Seth Harris

Book Update – September-October 2019

Fiction

The Need by Helen Phillips
There are subtle shades of Jordan Peele’s “Us” present throughout this novel as it tells the story of a housewife encountering an entity in her home that will up-end her life. Molly is an anthropologist by day and worn out mother by night, often tasked with caring for her two very young children by herself while Molly’s husband is away. It’s one of these lonely nights at home when Molly becomes aware that something else is in the house. The brief movement of a toy chest lid in the living room informs her that this thing is watching her, and when it reveals herself, she isn’t quite sure how to process what is going on. Then the deal is struck, and soon, Molly finds she’s an outsider in her own life, becoming an observer as someone else takes her place. The scary part is that Molly finds relief in handing the burden of parenthood off to another. The Need is a tightly written and deeply existential & weird text. I’m not a parent, but the anxieties experienced by parents are palpable in this book. I imagine this could be a cathartic release for parents who naturally have those moments of regret from time to time.

October 2019 Digest

Features
My Filmmaking Year Part 1
Short Film Showcase #5
Short Film Showcase #6
Haloween 2019 Short Film Showcase Special
My Favorite Comic Books of the 2010s Part 1, Part 2
Best of the 2010s: My Favorite Films of 2017

TV Review – Watchmen Season 1, Episode 2

Watchmen (HBO)
Season 1, Episode 2 – “Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship”
Written by Nick Cuse & Damon Lindeloff
Directed by Nicole Kassell

Will Reeves, the young boy saved from the Tulsa Massacre, is now an old man in a wheelchair claiming responsibility for a murder he couldn’t have possibly committed. This puts Angela Abar in a tough spot and she locks Will up in her bakery while dealing with the fallout of the last episode’s killing. This entire episode centers around upending the world Angela knows and forcing her to question everything she’s becoming comfortable with. It goes from her work relationships to the very nature of her own heritage.

Best of the 2010s: My Favorite Films of 2017

Beast (Directed by Michael Pearce)

From my review: There are some genuinely despairing moments, highlighting how a woman like Moll, coping with social-emotional issues can be used and beaten up by a society that just wants her to conform. She is pursued romantically by a local police officer whom Moll shuns when she ends with Pascal. Later, she needs this man’s help, and when she goes to him, he tosses her out on the street knowing her pleas are real and she is potentially going to be harmed. It’s a harsh moment and a significant turning point for Moll to come to the realization that she is by herself. The night that follows is transformative, including a metaphorical and literal self-burial. Moll emerges in the daylight with a plan to bring all this madness to an end.

Short Film Showcase Halloween Special

For this night of spooks & scares, here are some horrific short films to help set the mood.

The Maiden (2016)
Written & Directed by Michael Chaves

Lots of this short reminds me of American Horror Story: Murder House, one of the best seasons of that series. We have a house that contains a ghostly woman whose spirit is attached to a necklace. The ghostly woman also seems to use the jewelry as a sort of lure. Our protagonist is a real estate agent learning about her new property and trying her best to hide its dark secrets, so she can secure a buyer.

TV Review – Castle Rock Season Two – Episodes 1, 2, & 3

Castle Rock Season 2 (Hulu)
“Let The River Run”
Written by Dustin Thomason
Directed by Greg Yaitanes

“New Jerusalem”
Written by K’naan Warsame
Directed by Phil Abraham

“Ties That Bind”
Written by Scott Brown & Obehi Janice
Directed by Anne Sewitksy

Anne Ingalls is a nurse always on the move, dragging her now teenage daughter Joy with her where ever she goes. Her escape from some unseen force in her past leads Anne to the town of Castle Rock following a car accident. While holed up in the Stargazer Motel, Anne is able to secure a part-time registered nurse position at the hospital in Jerusalem’s Lot, where we learn she is in dire need of antipsychotics. Meanwhile, “Pop” Merrill, the head of a local crime family, is caught in the middle of a fight between his nephew Ace and his adopted son Abdi. Abdi is laying the foundation for a Somali community center set up, especially for the refugees who have settled in Castle Rock. This goes against Ace’s grasp on the Somalis who rent space in his rundown market building.

Movie Review – The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse (2019)
Written by Max & Robert Eggers
Directed by Robert Eggers

“DAMN YE! Let Neptune strike ye dead, Winslow! HAAAAAARK!”
Thus begins the great invocation of the ocean god by the wicky Thomas Wake against his co-worker Iphraim Winslow. Both men, stuck on an island somewhere in the middle of the sea, left to fend for themselves and tend the titular lighthouse. The job is, by its nature, an isolating and stressful one, stressful to not only the body but also the mind. It doesn’t take long before Iphraim becomes deeply suspicious of the veteran Wake, whose previous partner believed there were mystic powers imbued in the lamp of the lighthouse and vanished after going mad. The two men battle it out in passive-aggressive and drunken fashion, slowly cranking up the stakes as their rescue from this damned place appears to have forgotten them.

TV Review – Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation Part 4

Brothers (original airdate: October 8, 1990)
Written by Rick Berman
Directed by Rob Bowman

To go alongside the theme of Family from the previous episode of TNG, Rick Berman wrote this story that features Data coming face to face with his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong. There’s also a return visit from Data’s brother, Lore, the black sheep of the Soong family. Data episodes are always some of my favorites with a few exceptions, this is one of them.

Movie Review – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Written by Dan & Kevin Hagerman
Directed by André Øvredal

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a book published in 1981, compiled and rewritten by Alvin Schwartz. Schwartz was a writer who was primarily interested in folklore and wordplay, writing more than fifty books on and about these topics. His most famous, of course, is Scary Stories and the two follow up texts. The books contributed to many nightmares for children growing up in the 1980s and 90s, most notably because of the grotesque illustrations of Stephen Gammell. Gammell was also not primarily a horror creator, having illustrated over sixty children’s books, including one of my favorite picture books. When the Relatives Came. This book, like so many texts and pieces of nostalgic media, has been snatched up by their publisher’s parent media corporation to be turned into a movie.

TV Review – Watchmen Season 1 Episode 1

Watchmen (HBO)
Season 1, Episode 1 – “It’s Summer, And We’re Running Out of Ice”
Written by Damon Lindeloff
Directed by Nicole Kassell

That opening is not an alternative history, an invention of the mind of Damon Lindeloff, or some parallel history that made up the backstory of the Watchmen universe. The Tulsa Massacre of 1921 was real, down the plane flying overhead and dropping explosives on the black people that populated the neighborhood of the Greenwood District. This place was known as “Black Wall Street” due to the financial success black people had experienced there, allowed to open their own businesses and create a community that empowered each other. If “separate but equal” would be the law of the land, then the residents of Greenwood would go their own, rejected by their country.