Horror Mini-Reviews: A Quiet Place Part II (2021) and Censor (2021)

* A Quiet Place Part II

Evelyn and her family seek a new place to live while avoiding blind aliens and feral humans. They encounter an old friend and surmise that they aren't alone in the world from a song on the radio.

A Quiet Place Part II is slightly better than its predecessor. The flashback to the very first day of the invasion is full of suspense and surprises. The CGI creatures are a little too present and in your face. The scene where Evelyn is backing up and the arm of a creature appears in the advancing bus's broken windshield is just the perfect amount of showing the creature's presence without seeing the entire thing. 

This sequel is mostly about the children taking charge, which leaves Evelyn doing almost nothing at all and Emmett, the old friend, assuming her role as protector. Regan is self possessed and does what she thinks is right no matter what. She figures out the song riddle and finds a way to help her community. The island city they find is interesting, but a weird distraction at best considering what happens to it. This installment at least felt like it was going somewhere instead of rehashing the same scene over and over like the previous film.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Censor (2021)

Enid watches all the video nasties to judge which can be censored and which should be banned outright. She takes great pride in her work and believes she's protecting the general public from gore, murder, and depravity.  Her own sister went missing and she failed to recall any details. When she sees a film similar to that event, her world starts to unravel.

Censor is a unique film that follows up-tight and orderly Enid, who watches the most gory films as a sacrifice to protect her community (in her mind). When a man kills someone similar to a kill in a video nasty she personally approved (even thought the murderer hadn't seen it), the puritanical English public practically crucifies her. Her reputation is  fully destroyed when she is seen buying a contraband video nasty. The film's crux is that Enid can't differentiate a film from reality and she has so much guilt from her sister's death/disappearance that she would do anything to have her sister back. It says so much about society's approach to grief (as in none really) and how repression is necessary when grief isn't addressed. The delusion of the end was so surreal and perfect. I wasn't on board with every twist and turn, but the ending impressed me.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Fear Street Mini-Reviews: The New Girl, All-Night Party, and Killer's Kiss by R.L. Stine

Nostalgia re-reads! I read every single Fear Street book I could get my hands on as a kid and I'm rereading them to see how they hold up over time.

* The New Girl by R.L. Stine

Gymnast Cory falls for Anna without knowing anything about her. He loses interest in everything but her and she isn't who she seems. This is the very first Fear Street novel and it shows. Cory is an absolute idiot, throwing everything in his life away for a random girl he sees a few glimpses of. He has no idea that his best friend Lisa has a crush on him no matter how overt her feelings. The book is choppily written and doesn't have a lot of connective tissue. The only really interesting parts have Cory escaping a house out of a tree with his gymnast skills and visiting the very spooky Fear Street with its abandoned mansion and eerie residents. The ending ties up a little too neatly and the whole thing is a bit forgettable.

My rating: 1.5/5 fishmuffins

* All-Night Party by R.L. Stine

It's Cindy's birthday so naturally her friends kidnap her and take her to Fear Island for an all night party. Cindy is killed during the night. Was it one of her friends, her boyfriend, or the escaped convict? This is #43 in the series. The writing feels more fluid and the story more complete. This is a nice intro to murder mysteries. Most of the characters have some sort of motive and plenty had the opportunity. We follow Gretchen as she works to figure out who killed her best friend on a remote island with no phones and pre-internet. The characters feel a bit like paper dolls and not real teens, but it's so much better than The New Girl. The dialogue in particular feels unnatural. The ending is clever and unexpected with suspicion cast on many. I didn't predict who it was in the end and that impressed me.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Killer's Kiss by R.L. Stine

Delia and Karina compete over everything from a prestigious art scholarship to their unknowingly shared boyfriend Vincent. Delia is terrorized with worse and worse instances of destroying her work or physical attacks, making everyone suspect Karina. The escalating harassment and attacks get pretty scary for a teen book of this era. I don't like Vincent at all, who works to keep both girls in the dark about his relationship with the other, and I wonder why these two talented girls bother with him at all. It all seems so misogynistic like girls have nothing better to do but fight over trivial things. This type of relationship between girls is seen in almost all the Fear Street books I've reread. I guess it's a sign of when it was written, but it's disappointing nonetheless. I remember Killer's Kiss being a favorite of mine as a kid because of the crazy twist at the end which seems more obvious reading as an adult and the ending monologue out of nowhere seems a bit bizarre. 

