My Recent obsession with ghost stories on Youtube.

As on Readers Digest. com

As my previous post stated, I am a fiend for ghost stories, and have been into them as long as I can remember (even though they terrified me beyond belief!) In recent months I have begun to find and search for ghost stories via our old friend YouTube and have found some amazing things!

Now I was only ever exposed to ‘True Ghost Stories’ that would be on less mainstream channels at dumb o’clock at night for the majority of my teen and early twenties (to be fair, I’m only 26, but literally that was the first time I said ‘in my early twenties…. Now I am old!), so I was mainly just re-watching these ‘My Ghost Stories’, ‘Most Haunted’, ‘Ghost Hunters, ‘Ghost Adventurers’ and ‘Destination Truth’… Then I stumbled onto something a little bit more juicy…

A deep voiced American gentleman named ‘Corpse Husband’ showed up in my recommended box, and I clicked on his video and opened up a whole newwwwww Worllldddd of amazingly terrifying stories…. Real life encounters, real life ghost stories, Paramedic encounters (those stories scare me most!) and others that these narrators read aloud from forums such as reddit. REAL LIFE SPOOKY STORIES!

Ever since then, I’ve been hooked, and I tell you what, I don’t plan to go sober from them for a long while!

There is something so good about hooking up my over ear headphones, putting on a narration from creators such as Dr Creepen, Corpse Husband, Lets Read or Be.Busta and just listen whilst drawing. It’s almost space face inducing (that weird phase of consciousness where you are there physically, but your head is in space, and you are beyond inspired) I just love it!

Corpse Husband's Page

Be. Busta's Page

Let's Read's Page

Dr. Creepen's Page

The visuals you can imagine when these stories are read are astounding, there is something about how the stories are real, how they are written and are, in turn, narrated that just sets my soul on fire, I have never felt this much intimacy with stories as I do with these videos.

The scariest story I remember hearing:

So naturally, some stories will be less scary than others, and although they are great to hear, it’s something special when you hear one that chills you to your core, and allows your mind to consistently remember the imagery it created from simple words compiled together.  Here, my fiends, are the two videos that made me get real chills, one is true life encounters, and one is a ‘creepy pasta’.

I hope you enjoyed these videos, I know I did the first, second and third time around! I hope that some of you have now found the door that I have potentially opened for you to be entertaining as I do, and sorry in advance for any spooky dreams you may encounter!

Keep spookin’

Jessiefer.

The Five Best New Horror Stuff on Netflix, according to me.

Hellow (spelt wrong on purpose!), and welcome to my new post! It has been a year and a few months since I last posted, I am once again sorry for in-activeness that you probably expected. I have been away for a number of reasons, mostly all personal: Work WAS a nightmare, it is still stressful, but I am much happier now! I didn’t really have the funds to see new movies last year, and to be fair, I only really go to the cinema in the beginning half of the year because that’s when all the exciting films come out (kind of lame). I also just don’t have much time to write, re-read my terrible ramblings, check my subpar spellings and then shove all the images and stuff on a blog for regular posts, and no matter how much I want to improve upon this, I must admit, I don’t think I will be able to change this so dramatically in the near future. Just be happy to read my random writings when you can!

Also, a little bit of a promotion here: My friend and his friends have a cool blog, which you would totally love if you like my silly stuff on here. The writers consist of Mexican English lit majors, so they have interesting articles based on films, tv series and all sorts of pop culture, give it a read here : www.inexistente.org

Anyway, on to the post you came to read….

The Five Best New Horror Stuff on Netflix (Because Five is a lovely round, odd number.):

The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell 

Now, if any of you actually know me in real life (good for you, but also I am sorry…) you will know that I love to bake and I am a spooky lady! Well, this show is the embodiment of my soul (other than, you know, my actual human body). It has a good plot running through the tutorial-esque demonstrations of Christine’s baking projects and there are totally terrifying puppet friends that accompany her during her presentations! These sidekicks consist of a mummified sphynx cat called Edgar, a feisty racoon named Rose and a friendly warewolf named Edgar, who, on the first episode, is welcomed into Christine’s house via a replica of the house but is made of cake! This twist on the usual cooking program we all either love or hate, really makes the series pop, and makes it multi-dimensional to the viewer, making it fun for all the family (even if that family consists of children!)

