The Devouring

by Simon Holt

“They lurk in the cold and dark. Hungry and wicked, they wait for their one chance to devour the weak on Sorry Night. Then the Vours feast on a banquet of fear. Your fear. They steal your soul but your body remains. No one knows the difference.”

Regina Halloway has been an obsessor of horror movies and gruesome comics since she was a little girl. She’s not afraid of any of them -- rather, they give her a delightful chill and help to keep her thoughts away from her mother, who abandoned their family a year ago. Now Reggie has to be one to take care of her eight-year-old brother, Henry, and she finds it an exhausting burden. So when Reggie finds an old journal called The Devouring at the bookshop where she works, it seems like the perfect thing to immerse herself in. But when Reggie reads part of the book to Henry as a bedtime story, she couldn’t imagine the disaster that would follow. “Vours,” dark things that invade your body and devour your soul, are especially active on the Winter Solstice -- and guess on what night Reggie reads the story aloud? Reggie doesn’t know what to do or who to trust, but she does know one thing: she has to defeat the Vour that takes over her little brother…while at the same time keeping herself from being consumed by her own fear.

This was, essentially, a horror novel. I wasn’t expecting that (I think I’d read the summary a while ago and forgotten what exactly it was about), and while it wouldn’t usually be my kind of book, I enjoyed it a lot. The Devouring was a pretty creepy story (if you have a fear of freakish demonic clowns, beware!) with good characters and enough emotional fear to make it seem realistic; it wasn’t all just undead people and stuff like that. I appreciated that Reggie’s best friend Aaron was a boy who, while he could have been gay, it never said either way, and he didn’t secretly like her, either. It was refreshing. The only thing I found strange was that Reggie was the protagonist, but then there would be some random bits (not even whole chapters, usually) where it seemed almost from Aaron’s or Henry’s points of view. Otherwise, nicely done.

I was very glad to find that this is the first in a series -- so far no title or release date for a book #2, but I’ll definitely keep an eye on Simon Holt and hope that he writes fast. Visit www.thedevouring.com for more info.

Project 17

by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Derik LaPointe wants to be a movie producer—not the owner of the family diner like his parents expect him to be. So when he hears about the internship/movie contest on Reality TV Network, he knows he has to take his chance and try to win the thing. But where to shoot the movie? What would be dramatic, interesting, attention-catching? How about Danvers State Hospital, the abandoned mental institution? Derik decides that this is the perfect setting, and since it’s about to be bulldozed next week, he needs to move fast. The cast is a hodgepodge of students: Liza, who does it for her college application; Tony and Greta, who do it for their acting careers; Chet, who does it for fun; and Mimi, who does it because she needs to find out something. The six teens couldn’t be more different from each other, but nothing about their everyday social circles matter once they’re inside Danvers State. The place is forlorn and rotting—an eerie memorial of all the terrible things that once went on inside it. Derik is determined to get his movie filmed and then quickly get out of there, but things don’t turn out that easy. It seems almost like there’s someone or something in the building with them, but that could just be their jumpy nerves. As the companions progress through the building and things become more and more bizarre, they subtly become closer and more trusting of each other. But will this be enough? Does the ghostly voice Mimi hears mean them harm? And what will they do if it does?

Yes, this book is a supernatural thriller, and yes, the very idea of exploring an old mental institution is oddly disturbing. But Ms. Stolarz kept the story haunting and interesting, not full of gore or distasteful things like that. The characters had a lot of personality and you actually cared about them—plus it was interesting to see how each one of them changed, since the chapters alternated between their different points of view. There was a lot of unnecessary cursing, but other than that I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story with some spine-tingles included.

The Village

2004
Rated: PG-13 for a scene of violence and frightening situations
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Drama/mystery/thriller
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Joaquin Phoenix

Ivy Walker lives in a small isolated village during the late 1800’s, where the color red is forbidden; the elders believe it attracts the beasts living in the surrounding forest. No one can go outside the little haven without danger of being taken by the strange “Those We Do Not Speak Of” creatures. There hasn’t been an attack in a long time, until when Ivy’s friend Lucius Hunt asks the elders for permission to go beyond the village and into the unknown. That’s when the monsters become more menacing—strange marks are found on doors and skinned livestock is left along the paths. Still, Lucius is determined to go Outside, in hopes of buying medicine to might cure Ivy’s blindness. His plans are wrecked when an angry Noah mortally stabs Lucius. Now it’s Ivy who begs to be allowed to travel for medicine, if she wants to save her love’s life. After much consideration the elders allow it, although only after telling her a secret. When and if Ivy arrives at her unknown destination, she has no idea what will she find when she gets there.
I think The Village is a perfect introduction to scary movies, as the setting—being far removed from our modern world—gives the viewer a little distance. There’s lots of suspense, but no nasty gore, making a dramatic, romantic movie with great cinematography.

Lady in the Water

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Fantasy/mystery/thriller
Rated PG-13 for some frightening sequences
Starring: Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard

Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) is the janitor for The Cove, an apartment complex inhabited by quite a few eccentric characters. For the past few nights, Cleveland has been hearing splashing in the pool, but he has never caught anyone, until one night when he sees a young woman. A young woman who is afraid, but one who needs to help the human race before she can leave. Story (Howard) is a narf, a nymph-like creature from the Blue World, an ancient place of magic, and she needs to return there. Led by a fairytale told by old Mrs. Choi, will Cleveland be able to find the members of the guild—the Healer, the Guardian, the Interpreter, and so forth—in time to save Story and the human race? Gradually, each strange apartment dweller—the man who exercises only the right side of his body, the woman who loves animals, the man who seems to live in his bathroom, and more—becomes involved because, as Story says, “every being has a role to play.” But the parts they first fell into might not be the ones they stay with....
Lady in the Water is an amazing blend of aspects anyone can enjoy in a movie—wisdom, humor, sorrow, truth, and suspense—that will keep you enchanted throughout the entire film.