THE GREEN INFERNO is a movie by Eli Roth. I have enjoyed some of Roth's movies and others have disappointed me, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie. The story follows a group of students as they travel to Peru to stop deforestation in the rain forest. After their plane crashes they discover that there are other things to be afraid of in the Peruvian jungles. When I saw previews for this movie I thought it would be a lot like the movie CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, but it was a little more involved. Most of the students in this movie are self-righteous assholes, who go on on this trip without knowing what the hell they are doing, but they think they are saving the jungle and protecting the inhabitants of the jungle. In reality they are doing what well off Americans do, setting foot in a country they know nothing about to do things they also know nothing about.

The characters are not very well developed, but there are three who are integral to the story. The main character, a young woman named Justine, has a rich father who warns her of the dangers of the jungle. When all of the students are captured, she tries her best to remain calm and influences a young child with a whistle she received from her mother. Another student, Daniel, attempts to help Justine escape but finds that it is much harder than her believes. The final student who is integral to the story is a young man (who may be the oldest of the bunch) named Alejandro. Alejandro is the jerk of the entire movie, and from the first moment he is seen he has a holier-than-thou attitude.

There are several gory scenes in this movie involving mutilating bodies (which Roth seems to really enjoy) and a lot of blood. Once their plane crashes the audience sees the actual destruction of the plane crash. Students are cut in half, and only about half of them survive the actual accident. When they are found by the native tribe they find that the tribe holds to the old ways of cannibalism and female genital mutilation. From here things go from bad to worse for the students. Fighting to survive, Justine and Daniel attempt to escape, only to be captured once again. I could say more, but then I might give away the ending.

The movie differentiates itself from CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST by not relying on the gore of a cannibalistic society. Even though to the residential American cannibalism is horrifying, to the tribes and other cultures it is the normal way of life. I was delighted to see that this movie did not vilify cannibalism, but explored it. Although I doubt the students would have agreed with me, it was interesting to see the behaviors depicted by the actors. I, personally, would not like to be stuck in a cannibalistic society, as I think it is probably terrifying, and I would most likely die of fright.

The gore in this movie was a little over the top, but it wasn't so bad that I thought it was gore for gores sake. There was a lot of blood, but I think this might be a signature of Roth as both CABIN FEVER and HOSTEL had even more gore, which was surprising as this was a movie about cannibals. As a horror movie I didn't think it was scary, or frightening. I feel if there had not been so much gore and violent death this could have been labeled as suspense movie. The audience it waiting to find out how survives, if the students will ever escape the cannibals, and if Justine will be shot in the head because of Alejandro.

The ending was not what I expected of this movie, and I can't say much without giving it away. I thought it was a wonderful and original ending to what could have been a stereotypical ending of a movie like this. There is a moment during the credits where it sets itself up for a sequel I don't think it needs, so I hope it isn't made. I will say, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, and I absolutely enjoyed it more than CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, which I only watched because it has been touted as one of the goriest movies, and it apparently caused people to call the police and report a crime as they thought it had actually happened.

So, overall, I recommend this movie for what it is, a movie about self-righteous college students who go where they are not wanted and find that there are people who don't live by their standards.

And if anyone offers you a cooked piece of one of your friends, the answer, "but I'm vegan," will not suffice as a good answer.

Okay, so I know that there is a lot of controversy around this Netflix series, but I decided to watch it, in fact I binged it yesterday and today. I have to say I didn't like it.

I will be honest, the teenage years are hard for a lot of us, as humans, puberty, and learning who you are and what you like or want, it is not only confusing but there is zero guidance. We do the best we can, and some of us make it through the teenage years, while some of us struggle through or don't make it at all. I am not saying that these years are hard for everyone, but in all honesty, it is, if nothing else, confusing and questioning.

When I was in 8th grade I was horribly bullied, and it really started in 7th, but got worse in 8th. I was called names, I was shunned from groups, and I was teased endlessly. Painting a picture of myself, I was a scrawny girl, with glasses too large for my small face, and brownish curly hair that at this point I did not know how to handle. I was quiet and artistic, and when I tried to make friends I was told that I was stupid and should just go away (which a child can take many ways). Things got a little better when I went from a christian school to the public high school. The people I met there were just as cruel, but there were more students, so it wasn't all focused on me. Girls were often called sluts, and teenage angst meant many of us fought, internal and external struggles. We made out with each other because we were curious and scared. We were scared that no one would understand why we were still virgins at seventeen, and we often wondered what was wrong with us. Today the only thing that has changed is we can go after each other through multiple layers of social medial.

