The Twisted Ones (Spoiler free)

So, at long last, my hotly awaited review of The Twisted Ones.

*cricket noise*

I reviewed the first FNAF book, The Silver Eyes a while back. It was...fine. At worst, it was a mediocre Goosebumps novel, and at best, it was a better Goosebumps novel.

Not a lot of blood, but it had a few scares (very few), and characters that had more dimensionality than wet carboard. Most importantly, it fleshed out some of the lore of FNAF, which was all I really wanted.

Enter The Twisted ones, the middle of the trilogy (as Scott Cawthon has stated). Charlie, the survivor girl, is dealing with the fallout from book 1, while new murders crop up.

Some perpetrated by this thing!

This book is an improvement on The Silver eyes. There's more deaths, more gruesome imagery, and several new twists that are enjoyable to read.

The book does end on a cliffhanger, though, with nothing really tied up at the end. Cawthon has stated there is a third book in the works, but this book suffers a lot for not tying up anything. I get that a trilogy midpoint is there to set up the third installment, but you've got to tie up SOME things, or it just feels like a 'screw you' to the audience.

No word at this time on when the third book will be published, or even it's title. I'm sure I'll pick it up (this installment was only $5, and worth at least that), but I just wish there were any answers in this one, and not just a lot of set ups.

It is very FNAF to leave us with more questions, though...

And in liue of answers, here's another piece of Twisted Chica fanart. It's scarier than the book.

The IT Spot: Rereading, part 25

So, at last we enter the smokehole.

This whole post will be spoilers, as nothing like this is in the mini-series.

The gist is that Ben read about a native American ritual, where when a tribe needed guidance they'd sit in a smoke-hole, breath in the smoke until only a few were left, and had visions to direct them. The kids figure this may help them fight IT, and utilize their new in-ground secret clubhouse for the purpose.

Shit gets real.

The kids draw straws to see who stays out to pull them from the smoke, and the burned straw is made whole again. They know: this is something they all have to try and do together. The seven of them are meant to do this together.

Remember a while back, I advised that Ritchie was far more than the wiseacre of the group, being very smart and insightful under his humor. This the first meaningful instance of that coming to fruition. Ritchie thinks about the fact that Ben found the book, and the whole straw thing, and really reflects on the fact that they're being driven towards something, willingly or not. In the end, only he and Mike can stand the smoke long enough to have visions.

I think Mike is there for two reasons; one, he needs to solidify his bond with the others, as he' still the new guy. Two, he's the one with an appreciation of history: and those two boys are in for some history.

After breathing in the smoke, Mike and Ritchie find themselves transported to prehistoric Derry, or what King poetically refers to as 'ago'. They wander for a short time, marveling at the plants and wild rivers.

But then, IT came.

The closest thing the boys can connect IT's arrival to is a meteor or a spaceship hitting the earth. Ritchie tries to quantify the experience after the others pull them out of the hole. "It came from...outside. I got that feeling. From outside."

What he's trying to explain is that IT isn't from our universe, and feels so. King later does a piece or two from IT's perspective, and we learn Ritchie is correct. IT (as well as IT's counterpart, The Turtle) is from the Macroverse: a universe outside of ours. Think Lovecraft and you'll be in the ballpark.

The kids realize that IT has essentially always been. And how the hell can they hope to defeat something that's essentially immortal and ageless?

IT said something earlier in the book while chasing adult Bev that calls forwards to this:

“Tell your friends I am the last of a dying race,' it said, grinning its sunken grin as it staggered and lurched down the porch steps after her. 'The only survivor of a dying planet. I have come to rob all the women...rape all the men...and learn to do the Peppermint Twist!”

I think IT is being truthful here, to an extent. We see other IT-like beings in at least one more King book, and later events reflect this as well. But for now, it's enough that the kids (and the adults remembering these events) are finally beginning to have an appreciation of how impossible killing IT really is.

Tune in next time, when Eddie catches a break.

The IT Spot: Rereading, part 10

Delving into Ritchie's childhood segment is, like Ritchie himself, a bit different from the others.

He, like Mike, has a stable two parent household. Unlike Mike, Ritchie's folks aren't aware on any conscious level of the inherent evil of Derry, but they don't suffer as characters for it (what little time we see Ritchie spend with them).

SPOILERS

Ritchie and Bill go back to Bill's house to look at the possessed picture of Georgie together. They witness a snap of an old-tyme Derry street come to life, replete with old-tyme versions of themselves getting lured by Pennywise. Bill reaches into the picture and cuts himself badly before Ritchie saves him from having his fingers chopped off.