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

I'll be covering a few more and hope the supernatural stories are a bit better. With the Netflix movies, people are charging kind of a lot for second hand copies, so special thanks to the LA County Library system for having all of these on Libby to borrow. Kindle Unlimited also has a few Fear Street titles. 

The Unholy (2021)

 * The Unholy (2021)

* spoilers *

Alice, a young girl who is both deaf and mute, can miraculously hear and speak, in addition to having visions of Mary. Disgraced journalist Gerry Fen stumbles onto the case and turns out to be the only one Alice will speak with. He sees this as an opportunity to regain his former glory while she just wants to foster belief in Mary. Many flock to Alice for miraculous healing but only after promising to believe in and pledging themselves Mary. Her following grows incredibly large before anyone starts to question the identity of Mary.

The Unholy has an interesting concept and good actors, but falls flat in the creature and its design. I'm not a usual fan of religious horror, but this hits my wheelhouse as an ex-Catholic critical of the church. It's assumed that Mary is the Virgin Mary, but she definitely is not. Her backstory as a witch rightfully burned by the church isn't my favorite, but the wider implications of her being evil made me enjoy this film way more than I expected. The Catholic Church enjoys the great amount of attention and money that comes with Mary and ignore anything that stands in their way. Seems about right. Cary Elwes plays the Catholic authority figure, Bishop Gyles, who at first seems pious and gentle only to be exposed as an opportunistic charlatan. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is excellent at being a charming, sympathetic character despite any flaws and Gerry Fen is no different. At the start, Gerry is an alcoholic clamoring for any fragment of a story to sell no matter how small to the least credible magazine ever. He unwittingly creates this story by destroying an old doll he finds in a field. Once he meets Alice, he takes an interest in her and prioritizes Alice's needs over his own greed and drive to return to his rightful place in his career. To foil Bishop Gyles, he goes from someone willing to do anything to earn some money to someone willing to tank their newfound fame to save an innocent girl and the world.

Where The Unholy stumbles is with Mary herself. Her backstory aside, she's a CGI creature that isn't very detailed and just looks bug-eyed and strange. Every scare involving her fell flat and since she's the main antagonist, the horror elements are lacking. I don't understand why she couldn't have been portrayed by an actual person with makeup or practical effects or CGI enhancements. 

The Unholy is a surprisingly decent religious horror movie that doesn't view the church or its acolytes as heroes or saviors. Normal people doing the right thing are the heroes. I would love more in the subgenre along this vein. If it were a drama, it would have been more memorable, but the horror elements are forgettable and not scary outside of some cheap jumpscares. It's worth a watch, but I wouldn't buy it. 

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Manga Mini-Reviews: Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 1 by Yoko Nogiri and Sensor by Junji Ito

* Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 1 by Yoko Nogiri

Midori drops her wallet at school and Ichijo saves it from shady students looking to steal. It would be all the more devastating because her mom can't afford rent with out her part-time earnings from working at a bar. The chairman of the school sees her in her work uniform and strikes a deal with her: if she can get Ichijo and his troublemaker friends to return to school and participate, she will get a school approved job. Midori jumps at the chance, but it might be a bigger problem than she can handle.

Those Not-So-Sweet Boys is an adorable slice of life manga with a surprisingly heartwarming core. Midori sacrifices everything to provide for her family and take care of her brother. She doesn't mind missing out on typical teen things so her family can afford rent and her brother can be a kid. On the other hand, Ichijo and his two friends are from pretty affluent backgrounds and have bad reputations at school. As Midori gets to know them, she sees that it's mostly the result of misunderstandings and bored teens making stuff up. She sees that underneath their spiky, aloof exteriors, they are nice, decent boys that stick close together.