This program was just something I saw on the Netflix original recommended bar, and I am glad that I decided to watch it, as it is one of my favourite things to put on if I fancy something a little spooky, hella funny and makes me relive my childhood which consisted of all of those classic shows (mostly by my man Jim Henson) whose characters were puppets. It’s well good!

Via Reddit

Haunted

Now, you may also know I am a sucker for ghost programmes and narrations, and this show, I would say, is a ‘realer’ version of those ghost progs you see on the network ‘Really’ here in good old Britain. The first episode tells us the story of ‘The Woman in White’ now at first, I admit, I was thinking ‘Who the hell hasn’t seen a woman in white? (Also, why do ghosts always wear white? There better be an option to wear black when I’m a ghost!) But this story is totally raw! I won’t spoil it for you, you just need to check it out!

What I love most about the series is that the narrators (the people who have seen what they are talking about) are genuine, they express their emotions and they swear! Now, you may pull a face at that last remark, but if I were telling a terrifying ghost story, and it really effected me, then I tell you know, I would be swearing too! That fine detail signals to me that those who produced this series juist want the stories to be told, they don’t care if it is ‘family friendly’ (although I’m sure no ones first thoughts would be ‘My 5 year old daughter would love this ghost programme!’) they just wanna tell a story and remake the visuals of it, and I appreciate that so much!

Via Popbuzz.com

The Hunting of Hill House

Now, if you didn’t know about this programme then I think you must have been living under a rock for a while, everyone is talking about this brand-spanking-new series all over the gaff (all over the place)! The trailer looked great so I decided to give it a go. The first episode was a generous hour long and set up all the characters initial stories, and expressed the main gist of what the hell was up with that haunted Hill House.

The visuals were stunning, and the build up in tension was more mature than a lot of jump scare laced horror we are exposed to now a days (thank Jesus!) On a personal note, the second episode made me cry, as it deals with death as a whole (without spoiling anything) and when anything to do with death and the mourning of a person comes on, well, I reflect on my own suffering (I’m sure we all do, right?) This episode really was a mixed bag of genuine loss, mourning, reminiscing and horror, and I don’t think that all of the multitude of feelings that are linked with being scared are well and truly explored in most horror films, so it is nice to see and explore as the series goes on.

I definitely recommend for those of you who are well and truly into horror as a genre, and I cannot wait to see what happens next!  

Via ign.com

American Horror Story

The OG (Original Gangsta, not old girl as stated by a member of staff at my work, when I stated I am one…. L ) of horror on Netflix (which has also become a welcomed tradition to celebrate this wonderfully spooky time of year in my household!) , American Horror Story has launched their 7^th series on Netflix (we won’t talk about series 8… That will be next years Halloween fun!) and it looks to be (I haven’t actually watch any of it yet…. Shock horror!) a real doozie of a series as it depicts the 2016 elections [which one day, we will all say ruined the World…] and the characters reactions to it. Now, I think you can understand the horror to come from that, as we have seen real life examples of it in the real World around us. This election has created terror of undying lengths, both politically, socially and well…. It’s just horrific….

*on a side note, I haven’t actually begun to watch this as I am one of those people that hate to finish something when there is nothing else to watch after it… I do the same thing to Big Mouth (again, I recommend!) and the previous entries in this blog post…. 

Via tvline.com

Glitch

So this is a series that I don’t think gets premoted a lot on the old Netflix front page, which is a damn shame! I saw this as I relentlessly scrolled through the ‘series’ category, and hovered over its front images to see a very interesting twist on the old Zombie category.

Glitch is roughly about people who come back from the dead, we find characters roaming around naked (aww yeaaa) covered in ground stuff in a graveyard, the coppers come, and eventually the main guy, James Hayes (played by Patrick Brammal), sees his two years dead spouse.

What interests me so much about the premise of this series is that these recently reliving dead people are from all time periods, they don’t wanna eat those juicy braaaiiinnss, and well, just think of how you would feel if you saw your long time dead special people and they are fully alive once again. How nuts! On a side note, this series slightly reminds me of the awesome book by John Ajvide Lindqvist (writer of Let the Right One In) called Handling the Undead, due to the themes of loss and gain, and how that can kind of make you question your own sanity and life in general. The quality of the imagery isn’t so high on this one, and it kind of feels like a soap with dead people in, but I don’t, personally, think that that is necessarily a bad thing, also, it’s Australian, which is very different to see on British Netflix.

I am only onto the first few episodes, but I can tell that this show is a little gem in the sand, and I reckon you should at least give it a go.

Via next-episode.net

The Round up

So, there you go, I am sure that most of you watch the majority of these shows already, sorry for not giving you too many 'totally underground, yet they are on netflix' shows that you could discover, but I was actually really inspired to write for the first time in ages. I hope that you will at least have lots of cool things to watch over the awesome Halloween period (either at the weekend or on the actual day) and that you are provided with the right amount of 'spooks' necessary to making this haunting time even more scary. 

Until next time, 

Jessiefer.

Wonder Woman: Saving men's lives, whilst not saying 'I told you so'.

What an unecessarily long title for this review, but you know me guys and girls, I like to break the mould... or something.

So, let's talk about it, that film that most people have been on the fence about since the little snippet of the Wonder Woman character expressed in Batman vs Superman in 2016. It's funny to see, in reflection, that most of the super hero/ comic book fans I have spoken too (mostly all my friends and family!) haven't been so excited about this film compared to others in the DC franchise that came previous to this one. I wonder why... None the less, I found this film a great one, both in it's astounding effects, style and story line.

From pmcvariety.com

Like most other off shoots of comic book based films, I try not to let plots and stories that have unfolded in the DC universe influence or detract from a films narrative, which some of you may wag your finger at me about. I will be honest, although I do like reading comics, I have never really taken a deep interest in Wonder Woman, or even the Justice League (shock), which made that usual statement of not judging a film by its comic counterparts cover even easier!

The story we are introduced to first in the film is the land of the Amazons, where, like the mythical stories of history suggested, only women roam. The Amazon ladies fight and become warriors to protect the World from the possible return of that quirky God of War Ares, who turned against Zeus himself to show him that Human's were totally stupid and didn't deserve his love (Kinda like the oldest child in the family who really doesn't like the younger sibling.) These ladies kick total bootay and the young passionate warrior Diana convinces her Mother to let her train, and grows up to be a tremendous fighter. This is all well and good, everyone is happy and then a WW1 plane comes crashing down and that's when the real shindig happens!

I will not give any more of the story line away, but have to express some great attributes of the film further. The acting is great, the actors picked for the roles really make you fall in love, or hate them, which is always great, and I was extremely happy to see the wonderful Ewan Bremner in this film since I am so obsessed with Trainspotting at the moment. This film is also quite dark in some parts which makes a horror/psychological film lover like me very entertained, and this aspect really helps make the film very entertaining through out without being depressing or to happy.

From justjared.com

Throughout I nearly shed tears, both for the emotional and empathetic dialogue throughout, and because (okay, hold on to your seats, I'm gunna sound.... different) I was proud that I was seeing a woman, kicking butt, flirting, being emotional AND being brave all at the same time. This film expresses something that I am happy to see being formed and expanding throughout cinema and tv shows alike: a strong woman who doesn't compromise. This may be what you guys roll your eyes at, but it's true. I also like how this film shows lines in the characters faces, like literal age lines, maybe I have just ignored it before in other films, but from memory I've never seen many characters (dare I say, especially 30 and below something characters!) have normal, human face lines. I just loved that.  The rollercoaster of laughing, nearly crying, feeling proud, feeling scared and humbled really added to my over all experience of the film, and I really haven't felt so much during a film since I went to see Moonlight!

