I didn't know what to expect when I went to see this movie since I hadn't seen a lot of previews for it, but it was a lot more interesting than I expected.

Set in the early days of America a man and his family are banished from the plantation they are living on. He sets out with his wife and four children to find a place for them to live. After they have been living there for a while things start to become strange and the wife blames the husband, claiming that because of her husband and his pride they are now cursed. One by one the children are affected by something which may or may not be supernatural in nature. Things do not get better for the family, and after two terrible tragedies the parents talk about returning to the plantation and begging for forgiveness. They never get the chance as outside forces decide their fate.

When the movie ended I was a little confused. I wasn't sure what I had just watched. Then I thought back. During the movie I joked a lot, apologizing to the people I went with for dragging them to a weird movie. It was slow and no one was really sure where it was going.

Then it was over.

The ending was a little bit of a surprise, and the plot was never really revealed clearly. It went back and forth between one subject (Puritanism) and another (witchcraft). After giving it some thought I realized I like the theme of the movie. 

The theme seemed to be that if you are accused of something enough, you accept it and become what you are being accused of. For example, if a man accuses his wife of cheating on him enough times, then she might figure if she is constantly being blamed for it she might as well go do it and cheat on him. 

The movie made me ponder if we are all what someone else made us. Thinking back on my life I thought of all of the things I had been called, and all of the things I had been told about myself and I realized that yes, I do believe that some of it is who I am, even if it may not be. The movie also made me think of bullies. If a bully tells another person that they are ugly and worthless enough times, they often believe it. This is what often leads to feelings of depression and suicide. This movie was movie that reveled in old American folklore, but it also spoke to me about bullying and what builds our thoughts about ourselves. 

While this movie isn't for everyone, I recommend it if you want a movie that makes you think. It made me think, and I felt for the main character, I felt for her because I could be her (in some ways). I feel a kinship with her. I wonder who made me believe who I am with their cruel accusations and/or words.

If any of you are real horror fans you know about the Aokigahara forest in Japan at the base of Mount Fuji. It is commonly referred to as the "suicide forest" because there are many people who go there contemplating suicide and there are squads of people who go through the forest once or twice a year to find bodies and bring them back so the families can bury them if they want. Often, these which suicidal thoughts have issues with debt, family, job, or feel disgraced in some other way and feel they have no choice but to commit suicide. It is a serious problem. 

The movie THE FOREST explored this and turned the idea of the forest into a modern day ghost story. 

A young woman, Sarah, has a feeling that her twin sister, Jess, has gone missing and is in serious trouble, so she decides to go to Japan to find her sister. When she arrives she finds that her sister has ventured into the suicide forest and many people warn her that anyone who goes in there and doesn't come back out soon after is most likely dead. Sarah meets a young man named Aiden who is going into the forest with a guide. Aiden claims to be a travel journalist who lives in Japan but writes for an Australian magazine.

After they wander around the first day and are about to head back, Sarah finds her sister's tent, abandoned. She is warned that they need to leave and can't stay with the tent, but she refuses to move, claiming her sister will be back that night. After waiting and sleeping for a while, strange things begin happening, and Sarah either starts having hallucinations or is actually seeing supernatural things, the audience is not sure.

The next day Sarah is frightened and maybe a little dehydrated. She's also worried for her sister, and her own safety in light of some of the things she saw the night before. Aiden, who bravely stayed near her to help protect her from the odd things in the forest, starts to worry about her. Then things just get worse. Sarah starts to have several issues, either due to the real fact that the forest is large and easy to get lost in, or due to the supernatural things that may be happening in the forest which terrify her. 

In the end the sisters both come to terms with something that has been haunting them.

I can't say that this movie was terribly fabulous, but I didn't hate it. I thought the scares were obvious, but they did cause me to jump, which is unusual. The main character, Sarah, did start to really annoy me, especially after she started having a mental breakdown of sorts. There were at least two scenes in the movie where I felt the plot fell a little, plus neither of them added at all to the story. Plus there was an incident when the twins were little that was never explained, which seemed silly since it was a big plot point in the story. 

