Back in the ancient days of 2013, I came across a book called Dead (A Lot), from an unknown (to me) writer and playwright named Howard Odentz. This was during the salad days of AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead, so everyone who was anyone was writing about zombies, and a lot of the stories in the undead zeitgeist were cut from that pattern. That’s not to suggest they were all boring and derivative, but there just weren’t many that were interesting. I was skeptical. With Dead (A Lot), though, Odentz managed to produce something clever and unique, a zombie story unlike any I’d ever read. Since then, I’ve done…
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(Not) Watching the World End: Bird Box
Last night, I skipped everything already sitting in my incredibly long Netflix queue and watched the new science-fiction/horror/apocalyptic/Sandra Bullock-in-a-blindfold flick Bird Box. Most of the reviews I’d read of it were favorable, and the negative takes seemed a little fussy for my tastes. The trailer was promising, and it seemed like something I’d enjoy. Here’s the basic premise: People around the world have started committing suicide, and no one knows why. Right away, we’re thrown into the point-of-view of the shockingly pregnant Malorie (Bullock), who falls in with a group of survivors sheltering in a spacious, well-furnished house owned by a guy named Greg (BD Wong). In short order, we…