This manga is a fluffy, cute read. I felt for Midori and enjoyed the twists and turns of the story. I wouldn't buy the rest of the series, but I wouldn't mind checking it out from the library and seeing where the story goes. 

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Sensor by Junji Ito

Kyoko Byakuya is drawn Kiyokami village near dormant volcano Mount Sengoku. The inhabitants have shining golden strands in their hair that allow them to communicate with their minds and see into the cosmos. The strands are dried lava from the volcano that fall like rain. She stays to witness their ritual, but it all goes terribly wrong. 60 years later, tales of Kyoko endure and send many searching for her.

Sensor is a cosmic horror tale that differs from Ito's previous work. It's not as gruesome, but still has disturbing themes and situations in science fiction trappings. I was unnerved at the beginning because I expected the idyllic, almost Stepford-like village to have a dark underbelly, but I was wrong. The opposing cult of course wants to use the strands and cosmic power to call up a great darkness. Dueling cults surrounding the same supernatural phenomenon is something I'm surprised hasn't been explored more and I loved it. I am also interested in the background story in the Edo era (between 1603 and 1867) where a Christion missionary was harbored by the village, but eventually he was killed by the Shogunate for not renouncing his faith. I would have loved to see more of this time period in the manga before it moved on.

The villains are compelling, but felt pretty one dimensional.  I wish some of the ideas had been more developed. It felt a little like a rumination on the same ideas as Remina. I've been seeing criticism that this "isn't horror" and falls flat. Sensor is a departure from Ito's usual flavor of horror, but the shift to cosmic horror is equally effective and still employs his usual macabre art and body horror. Overall, Sensor had some interesting ideas and amazing art as always. I always look forward to  more of Ito's releases. 

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Franchise Marathon: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

 * Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

* spoilers *

Tina Shepard after her telekinetic abilities emerged years ago resulting in the death of her abusive father by Crystal Lake. Now a teenage, she is struggling with guilt and her mental health. Her psychiatrist prompts her and her mother to move back to the lakeside cabin as a way to access her powers, but she ends up awakening Jason Vorhees who was left chained at the bottom of the lake. The partying teens next to Tina's cabin don't stand a chance.

The New Blood is one of my favorite of the franchise. It stops trying to make sense or be plausible in the world and just has fun. Tina is an amazing character and it's nice to have a final girl again with the back and forth of Tommy's state as victim/hero or villain. I feel for Tina and immediately felt for her when she was verbally abused by Dr. Crews, the dubious psychiatrist. She of course falls for  Nick, which causes a bunch of teen drama next door. 

Jason is a full fledged zombie in this installment, revealing a horrific, rotted face. His kills are fun with some unique weapons and his fight with Tina is a welcome change to the slasher formula. Another change is the secondary villain in Dr. Crews. He was awful from his very first scene and even used a teen as a human shield to save himself. Usually the secondary villains are well meaning police, so it's nice to have a true human villain to go against both Tina and Jason. It's disappointing that Tina never returns in subsequent installments, but this is top tier in the franchise. 

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins 

* Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Jason is back! He is resurrected on Crystal Lake where the SS Lazarus happens to be leaving with the senior class of Lakeview High School. Most of the teens are more concerned about drugs, having sex, and blackmailing the chaperons, but Rennie is more concerned with her aquaphobia. As Jason slices and dices through the distracted teens, Rennie and her boyfriend Nick try to save everyone before it's too late.

You might wonder why this is called Jason Takes Manhattan at all since it's essentially Jason on a cruise ship. Apparently actually filming the whole movie in Manhattan would have been too expensive, so only the ending has the iconic scene with Jason in Times Square.  The title is super misleading and it's no wonder why so many don't like this installment.

