All Posts By

MidnightSocietyBrian

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Silence is the Star of A QUIET PLACE

My favorite thing about seeing A Quiet Place in the theater was watching--or rather, hearing--the effect it had on the audience. It's rare that a movie truly makes an audience hold its collective breath, but this one does so frequently. It kind of tricks the audience into believing that they are in some way also responsible for the fate of the characters, and any random noise they make could attract the horrific monsters that populate the world of the film. This spell A Quiet Place casts upon the audience wouldn't be possible without the superb sound design of[...]

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Airplane Movie Reviews: When a Stranger Calls (1979)

I've been traveling pretty frequently for work lately, so I've had some long airplane flights. Most of the airlines now offer some form of free movies on demand during flights, and most of them have a small selection of both new and old horror films. So, I figured when I fly from now on, I'll try to find a horror flick to pass the time, and I'll review it for the site. First up is an absolute classic from 1979--When a Stranger Calls. Starting Carol Kane, Charles Durning and Tony Beckley, this movie is one of the most influential horror films of all time, and ye[...]

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THE RITUAL Makes the Woods Terrifying Again

I know it's cool nowadays to talk junk about The Blair Witch Project, but anyone who say that movie when it came out knows it created an amazing sense of atmosphere, and it made being lost in the woods seem downright terrifying. I bring this up, because as I was watching The Ritual last weekend, I realized it was the first movie that captured that "lost in the woods" feeling for me since Blair Witch (although The Ruins came close, and I heartily recommend it). The Ritual combines that atmosphere of isolation with some folklore and a strong dose of H.P. Lovecraf[...]

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Revisiting a Classic: Knight of the Black Rose (Ravenloft)

I am a D&D nerd, having grown up on the game. I'm also a huge fan of the Dragonlance novels and game setting, and have collected scores of books dedicated to that world. So what does that have to do with horror? I'm getting to that! The Dragonlance series had plenty of horrific moments in it, and one character in particular that is kind of the horror icon of that world. Lord Soth is a Darth Vader-esque character that is scarier than the dragons that populate Krynn. Soth was a once proud knight that who became an adulterer and a murderer. he was cursed and n[...]

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The Haunting Lore of Dark Souls III–Oceiros, The Consumed King

There are several reasons I adore the Souls series of games--their punishing difficulty, their immersive worlds, and the lore that is woven into every character, location and item being just a few. In my mind, the Souls series has always been a horror series, as despair, grief, loneliness and loss are themes played out again and again. Every major enemy you face has a story, and it's often tragic. What's more, the game often gives you only pieces of the story, which invites the community to theorize about what it all means. A prefect example of this Oceiros,[...]

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Thirteen Nights of #Frightmas: DRIFT (A Short Story)

Drift by Brian LeTendre Snow will continue to be heavy through the overnight hours, and we are expecting up to an additional seven to eight inches on top of the foot most of the Pioneer Valley has received from storm Howard so far. Wind gusts will mean snow drifts of several feet in certain areas, and visibility will continue to be poor for the next several hours. We're now going live to Andrew Sanders in downtown-- Amber clicked back over to the crime procedural she'd been watching and pulled the quilt tighter around herself as she lay cocooned on the couch. "I c[...]

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Getting in Your Head: Brian Plays THE EVIL WITHIN

I LOVE horror games (shocker, I know), and I just spent the past few months revisiting two of my all-time favorites, Dead Space and Dead Space 2. When I finally put them to rest, I was looking for something to play when the ads for The Evil Within 2 started coming out. I'd played about ten minutes of the first game, so I decided to go back to that one and play through it so I could eventually get the sequel as well. I'm glad I decided to give The Evil Within another shot, because it's great. I've started a let's play series, and you can watch the first episode of[...]

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CHANNEL ZERO: NO-END HOUSE Is Disturbingly Great

I really, really enjoyed the first season of SyFy's Channel Zero series, Candle Cove. While it had its rough spots, the premise of a super creepy kids' show coupled with some great imagery carried the season. Season two of the Creepypasta-inspired series is not short on frightening imagery either, but it's so much deeper and consistently disturbing that it surpasses the first season in almost every way. https://youtu.be/LW7zWck0VAQ Titled "No-End House," this season's story begins with the legend of a haunted house that appears in a random location once per[...]

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Join Us on 10/30 For Part One of Our SLEEPING BEAUTIES Chat!

If you've been following the blog or our #FrighteningFall hashtag on Twitter, you know the Midnight Society is reading Stephen and Owen King's Sleeping Beauties for our fall book club. Since the book is broken into two main parts, we've decided to have two book chats about it! So, we'll be discussing Part 1 of Sleeping Beauties on October 30th at 9pm EST, using the hashtags #MidnightBookClub and #FrighteningFall. Come discuss the book with us--we want to know what you think! You have over a week left to get halfway through. We'll be coming back in November and[...]

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CHASING THE KING IN YELLOW Arrives Friday the 13th!

What better day of the year to release a new book than on Friday, October 13th? I can't think of one, which is why my new novella Chasing the King in Yellow will be dropping this Friday on Amazon and Drive Thru Fiction! Chasing the King in Yellow is in many ways a sequel to the first book in the Parted Veil series, Courting the King in Yellow. After that first book, that story of Frank and Sam continued in the background, as Lovecraft's Curse and Lovecraft's Pupil featured new characters. This book gives readers a window into what's been happening with Frank an[...]