As a horror movie, it was not fabulous. It wasn't really frightening, and the scares were mostly obvious. This was especially true as the movie moved on and Sarah's issues were examined more closely. The ending had a little bit of a twist, but really it was not as much of a surprise as one would have hoped. Really, the most interesting thing about this movie was the setting. 

The forest is very serene and beautiful. In real life it is one of the most beautiful places someone will see. The sadness behind it, and the horror some might stumble on is real. One thing I learned from this movie, which I already knew, don't go off the path. Just don't do it. The actual forest is huge, and it is very easy to get lost. Also, there are bodies and people in there who have killed themselves or may be contemplating it. You may want to help someone, but in all honesty, you may just lose yourself.

So next weekend, one day only, I will be selling books and bookmarks at the Birmingham library in Alabama. Come see me! I'm very excited to be doing this since I haven't seen much of Alabama outside of Decatur, Athens, Huntsville, and Madison. I'm assuming that Birmingham is a bigger type of city!

http://www.bplonline.org/programs/LocalAuthors/

So THE WALKING DEAD is back on, and I often get asked, "What do you think of THE WALKING DEAD?"

Let me be honest, I thought it was okay, I only watched the first three, maybe four, seasons because some of the characters I liked from the graphic novels are not alive anymore. I get it, Daryl is awesome, and no he isn't in the graphic novels. But in the graphic novels Andrea is a total badass, Rick's daughter...don't get me started, The Governor was way more interesting as a character study, and honestly in both I really am just waiting for Carl to die. I'd so much like him to go away, and I'd so much like for Rick to stop being such a big baby. I watched the "look at the flower" episode, and I thought it was interesting, but honestly there is very little to make me want to watch the characters when they are much more poignant in the graphic novels. It's not even that I dislike zombie shows or movies, I mean have you watched Z Nation? It's awesome! Also, while iZombie has some weird humor (I think some is okay but lets stop making zombies romantic characters or living humans with normal lives), I think it's only okay right now.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. To some this is a day about family, others it's about the partner you are with, or if you're single you may want to kill people. Personally, I think there doesn't need to be just one day to show your family or the person you love that you love them. Tell them and show them every day! I mean, I can go to a nice romantic dinner any time I choose, all I have to do is make the reservation and choose. And really that heart shape, I don't think that's cool. If I am going to send you a Valentine I'm gonna make sure the heart on the card looks like a damn anatomical heart!

These thoughts lead to a question in my head... why are we trying so hard to be in love? There are dating apps, and websites, and groups, and it's insane. Love should just happen. Sure it's hard to meet people, but that's because we are trying too hard. I love the one I'm with. I found this person on total accident. That's how you find people. Love is something we all want, but how about we love ourselves. If something happened to my partner tomorrow, I'd be devastated, but I wouldn't have to immediately jump out and find a new partner. I can be by myself. It would be hard, but I'd do it.

Of course I might see about cryogenically freezing my partners body so if zombies do rise I can turn him into my zombie love slave.

I used to be a pescatarian. I would only eat fish. Then I had issues with low iron and couldn't take iron supplements, so I decided to eat meat again. Today, I saw a baby cow frolicking in a field like a child frolics, and it made me think I should give Vegetarianism another try. 

I love the taste of cow. I love the taste of bacon. I enjoy ground turkey in my chili. I don't eat chicken, but after watching a video about how they are treated, I couldn't eat them anymore. I know there are farmers who treat their animals with the best of care. I know there are farmers who, even thought they raise their animals to be food, they still feel bad killing them. I have no problem with people who eat meat, I love eating meat, but there is just something nagging me in the back of my brain. Souls.