So back to 13 REASONS WHY. The biggest problem with this is that the suicide is portrayed as everyone's fault but the actual person who committed suicide. Everyone else in the show is blamed by the deceased girl as someone who caused or contributed to her death. My opinion: suicide is a selfish choice people make when they feel like they have nothing left to offer or any other avenues to get help. It is no one's fault but the person who has taken their own life. No one is to blame for a suicide but the person who has actually committed suicide. Yes, there may be warning signs, but then again there may not be signs.

Suicide is NEVER the answer to solve your problems. It is a final decision, and you can never turn back from that. I know people who have attempted and been unsuccessful and I know people who have been successful, I hurt for them, but there is nothing I can do, or could have done, to change their minds. The only thing left after a suicide is pain, and it isn't even something I can fathom explaining.

Another thing I disliked about this show in particular, none of the characters were likeable. The main character, Hannah, is possibly the worst human being. And - SPOILER HERE SO STOP IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT - the fact that she watched her friend being raped and did absolutely nothing was utterly disgusting. As a human being I was so angered by this I almost stopped watching there, because who does that? Who sees someone being assaulted and doesn't say anything? I know a lot of people witness crimes and don't report it, but none of the characters were likeable, and this was just one thing. Another character I hated was the other main character, Clay. He kept listening to the tapes Hannah left behind like a big idiot and he did nothing. One of the other students has been seen stalking and photographing female students and he doesn't go to the police. He just lets it go, even though he tells the stalker kid that he doesn't want to see him, he doesn't report it, meaning that other students might still be stalked by this student. And I have seen teenagers, what teenager has seven, yes, seven, visible tattoos. I mean, some of these students seemed like they were in their twenties at least.

None of the characters were likeable, and I felt that the students portrayed were only a small section of students. Teenagers, like every other freaking person on Earth, can be cruel. You have offices where women judge other women by the length of their skirts, or the tightness of their clothes. You see men judging men on the brand of shoes they wear or the types of cars they drive. And honestly NONE of it matters. You know what does matter, humans. We matter to each other and this television show not only shows the worst side of EVERYONE, but it also glorifies suicide. No one, well almost no one, in the entire show says that Hannah's death is Hannah's fault. It is entirely Hannah's fault. No one is to blame but Hannah. Her death isn't an answer to anything, it didn't solve any of her problems, it was literally just an end, a stupid end to a person's unfulfilled life.

This show has no redeeming value. There is no point. It doesn't say suicide is bad. It doesn't say there is help out there for people who are struggling. It doesn't even offer help for teenagers who might be struggling through some of the issues involved in the show, like: Alcoholism, substance abuse, parental abuse and neglect, depression, rape, bullying, teen sex, and I could go on!

I do not recommend this show to anyone. It has no redeeming value. There is no point to it, except to say that if someone commits suicide it is not there fault, because someone out there should have noticed, and someone out there should have done something. If someone really wants to commit suicide, they are going to do it. Plus, the scene of the actual suicide, while some may be disturbed by it, it wasn't actually very realistic.

So, skip this Netflix original series. It isn't worth it. It has zero purpose except to place the blame of someone's suicide on anyone but the person who is dead.

Saturday I will be at the downtown Huntsville library in Alabama from 12-4 selling books, selling bookmarks, possibly selling my soul, we shall see how the day goes. Come on down and meet me, see me, say hello, or just walk by ignoring me like I don't even exist, it doesn't matter as long as you come down and meet the amazing authors who will be there sharing their wares!

I just sent out my first round of questions to a local author, and hope to have her interview up on this blog at the end of the month. I started to wonder, what questions would you ask an author? What questions do you feel are over asked?

Lastly, I am really working on my final zombie book. I just took a chapter to my writer's group, and I have about ten more to take. It is on it's way, and I am pleased. I hope that I can get it out by the end of next year. I know it has taken a while since book 3 was released in 2015, but honestly life really has gotten in the way.

And so the fun begins. Actually I love Author events and markets. I love meeting new and old fans. And honestly I love talking horror and zombies, and well, writing with anyone and everyone. So this month and next month I have booked myself for two events. Come see me! I will be running a special since I don't currently have any copies of book 1, ZOMBIES ARE PEOPLE TOO. If you buy book 2, ZOMBIES BITE, or even book 3, ZOMBIE WASTELAND, I will give you a free eBook of ZOMBIES ARE PEOPLE TOO. This is a great deal because I don't often give things out for free, why? Because this is my job, and only one of them, so I, like everyone else, need to make some money so I can continue!