All in all, go and see this film, if you've lost faith in comic book films, or just want a change from the usual boy bashing boy baddie up (which do not let me fool you, I love for more than film purpose reasons....) movie that we see quiet a lot, and feel all the feels from this film.

Until next time,
Jessiefer.

Moonlight ; as stunning as the Moon.

Because I am a very reputable Film blogger now (right? RIGHT?!) I thought I would actually go and see a Oscar nominated movie in the time it was actually being showed at the cinema, not only because I wanted to see it since seeing a trailer for it, but because this is the period of time when so called nonchalant film goers will actually pay quite good money (especially in London's independent cinemas) to actually watch a film and give their own judgements on it just so they can tune into the Oscars and say 'Oh blabla should have won, not that other arty farty film'. Or maybe that is just what I imagine. None the less, this is my little two pennies on the film.

Via Huffington Post Online.

So I shall get the cliches out of the way, and most of this information you would have probably heard before: Moonlight is a stunning visual chronology of a young black boy to man's life  living with bullying, drugs surrounding him and the hopeless feeling of living with depression. It is actually very simple when it comes to plot, we literally see the three stages of being a human; being a child, where innocents fulfills your every action and thought, even when not so innocent actions are taking place around you. Teenagehood, where you just about get a sense of who the hell you are, deciding whether you become one of those tragic addicted influences you have seen and been around all your conscious life. And Adulthood, where most of how you plan forward is reflecting backwards, seeing where you made mistakes, seeing how things are better, and planning how to finally feel wanted and fulfilled. The acting from all the crew are exquisite, utterly believable and just astounding too.

This chronology, unlike the usual formats of an age-based chronological film that occasionally pops up and makes us go 'ah yea, they are okay, quite predictable though, somehow' this film encapsulates quite uncommon (of we talk percentages, which we won't, because I loath maths) life lessons and life choices, like realising that you are gay, living in neglectful homes etc and makes it VERY inclusive of those of us who have never experienced these 'obsticles' or realisations in life. Although I am not a gay, black male, who has survived countless drug dependent people in my life, I saw glimpses of similarities with the emotions that emitted from the screen in front of me. I loved how this was done, it also made me know (and makes me hopeful that others that are not so open minded as I am relaise too) that we, as human beings are ALL the same when it comes down to it (it, however is the life long question we will probably never get a direct answer about).

Via Variety.com

One big part of the film that stuck out to me was during both the teenage and adult segments of the film, where Chiron/Black finally understood his sexual orientation due to his friend. From that scene I remember my own teenage wonderlust for people (well, one person, at that time) finding out things about me that I haddn't discovered yet (if you know wha'd I mean). You remember and feel the excitement, the wonderment, the feelings of 'Wow! That's amazing' and also 'Bloody hell, they are touching me, does this mean they like me? What's going on? Oh well, stop thinking too much. AH!' Maybe that last part was just me...

This goes on to the last segment of the film, where your heart becomes full blown beating and your eyes turn to hearts as you remember that absolute perfect feeling of reciprocated feelings from another person. You remember the feeling of compassion for another, lust, everything turns into the definition of Picasso's Pink Period pieces.... It's just like natural ecstasy.  This is why I think this film won that best picture award, although I have not seen La La Land yet, I don't think I've ever seen a picture that made me look back on my own past, my own first times and reveled in both my relived emotions as well as a characters for a very long time. You need to see it just to remember with perfect (or should I say, as perfect as a memory/recall is!) all that you have felt in your own life.

Via Fox Force Five Online.

So put a golden lined smile on yer face! 

Until next time,
Jessiefer.

T2 Trainspotting. Reliving the Rave.

A week or so ago, I decided to take a well deserved trip to my local cinema after the twilight hours after work, and watch the sequel to the wonderful cult classic Trainspotting. For months I have been awaiting this classic films little brother, hoping and praying (as, clearly, I so often do) for it to be as good, if not as good as the original. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. 

From www.uncrate.com

This film is one of the best sequels I have seen since Critters 2, and does more than we expect of such a classic. T2 takes place 11 years after the original, where main character in the original, Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to his home town Edinburough, where he rekindles his relationships to his two main friends, Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) and Spud (Ewan Bremner). This wonderful and quite heart warming scenario then turns sinister as out casted friend Begbie breaks out from incarceration (Who would have known that he would be there, eh?) and bumps into the threesome.....

Both Trainspotting films  periodically merge visually into each other through out the film, which with just my meager lines of writing, cannot convey the conviction and creativly this weaving past with present concept conveys to the audience. Just think about how our brains react when we see a landmark that a few years ago (whether it's 1 year ago or 20) we visited with that lover we had, you replay the scenario you acted out with each other to the minor details of their wrinkled shirt, or wind blown hair. Simply put, this splicing of memories and history is beautifully articulate to how we all recall, and works astoundingly for the story we watch before us. 

The story is a simple one, (which I shall not divulge in greater detail on here, for just to hear this rendition of the story without the fantastic screen accompliment may turn people away from the film) but is realistic and empathetic to more or less all of us, since we all know how ageing, rekindling friendships and even how dealing with addiction of some kind or another feels. This adds a heart warming vibe to the whole piece, or at least it did for me, and in turn actually made me feel like I was also reconnecting to my mates who I never quite forgot after all of these passing years. 

From www.odeon.com

Director Danny Boyle uses his characteristic cutting edge filming techniques as seen in his previous films (Slumdog Millionaire) to fill this movie with pleasant visuals that will make all who see this film feel like they are in these situations presented to them, whilst also, at times, adding in a real view look into the euthoric nature of drugs, sex and succeeding with scams, and the gritty times of rehab and recovery. It's truly an inspiring piece, and I recommend seeing it very much. 

Until next time, 
Jessiefer. 

PS, this is a little doodle I drew after seeing the film. I felt like my eyes where so dilated with inspiration (akin to if I were to have seen a handsome guy with a hand written poetry book in his hand )

PPS, Also, Johnny Lee Miller rekindled my teenage lust of guys with bleached hair (see, going back in history)

From pbs.twimming.com

Live by Night ... And the return of a bad blogger.

Hello and welcome to another blog entry to add to the million already littering the internet, expressing a fickle thing that everyone has (especially when it comes to the US government!): an opinion. This entry will document the feelings and emotions I had when watching the new film directed and staring Ben Affleck (who is the bomb in Phantoms!), along with his other  Hollywood Pal (maybe?) turned director Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Image from cinemablend.com and rights of Warner Bro's

Live by Night is a movie set back in the early 20's where flapper culture was thriving and gangsters were poppin' glocks all over the place.... We see a [very handsome] Joe Coughlin (Affleck) fall in love with an Irish immigrant turned lady mobster Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), who loves a little bit of love triangle related qurrels, and sneaking behind the big Irish mobs boss' back to have a little weekend canoodle with Joe. This true love obviously crashes down, like all Movie love triangles that involve a big bad person, when Albert White (Robert Glenister) catches onto what is happening and literally gives a swift, but accurate kick to Joe's unmentionables (a scene that made me half laugh (I know, I'm a sadist) and cringe due to the, I think, unjustified reaction of audible intense intakes of breath from the male cinema go-ers around me.) 

Of course Joe goes to jail, and is released over time, and seeks revenge. Typical mob flick right? Wrong... Sort of. Live by Night then goes on to become a capsule for a range of differing themes that I simply (although looking back on it, stupidly...) didn't see coming. Themes of racism, gender and mixed race relationships come into play, which all of you who know me in real life know I am a sucker for. We see scenes of the KKK and how lovely, heart throb (okay, Jessiefer, be calm, we all know you like Affleck!) Joe 'takes care of them' along side taking over a large part of the south of the US with his imports and exports of prohibited liquid from Cuba. Joe then goes on to fall in love with the beautiful Graciela ( Zoe Saldana) whom recovers the parts of his heart lost when Emma was taken away by Albert. 