The cruise ship part is actually better than I expected. The kills are still fun, a mainstay in the series. However, the destined to die teens are flimsiest, most unlikeable characters that feel more like parodies of teens. Even with all its flaws, it's a fun, cheesy film perfect for movie nights with friends. It's not the greatest in the series by far, but worth a watch. 

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

Franchise Marathon: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

 * Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

* spoilers*

Tommy Jarvis has spent years in a mental institution dealing with the trauma of Jason Voorhees' murders. He finds himself transferred to Pinehurst Halfway House to live with more freedom among other troubled teens. They are hated by their neighbors, but Dr. Letter, the manager, seems to believe in rehabilitating his charges. One of the teens is murdered by another in a fit of rage, leading to more scrutiny and disapproval of the program. The murderer is arrested, but more murders follow with Jason's usual methods. 

A New Beginning starts out fresh with a different feeling from the other films. Troubled teens work and learn skills that will help them reacclimate to society. Sounds great until one of the charges kills another gruesomely and with no warning. That caught me completely off guard and I had no idea what to expect going forward. It felt a bit like Nightmare 3 with mismatched misfits that you can't help but like despite their flaws. They all suspect each other when the murders continue. Tommy is the unfortunate newcomer who hasn't had a chance to form attachments. He doesn't say much and continues his childhood love of monsters by creating his own incredibly detailed masks. I felt for him throughout the movie. 

I appreciate when a franchise tries to break away from its main character (like Halloween III), but it just doesn't work here. The rest of the movie after the initial kill is fairly familiar and formulaic. The ending isn't as fresh as its beginning and feels like a bad Scooby Doo episode with a tacked on ending, again making it seem like Tommy will hurt people. Perhaps it was an idea to have him continue as Jason, but it was obviously scrapped in the end. 

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

* Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Tommy Jarvis is back and recently released from a mental institution after he killed Jason years ago. He finds Jason's body and accidentally resurrects the body when trying to destroy it. Now, he's frantically trying to warn the former Camp Crystal Lake (now Camp Forest Green) residents about Jason, but Sheriff Mike Garris dismisses it as hallucinations from a disturbed mind. Only his daughter Megan believes Tommy and of course falls in love with him. As the body count rises, Garris blames Tommy and Jason is dismissed as an urban legend, leaving him free to slaughter.

Jason Lives is a fun installment to the Friday the 13th franchise. It has everything: super cheesy acting, a sappy love story (based on a very short, shallow relationship), and fun kills. Tommy Jarvis has turned into the Nancy Thompson of the franchise, hellbent on defeating Jason once and for all while no one believes him. The writers had to retcon the end of the last movie to get him there and I think it was a good decision.

Jason is explicitly supernatural for the first time, resurrected by electricity like Frankenstein's monster and trapped by his home soil like a vampire. It took a while, but this installment finally puts Jason in his own category instead of being a cheap copy of another slasher killer. It's so fun to watch him slice and dice through unsuspecting corporate workers and other bystanders. This is the first time we see the camp actually functional and Jason only kills counselors, not the children. Overall, Jason Lives is heavier on the comedy side and just fun to watch. 

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Blood on the Tracks 3 and 4 by Shuzo Oshimi

 * Blood on the Tracks 3 by Shuzo Oshimi

In the aftermath of his cousin's "accident," Seiichi has to navigate his unstable mother's feelings as well as his blossoming love for a classmate. Through all of this, his cousin suffers in a hospital bed, unable to communicate. He is pulled in many different directions and finds it difficult to speak after his traumatic experiences.

I just want to give Seiichi a hug. His cousin lies in the hospital comatose while his mother refuses to visit him in the hospital. She ignores the wave of misery she caused and expects Seiichi to act like a happy child. He develops a stutter and struggles to communicate with others on top of keeping the horrible secret for his mother. Seiko seems oblivious to everything. She smothers him, isolates him, and alternates between expressing love and attacking him. His father knows that Seiko has issues, but seems to underestimate how far gone she is.

