An Esthetic Kind of Horror

Friday night my parents came over and, since we couldn't get "Sky Captain" we watched "The Grudge." I thought "The Grudge" was outstanding in many ways. The Japanese director based it on his earlier Japanese film, adapting it to, as he said, "what would scare an American audience." It truly was frightening!

While the storyline was hackneyed--a haunted house where things inevitably go bump in the night--the imagery was spectacularly evocative. It aroused tension, fright, rapid heartbeats and accomplished all this with a minimum of gore. As with "The Ring," the Japanese seem very adept at conjuring up disturbing, haunting visual elements.

The rest of the weekend was dullsville. I refused to watch the Superbowl; it just lost its allure once the Chargers fell out of the playoffs. I was gratified, however, to turn the game on at the end and see Rodney Harrison make the final, game-saving interception. As Homer Simpson would say, "In your face, Chargers!"

I also did my reading for the Read and Critique class. The stories were enjoyable and just reading them inspired me to do more. The next class is Tuesday evening, when my own story, "The Odyssey of St. Eudorus," will be up on the block. I think I am the only spec fiction writer in the class, though one other story came close. I don't know that there are sf/dark fantasy/horror fans in the class either, but I will report on the group's reaction after Tuesday.

I continue to work on leg excercises, and was thrilled to sleep in my own bed again Friday night.