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A review by geve_
Experimental Film by Gemma Files
2.0
I didn't realize the author was a film critic until like, chapter one. Yeah.
I love detail, but this was like taking a film history class that I didn't volunteer for, and in the worst possible way. LIke the way some people take their specific niche interests WAY too seriously and has to tell you all about it, and relates every single thing back to it.
That's honestly not even the problem with the book, I woulda let that boring stuff go, but the thing didn't even nail the FILM part of the story. Like its a cool concept, some kind of cursed film that's related to at least two deaths. Great, I liked the ring, and I liked the king in yellow, it's a classic idea, and it even starts out pretty great. Maybe 1/3 in it just starts to drag HARD.
Here are my major complaints:
1: the antagonist is comically bad. It's like just having the devil be the bad guy. Like he has infinite money and no soul, he just does the weirdest, unexplainable shit, with no real motivation other than to give the protagonist someone to fight. It's really weak story telling imo.
2: The author seems to already know when they've fucked up the storytelling. In the beginning they start off with some exciting chapter, then just straight up say, yeah now imma give you a bunch of exposition, and no one likes reading it, but you just gotta sit through it cause that's how im telling the story. Like, ok, or you know, don't do that, you're the author. During the climax, which DRAGS hard, the protag also says, I know this is taking a long time to explain BUT FOR ME IT WAS LIKE SO FAST. Ok, maybe edit yourself then, you can obviously tell its dragging.
3: The beginning was kinda fun, and you start out thinking this film is like haunted or something, which, cool, i'm down then
4: The autistic kid can see supernatural stuff in the manner of stephen king's "magical negro". It's not cool when stephen king did it, and it's not cool when anyone does it. It felt super gross, and like the only reason to have an autistic kid was to make the protag's life hard and also had a babadook vibe of like, horrible kid the reader hates, but also he can see supernatural gods or some shit cause autism. barf.
Anyways, I didn't like the book, but it wasn't so egregiously bad as to rate a 1 star. Had potential, but wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone.
I love detail, but this was like taking a film history class that I didn't volunteer for, and in the worst possible way. LIke the way some people take their specific niche interests WAY too seriously and has to tell you all about it, and relates every single thing back to it.
That's honestly not even the problem with the book, I woulda let that boring stuff go, but the thing didn't even nail the FILM part of the story. Like its a cool concept, some kind of cursed film that's related to at least two deaths. Great, I liked the ring, and I liked the king in yellow, it's a classic idea, and it even starts out pretty great. Maybe 1/3 in it just starts to drag HARD.
Here are my major complaints:
1: the antagonist is comically bad. It's like just having the devil be the bad guy. Like he has infinite money and no soul, he just does the weirdest, unexplainable shit, with no real motivation other than to give the protagonist someone to fight. It's really weak story telling imo.
2: The author seems to already know when they've fucked up the storytelling. In the beginning they start off with some exciting chapter, then just straight up say, yeah now imma give you a bunch of exposition, and no one likes reading it, but you just gotta sit through it cause that's how im telling the story. Like, ok, or you know, don't do that, you're the author. During the climax, which DRAGS hard, the protag also says, I know this is taking a long time to explain BUT FOR ME IT WAS LIKE SO FAST. Ok, maybe edit yourself then, you can obviously tell its dragging.
3: The beginning was kinda fun, and you start out thinking this film is like haunted or something, which, cool, i'm down then
Spoiler
it goes way off the rails into like a bunch of european mythology. Like way into the mythology, which seems to have NOTHING to do with film. Like bro, you can write a story about this mythology that you're obviously into without also making it about film just because you're a film critic. instead it's like two totally disparate elements that never come together to make any real sense at all.4: The autistic kid can see supernatural stuff in the manner of stephen king's "magical negro". It's not cool when stephen king did it, and it's not cool when anyone does it. It felt super gross, and like the only reason to have an autistic kid was to make the protag's life hard and also had a babadook vibe of like, horrible kid the reader hates, but also he can see supernatural gods or some shit cause autism. barf.
Anyways, I didn't like the book, but it wasn't so egregiously bad as to rate a 1 star. Had potential, but wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone.