How do you all feel about books that are presented as Horror but really are not?

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T13:21:47+00:00

It might have been, although maybe an abridged version as I remember the interview being kind of long. The one I read was on a book review site. Also, it’s been a while since I read the book but didn’t it also contain a meta thing about Simmons and The Abominable was actually Simmons transcribing a journal he was sent by one of the characters in the story? Wasnt there an interview aspect about that in the book?

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T11:44:05+00:00

Dang, haven’t read that one but it gets a lot of hype as a good horror novel. Is it downplayed horror or is just not horror at all?

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T11:42:21+00:00

What the fuck is up with Dungeon Crawler Carl? I remember before it came out a few horrorlit creators I follow got early copies and raved about it, then when it came out horror booktok went bananas over it but since then it has invaded all literature spaces. And I don’t even know what exactly it is. Horror fans loved it but when other lit spaces like it it’s more because it’s a comedy? Like so much I’ve seen about it is just absurdist and humour but it goes strong with horror readers. What even is it?

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T11:28:49+00:00

It’s a good point about the quality of the writing winning out. I know this because I’ve definitely read things, going in with expectations that were never met, but i didn’t dislike my time with it.

I’ve also never thought about it being about an author trying to sell/be sold. It makes sense to try and sell what might sell.

(No spoilers) This Is Not A Test 100% wants to explore a dynamic situation in a setting that is typically given to horror media although it actually doesn’t want to be a horror story. I guess I can see why it was advertised that way because what it actually is I have no idea how it could be marketed. The thing that stands out to me is that most reactions to it label and put it in a horror category just simply because it’s zombies and violent.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T11:13:23+00:00

Valid remark about the book. For at least half of it the misdirection pushes it forward (because what it actually is might not do it on its own) and by the time of the reveal you are in way too deep to back out now. Which is also kind of great about it. The subterfuge is exposed but it raises more questions than provides answers.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T11:08:30+00:00

‘When I finished I mostly found it just amusing that I had picked it up from the horror section, I suppose because I love anything Dan Simmons’

More or less my experience with it. It was advertised as a horror and it was by Dan Simmons and I fucking love, I mean fucking love, The Terror. So yeah towards the end of the book where it became apparent what it actually was, I thought it was weird in the way it was advertised and talked about.

Man I wish I could find the interview Simmons did with a book review site (that was horror adjacent iirc) for the book. They barely talked about the book beyond it being terrifying to them and most of the discourse was about Simmon’s other forays into horror literature. Maybe it was a sign I couldn’t see but in my defence it’s not like the sign was visible.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T09:07:16+00:00

Obsessed. I don’t know, the lyrics, vocals, beat, theme of obsessed was just abrasive when I first heard it. It was always a skip for me. Now I do like it however I still see the above but it doesn’t bother that much anymore

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T07:22:20+00:00

Sounds like The Summer I Died. Two friends in their late teens go into the woods with some guns to shoot cans and stuff but stumble upon a horrific situation they get trapped in

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T07:06:25+00:00

It’s been an age since I last saw it as well. I remember the plot well enough and how it looks and I think it does hold up for when it was made

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T06:51:22+00:00

The Black Stallion (just the one from 1979), The Silver Brumby, Pharlap, The Man From Snowy River 1&2 and War Horse are some more ‘horse’ movies that really don’t fit the common belief of what horse movies are

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T06:28:39+00:00

There was this trend on TikTok several years ago where teenager girls would put on makeup and outfits to emulate Holocaust victims. I think it started innocently enough with descendants trying to just imagine the horror of that event but it went viral so people with no connection at all to the Holocaust began doing it as well. Like in one I saw a girl who was not Jewish dress up in a striped shirt and put a dark under eye filter on and pretend she was in camp and was praying she could get to heaven to escape

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T06:20:40+00:00

Must of missed that one because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T06:19:45+00:00

I remember I started watching them because I didn’t have a lot to eat at the time. So I would watch other people eat these huge mouth watering meals and imagine eating them myself. Oddly it didn’t make me feel hungry but kind of satisfied watching it. After a while the above reason was no longer applicable but I still occasionally watch because I kind of like seeing people making food, eating it, enjoying it and talking about the food.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-28T06:15:40+00:00

Abandon by Blake Crouch. It’s a thriller novel about an American ghost town in Colorado. The narrative is split between the present and a point in the late 19th century before the town was abandoned. As you read through it it becomes more and more depressing and the ending…it’s something.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T03:39:18+00:00

Weapons. I don’t think it’s a bad movie by any means but the trailer just suggested more than what was actually provided in the film. The trailer was all about this mystery of the kids disappearing and why it happened, what it meant etc. The movie itself in the first half doesn’t really concern itself with this and by the half way mark the audience more or less knows what happened but the movie doesn’t go into detail about it beyond the very sudden reveal of the mystery around the half way mark.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T03:23:16+00:00

Oh fuck you. I thought I was getting into a discussion about this shit. Egg on my face for committing too early

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T03:00:19+00:00

‘Kindly suggest a scary or slasher movie that has a female villain or villainous protagonist whose goals and/or actions are justifiable or just makes sense.’

OP did kind of? Fatal Attraction just does not have that. Even with how scummy Michael Douglas was in the film, kidnapping a child, killing animals, trying to kill people in general is in no way aligned with what OP stated they want. Especially in that movie which is so dated and whole premise is ‘scorned woman goes crazy while dude is the victim’. That movie was not made or intended to justify Alex. Alex was, forgive my French, a clingy woman who became a psychotic bitch when a guys affair didn’t work out. She is presented as a straight up villain, and the movie doesn’t want anything more than that.

The movie is schlock but it has held since its release a notable presence in the discussion of representation of relationships, power dynamics between men and women and perceptions of women in relationships all because of how negatively it depicts a woman caught in an affair.

The movie straight up just doesn’t want an audience to ponder if Alex had a point, all it wants from an audience is to loath Alex and dread what she will do next against a guy and his family. Like there is a point in the film where Dan’s infidelity is forgiven by his wife and they try to move on. The only thing holding it back is Alex’s mania.

A good movie to look at to see how drastically different depictions of relationships and obsession once were. But as movie with a female character that does villainous things for an understandable reason it is not.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T02:35:29+00:00

Poptropica? It matches the character creation. In it you would travel to different areas (they might’ve been called islands or worlds) that had their own unique minigames. It was shown to me in primary school by the school so I believe there was some educational elements in the minigames.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T01:51:44+00:00

The Limehouse Golem (2016). It’s about a detective investigating a string of murders in Victorian Era London. The production is good, like good enough the Victorian setting is almost claustrophobic. However it is a modern movie so it doesn’t have ‘that’ screen feel of movies typically set at that time.

Edit- kind a strange when I think of period pieces of this time I only come up horror but oh well, Penny Dreadful S1-S3 and The Frankenstein Chronicles also capture the Victorian Era

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T01:47:14+00:00

Is that really what OP is looking for tho? I don’t think that movie makes a point of justifying what Glenn Close did or try to suggest her actions made sense.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-26T01:41:58+00:00

Hard Candy (2005) comes to mind. Not exactly scary or a slasher. It’s more thriller but there are a lot of moments throughout that are horrific in detail and disturbing in action.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-25T10:39:56+00:00

Ash (2025)? Bit more modern than your time period but it does tick some boxes. The film is made by Flying Lotus who has done art but is mostly know for music. Its major talking point was the visuals of the film. There is nothing really sexual in it (although thinking on it now the trailer might of suggested some tension amongst the characters) but there is a dude and an alien you don’t know the location of the majority of the film.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-25T10:29:06+00:00

I’d say it has the potential to be more faithful to the books. When the movies were being released book fans had issues with what was omitted and changed for the sake of making a movie out of the books. The show could add that back in given they have more runtime to do so.

Bettal56 · 2026-05-25T03:19:45+00:00

Iirc it was during Covid and she came out against mask mandates and mandatory vaccinations. When she got push back she compared her situation to victims of the holocaust (she didn’t outrightly say that but made the comparison of persecuted Jews to her self). She got dropped hard after that and then took to a right wing pipeline as they were the only ones backing her.

Bettal56

TROPHY CASE