Horror and Comedy Horror

Who doesn’t like a good horror story? You there with your hand raised, please skip to the last paragraph while we cover the seriously disturbing stuff:

The great silent films of the 1920s were often horror movies, which may have been the inspiration for John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” (2018). When his movie opens you see an empty street, then someone tiptoeing through a ransacked store. You hear nothing, and you will hear nothing for most of the next tense and terrifying 90 minutes. You are in a post-apocalyptic America that is occupied by blind monsters who have an acute sense of hearing. If they hear you, you are dead meat, quite literally. The story centers on the Abbot family: Lee (Krasinski), Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and their children, who live silently in the basement of a house in a deserted town while Lee searches for a solution. “A Quiet Place” was filmed in Pawling, N.Y., on a relatively low budget, but it was a critical and commercial success. If you saw it, you’ll recall the heartbreaking but hopeful ending and will want to see “A Quiet Place Part II” which will be released on May 28. If you missed it, go to Amazon Prime and rent or buy it, from $2.99.

“The Terror,” based on Dan Simmons’ novel, is an unusual historical horror tale that dramatizes a true story: The Royal Navy’s expedition to the Arctic in 1845, led by Captain John Franklin. His two ships head into uncharted territory, searching for the Northwest Passage, and are soon trapped in the ice. The crew faces two kinds of horror: the struggle to survive, leading to mutiny, murder and cannibalism — along with being stalked by a mysterious creature that lives on the deadly ice.  

This all sounds impossibly grim, but the writing, characterization and striking production design lift it beyond the genre into one of the rare TV shows you will not soon forget. The cast, all British actors, is superb. Ten episodes on Hulu. (Note: there is a second season subtitled “Infamy,” which tells an entirely different story.) 

I don’t quite get comedy horror. Are they two sides of the same emotional coin? Like anxiety and depression? Whatever, there are more than a few comedy/horror shows out there, and you could do worse than Netflix’s British import “Crazyhead.” 

Amy (Cara Theobold) and Raquel (Susan Wokoma) are two friends with the ability to see that some ordinary citizens are actually demons. Their mission is to hunt down these demons and exorcise them, except when Raquel is at Pilates class. 

Although the results are occasionally violent and gruesome, you are unlikely to be scared. But the two gals are fine and the blunt British humor leads to some lovely, hilarious lines. This show has been compared favorably to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” a classic series that I have never watched. Yes, a shameful gap in my cultural knowledge that I promise to rectify, as soon as I take my copy of “Middlemarch” off the shelf and actually open it. Six episodes on Netflix.

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less