From IGN.com.

The film, without giving away much else, is very interesting, and I really do recommend you all go and see it, It has a varied mix of action, romance and race themes which I think will keep all types of film go-ers happy and entertained throughout the majority of the flick. I loved the twists and turns, the (I believe) very accurate history of the time periods expressed (1920's - 1950's) was also very interesting to see, and the cherry on the top? The film just easthetically looks amazing! Live by Night is, to me, a little understated gem of unexpected film narrative, which although may not be on the top of your 'I need to see these films, especially now all the good ones have come out!' list, but is very much well worth the viewing. 

Please check it out and maybe leave your own thoughts on it down below, I'd love to hear from somebody else (I'm very lonely...... hgahahaha... no, really) and please do not forget to fall in love with Ben Affleck a little more .

Until next time,
Jessiefer. 

PS, here is a close up of the man himself.... Wit Woo

Etonline.com

NEW FEATURE! Throw Back Thursday: Critters.

Taken from:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Crittersposter.jpg

Ah, the month of October. The leaves are flinging themselves off the trees, the roads are clogged with rain, and I’m needing a hot cups of tea more often. It’s a great month!

Halloween is just around the corner, and you know what that means… Yep, Horror films galore! So to celebrate this beautiful time of year, I have decided to start a new (hopefully progressional) blog series where just like those totally hip and trendy people on that photo showing website (Instagram for those of you who don’t get my arty-farty language) where they throw back to past Thursdays. What film better to throw back to than my favourite film of all time, the first horror film I can vividly being terrified of, but needing to re-watch it like 832883 times… Critters!

Critters is a sci-fi horror that takes place in a secluded rural town in Kansas (we unfortunately don’t see any links to Dorothy here, though), where the residence look like butter wouldn’t melt and it’s strange to see that most of the town’s inhabitants pro-created.  We are introduced to the Brown family, consisting of a loving Mother, bowling mad handy man Father, and two teenage kids. The Brown residence is the normal TV stereotype family, where Brad teases April about a fancy guy she’s dating, and Harv, being the protective Father he is, scrunches his dusty face about it… My point being they are normal, have a huge farm and life is hunky-dory, until later in the evening the Brown family encounters creatures of a third kind (or something…) The Critters.

As most space monsters do, they eat the Brown’s cattle, make loud noises that startle the Mother, Helen, where we get our first glimpse at their blood red eyes. Terrifying. The Crites go on to half eat Aprils Jonny Depp looking man, and trap her in the barn. Meanwhile, Charlie, the resident town joker and alien believer repeatedly reports that space critters (get it) will be making their way down to our beloved planet anytime soon. Charlie, played by Don Opper, is the first to experience the Crites outside of the Brown residence and calls it into his local jail house.

From there we see that the Crites are pretty smart, can work as a team and will use their porcupine like hairs to send the wary recipient into a debilitating state. They become more scary than the feasible fluff balls they appear, and thus become really rather scary (well, they were to the 5 year old me.)

The end comes nye for the Crites as our great saviours, the bounty hunters, come to planet Earth’s rescue. They transform into pop stars and dead people (seriously, watch below for how cool they look transforming) and blow shit UPPP! After a huge explosion, and many tears the Brown family is save…. Or are they?

Re-watching the film that made me become a horror horder, I am still quite enamoured with Critters, without it being loved due to my childish lust for scary stuff and the turmoil it left me in for years to come, it does have a certain b-horror charm about it. The wonderful animatronics of the Crites powered by the ever amazing Chiodo Brothers is simply breath taking, and the writing of the film in general is pretty great too.

I love this film, and it’s sequels so much so, that when I took a trip to Seattle’s EMP Museum I took about 1,000 selfies with the Critter on display, and nearly cried (sort of…) when I had to leave it.

Love it or hate it, Critters is a great little film to show your young ones if you want them to catch the horror bug young, like my Father, or to just see if you want something cool looking without psychological plot twists blocking your brain’s eye. Long live the Crites!

Until next time,

Jessie.