On April 22 I will be at the downtown Huntsville library from 12-4. The address is 915 Monroe St SW, Huntsville, AL 35801. Here is a link if you want to look up the event or add it to your calendar.
https://hmcpl.org/node/133640

Another event I will be at is in May, just one day before my awesome birthday! The date for the event? May 27th. I will be at the 3rd Annual Catfish Literary Festival in the Athens library from 10-4, selling books and meeting all of the awesome people! The address for that is 603 S Jefferson St, Athens, AL 35611. And here is the link for that if you want to look it up or add it to your calendar.
www.alcpl.org/event/3rd-annual-catfish-literary-festival/

There will be several excellent and interesting authors at both events, so hopefully there will be something for everyone's taste!

Lastly, I just watched a movie, THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE, and it really doesn't deserve an entire review post. It was a derisive and cliched movie, attempting to explore paranormal powers and possession. It was dull, and did not keep my interest. I do not recommend this as it tries to explain itself through a documentary style that doesn't quite work or explain what is going on. And really, the movie sets itself up for a sequel to be made when there isn't one needed because I just didn't care enough about the characters to want to watch more.

I honestly don't have much to say about this movie. The original was just really, really great. Part of the reason the original was so wonderful is the actors, and Heather O'Rourke was the best child to play the youngest member of the family. The new cast had nothing for me. The young actress was just, not as creepy.

Here are a few of the problems I had with the remake:

1- The background of the family was never explained. I mean the father has just been laid off and the mother doesn't work, so why on earth are they buying a new house? It doesn't make sense. I mean if they are so concerned with money why are they buying a new house at all?

2- The scares are just not there. The brilliance of the original is that they slowly worked up to the scares of the house being devoured by a poltergeist. It had little scenes of chairs being stacked up and Carol Anne being slid across the kitchen floor. The remake just flat out tries to show the audience the frights. No one is fascinated by the little things the spirits are doing, it is just flat out fear.

3- They tell us that the bodies weren't moved in the very beginning of the movie, which takes out all of the anticipation of why this is happening. In the original they father arrives while his house is being torn apart and yells at the developer, "You moved the headstones, but you didn't move the bodies." This added to the fright of the movie because bodies were popping up while the family is struggling to get out of the house as it falls down around them.

4- The second child, Griffin, was supposedly the protagonist of this movie. He constantly whines that they need to leave the house. It is annoying the first time, but as he continues with this through the movie I just wanted him to disappear into the vortex. Plus, he is the one who runs into the closet and comes out rescuing his sister Madison. This goes against the bond of the family from the first movie, which is all about how love will save them.

5- There is literally no interesting thing that happens in this movie. I could have taken a nap and not lost anything. It was just terrible and didn't make any sense. The characters were not developed. I didn't care about any of them, and none of them were likeable. The children were dull, the little girl was uninteresting so I didn't care that she was swallowed by the porthole, and honestly neither of the parents added anything to the plot or the story.

I would like to ask the producers and directors of horror movies to please stop remaking movies! This was just horrible and I hated it. The remake of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was just awful. It tried to explain Freddy's backstory in too much detail. The remake of HALLOWEEN was highly anticipated but it fell short and went too far into odd dream sequences, also it made a great actor (Malcolm McDowell) look like a hack. It too tried too hard to explain the backstory of why Michael Meyers did what he did, which is unnecessary. I don't need a lot of backstory for my supernatural killers. I mean they kill because that is what they do.

This leads me to one more thing, the remake of the series IT. I know that often Stephen King says yes to remakes, especially when the original doesn't meet his standards (let's face it, he may not have loved the movie version of the SHINING but it was freaking fabulous, and the TV mini series was dreadful and badly cast), but I don't think this is one he should have said yes to. The original series, while maybe a little outdated, is still fabulous. You can't match Tim Curry as the clown, Pennywise. Tim Curry is basically EVERY character he has ever done. The remake of ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW fell flat, and it shouldn't have even been attempted as it were. I can honestly say, as a lover of horror, I am not looking forward to the remake of IT. I feel like they are trying to make the clown look too evil, when it was simple, I mean even reading the book Pennywise looks like an ordinary clown. Plus, Bill Skarsgard is, in my opinion, the wrong choice to play Pennywise. I know people are saying he is the perfect choice due to his appeal in HEMLOCK GROVE and the DIVERGENT series, but I feel like he is too young, and a little too not right. I just can't figure out how to say what I am thinking.

So, please, stop remaking movies.