This is foreshadowing for later in the book when Bill nearly loses to IT during the ritual of the CHUD, and Ritchie comes in to save him. It's also telling that they share the first simultaneous experience with IT: until now everyone has seen IT when they were alone. They also come to the conclusion together that IT is not a clown, but a monster.

Ritchie then goes to the movies and the Barrens with Ben and Bev, showing more of his normalcy. The next notable thing is when Bill joins them with a kid that Ritchie instinctively knows is not 'part of them'. Ritchie can feel the Ka-Tet forming.

I'm not sure why Ritchie has such a strong connection to the Turtle. It may be familial: his mother watches the boy have tea before going to the house on Neibolt street to try and find/possibly kill Eddie's leper, and she thinks that she doesn't understand them, and is both afraid of and for them.

It may be due to Ritchie's unique strategy of dealing with IT. When he and Bill arrive at Neibolt street, they get into the house, and are attacked by IT in the guise of The Teenage Werewolf (the horror movie he'd seen with Bev and Ben). Bill shoots it, doing little damage, while Ritchie throws sneezing powered in IT's face. This hurts IT enough for them to escape.

Ritchie recognizes that his gambit somehow hurt IT worse than Bill's: the ritual of the CHUD has to do with riddles, which are tied into humor. Just like how later Ritchie saves Bill, here he does the same. Again, it's a duel encounter with IT, where Bill and Ritchie go through it together. These two share a powerful connection with each other inside the Ka-Tet, and to the Turtle: Bill due to his innate goodness and leadership, Ritchie because of his humor and devotion to Bill.

SAFE

Wow, that got heavy. But no worries: next we get more spousal/child abuse with Bev!

The IT Spot: Rereading part 9

Eddie's childhood self has arrived!

This is another section that is significantly different from it's mini-series counterpart. You may remember Pennywise accosting Eddie in the showers.

The scene, while wonderfully showing off Tim Curry has zero resemblance to the book. The only similarity is the 'won't do any good to run' bit. That is cribbed from IT's book counterpart. However there...

SPOILER

 ...IT chases Eddie in the form of leprous a hobo offering  blowjobs.

When Eddie can't find someone (IE Bill or Ritchie) to play with, he often ends up by the train yards. One day he sees a hobo with syphilis, and a rotting nose. Eddie, a budding germaphobe thanks to his overprotective mother, thinks the man is a leper. Said leper/hobo offers to blow Eddie, first for a quarter, then for a dime, then for free, eventually chasing the boy down the street.

That brings us to Eddie's encounter with the house on Neibolt street. You'll remember me freaking out about that house during my last few trailer reviews, as it plays a big part in what the kids do to defeat IT.

It's also why I think this is Eddie.

Some time after the hobo incident, Eddie is drawn under the house, very unwillingly. This speaks back to when Mike was unwillingly drawn to the place he saw the bird: IT exudes some sort of lure. Using fear, or fun masking the stench (much like with Georgie) IT draws children. And when Eddie crawls under the porch, spotting debris from former hobos, he also sees IT peering from the cellar.

Here IT is a half-rotted corpse hobo that causes plant life to die. He introduces himself to Eddie as Bob Gray (you may recall this is also how he introduced himself to Georgie in addition to the Pennywise moniker), and stated he'll blow Eddie as well. Eddie manages to get away, but is of course terrified.

We find this out as Eddie is hanging with Ben, Bill, Stan, and Ritchie. Bill relates the story of the bleeding pictures, which brings out Eddie and Ben's tales. Stan freaks out, insisting he's seen nothing (as usual, Stan has the hardest time believing, and spends more time in denial), and Ritchie seems genuinely baffled by the stories (seems being the key word).

SAFE

 The main difference between the book and the miniseries here is that in the book IT is legitimately trying to get Eddie. In the series IT seems more interesting in warning Eddie and his friends off: almost as though IT can sense the Ka-Tet forming, and is reluctant to touch any of the members, for fear of the power they already hold. There's more evidence of this later (which I'll go into), but it's really weird.

The concept of the Ka-Tet/group power is barely even referenced elsewhere in the miniseries. Why create this dynamic for IT (aside from not wanting to show a rotting leper offering a kid a blowjob)? IT isn't afraid of the kids. Not yet.

Join me next time Ritchie is brought in on the horror.

The IT Spot: Rereading, part 5

I've just finished the section where Ben thinks about his first meeting with IT, and we're given more of the old Ultraviolence.

Enjoy, my droogies.

It plays out half like the mini-series: Ben is lonely, threatened by bullies, etc. But unlike the series...

SPOILERS

He gets the shit beat out of him, is cut with a switch knife, and kicks Henry Bowers (his primary attacker/cutter) in the balls. He also dreams of his first encounter with IT, where IT takes the form of Karloff's mummy, not his dead father.

This is echoed by Ritchie's IT Teenage Werewolf, and by Mike's Kaiju-like bird monster. These were common enough monsters for the 1950. I hope the 80s adaptation lets them keep that theme going.

Overall, a satisfying section that lets you really get to know Ben. I remember it quite clearly from previous readings, so there's no surprises here, and little else to discuss.

SAFE

I'm sure this section will be filmed excellently, as it's very visual, bloody, and perfect King. Really looking forward to it in the theater.

The IT Spot: Rereading part 4

Haunt: to visit often.

Haunt: a lair or feeding place of animals.

These definitions are the opening part to one of the interlude sections, where Mike Hanlon, the one who stayed at home, digs into Derry's history. He opens by asking if a whole town can be haunted, and speculating on the animals in the town that killed Adrian Mellon, and that feed there in other ways.

I haunt Derry. I've haunted it for nineteen years. Is my reading feeding? Is Derry a haunt where I return to feed on horror and pain as much as IT does?

In Derry, I am a passive haunter. I return over and over to my favorite wells, King, Gaiman, Craven. I sup on horror easily, and often. I don't kill people, or hurt them to cause fear. I just sup on the false fear other others.

There are plenty of people that would call me a monster for reading (feeding), and King one for creating the haunt. I'm quick to snap at critics that judge me, or my haunts.I defend my haunts, gather with others in reality and online to commiserate over our haunts, to learn of new haunts, better haunts, older haunts lost to time.

Occasionally I create my own haunts here and there, letting others sup while I move on to greener, or redder pastures.

I'm not hear to say the haunts are good or bad, that I haunt for gain or ill. It's just something I've thought about a lot lately.

I am haunted by IT as much as I haunt IT. I think King might appreciate that thought.

SPOILERS

As for observations on the first Interlude section itself, it's mostly Mike speaking to his wailing wall, begging God not to let his fears about the cycle be true, that IT has returned. of course, we know IT has returned, as Mike has already his his fatal calls.

He speculates on how it may kill the others, giving a reason for each...aside from Stan. He just asks who won't return: 'Stan Uris?' and leaves it at that. Did Mike always know Stan would choose to kill himself rather than face IT? Is that why he spends so little time dwelling on it, not listing Stan's wife, or home, or tidy mind that couldn't quite forget as the others did?

I think he must have known. Stan mimed killing himself at 11 years old, when they made the pact. He was always a little too far into the land of grownups. For Stan, going back was worse than death: it was the death of logic and adulthood. In the end, he chose to die in the comfort of his home, rather than the dank sewers. I can understand the sentiment...if it didn't mean breaking the ka-tet and leaving his friends much more vulnerable, possibly dooming them, the town, and the innumerable victims of IT still to come.

The repercussions aren't laid bare, but they are there. Did more children die because the losers club was down by one? Did Mike get stabbed because of it? Did Eddie die because Stan broke the protection of the ka-tet?

I think so.

SAFE

This has been a long entry. That will happen, as for the first time I'm trying to take a real investigative approach to IT: with over 1000 pages of reading (and nearly that many left to go), my observations are bound to start meandering. I'll try to keep these diatribes to at most every other blog. Join me tomorrow for something else from pop culture, politics, or whatever else draws my attention!

The IT spot: Rereading, part 3

So, I've breezed past Bev Marsh beating the crap out of her POS husband Tom (from Tom's POV, mostly), and Bill explaining to his wife that he has to go home to deal with the promise he made as a child, yet can barely remember.

These spots are more faithful, though abbreviated, in the mini series, especially Bev's bit. Her husband remains in the novel, following her to Derry to exact revenge. I miss that in the miniseries, as he doesn't suffer half as much as he deserves there.

More interesting, and less present, is the return of Bill's stutter. As a kid it's ever present (aside from a few key moments), and as an adult it gets worse over time. Not that it's noticeable in the performance of Richard Thomas, who mostly sounds like he's choking, if he bothers to try at all.

Moley moley moley mole.

SPOILERS

One of the most important factors in this section is Bill explaining things to his wife Audra: of all the married or attached members of The Loser's Club, he's the only one who tries. He even admits that he could probably remember everything right then if he started talking to Audra, but is afraid to do so.

With Bev and Tom, it's obvious why there was no explanation, but Eddie and Stan were married too. Why not explain more, or try to dig out the memories?

Stan, of course, does remember enough, or at least, that's what Mike later speculates, which is why he kills himself. Stan's mind was too tidy to let go as a child, and too ridged to handle the return as an adult.

Eddie loved his wife as well, but any effort to explain would have trapped him in the house with her, so fleeing was best.

Bill was the one to face IT in the Ritual of Chud. He was in the Macrospace with IT and the Turtle Maturin. His connection to the Turtle is strongest. I think that's why he could have dug out the memories then, if he really tried. Or at least why he believes he could have.

The other important factor is that the Loser's club Ka-tet is already broken, and the sense of that is filtering down. Bill and Mike aren't sure if Stan will come (and of course, he doesn't). That's something we face every moment we're with young Stan: we know he will kill himself, and break the club, leading to any number of horrors they have to face as adults. If he had lived, would Eddie have survived? Would Mike have been stabbed? Would the destruction of IT been easier, the town's death more cataclysmic?

Interesting questions, friends and neighbors, but not ones we'll get the answers to.

SAFE

I've officially finished rereading The Shadows Before. Now to head on to Derry: the First Interlude. I can't remember which interlude this is, but no matter what, it'll paint the bloody history of Derry in it's true blood-red colors.

I missed this book.

The IT spot: Rereading, part 2

There are some marked differences between the IT novel and the 90's miniseries.

Not Pennywise, however. That was right on the nose.

But there are a few things early on in the novel that are markedly different from the novel, for seemingly little reason. The aftermath of Ben and Eddie's phone calls are my latest example. I get why they were changed, dropping one character for time, eliminating lengthy character building for quick (but clunky) exposition. While I understand the changes, I don't approve. They could have been handled better.

SPOILERS

Unlike the mini-series, we mostly see the aftermath of Ben and Eddie's calls, and the effect it has on the people around them from their point of view: a trusted bartender and Eddie's wife, respectively. Ben's bartender faces a man who thinks he is already dead, and is drinking accordingly. It's a somber, chilling scenario, very unlike Ritter's drunken carousing.

You stop kissing and start thinking about your mortality right now, young man!

Eddie's wife is less impactful, as she vanishes from the story after Eddie heads to Derry. The backstory of a soft-hearted man who loved too easily is established in his relationship with his friends, and little is lost from that perspective. We have the wife being frightened by her husband's odd behavior scene done earlier and better with Stan's wife. The scene is more about establishing Eddie's feelings about his dead mother (more guilt then oedipal), and while an important element in the book, it's safely delegated to a few scenes and lines in the mini-series.  We get to know Eddie better in the book, and I'm glad we have the extra dimensions there, but it would have felt like overkill in the movie.

Played by the guy I didn't realize was the lawyer in Django Unchained, Dennis Christopher. Seriously.

SAFE

The main difference between the mediums is the all-around silliness of the adults in the series verses the terror in the book: God bless the actors for trying, but the script wasn't done very well, and they all pale in comparison to their child counterparts.

With the exception of Ritter as Ben.

The first part of the mini-series is by far the best: better acting, closer connection to the story, better effects. The adults ending is pretty far removed from the book, not well explained, and badly acted. But we'll get into that later.

Now, off to read about Bev's abusive husband and the horror that stems from an all-to-real place for many women and men.

I never said these blogs would be all fun and games.

The IT Spot: Rereading, part 1

Yesterday I began a fantastic journey; not down a yellow brick road or a rabbit hole, but into the festering sewer's beneath Derry Maine. Once again, I'm going to IT's lair.

I've groped through the mucky darkness before. The first time I found IT I was eleven; the same age as the protagonists in the flashback segments. Forty one years separated us, but otherwise we were quite close: I was an asthmatic loner, like Eddie. I liked to see and tell stories like Bill. I was chubby (or so my mother insisted) like Ben. I was into horror like Ritchie. I was Jewish (enough) like Stan. I had trouble connecting with women like Bev. And like Mike I was an outsider for my looks (though getting tape thrown into my curly hair was worlds away from the racist prejudice Mike experienced, of course).

I'd picked up the book (the copy I still own) at a library book sale, intrigued by the cover.

I'd never read a 'grown up' book before, but it was on sale, and my Mom didn't say no. I decided to read it some months later, after a teacher told me I'd scored highest on a reading test, with college level comprehension. How to best display that? By reading the biggest book I owned!

