I’ve been surfing the dread 4chan.org, one of the most notorious Web sites on these here intertubes. The rumors are true; it is the foulest, most disgusting, misogynistic, racist, homophobic and downright vile collection of posts to ever be collected. From child and furry pr0n to crime scene photos and other violent imagery, it’s there.
Interested in destroying your ex-girlfriends life, just ask the users of 4chan to bring down her facebook page and order her 1,000 large pizzas. It’ll happen.
Want to drive your neighbor insane, post his address and phone number on 4chan and he’ll soon be the victim of hundreds of prank calls, vandalism and who knows what else.
For 4chan isn’t just a small time thug. It looks like it has played heavily in several big criminal cases: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/internet/another-4chan-user-gets-busted-fbi
Still, 4chan is not without its humanity, and even dare I say…beauty. I don’t mean someone dumping their fap folder out of the goodness of their heart. (Definition: posting the pictures and stories stored on their computer that they use for masturbation to the Web site so that others can also masturbate to them.)
I’ve witnessed depressed teens actually get real, decent advice. I’ve seen amateur artists share fantastic work and receive great praise. I’ve followed along as teams of users work together to solve a difficult puzzle. I have waited anxiously with other users as an amateur writer has spun a tale of suspense.
It’s odd, but even in a place as evil as 4chan people seem to find solace. Anonymous posters feel free to share their passions, their disappointments and their very touching stories. They invite other users into their lives to share their tragedy and their triumph, something no doubt they would never do face to face.
In an odd way 4chan is the worst of the Internet but also shares some of the Internet’s most redeeming qualities.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I would never suggest anyone visit 4chan; it is an awful place and the small points of light to be found must be mined from piles of putrid human detritus. But, in a weird way, maybe that’s part of 4chan’s “charm.” When you visit, you never know what to expect and you’re always bound to be shocked, in other words, every visit is a horrifying adventure.
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Guilty of Reading The Girl Next Door
The Girl Next Door
By Jack Ketchum
As children, I’d be willing to bet that nearly every person commits one or more minor crimes. Whether you lift a candy bar from the supermarket on a dare, sneak a look at your Dad’s Playboy Magazines or write graffiti on a school wall, the act can make your heart race. There’s fear, but also a sense of exhilaration that you might get caught.
If you’re like me, after the exhilaration came the guilt, guilt that someone somewhere was hurt by your actions. When I got older and got into a few punch-ups, whether I was on the winning or losing side, I still felt guilty. This guilt could last for quite some time and leave me pretty depressed.
Whatever guilt I felt is nothing compared to what the main character of Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door feels. But then again, the crimes committed by David and the other kids in his neighborhood are way….way…way worse then anything I and 99.9 percent of children ever do.
Sure, they are goaded on by a woman slowly going insane but even the usually kind David, who knows what’s taking place is wrong, participates in the crimes. It’s freaking awful but oh, so well captured by the author. David’s guilt is palpable and unnerving and sits over the book like an anvil.
Guilt isn’t the only feeling Ketchum expertly captures in this novel. The tension is thick and sits heavy over the proceedings. It’s suffocating and as the violence ramps up it just gets worse and worse. Just when you can’t take it anymore the tension breaks, but…it breaks for a morbid scene of horror!
This novel is a runaway train, you can’t stop it and it will not stop for you. Ketchum’s writing is excellent this time around. He captures the mentality of children and the horror of insanity in gruesome reality. The “on screen” violence isn’t as gory and over the top as something like Ketchum’s Off Season, but that is what makes it so awful. It’s realistic and therefore horrifying and evil.
Read it!
(I assume every fan of horror literature knows this story but if not, here is a quick synopsis: girl goes to live with aunt after parents die, nutty aunt tortures girl and gets the neighborhood kids to join in. It’s based on a true story.)
By Jack Ketchum
As children, I’d be willing to bet that nearly every person commits one or more minor crimes. Whether you lift a candy bar from the supermarket on a dare, sneak a look at your Dad’s Playboy Magazines or write graffiti on a school wall, the act can make your heart race. There’s fear, but also a sense of exhilaration that you might get caught.
If you’re like me, after the exhilaration came the guilt, guilt that someone somewhere was hurt by your actions. When I got older and got into a few punch-ups, whether I was on the winning or losing side, I still felt guilty. This guilt could last for quite some time and leave me pretty depressed.
Whatever guilt I felt is nothing compared to what the main character of Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door feels. But then again, the crimes committed by David and the other kids in his neighborhood are way….way…way worse then anything I and 99.9 percent of children ever do.
Sure, they are goaded on by a woman slowly going insane but even the usually kind David, who knows what’s taking place is wrong, participates in the crimes. It’s freaking awful but oh, so well captured by the author. David’s guilt is palpable and unnerving and sits over the book like an anvil.
Guilt isn’t the only feeling Ketchum expertly captures in this novel. The tension is thick and sits heavy over the proceedings. It’s suffocating and as the violence ramps up it just gets worse and worse. Just when you can’t take it anymore the tension breaks, but…it breaks for a morbid scene of horror!
This novel is a runaway train, you can’t stop it and it will not stop for you. Ketchum’s writing is excellent this time around. He captures the mentality of children and the horror of insanity in gruesome reality. The “on screen” violence isn’t as gory and over the top as something like Ketchum’s Off Season, but that is what makes it so awful. It’s realistic and therefore horrifying and evil.
Read it!
(I assume every fan of horror literature knows this story but if not, here is a quick synopsis: girl goes to live with aunt after parents die, nutty aunt tortures girl and gets the neighborhood kids to join in. It’s based on a true story.)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Brutally Off Season
Off Season
By Jack Ketchum
This book is filled with cannibal children, incest, torture, blood, death, mutilation, inbreeds, sex, throat slashing, woman-on-a-spit nastiness and I read it in the span of a few hours.
I’ll spare you a long synopsis on story and character development because there is none. All you really need to know is this: Cannibal Hillbillies versus Yuppies. It’s the Scottish legend of Sawney Bean and the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” rolled up in “Straw Dogs.” Story not required. Too bad it is needed to create a truly terrifying book.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe this is Ketchum’s first novel but he already seemed a veteran at pacing action scenes and in describing blood drenched horrors in nauseating detail. What he wasn’t so good at was all that other stuff that normally goes into a novel: dialogue, character and all that.
Because these basic concepts are poorly constructed or nonexistent you never feel for the characters. Neither are you ever able to put yourself in their place or feel connected to their surroundings.
Still, even with these failings the book is not bad. It’s a slasher setup, pure and simple. If that is what you’re after, you’ll love it. I look forward to reading more of Ketchum’s stuff when I need a break from other weighty tomes I might be consuming.
By Jack Ketchum
This book is filled with cannibal children, incest, torture, blood, death, mutilation, inbreeds, sex, throat slashing, woman-on-a-spit nastiness and I read it in the span of a few hours.
I’ll spare you a long synopsis on story and character development because there is none. All you really need to know is this: Cannibal Hillbillies versus Yuppies. It’s the Scottish legend of Sawney Bean and the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” rolled up in “Straw Dogs.” Story not required. Too bad it is needed to create a truly terrifying book.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe this is Ketchum’s first novel but he already seemed a veteran at pacing action scenes and in describing blood drenched horrors in nauseating detail. What he wasn’t so good at was all that other stuff that normally goes into a novel: dialogue, character and all that.
Because these basic concepts are poorly constructed or nonexistent you never feel for the characters. Neither are you ever able to put yourself in their place or feel connected to their surroundings.
Still, even with these failings the book is not bad. It’s a slasher setup, pure and simple. If that is what you’re after, you’ll love it. I look forward to reading more of Ketchum’s stuff when I need a break from other weighty tomes I might be consuming.
Monday, October 26, 2009
MAKE LOVE
I finished Bruce Campbell’s “Make Love: the Bruce Campbell Way” a few days ago.
Unlike his other book “If Chins Could Kill, Confessions of a B-Movie Actor” this is a piece of fiction which sees a fictional Campbell cast as one of the main actors in a big money romantic comedy. The fictional movie, “Let’s Make Love,” is being directed by Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols and stars Richard Gere and Rene Zellwegger.
Campbell fears that he’s not prepared to work with such luminaries so he goes to extreme lengths to prepare for his role as a wise, Southern doorman.
Of course, everything that can go wrong does. Through his own ineptitude and bad luck something as simple as learning how to be a doorman, results in Campbell tackling former Secretary of State Colin Powell, starring in a pornographic movie, getting shot in an old fashioned pistol duel, playing catch with John Dillinger’s penis and so on.
It’s all rather wacky but it is enjoyable. Campbell is an average writer but more importantly, he’s slapstick funny and very personable. Reading the book is almost like sitting down for a beer with him and having him tell you about all the stuff that can go wrong on a B-movie. Who wouldn’t love that?
The horror factor is nil, but the Campbell factor is high which makes “Make Love” a quick enjoyable read.
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Love-Bruce-Campbell-Way/dp/0312312601
Unlike his other book “If Chins Could Kill, Confessions of a B-Movie Actor” this is a piece of fiction which sees a fictional Campbell cast as one of the main actors in a big money romantic comedy. The fictional movie, “Let’s Make Love,” is being directed by Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols and stars Richard Gere and Rene Zellwegger.
Campbell fears that he’s not prepared to work with such luminaries so he goes to extreme lengths to prepare for his role as a wise, Southern doorman.
Of course, everything that can go wrong does. Through his own ineptitude and bad luck something as simple as learning how to be a doorman, results in Campbell tackling former Secretary of State Colin Powell, starring in a pornographic movie, getting shot in an old fashioned pistol duel, playing catch with John Dillinger’s penis and so on.
It’s all rather wacky but it is enjoyable. Campbell is an average writer but more importantly, he’s slapstick funny and very personable. Reading the book is almost like sitting down for a beer with him and having him tell you about all the stuff that can go wrong on a B-movie. Who wouldn’t love that?
The horror factor is nil, but the Campbell factor is high which makes “Make Love” a quick enjoyable read.
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Love-Bruce-Campbell-Way/dp/0312312601
Friday, October 23, 2009
Here is a recent post to a horror movie Web site I visit. The question was how much further can the mainstream torture-porn movies go (ie. Saw, Hostel, Captive and so on).
Great question!
Seems that human feces, erections, on screen sexual penetration, graphic violence towards children, children in obscene onscreen sexual situations and graphic violence presented too realistically are still taboo, but the Motion Picture Association of America is a fickle beast.
For example, in 1999 they slapped the Oscar-winning "Boy's Don't Cry" with an NC-17 because a woman had an onscreen orgasm that was too long. This seems like an odd thing to focus on when the movie also features the graphic rape and then shooting of the main character.
But I digress, most of the above taboos have already been smashed outside of mainstream torture porn productions. As early as the late 1700s, The Marquis De Sade was writing pornographic novels featuring pederasty, coprophagy and the killing of children (if I remember correctly, in"120 Days of Sodom"; a baby is skewered on a pike and then tossed into a fire). Today you can find similar writings on Amazon in the form of Splatterpunk. Eli Roth has nothing on these guys and gals.
Independent unrated horror movies aren't far behind. The first torture porn guru had to be Herschell Gordon Lewis who started torturing topless women in the late 60's. Although, the gore was cheesy the scenes were quite graphic and the camera didn't turn away as knives, pliers and other implements pierced, sawed and gouged human flesh in extended and grotesque detail. He paved the way for other nastiness: coprophagic "Salo"; dismembering "Flowers of Flesh and Blood"; nipple slicing "New York Ripper"; metal pipe erection sex "Nekromatik"; necrophilac "Aftermath", and the rape filled "August Underground." Neither James Wan nor Rob Zombie want to touch what these freaks above have done.
So back to the question, how far will torture porn go? I think mainstream torture porn has almost gone as far as it possibly can. The MPAA seems pretty friendly to the captivity and torture of women but, for better or worse, I don't think they'll let it go much further than they already have. Maybe they'll open up a bit on the torture of men, perhaps a more audibly shocking off-camera genital mutilation or a bit more extreme male on male rape. Again, for better or worse, I can also see them allowing a bit more violence and sexual victimization towards children but not by very much.
The indies however, again for better or worse, will just keep pushing as long as there is an audience for their goods.
Great question!
Seems that human feces, erections, on screen sexual penetration, graphic violence towards children, children in obscene onscreen sexual situations and graphic violence presented too realistically are still taboo, but the Motion Picture Association of America is a fickle beast.
For example, in 1999 they slapped the Oscar-winning "Boy's Don't Cry" with an NC-17 because a woman had an onscreen orgasm that was too long. This seems like an odd thing to focus on when the movie also features the graphic rape and then shooting of the main character.
But I digress, most of the above taboos have already been smashed outside of mainstream torture porn productions. As early as the late 1700s, The Marquis De Sade was writing pornographic novels featuring pederasty, coprophagy and the killing of children (if I remember correctly, in"120 Days of Sodom"; a baby is skewered on a pike and then tossed into a fire). Today you can find similar writings on Amazon in the form of Splatterpunk. Eli Roth has nothing on these guys and gals.
Independent unrated horror movies aren't far behind. The first torture porn guru had to be Herschell Gordon Lewis who started torturing topless women in the late 60's. Although, the gore was cheesy the scenes were quite graphic and the camera didn't turn away as knives, pliers and other implements pierced, sawed and gouged human flesh in extended and grotesque detail. He paved the way for other nastiness: coprophagic "Salo"; dismembering "Flowers of Flesh and Blood"; nipple slicing "New York Ripper"; metal pipe erection sex "Nekromatik"; necrophilac "Aftermath", and the rape filled "August Underground." Neither James Wan nor Rob Zombie want to touch what these freaks above have done.
So back to the question, how far will torture porn go? I think mainstream torture porn has almost gone as far as it possibly can. The MPAA seems pretty friendly to the captivity and torture of women but, for better or worse, I don't think they'll let it go much further than they already have. Maybe they'll open up a bit on the torture of men, perhaps a more audibly shocking off-camera genital mutilation or a bit more extreme male on male rape. Again, for better or worse, I can also see them allowing a bit more violence and sexual victimization towards children but not by very much.
The indies however, again for better or worse, will just keep pushing as long as there is an audience for their goods.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