I am not one of those people who feel like animals do not have a soul. I have been told by many of my religious friends that animals don't have souls. I have been told by my non-religious friends that animals don't have souls. I have been told by my friends who believe with ghosts tell me that animals don't become ghosts, so they don't have souls. I personally believe that all living beings have souls. If an animal can feel pain (which they can, I know, I stepped on my cat's paw yesterday and she howled in pain, then I made sure to check her paw to see if it is okay), how do they not have souls? If an animal feels sadness at the loss of another animal companion, they are obviously more than just stupid creatures with no emotional responses or feelings. 

There is a video going around of a raccoon who's friend gets hit by a car. No one cares about the dying animal. Normally we don't look back at that animal we have hit with out car. I, personally, would be crushed if I killed an animal with my car. It isn't their fault they are in the road, they don't know any better, we aren't making things easy for them. Anyway, back to the video. The raccoon is obviously upset about his friend. He walks over and comforts his friend, not understanding what has just happened to his friend. As his friend lays dying, he cries, and the world around him just keeps moving on. When his friend is finally gone he moves on, sadly, his body language tells everyone who watches the video how broken he feels.

Now, let's not go around saying that I am going vegetarian because I have all these "feels" for animals, that's not the only reason. I also find that when I eat meat I feel nauseous after I eat it. I think that may be my body telling me something. So, starting next month I am going to try to go back to just fish, and a little turkey (because I can eat it in chili and I love chili). 

I don't care if you eat meat. Eat all the meat. It's fine. I won't judge you for eating meat. All I ask is that you try to eat meat which has been humanely taken care of and killed. And the next time you hit an opossum and kill it with your car, take a moment to be sad, you just ended a life.

I have not read the original book by Jane Austen, nor have I read the book this movie was based on, but the movie, the movie I enjoyed. 

We begin facing a zombie and continue with the voice over of a man telling us about the zombies. There is love, humor, lust, Matt Smith acting like a very interesting parson, pride, prejudice, and of course, zombies. 

I love zombie movies. I admit this. I watch good zombie movies, bad zombie movies, and everything in-between. I also read every zombie book I can get my hand on. Again, I read good zombie books, bad zombie books, and everything in-between again. I know, even after saying this I know it's problematic since I have admitted to not reading the book for this movie. Maybe now I will, but we shall see. 

Back to the movie.

I am not a fan of Jane Austen, but I say this because I am not a fan of most Brit Lit of the time, not because I have actually read Jane Austen. I had to study so much Brit Lit to get my English BA and my Masters that I would rather not read it again. I'm talking the older stuff, not stuff written today. I mean I love Simon R. Green. This movie, while not actually Austen, gave me a new appreciation for Brit Lit in general, and made me think I should read one of her books. 

The movie was action packed, and incredibly humorous. The dialogue was fun and witty. I thought, however, that some of the characters were just a tad bit flat. Mr. Darcy was okay, not as interesting as I would have liked, plus he seemed a little badly cast. I don't know if anyone else was bothered by this, or if anyone else will be bothered by it, but the actor, well he has baby teeth. It is like he never lost his baby teeth! I kept starting at his mouth the entire time wishing he had different teeth. The actor who played Mr. Billingsly was WAY too pretty! He was prettier than most of the girls in the movie, this too was distracting to me. 

The plot was a little light, everyone was killing zombies and going to balls, the story just didn't seem there between the characters. Plus, there was a little problem of zombies trying to tell Liz things then getting their heads blown off before they were able to spill their secrets. The secrets the zombies were trying to tell were never unveiled and it bothered me. 

Now, while I said I enjoyed this movie, I enjoyed it like you enjoy an action film. I kept laughing because it honestly seemed like a film directed towards men, heaving bosoms, military warfare, women fighting and killing zombies in dresses with knives and swords. It was fun, and I like fun. It was about zombies, and it didn't suck the fun out of zombies. 

So go, head towards the theater and see it, take a man with you, he will enjoy it too.