Dinara Tengri

And we continue our Halloween Special, with a new review.  If you have been following me for some time now, you know that I am a die-hard fan of The X-Files .   The X-Files  is an American sci fi/horror show that was created by Chris Carter, and stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Its original run was from 1993 to 2002.  The X-Files is a paranormal drama set in a dark and gory universe . The plot centers around FBI agents Dana Scully - the skeptic, and Fox Mulder - the believer, who run the so-called X-Files division, where they work on cases the FBI has deemed unsolvable. Cases that involve ritual sacrifice, homocidal mutants, and, of course,                                          The show's episodes are divided in two categories: there is the main mythology that centers around extra-terrestrials, government conspiraci...

It's Halloween the whole month of October here on my blog. I'm kicking off this week with a list. I rummaged my shelves to find all the horror and horror-related titles I own, and then, I took pictures, Bookstagram style. Speaking of which you can follow me on Instagram on @dinaratengri.  Now, to the books! Urban horror (in Swedish) Creepypasta: Spökhistorier från Internet : by Jack Werner is a collection of the most famous creepypastas with commentaries by the author. You can read my review to find out more.    Udda Verklighet  is the debut novel by author Nene Ormes. I don't know anything about it other than it's set in my hometown, Malmö.   Mad Scientists Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  was written by Robert Louis Stevenson? Not many people know that. It's a great book, and I don't think all those movies do it justice.   Frankenstein by Marry Shelley is a book I read many years ago, and it's t...

How can I not write something Halloween-related on Halloween night? And even though I didn't initially plan on posting anything tonight, it was last night that I realised that I didn't have any other choice. So. today, after school I dug into my secret comic book stash, and I read Home Again - the now unofficial sequel to the gory The X-files episode I reviewed last night. Not to be confused with the live-action season 10 episode about a murderous trash-sculpture.  Here's what I think: The artwork is amazing. Mulder, Scully, and Skinner look exactly like their real-life counterparts, which really helps to get their voices right when you read the dialogue. The visual accuracy, the attention to the details, the dark and brown-ish colour pallete - it all helps to re-create the dirty and depressing atmosphere of the original episode.  As for the story... well, it seems like the writers tried to splice together two completely different stories, and it all came...

It's day 7 of Halloween Week 2016, and today I'm talking about an old TV-episode I saw last night.  Home was first aired on October 11, 1996 in the USA, and it's considered to be one of the scariest  episodes in the history of television. I watched it for the first time last night, and I have mixed feelings about it.  This review will contain some spoilers for the episode, and even for some events that unfold later in the show.  When a body of a deformed baby is found buried in a small community of Home, the suspicions turn to the Peacocks - a family of inbreds who have been living in isolation ever since the American Civil War. When the agents, together with the sheriff start investigating, the Peacocks will stop at nothing to protect their home.   First of all, Home is a beautifully shot and very well-directed episode. I think this was the first time I was paying attention to the camera angles and the camera movements, because they're just beautiful. ...

First, an announcement: tomorrow, I will be going live on Twitter. I'll be watching the X-files episode, Home , from season 3, for the first time. And I'll be tweeting about it. What time? Around 11.00 PM, Standard European Time.  Is there a better way to celebrate Halloween than with a cup of hot spicy beverage seasoned with nuts and raisins, and a horror movie binge? Yes, definitely. But this way is not so bad either. Plus, if there's anything I learned from Nightmare before Christmas is that you can combine two different holiday traditions and still have a good time.  It's day 5 of Halloween Week 2016. It's also Friday, and I'm up for a quiet movie night. The real question here is what movie/movies I'm going to watch. I'm not a fan of slashers, found footage or torture porn. So what does that leave me? Here are a few horror movies that I really enjoy, and one that I haven't seen yet.  Sci fi  Alien A classic claustrophobic...

And we're on day 3 of Halloween Week 2016. Today, I want to give books a little break and talk about TV. Some good old fashioned TV horror. Last year, I listed Ten Spookiest X-Files Episodes . So this year, I've come up with six scariest episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Enjoy! 1. Hush , season 4 episode 10 Often considered to be one of the scariest episodes on television ever, Hush brings grim fairy tales to life, with a touch of Tim Burton. When monsters known as the Gentlemen steal the voices from everyone in Sunnydale in order to do some organ harvesting, Buffy and the Scoobies have to find a way to save their town without uttering a single word. Written and directed by Joss Whedon, it's one of the highlights of season 4. I don't think I'll ever be able to get the image of the Gentlemen out of my head. Then again, I don't want to. They're fantastic. 2. Helpless , season 3 episode 12 If Hush is a fairy tale, Helpless is a ...

Counting down: it's day 2 of Halloween Week 2016, and we are moving on to the mysterious and gloomy land of Cornwall. That is were Sherlock Holmes and John Watson engage in a scientific experiment that almost costs them their lives. I'm talking about The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, a short story which was written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1910.  In the Devil's Foot, Holmes and Watson go on vacation in a fictional hamlet in Cornwall. But their lazy and melancholic existence is soon interrupted (much to Holmes' excitement) when a family tragedy shakes this small and peaceful community. The circumstances surrounding the case are so incredible and terrifying and defy all logic that the ones involved see no other way but to suspect a supernatural culprit. But Holmes doesn't believe in the supernatural, and is determined to solve the case the good old fashioned way: "I fear, said Holmes, "that if the matter is beyond humanity it is ce...

I was walking home from school on this beautiful October day, when I saw something in the window of the sci fi book store. It's been recently re-decorated for Halloween, and there was one detail there that I only took notice of today. Despite the chilly weather, I felt warm inside. As a born-again Buffy-fan, I couldn't just walk by and not immortalise this image on my phone camera. And since Halloween is just a week from now, I'm kicking off a project dedicated to celebrating ghosts, monsters and other forces of evil that live in our collective imagination. Last year, I reviewed a few horror and fantasy novels in preparation for this scary little holiday, and I also wrote an article about t he importance of keeping black cats safe on Halloween. This year, I decided to dedicate this whole week to Halloween, by writing smaller, lighter posts each day. I will write shorter reviews of some of my favourite horror short stories, and cram this blog space with fun lists. T...

Happy National Cat Day! Today is October 29th, which means it's National Cat Day in USA. It was founded by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige, and it's a day dedicated to celebrating cats and raising awareness about shelter cats. Also, Halloween is just around the corner, and I want to talk about one particular type of cats who may not like this holiday as much as us humans do. I'm talking about black cats. In some countries, black cats have the lowest adoption rate at shelters, and they're the first to be euthanized. Why do people pass on black cats? Well, for one, they're still considered to bring bad luck (give me a break), and if that wasn't enough, some say that black cats don't look good on selfies (I'm gonna give you a second to process that...). Source: Black Cat Appreciation Page I also read somewhere that some families like to adopt black cats before Halloween just so they can have a cool live Halloween decoration, and come...

Halloween is approaching! This year, instead of going out, I'm most likely going to watch something scary on DVD. If you have the same plans, then I have a list for you. Last year I counted down ten of the spookiest (in my opinion) episodes of my favourite TV-show, The X-files . This year, I'm updating the list with a few new picks and I'm going to include promos instead of screen shots because, it's more fun (and professional).   Just a little clarification: I did NOT include Home, which is considered to be the scariest TV-episode of all times. Why not? Well, because I haven't actually seen it yet. I know I have to, because there will be a sequel in the upcoming revival , but I'll cross that bridge when I get there... 10. Humbug s2, e20   Kicking off at number ten is the show's first comedy. A scary comedy. A freak circus is under attack by a mysterious killer. Freaks, monsters, mirror mazes and a cricket-eating Scully. Wha...