Rosemary's Baby

After much searching, I finally got hold of a copy of the novel, Rosemary's Baby. RB is one of my all time favourite films; the build-up of creeping horror and suspense is amazing and the ending is one of the bleakest in modern cinema! I have to say, so far it doesn't disappoint and reading the novel, I realise what a faithful adaptation the film is. Even Ira Levin was impressed that Roman Polanski pretty much filmed the movie scene-by-scene from the book. Even the dialogue is spot on.

I'm actually surprised at how hard it is to find the novel of Rosemary's Baby in the UK; Ira Levin is a staple of modern horror/thriller writers (he even has a street named after him in Silent Hill!), with books like The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil and Sliver to his name. I'm a huge fan of his all-is-not-as-it-seems story-lines and Rosemary's Baby is one of the all-time greats of paranoid suspense. Highly recommended if you haven't read the book or seen the film; it was one of many movies in the late 1960's that changed the face of modern cinema.

Books, glorious books!

Now, let me explain why Twilight is on my reading list before I go any further. Curiosity has drawn me to this much-hyped drivel and I wanted to read it for myself and make an informed decision on whether it's actually any good or not. I've read about 3 chapters so far and the only word that can accurately describe this piece of "literature" is vapid. More on Twilight once I've forced myself through the whole thing...

I recently found Harlan Ellison's short story collection All The Sounds Of Fear in a second-hand bookshop and it's pretty awesome. I usually find sci-fi (well, hardcore sci-fi) a bit hard going but this book is fantastic. The first story of the book, I Have No Mouth, and I must Scream gave me bad dreams for a few nights after reading. I may might have to write a longer review of the story at some point, just because it's so weird and disturbing. Honestly, this guy is f**ked up! In a good way, though. I've been searching out some of his stuff ever since I bought the film A Boy and His Dog, based on one of Ellinson's novels.

Having never seen the film of Picnic at Hanging Rock but wanting to, I thought I'd read the book first and then get hold of the DVD. I haven't started this one yet but the premise sounds uber-creepy. It also sounds like one of those books that never explains why the major event has happens and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions.

And in keeping with my penchant for stories/films involving apocalyptic storylines, I finally picked up a copy of The Day of the Triffids for a mere £1.50. I've read Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos which I enjoyed and this one doesn't disappoint either. I love the whole "stiff upper-lip" British mentality that comes with sci-fi written in the '50's; it's strangely comforting as well as amusing!