Women in Horror: Raid by K.S. Merbeth

Clementine lost her family and her town due to tyrannical Jedediah, who demands increasing tithes from those who live in his lands. Now, she works as a bounty hunter, making ends meet in a solitary existence. Longing for vengeance but seeing it as impossible, she goes about her life being rebuffed by townies for her scarred face and violent job. One day, a strangers gives her a tip on how to get into Jedediah's mansion undetected which amazingly turns out to be true and not a trap. Clementine binds and gags him and runs into a problem. No one knows what he looks like, so it's hard to convince anyone to pay her for his bounty. Her journey takes her into the wild wastes full of danger and possibilities.

Raid wasn't exactly what I expected in the follow-up to Bite. It follows a separate set of characters that intersect with the oddly heartwarming cannibal crew at the end of the events of the first book and beyond. The characters are very different and expand the view of this post-apocalyptic world. Clementine is a competent bounty hunter that misses her role as town hero. As a child, she killed raiders to save her town and family, but when she kills a stranger, her parents set firm rules that she still carries with her to keep calm and stay controlled. Underneath all her anger and cynicism, Clementine has a childish fantasy of being a hero recognized by people again. The townies view her as a necessary evil and won't hesitate to try to shortchange her pay at every opportunity, squarely leaving her as an outsider.

Once she kidnaps Jedediah, everything changes. No one will take him, so Clementine decides to see the Saint out in the wastes who will take any raider. Together, they encounter rival bounty hunters, a huge wave of raiders, townies, and the barren, dangerous wastes. Jedediah seems a lot less imposing than his reputation and he later reveals himself to be Jedediah's son. Jed is Clementine's opposite in almost every way. Social situations are easy for him as he knows how to tell a good story and get almost anyone on his side with his affable nature and easy going attitude that mask a masterfully manipulative mind. He's also surprisingly capable with a firearm in battle and makes coolheaded decisions. Over the course of their journey, Clementine grows to trust and even like him because he treats her as a capable person, not a monster, and gets to know her despite her spiky demeanor.

Raid is a fun, adventurous read from a different perspective. The story has twists and turns that I didn't see coming and familiar characters popping up here and there. I loved the ending so much. Some may find it too abrupt, but I felt it reflects reality that doesn't wait for a stirring speech. The only aspect I didn't like was Clementine easily turning against her ideals. I felt they were too deeply ingrained to turn so easily even with her loathing for others and need for acceptance. Other than that, Raid is a good follow-up to Bite and I'd love to see at least another few books in this series.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Bite

Kid has been wandering around by herself for a while now. She is about to die in the wastelands when she happens upon a group of sharks, cannibals that indiscriminately kill and create trouble. It's either die or join them, so she joins them. The cannibalism and violence take some getting used to especially since she isn't the strongest person or any good at all with weapons. Despite all this, eventually Kid feels like she finally belongs somewhere. Their entire way of life is threatened when the Saint starts enforcing law and creating order. Kid and her group of misfits decides to attempt to destroy this Saint or die trying.

I happened upon this book at a bookstore because of it's kickass cover and the subject matter of cannibals. Cannibal stories are few and far between, but many are pretty awesome. Historically, cannibals have been painted as villains in most stories like The Walking Dead comic and TV show, Ravenous, The Silence of the Lambs, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and many others. In Bite, this group of sharks comprised of Dolly, Wolf, Tank, and Pretty Boy are not necessarily good or bad guys, but somewhere in the shades of grey in the middle. They are the protagonists of the story and arguably on the correct side at least some of the time. Their own survival is the most important thing, so they fight as hard as they can using unconventional or just plain stupid methods to defeat enemies and gather supplies.

The evolution of the group is what I like best about the book. Before Kid got there, it seemed that they simply coexisted together with desire for survival being the only thing they shared. Once Kid came along, she brought a sense of community and family with her that bonded them all together more than just surviving. Her influence made Pretty Boy a marginally better person, brought out Dolly's softer side, made Tank protective, and made Wolf trust in his group. They all definitely still have flaws, but the group becomes home for them wherever they are. Despite all the blood, mean eating, and violence, the story was quite heartwarming. You would think that ravaging cannibals would be hard to sympathize with, but they definitely grow on you after a while.

The world is a wasteland because of nuclear war in the past. Radiation is a part of everyday life. Few children survive to adulthood due to the radiation, but also because of starvation, murder, thirst, and tons of other things. Other dangers include crazies (people intend on cannibalism with no reason left in them), bandits (who steal from anyone they come across), and sharks (cannibals and murderers). Life is hard and people survive in small towns, usually unfriendly to strangers unless they have goods to trade. Each town rules in their own way. The largest is ruled by the Queen, who strives to be surrounded by luxury, but in reality, has a pathetic imitation of it. I loved that the situations they stumbled into were different than the usual post-apocalyptic fare.

Bite is a feast of new ideas that turn genre tropes around into something new. A book hasn't grabbed me like this in a while and made want to sit and read it all hours of the day and night. The characters have dimensions and are frankly pretty awesome. My favorite is Dolly, showing the strong silent type can be a woman as well. Wolf makes me laugh with all his crazy ideas and love for chaos and explosives. I love this weird found family that grew to love and trust each other.. The next book will probably come out next summer and I can't wait for it.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: In My Skin

Esther is a self conscious woman who is moving up in the public relations firm she works at. Her boyfriend wants further their relationship and move in together. Her life is pretty successful as a whole, but this all changes when she goes to a party and she severely cuts her leg open when she falls down in her friends' unfinished backyard. The wound goes unnoticed as she dances and mingles until she goes to the bathroom and sees blood running down her leg. She is shocked at the severity of the injury, but still goes out for drinks with her friends before going to the doctor. While patching her up, the doctor notes that it was unusual that she waited hours to get help. The next day, she goes to work as usual, but she is distracted by her wounds and goes into a private room to create new gouges in her leg. This is the start of her obsession with harming herself. Her boyfriend and her co-workers worry about her and are horrified by her sick impulse, but she does it all the same and going to great lengths to blame the injuries on other things. Why is she hurting herself? Can she stop so she can resume her seemingly idyllic life?

In My Skin is a French film that was written and directed Marina de Van, who also starred as Esther. The film is incredibly disturbing and undeniably original. It's far from the conventional slasher type horror film, but features a more subtle Cronenburgian type of horror. Esther could be any one of us because she is the typical middle class everyman. The real triumph of a work like this is the realism and intimacy of the self mutilation scenes and the lack of any clear, defined reason for it. I like that this prompts the viewer to substitute in their own meanings and think for themselves.

One take on the film is that Esther's motivation for her self mutilation stems from a need to fill the void of her shallow, vapid life, much like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. He focused his violence outwardly and Esther looks within. This view is most apparent during a scene where she's having dinner with her boss and some of their clients. At first, Esther is the model employee, engaging intelligently in conversation and making her boss happy. Then she hallucinates that her arm is separate from her body and becomes distracted, succumbing to her self mutilating urges in the wine cellar of the restaurant. This hollow feeling extends to every part of her life. Her boyfriend is controlling, borderline abusive, and picks a fight at every little opportunity. It's no wonder why she seems passively resistant to moving in together. Esther tells her only friend, a coworker, of her obsession perhaps in a cry for help. The next day, that same friend abandons her and allows her to be humiliated at a work party all because she was jealous that Esther was promoted above her. These are the only two real relationships Esther has and they are revealed to be void of any actual human connection.

Another view of the film is that Esther feels disconnected from her body, much like Dawn from Teeth. Again, this is most exemplified in the restaurant scene with her disembodied arm. The only way her body feels whole again is through pain. The scenes of self mutilation are filmed in an intimate, erotic way, as if it's a twisted form of masturbation for her. From the very beginning, she treats it as an illicit affair: hiding it from her boyfriend, telling her friend to gauge her reaction, and lying to hide how often she does it. She even flaunts the behavior in public like an exhibitionist when she stabs herself under the table at a business dinner, cuts herself at work, and fondles chunks of her flesh on the street. Her love and connectedness with her body can only be shown through blood and pain, but she seems to also get pleasure from it.

The self mutilation in the film can also be taken as a metaphor for self destructive behavior such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or eating disorders. It starts out small. The mutilation goes from cutting to drinking her own blood to cutting parts of her flesh off and eating them. At first, the cutting gives her energy and keeps her focused on work. As it worsens, it consumes her life, making it impossible to function normally. At this stage, the behavior is so extreme that it threatens her life. The blood loss and cutting of pieces of flesh invites infection and the possibility of nicking an artery or major vein and bleeding to death. Any other addictive behavior could have been substituted in and it would have fit perfectly. Her attempts to reach out to her friend seems to be a cry for help, but jealousy and bitterness causes the friend to turn her back on Esther. Her boyfriend seems more concerned about controlling her as opposed to actually helping her.

There are probably a million ways for this film to be interpreted, so I'll stop here. This film definitely isn't for everyone. It's not very gory, but it's guaranteed to make you feel uncomfortable. I highly recommend this film, but be warned that it is slow in some parts. This doesn't bother me at all because I think it fits the type of film that it is, but it might bother some. I watched this film over a year ago for the first time and I still feel the need to rewatch it and re-evaluate my theories on it. I highly recommend this engaging and memorable film.

My rating: 9/10 fishmuffins

Ravenous: An Underrated Classic

Here's the plot summary from IMDB.com:

Captain John Boyd receives a promotion after defeating the enemy command in a battle of the Mexican-American War, but because the general realizes it was an act of cowardice that got him there, he is given a backhanded promotion to Fort Spencer, where he is third in command. The others at the fort are two Indians, George and his sister, Martha, who came with the place, Chaplain Toffler, Reich, the soldier; Cleaves, a drugged-up cook; and Knox, who is frequently drunk. When a Scottish stranger named Colqhoun appears and recovers from frostbite almost instantly after being bathed, he tells a story about his party leader, Ives, eating members of the party to survive. As part of their duty, they must go up to the cave where this occurred to see if any have survived. Only Martha, Knox, and Cleaves stay behind. George warns that since Colqhoun admits to eating human flesh, he must be a Wendigo, a ravenous cannibalistic creature.

This film is one of my all-time favorites. Everything about this quirky little movie is perfect. The acting by everyone, especially Guy Pearce as our tortured hero and Robert Carlyle as our delightful cannibal, is superb. The group of ragtag misfits is completely believable and awkwardly endearing. The script is darkly comic, but holds up as a horror movie with suspense and a dash of gore. The soundtrack is innovative and unconventional. It's minimalistic with repeated musical ideas that build on one another. It creates tension in suspenseful moments very effectively. In a climactic chase scene, the music may seem inappropriate, but not if the focus is on the gleeful predator instead of the fearful prey.

When the film came out in 1999, it didn't do very well because of horrible marketing. I remember the first time I watched it with my sister, I was 14 and I felt slightly sick and uncomfortable. After a few more viewings, the movie became one of my favorites because of the mixture of humor and horror and the fact that after multiple viewings, I still find things I didn't notice before. This film was a big influence in my continued love of the horror genre and possibly the precursor for my love of zombies. This is definitely one of the best cannibal movies you will ever see.