The ending is a complete gutpunch with the most intricate manga art I've ever seen. The shadows and expressions are incredibly detailed. Seiichi is faced with so much: his mother's instability and efforts to isolate him from everyone else in addition to seeing his cousin for the first time after his fall and witnessing the direct effect of his mother's actions. Heartbreaking. I can't wait to see what happens next.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

* Blood on the Tracks 4 by Shuzo Oshimi

Seiichi is not doing well. He struggles to speak at all and separates himself from everyone until Fukiishi reconnects with him. They get to know each other, share their experiences, and commiserate over their troubled parents.  His mother makes every effort to separate them and keep him isolated, but Seiichi refuses to let her take away the one person who makes him feel normal again.

This quiet story of abuse and unfolds slowly through each installment with great care for Seiichi and his reactions and struggle to cope with everything. It starts off at his lowest point, struggling to speak so much that he claims sickness for months so he won't have to speak at school. His father is completely clueless and his mother acts as if nothing happened. His classmates bully him over his odd behavior except Fukiishi, who is the only one to truly listen to him and makes him feel safe. They meet in a remote park and talk for hours after school and Seiichi seems happy and relaxed for the first time since the beginning of book one. Of course his mother can't have that.

The ending of the book has Seiichi taking huge strides forward in defying his mother's clingy, inappropriate demands and her delving deeper into madness at the rejection. The series keeps getting better and better in addition to keeping with the highly detailed art. The park seems so peaceful and the perfect haven in contrast to his feeling of being strangled as he tries to speak and his mother biting through her own nail. Each important scene takes several frames and takes its time, showing more  minute details and expressions than I've seen in manga. 

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Franchise Marathon: Friday the 13th Part III (1982) and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

 * Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Jason Voorhees survives the previous installment to kill again. Unsuspecting Chris Higgins and her friends go on a weekend getaway to her family's old home on Crystal Lake. They have a confrontation with some bikers who end up following them to the house to get revenge. Of course, Jason goes on a killing spree and dons his iconic hockey mask for the first time in the franchise.

Friday the 13th Part III was released in 3D and many scenes take advantage of that. The film as a whole is formulaic and familiar. A group of friends is one by one picked off by Jason until a final girl emerges. The biker gang gives some change of dynamic and shows more characters of color, but they are mostly villainous, threatening our white protagonists and only serve to increase the body count. Shelly, a kind of incel joker, does provide some levity to the film. 

Overall, this installment is fine. The standout events are Jason donning the iconic hockey mask and the very end echoing the lake scene from the first film, but with Pamela Voorhees' rotting body. There are some fun kills and the way Jason is stopped is at least new. 

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Jason Voorhees somehow survived the previous film to kill again. A group of teens goes to Camp Crystal Lake to party and happen to be next to Trish and her little brother Tommy. Murder, mayhem, and teen drama ensue.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is far from the actual final chapter and is the first movie to feature Tommy, a tragic figure that will fight Jason several times. A lot of the story is steeped in teen drama, but Tommy and his monster masks are a fun addition. The kills are unique with weapons ranging from shower tile to a corkscrew. Crispin Glover does a bizarre, hilarious dance. I didn't really get why Tommy shaved his head in the end (apparently to make Jason mistake him for his younger self) and I found the ending very weak and Tommy portrayed as evil for some reason, counter to later sequels.

Overall, it wasn't my favorite installment and didn't do much to set itself apart from other sequels. Tommy will be a fixture in the series and this story gives future insight into his character and his trauma. 

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Amanda is a newly wed, a new homeowner, and a successful architect. Her happy life is just beginning. The trouble starts as a recurrent, annoying noise. An unexplained knocking in her house. Amanda doesn't know what to make of it and tries to ignore it. But it persists and gets worse along with new inner voice encouraging her to hurt those around her and cheat on her husband. A book she finds suggests she is possessed, but that's impossible so she goes on as she loses more and more time.

Come Closer got under my skin. I don't usually like demonic possession stories because of the overt reliance on flawed religions (specifically Catholicism). However, Sara Gran approaches it in a different way. We follow Amanda's point of view as she slowly, almost imperceptibly changes. These changes, like the unexplained and infuriating knocking in her home and sudden, odd mood swings, are explained away one way or another and adapted to as she loses pieces of herself little by little. She becomes casually cruel and violent, starting with the impulsive split decision to burn her husband with a cigarette and escalating far beyond. It's an absolutely chilling portrayal of losing oneself and I loved it. 

Amanda has some moments of fighting the possession, even ordering a book she doesn't remember about recognizing the signs of demonic possession. I love the literal checklist of symptoms and Amanda's attempts to thwart the possession. However, complacency and perceived normalcy win out. It's a compelling psychological portrayal for anyone ignoring a major problem in their life and how it's more comfortable to ignore it, explain it away, and keep going as normal.

The story moves quickly and we get just enough of a glimpse into this world. The novella length makes it easy to read in one or two sittings and the story grabs hold in the first chapter and doesn't let go. As with many stories like this, there's the question of mental illness or demonic possession, but it seems to land squarely in one camp by the end in my book. The ending is disjointed, distant, and perfect. Come Closer had been on my reading list for years and I'm so happy I bought by chance in a bookstore. (Thank you Barnes and Noble horror section.) It was truly the perfect Halloween read. 

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Franchise Marathon: Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th Part II (1981)

 * spoiler warning *

* Friday the 13th (1980)

After years of being closed and abandoned, Camp Crystal Lake is set to open or new campers in 1980. Crazy Ralph tries to warn people away, but everyone ignores him and Unfortunately, an unseen killer keeps killing the counselors before the camp even opens. Will any of the them survive?

Friday the 13th is honestly my least favorite of the big 4 horror franchises, but I realized that I've only seen a few of the movies and may be judging it too harshly. Thus this exploration through the whole series. Alice is an excellent final girl with sense and a practical nature. However, the road the finale was arduous. After the initial exposition dump, the movie plods along and even the kills aren't that interesting until Pamela Voorhees shows up. Her mania and love for her son truly shine through as she's revealed to be the killer. She's one of the most iconic cinematic female serial killers and Betsy Palmer delivers an amazing, campy performance. The ending on the lake haunts me from childhood and rings a bit melancholy, knowing that Jason was a neglected, innocent little boy.

The first film didn't wow me and the pace made the relatively short runtime feel much too long. Pamela Voorhees and final girl Alice set themselves apart in this mostly forgettable start. The music feels underdeveloped, but the main themes (reused many many times) are iconic. Overall, it's a disappointing experience with some bright spots.  

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

 

* Friday the 13th Part II (1981)

                                     

Five years after the Camp Crystal Lake Massacre, a group of counselors hold a training camp near the defunct, notorious crime site, where they mostly get into typical shenanigans like trespassing on Camp Crystal Lake, drinking, having sex, and doing drugs. This doesn't sit well with Jason, who sets out to kill all the camp counselors and punish them for their immoral behavior in honor of his mother.

Friday the 13th Part II is a vast improvement over the first which dragged and had no suspense up until the end with Mrs. Voorhees. The mythology for the whole series is kind of wonky. Jason appears as he is most known, a hulking silent beast of a man. Instead of his signature hockey mask, he wears a bag over his head with only one hole to see out of. He dispatches teens with knives, a garrote, and his signature machete. The kills are decent and the the lead-up can be suspenseful. It was made with the awareness that the audience knows when kills are coming and still surprises at times. Most of the teens are interchangeable, but I was disappointed when Mark died. He seemed decent and was largely dismissed by everyone else because of his disability when he had big dreams and aspirations.

Ginny, the final girl, is the best character in the whole movie. First, she's a student in college studying child psychology. Unlike most final girls, Ginny has a boyfriend and it's implied that they have sex. She also drinks at a bar. It's interesting that this portrayal is more progressive than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 even though it was made 5 years later. Anyway, her psychology training gives her insight to Jason's mental state and it ends up saving her in the end. She puts on Mrs. Voorhees' sweater and pretends to be his mother, which buys her and her boyfriend much needed time.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is a decent sequel and much better than the first. Jason isn't my favorite slasher villain by far, but the movie was enjoyable. The ending has some inconsistencies that make me want to see the next movie if Ginny is in it. I doubt she is and I doubt they'll say what happened to Paul, but I can always hope. 

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Marcos' life is in shambles. His wife left him and he works on a farm that processes human meat, now legal because of a disease affecting all animals and rendering them inedible. He sees the most horrific things every day and has to do business with the worst sort who want to buy the head (as in head of cattle) for hunting, experimentation, or consumption. Then he receives a female head as an unwanted but valuable gift and has to decide what to do with it.

Tender is the Flesh is an absolutely chilling dystopia. Due to an incurable virus, animals can no longer be consumed or be around humans at all. There also no pets allowed, leading to a mass slaughter of them for human safety. The government has decided to allow the raising and killing of humans for food, opening up a huge market of other things previously illegal: medical experimentation (even the most inhumane procedures), hunting people, organ harvesting, and an expansion of illegal human trafficking. Bodies can't be buried for fear of being dug up and eaten. The less fortunate or less protected could be kidnapped and murdered for meat. Scavengers roam the countryside, violent and wild, looking for flesh.

Marcos's job is stomach churning but highly paid. The head can't speak due to their vocal chords being removed and lack of any sort of education. They are never acknowledged or referred to as human, always kept naked, and treated exactly as cattle.  Marcos carefully chooses who works there because the job attracts some unsavory characters. The goal is to find someone who needs the money and can desensitize themselves (as he has) to the violence. The general public calls it "special" meat and carries on as usually, blissfully ignorant of the realities of how they get their food. There is some outrage, but it seems more are willing to sacrifice others to go one with business as usual.

Tender is the Flesh kept surprising me with how depraved things could get. When I thought it couldn't be any worse, it went further. Whether it's a critique of the meat industry or the callousness of modern society, it works. Marcos seems to be the moral center of the book, even as he participates in the killing and processing of people for food, which makes the ending feel like such a slap in the face. I read this in a couple days. I couldn't put it down and it got under my skin. Definitely in my top books of the year.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins 

Nocturne (2020)

Vivian and Juliet are twins, both working hard to become concert pianists. Both go to the same prestigious art high school, but Vivian has made it into Julliard while Juliet didn't and refused to apply anywhere else. An excellent violinist who also attends the school killed herself and left a notebook, detailing rituals on how she became so skilled. Juliet finds it and dismisses it at first, but delves into it when her sister outperforms her at every turn. 

Nocturne melds the world of esoteric rituals with the high pressure world of classical music performance. Juliet is the underdog in every respect and remembers that she prompted her and her sister to start piano lessons even though she's viewed as the inferior musician. Vivian, on the other hand, is a lauded pianist, has a loving boyfriend, an amazing piano teacher, and the high opinion of everyone in the school. Once the rituals come into play, Juliet shows herself to be very petty, copying her sister's audition piece and exposing jealousy for her sister's prestige.  

As someone coming from music schools, I appreciate the realism in how people treated musicians, the politics of the school, and the paths set out for students. I kind of wish it was a college instead of a high school because of the age of the actresses and the fact that few are this serious about a performance career that early. Family members around them criticize a career in the arts and question how secure it is. The politics of the school place Vivian above Juliet, even when Juliet outplays her sister because they want to go with the more reliable choice. Even in college or at the professional level, certain players are favored in auditions even if they didn't play well that day because of their reputation or who they study with or know. It's a cutthroat world that I decided not to be part of and I opted to teach and play for enjoyment. Juliet's teacher tried to show her such attainable paths and she refused to see them. 

