Author Topic: Books of Blood  (Read 5247 times)

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Offline 8ullfrog

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Books of Blood
« on: October 14, 2020, 01:24:55 AM »
They made Books of blood into a movie! Yay!
It's by Brannon Bragga. golly.
It's a shitty anthology series on hulu. Double golly.

I read a summary, it's like the shitty 2002 nu-metal revival of Twilight zone.

Either way, I haven't much liked anything Barker's done since UNDYING. And this thing seems to have just been a rubber stamp.

They're not even stories from the books, it may as well have been one of the generic anthology horrors that crap up dollar bins at walmart.

Offline 6pairsofshoes

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2020, 05:56:39 AM »
I had to look it up. I'm unfamiliar with the author's writings, although I've seen his books at library sales for years.  They sound kind of unnerving.  I'm about to start reading War and Peace.  There's probably a similar amount of bloodshed but at least it's due to simple human agency and malfeasance.

Let us know how the movie pans out.  I used to watch horror videos with my little brother.  He'd get pissed at me for muting the shrieking violins that are essential to building up the stress before some monster or other mayhem causing factor got to work.  Some of them are actually quite funny, but I'm not a big fan of gore.

Offline 8ullfrog

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2020, 06:52:24 AM »
Nah, Braga was one of the dipshits who squandered the years of goodwill for star trek to the point they started over.

As to Barker, absolutely there are buckets of blood and body horror to spare. The one thing this poo anthology kept from the source material was the "book of blood" but they even managed to golly that up.

Specifically, it was a false medium who was "turned" into the book, parchment as flesh.

I'd say he's a bit more technical than Stephen King, but he actually seemed to have enjoyed writing his works, when the occasional King book is an obvious paycheck.

Honestly, for most people, I avoid recommending barker because I don't want them to look at me funny. I think you might actually enjoy the books of blood.

Some of his other stuff though, is absolute trash.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2020, 06:55:25 AM by 8ullfrog »

Offline smokester

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2020, 12:25:22 PM »
I looked at this movie a few days back with a view to download it. I decided to check IMDB first and while it's rating was ok and the premise seemed interesting, I was put off by the reviews as they were far from flattering.

I had heard of the author but never his books so I'm wondering if I'd be less critical. I mean, I liked his Star Trek stuff.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline 6pairsofshoes

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2020, 05:57:32 AM »
Isn't Hellraiser the one where some guy looks like he escaped from a particularly grueling acupuncture session?  I'm not sure if I saw that.  There was one with a flying sphere that had blades that came out of it and flew around causing mayhem, but that was perhaps another film? 

Offline 8ullfrog

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2020, 05:48:00 PM »
Barker wrote the original, The review I read said that everything but the framing device is "original"

Writing Credits go to an Adam Simon and Brannon Braga.

I'd say Barker was about as involved as Tom Clancy is involved with the Jack Ryan series.

One review pointed out that most of the people in this movie are generic victim archetypes, when in the books, they tend to actually be terrible people.

Berman was the real evil on star trek, but Braga was essentially his flying monkey. At least he didn't write Insurrection.

I do find it interesting that when they pulled Braga back on Enterprise, they brought in the book writers to write for the show. I never much liked the Reeves-Stevens books, and I didn't much care for ENT.

The mirror universe episode was batshit fun though.

As to Hellraiser, Barker has been critical. I believe at one point he was going to make his own take on the original movie? That series really went to poo.

In the... I'm gonna say third hellraiser movie, a DJ is turned into a cenobite and kills people with flying CD's. Which is stolen from another schlock film, "I come in peace"
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 05:52:28 PM by 8ullfrog »

Offline 6pairsofshoes

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2020, 06:22:24 AM »
I think one of the reasons I tend to stay away from gory films like that is that I have a horror of people bleeding.  When I was a child, I was staying with my grandparents and one night as we were eating dinner, we heard a terrible crash.  Two cars had collided head on at a curve in the narrow road near their house, with one young man not wearing a seat belt.  He was retrieved from the car to rest on a chaise on my grandparents' porch until an ambulance could arrive.  His head had struck the windshield and he was bleeding profusely.  His girlfriend, who had been driving the car, was hysterical (understandably). I kept trying to help calm her, offering her a glass of water.  I must have been around 8 years old.

Shortly after that, I began to experience fainting spells when the topic of blood would come up, or if I had to have blood drawn.  I passed out in a Red Cross First Aid class and had to get excused from 2 weeks of my 8th grade biology class in which the circulatory system was under discussion. 

I have managed to suppress this phobia over the years, to the point where I can now competently administer first aid to people with bleeding wounds, but the prospect of seeing people hurt really bothers me.  I cannot explain this except for the odd experience of witnessing this traumatic experience as a child.  The man was not fatally injured, but he was clearly banged up, requiring a trip to the hospital.  Hearing the distressed cries of his girlfriend must have really affected me in ways that are difficult to explain.

Offline 8ullfrog

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Re: Books of Blood
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2020, 09:08:16 AM »
In that case, yeah, Clive Barker is not something I would recommend to you specifically, sorry for the bad rec.

Because Barker is all about the bleeding.

I am very sorry I woke that up.