Pain but none of the stories are real clunkers, I just felt that perpetual motion was a little bit on the long side without a whole lot happening during it. 

The Overwhelming Urge - Andersen Prunty

     So I have become a pretty big fan of bizarro fiction, and mostly with the short fiction category of it.  This book goes along with that fact as it has a great deal of stories in a short amount of time, most of them would qualify as microfiction or flash fiction but they have a great deal of content for the shortness.
     What I like the most about this collection is the fact that every story is based mostly in reality and its the subtle things that make it surreal.  That sort of small feeling that things aren't right is what I look for in some of my reading.  It's not too gory or full of sex but there is some of both of them, so not for the complete squeamish but don't expect too much extreme content either.  For favorites it would be really hard to list them as there are 20+ stories, but honestly I liked all but the longest one a great deal.  Highly recommended.

Hell Driver - Ultraviolence

     Throughout my movie watching experience I have always had a soft spot for the weird and unusual, the bizarre, and the darkly comical.  This has led me to several viewings of japanese ultraviolent horror comedies such as the machine girl, tokyo gore police, the meatball machine, and naked blood.  After viewing those hits I knew that I had a genuine interest in the material and have had chance contact with other examples of the films.  It was through this semi-research I found the movie helldriver and decided to watch it.
     This movie is not for the weak at heart or close-minded.  There are no english dubs, just closed captioning to allow someone to follow along with the storyline.  However as nearly everything is action there isn't too much that can be missed without that even.  We come to see that a woman has a mother who is a homicidal maniac and commits atrocious crimes with the aide of her brother.  After that she gets hit by a meteor and starts spawning and controlling zombies with horns.
     That might seem like a spoiler but it all takes place very close to the beginning of the movie, which is even stranger because the first 45 minutes of the movie take place before the opening credits.  Throughout there is sadism, mutilation, torture, cannibalism, exploding humans, and the most ridiculous constructs made out of undead zombies you could ever imagine.  It was a true spectacle and I enjoyed the hell out of watching it.  I would highly recommend this to anyone, but only if you're willing to watch something pretty insane.  4.5/5

Cube - Canadian Saw

     I had heard quite a bit about the Cube franchise in horror circles, but never really had the urge to watch it until today.  It definitely started with a bang and didn't let go until the end of the movie. 
     The setting is very integral to the movie and is done well to create an alien setting.  The actors are spot on as well, in their emotions and actions under such unusual circumstances.  There is honestly not a whole lot I could say without spoiling anything, except its a pretty fantastic movie and you should watch it immediately.

100 Horrors: Tales of Horror in the Blink of an Eye

     Started reading this collection because I'm a pretty big fan of microfiction in all of its forms and seeing a list of 100 stories with 100 words maximum is something I found interesting.  I know that volumes with this many stories would be uneven in quality but I'll admit I was happily surprised with the end result.  Highly recommend for anyone open minded.

Sticking to it Now

     So I thought I'd be sticking to this when I first started it, but life started back up and that made it hard to do it.  Now however I've come to the conclusion that it was a good outlet for myself so I will start it back up again.  I've been reading a lot of bizarro and splatterpunk so it should provide ample fuel for the blog. 

Return of the Living Dead (1985)

     So recently I lucked into having this little gem of horror cinema cross my tv guide, and decided to DVR it.  Upon looking it up on rotten tomatoes and imdb that good feeling was only cemented further.  Certainly I have no issue watching a terrible zombie movie, and have several times in the past, but the opportunity to watch one with critical success is not a chance I will often let go.  So last night I decided to take in my viewing of the aforementioned piece.
     I must say that it wasn't what I was expecting at all from a movie that got such good ratings, but it kind of reminded me of the best of comedy horror which is one of my favorite movie genres.  The characters are all ridiculous, unfortunately I had taped it from a normal channel and thus they censored out all of Trash being naked, but I definitely got a good idea of the kinds of individuals involved.
     The bumbling fools at the chemical company were especially important to the running of the movie as it is their idiocy that caused the creation of the zombies.  The pseudo-science throughout was explained enough to make it seem somewhat plausible.  I especially liked it when the zombies began to rise and the whole feeling of the end being nigh arose heavily.
     The zombies were of the intelligent, fast, strong variety and were capable of speaking intelligently and perpetuating terrifying situations.  Their voice acting was also done in a good way that gave them plenty of personality.  Their thirst for brains was even explained by one of them, and though it doesn't make a whole ton of sense I was glad for an attempt made to breach that subject.
     Overall however I definitely enjoyed this movie, it had a certain aspect that permeated all of it, being a goofy take on a horrific topic and having enough substance to still have a few scary scenes.  I loved the set up and the zombies creation and the siege laid on the town very much.  The only part I really wasn't a big fan of was the ending, which seemed like a bit of a cop out to a situation, but even that was realistic given the situation.  It was just disappointing to me that so much tension was raised and it all ended all of a sudden like it did.  However considering how much trouble the townsfolk were in I don't really know if there would've been a better explanation for how to get out of that situation, so I suppose it shouldn't really detract from it much. 

Easily the movie is a 9/10 and the reason its not perfect is really hard to look at cause its very good in a lot of ways.  I love this style of movie and film-making and will be looking for any opportunity to see the 2 sequels when they come out.  I know that they were less well received but I have heard they maintain the same punk attitude and kind of perspective and that's exactly what I look for when I'm watching movies.