I’m very mixed on the film, but I was surprised at how good Stone was in this (her Oscar-winning perfs are among my least favorite in her filmography, but this role felt more suited to her talents).

Honestly the performances kinda save the film (Plemons is great here). Felt messy to me.

I agree with this to a certain extent, although I’d also argue that this feels a bit more elevated than those comparative features due mostly to the lead performances - this is Tatum’s best role in years, and Dunst is low-key giving one of the best turns of the year in a role that doesn’t need it.

Of the Chronicles I’ve read, this is my favorite too - I’ll concede though that it’s the most difficult to adapt, hence why we haven’t seen a successful attempt at a film version. But the world building Rice achieves in “Lestat” is pretty remarkable.

Bucket list item that I’ll eventually get to: attending a midnight screening (it still plays every weekend at the Nuart in LA!). Have yet to see this with a live audience (which feels sacrilegious!?).

It's a unique anthology showing how the horror genre allows us to critically interrogate our views on aging and our conscious or unconscious ageist attitudes.

(and as an FYI: while my review is of the print version of the collection, the essays are also available open access - so get reading!)

First time I listened to this I was on a run and had the volume turned ALL the way up because of the muted intro. The absolute JUMP SCARE that happened when the beat dropped almost made me fling my phone into the road.

(worth it, though!)