From: J1300DAF@vm.univie.ac.at
Subject: Hi, I'm new
Organization: University of Vienna
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 09:19:36 GMT


Hello everybody,
since this is my first attempt to join a newsgroup, and I read all
the articles in the alt.horror group and so much different things
came to my mind while reading ... I simply will add my opinion
to some of the issues raised in the discussion, with no references
to who said what at what time ...

Stephen King: My fave, although his talent to create really
frightening plots seems to fade away. Salem's Lot, Christine,
Shining and especially It and Pet Semetary were brilliant, but Needful
Things, Four Past Midnight and The Dark Half didn't grip me at all.
I mean, SK somewhere said, he thought the idea of a Coke machine
flying through the desert and driving people down extremely frightening.
To me, this idea is ridicilous (reminds me off some Douglas Adams stuff,
to be honest ...). The Dark Tower series seems to be his attempt to
write his "Lord of the Rings", and somehow it works (although the story
is veeery slllllooooow. Gerald's Game isn't out here in lovely
Vienna (the centre of morbidity), so I can't join the discussion on this
matter.

Sterphen King movies: Most of them I found disappointing. Christine
was okay, Firestarter was lame (as was the Dead Zone), Salem's Lot
was pathetic and It was by far the worst adaption of a great book.
Pet Semetary spoiled a brilliant, subtle story of real heart-chilling
horror, Children of the Corn ... uhh, I won't waste my time on that.
Question: any opinions on "The Lawnmower Man"? It just came out here
in Vienna, advertised as "first virtual reality movie".
Of the adaptions, I only liked Carrie (that split-screen scenes were
great, and Piper Laurie was really frightening in terms of religious
fanatism) and ... Shining. I mean, everything said about Nicholson
(looked crazy right from the beginning, so really no surprise
he tried to butcher his family) and Shelly Duvall (if I were married
to Olive Oyl, I would try to get rid of her, too ...) is true, but
Kubrick did great work in a visual way and added (or better, used the
story as a starting point for) his own vision (like he's done with Space
Odysee and Clockwork Orange)

By the way, any opinions on Tabitha King? One book, I think "The Trap"
scared the sh-word out of me.

Clive Barker: His Books of Blood were brilliant; a bunch of great, new
ideas about what horror can be. The novels I've read (everything
exept Ima-or-what-it's-called, which isn't out here) seemed to be
a bit slow. I mean, I get the point that they are shifting in a fantasy-
direction, but somehow ... The IDEAS are great (a world in a carpet
and so on), but the characters are not very well described, and he
never brought me that far to really care about, for instance, Cal in
Weaveworld. Barker's writing style is much more elaborate compared
with King, and he tends to be "arty". I somehow am loosing my
sympathy for his work.

James Herbert: Somewhat like a pulp writer. Fast, direct, cheap.
His rat-trilogy was good for some cheap thrills, Moon was too
sophisticated for his limited writing skills.

Robert McCammon: I only read They thirst, and I won't read anymore.
Seemed to me like a cheap SK-rip-off.

Question: What about Alien 3? It just came out here, and I'm not sure
whether I should go. Alien 1 was great, but Aliens ... well, it
somehow spoiled the story (besides, that the whole design was
inferior to Part 1). Just like a brainless arcade-hit-and-run-
video-game, was my impression.

Another question: Bret Easto Ellis' "American Psycho". Nasty book, isn't it?
Any comments?

And the last one: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Good, relaxing, gorey reading.
Comments?

Oliver

"I never drink ... wine." (The Count)
Newsgroups: alt.horror