The esoteric rituals in the film take everything from Vivian and give them to Juliet. At first, Juliet doesn't put much stock into the notebook until horrible things start happening that end up benefiting her. She goes from sympathetic and hard working to obnoxious and egotistical over the course of the film. Her dreams seem to be slipping away from her, so she goes all in on this Faustian deal in a desperate attempt to preserve it. I feel for her, but she goes too far. The most tragic thing is that she's still quite young and could have achieved her goals eventually with a different setting, different teachers, and a different outlook. 

While much of the film is light on horror elements, the anxiety and psychological tension surrounding Juliet sustained me until the end, where it steers fully into horror. I enjoyed the focus on music, the obsession with unattainable perfection, and the realities of being part of the music world. The ending is predictable if you pay attention, but I enjoyed it in all its glory. I would recommend this if you liked The Devil's Candy, Bliss, or Starry Eyes, all about risking everything to succeed in some form of art.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Blood on the Tracks 1 and 2 by Shuzo Oshimi

* Blood on the Tracks ! by Shuzo Oshimi

Seiichi is a normal young man with a very protective mother, Seiko. He doesn't have many friends and his cousins frequently come over to spend time with him. They call to his attention his mother's history of being overbearing and he also has errant memories of finding a dead kitten in the road with his mother. Everything seems fairly normal until a family trip goes horribly wrong.

Blood on the Tracks is horror, but a more quiet, domestic type of horror than I'm used to reading in manga. For much of the book, nothing seems overtly wrong. There is an sinister undercurrent to the whole thing, but it's hard to point to something wrong. On the surface, Seiko is just a concerned mom who is a little clingy for her son's age. Looking closer, there are some things that could be a coincidence or could be something wrong: Seiko going to Seiichi's classes every day to keep an eye on him and constantly inviting his cousins over so he can't invite any friends. Maybe she's just worried or values family, but it also looks like she can't be away from him for long and wants to prevent him from making any true friends. The ending of the story culminates in a devastating event. The art around it plays with time, elongating the sequence unnatural and focusing tightly on expressions. Once the devastating event happens, Seiko's true nature becomes clear. 

I'm so excited to read more of this series. Horror manga are usually involve ghosts, conspiracies, or large world changing events. This small scale horror is done so well and feels earth shattering. The casual fanservice panels of women's bodies are absent here, which is incredibly refreshing. I see it so often, it seems to be a convention of the genre and it's nice to have the focus on the story instead of titillating the audience. The art style is much more delicate style than usual. The first pages in color are absolutely beautiful, done in a watercolor style with muted colors. Even the black and white panels have a keen attention to detail. 

My rating: 4.5/5

* Blood on the Tracks 2 by Shuzo Oshimi 

* spoilers for book 1* 

After Seiko pushes Seiichi's cousin off a cliff, Seiichi is completely in shock. Seiko acts like it was a tragic accident and Seiichi is too traumatized to say otherwise. They are questioned by police and follow the cousin to the hospital, all the while acting as concerned family and Seiko lying through her teeth. Then, Seiichi's crush shows up at their house, leading to another bombshell from Seiko.

Blood on the Tracks impressed with the first volume and surpassed that with the second volume. It's all about Seiichi's emotional journey trying to understand his mother's horrific actions, struggling with his own role in her lies, and coping with her new bombshell. This whole volume is about Seiichi holding it together as best he can. The close ups and elongation of scenes do a wonderful job of showing his internal struggle and true feelings he tries to keep inside to save his mother. After a girl who has a crush on him leaves a letter stating she'd like to be his girlfriend, his mother reveals a deeper level of obsession and control. 

I'm eager for the next volume to see how far the horror goes. The art is exquisite and as detailed and beautiful as the first volume. I feel so much for Seiichi under the thumb of his abusive, suffocating mother. This volume truly focuses on the psychological horror and effects on Seiichi which Seiko manipulates and pretends like everything is ok. I'm very interested in the story's developments.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins