Decco's Reviews of Print and Film

  Book : The Cats of Ulthar Rating: ***** "It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat..."     A man gazes upon his cat as he lies in front of the fire, and reminisces about the tales of cats told back throughout history. The secrets they hold, the families related to him throughout jungles and Africa, the ways they are worshipped, and how "he", the cat, is "more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."     In June of 1920, horror author H.P. Lovecraft wrote the short story The Cats of Ulthar , and was one of his most favorite works he wrote - and it ended up being one of my favorites too. A short story of only two and a half pages, I was surprised at how much I got out of it. How enchanted I was, and also how creeped out I got from a small number of paragraphs. The way it is written, the story that follows - especially the ending, and the mental image it leaves behind in you has made it ...

Movie : Let The Right One In Rating: ***** "Are you a vampire?" "Would you like me anyways?"     When an individual thinks of vampires, one of the first outlines that make out the outline is an individual named Dracula, taken from the 1897 novel of the same name, Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Irregularly shaped humans, lavishly old castles, speaking fancily, maybe even shape-shifting, but also crafty, and sinister, tricking their victims on their own into death more horrible than they could ever imagine. Thomas Alfredson's 2008 film Låt den rätte komma in , or in English, Let The Right One In , (based off the 2006 novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist - which I will also be reviewing), takes all of these ideologies about vampires, modernizes them, and in some cases, throws out a lot of old stereotypes we think about vampires to date. With a beautiful plot, elegant music, and cinematography, this has to be on a watchlist for any horror enthusiast.      ...