Well, for those wondering where Willie and I have been for the past couple of months, we’d love to tell you that it involved something other than blood and guts, and for the biggest part, it did, but not completely...
There was that three week span when love, caring and kindness reared it’s ugly head…when my daughter Paige, along with her friend Julia, came to visit. Naturally and of course, it was a wonderful most enjoyable time, but there was no blood, there was no gore, and, there was no writing. All were replaced with the likes of days at the beach, joyful type chick flick nights (yuck!), nice conversing sit down meals, snorkeling in crystal clear water, shopping, both movie theater and neighborhood drive-in nights and all those other things teenage girls like to do. And, I must admit that at the time, I sincerely wondered if their cell phones were surgically attached.
None-the-less, she is always worth it and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, but, like I said, there was no blood, guts or writing. Unfortunately and/or fortunately, depending upon which aspect one’s viewing, the time came and went, and I dove right back into writing. After finishing a 5k word piece entitled The Sidewalk Ends and an article about werewolves, both of which will be in an upcoming issue of Suspense Magazine, I went back to concentrating on my very first full-length novel, A Lawnly Existence, a tale about a lonely old man compelled by love, attempting to fulfill his deceased wife's last wish and who inadvertently stumbles upon a book that aids...gruesomely. Currently on chapter 14 and somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 or 130 pages or so, I know exactly where the tale leads and I suspect it will end with either chapter 22 or 23. I’m hopeful to finish it within the next couple of months, but (sic) that work thing keeps getting in the way…so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Willie, on the other hand, has been concentrating on reviewing various films for Horrornews, (read his reviews here) and contemplating starting up his own Wee Willie Wicked dot com. Needless to say, him and I tend to bicker back and forth about who gets to do what, with me usually getting the upper hand or leg or whatever body part…heh heh. Coincidently, speaking of film reviews, I also took the time to write one too, and you can read it below.
And, like Bentley Little (one of my all-time favs) also perceives, I too tend to find social networking mostly unproductive, but a necessary aspect to a up and coming writer. After all, publicity is everything and this doesn’t mean that I will turn my back on the likes of blogging, Facebook, Twitter and the likes either, for I expect to stab from time to time too. But, I also want to finish this novel and in order to do so, with only so many hours in the day, I feel more than ever compelled to lean toward completion rather than posting a ditty about how my parrot Kenni’s shower went.
So, this said, my plan is to spend as much time as required over the couple months or so trapped in a world of words known as A Lawnly Existence and, depending whether or not I have something worthwhile to contribute (a probable and plausible assumption, especially with my opinionated ways and constant idea generating mind), I will more than likely see you more often than I currently foresee, and most assuredly more often than I recently have. So much for Willie and his website…for now at least.
So, until next time…Stay Scared folks…
Thomas aka Wee Willie Wicked
Intense, chilling and oddly satisfying, The Tortured (2010 - Directed by Robert Lieberman) is an emotional roller coaster ride that digs deeply into a parents’ worst nightmare. As their transformation from loving guardians to violent vicious killers occurs, many, if not most or all, will probably find themselves rooting them on, agreeing…even though it is morally wrong.
Elise (Erika Christensen) and Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe) are stable, upper middle class and the epitome of family, parenting their only child Ben (Thomas Greenwood), a happily content toddler, with love and guidance.
John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley) is a schizophrenic whacked out taxidermist loner who listens to old scratchy albums of children songs, sits at a vanity putting on loud colored ugly or misplaced placed make-up and brushing his hair when he is the adolescent daughter figure; or yelling at the top of his lungs when he portrays the father figure. Both are one in the same. (A perfect Bill Moseley character I might add).
The day is serene and typical. (However, the audience sees Kozlowski, unbeknownst to Craig, sitting creepily by in a beat up camper loaded old truck, watching the young Ben frolic about on a backyard Jungle Gym and fearfully setting the stage of inevitability.)
While Ben plays, Craig hurries inside the home seeking sunscreen only to find the drawer where it is normally kept a cluttered mess. As he searches through the plethora of miscellaneous bottles, he also maintains a more than occasional glance out the window keeping watch over his son.
He turns his attentions away for but a few seconds and looks back in time to horrifyingly (a truly frightening and effective scene) see Kozlowski snatching up Ben under his arm and running to the truck, parked nearby. Craig races out of the house after them, but is too late as Kozlowski already has Ben in the truck and is speeding away. Craig retrieves his car and begins to pursue, but is too late and loses trail of the kidnapper. An Amber Alert is issued and the manhunt is on.
Fears are eventually realized, but not initially from the viewers’ standpoint, as the police stumble upon the truck, partially hidden by a tarp, in the driveway of the kidnapper’s home. During a doorway questioning, the officers notice bloody footprints across the home’s floor, giving them reasonable suspicion to search. But, as mentioned prior, it is too late. Ben has been the victim of a heinous crime.
A subsequent exploratory excavation of Kozlowski’s backyard follows, turning up other unfortunate victims’ remains and it looks as though the case is shut and dried with the molester certainly ending up in the chair. But, not all is what it seems and so begins an emotional trial between the couple, the accused and state, and the audience.
Realizing that the state could be in for a difficult insanity plea trial, the D.A. strikes a bargain allowing Kozlowski to plead guilty, and the creep is sentenced to 25 years to life, which really means that he could possibly be free in 10 years.
This is unacceptable to Elise and she vividly wants to take matters into her own hands. Her doctor husband Craig, who, while not agreeing with the sentence, has unwittingly accepted the judgment and tries to talk sense into Elise, attributing her motive to post traumatic stress.
Full depression sets in and a distraught Elise decides to leave the marriage, sending Craig into a downward spiral and toward the brink of suicide. (The film wisely and effectively uses Craig’s memorial flashbacks of happier times as he solemnly slouches in the home’s chair surrounded by packed boxes for emphasis). But, he snaps and becomes furious at what has become, deciding Elise was right and they reconnect to form a revenge plan.
Not wanting to give too much of the film away, lets just say that a hypodermic syringe, an old wartime gas mask, a cherry fire tipped cigar and a few other implements become eventual characters, causing both repulsion and cheer, successfully carrying the fast paced film through a suspenseful journey filled with edge of the seat excitement, all the way to the never seen it coming plot twisted ending.
