Throat Sprockets by Tim Lucas

Throat Sprockets was written by Tim Lucas and published in 1994 by Delta Books.

I picked this book up on a whim, not knowing that it had been listed by Rue Morgue as one of their "50 essential alternative horror novels," among other accolades.

I can see why it garnered such attention. Lucas chronicles his protagonist's (unnamed, an affectation that works here) growing obsession with the film Throat Sprockets and how that fixation draws him, and eventually the world, into oblivion.

Throat Sprockets is absolutely dominated by the influences of Lynch and Burroughs, which is both good and bad for the novel. Lucas juxtaposes the film and the protagonist's life as they intertwine, until the whole world is drawn into "sprocketing," the vampiric throat fetish featured in the film, and characters in the film begin to make appearances in the protagonist's life.

This use of overlapping symbols works for most of the novel, until the last section. I just don't know what to think of the last chapter. It almost ruined the entire book for me, honestly. Did Lucas really need to push the film's influence all the way to destroying the world? In the chapter before, we see how pervasive the film has become, how society has contorted itself into a mimic of the film.

Really, I think this vision of declining society is more evocative than a ruined landscape. The last chapter comes across as muddy and confused, with the Christian anti-vampire group STOKER roaming the land like Burroughs' Wild Boys, killing off sprocketers. It just came across as too contrived, and left me in a funk all night after I finished reading.

The Novel, Minus the Last Chapter: A

The Last Chapter: I don't even know.

Oh no....

I like musicals...

Squeaky Fromme!!

Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme was released from prison Friday. She served thirty-four years due to her ill-fated attempt to assassinate President Ford, though she is most well-known as a member of the Manson family. She is the only member of the family still devoted to Charles Manson, even escape prison in 1987 to visit him when she heard a rumour he was ill and dying.

A few years ago, I read her biography, Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme, by Jess Bravin. If anyone needs a bit of not-so-light reading, I would highly recommend it. Her life, especially her life with and devotion to Charles Manson himself, is absolutely fascinating. I don't want to tell too much, but from reading about her childhood, it is really no wonder she got caught up in such a mess.

Who knows, maybe now I could have her over for dinner. :) I would love for her and I to sit down and talk.

-DR

Much more chic than a musty old coffin...

I want this over my bed. For realz.

Also, TruBlood is going to be released as a real drink!

Coming Soon:

Recently, I have been absolutely awash in horror, so much so that I have quite a few reviews coming. These include:

Gingersnaps (2000)

The Ruins by Scott Smith

AND

The Ruins (2008)

Leprechan: Back 2 Tha Hood (2002)
(This is not, incidentally, number two, but instead the sixth in the series. Weird.)

I Know Who Killed Me (2007)

And FINALLY:

Skeleton Key (2005).

Orphan (2009)

Orphan was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, and stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Vera Farmiga, and Peter Sarsgaard. It is currently in theatres.


As a preface: SPOILERS! WATCH OUT!


What truly impressed me in this movie was Isabelle Fuhrman's acting. The girl is only twelve or thirteen, yet she pulls off nine and thirty three with equal aplomb. You see, the twist is that Ester is in fact a grown woman, a proportional dwarf masquerading as a nine year old girl. Now, this sounds patently ridiculous, as quite a few Internet sources have noted, but I feel Fuhrman gave a strong enough performance to make her secret believable.


Through almost the entire first act, Ester comes across as almost too sweet, and one finds one's self almost rooting for her, despite knowing that she MUST be evil. After a girl at school is particularly cruel to her, pushing her off a jungle-gym seems not only excusable but justified. However, Ester's rage intensifies as the movie progresses, and her transgressions get more and more serious, and correspondingly less well-thought-out, until she can disguise her true intentions no longer. Fuhrman gives Ester a snarl that slowly emerges through her East European accent as she begins her siege on the family, using their spotted history to turn them against each other until it is almost too late.


Additionally, I felt Vera Farmiga was excellent. She plays Ester's adopted mother, who lost her third child while it was still in the womb. She descends into suffering as Ester escalates into manic insanity, matching her in violence until they battle in the final act. In fact, one of the most shocking scenes in the movie is not due to Ester, but when Kate slaps her. She must be physically restrained from beating Ester, and this rage from a "good" character is quite jarring.


However, a few things did bother me about the movies. The reason Ester wears ribbons on her throat and wrists is to cover scars she recieved from her straight jacket when she was in the mental instituation, but these scars look more like cutting scars, rather than the abrassion marks one would get from rubbing fabric. I think they had these scars mostly for the sake of misdirection, really, and for visual effect.

In fact, I felt quite a few things in the movie were done mainly for mood, sacrificing logic. For instance, Ester likes to paint, but her seemingly innocent pictures are, when shown under blacklight, to contain twisted hidden images, such as burning children or heaqds on pikes. Now, these day-glow ciphers were certanly interesting and spooky, the whole thing seemed a bit too hoodoo-magic to fit with the logic of the rest of the film. I mean, did she own a blacklight in the orphanage? However, it did make for a great closing credits sequence.


B+

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Drag Me To Hell (2009) was directed by Sam Raimi and stars Alison Lohman.

Now, I saw this movie well over a month ago. I really enjoyed it, yet I haven't been able to write anything coherent about it. It seems to just evade my grasp.

Raimi's gruesome glee is there in full force. There are scenes of absolute horror-comedy disgustingness you can't help but be swept along, such as the first fight between the gypsy woman and Christine. The gypsy woman loses her teeth at one point, and basically ends up gumming Christine's face. My immediate reaction was "Awesome!" and there were many moments that captured the joy of Evil Dead (1981).

But then... You could SEE the end coming from a hundred miles away. As soon as she puts the cursed button in an envelope identical to the one she gave her boyfriend, you KNEW what was coming. I just... this doesn't ruin the movie, it just... I can't decide. The fumbling bits would not have bothered me in ANY OTHER MOVIE, but from Sam Raimi...

Just...
B

Geraldo Rivera Is Silly

Really, how could anyone take this as anything BUT sensationalism?

Speaking of exorcism...

This has been out for awhile, but I thought I'd post it.



Now, what to think of this? I think even an extremely conservative believer in exorcism would find this offensive. Hypothetically, even if one believed it was a sin to be gay, exorcising someone for that sin could be seen as forgiving culpability. If one can be exorcised for homosexuality, it's not a far stretch to see other sins as similarly external. It forgives responsibility, which seems like an abuse of the rite of exorcism itself.

Add to this how offensive it is to equate homosexuality with evil, and I don't see how anyone could NOT find this disturbing.
-DR

The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio

I've been reading The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio, and so far it's been really fascinating, especially concerning the reality of demonic possession compared to possession in cinema. For instance, most exorcisms take only about twenty minutes to subdue the demon, and reactions to the exorcism can vary from screaming, speaking in tongues or unknown languages, or threatening violence to coughing and yawning, depending on the intensity of the infestation. However, I found this passage particularly interesting, so I thought I'd include it:


"In the lore of exorcism, perhaps nothing is more infamous (because it it so spectacular) as the victim vomiting strange objects or copious amounts of fluid, sometimes even blood. Most of us remember Linda Blair's projectile vomit in the film The Exorcist, and Father Carmine [a priest profiled in the book] had a case wherein a woman vomited buckets of sperm. Such action typically signifies a curse; the person has eaten cursed food that he or she needs to eject. Vomiting objects such as finely woven hair or beads, or even blood clots, is a common indication of a curse as well. Or, in the case of a voodoo doll, the victim may vomit up a nail.

Note that exorcists believe these objects don't necessarily come from the person's stomach, but instead materialize in the mouth. In this way, such people are not harmed physically even though they appear to vomit sharp objects such as pieces of glass or needles...

Other exorcists have seen things that defy explanations, such as pools of mysterious black liquid appearing on the floor, or live animals- including crabs and scorpions- vomited up. Father Carmine once saw a woman vomit a small black toad that was alive. When he went to catch it, it fizzled away into saliva" (Baglio, 151).

However, Baglio goes on to assure that, as "psychotic patients swallow strange objects and them routinely," this can not be held as sole proof of possession. I don't know about this. Could a person really swallow a live animal and bring it back up still kickin'? I would think such a thing would be definitive proof.

Anyway, whether or not one believes, this is a fascinating book to pick up for some summer beach reading. :) Once I'm done, I'll post a full review.

-DR

True Blood

True Blood is getting good, y'all. Seriously. The series has definitely expounded upon the books in an enjoyable and consistent way, making the series even truer to the themes in the book.

Also, Mary Anne is SO a maenad. That's why she could rile up everyone at Merlotte's so easily. :)

-DR

The HORROR!

The only horror in this post is that I am not PARTAKING IN THIS CUTENESS!!! AUGH!!






This is a Fennec Fox, the only species of fox you can have AS A PET. Seriously, why was I not informed of this before?

BRB you guys, I'm going to the pet store.
-DR

Can YOU tell the difference?

Can you tell the difference between a serial killer and a computer programmer? Take the quiz!

I got four out of ten. I guess that means if someone offers to show me their new code, I should politely decline, to say the least.

-DR