I re-read the book roughly every 2-3 years. This reread isn't just because some time has passed, of course.

At least I'm not shy about it.

Spoilers are past this point, but I'll let you know when it's safe again. Just skip down the page.

SPOILERS.

I'm not very far in yet: I've had the death of Georgie, and Stan's suicide (my mind always echo's Adult Bill's mental cries of understanding the death, and wishing he'd followed suit upon seeing IT again). I've also covered Ritchie's promise to return, and just begun Ben's binge.

For many years I'd mentally skip over the death of Adrian Mellon at the hands of IT and the homophobic, murderous gang of boys. I don't know what it is, but for some reason I jumped right from Georgie's death to Stan's suicide. Maybe it was the shock of an adult deciding to kill themselves rather than face IT. Maybe it was because the brutal murder was a bit much, and the quiet suicide was easier to digest.

When I convinced my brother in law Grizz to read the book for the first time, I'd forgotten this scene. I still feel bad about not remembering, not warning him. This is one of the few bad memories I have attached to sharing horror with anyone, let alone my favorite book and someone I consider my equal in the love of all things scary.

I apologized at the time, and there's no need to remind him. But when I reread that section yesterday at him home, with his husband and mine enjoying D&D, I remembered.

Real horror, no thanks. Let me dwell in the land of monsters, where my loved ones are separated from death by the impenetrable page.

SAFE.

I'm excited to take this journey again, though this time I'm a lot closer to the age of the adult losers. Thirty nine and forty. No doubt I'll reread again at that age, finally 'caught up' to my childhood icons. I too will marvel at the passage of time, and wonder at what memories have vanished into my crypt.

The difference is I'll know exactly what lurks beneath the surface. When the call comes to return to the sewers, I won't resist.

I've always been a sucker for things going bump in the night.

Silver Eyes, or, what's the fuss about?

I just finished reading the tie-in novel for the FNAF series, The Silver Eyes. As mentioned previously, I found the book underwhelming to okay. The additional lore was worth the read, and the main character actually had character. I'm looking forward to wasting my time with the follow up novel set for this summer, The Twisted Ones.

This one is based on the game that takes place in the nightmares of a dying child! Hooray!

The book was published for teens, so I didn't go in expecting greatness. The problem is the action is limited, with almost no scares, and very little bloodshed. Goosebumps is scarier than this.

Most FNAF fans aren't enraged over the lacking story; it's the deviations from the game that madden them. For example, the animatronic eyes are brighter and differently colored.

 

Blasphemy!

Scott Cawthon has stated the INFO in the books is canon, but it also takes place in a separate timeline from the games. That translates roughly to "Just repeat to yourself it's just a franchise, I should really just relax."

See the SOL for greater detail (now on Netflix!).

As much as I like preserving every detail, there have to be allowances for changes in medium. I can allow for an altered story or details, if the changes make sense, I.E. dropping Jud Crandall's wife from the Pet Semetary movie since her impact on the plot was negligible. Changes for change sake are where I need to draw the line.

We don't speak it's name, lest it hear and return.

The TLDR of this is that The Silver Eyes is no great horror novel, but it does flesh-out the lore of FNAF, and it's totally readable. Just don't expect to enjoy it more than watching Markiplier do a lets-play.

Or even this reaction compilation.

Stress

I had a weak day. I bought a bunch of new mythology books at a local bookstore. I ate candy and drank pop and watched stupid videos online.

I had a strong day. I went for a long walk with my husband and my brother in law. I planned the weeks meals, mostly healthy. I got fresh fruit. I scrubbed my shower.

I had a weak weekend. I was mopey Saturday, I binged all of season 3 of Bojack Horseman, and I didn't clean the bedroom.

I had a strong weekend. I did a lot of laundry, cleaned off the entertainment center, cleaned up a mess in front of a spare door and saw a friend I hadn't seen for a while.

I had a weak work week. I had a conference about my failings, my plan to not talk to the people who hurt me failed miserably, and I had to take an anxiety pill to halfway cope with the meeting.

I had a strong week. I saw family, friends, I cooked, I snuggled my pup, and I played Pokemon go.

 Now we're at a new week. I'm stressed over a dog my Mom is pet sitting. I'm stressed about a ton of things at work, none of which merit explaining. I'm hot and sleepy and just unhappy.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new Star Trek, and watching Breaking Bad with a friend, and going home to my husband and cat and bed.

(You can see his knee)

Time to count my blessings and soldier on. It's Monday morning. It'll be fine.